From “The Art of Pastry” book, that I pick up every now and then and discover things I feel like doing immediately. Especially nice pastry, I have to say, great idea to add ground walnuts.

For a small tart for 2 I used 90 g of plain flour, 1 tsp of brown sugar, 25 g of cold butter, 40 g of ground walnuts, a splash of lemon juice and some cold water to bind it together, Kitchen Aid turned it into dark, unattractive looking dough, that chilled in the fridge for about an hour.

I then blind baked it in 190 degrees for about 20 minutes, which  turned out to be too long, the pastry was a bit too dry when sliced.

The whole leek, chopped and fried up on a bit of smoky bacon( bacon was idea, I just love leek and bacon combo), added to the pastry case, generous amount of lovely roquefort crumbled onto it. Then a mixture of about 130 ml of double cream and one beaten egg, all seasoned.  After about 25 minutes in the oven I pulled out a very posh quiche.  Served with a simple tomato salad.

Saitake sell excellent, toasted sesame seeds. Last Sunday when I made sushi I promised myself  I’d give them 5 star review in Ocado, where I get it from. I didn’t, in the end, but used them this evening when making a light supper of tuna tartar. We had a roast for lunch, so not much was needed. Tuna tartar made the same way as always, Michel’s way- chopped and mixed with chopped ginger, spring onion, chilli and coriander, dressed with soy, sesame oil, lime juice and honey. Sesame seeds added, generously. Toasted ciabatta from the griddle pan tastes so good tonight, that tuna long gone, we’re still toasting more bread. I would be very happy to eat this kind of food every day. I would. 🙂

Proper.  🙂

I followed Jose Pizarro’s recipe from recent GF, hoping for a dish similar to those we used to enjoy in La Tasca, Spanish restaurant in Canary Wharf,  back in Ubon times.  I do make nice roast chicken croquetas, Michel Roux’s recipe, but these are proper, with very thick bechamel type of sauce and serrano ham.  We both loved them and when I asked Florek this morning, ahead of ordering Ocado delivery for next week, if there’s anything he fancies, he asked for croquetas again, exactly the same.

So to start with I fried finely chopped leek on some olive oil, then added about 100 g of serrano ham, finely chopped too, a bit of salted butter. Then 60 g of plain flour mixed in and cooked for a couple of minutes. 300 ml of milk plus 100 ml of chicken stock, all seasoned generously with nutmeg, heated up, I added bit by bit to the ham and leek mixture. Once all the liquid was used, I cooked the whole thing on a small heat for about 10 minutes, till nice and thick. Seasoned with pepper a bit, no salt was needed. Then transferred the mixture to the baking dish, cooled, covered with cling film and chilled in the fridge for over an hour. It thickened nicely, so I was able to shape small croquetas with a spoon. Afterwards it’s the usual trick- flour, egg and panko breadcrumbs. Prepared this way, croquetas chilled in the fridge again for about 30 minutes. Deep fried, served with asparagus from Over Farm near Gloucester. Yum.

One watches Masterchef, one gets ideas. One happens to have an excellent butcher down the road, so having seen beef cheeks cooked again, one went in and asked the butcher for the beef cheeks.  Nice, encouraging price of £3.70 per cheek,  I got excited and went home to cook. I googled a few recipes, one called for Madeira, I had none, so I went with my instinct and just braised them like I would good lamb.  Browned them first, did not trim anything off, as Toby said it would all render off nicely while cooking. When browned all over I threw in 2 chopped shallots, a carrot, some celery, some crushed garlic, bay leaves, thyme. A slosh of white wine- I had none red opened, but I’ll make sure I will have it on Sunday, when I cook them again for Izzie’s birthday.  Also, used chicken stock, on Sunday it will be beef. A few porcini mushrooms, a few whole peppercorns. And slowly on the stove for 3 hours they braised.  I finished the sauce with a bit of flour and water, it needed no extra seasoning. Served with green beans, carrots and a leeky mash.

I have to say, I loved the meat. But the opinions were different on this occasion, Florian wasn’t sold on texture ( that was the best thing about it!), but thought the sauce was great.  I found my sauce the weakest part of the plate, but hey, things will be perfected on Sunday.

Pleased. 🙂