Wonky Summer Pasta

Get into the Summer Spirit with Jamie Oliver's WONKY SUMMER PASTA!

Serves 4

Ingredients for the PASTA:

2 Egg yolks

125g of Parmesan cheese, plus a little extra for serving

The zest and juice of 2 lemons

A small bunch of fresh Basil

500g of fresh lasagne sheets

Ingredients for the Salad:

8 rashers of Pancetta

1 clove of Garlic

1 tablespoon of fennel seeds

1 x 100g bag of prewashed rocket and/or watercress

A small bunch of fresh mint and fresh tarragon

A large handful of red, green or mixed Grapes

1/2 a Lemon

2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar

NOTE FOR THE SALAD YOU CAN MAKE IT UP!

Method:

Step 1 - PASTA 1

Turn the oven on to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Fill a large saucepan with hot water, put it on a high heat and cover with a lid. Either put the finer grater attachment into the food processor or, get your grater out ( believe me it is hard work ) for the Parmesan. 

Step 2 - PASTA 2

Carefully separate the 2 eggs and put the yolks into a big serving bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin oil and a good pinch of salt & pepper to the bowl of egg yolks.Grate the Parmesan in the processor and tip it into the bowl of egg yolks with the lemon zest and juice. Reserve some of the small basil leaves, then split the rest of the bunch into 2 halves. Pound one half in a pestle and mortar until you have a green paste, and roughly chop the other half. Add both to the bowl.

Stir until everything is mixed together, then season with salt and pepper.

 

Step 3 - SALAD 1

Put the Pancetta into an empty frying pan on a medium heat and add a squashed, unpeeled clove of garlic. Once the rashers are golden, turn them over and add the table spoon of fennel seeds. Meanwhile, empty the bag of salad leaves on to a serving platter or into a large bowl. Quickly tear in some mint and tarragon leaves , and add a large handful of whole or halved grapes. When the pancetta is nice and crispy, take the pan off the heat. Toss the salad together and put on a platter with the crispy pancetta and fennel seeds on top.

Step 4 - SALAD 2

Make the dressing. Pour 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into a small jug or jam jar. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon, then take to the table with the salad so you can dress it right before tucking in.

Step 5 - PASTA 3

Stack the lasagne sheets on a chopping board and slice into fairly thin strips. 

Add to boiling water with some salt. Stir, and then put the lid on, a little askew, and boil for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

The pasta has to be eaten as soon as its ready, so drain, and toss the pasta and sauce together, adding a little of the pasta water if its too thick.  Taste and season and serve! To make this dish really come together get  some Garlic Bread!

Get into the SUMMER SPIRIT!

Austria - Here I Come, what culinary delights are waiting for me?

Not sure I'll do much blogging this week as I'm in St. Anton skiing (if I find any snow!)
But I'll make sure I keep an eye out for some interesting dishes if my ski instructor takes us to a mountain restaurant, and will post as soon as I can!

Le Manoir End

The Le Manoir Experience is a deep one, an amazing one and a fun one. I highly recommend to the highest degree that you experience this course for yourself because it is a magnificent one.

Mark is left, Me ( Centre ), Right is Adam who came in for a while to check us out!

Philippe is behind the scenes working as usual so clap, clap, clap!

Thank you very very very much to:

Mark Peregrine (THE HEAD TUTOR ALSO THE FUNNY ONE AND THE MAKE IT ENJOYABLE ONE!!)

Philippe Tsolakis (THE COURSE TUTOR ALSO THE TECHNIQUE MAN AND THE BEHIND THE SCENES MAN!!)

THANK YOU!!!!

Le Manoir Garden



The Door to... The GARDEN!!



The Clubhouse / Gardeners House

Part of the Raymond Blanc Hotel

The Sculpture Snail

Creepy Scarecrow

Beautiful View of the Grand house/restaurant/cookery school/hotel.

You would think that they would grow plants and vegetables in their 5 - 6 acre garden to serve in their restaurant, but no, they do it for the fun. As we headed over we saw people in deck chairs and our tutor told us that once the people had got up and cheered and shouted: "Thanks for the Food" and "You are the greatest chefs ever". This was not to be today, they were quiet,and relaxing in the sunshine. As we got into the garden,the gardener told us abou the asparagus that they had, and picked some of for us to eat raw! It takes 3 - 4 years before asparagus can be harvested.

Next, was the 'MicroGarden' as I called it. A Poly Tunnel filled with trays of 'Micro Salad', which are basically plants that haven't grown that much and are about 3cm tall. They are used for garnishes. We tried loads. Spicy ones, plain ones, tangy ones and loads more! I am now experimenting with my own!

Our Garden Expedition had come to a close. Please try the 'Micro' plant/sald and see if it works for you! 

La Manoir - Pistou and Pesto

Raymond Blanc thinks that the Italians have ruined pistou by adding their own parmesan cheese and pine nuts and making pesto. I don't think that's the case, but what do you think? 

Serves 2

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Special Equipment: Blender

Ingredients for both Pistou and Pesto

30g/1 handful of basil leaves
5g/1 clove of Garlic, pureed
100ml of Olive oil, extra virgin
1g/1 pinch of Sea salt
1g/2 pinches of Pepper, white, ground

Extra Ingredients to make the Pesto:

20g of parmesan
5g of toasted pine nuts

Method:

Place all the ingredients into a blender and pulse to a fine paste, slowly adding the olive oil. Remember to taste and correct seasoning. Reserve in a covered container in the fridge until needed.

This tastes brilliant although my Mum thought that the Pistou was the best! It just comes down to your taste. Please comment on which one you found best!

La Manoir - Pasta

Making Pasta by hand using a pasta machine, aah tiring, well you will be surprised.

Serves 1

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 20 minutes

Special Equipment: Pasta machine and a rolling pin

Planning Ahead:

Your pasta can be prepared and rolled up to 2 day in advance, as long as it is Clingfilmed tightly and stored in the fridge.

Ingredients:

50g of Whole meal flour
50g of Pasta flour ( Type 00 )
55g / 1x Egg, organic/ free range, medium

Method:

Step 1

Mix the egg into the flours, and then knead into a smooth ball. Wrap in clingfilm, then place in the fridge and allow 20 minutes resting time before use.

Step 2 - Rolling pasta in a machine

Fix the machine on the side of the table. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin. Roll the dough using the thickest setting, then fold each sheet on itself and repeat. Seal the strip together to make a conveyor belt. Roll the pasta thinning it ach time on a finer setting until the pasta reaches setting number 5 on for Tagliatelle and linguini and number 6 for raviolis.

Le Manoir - Fraisier

This really is a brilliant picture and the flavour is amazing. My dad does not have a sweet tooth but, he ate seconds!!

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Resting Time: Overnight

Special Equipment: Cake Rings 15cm x 4cm; cake board of the same diameter; baking tray 30 x 40cm; Silicone paper. Acetate strips.

Planning Ahead:

Prepare the pastry cream at least 2 hours in advance. The Fraisier can be made the day before which will improve the texture and flavour of the cake.

Ingredients

For the Sponge:

65g of Unsalted and soft butter
65g of Caster sugar
55g / 2x of Eggs, medium, free range or organic
40g of Plain flour
3g / 1/2 tsp of Baking powder
15g / 1 tbsp of Ground almonds

For the Mousseline

500ml Milk
1x Vanilla Pod split lengthways
120g / 6x Egg yolks
100g of Caster Sugar
25g of Plain flour
25g of Cornflour
100g of Butter, unsalted and soft

To Garnish

100g of Strawberries, washed, topped and halved

Method:

 Step 1 - Sponge Mixture:

Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees celcius. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until all mixed and a pale straw colour is achieved. Add half your dry ingredients to the creamed mix, beat until all is incorporated then add half your eggs.  Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients. Place your batter in the cake ring and cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes. De-mould and cool on a cake cooling rack.


Step 2 - The Mousseline

In a large heavy bottomed sausepan, bring the milk to simmer.  Add the split vanilla pod and seeds and infuse for 5 mins.  Take off the stove and remove the vanilla.  Cream together the egg yolks and sugar then whisk in the flour and cornflour.  Pour approx a 1/3 of the hot milk onto the egg mixture and whisk until well blended.  Pour back into the remining milk, return to the heat and bring to a simmer for 5 mins, but remember to keep whisking and dont let it overboil!  Take it off the heat and let it cool for 5 mins and then cover with clingfilm directly onto the mix to prevent a skin forming.  You now have 200g of pastry cream!
.

When you're ready to put the cake together you just need to transform the pastry cream into a Mousseline and this is how you do it:

In a bowl, beat the butter wth a wooden spoon or spatula until smooth. In a separate bowl whisk the pastry cream until smooth and lump free. Add the smooth pastry cream to the butter and mix until a smooth creamy consistency is achieved.

Step 3 - Building the cake

Line a cake ring with the acetate and place on a cake board. Slice the sponge into 2 equal halves, about 1 cm thick. Place 1 slice in the cake ring and dollop in a thin 1cm layer of the mousseline. Arrange the strawberries all around the edge of the cake ring with a pattern of 1 up, 1 down. Place the rest of the strawberries in the middle. Dollop an even layer of the mousseline so it meets just above the strawberries around the edge of the cake ring. Cover with the other piece of cake. Put it in the fridge for a minimum of an hour for the mousseline to set.  Sprinkle over some icing sugar and when ready to serve, put 3 halves of strawberries on top like mine.

This perfect summer strawberry cake is amazing for parties and looks great on the plate!

Le Manoir - Granary Bread

I make Bread all the time. But, I make it in a machine. How hard can it be to make it... by hand???


Serves 2 X 500g loafs

Preparation Time: 30 minutes + 3 1/2 hours
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Special Equipment:  Bread basket well lined with flour

Ingredients

510g of Malted grain organic bread flour
100g of Strong white organic plain flour
370ml of Water
25g of Fresh Yeast
13g of sea Salt, Maldon

To Finish

70ml of Water

Method

Step 1 - Mixing, kneading, and proving the dough

Pour the flours and fresh yeast into a large bowl and mix, then add the water and mix again!  You need to break up the yeast a little before you add the salt or the salt will 'kill' the yeast.  Finally add your salt and knead and mix!  It's very sticky, but, eventually, after lots of kneading it's ready to take out and knead for about 5 mins on a clean worksurface.  Place the dough in a large clean bowl  and cover the with clingfilm. Allow dough to prove for 1 hour at room temperature (22 - 24 degrees celsius).

Step 2 - Shaping & second proving

Preheat the oven to 260 degrees celsius.
Divide the dough into 2 loaves, shape, and allow them to prove in two, well floured bread baskets, covered with cling film at room temperature until they doubled in size, about one and a half hours depending on the ambient temperature.

Step 3 - Baking

Spray or pour 50ml of water into your oven to generate steam. Open the door slightly and carefully remove the risen dough from the baskets and place them upside down into the preheated oven on a preheated tray or baking stone, spray with a little more water and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour until completely cool.

Pictures of us making Granary Bread

You'll be surprised how easy this is but, you might get tired out because of all the kneading!

Le Manoir - Intro

Today I visited  'Le Manoir' with my Mum, Ieuan ( A dedicated follower to my blog ) and Jane ( Ieuans Mum ) Renowned for it's fine dining and perfect cooking, also for its 2 Michelin Stars, this is cooking at its best. I was having a Cookery course there, could it get any better?

I will list my favourite Recipes as posts so you can browse them!

Borough Market here we come!

Today I went to Borough Market in London. We had lunch at a fantastic Tapas Restaurant called 'Tapas Brindisa.' We had Fried Potatoes with brava sauce, Octopus "galician style", Crispy Pork belly with quince sauce and Pan fried picanton chicken with romesco sauce. It was DELICIOUS! RECOMMENDED!  Go to this website to find out more about this amazing restaurant:  Tapas Brindisa Restaurant Website.

Just down the street there is a chocolate shop called 'The Rabot Estate'. With a wide variety of different types of chocolate in all shapes and sizes, I had no idea what to buy. In the end I bought some gemstone chocolates and I also got Caramel Road Chocolate Square. They were a great success and the gemstones were heveanly. Go to this website to find out more about these beautiful chocolates. The Rabot Estate Chocolate Shop Website.

We then strolled around looking for yummy stuff. We found a selection of great salami's that we couldn't stop ourselves from buying. We then headed over to the FRUIT & VEG section where we found a MASSIVE Lemon which would've cost us 3 POUNDS!! So, we decided to buy the oddest name of fruit in the shop. Which happened to be a kumquat.

We had never tried one before. Guess what, you can eat the outside aswell! The outside is sweet and the inside is sour. STRANGE! So we ate them whole and they were pretty good, now thats a weird fruit on your shopping list!

So we went on, and found, the BOSTON SAUSAGES! They were delicious tasters so we bought a few of them. They also deliver to your home. Go to this website to find out more about these delicious sausages: Boston Sausages Website.

The Quest continued, as we went on to buy some Biltong and Darjeeling Tea from 'Tea2you' Go to  Tea2you Website for more.

That was it, my food day looking. I recommend a trip to Borough Market for anyone who is interested in food, or is a little bit hungry!

I'll be updating you on my cookery course at the restaurant: 'Le Manoir'. Until then GET COOKING!

Griddled Prawns with a Spring Salad

Serves 4


Ingredients


24 (about 250g) Raw Peeled King Prawns, defrosted
6 Garlic Cloves, crushed
Grated Zest and juice of 1 Lemon
1 tsp Sea Salt mixed with 1 tsp Herbes De Provence
3 tbsp Olive Oil, PLUS Extra for Dressing
3 Large Courgettes, sliced into ribbons on a mandoline or with a peeler (although I used 1 and a half)
Large Bunch of Asparagus spears
100g Fresh or Frozen Peas
Small Bunch of Oregano, leaves picked

Equipment


Saucepan with lid
Skewers
Tongs
Griddle
Bowl
Drainer or Sieve
Mandoline or Peeler
Garlic Crusher

Method


Step 1


Mix the king prawns, garlic, lemon zest, herbed salt and olive oil together in a bowl, I accidentally put lemon juice in as well and it worked very well indeed. So you can try it if you want, but you will still need some more lemon juice for the Spring Salad. Cover and chill.

Step 2

These are the ingredients for the next part:

Preheat a griddle until hot. Brush the courgette with olive oil, then cook on the griddle, in batches, until lightly charred lines on both sides.

Step 3

Blanch the asparagus and peas in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain, then place in a salad bowl with the oregano and griddled courgettes. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil.

Step 4

Take some wooden skewers, depends on how many you're going to put on one, and thread on the marinated prawns. Here's is what they should look like:

Cook on the griddle for 1-2 minutes on each side until cooked through. Serve with the Salad.

I think the key to this, is firstly, get stuck in, don't think 'Oh, I must wash my hands because they are very sticky' because there is no fun in that at all! Secondly, don't panic if it goes wrong, just try and correct them, and in past experiences I have found that it tastes better sometimes!

Try this one, it's Easy, Fun, Thrilling and Sticky!
Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Easter Eggs

Ingredients


Chocolate (No specific amount just quite a lot)
Water (200ml approx.)

Equipment


Easter Egg Mould
Pastry Brush
Saucepan
Bowl (To fit over the saucepan)
Foil (Depends on how big the egg is going to be)

Method


Step 1


Get a saucepan, and fill it with a 200ml of water. Put a bowl over the saucepan. Put it on a low heat and melt the chocolate.

Step 2

When it has melted and is an oozing liquid...

Brush the melted chocolate onto the mould and make it quite thick. 

Step 3

Then, put the mould in the fridge to cool off that layer. Repeat this process until you get the desired thickness. Put it in the fridge and leave it there overnight.

Step 4

In the morning take the mould out and gently, without pushing too hard, ease out the now strong chocolate. It should now look like this, or something like it:

Step 5


You now have 2 halves. So, now you must melt some more chocolate and then you brush the chocolate onto the edges of the halves. Stick it together, and then put it in the fridge. Before you do that you can fill it with whatever you like.

Wait 2 hours or more and your chocolate will be strong. Cut off the uneven bits with a knife, then wrap in foil.

This Easy Recipe is a great present for someone, or even just a pleasurable thing for you.

ENJOY!

I'm going to Raymond Blanc's Restaurant for a cookery course on FRIDAY!

Guess what, I'm going to Raymond Blancs restaurant in London, Le Manoir, for a cookery course on FRIDAY!

Go on this link to find out more:

Raymond Blanc's Cookery School

I'll update you when I've done it.

HAPPY COOKING!