Friday Night Cooking with Friends

This evening we decided to do some hearty cooking, and decided to make a pasta recipe that one of my student's mums gave to me. It was her secret recipe that she always made for dinner parties and never revealed the recipe - so she said I was quite privileged to receive it! (...and here I am passing this on to you, lets hope she hasn't found my blog yet.) Its a foolproof recipe that tastes great, takes a bit of time - but ideal for enjoying a glass of wine and chatting whilst preparing and cooking (and not too tricky to multitask, if you are worrying!). Here is a recipe for 2, so you can alter accordingly. Actually this is 2, with a bit left over for lunch the next day, as its great the next day when the flavours have infused even more.

Rigatoni alla salsiccia
4 excellent quality italian sausages
2 tins of tomatoes
about 1/3 bottle of red wine
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
basil leaves
parmesan cheese, freshly grated
extra virgin olive oil
Optional: double cream


Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pan - a deep frying pan is ideal - and add the very finely chopped shallots and garlic. (if you are making this and need to use onions instead, thats fine) Whilst they are gently softening, prepare the sausages. This is quite fun and satisfying: squeeze the sausage meat out of the skins, and then divide the meat up into small amounts, and make meatballs in your hands by forming them into small balls. Add these to the pan, and ensure there is enough oil to allow them to brown all over. Once they have got colour to them and are going brown, add the red wine, and ensure the heat is turned up. Allow this to simmer and most of the red wine to get absorbed. This can take around 20 minutes. Be patient, its worth it. Adding the wine prior to the tomatoes is key here - it ensures that the sausage meat really absorbs the flavour. Once its nearly absorbed, add the tomatoes. Then add a bit more red wine for good measure. Mix it gently, and tear up the basil leaves into the pan and stir. Did you know that the stalks of the basil are very flavoursome? I learnt that this week from my Mum. Allow this to simmer for about 20 minutes, then add the grated parmesan and stir in. Turn off the heat and put a lid on it for 5 mins. At this stage you can add about 3 tablespoons of double cream if you like - we didn't tonight, so I'll make it another time so you can see a photo - but its great with or without. It depends how indulgent you are feeling.
Whenever you make a pasta sauce or a risotto, its important to turn off the heat, and let it 'rest' with a lid on the pan for 5 minutes before serving. I'm not exactly sure why, but I learnt this in Italy and it always seems to taste better, so I believe it.

Here are some photos, from the start when the meatballs are cooking with the red wine, to the pasta ready to eat! (Tip: Add a bit of oil to the water when bringing it to the boil, to stop the pasta sticking, and some salt).

We also made a lovely salad to go with it - of mixed leaves, avocado and walnut pieces. You can add oil and balsamic vinegar as desired.

I hope you enjoy making this, and eating it! Your guests will love it. Buona serata!

Herbs in the City

So this evening I decided to start a mini herb garden in my very ungreen surroundings. I don't have any form of garden, nor do garden centres seem to exist in the square mile, but I discovered how surprisingly easy it is to obtain a plant pot and compost in the city! A very nice florist in Angel advised me to go to (of all the places) a cheap pound store at Angel, where I got a big terracotta coloured long plant pot and compost, and I popped next door into Waitrose and bought some herbs - in half an hour I had created a lovely herb garden. Now I do not claim to be much of a gardener (any tips would be appreciated) but my herbs would always die in the pots from the supermarket, or I'd use them up too quickly, so I figured I'd try this out. I'll keep you posted - I hope they continue to grow and replenish! Can you tell what herbs are in the pot in the photo? I just made some fresh mint tea with the leaves, and it was so delicious. I'm pretty sure mint tea is really good for the digestive system too, as well as tasting nice.

As well as some new recipes, I have a few other reviews to give and recommendations of places to try. First of all, (this will come as much of a surprise to you as it was to me), but I bought a latte from a cafe at Reading station called Tutti Frutti, and I could not believe how good it was! And I am without doubt one of the fussiest coffee drinkers. The cafe also sold very nice looking chocolates, and amazing looking gelato (ice cream). I just had to take some photos:

I realise most people's average day would not include a trip to Reading out of choice, and you can get equally good coffee and ice cream, in fact better, in London - so fear not!
Marine Ices at Chalk Farm is an Italian place that has been making ice cream for something like one hundred years, and its amazing. There is also a restaurant, which is really quite simple (called a Trattoria in Italian - for your vocabulary to impress people) and its brilliant. Its just opposite the Roundhouse.
If you ever find youself in Oxford -G&D's is the local gem of an ice cream/coffee parlour - there are a couple branches (Jericho, Cowley Road and just off the High Street).
Anyway, back to London - so for coffee here in London, that will have to be a whole separate entry on its own - but for now, try Monmouth Coffee in Borough Market (there is a queue in the morning, thats got to be a good sign most of the time). I think it would also be a crime if I didn't mention Manon cafe, an amazing cafe in the city on Fleet Street. There is a branch at Bank too, on King William Street.

This isn't a particularly long entry - but more to come tomorrow. I plan to make something with my herbs! And also I'll include the recipes for the chicken and the salad.

So 'eggcited' for my first week of blogging about food I cook

Something that people often find difficult to achieve is a perfect soft boiled egg - now I know Delia Smith already did this in her How to Cook books, but I see no harm in including this incase you haven't read her books or just need a quick refresher. Its a perfect sunday evening teatime meal, if you have had a big lunch. Incidentally in reference to saturday's entry, I didn't get back in time to cook a hearty roast last night, but I promise that will come soon.

Perfect Soft Boiled Eggs


Bring water to the boil in a pan so that its enough to cover the eggs. Whilst the water is heating, put the kettle on so you can have a cup of tea with your egg, and put your bread in the toaster. Asparagus also goes really well dipped into a boiled egg.
When the water is boiling, lower the eggs into the water carefully, and put a timer on immediately for 4 minutes (I always use my iPhone timer, since the timer sounds like my phone ringing, so I won't miss it!). Timing is everything here: make your tea in the teapot (anyone who has tea with me knows I have to make it in a teapot - just something my mum has always done and I assure you it takes better. Also, incidentally, I really recommend Yorkshire Tea, if you haven't tried it-they even have tea suitable for more hard water areas)  put the toaster on, or put your asparagus in a bowl with a little bit of water and cover with a plate and put in the microwave for 4 mins to steam it. (I got the idea to steam vegetables in the microwave from someone, and it's genius - no mess or hassle, and the vegetables retain their flavour, colour and vitamins more than boiling). Butter your toast when its ready and cut it into soldiers. When the timer goes off, take the eggs out and put them in the egg cup and cup the top off immediately. Here you can save any potential disaster: if the egg isn't quite cooked enough to your liking, put the top back on it and it will retain heat and continue to cook a little bit. If the egg is in danger of going hard boiled, taking the top off will prevent this. And there you go - a seemingly large amount of text just to make boiled eggs you say - but there were some other hints and tips in there too!

Now for a cafe review, as a promised in my last entry. New cafes are always popping up all over London, and I love any excuse to try out the coffee in particular.
I was very fortunate to spend a year living in Bologna in Italy (I'll write a whole separate entry about the city, in case you ever visit), the city which is the gastronomical capital of the country. A popular lunch time food is the 'piadina' - the only thing I could compare it to is a mexican fajita wrap that is filled with a lovely filling and heated. But the bread actually tastes very different and much better. Anyway - it was pretty tricky to find a piadina anywhere except for the Romagna region of Italy (Bologna and surrounding area), so imagine my surprise when I came across a cafe in Farringdon selling them!

Piada is an Italian cafe on St John's Street, just a stone's throw from Farringdon station. Its clientele reflect the ever present City workers, as well as the more arty and creative side of Farringdon and Clerkenwell. The coffee is pretty good - cappuccino, latte, macchiato and espresso. I asked for an iced latte one morning, and although they didn't have ice (unlike the cafe Eat opposite), they just poured cold milk into a shot of espresso and it was delicious. Another thing to try in the morning is one of their croissants, and ask them to fill it with marmellata - italian, for jam. Its delicious! Don't get there too late though, they run out of croissants. They also have lovely petite lemon cakes that complement a morning cappuccino very well indeed. I don't know what these are called, but I'll look in my Italian cakes recipe book and find out.
At lunch time, they prepare two kinds of pasta with a fresh sauce on offer - each day they use a different type of pasta (not just boring farfalle or penne, but really interesting shapes and textures), and the sauces are completely authentic Italian (they do meat and vegetarian sauces). Traditional bolognese from the region, arrabiatta, amatriciana (tomato and ham sauce) are just a quarter of the week's innovative yet traditional sauces on offer. What I love is that the sauces are cooked on a stove behind the till, and when the pasta is finished, its all gone - unlike the chain cafes where they jsut seem to bring more out from behind the scenes. Must be something to do with human nature and supply and demand - if something runs out and you can't have it, it makes you want it even more next time.
And now for the piadina: this is the Italian flatbread sandwich, and they have specialities of the day, but very common and tasty fillings are parma ham and mozzarella, or mozzarella, tomato and basil.
The cafe also does some salads each day. So whether you are on a hunt for carbs for lunch, or just a healthy salad - they have it all! They also have some nice San Pellegrino fizzy drinks - aranciata (orange) or limonata (bitter lemon). They also have iced Illy coffee in a can (I haven't had the guts to try this yet). They quality of ingredients is really high, which makes flavours delicious. Presentation is rustic chic, and all staff are many clientele are Italian - which in my opinion says it all! The staff are very friendly, and often give me a free cake to go with my lunch. Test out your Italian on them! They are really welcoming, and remembered me after a couple visits. I recommend you try this out!
There is also a great pizza al taglio place next door - I'll write more about this another time! But do pop in to get an Italian juice called ACE (its named after the fruit in it - orange, carrot and lemon - sounds strange, but I guarantee you'd like it!)

I hope you've enjoyed reading - look out next time for a salad with a dressing without garlic (I ran out), chicken cooked in lime juice, and a sweet potato and pancetta dish - complete with photos!

City girl 'desserts' the Big Smoke for the weekend in pursuit of baking

Welcome to my food blog 'The Pickled Gherkin' - named by my infamous riverdancing friend...

Anyone that knows me knows exactly how much I love food (and Waitrose!!) and how much I love to cook and bake. I decided to write this blog to share the love and all things culinary. Thanks to my Mum, who is an amazing cook, I have always been inspired by the food that she cooks, and I must credit her with teaching me to cook - as well as a year I spent living in Italy, trying out every restaurant and bar that I possibly could! All in the name of research, naturally. So you can expect to see honest reviews of new places in London to try out!

So as well as writing about how much I love food, I'm going to share with you the recipes that I cook, so you can try them too. And before you think you don't have the time - let me assure you that I pack as much in my day as is physically possible, and still make time to cook (most of the time - although my flatmate will tell you that, yes, I did once eat a Waitrose ready meal).  As an added bonus to encourage you to cook my recipes, I am also a student on a modest food budget (so I can still buy nice handbags and shoes!!!) and I still insist on buying good ingredients, so this isn't going to be an expensive hobby. Oh, and I am also quite health conscious (I say quite, I do love indulgent recipes) so whether you are trying to eat lots of protein or avoid carbs in your dinner, this is the place for you. If you are thinking of the movie Julie and Julia right now (a film about a food blog of Julia Child's book) I am no where near as complicated or expensive :-D

I am a particular fan of the Hummingbird Bakery and Nigella Lawson cookery books. But when it comes to savoury food, this is when I like to get creative. So, for my first food entry, I will show you a Sea Bass Recipe that I cooked for myself and a friend the other night. I found two pieces of sea bass on offer in Waitrose on my way home, and it happened to come with some fennel butter. Quite often I prefer not to use pre-made condiments, but we decided to give this a go, and it was quite a success.
So here is how I made it:

2 pieces of sea bass
1 lemon (zest and juice)
White wine
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 tomato
1 portobello mushroom
parsley

Vegetables:
2 pieces of corn on the cob (Waitrose essential, about 90p)
2 courgettes
1 clove of garlic
Fresh mint
Rice

Preparing this meal took about 15 minutes, depending on how efficient you are, and then you can go and do whatever else you need to do. Put the sea bass in a pan for the oven, and put, on top of both pieces, a tomato cut into slices, the mushroom sliced and some lemon zest (you can zest a lemon with a parmesan cheese grater). Then squeeze half the lemon onto the fish, cut this squeezed half into slices and put it on the fish. Pour on a bit of white wine (maybe half a small glass - 87.5ml to be precise, but I rarely measure things) and some olive oil, with a few sprigs of parsley if you have it. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, too. Pop this in the oven on about 170 degrees centigrade - gas mark 3 (I was also baking a cake and this was the designated temperature) and it will take about 20 mins. This is enough time to cook some rice and vegetables to go with it.
Rice is very easy to cook and doesn't need to involve a sieve (!) - just do double the quantity of water to rice in the pan with a bit of salt, let the water come to boiling and then turn the heat down to simmer. If you are cooking for 2 people, this will take about 15 mins. Add more water if it looks like it needs it.
I also cooked some Corn on the Cob (boil in water for 8 mins) and a courgette (zucchini, for my American/Canadian readers) dish.
The Courgette Dish is something I discovered in Italy - it is easy and quick to make and very tasty and fresh:
Slice two courgettes with a vegetable peeler (its easier than a knife), and fry these in a pan with some olive oil and garlic. When they have gone soft (5 mins), take them out the pan and add some finely chopped mint. Et voila!

So... an easy dish to make, and delicious. You could substitute the rice for another vegetable if you want to avoid carbs in the evening. I forgot to take a photo of this, but I'm sure I'll make it again and post a photo.

Whilst the fish was cooking, I made a cake to take to rehearsal the next day, a variation on one of my favourite cakes from the Hummingbird Bakery. Here is how to do it. This does involve a bit of measuring, but it isn't complicated. Here are the ingredients for one English size loaf tin, if you have a big American loaf tin, double the quantity.

175g butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder
140g soured cream
1 punnet fresh raspberries

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder. Then add the soured cream, followed by the raspberries. Try not to mash raspberries up too much when you mix them in or the mixture will become pink! (could be a nice effect, though.)
Wipe the butter wrapper around the loaf tin to grease it, and then put some flour in the tin and shake it about to coat it. Tip away the excess flour. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, and put it in the oven on 170 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes. You can check it's done by putting a clean knife into the cake, and if it comes out clean, it's cooked. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack or a plate, and allow it to cool. It is also tasty warm, though! Bon appetit!
This cake works really well with a Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat together 150g of icing sugar and 25g butter, and then beat in 60g of cream cheese. Add a little bit of lemon juice. Frost the cake with the icing.
Here is the photo of the Raspberry Cake (without frosting):

I also made some Glitzy Chocolate Puddings the other day, and here is a photo. Recipe to follow another day!

I should also probably explain the title of my first blog post. Today I am at home, escaping from the Big Smoke and enjoying some lush green countryside and home cooking, and my sisters had baked two amazing cakes for a party tomorrow, and here are some photos. The cake with cream cheese frosting is the recipe above, but with blueberries inside it, instead of raspberries. The chocolate cake is a recipe I'll keep secret just now... I promise it will be worth keeping up with the next few instalments to find out the recipes for the chocolate cake and the glitzy puddings!

Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Leaves

So for now, good night! I hope you enjoyed reading my first post! Tomorrow might be how I make an impressive, hearty roast dinner perfect for a sunday evening with friends, as long as I get back to London in time!
There will also be a review of a gem of an Italian cafe in Farringdon for you to try next week, serving authentic piadina from the Romagna region of Italy.
Until tomorrow...