Fay’s Family Food and a Lovely Quick Summer Side Salad Recipe

This is a cookbook from Fay Ripley (remember the fantastic Cold Feet?) the actress - Fay’s Family Food which came out in 2009 published by Penguin, Micheal Joseph. It is indeed a family cookbook, as the title would suggest. You may think that is a funny point for me to make, but I have found a lot of 'family' ’recipes in books are way too spicey for me, let alone any children I am trying to feed! Not this one though, lots of ideas for feeding the family, and the recipes are all geared towards feeding young children and adults alike as the food is unseasoned in cooking, then you season on your own plate.
I’m beyond the unseasoned food point (fortunately!), but it is good to have the pointers, if you are trying to feed the whole family the same food. Chapters are: Breakfast at Ripley’s, Red Meat, White Meat, No Meat, Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic Puddings and It’s my Party and I’ll Eat Sugar if I Want Too.

I have always thought of Fay as being a very funny woman, and it comes across in some of her writing, I was laughing out loud several times at her witty prose. The tale of the bluebottle in the introduction to the No Meat chapter springs to mind.
I’ve enjoyed most of the things I’ve cooked from this book with two exceptions – the quick steak stroganoff and creamy boursin salmon pasta, I’m not saying they are bad recipes, but these two were not my family’s thing. Having said that though, there is plenty that we have enjoyed, and indeed I’d have paid the price of the book for her Chicken Soup recipe alone, which is top notch and so good. It’s nothing like my Mum’s chicken broth, but still I crave it. Parker’s Cheese on Toast also went down very well, no picture of the toast though.

Here are some of the things I’ve cooked with pictures.

Sausage Rolls
What a revelation these were, uncooked sausages, wrapped in bought puff pastry and baked in the oven, best sausage rolls ever!

Made up Tuscan Sausage Stew
I loved this, made it when it was very cold outside, and it was filling and comforting - lovely.

One Pot Lemon and Thyme Chicken Casserole
Another good one - chicken, veggies and brown basmati rice.

Cobbled salad
I went with Fay’s recommended selection here, but you could easily alter it to suit your family. Very pretty for supper in the garden.

Creamy Lemon Pots
This one looks lovely, but it wasn’t one of our favourites.

Warm Chicken and Pesto Salad
A simple filling tea time dish.

Chicken Soup
First class, excellent! If you make nothing else from this book – make this!! It’s so comforting and good, yet bright and sprightly with the addition of lemon.

Cheats Tomato and Bacon Risotto
This is such a cheat of a recipe, but it delivers a comforting rice dish with lots of flavour.

My Normal Pasta Bake
Liked this one too. My Hubby doesn’t like tuna, or sweetcorn off the cob. Did I convert him? No, made it one night when he was away. I’ve tried at least four tuna and sweetcorn pasta bakes, and this is the best so far, easily.

Nutty Pomegranate Salad
This is lovely. Nice for this time of year, but good in Winter too when it’s a blast of fresh light salad. We like this with the home-made sausage rolls above.

Nutty Pomegranate Salad – A simple, refreshing light and delicious salad
Fom Fay’s Family Food by Fay Ripley published by Penguin, Micheal Joseph 2009. I add the seasoning to the salad and also peel the cucumber, but do leave the skin on as in Fay’s own recipe if you like. Note: contains nuts. Obviously, do not add the nuts if your child is not old enough to cope with them! I have made this recipe lots, and don’t always remember to add the nuts, it’s good with or without them.

50g cashew nuts
1 smallish cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
¼ of a red onion, peeled and finely chopped
pomegranate seeds from 1 pomegranate or 1 or two boxes of ready to use seeds
2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro) leaf, chopped
2 ripe avocados, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ to 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180 oC and toast the nuts on a baking sheet for 8 to 15 minutes, keep checking as they burn easily. Let cool.

Place the nuts, cucumber, onion, seeds, coriander and avocados in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Giada at Home

Cheese Stuffed Dates with Procuitto

I’m a big fan of Giada, she is up there in kitchen stars category with Nigella for me. So it was with much anticipation that I read my copy of Giada at Home By Giada de Laurentiis was in its way. This is her fifth book – and I love it! Sometimes Italian, sometimes Californian maybe even a bit of a mix of the two in some recipes too. The recipes are fresh, delicious, often healthy and all with a little Giada touch.
Those of us in the UK can now watch her on the Food Network channel here (262 and 263 on Sky). I would so like to see her programmes on in the evening, when they’d be easier time wise to watch. Most of the recipes from the programmes Giada at Home (although certainly not all) are here in the book. It’s nicely laid out, beautiful pictures mostly of food, but with a number of Giada and her family too.
I have SO many recipes in this book marked to try, and here are some of the first batch.

Picture at top of post
Cheese Stuffed Dates with Procuitto
These are so beautiful to look at, and they taste, well creamy, cheesy, sweet, a little sharp from the goats cheese and salty from the procuitto. I’m going to try these with another cheese too, just haven’t quite worked out what yet…

Pasta Ponza
Tomatoes and capers make this oven baked sauce just burst with flavour, yum.

Gorgonzola and Porcini Risotto
A nice mushroom risotto, didn’t have quite as much punch as I thought it would.

Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun Dried Tomatoes
The turkey here is quite strong, but my little people were very keen indeed. All the add-ins make it a moist and delicious meatloaf.

Grilled Asparagus and Melon Salad
This salad of grilled asparagus (I used a ridged non stick grill pan for the top of the cooker/stove) mixed with the juicy melon, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts and a lemony dressing was really, really delicious.

Lettuce, Basil and Mint Salad with Parmesan Butter Crostini
Unusual this one, but we liked it a lot.

White Chocolate Dipped Almond and Lemon Biscotti
Lovely, and they kept ages in the cookie jar. I double dipped them as I had lots of chocolate left.

Chocolate Honey Almond Tart
I’ve made this one a few times, I love the taste and almost soft fudge texture the honey gives to the chocolate. Needs a bit of cream, and also great with pomegranate seeds. I’ll make it again in the Summer when I'll use raspberries as an accompaniment.

Penne with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Creamy and gentle this one, little peeps loved it.

Olive and Sundried Tomato Vegetables
This was a great side dish combo, I cut the olive oil in the recipe considerably, and it was still fine for us.

Nonna Luna’s Rice
Oh my. I love this recipe, I’m not sure how many times I’ve made it now. The first time I was a little worried about the Tabasco, as I’m a real chilli wimp. It was as hot as I can go, but still I absolutely love it, crave it even! I tend to reduce the creamy sauce a bit, just to coat the prawns, but this is a matter of taste depending on how thin / thick you like your sauces.

Nonna Luna’s Rice
From Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis published 2010 by Clarkson Potter. Giada says to use parboiled rice like Uncle Ben’s, but I used Uncle Ben’s long grain rice and it worked out well for me. Serves 2 to 3.
2 ounces unsalted butter
1 cups long-grain rice, like Uncle Ben's
14 fl oz chicken stock, hot
Good pinch salt
1 clove garlic
12 oz to 1 lb raw prawns, peeled and deveined
2 fl oz lemon juice
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce, divided into 2 x half tablespoons
4 fl oz double cream
Freshly ground black pepper

1.In a medium nonstick saucepan, heat 1 oz of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the rice salt and ½ a tablespoon of Tabasco sauce then cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 6 to 7 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes to 15 minutes until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and rest covered for 5 minutes.
3. In a large frying pan, melt the remaining 1oz of butter over medium heat. Add the whole clove of garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes until aromatic. Add the prawns, lemon juice, and remaining ½ tablespoon of Tobasco sauce. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Stir in the cream and heat through, bubble and reduce for a few minutes if you’d like a thicker sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Using a fork, fluff the rice and arrange on a platter. Spoon the shrimp cream sauce over the rice and serve.

Nigella's Feast

There is nothing I like more than a weekend morning potter around the kitchen with Feast by Nigella Lawson on the cookbook stand cooking up something delicious for my family later that day or throughout the weekend. I can’t tell you how often when I do this the weather is sunny and there is a little breeze coming in through the window, and I give thanks to God I can tell you =)
Feast is most definitely one of my very favourite cookbooks. When it came out I cooked from it relentlessly for a long time. Just before my obsession came to an end I started blogging, and I sometimes think it’s a shame that I didn’t blog at that point, as I’d like to look back at all of what I’ve cooked from Feast, and also to share with you.
I’ve recently started to cook from Feast again, and have taken new pictures of the same recipes, but where I’ve liked the older pictures better, I’ve gone with them. This is the first of a couple of big Feast picture posts I’m planning. Now is a good time, as I’m guessing I may have a new favourite soon. In the form of Nigella’s new one, officially announced (last week) as due out in the UK in September – "Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home". There is to be a 13 part TV series too I’ve read =)
In the following pictures you’ll see six from the Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame chapter, I’ve cooked all except one (the chocolate chestnut one). I’ve always meant to cook the last one on my list to, but somehow have never gotten round to it, well not yet anyhow.

Chocolate Fruit Cake
An extremely moist fruit cake, fruity with the usual fruit and prunes (which I love) too. Not overtly chocolate-y and doesn’t taste of the Tia Maria coffee liqueur in it either, it just all adds to the depth of flavour this cake.

Chocolate Honey Cake
A really intense chocolate his this one, very small portions! I very mich enjoyed making the marzipan bees, mine are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I still like them a lot. I couldn’t force myself to dot the bees all over the cake, I’m far to ordered for that (!), so a bee ring it was.

Chocolate Orange Cake
A simple chocolate and orange cake, low fat and flour free, so perfect if you have issues with flour. I had to decorate it a bit, so I melted a little milk chocolate and dotted spots round the cake, which I toped with candied orange slices. Overnight the moisture from the chocolate seeps into the candied orange and makes them taste better and look like little jewels to boot.

Chocolate Raspberry Heart
Chocolate, cream and raspberries. A classic cake, and very pretty in real like too.

Old fashioned Chocolate Cake
A plain iced chocolate cake. I made this cake first the day of Prince Charles and Camilla got married, five years ago. I’ve kept the picture though and never see this cake without thinking of them. I’m not even royalist, maybe just very sentimental, with high hope for love and romance.

Rigatoni al Forno
This make a huge dish of pasta, but then it is for feeding a crowd.

Cornbread topped Chilli Con Carne
We love the chilli, and I’ve made it lots of times, but alas the cornbread topping was really not our thing. The guacamole is fabulous too.

Chocolate Cheesecake
Smooth, smooth, smooth and chocolate-y!

Rococoa Cake
I was so chuffed with myself the first time I made this, it is so pretty, tastes great too.

Easter Egg Nest Cake
This is another pretty one. The chocolate cream made it too rich for us, I’d rather just have simple whipped cream on top of the cake.

Holiday Trifle
Apricot and pandoro trifle. No alcohol, so fine for all the family. Flavoured with cardamon and topped with honey, pistachios and almonds.

Georgian Cherry Rice
Goodness, I love this rice! Fruit and rice, oh yes!! I have often made this in a pan as an accompaniment to other dishes, it doesn’t have the depth of flavour of being cooked inside the roast chicken, but I like it either way.

Georgian Stuffed Chicken with Beetroot Puree and Green Beans in Herbed Yoghurt
Lovely, I like a bit of pan juices-gravy with this too. A real feast.

Kedgeree Risotto
This is gorgeous. I don’t often do fishy risotto, don’t know why because the two I do make I just adore.

Malteser Cake
I’ve kept the best till last. One of my all time favourite cakes, moist and tender sponge, malty frosting and a few Maltesers for good measure. I have made this one for so many different things, a family tradition in our house now. I know from reading on food forums and Nigella.com that this cake and the Chocolate Guinness one have people really divided. They both seem to be loved or loathed, I dislike the Guinness one with a passion, but love this one in equal measure. I’m sure there is a chocolate cake to please everyone in the Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame.

Feed Me Now

This posts book Feed Me Now by Bill Granger (Quadrille Publishing) came out last year in 2009. I am conscious of neglecting my Bill books a bit, I guess it happens when you have, ahem – well too many cookbooks, don’t tell anyone I said that now will you? Recently though, I got my new Bill off the shelf and we have enjoyed a number of great family meals from it since.

The chapters are Rise and Shine, Midday Fuel, Afternoon Treat, Family Fare, The Dinner Dash, On a Shoestring, Freeze Me, Friends Over and Sweet Dreams. The layout is clean and bold, but softened too by very good use of colour in the text. This book is a bit bigger in page size than most, loads of fresh, light and gorgeous looking pictures and all the recipes I’ve tried have worked really well.

The book is as the title would suggest for feeding yourself and your family right now, when you haven’t long to linger over the prep and cooking, the results are fresh and delicious though, and good for busy days cooking.

Some more recipes I have on my list from this book are Italian Onion Soup, Melt and Mix Lemon Slice, Grilled Beef with Sweet Chilli Relish, Fettuccine with Asparagus Pesto, Pork Steaks with Cashew Nut Salsa and Gooey Chocolate Cake with Raspberries.

Porcini and Pancetta Risotto
I did use Bill’s recipe here, but varied it a little by using 2 leeks instead of onions, Marsala instead of white wine and stirring through one tablespoon of mascarpone at the end. I only did this really to use up bit and pieces I already had, but I’m sure Bill would not mind, he seems a very easy going cook on TV. It was delicious.

Baked Chicken with Lemon, Potato and Green Olives
Quick, tasty and kind of comforting too, what more could you want for a quick midweek meal?

Spicy Prawn Stir Fry
This is at its most basic a Thai red curry, it’s quick because it uses a bought paste, but it’s a lot lighter than many of its kind as there are lots of vegetables and not too much coconut milk. I love this one a lot.

Chicken and Shitake Stir Fry
Great family friendly Asian stir fry, but then I really adore kecap manis. I thickened up the juices at the end, by adding one teaspoon of cornflour (mixed with some water to make a smooth paste) at the end. Have made this one a number of times.

Grilled Pork with Warm Cranberry Dressing and Pistachios
This was just gorgeous, my family are big fans of meat and fruit together, and this was right up our street. Very nice supper indeed.

Blueberry Tea Cake
I tend to think of Bill for savoury recipes more than sweet, I’m not sure why this is. After trying this cake though I’, going to try more of his sweet ones, it’s really knockout. The blueberries are juicy, the sponge moist, the icing a perfect crowing glory.
For the recipe for this wonderful cake click here.

Orange Tian Daring Bakers March 2010

A quick post here as I’m late, I did make the challenge in time, but didn’t manage to post yesterday.

Sablee and marmalade
This months Daring Baker choice came from Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. A dessert that she first made while she was at the Alain Ducasse Cooking School in Paris. It is a baked pate sablee, home-made marmalade, set gelatine cream and orange-caramel soaked orange segments and some more of the sauce on the side. It’s moulded upside down and turned out, I made it family style in one bid (8") cake tin as that suited how I was serving it best. Individuals moulds would be lovely too though.

Orange segment lined cake tin
It’s a dessert with numerous stages, but well worth it we thought, it was a gorgeous, creamy, fruity, treaty dessert. The gelatine set cream is one of the very best I’ve come across, a member of the Daring Bakers, Heidi (who doesn’t have a blog) did it with strawberries in heart shaped moulds, they were absolutely gerogeous! Will give that a go in the Summer-time, I just know it’d be delicious.

Ready for the set cream to be mae and the whole dessert assembled
With thanks to Jennifer for choosing a fabulous dessert. Recipe and blogroll here on the Daring Kitchen website.

And the Winner of Eat Me Is

Smartie Cookies, after baking

The winner of Eat Me! The Stupendous, Self-Rising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton is Carla of Four Foodies. I’ll be in touch about sending it to you! Well done Carla, and thank you to everyone who entered.
Here is a couple more recipes I’ve made from this excellent book:

Snowdrift Shortbread
I take on Millionaires shortbread, just with white chocolate and coconut on top, very good, best on day made we thought.

Before baking
Smartie Cookies
I’ve tried a few Smartie cookies in the past, and this one is the clear winner. I suspect it’s the chopped white chocolate that is enclosed into the balls of uncooked cookie dough before being studded with the colourful smarties. I made this for my little one and a friend who came to play on Friday. The friend said she had tried (bought) smartie cookies before, and refused a taste! Isn’t it always the way? Best laid intentions and all that. Cookie Girl says these are just as loved by adults as children, and it’s true; the little friend must have been the exception to the rule - everyone else has loved them and my batch has all but disappeared!
Think I’ll do Easter cupcakes and Easter cookies next. Mmmm.