As Strong As Soup

I'm sorry that I've been a bit quiet lately but sadly life's been keeping me out the kitchen and out of touch. Spring is finally here but, before we forget about the need for warming beef casseroles during the colder months, here's one of my favourite comforting beef dishes - although this recipe works at any time of the year, honest. My version sticks fairly close to the classic Carbonade Flamande recipe, or at least to the one I learnt in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. There are plenty of variations around so please don’t shout at me if it doesn’t sound authentic or even truly ch’ti to you. The problem that I have with a lot of beer-based casseroles is that they can become too bitter for my taste. The clever thing about this dish is that the flavours are balanced by adding pain d’épices, which not only adds sweetness, but also adds a gentle hint of spice and helps to thicken the sauce. If you can’t find pain d’épices then you could make your own (my recipe is here ) or ...

I wasn't sure how to describe this dish but, in case you haven't come across it before, let's say that it’s a light and subtly flavoured flan-type thing and that it makes a very pleasing and simple dessert. It's a traditional recipe from the Charente or, at least, that's where I first heard of it. Since then I've found that there are many similar recipes from various parts of the south of France. They all have maize flour and eggs in common although there are plenty of other variations. If you've read any of the other posts in this blog you might have gathered that authenticity is not something that I worry about too much, so I certainly wouldn't claim that this is the real deal. My recipe is closest to the Charente version (well it has cognac) but is actually a bit of a mix between a number of the recipes that have fallen into my lap. Anyway, it's the way I like it – very eggy, fairly sweet and with a balance of lemon and cognac flavours. I hope...

If I'm called on to cook any sort of fancy or special meal for a few people then there's a pretty good chance that the starter will be a meze-style selection of dips and other little dishes. That's partly because I can make them in advance but it's also because that's just the way I like to eat. I often use peppers in dips and this particular version has developed a stronger flavour over time. It started out as vaguely North African, then suffered a bit of Spanish influence and now has a hint of Mexico, I suppose. I don't use green peppers very often in cooking but in this dish the slightly sour qualities are essential. Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog has set an interesting task for the February We Should Cocoa challenge: a savoury, vegetarian dish including chocolate. So this should fit the bill. You could add some chillies for heat and other flavours such as garlic or more spices. They would work in this dip, but I prefer the purer flavour of peppers, espec...

The Random Recipe challenge hosted by Dom over at Belleau Kitchen has reached its first birthday and for this anniversary challenge Dom has asked us to return to the book we used for the first ever event. For me that was the ‘The Cuisine of Alain Senderens’. I have huge admiration and respect for M Senderens , mostly for his masterly cuisine but also because he had the courage to tell the Michelin guide he didn't really want his three stars any more. On the other hand, finding a recipe that would be suitable for the challenge wasn’t easy, partly because we're trying to eat a little less fat around here at the moment and partly because we're not rich. The recipes in this particular book take no prisoners. They include a lot of cream and butter as well as plenty of lobster, turbot, oysters and frog's legs. Eventually, after a few random attempts, I came across this dish, although I confess that I've simplified the recipe and reduced the fat a little. The result is s...

If you’re longing for some sunshine or need a little cheering up, then I can definitely recommend this cake. To me, it tastes like pure sunshine in cake form – moist, crumbly, buttery and very lemony. It’s based on a recipe by Salvatore De Riso , the celebrated pastry chef and baker from the Amalfi coast. There are a lot of lemons needed for this cake, but then there are a lot of lemons on the Amalfi coast so that’s the way it has to be. In fact, it calls for a fair bit of candied lemon peel and I know that candied peel is likely to make some people avoid this cake. I used to feel that way thanks to the poor quality candied peel that I’d eaten in the past. Buy good quality or, better still, make your own candied peel, however, and the taste and texture are so much better. For use in baking I prefer to avoid using most of the pith and so it will take 3 or 4 lemons, depending on their size, to make enough candied peel for this cake You may well have your own method of making candied ...

I'm ashamed to say that if asked a year or two ago I would have guessed that ‘nduja was an obscure form of martial art undertaken only by itinerant goatherds in Tibet. These days I know that it’s a soft, fiery Calabrian pork sausage, which is delicious eaten as it is with a little bread but also makes an excellent addition to risottos, pasta sauces, stews and, as in this case, soups. If you haven’t tried it, you may be put off by the price or by the fact that it’s become a tad trendy. Please ignore the trendiness and, although it can be quite expensive, a little does go a long way. The sweetness of squash combines well with the ‘nduja and I used the variety 'crown prince' to make this soup. Crown prince is difficult to peel but has a lovely nutty flavour with a rather dry texture that I like a lot. Other types of squash will also work perfectly well. This same combination of roasted squash and ‘nduja can also be used to make an excellent risotto, especially if some chop...

I’ve made a few versions of this dish in the past but I can’t remember where I first came across the recipe. Until recently I’ve used a more complicated set of spices and only dried chillies. Back in 2010, though, a local restaurant 'Massala' (now sadly defunct) sent out a newsletter containing a recipe for laal maans that used fresh chillies and black and green cardamom. I've not used the 'Massala' recipe here but I’ve taken those two ideas and shoehorned them into the recipe I’d already scribbled down from somewhere else. Anyway, this is my version of laal maans and I like it even though it’s almost certainly a very long way from an authentic Rajasthan dish now that I've finished messing about with it. This should serve 2. 3 red chillies, deseeded and chopped ½ tsp hot chilli powder 1 tsp turmeric 150 ml yoghurt 2 onions, peeled and finely sliced 3 cloves garlic, crushed 2 black cardamom pods 3 green cardamom pods 375 g lamb neck fillet, cut into chu...