oven dried tomatoes

I was given a copy of Eden cookbook a few years ago and it has been a favorite of mine ever since. It is my go to reference book for quantities and measurements for larder staples and sauces, onion marmalade, pickled cucumber, those sorts of little things that make something ordinary into something special.

Oven-dried tomatoes is one of the things I make regularly from the book - this method makes bad tomatoes good and good tomatoes great. Now is the time of year that the bulk of tomatoes ripen in the green houses and poly tunnels with a little bit of September sunshine.

Eat these immediately adding them to salads and sandwiches. I prefer to keep them in the fridge for a week or two in an airtight jar covered in a good olive oil and put them on pizza or into a pasta sauce for a burst of deep tomato flavor. Use the oil you kept them in for salad dressings, it is too delicious to waste. Or, as soon as they are cool, freeze on a sheet and then transfer to a zipped freezer bag where they will last for months. A little taste of summer to lift your spirits in the depths of winter.

Oven dried tomatos
Adapted from Eden Cookbook

20g sea salt
8 plum/24 cherry tomatoes halved or quartered depending on size
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots peeled or finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
1 sprig rosemary roughly chopped
1 sprig thyme roughly chopped
10g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 100C/200F - the bottom oven of an Aga is also perfect.

Sprinkle salt on the baking tray (non-metallic) place the tomatoes on the salt skin side down. Mix all the other ingredients together and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Place in the oven and dry until juices have stopped running, edges are shriveled, and pieces have shrunken slightly. Timing will vary depending on the variety, ripeness. Up to 6 hours for a plum is usual, about 2 - 3 hours less for a cherry variety.

a winters tail...

It's the start of a New Year and for my first recipe I am going to ask all my vegetarian friends to look away now, as I share with you my very favorite cut of meat.

Oxtail is the most unctuous and flavoursome cut of beef, my personal favorite and still inexpensive enough, despite the popularity of it on the menus of many prestigious restaurants. When you buy an oxtail it is generally cut into sections, across the tail, in rounds of oxtail on the bone. These are just perfect for casseroles or braising. Oxtail is a tough, gelatinous cut of meat that really has to be slow cooked to tenderise, but also to extract that lovely gelatin which adds body to the stewing liquid. The oxtails are fatty, so are really best cooked a day ahead, so they can chill overnight and have the fat removed from the top the next day.

You can of course serve the oxtails with the bone-in, but because the meat is so easily removed from the bone I always think it better to do just that before dishing up, as it really doesn't take long at all.

There are many ways of cooking oxtail, and while I don't think I can pick a favorite, this recipe makes for a robust and rich pasta dish. Warm crusty bread is all that is needed as an accompaniment to mop up the last of this most delicious ragu. As with all 'Slow Cooking' you will need a low to moderate heat in your oven - I cook this in the lower oven of the range which is about 120C for at least 3 hours, times and heats being approximate.

1.5lb oxtail – cut into sections
1 small onion – finely chopped
1 carrot – finely chopped
1 stalk of celery – finely chopped
2 - 3 glasses of red wine
2 bay leaves
4 thyme sprigs
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
Beef stock
Olive oil

Your choice of pasta (I like a wide papardelle with this) with parmesan and fresh basil to serve.

In a large frying pan, heat some olive oil. When hot, start browning the oxtail pieces. Don’t overload the pan – do it in two batches if you must. When the oxtail is nicely colored, remove from the pan to a plate.

Add a little more oil to the pan, if required, and gently cook the onion, carrot and celery until soft, then pour in the red wine. Deglaze the pan, scraping around to get the tasty bits off the bottom. When the wine has reduced a bit, stir in the tomato paste and transfer to your casserole dish. Add in the browned oxtail and tuck in the herbs.

Put the oxtail into a heavy casserole dish that has a well-fitting lid. Pour in the red wine, stock and vegetables. Add enough water to get the liquid level about half way up the side of the meat if necessary, keeping it topped up with water during the cooking to this level if needed. Cover the dish tightly either with a lid, or foil, and place in the oven for about 4 hours until the meat is falling off the bone.

Remove the meat from the sauce and when cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the bone, and chop. Skim any fat from the top of the braising liquid. In a medium pan, combine the meat and liquid from the braise, discarding the bay and thyme leaves. Cover the pan loosely, and simmer for a further 20 minutes.

Cook the pasta until it still has a little bite.

Toss the pasta with oxtail ragu. Serve with some freshly grated parmesan, and a few sprigs of basil.

walnut cookies, gluten free

We're lucky to work from home, albeit in a converted barn across the yard from our house. It's a thirty second commute to our office and that means that we can nearly always make it home for lunch. It also means that a few clients get some home baked treats if they happen to be having tea or coffee as a reward for trekking all the way out!

This morning, my book editor was dropping by to discuss a new project. He's very deserving, but he is also that most awkward of things. No! Not a vegetarian! A coeliac…

I had a broad understanding of the condition, but had never had to bake for one, and I really didn't want to kill him!

So, I threw it out into the Twitterspere. I wanted baked goods, preferably a biscuit/cookie that I wouldn't have to buy any 'special' ingredient for. There's really nothing worse than having a big bag of some special potato flour or strange thickening agent that you use once and watch creeping to old age in your fridge or cupboard. It reminds me of the Ben & Jerrys quote when Jerry was asked what he did with all the egg whites left over from making his egg-yolk heavy ice-cream base, he replied 'I put them in the fridge and cover them. Then after a month I throw them out'.

Help arrived in droves from the helpful, enthusiastic souls out there. A recipe was tested and found to be good! I like these cookies a lot and a big thanks to The Little Loaf who sent it to me. It's adapted from a recipe by Dan Lepard. The dates have been replaced by prunes as it's a bit early for dates in these parts as they only make a brief appearance in the shops at Christmas. I don't think the results would have been very different in any case.

Gluten Free Walnut Cookies

100g chopped, stoned prunes

100g softened unsalted butter

125g brown sugar

125g caster sugar

25g cocoa 

2 tsp vanilla

250g cornflour 

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1/2 tsp baking powder

125g walnuts

Cover the prunes with 50ml boiling water and leave to stand for 10 mins until the prunes have softened.

Measure the unsalted butter, brown and caster sugars into a mixing bowl with the softened prunes and beat until smooth and light, and the prunes have broken down into the mixture. 

Add the cocoa and vanilla extract and beat until smooth again.

Add the cornflour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder. When everything is totally incorporated, mix in the walnuts.

Heat the oven to 170 C/335 F/Gas 3. Line a tray with non-stick baking paper and roll walnut sized nuggets of dough into balls with your hands. Then press them lightly onto the tray, spaced 5cm apart. Bake for 15 mins then remove from the oven and leave on the tray to firm up slightly before carefully removing to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture, or keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. The rolled balls can also be frozen raw.

(Below is a photo of a Lemon Bunt Cake as promised to my friend Magda who blogs at Magda's Cauldron - one of my favorite places to visit - enjoy and I will try harder at the apple challenge!)

homemade celery-salt crusted baked potato

I love a baked potato with a salt crust, of all the many ways to enjoy potato it would always be my first choice. And if you make them like this, you will probably love them too.

To get the perfect fluffy baked potato you need a 'floury' spud, the white fleshed sort. Varieties such as King Edward or Maris Piper are perfect for the job. The kind that look like 'Mr. Potato Head' are the ones you are after, and about that size as well. Your oven needs to be between 200 - 220 degrees and a decent sized potato will take at least an hour to cook. Do not wrap a potato in tin foil - they don't like that.

Celery Salt

It's fun to make your own flavored salts and celery salt especially always seems so expensive to buy and to lose its flavour quite quickly once opened! It is easy to make and versatile, use it in place of your usual salt - it is especially nice with fish or egg based dishes. It keeps forever and you can keep topping it up every time a new bunch of celery comes home with you.

Leaves from celery

Flaky sea salt, Maldon is best in this instance

Pick the leaves from each celery stalk, hunt out the little leaves from down the centre also. Leave the stems aside for your usual recipes calling for celery. Put in a single layer on a baking sheet, then toast them in a hot oven for about 5 minutes. Bake until they have dehydrated and gone nice and crispy, but take them out before they have browned. This won't take long so do keep an eye.

Remove from heat and cool completely. Scrunch up the leaves, using your fingers discard any that aren't crispy.

Measure out an equal amount of salt to celery, judging by eye. Put in a jar and stir to mix evenly.

Baked Potatoes

4 (1/2-pound) baking potatoes

1 egg white

Homemade celery salt

Wash and dry potatoes, leave skin on. Prick potatoes all over with a fork. Lightly beat the egg white with a couple of spoons of water in a bowl. Pour your celery salt into another bowl. Roll potato in egg white, then in salt, coating the potato fully. Place on a baking sheet and transfer onto the centre rack in an oven. Bake for approximately 1-2 hrs depending on size. You should be able to pierce your potato all the way through with a knife when done. It should be soft with a crispy skin.

This is just how a baked potato should be.

family favourites...

A midweek menu of Sausage and Bean Cassoulet and a Orange Bread and Butter Pudding

Evening meals with the family are something I really enjoy - but only if i'm prepared for it. A few good, low maintenance menus are essential for the middle of the week. I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for new and interesting, nutritious food for these people, I have to feed them for the next 18 years or so after all (that's a lot of dinners!) Here are a couple that work for us.

We're so lucky these days to have great sausages available in most local shops, supermarkets, farmers' markets and good local butchers. This recipe isn't really quite a cassoulet - but needs the bare minimum of preparation and it's easy to stick in the oven while you're doing other things. While all the homework and whatever else needs your attention gets taken care of, it's bubbling away in the oven.

Ingredients

8 good quality pork sausages

1 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes

1 x 400g tins of beans, haricot or cannellini, are good choices

1 generous glass of red wine (more like 2 really!)

300ml/10fl oz chicken stock

½ tsp smoked paprika

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients

Put the whole lot in a large casserole dish with a lid, lightly season then lay your sausages on top, so they can get a bit brown at the start as they cook and then stir them into the chunky sauce. Cook for 2 - 3 hours stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve with rice or slices of rustic bread and a spoon of natural yougurt on top if you like it.

And something sweet?

Why yes, I think so! One of the girls loves doughnuts above all other baked goods and I make them myself when I have time (for recipe see here) or I get the fantastic fresh ones from the Galway market as a treat now and then. I had foolishly bought some in the supermarket for them, but two small girls cannot possibly eat the amount of doughnuts that constitutes a supermarket special offer and loath as I was to throw them out I sliced them up and coverered them in a thin orange flavoured custard and made a bread and butter pudding with them. It was really quite nice.

Although brioche & pannetone are ideal for bread and butter pudding, there is usually some kind of bread needing using up about the place. As long as you leave it dry out sufficently so that it pulls in all the moisture from the custard then any kind of white bread usually works out pretty well. 

Ingredients

400ml milk

400ml low fat milk

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg plus 3 egg yolks

3 tbsp caster sugar

finely grated rind of a small orange

Ingredients

Bring the 2 kinds of milk, and vanilla to simmering point slowly over a low heat. Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornflour together in a large bowl. Pour the hot milk onto the eggs and sugar, whisking all the time with a balloon whisk. Return to the pan, add the orange rind and over a low heat gently stir with a wooden spatula until slightly thickened. About 12 slices of bread and the quantity of custard below makes enough bread pudding for six. Slice it up, butter on one side and arrange in a ovenproof dish. Pour the custard over the bread and leave it to soak in for at least half an hour, longer if possible. Cook for about 30 mins in a moderate oven until the custard is set and the top nice and coloured. 

banana loaf

It is a truth universally acknowledged - that a house in possession of a kiddie or two must be in want of a few banana recipes.

Even if you don't like bananas, as soon as you add children to the mix, they become a part of your regular shopping list. The nature of babies, toddlers and children is changeable. One day there is not enough food in the world to fill them and the next it seems that they can live on air, so there is sometimes a banana backlog of varying degrees of over-ripe blackness.

You can, of course, freeze them. But I seem to be able to use them up as they occur and it is a result of this one magically easy recipe. It takes no time to make, washing up is minimal and I have yet to encounter anyone who does not like it. It can be eaten plain or dressed up with more bananas, maple syrup, toffee or chocolate sauce and a dollop of creme fraiche.

Ingredients

2 overipe bananas

170g caster sugar

170g self raising flour

170g butter (soft)

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Pre heat oven to 160C. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

Put everything into a food processor and blend until well mixed.

Pour into the tin and bake for 1 hour. 

Cool, slice and enjoy!

a cobbler topping on tipperary rabbit stew...

It's cold here... too early in the year for it. And in weather like this there are few things better than a slow-simmered, savoury stew bubbling away in the depths of the oven. But with stew comes a dilemma - what shall we have with it? Potatoes mashed or cooked in the gravy of a rich beef stew? Crispy, flaky pastry perched on top of a chicken and mushroom pie? Or even a herby dumpling swimming in the juices of a pairing of pork and apple. 

These are all good but my own preference for sheer ease and elegance is the savory cobbler. I made a my 'Tipperary Rabbit cooked in Bulmers Pear' recently (for the Irish Foodies Cookalong), it is rather wonderful - and on top soaking up the juices and going gooey and gloriously brown at the edges was a cheese and herb cobbler. Ring the changes and put this doughy crust on your own stew - it is very, very good.