APPLE AND FENNEL SEED SODA BREAD

Rustic, crumbly soda bread

1 small loaf

100g stoneground rye flour

50g strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust

100g wholemeal flour

2 tbsp ground linseed/flaxseed

1 tbsp toasted chopped hazelnuts

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp flaked sea salt

1/2 grated apple

200ml whole milk

1.  Heat the oven to 210C/fan190C/gas 7. Lightly flour a baking sheet.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add the milk and stir to form a wet dough. Scrape the dough into a ball and lift onto the baking sheet. Dust the dough with a little flour and slice a cross in the top with a very sharp knife. 

3. Bake the loaf for 1 hour until crusty and baked through. Stick a skewer in it; if the centre is very sticky, put it back in for a little longer. Allow the loaf to cool before slicing or tearing, and spreading on lots of butter.

CRAB AND BROWN SHRIMP GRATIN

Something for the weekend

Serves 2 with a jacket potato and salad

knob of butter, plus extra for greasing

1 onion, grated or finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

Splosh of brandy

1 1/2 tsp plain flour

150ml whole milk

1 tsp English mustard

1/2 wholegrain mustard

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

pinch nutmeg

200g mix brown and white crab meat

small handful of tarragon and/or parsley leaves, chopped

75g brown shrimp

lemon juice to taste

50g breadcrumbs, from a coarse, stale loaf

1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts (optional)

20g parmesan

olive oil for drizzling

Heat the oven to 180C/fan160/gas mark 4. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Fry the onion for 10 minutes, covered, until softened then add the garlic. Pour in the brandy, increase the heat and bubble for a couple of minutes. Stir in the flour and fry for a further 2 minutes. Gradually incorporate the milk, stirring, to thicken. Stir through the mustards, Worcestershire sauce and nutmeg, adding more to taste, if you like. 

Fold the brown and white crab, herbs and half the shrimp into the sauce. Season well with salt, pepper and the lemon juice to taste, then pour into a small ovenproof dish or two ramekins. Mix the breadcrumbs and hazelnuts, if using, with the cheese and the remaining brown shrimp and sprinkle onto the crab. Drizzle generously with olive oil, then slide into the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

CELERIAC REMOULADE

This on a menu, with a few thin slices of proper jamon, makes me squeal with glee. If there were space, I'd make a vat-load to fill jars for every corner of the fridge, and dip in and out when I pleased.

Celeriac remoulade wins for its true rooty flavour; no ingredient is lost even though tossed through buckets of spicy mustard and soused in tart lemon juice. It's a frugal combination and is easy to make. It is bed-friend to my favourite things: slather it on good bread; spoon it into a jacket potato and eat with baked beans (yes); gobble fork-free with piggy bits.  

CELERIAC REMOULADE

Serves 4-6

1 x 500g celeriac, peeled

olive oil, to drizzle

3 tbsp creme fraiche

1 tbsp grainy mustard

3 tbsp dijon mustard

juice of a lemon

freshly chopped parsley leaves, to serve

Coarsely grate the celeriac into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil.

In another bowl, mix the creme fraiche with the mustards then stir through the lemon juice. Taste then season with salt and pepper as you see fit. Mix through the celeriac and, just as you are about to serve, toss with the chopped parsley.

Serve a handful on salty jamon and drizzle with a little olive oil.

ROAST CHICKEN

There's no fuss with this recipe just simple, amazing flavour. Sage, lemon, butter, garlic. Oh, and a cracking gravy.

My nostrils are tickling. Let's have some chicken. 

MY FAVOURITE ROAST CHICKEN

serves 4-6

30g butter, softened

2 cloves garlic

1.5kg free-range chicken, giblets removed, room temperature

6 sage leaves

1/2 lemon

olive oil, for drizzling

1/2 tsp plain flour 

100ml white wine

200ml chicken stock or hot water

Preheat the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas 6. 

Mix the butter with the garlic in a bowl and season. Place the chicken on a roasting tray and loosen the skin from the neck. Gently push your fingers up and under the skin, taking care not to tear it. Slide up the softened butter and massage the skin to spread the butter across the breast. Then, slide the sage leave so that they sit flattened between the butter and flesh. When the skin crisps, the sage leaves will to. Tuck the skin under the bird.

Press the lemon into the chicken cavity. Drizzle the bird with olive oil and season with sea salt flakes. 

Put the chicken in the oven and roast at the high oven temperature for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180C/fan160C/gas 4, roasting for a further 50 minutes until the juices from the chicken run clear.
Transfer the chook to a large board. Leave the chicken to rest, loosely covered with foil, while you make the gravy.

Pour the juices from the roasting tin into a small pan with the flour. Whisk the juices so the flour is soaked up, then add the wine. Turn up the heat and boil for 2 minutes before adding the stock/water. Simmer for 5 minutes, strain and serve. Perfect with mashed potato and buttery carrots. 

BANANA, DATE AND CARAMEL LOAF

I just had to....

Banana, date, caramel loaf

3 ripe bananas (250g), mashed

100g unsalted butter, melted

100g golden caster sugar

6 pitted dates, finely chopped

1 tbsp amaretto/ dark rum

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 free-range egg

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda

for the caramel:

50g golden caster sugar

1 tbsp creme fraiche

pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Grease and line a 1ltr loaf tin with baking parchment.

Mix the mashed bananas with the melted butter and golden caster sugar. Stir through the dates, the amaretto and vanilla then beat in the egg. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and gently fold through the banana mix with a metal spoon. 

Pour the mix into the loaf tin and place in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes - the cake should be dark on top with a soft, moist sponge. Check that it is done by poking a skewer through the centre - if it comes out clean it's ready.

Leave the loaf to cool completely in its tin while you make the caramel. Heat the sugar in a small pan with 1 tablespoon of water over a low heat. Without stirring, leave the sugar to melt and gently simmer until it turns a deep hazelnut colour. Remove from the heat and add the creme fraiche and salt and stir. It will splutter at first, then turn into a smooth caramel. 

Transfer the cake to a plate or platter and quickly pour the caramel over the loaf. It will immediately harden like toffee, giving a good snap when you slice through. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and a good cup of cha.

ELDERFLOWER POSSETS

Possets are my go-to pudding - always delicious and easy on the pennies. Just make sure you don't burn the cream. 

ELDERFLOWER POSSETS

serves 6

ingredients

750ml cream

225g caster sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

75ml elderflower cordial

Pour the cream and the sugar into a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Add the zest, juice and cordial and stir. 

Pour the mixture into ramekins (I used 8cm diameter) and leave to cool. When they have had time to cool down, cover with cling film and chill and set for 1 hour.

Serve with a dusting of icing sugar and a few raspberries. 

ROAST PULLET

HEAR YE HEAR YE. 

Ginger Pig have just plumped up their poultry counter with a collection of gorgeous looking birds. 

I nabbed a couple of pullets (100 day old chooks) for an 8 person dinner party and they were deliciously tender. Roast these young'ns at a lower heat and for a little bit longer than you would the older gals. They will be pulled from the oven juicy and succulent and, once rested, will produce a fine feast for fine friends. 

ROASTED PULLET 

with Orange, Radish and Chicory Salad

serves 8-10

ingredients

2 x 0.9kg pullets

1 orange, halved

1 onion, peeled and halved

100g butter

1 large garlic clove

1 generous bunch thyme

1/4 tsp flaked sea salt

for the salad dressing

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

3 tbsp olive oil

squeeze orange

salt and pepper

for the salad

9 heads pink chicory, quartered

16 breakfast radishes, stalked and halved

handful of dates, chopped (optional)

2 juicy oranges, peeled and sliced

Preheat the oven to 160C. 

Place the chickens on a large roasting tray. Squeeze the orange halves into the tray and put a half into the cavity of each bird. Place the onion with the juice in the tray.

Mix the butter with the garlic and thyme, and season well. Using your fingers, loosen the skin from the breast of each chicken. Spread this mixture between the flesh and skin of the breast, pushing right to the back of the bird.

When the oven has reached the correct temperature, slide in the tray with the chickens. Let these cook slowly for 2 and a quarter hours or until the juice runs clear. Baste them with the tray juice half way through cooking. The skin will turn nicely golden and the meat will be tender. Pour the juice from the tray into saucepan with the onion. Loosely cover the birds with foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes before serving. 

Heat up the saucepan with the meat juices and add a glug of white wine. Simmer down, spooning off some of the fat. 

Meanwhile, whisk the dressing together in the bottom of a large bowl. Assemble the salad, making layers of the chicory, the radishes and the dates (if using). Toss the salad just before serving and layer with the sliced oranges. 

Serve the chicken warm with a light drizzle of gravy and a large helping of the orange salad.

BROAD BEAN BRUSCHETTA

BROAD BEAN BRUSCHETTA

Spring on toast

serves 1-2

ingredients

250g broad beans, fresh best but frozen good too

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

juice of 1/2 lemon

handful mint leaves, plus more to serve

3 tbsp olive oil, plus more to serve

2 tsp sugar, plus more to serve

1 tsp salt, plus more to serve

2 large slices of good bread

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the broad beans. Bring to the boil again and simmer for 4 or so minutes. Drain and refresh under cool water and, if you have time, shell some or most of the beans. They are much easier to shell when cooked.

Add the beans to a small food processor and add the rest of the ingredients. Pulse about 20 times until you have a rough paste. If some beans have been missed out and are whole, leave them. They look lovely mixed through.

Taste the mixture. Add more salt to season, sugar to sweeten or lemon juice to sharpen up.

Toast the bread and spread over the broad beans. Scatter with mint leaves, a scrunch of black pepper, a pinch of sea salt flakes, and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Serve for a light lunch with pea soup, chop up and serve as a canape or have for an unusual breakfast like I just have.

PORK BELLY WITH RHUBARB

This is so bloomin' scrumptious it doesn't even need a write-up. Apart from to say that, though the pork weeps with fatty joy and the skin is crisper than a morning in March, it's the rhubarb that really makes it.

PORK BELLY WITH RHUBARB

NOTE: You need 5 minutes the night before to prepare this.

serves 2

ingredients

500g pork belly, boned, scored (you can ask your butcher to do this)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 leaves sage

seasoning

olive oil

1 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 glass cider

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, roughly chopped

1 shallot, peeled and quartered

1 bay leaf

2 sticks rhubarb, chopped into 1inch batons

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp water

Overnight or at least 8 hours before:

Rub the sides and bottom of the belly with the crushed garlic, chopped sage, oil, salt and pepper, avoiding the skin completely.

Cover with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge.

4 and a bit hours before serving:

Preheat the oven to the highest it can go or to about 230C.

Rub the pork skin with a little olive oil and the sea salt flakes. Place skin side up on a grate over a roasting tray and place in the oven for 45 minutes until the skin is crisp and brown and starting to bubble and burst.

Meanwhile, pour the cider, veg and bay into another roasting tray.

When it's time to remove the pork, turn the oven down to 180C. Place the meat on top of the veg and cider. Cover the edges of the baking tray with foil, leaving the skin exposed, so that the cider can steam up through the bottom to make the juiciest of meat. The skin will continue to crisp and be pretty solid when you serve it. Cook for a further 3 hours until, when poked with a skewer, there is no resistance from the pork.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest, loosely covered with tin foil.

Throw the rhubarb, sugar and water into a saucepan and place over a medium heat until soft and stringy. You want it still to be sharp so it cuts through the salty pork.

Slice the pork into large squares and serve alongside the lovely, rosey rhubarb.

SMOKED MACKEREL PATE

Golly, lunchtime sandwiches are dull.

Dry, slapdash towers of bread, fumbly constructed at home with leftover hummus from the back of the fridge. Or worse, slimy, week-old slithers of starch bought in a hurry at the nearest supermarket. If only we could justify the daily, dripping, pastrami-stuffed loaf you get at Mishkins. We all wish we had the time and temper to make our own deli sarnie before work but, well, it never really happens. Opening eyes, washing hair and getting dressed have to be conquered first.

What we need is a put-it-together-last minute kind of sandwich - fresh, quick, cheap and easy. No soggy bread, no squished middle, no irritating cling film, no effort.

The Danes have nailed it with their open sandwich. Freshly baked rye piled high with cured meats, smoked cheese, and soused fish. Elegant, sophisticated, healthy, zero struggle.

Here's how you can get there. Make this smoked mackerel pate the night before, put it in a jar , pop it in your bag, and smother it on rye or crisp breads for a scrumptious munch. The shallot pickle takes a few minutes, the pate a matter of seconds.

Ditch the old sandwich - within moments you've got a mini smørrebrød for one.

SMOKED MACKEREL PATE AND PICKLED SHALLOTS

serves 1-2

ingredients

for the pate:
2 fillets smoked mackerel, skin removed
1 tbsp natural yoghurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp Dijon mustard
good sprinkling of black pepper
pinch salt

for the pickled shallots:
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 large echalion shallot, finely sliced

Whizz all of the pate ingredients together to make a smooth paste. Place in an airtight, sterilised jar and keep cool in the fridge until ready to use.

For the pickle, place the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and set over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the shallots and simmer for a few minutes until soft. Leave to cool slightly and serve, or cool completely and place in another jar until you're hungry.

Serve on Ryvita and, if you have an extra minute, a beetroot and watercress salad.

ROSIE & JIM'S

My boyfriend James and I are starting a Sunday lunch club, and there seemed to be only one thing to call it.

Rosie and Jim’s will serve classic Sunday lunches – nothing particularly fancy, but everything particularly delicious. It will basically be whenever we feel like it but most probably once every 6-8 weeks, starting on 13th November.

On arrival you’ll be greeted with a complimentary glass of something, as well as enough nibbly bits to keep you going till lunch. Which will be a roast. No carvery (which I note wordpress doesn’t consider a real word) at Rosie and Jim’s – just a leg of lamb or rib of beef or perhaps even roast pheasant, and lots of proper vegetables.

There will be pudding, and there will be cheese (served in that order), and of course coffee and tea.

In short:

Rosie and Jim’s: Sunday 13th November 2011
Time: 12.30-5pm
Place: We’re in North London. Details on booking.
Grog: BYO
Donation: £30

We have enough space for 20 people – max bookings 8 per party.

For bookings email jteramsden(at)gmail(dot)com. Look forward to hearing from you