The very last recipe!!!!

Yesterday - February 9 th - and my very last recipe from The Kitchen Diaries Two was completed. A sad day, the whole year has been a wonderful learning curve, my skills have improved enormously and so has my confidence. It has taken many hours of researching to find some ingredients, lots and lots of washing up, time spent enjoying the cooking and the tasting and trying out new recipes on friends. 

So yesterday and a chapter headed "A little brown stew for a little brown day" , the recipe, A little brown stew of mushrooms and spelt. 

The stew is made with mushrooms and spelt ( a grain we have used before and really like) Mushrooms are my husband's favourite, and following a rather wet and chilly walk in the sculpture park this morning, this was the ideal lunch. Quick to prepare and cook ( about 30 mins) this is a tasty, filling and quite rich meal 

And so now, what next? A whole year and 247 recipes completed, most of them photographed and all of them blogged about. 

Mr Slater says he is a " quietly enthusiastic and slightly greedy...." cook and that he " ...cares about what he feeds himself and others " I quite agree, making good food is a pleasure and with his help I no longer need a picture of the recipe to inspire me ( and of course taste is better than appearance !!!!) 

But what will I do with my time now ( it has been very time consuming, becoming an all enveloping hobby ) ?

I will keep cooking, perhaps trying to invent recipes of my own and I will keep blogging. 

Did I mention my husband bought me Eat - The little book of fast food by Nigel Slater !!!!!!!

Penultimate

Yesterday and a chapter headed "Fish, some new thoughts" and Mr Slater's recipe A risotto of smoked cod and spinach is inspired by his trip to Oslo. 

Risotto is a great favourite of my husbands and actually something he will attempt to cook - with success I might add!!!

Anyway it was my turn yesterday - and my penultimate recipe. One more to go and I have made every single recipe in the book, a great learning curve. 

This risotto was absolutely delicious, very rich - two generous servings but so rich would stretch to four. 

Making marmalade

For once today was a beautiful - if cold - blue sky sunny day, so marmalade had to wait until I got back from a wonderful long walk. 

The recipe Seville orange marmalade was so easy to make and left the kitchen smelling wonderful. 

I found my marmalade took a good bit longer than Mr Slater's to reach setting point but was well worth the wait. 

Almost there

1st February and a new chapter begins - no heading- but all about making marmalade. 

Mr Slater says "....... Making marmalade is about as pleasurable as cooking can get" and speaks of the joy of "....passing ....golden pots of happiness on to others..."

He also says that there are hundreds of recipes for marmalade and personal preference comes into which one we choose. 

His is a recipe for 4 th February so I am off to find some Seville oranges today and will make this on Tuesday.

After that, only two more recipes to go to completing the entire collection of recipes in The Kitchen Diaries 11 

My cook book is beginning to look a little worse for wear!!!

Lots to report

Three recipes completed over the last few days. One as scheduled, January 30 th and a chapter headed "And using up the marmalade " and I made Marmalade chocolate chip ice cream. 

And two catch up recipes from when I couldn't source the ingredients Mussel soup with tomato and basil and Smoked haddock, mussel and leek chowder. 

The ice cream was so easy to make and surprisingly delicious, although when thinking about it orange and chocolate do go together very well, so why not marmalade and chocolate ? I loved this but didn't seem to get the same "soft scoop" texture as  Mr Slater.

The soup was interesting, not my favourite version of a tomato soup but my husband really enjoyed it. The basil sauce really helped with flavour. 

The chowder I really enjoyed. The ingredients - smoked haddock, swede, cauliflower, milk - amongst others I can't say I found inspiring but what a nice dish. We both enjoyed this as a supper on a cold January day. Very different. Will make again. 

Perfect day for baking

Yesterday was a perfectly foul day, rain and more rain, dark, dismal and grey. And so the perfect day to do some baking and afterwards indulge in the delicious Almond, marzipan and berry cakes with a large pot of freshly brewed coffee and a good book - heavenly. 

The chapter yesterday was called " Using up the marzipan "an interesting read - I had always thought marzipan had to be made from almonds but not so, apparently there is a marzipan made from peach kernels!

These delicious cakes are made from an almond cake mix incorporating pieces of marzipan and berries - I used blackberries and blueberries. ( unfortunately I hadn't any marzipan to use up so had to buy some, took Mr Slater's advice and bought a good quality one not the bright yellow kind)

The result is a lovely intense almond flavour with a burst of fruit, moist and crumbly at the same time. Loved these.

A " not so bad " fish pie.

Fish pie has always been a pet hate of mine since being forced to eat it as a child, bland and mushy - ugghhh, never tried it since but yesterday's chapter headed " A potato crust for a fish pie " meant I would have to give it a go !!!

Mr Slater introduces me to a fish called Gurnard. Looking it up on the internet I have to agree with him, it is a very ugly fish. Apparently becoming popular on menus everywhere but I was unable to obtain any. However the recipe states a similar white fish can be used - thank goodness. 

So to the Gurnard, basil and potato pie. ( Or as I used coley )

Easy to make, especially good if you haven't a lot of time. My verdict - OK - but still hasn't convinced me to try other fish pies !!!

I served this with Winter leaves with gherkins and mustard. 

This I really liked, the dressing was excellent. Mr Slater talks about " ....the beauty of a winter salad" I have to agree - I love salad at any time of year. Reading this part of the chapter has also inspired me to try and grow winter lettuce , but first I will have to get my husband to build me a cold fame - perhaps next year then !!!!!!