Two yummy dinners

Wednesday night saw our favourite boy about town (I like to give the impression there are many), The Marvellous A, come for dinner. We love The Marvellous A. Love love love – I can’t at this moment recall exactly why we love him, perhaps just because he is generally marvellous. His presence (and what are, I flatter myself, becoming high expectations when dining at our place) was cause to ensure we had a yummy dinner.
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I had been eyeing off the Chinese braised oxtail that Hollow Legs made recently and so decided to try and replicate it for myself (plus The Marvellous A is intrigued by the food blogging world [i.e. he acts fairly interested when in my company], so I thought it fitting to serve the recipe of another blogger). I followed the list of ingredients, but deviated from Hollow Legs’ instructions, only because I wanted to slow cook the oxtail in Isaac the Slow Cooker.
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Into Isaac went the seasoned oxtail (I had about 8 chunks of beef – enough to feed 4) and all the remaining ingredients except for the shallots (I used fresh shitake mushrooms). Isaac slowly cooked the oxtail for 9 hours.
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About an hour before we were ready to eat, I plucked out the oxtail and strained the liquid into a saucepan. I returned the oxtail and shitake mushrooms to the slow cooker to keep warm, whilst I rapidly simmered the liquid on the stove top. After approximately 30 minutes the liquid had reduced to quite a sticky consistency and it smelt AMAZING.
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I cooked Basmati rice and steamed some broccolini which I drizzled with sesame oil. I added the oxtail and mushrooms to the sticky sauce, with a little water and heated through, making sure to coat the oxtail in the sauce. To serve I simply spooned rice onto a platter and heaped the oxtail and broccolini on top, covering with the delicious sauce of course and a sprinkling of sliced shallots.
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The oxtail was extremely yummy. The Marvellous A seemed rather impressed and wanted to know exact details so that he could go home and describe it to his flat mate, whilst Y declared it one of the best meals Isaac has produced (a compliment which, although given almost every time Isaac is used, was nevertheless much appreciated).
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Dessert was leftover apple, honey & rosemary pudding.
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The following night we were guests at my sister & brother-in-law’s place. My sister (who converted me to the world of slow cookers) had been slow cooking a half leg of lamb in her slow cooker all day, with some stock, dried herbs and lots of garlic. The delicious lamb could be smelt before you even walked in their front door – the neighbours must have been salivating with jealousy. Dinner was best (but modestly) described as kebabs. We had pita, the lamb, feta cheese, great hummus, green leaves, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and the most amazing, smoky baba ghanoush which had little specks of the char grilled aubergine skin in it (much to the disgust of my brother-in-law, my sister and I later unsuccessfully rooted through the bin to find the brand of the baba ghanoush). I would have been happy simply inhaling the lamb and baba ghanoush, it was that good.

I had promised to bake a dessert but instead picked up pastel de nata at our local French cafe, Le Peche Mignon, which we enjoyed with beautiful Mariage Freres Marco Polo tea.

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Two delish dinners, both in great company.

A weekend in North Norfolk

My weekend was spent discovering the delicious bowl of produce that is North Norfolk. It was Y's birthday and this meant celebration was in order (if only to uphold the precedent of doing something fabulous for each other’s birthday, i.e. my birthday). We drove up to Norfolk, stopping at Sandringham Estate on the Friday and checked into our seaside B&B. We stayed at The White Horse in Brancaster Staithe (below), which is situated on the marshland coastline which is part of Norfolk's Heritage Coast (in Australia we'd call this a swamp and wouldn't dream of erecting a row of houses/hotels facing it, however I have to admit, walking along the coastal path had a certain charm to it). We immediately set off to the nearby Burnham Market, a charming little village with some great shops - both clothing and food. From Humble Pie (above) we purchased some extra virgin olive oil and delicious vanilla fudge (for a girl at work, who we then pinned to the floor and clawed said fudge out of her hand so we could eat it). We were delighted to find our favourite moscato, Innocent Bystander at Satchells wine shop (above) (and bought 4 bottles, clearing out their supply). In the interests of research we picked up a piece of shortbread and empire biscuit from Grooms Bakery (hmmm). We didn't test out Gurney's Fish Shop, although it looked very cute and rather popular. Also in Burnham Market is The Hoste Arms, which has accommodation and a restaurant - we returned to the latter on the Saturday night for Y's birthday meal.

We ate at The White Horse on the Friday night. It was a very good meal, but I was feeling rather flat, and really not in the mood for stealth-like photo taking and note making. The dining area is in a glass roofed conservatory, which is very lovely, but I was in need of comfort and probably would have preferred a cosy, wood panelled traditional pub. Nevertheless, my starter of slow cooked belly of pork with stuffed faggot was lovely, as was Y's lobster and crab ravioli (below) which was incredibly fresh. My main was pan fried sea bass with mushrooms and smoked mash. The fish was lovely, however over-powered by the mash. Y had halibut in a red wine sauce with a beetroot relish on top (below), which she enjoyed, despite being dubious at first of the fish and red wine combo. We enjoyed some local Norfolk cheeses and a muscat for dessert - a subtle goats cheese and a smoked cheddar being the highlights.
Saturday we enjoyed driving through the countryside - paddocks lined with towering trees dropping their yellow and red leaves and fields of cabbages and other vegetables I couldn't recognise as we whizzed past. Our first stop was Blickling Hall (above), just north of Aylsham. I mention this because in the car park to this beautiful house is Samphire Farm Shop (below). I do love a farm shop and this was no exception - we purchased rare-breed pork sausages (described by Gary Rhodes as the best he's ever tasted, apparently), chillies, smoked garlic, roasted broad beans (moreish and delish!) and free range eggs. I had wanted to get some pigeon breasts, but by the time we came back from Blickling Hall, they had all gone.
From Blickling we drove to Holt for lunch at Byfords which is a "posh B&B", restaurant, cafe and deli. We arrived at about 2.30pm and still had to queue for the cafe, which is obviously hugely popular. We devoured a late lunch of lamb burger with metled mozzarella, pesto mayo, flat bread & fat chips and a seafood platter (cured herrings, olives with anchovy, smoked shell on prawns, prawns in dill & lemon mayo, mackerel pate, smoked salmon, beetroot relish, brown bread). The lamb burger was the star, whilst highlights of the seafood platter were the cured herring and mackerel pate. The smoked prawns were rather good, but being used to the huge prawns we get in Australia, the effort to reward ratio hardly made the tiny prawns worth shelling!

We were very tempted by the beautiful display of chocolate sponge and Victoria sponge cakes, but had one more stop to fit in so enjoying cakes and tea was not an option (such a deprived life of hardship!).

We drove to Little Walsingham to get to the Walsingham Farms Shop just before it closed (passing another fabulous looking farm shop on the A148 between Sharrington & Thornage turn off which was a big converted stone barn). Here we nabbed a little punnet of roasted seed mix (which I would never buy in London, claiming rather that I could do it myself) and a smoked duck breast. It would have been rude for us not to also visit the Chocolate Delicatessen next door - we bought a "chocolate pizza" - a round disc of milk chocolate dotted with mini marshmallows, little balls of butterscotch, white choc chips and tiny round chocolate bites. The chocolate pizza lasted exactly 36 hours, and only that long because we had to sleep at some stage.
Saturday night was Y's birthday dinner back at the Hoste Arms. This seems to be a huge restaurant with seating areas in all sorts of rooms and over several levels. We were installed upstairs in a cosy corner, with soft brown leather chairs and a rustic wood table. This was the comfort factor I'd been longing for! Service was more engaging than at The White Horse and I think the food was a step up also. Whilst inhaling the delicious, warm bread and even more delicious butter, we perused the menu and decided on local Brancaster mussels in cream, parsley and garlic for Y, and a half dozen Brancaster oysters with red wine vinegar and shallots for me. Both were excellent - the oysters were large and so flavoursome.
For her main course Y ordered a feuillete of salmon, mussels, lobster, prawn & basil bisque (below) - it was sublime (I know because I kept sticking my fork across the table into her plate to stab pieces of seafood and pastry). I had the local Holkam venison, cooked perfectly rare, with wild mushrooms, roasted celeriac, cauliflower mash and a chocolate jus (above). I thoroughly enjoyed this dish - it was really really delicious.
To say our eyes were by this time far far larger than our rapidly expanding stomachs is quite an understatement, and yet we foolishly ordered the assiette of desserts to share, accompanied by a Rutherglen muscat. The desserts were very good, neither incredible nor particularly innovative, but very good - rosemary panna cotta with a plum sauce, lemon tart, chocolate fondant, and sticky date pudding. We waddled out of there and back to the warmth and comfort of our room on the water - we may have had a cup of tea and shard of chocolate pizza ...
On Sunday we headed home, stopping at a Castle Acre to see the castle and priory ruins dating back to 1066 (I threw that in to make it appear I am something of an intellectual history buff) - there looked to be some lovely pubs here, but we had places to be. Next stop was Oxburgh Hall before heading along the M11 home.
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I hate to admit it, but convenience, coupled with our curiosity to test out Heston Blumenthal’s new menu at roadside "restaurant" Little Chef, caused us to stop here for a late lunch. We weren't particularly adventurous with our choices (a burger and a toastie), but had to concede that the food wasn't bad and definitely seemed freshly prepared - service was surprisingly attentive (the girl in charge breaking into a fast trot whenever food was ready to be delivered to tables). However, the feeling you are sitting in a dingy dining room on the side of a highway was a little hard to shake.

I absolutely loved North Norfolk - I planned the weekend thinking it would be a lovely place to go, and was bowled over by the farm shops selling great produce and the restaurants serving up excellent local food.

Rosemary for my adored Pop

My grandfather died suddenly last Thursday, which was a huge shock for all my family as Roy was so full of life and so active. My sister and I are unable to attend the funeral in Sydney this Thursday, so, in a small way, this is my memorial to my adored Poppy Roy.

Rosemary is for remembrance, as Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance;". I particularly associate wearing a sprig of rosemary with ANZAC Day in Australia, when we remember all those who have fought for and defended our country. My Pop fought in World War II and some of the proudest moments of my life have been watching him march in the ANZAC Day March. It feels fitting therefore, that the last time I saw him was in April of this year, at the ANZAC Day March, a moment when my heart swelled with pride.
I have been wearing a sprig of rosemary all weekend and its aroma is a lovely reminder of my wonderful grandfather. I wanted therefore to cook something using rosemary, as my little memorial to him. I thought about it for most of the weekend and was pleased to discover a recipe in the Sunday Telegraph's magazine for baked apple, honey and rosemary pudding. I made this tonight:
Baked apple, honey & rosemary pudding

150ml milk
150ml double cream
1 sprig fresh rosemary
3 big Tbs honey
3 eggs
pinch of salt
100g caster sugar
40g plain flour
600g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped (optional)
icing sugar to serve

Make the batter mix by combining the milk, cream, rosemary and honey together in a saucepan. Bring to just under the boil, take off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Remove the rosemary.

Beat the eggs, salt and 75g of the sugar together until the mixture triples in volume and is pale and fluffy (I employed the aid of Delia the hand blender). Fold in the flour, then the milk mixture.

Toss the fruit with the remaining sugar and put in a gratin dish and pour over the batter.

Cook in an oven at 180 degrees C for 30 to 40 minutes or until the batter is set. Scatter with toasted hazelnuts and sift a little icing sugar. Serve with creme fraiche or whipped cream.

My Nanny Marg makes a mean apple tart which my Pop loved, so I think he'd rather have liked this dessert too.

Dan's chilli bean & pepper soup

Last weekend Y & I were the guests of our friends Dan & Jan in Folkestone, Dover, and we were waited on hand and foot - from the fresh white bread and roasted chook when we arrived to the smoked salmon omlettes Sunday morning, the whole weekend was perfect and all we gave Dan & Jan in return was some amateurish (but delicious) lamingtons, and a wolloping on the tennis court.

The highlight was dinner on Saturday night. Dan cooked up a veritable storm - we had a red curry with mussels, fish and prawns, followed by Janine's pavlova and a cheese platter. However it was Dan's soup starter that sealed the deal for us. It was a spicy bean soup with a gentle kick that didn't render one's taste buds lifeless, and with a great depth of flavour and good texture. I knew I would be leaving there with the recipe, and so I did. Or thought I did. I was writing down the recipe after dinner, possibly whilst balancing a glass of wine and wedge of cheese in one hand. It seems I missed out half the ingredients but didn't realise this until I read the rest of the recipe (whilst cooking the soup) this afternoon - "add chillies (chillies?), chilli sauce (chilli sauce?), kidney beans (kidney beans?)". Obviously I was expecting to make chilli bean soup from some peppers, tomato paste and a bit of stock.


I had to make up some of the recipe, but luckily it worked.

Chilli bean & pepper soup

2T sunflower oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used about 8 - what can I say, I live on the edge)
2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 red chillies, chopped
750ml vegetable stock
750ml tomato passata
1T double concentrate tomato puree
1T sundried tomato paste (I used about 2T)
2 x 400g red kidney beans
couple of glugs of chilli sauce (I used a hot & spicy bbq-ish sauce I found in the back of our fridge)
Handful fresh coriander
Soured cream
Tortilla chips

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry onion & garlic until soft.

Add peppers and chillies and fry for a few minutes.

Add stock, passata, tomato puree, sundried tomato paste, chilli sauce and kidney beans.

Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer on low heat for 30 - 40 minutes.

Puree/blend soup (I used my new Dualit wand mix thingy attachment - now named Delia, thanks to Kerri of DinnerDiary).

Season to taste and stir through fresh coriander. Serve with a dollop of soured cream and tortilla chips. I also had some avocado on the side.

As with most things, this soup will taste even better if made earlier in the day or the day before and reheated. It really is delicious.

Thanks Dan!

Cook for a friend! It will make both of you happy

My close friend C is due to become a mother any day now. In a week's time I am therefore due to become the most useless friend she has - as useless as tits on a bull my charming father would say. I can give no advice on breast feeding, cholic and sleep patterns, I can't even hold a small baby properly, let alone have one left in my sole care. What use am I to be?

But wait. If C & hubby are like everyone else I've ever known to have a baby, they will be walking zombies for at least the next 8 weeks, and have never a single moment to themselves for the next 16-18 years. They won't even have time to shower let alone ... (by jove, I've got it) ... COOK A MEAL! I can help! I can cook! And this people, is what I did.

When I was growing up and someone was sick or had a baby, my mum would always be there with her chicken casserole. So when I made a chicken casserole - chicken with red wine vinegar and tomato - last week, I made extra and froze two portions for C. Last Thursday I made a double serving of slow cooked lamb (recipe below & photo above) and packaged and froze that also. Today I made a beef lasagne in a large foil baking tray which can be frozen and cooked when ready to be eaten.
Tonight I delivered my frozen goods to C. I must say, if it's been a while since you've had the warm, happy feeling you get from making someone smile, cook a friend dinner. It really works.

Slow cooked lamb

This recipe is from Raymond Blanc's mother in this month's delicious. magazine. I put all ingredients in Isaac the slow cooker and cooked the lot for most of the day. The result was beautifully tender lamb which we ate with creamy parmesany polenta and steamed green beans.

1.5kg - 1.7kg lamb shoulder, boned and cut into large chunks

1 garlic bulb, finely chopped

3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked

2tsp each sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

800ml lamb stock (I used chicken)

10 shallots

2-3 celery sticks, cut into 6cm pieces

2 large carrots, cut into batons

I browned the lamb in a frying pan. I then placed the lamb pieces into Isaac and added the garlic, thyme, salt & pepper, shallots, celery and carrot and poured over the stock.

I cooked for 8 hours in Isaac - you could cook it for a shorter amount of time at a low heat in a pot in the oven.

Hopefully it freezes well!

Lamingtons & a new appliance

Having moved to London about 18 months ago, I do not have the collection of cooking utensils and appliances befitting someone with the incredible abilities I possess (I fear if this were true, all I'd deserve is a wooden spoon). For the past year and a half I have either avoided baking (preferring to buy my own meringues - oh the shame!), mixed by hand or shaken cream vigorously in a Tupperware container whilst jumping up and down for 20 minutes to whip it (below). At last I have splashed out and I am now the very very proud owner of a Dualit Hand Blender! It's the perfect contraption for the person who has nothing (using the word relatively) because it's essentially a barmix/stick wand wizzy thing which can blitz soups, but has other attachments meaning it can also beat and whisk, and can even attach to a small wizz! It's 4 appliances in one.
I have used it once, to make these lamingtons and found it incredibly powerful - even on the lowest setting I almost felt like I was jack hammering.
Lamingtons

This recipe was the perfect way to test out the new Dualit (yet to be named by the way - any suggestions?) because to make the sponge cake you are required to beat eggs and sugar until thick and mousse-like which takes approximately 10 minutes.

I came to be making these lamingtons to take away for the weekend to friends in Folkstone, Dover. Most Australian school children will have grown up with these cakes which are covered in chocolate icing and coconut, and would most definitely have had to sell their fair share at a fund raising "lamington drive" (which really meant your parents bought $15 worth of lamingtons and you didn't even have to leave the house).

I had never thought of making them myself until Y reported back that our host for the weekend would be making pavlova "from scratch" (why do infrequent cooks always feel the need to specify that something is made "from scratch"? I always assume it would be until told otherwise - kind of like being innocent until proven guilty) for an Australian themed dessert. Clearly I needed to step up and Y's idea to go to the Australian Shop in Covent Garden to buy some Iced Vo-Vo biscuits was not going to cut it. I would make lamingtons FROM SCRATCH!

I firstly (the day before you need the lamingtons) beat 5 eggs with 1/4 cup caster sugar for 10 minutes until very thick.

Melt 60g unsalted butter and let cool.

Fold through 150g flour gently into the egg mixture.

Drizzle the melted butter down the sides of the bowl and combine.

Bake for 15-18 minutes in 180 degree oven. This recipe is from Stephanie Alexander's "Cook's Companion" and she says under no circumstances should you open the oven door in the first 15 minutes of cooking. I wouldn't risk it if I were you.

Take sponge cake out of oven and leave to cool.

The next day, slice your sponge into 5cm squares and refrigerate for about 30-60 minutes.

You will need to make the chocolate icing which is 1T cocoa powder, 8T icing sugar, 1T boiling water and 1T melted butter. You have to be able to dip the pieces of cake into the icing, so I added more water to make my icing runnier.

In another bowl you need desiccated coconut.

Stephanie says "some cooks dip the cake square in melted jam before the chocolate icing" - and if that's not a red rag to a bull, I don't know what is. Heat strawberry jam in a small saucepan until runny - you may need to add a little water.

So basically you have an assembly line of cake squares, melted jam, chocolate icing, desiccated coconut and a wire rack. Y stepped up to man the coconut station, for which I was very grateful.

You then stick a fork in a piece of cake, dip and cover in the melted jam, then the icing, then cover in coconut, onto the wire rack and you're done. Piece of cake? Almost.

The result looked very home made, but recognisably a lamington. We will taste them later on Saturday afternoon. If I never mention them again, you can assume they were rubbish.

Chicken with red wine vinegar & tomato

I love my Stephanie Alexander bible "The Cook's Companion". When we last visited Australia I made Y leave behind half her luggage so that I could fit this 2kg tome into her bag to bring back to London.
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Stephanie is great when you want to know how long to roast a particular cut of meat, how to save the tart that hasn't set and other technical information, and she also has a super collection of classic, dependable recipes. The book is divided into chapters such as "abalone", "eggs", "okra", "rabbit & hare" - so is the perfect book when you have a glut of one particular type of ingredient!

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I find I refer to Steph far more over this side of the world, because in Australia my first port of call was always my Mum (presumably much of the time she was on the other end of the phone leafing through her Stephanie bible to assist me), but now that we live in different time zones, I have come to rely on Steph a little more (I still of course discuss recipes and food with the domestic goddess that is my mother at every possible opportunity).

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I like Steph because she's like a grandmother culinary figure (and therefore fitting that I was given the book by my own grandmother) - always with an answer which you know will always be right. But sometimes, like a grandma, I listen to all of Stephanie's brilliant advice and I nod, smiling, and whilst in my head I know she knows what's best for the chicken with red wine vinegar and tomato (after all, it is in her book), I also know that I will instead carry on and do it my own way - the much shorter, easier, with possibly not quite as good results way.

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I chose to ignore Stephanie's advice and cook this Beaujolais casserole by throwing it all in Isaac the slow cooker and leaving it to cook for 6 hours. It's an incredibly lazy way to cook, so much so that it's almost as though you haven't cooked at all. It's like you have a maid or a cook, or both - because by the time you come to eat, you've forgotten you were ever actually involved in cooking the meal!

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I got up early(ish) Wednesday morning and into Isaac threw about 14 free range chicken thighs (seasoned), 8 peeled cloves of garlic, 12 peeled shallots, 3/4 cup red wine vinegar, 3/4 cup tomato passata ("or fresh tomato sauce you've made yourself" - not now Stephanie), and 3/4 cup chicken stock (this would feed about 5 people). I set Isaac to cook for 6 hours and went to work.

When I arrived home, Isaac was keeping the chicken warm and 2 minutes before we were ready to eat, all I had to do was blanch some green beans (although in retrospect perhaps some mashed potato would have been good too, but I can't do everything).

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To serve (take careful note, as this is complicated), life the lid on the slow cooker. Take a breather. Spoon the succulent chicken thighs, with a little tomatoey broth, some tender shallots and garlic, into a bowl. Sprinkle with parsley. Done.

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The result is a simple but soothing chicken casserole with a tangy kick of vinegar.

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Thank you Cook, you are dismissed, and please don't mention to Grandma Steph that I adulterated her chicken casserole.

Crisp pork belly

I bought strips of organic pork belly at Neston Park Farm Shop, just outside Bath, when we were there a few weeks ago. They had been chilling out in the freezer until I decided what to do with them.
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Sunday morning I received a text from my lovely friend Carrie, telling me about the foodie magazine in the Observer. I of course acquired the paper and what should I find? "Five ways with pork belly" by Nigel Slater. Thank you Carrie. Thank you Nigel.

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Tonight I made Nigel's "Crisp belly pork roast". Nigel uses a 1-1.5kg piece of pork belly - boned, skin intact (isn't that the whole point?) and finely scored. My belly was in thin strips (about 2cm wide), so I reduced the cooking time somewhat.

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Of course, I read the recipe for the first time at 7pm, a time of the day when you don't want the first line of the recipe to read "marinate for a good 4 hours, if not overnight".

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In any event, I "marinated" my pork belly in 3 crushed cloves of garlic, 2T light soy sauce, 1T sesame oil (Nigel uses groundnut oil), 2tsp of salt and 1tsp of All Spice powder (Nigel uses Chinese five-spice powder which I'd run out of) for at least 8 minutes, whilst waiting for my oven to heat up to 220 degrees C.

Place the pork in a roasting tin, skin-side up, and roast for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 200 degrees and cook for a further 40-50 minutes (I turned my oven down to about 180 degrees and cooked for 15-20 minutes as my pieces of pork were so much smaller).

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Nigel then wants you to rest the belly for 10 minutes before carving, but I'm sorry Nigel - don't tell me how to make my pork belly smell that good and then ask me to wait. That's just mean.

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We devoured our pork with some blanched broccoli accompanied with groans of ecstasy. The belly was crisp on top, tender and delicious. Imagine how utterly wonderful it would have been had it had 3 hours and 52 minutes more marinating time?

If you are what you eat, I'm a delicious tart

Saturday night Y & I went went out for dinner with my lovely friend (and mum to be) C and her hubby. We were originally to eat at their place and I was bringing dessert, however in anticipation of her fast impending home bound state C opted to eat out whilst she still can. So we went first for Indian at ZaAma in Fulham (which I recommend by the way, if you like a little more up-market Indian) before returning to their home for the treacle tart I made.

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I specifically wanted to make a dessert from Gordon Ramsay's book "Great British Pub Food" as C had given the book to me when I threw her a baby shower last month. I settled on treacle tart because I had never tried such a thing.

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I made the sweet flan pastry that I had made previously for a strawberry tart (click here for a step by step guide to the pastry) and more recently for a chocolate tart (I confess I am rather partial to tarts, just ask Y).

Treacle tart filling

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450g golden syrup

85g white breadcrumbs

finely grated zest and juice of one lemon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

60g butter, melted

3 large egg yolks

70ml double cream

1/2 tsp black treacle

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Gently heat the golden syrup by placing the jar/tin under hot water.

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Mix the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and ground ginger in a bowl. Make a well and pour in the warm golden syrup (I blitzed the jar for 20 seconds in the microwave to get the last of the syrup out), butter, egg yolks, cream, treacle and lemon juice. Stir to combine.

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Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 30-40 minutes at 140 degrees. When you take the tart out of the oven it should be set on top but still wobbly. I thought mine was a little underdone but it turned out fine, so don't worry if it looks very wobbly. Let the tart cool before serving.

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I served the tart with fresh figs and double cream.

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I thought the filling was going to be very syrupy and a bit sickly with so much golden syrup, but the lemon cut through this richness beautifully. In fact, it was a very lemony dessert, with a subtle treacle/golden syrup after taste. Lovely!

Brunch corn fritters @ Chez Lex

I think brunch could be my favourite meal. I love a long brunch lazing over papers, multiple cups of good coffee and maybe something simple like yoghurt & berries or more impressive like ricotta hotcakes.

Whilst I love all the restaurants of Islington, I do bemoan the dearth of lovely brunch spots (I do have some local favourites: Le Peche Mignon, especially in their courtyard in summer, and Food Lab on Essex Road. More suggestions welcome).

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On Saturday morning I was determined we would go explore a new brunch spot - Kaffeine in Fitzrovia perhaps? The Modern Pantry (we'd been there for an excellent lunch previously)? Test out York & Albany in Camden? All have delicious sounding breakfast menus but suddenly it was 10.30am already and we ended up having corn fritters with avocado, bacon & tomato relish with Monmouth coffee and the paper at our very own kitchen table, this morning known as Chez Lex.

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I went 5 minutes in one direction to collect cobs of corn, bacon, avocados and the Telegraph, whilst Y went 5 minutes in the other direction to Le Peche Mignon to restock our coffee supply for our stove top coffee pot.

The result: a peaceful 2 hour brunch with delicious food, great coffee & not an annoying child nor 4 wheel drive-like pram in sight. The service at Chez Lex is verging on non-existent, but the prices are very reasonable and they never charge service.

Perhaps a secret brunch club in the making ...

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Corn fritters

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I adapted, ever so slightly, Stephanie Alexander's recipe for Sweetcorn Brunch Fritters from her Australian bible "The Cook's Companion".

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3 corn cobs

180g polenta (or thereabouts)

2T plain flour

1t bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

1 cup milk

40g unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs

vegetable oil

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(this makes too many for 2, maybe 3 or 4?)

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Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Slice corn off the cobs.

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In a bowl mix polenta, flour, bicarb soda & salt. Make a well & add the milk, one egg and the yolk of the other egg, & melted butter. Stir to combine and add the corn. Season.

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Heat a frying pan on medium heat and using a generous splash of vegetable oil, fry large dollops of the fritter batter, turning when you can see the edges starting to cook/brown. Transfer cooked fritters onto a plate to keep warm in the oven and to continue cooking, whilst cooking the next batch of fritters.

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When all the fritters are in the oven, cook some bacon in the same pan (& put your coffee on and heat up the milk for your macchiato). Slice avocado.

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To assemble, layer a corn fritter - avocado - corn fritter - avocado - bacon. I finished with a spoonful of spicy tomato chutney. Stephanie suggests an alternative of fritter & bacon with maple syrup. I deliberately didn't do this, leaving me an excuse to make these again.

A truly delicious brunch - do try and include the polenta because it gives the fritters a great crunchiness on the outside.

I should add that this dish was inspired by my New Yorker best friend, who served up something very similar to a group of friends about 10 years ago (were only about 7 or 8 at the time obviously) with a fresh tomato salsa.

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb with Moroccan cous cous

Tonight we had two lovely friends for dinner - one a Kiwi and one Welsh. Clearly it had to be lamb.

The menu was slow cooked lamb shoulder with Moroccan couscous and roasted sweet potato, with a cucumber & yoghurt dressing, followed by bitter chocolate tart with orange pastry.

This morning I woke early to make the spicy mix to rub into the lamb shoulder (based on a recipe by Lizzie Kamenetzky in this month's delicious. magazine). Firstly I soaked a pinch of saffron in warm water. Meanwhile in my little wizz I blitzed 2 roughly chopped brown onions, 2.5cm piece of roughly chopped ginger, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1tsp chilli flakes (I used one dried chilli instead), 1T ground coriander, 1T ground cumin and 1T garam masala. Add the saffron and its soaking water and blitz again. Season with salt & pepper.

I browned the shoulder of lamb in a frying pan (mine weighed about 1.8kg - the lamb not the frying pan) and then placed him in Isaac, my genius slow cooker. I rubbed the spice paste over the top of the lamb shoulder (above) and then set Isaac to cook for 9 hours (below), whilst I went to work. If you don't have a slow cooker, cook in an ovenproof dish, covered for about 4 hours at 160 degrees.

When I got home the lamb was nearly done. I chopped sweet potato and sprinkled it with ground cumin and coriander, salt & pepper and drizzled with olive oil, before roasting for 30-40 minutes.

I next made the sauce to go with the lamb - thinly sliced cucumber mixed with fresh mint and Greek yoghurt.

For the couscous I cooked brown rice (because I realised I had far less couscous than I thought) and later the couscous as per packet directions, and then mixed the two together. Just before serving I added sultanas, roasted pistachios, pomegranate seeds, olive oil and salt & pepper and tossed the couscous well. I then heaped the couscous (below) into a platter.

The lamb was beautifully tender and slid off the bone (I didn't serve mine with the spicy rub as I didn't think it was necessary for extra flavour). I piled the lamb on top of the couscous and sprinkled some more pomegranate seeds over the top.

I was so pleased with this meal - it was a lovely combo of flavours. The lamb was succulent and delicious, and went very well with the couscous - which looked colourful with yummy bursts of pistachio, sultanas and pomegranate seeds. The yoghurt sauce is a great accompaniment to the lamb, and the sweet potato an excellent side dish. My guests were suitably impressed.

For dessert we devoured chocolate tart with orange pastry. Click here for the recipe.