Evolution April - Hunt Family Moussaka

This month Laura has taken the project further - which she has termed foovolution‏ which is rather fab!!

"I wanted to continue the meat theme for April (sorry veggies...although this is easily converted by using veggie mince into an awesome veg friendly dish) as I have only been non-veggie for a year or so and I'm still rediscovering the wonders of meat! The minced meat from the previous sparked my memories of spiced meat full of cinnamon and nutmeg stuffed into pittas with salad that my mum used to give us for tea as kids, and actually prompted me into asking her to cook this recipe for my birthday meal a fortnight ago. In the spirit of foodvolution I hope you can see where I'm going on this - although lots of the ingredients are new, the methods of using minced meat and some of the original staples (oregano, aubergine and tomato) as well as layering are still there.

Moussaka is such a homely dish for me: full of lovely smells and tastes - it just makes me feel like I'm 10 again! And although it's quite labour intensive and time consuming in parts, it's the kind of dinner you would make every week if you could just because it tastes so wonderful!

Unfortunately, I can't take the credit for this: it goes to 3 women: my mum, Delia Smith (who she took her original recipe from) and Tessa Kiros (whose book 'Falling Cloudberries' inspired a few additions by me). Mum reckons hers always tastes so good because she doesn't bother with the measurements - and just goes on taste. But, for those of you who don't trust your palate, here's the recipe!

450g minced lamb
2 medium sized aubergines
6-8 medium sized peeled potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions peeled and chopped small
2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh mint, 1 heaped tablespoon chopped parsley, oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 rounded tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
125ml red wine
salt and freshly milled black pepper

for the topping:
100g ricotta
275ml whole milk
25g plain flour
25g butter
1 bay leaf
1 medium egg yolk
salt and freshly milled black pepper


Slice the aubergines and place them in a colander and sprinkle them with salt.
Put a bowl on top of them and weigh it down with something heavy (i use cook books) then put another plate underneath to catch the juices.
Leave them like this for 1 hour.
Shortly before the end of this time preheat the grill / oven to its highest setting.
When the hour is up squeeze out any of the excess juice from the aubergines with your hands.
Now, you have a choice: you can oven roast them with about a tablespoon of the olive oil over them, grill them or shallow fry. Whichever way you do it, you need to be able to squash them with a fork and have a kind of pureed aubergine consistency. If they're papery to touch then they probably need a bit more oil and a bit longer in the oven .I grill mine for colour and then oven roast them for consistency. This can take an hour.
In the meantime, peel and boil some potatoes whole.
Also, heat the remaining olive oil in your largest frying pan and fry the onions, garlic, minced lamb and tomato puree gently for about 5 minutes.
Turn the heat up high add the minced lamb and brown it for a few minutes turning it and keeping it on the move.
Cook the whole lot stirring all the time for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients with a good sprinkling of salt (Maldon if you have it). Cook all this for about 20 mins, seasoning to taste.
Next make the topping by placing the milk, flour, butter and bay leaf in a saucepan. Delia reckons you can heat all together until everything comes up to simmering point and the sauce becomes smooth and glossy. I reckon you need to add a little more milk as the sauce becomes thick. Remember, you will add ricotta and egg so it will thicken again later.
Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and let the sauce cook gently for 5 minutes.
Taste and season discarding the bay leaf remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool a little before whisking in the Ricotta and egg yolk.
Give it a good whisk to blend everything thoroughly.
Finally layer the ovenproof dish - 1/2 the roasted aubergines 1st, then the potatoes. Follow this with the meat mixture and top it off with the remaining aubergines.
Pour the topping (optional: over sprinkle the surface with the Parmesan).
Bake on the centre shelf of the oven at about 180-200 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes by which time the top will be golden brown.

Demolish!

I always have mine with a nice green salad, dressed simply in extra virgin olive oil and maybe a bit of balsamic. Hunks of bread make a good accompaniment too, helping to soak up the juices left on the plate. "

On Dunwich beach

This photo was taken while we had a break in the sunshine on Dunwich beach. We had been cycling along the east coast from Lincoln to Ipswich, finishing off the English section of the North Sea Cycle route. From Lincoln we rolled through the cauliflower and daffodil fields - I'd never seen cauli harvesting before, and then from Boston round to King's Lynn along The Wash. Then up through Sandringham park to the coast at Holme-next-the-Sea and along to Sherringham. Then down to Lowestoft and on to the delights of Southwold in the sunshine, reaching our final destination after 268 miles! Oh and it took 6days!

At Carluccio's

Pitcher plants in Tallahassee

These are the first pitcher plants I found on a recent jaunt to Tallahassee - there were lots of them too - may be 6 species of pitchers and then at least 2 of sundews. Magnificent!! Corpisolve has more details.

Ricarelli

2 egg whites
225g caster sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
300g ground almonds
icing sugar

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and then whisk in the salt and sugar. Stir in the zest and essences and finally stir in the almonds to make a stiff paste. Divide into 32 balls, or more traditionally diamond shapes, and lay on a baking sheet. Either leave over night to harden or place in a recently used oven with the door open, for a hour or two. Then bake at 140°C for 30min until just colouring. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Recipe from Nigella's How to be a Domestic goddess.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day

Evolution March - Home made meatballs and spaghetti pesto

The March evolution comes from Naomi:

"In the true evolution spirit I present the next fossil in our collection, on reflection this is a bit like the Cambrian where we see a new life born from a previous ancestor that seems to bare no resemblance!

The ingredients were: (new ingredients in bold)

1 Onion
1 clove Garlic
2 Courgette
2 Carrot
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Chilli oil
Basil

Mince beef (as much as you like / veggie mince can be substituted)
3 Bashed crackers
A small egg (1/2 is better)
Few (5)spinach leaves
A slosh of soya cream
5 Hazelnuts
3 Mushroom
Mange-tout (handful)
Spaghetti – replacing the wraps!

Removed
Aubergine
Peppers

Using the Onion, garlic, courgette, carrot, salt and pepper; with a little oil from the previous evolutionary fossil, I whizzed them all up in a food processor with the grating blade attached. Tipping the mixture into a bowl add mince beef, bashed crackers and a small egg. I combined all these ingredients with a spoon then using my hands I made 8 medium balls. Placing them carefully in a Pyrex dish lightly oiled and with a lid I put them in the oven at 200°C (not sure my oven temp is accurate but needs to be fairly hot but not enough to burn them!)

The balls were turned after 20min and the lid removed to let them crisp and harden a little. They were left for a further 25-35 min to cook fully.

In the “incubation” periods I used the garlic, cream cheese (ricotta and quark), olive oil, chilli oil and basil with the addition of a few spinach leaves, a slosh of soya cream and hazelnuts to make the pesto (whizzed in a mini blender). I also chopped up the rest of the courgette, carrot and added some mushroom and mange-tout; these were roasted and added to the pasta later.

The spaghetti was cooked when needed as directed by the packet; I used gluten free pasta because that is what we have in the house.

When the pasta was cooked and drained the pesto and roast vegetables were stirred in (I made a little too much and added a little too much but it was still scrummy)

I placed the meatballs on top and voila – my evolution creation!

Although there appears to be lots of new ingredients I only used a very small amount of each – Natural selection prevailed because that’s what I had in the fridge! (in the pic there is a sauce which was just for decoration! But it’s from Ikea)"

From Dad and the FT!

Violet Creams

When we were in Alpes d'Huez I came across a bottle of Violet Creme Liqueur and thought immediately of Mum's love of Violet creams. So I thought I'd have a go at making some. I used a really nice 70% dark chocolate, which was probably a bit strong for the delicate violet flavour, so next time I'll have to go for a lighter filling, but tasty nonetheless.

100g 70% chocolate
40ml milk
2teaspoons violet liqueur
100g chocolate for coating
crystallized violet petals

Melt the chocolate and heat the milk to nearly boiling, then mix together and stir in the liqueur. I put the mixture into small domed molds and set in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then melted the chocolate for coating and dipped each one in leaving on a rack to set. Then topped with crystallized violet petals. This makes about 16 chocolates.

Evolution February - roast vegetable wraps with pesto and cream cheese

The February evolution comes from Muireann:

"Well evolve the recipe I have - although sadly without pictures due to the dementia which seeme to afflict me as I chomped through it. Two days ago I whipped up some roast vegetable wraps with pesto and cream cheese for dinner. The main vegetable I chose was an aubergine. My other half had done some Moroccan stew on Monday with aubergine in it but I decided it might be cheating if I didn't make something myself. The ingredients are:

1 Onion
Garlic - as much as you can handle
1 Aubergine
1 Pepper - any colour
2 Carrots
1 Courgette
Olive oil
Chilli flavoured oil
Salt
Pepper
Dried basil
Wholemeal wraps
Cream cheese pesto

Now it was meant to be vegetables and humous wraps but I forgot to soak the chickpeas and had none in a tin - hence you will see how the cream cheese and pesto got substituted. So I guess I even evolved my own recipe.

Chop up all the veg and place in a baking tin with the garlic crushed. Sprinkle over with the oils and salt, pepper and basil. Cook for 30-40mins at gas mark 6. Mix veg a couple of times.
When done heat up the tortilla wraps, spread pesto and cream cheese over them. Place veg on the wraps and roll up.
Eat and enjoy."

Tod Man Pla

This was a new recipe that I hadn't tried from a cook book I have had for about 10years - Rick Stein's Fruits of the Sea. Exceedingly easy and very tasty!

225g white fish (skinless and boneless)
1tsp fish sauce
1tsp Thai red curry paste
zest of half a lime
1tsp chopped coriander
1 egg
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt
6 french beans thinly sliced
oil

Blitz together everything but the beans and oil, to a smooth paste. Stir in the beans and then shape into 8 small patties. Fry in the oil until golden brown, it'll only take a minute on each side. Serve with rice and a sweet dipping sauce made from dissolving 100g caster sugar in 50ml white wine viengar and 20ml water, stir in 2tsp fish sauce and finely chopped cucumber, carrot, onion and chilli to taste.

Rather than braving the snow on Whistler this moring I sauntered down to the railway station, taking a shortcut across the end of the canal. It was looking so atmospheric I just had to stop for a quick photo!

ebi yakitori

We've been trying our hands at making recipes from the Wagamama cookbook - these prawn and veg skewers were really yummy! And really easy - just thread prawns, peppers, courgettes, tomatoes, spring onions and mushrooms onto skewers. Brush with ebi kuzu kiri sauce (2tsp sugar, 2tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce and the juice of three limes) and then grill for 5min until cooked. For the noodles we used soba noodles and once they were cooked stir fried them with spring onions, garlic and a smidge of sugar.

Darwin

As I mentioned the department are having Darwin talks - and every time someone starts they show their University's image of Darwin. Just as I was wondering if we had one, Buzz (Uni newspaper) dropped on my desk with a picture of Darwin in it. Of course, he looms above the Great Hall along with several other scientists of note - actually I didn't check, they might not all be scientists! Pottering along, I thought how am I going to tell who's who all that way up but they were handily labelled in gold paint and weren't so far up in the end! I think he's looking rather compassionate here - Watt and Faraday looked decidedly grumpy!

Evolution January - Baked Provencal vegetables

To kick off the Evolution project I had a good hunt through my cookery books and after contemplating several recipes I settled on this one from the Oven book from Albert Hein that Sarah and Juul gave me for Christmas. I think that it gives plenty of scope for future participants and was exceedingly tasty. In the kitchen last night were Laura, Nick and me! Laura and Nick did a fine job of washing and slicing the vegies whilst I translated the recipe (from Dutch). The recipe said it was good with rice so near the end of cooking we boiled some up and they were right - exceedingly tasty!! So who's next? We need a volunteer for February's evolution spot!

Baked Provencal vegetables

2 fat aubergines
2 courgettes
8 tomatoes
1teaspoon Provencal herbs
3 tablespoons olive oil
250g marscapone cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven at 200°C

Begin by washing all the vegies and then slice them length ways to give long strips half a centimeter wide. Salt the courgettes and aubergines and leave for 10min to loose a little water, before patting them dry. Next line them up ('om en om') so that they are overlapping in a large dish - alternating between the different ones. Sprinkle with the herbs, splash over the olive oil and season with pepper. Cover in foil and bake in the oven for 35min. Meanwhile mix up the marscapone with a little salt and pepper. Then take the dish out of the oven, remove the foil and dot with the marscapone. Put back in the oven for 15min, without the foil and then serve!

Evolution

This year is the year of Darwin - all over the place are celebrations for his bicentenary. Here at the university we have a series of lectures mapping out how his therories of evolution have impacted on research. I was pondering various things with Kira in the coffee room - always a good place for a mad idea to fly - and wondered if we could try a little evoltuion ourselves. The idea was to start with a recipe and over the year let it evolve in our kitchens. The starting ingredients each time being what was used at the end of the month before, letting each cook decide what they are going to do and what they are going to change. So may be we'd go from french onion soup to an onion tart to a tart tatin......what ever the particular monthly volunteer fancied - taking the starting point and evolving it in some way. I could round up the changes here....so any takers? Contact me laughingsnail AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk.

King Cake

Yesterday I decided that I would make a king cake - a gallette de rois and so after work I called in at the supermarket for some supplies. As I went through the checkout the lass on the till asked if I was making a cake and so I explained what I was doing. She replied that she was from Goa and that they too celebrated with an almondy king cake! What a small world this multicultural city is! Back at home I creamed together sugar (125g), ground almonds (125g) and butter (125g) before adding 3 eggs and a tablespoon of quince vodka. I rolled out two large circles of puff pastry and spooned on the almond mixture on one before topping with the other, sealing the edges with egg wash. I brushed the top with egg wash too and left it to rest before baking for 30min (180°C). I mustn't have sealed it very well as soon I could smell it cooking and looking in the oven I discovered almond filling making a break for freedom! Nevermind it still tastes pretty good! I have brought it to work where it is being demolished by my co-workers - I left out the 'king' as I recon that someone would just eat it without realising the significance!

See more about King Cakes with Zorra at Kochtopf!

Up to a point.....

I saw this in the Times on Saturday - absolutely priceless...of course it was supposed to be advertising Boot of The Beast in his tale in Ishmaelia.... the wonderful Scoop by Evelyn Waugh!

Cupcakes

Opening night

I have been patiently waiting for my pitcher plant to open - its taken two weeks of shooting on the time lapse to capture it and the movie last just 60hours in the end, which I suppose is actually quite a long time for the lid to pop open! The images are taken 30minutes apart and the music is Solito de Charango from Cesar Palacios.