The Salad of the Summer...

Goes to - Panzanella!

 Tomatoes from Cossano Belbo in Piedmont

Over the last couple of months I have been making panzanella at every given opportunity. This summer salad originates from Tuscany and combines stale bread (a perfect way to use it up) with the tastiest tomatoes, basil and cucumber in an olive oil and wine vinegar dressing. As with many recipes there are lots of variations so this recipe is a mere starting point for salad explorations.

If you are in London and want to try one of the best panzanella salads around then to head to Spuntino quickly, while they still have heritage tomatoes that will change your life or at least bring a smile to your face.

This serves roughly 4 people.

ingredients-
1 garlic clove, sliced in half
left over bread, country style such as ciabatta, torn into bite size pieces
6-8 ripe heritage tomatoes, chopped into pieces
1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped into pieces
2 tbsp basil leaves, chopped
80ml olive oil
2-3 tbsp wine vinegar
salt & pepper

I like to toast the torn up bread under the grill for several minutes. Some recipes tell you to moisten the bread with water which is another option before adding the bread to the salad.

Rub the garlic around your serving bowl and add the tomato pieces and cucumber. Add the basil to the bowl along with the bread.

Make the dressing and add to the salad, leaving it to flavour the ingredients for 15-20 minutes before serving. Add salt, pepper and additional vinegar if you wish.

Close your eyes and pretend you're on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

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Snowy Sunday in Berlin: Red Lentil and Spiced Carrot Soup

Hearty red lentils and spices make this a warming, satisfying soup

Winter is resolutely refusing to budge in Berlin.  A few milder days in early February lulled us into false hopes that the worst was behind us, but the cold bit back with a vengeance.  It's the sort of cold that seeps into your bones and hovers over the city with sinister force; trying to dissuade potential revellers from venturing outside.

I put my survival to date down to two vital ingredients:

1. Duvet coat

2. Soup ….

... and copious amounts of it.  Making soup on a Sunday (when everything in Berlin is shut) is a therapeutic antidote to the preceeding night's adventures which invariably involve artic conditions and trudging from one bar to the next on perilous ice or slush.  Cook a big batch to keep you warm through the rest of the week when the weather is too schlecht to bother with the shops and too dark to inspire you to cook.

This gently spiced soup is particularly warming, and the lentils make it hearty and satisfying.  Curl up and enjoy a big bowl with some crusty bread.  Guaranteed to provide resilience until Spring arrives.

Jules x

Ingredients:

small piece of fresh ginger

1tsp cumin seeds

a pinch chilli flakes

1 onion

2 large carrots

150g red lentils

1litre vegetable stock (I use Marigold bouillon)

small bunch fresh coriander

Finely chop the onion.  Peel and grate the ginger and the carrots.  Heat some olive oil in a large pan and fry the ginger and spices for a couple of minutes.  Add the carrot and onion and cook for 5 mins.  Add the lentils and stock.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally.  Check the lentils are tender, if not cook a wee bit more.  Blend.

Sprinkle the coriander to serve.  You can stir through a spoonful of natural yoghurt if you fancy.

Enjoy as it warms your bones.

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Winter Tomato Tarts

Winter Tomato Tarts

with Parmesan short crust

New / old tins from ebay have been staring at me for two months now so here goes...

Rule - half fat to flour. I used 110g flour to 55g butter (Netherend is simply the best) with a pinch of salt and tbsp of water. Rub the fat into the flour lifting as much as possible - mum says add the water and mix with a knife - do no knead. Add some grated Parmesan if you fancy. Pinch the ingredients together, form a ball and put in the fridge wrapped in baking paper until you are ready.

Roll out the pastry and push into your tin(s). Metal tins are best as they are good heat conductors. Prick the pastry, fill with your beans to bake blind and bake on 200C for 12-15mins.

Meanwhile make you're tomato sauce, a basic sauce that can be used for many things. Slice and slowly cook an onion in olive oil, add a clove of crushed garlic. Add one tin of tomatoes, a handful of fresh tomatoes (not many around right now), chopped basil and salt & pepper. Simmer for 20-30mins. Cool.

Heat the oven to 180C and when the pastry has cooled make the filling - whisk one egg and one egg yolk, add 110ml milk/cream mix and your tomato sauce with a tsp chopped marjoram. Season. Pour the filling into your tart(s) and bake for 30-40mins until firm to touch. Eat warm.

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Roasted & Stuffed Butternut Squash

by Ceri x

Autumn is officially my favourite season.  Summer is lovely, but always infinately hectic and, erm well... hot!

With the arrival of Autumn comes the crisp clear mornings and the inevitable back to school feeling, that I still very much get due to how busy the summer is.  I love seeing your breath as you step out into a cold sunny morning with frost still on the ground, kicking and crunching the leaves underfoot in the park, digging out the knitwear and cosying up by the fire.  Then to top it all off: there is the food!  Autumn brings us the harvest so is the very best time for picking, foraging, pickling, boiling up big vats of chutney and generally getting the best that the country and season has to offer.  Stews, pies, casseroles, steaming puddings, soups, crispy skinned jacket potatoes and all the other foods that are just too heavy for the hot summer months.

This year, I have been loving the fig.  That delightfully juicy fruit with an amazing texture,  flavour and which I recently cooked up a fig tart recipe courtesy of our Jules (currently on location in Berlin) which she posted previously and is well worth a look.  However, my other dearly beloved part of  the autumnal menu is the return of the most traditionally fabulous of British food institutions, the Roast!

I love a Sunday roast.  Sundays and Autumn seem to go together hand in hand.  Lazy Sundays reading the papers, giggling about the activities of Friday and/ or Saturday night, doing the crossword, drinking good coffee/ Bloody Marys and having a stroll in the park whilst donning aforementioned knitwear before coming home/ going to a decent pub and settling in for a damn fine roast eating session for me are irresistible.

This Sunday, Rachie cooked up a Pork Belly with delicious home made Apple sauce and the crunchiest crackling I ever did chomp.  However, for  this post I am going to go for a vegetarian option and roast up another shining star of Autumn, the Butternut Squash.  This works very well as the vegetarian option on a Sunday, or you can do as I did and serve it with salad for your Monday Roast (why limit yourself to just once a week).

(Apologies for the slightly fuzzy picture, my camera is playing up!)

Roasted & Stuffed Butternut Squash
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 medium sized butternut squash
4 garlic cloves
1 small onion
100g chopped walnuts
60g blue cheese (I used roquefort)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary (dried will be fine if that's all you have)
5 mushrooms
150g spinach
200g watercress or other leaves for salad
drizzle of olive oil + more for dressing if used
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Tip- You can more or less make up the stuffing as you wish.  Goats cheese, peppers, celery, tomatoes, feta, cabbage, pine nuts, toasted almonds, olives etc etc would all work well and it's fun trying out different flavour combinations.  I have done a few though and this is my favourite.

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut the butternut squash lengthways.  Scoop out the seeds but do not throw away. Cut out the flesh approx 2 cm down leaving a 2 cm ledge around the edge of the squash.  If the flesh is too hard for this at this stage, you can always do it once it has cooked a little.  Place both halves skin side down into a baking tray.
• Score crosses in the flesh, drizzle some olive oil over both sides, add a garlic bulb inside each + one in the bottom of the tray.  Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and the thyme then bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add the walnuts to a heated, dry frying pan with the squash seeds and a little salt, moving the pan often for approx 5- 10 minutes until they start to toast- set aside in a bowl.
• Then chop the garlic and onion, add to the frying pan with a bit more olive oil and gently fry.  Once the onion has softened, add the chopped mushrooms . Fry for another 5 minutes, then add watercress and spinach until it wilts.  
• Check that the squash has cooked through  the flesh will be soft and the edges will have begun to brown slightly.  Cube the blue cheese and sprinkle throughout the stuffing mixture along with the toasted walnuts and place inside the squash.  I like to give the whole thing a short drizzle with balsamic vinegar or worcester sauce at this point.
• Turn the oven down to 100 degrees and return the squash for 5-10 minutes until the filling has heated back through and the cheese has begun to melt.
• Serve with a salad and enjoy!  Happy Monday Roast :)

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This week I have mostly been eating...

Herefordshire Cherry Focaccia with Caraway Seeds. No.1 breakfast for champions.

Milk Tea & Pearl - cold tapioca tea[!] - either love it or hate it I guess.

Olympic Onion Rings. Thanks to Rachael for inspiring me with her Cheese Javelins.

Pickled Radicchio-mouth watering!! Basic recipe: 150ml malt vinegar; 300ml water, 65g caster sugar, salt. Add spices of choice. Mix cold and pour over. EASY.

BBQ Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad.

2 ears of corn, husks removed

Butter

1-2 tomatoes
2 green chillis
1/3 red onion
1 ripe avocado
1 lime
2tbsp coriander
salt and pepper

Take the coriander and roughly chop it. Rub the corn with butter, a bit of salt and 1 tablespoon of the chopped coriander. Put it on the bbq until it is thoroughly cooked and coloured on each side, about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, get a third of red onion in one thick slice and put it on the bbq. You can grill it if it is falling apart. Cook the onion until it is slightly translucent, turning it to ensure it cooks evenly on both sides.

Then cut the tomatoes into large chunks and add to a bowl with the remaining tablespoon of coriander. Next, dice the chilli, removing the seeds first and add to the bowl.

Cut your avocado in half, remove the stone and then cut away from the skin into pieces similar in size to the tomato. Add these to the bowl.

Once the onion is translucent remove it from the grill, dice it and add it to the salad bowl also.

Then take the corn off the grill [once evenly cooked all over]. Let it cool for a minute and then use a large knife to slice all the way down the corn to remove the kernels. Add everything to the bowl and mix.

Squeeze the lime juice on top, and toss with a bit of salt and pepper before serving.

The Battle of the Bak Kut Tehs - For Action Against Hunger

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Tempura

 Tempura - an enjoyable summer battering

 

Fish and chips is one of the best things when the mood is right, although the batter can cause a food coma to come on rapidly and immediately after consumption. Fritto misto is also one of the best things when in Italy and by the sea. 

When the food coma is not an option [you need to do things/speak to people/move around freely] and you're not leisurely hunting for lunch on the Italian coastline I suggest applying a light tempura batter to anything that you have to hand.

In this instance I had half a courgette, leftover asparagus, quite a few small carrots and two squid in my kitchen.

Firstly, cut your veg and fish to size:

Carrot and courgette batons

Asparagus (whole)

Squid - cut into rings

Get a plate of cornflower to toss the veg in before it goes into your batter.

Make the batter by mixing 80g cornflower, 80g self-raising flour, 210ml sparkling water, 2 tsp rapeseed oil (I used olive oil), 1/4 tsp salt and whisk to get a smooth runny paste. 

You can add in and herbs and spices to flavour the batter – I split it and added lemon rind to half (to go on the squid, asparagus and courgette) and fennel seeds to the other half (for the mountain of carrots). Dip everything in the batter ready to go into the frying pan.

You then want to fry everything in batches so that it cooks evenly and does not stick together. I opted for shallow frying in about 300ml of vegetable oil. Get the oil hot in the pan on a high heat and then turn down to medium.

Piece by piece put the vegetables and squid into the pan without too much excess batter. Soft veg should take about 1 minute and harder veg like carrots 2 minutes. Remove and place on kitchen paper to get rid of unwanted oil.

There are lots of dipping sauces out there but on this occasion I went with lemon wedges and salt as it was supposed to be a quick lunch break!

One happy lunch buddy

 

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Barbeque the Italian way

by Charlotte

I recently gave these two recipes to our local magazine, Living South. Having spent some time thinking about a particular bbq in the hills of Bologna 7 years ago. On this occasion we got scooted into the hillside on the backs of mopeds vaguely knowing to keep an eye out for a patch of sunlight woodland. We found it and all the guys started to make the barbeque, lay a table, cook the meat and make all the salads – pretty impressive to us girls. It was all about the food, everything had to be perfectly chopped, dressed, marinated and presented. It was a delicious feast that I’ll never forget. Here are two Italian recipes that are good for sharing with friends.

Spiedini di miale (pork kebabs) - this makes six seriously meaty, authentic Italian kebabs.

12 x 1 inch cubes of pork (I use pork fillet)

6 Italian sausages – Cumberland are a perfect substitute

6 slices streaky bacon, cut in half

18 sage leaves

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 lemon, zested and halved

Extra virgin olive oil

6 skewers, soaked if wooden

Firstly marinate the meat. Twist the sausages into three so they balloon, cut them and put them in a bowl with the pork and the halved bacon. Add 12 of the sage leaves to the bowl. Using a pestle and mortar crush the garlic, remaining sage leaves and lemon zest to a pulp and then add four tablespoons of olive oil and the juice of half the lemon. Pour over the meat, mix and leave to marinade for 1-3hours.

Skewer the kebabs; I roll the bacon (two rolls per skewer), fold the sage leaves in half and alternate with three pieces of sausage and two pieces of pork per kebab. Put on the barbeque. If you fancy, throw some rosemary sprigs onto the coals before you put the meat on so that the leaves flavour the kebabs while cooking. When the meat is golden and cooked through serve the kebabs with the remaining lemon juiced squeezed over them.

Radicchio - the round purple lettuce from the Veneto with a bitter taste.

1 large radicchio, halved lengthways

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Season the halved radicchio on the cut side with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil. Barbeque cut side down for a few minutes until hot through – the closed leaves will actually keep in the steam and help the lettuce cook. Turn it over and grill for 3-4 minutes more. Splash with balsamic vinegar and serve as a super side dish.

Enjoy.

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Green Gazpacho

Summer Soup: fresh and green as pastures new

Selecting the starter for Supper Club numero dos was a drawn-out affair. I was feeling despondent after weeks of making roasted vegetable terrines that did not set, when Charlotte stumbled across this recipe from Plenty by Ottelenghi. It ticked all the boxes: seasonal, light and a perfect match for Rachael's delicious ricotta and sun dried tomato stuffed chicken which would be making its debut as our Main.

A somewhat risky choice to feed a room of strangers (cold soup?!) but the guests lapped it up and cried for more (they didn't get it, we were carefully controlling portions so that they had room for the main, trio of desserts and exquisite macaroons we had in store).

The reason for its success? The nuts and basil give it a rich, full flavour; the chilli gives it a kick. And if you put that combination of delicious green things in a glass it can only lead to one thing: a taste fresh as a summer's day.

I served the soup with croutons made from homemade soda bread. Baking your own bread is a bit extravagant for croutons and not strictly necessary, but that's just how we roll in the Keston Kitchen.

Enjoy

Jules xxx

Green Gazpacho

(Serves 6 - big portions)

2 celery sticks (including the leaves)

2 small green peppers, deseeded

1 large cucumber (weighing about 350g), peeled

3 slices stale white bread, crusts removed

1 fresh green chilli

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp sugar

150g walnuts, lightly toasted

200g baby spinach

25g basil leaves

10g parsley

4tbsp sherry vinegar

225 ml olive oil

40g Greek yoghurt

250g ice cubes

2tsp salt

white pepper preferably, but black works too)

Croutons:

2 thick slices bread

4tbsp olive oil

To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 190C. Cut the bread into 2cm cubes and toss them in the olive oil and a bit of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 mins or until golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Roughly chop up the celery, peppers, cucumber, bread, chilli and garlic. Place in a blender and add the sugar, walnuts, spinach, basil, parsley, vinegar, oil, yoghurt, water, half the ice cubes, salt and pepper. Blitz the soup until smooth.

(n.b. our blender is small so I had to do it in batches).

Lastly, add the remaining ice and pulse once or twice to crush it a little. Serve at once with the croutons.

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Goats cheese, tomato, olive and ROCKET tart.

Tart: Easy

Shhhhhh. Don't tell Rachael - this recipe involves ready-made pastry.

Looking at the delicious recipes on the blog, you could be forgiven for thinking that elaborate cooking is a constant in the Keston Kitchen, but let me reassure you, this doesn't happen every night. Cheating can occur; sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day.....

My birthday party was one such occasion. There were two criteria for the starter for my birthday supper:

1. It must befit the theme: the sky's the limit.

2. As there were 20 people coming, and I would be spending the entire day slaving over a vat of coq au vin, it had to be easy.

So, I turned to a fail safe favourite that I whip out on many a social occasion: the savoury tart. With ROCKET.

This tart is always met with gasps of approval from the hungry hoards when you effortlessly throw it together and, 20 minutes later, present the melting, buttery delight for their delectation.

More like assembling than cooking, it can be made in three easy steps:

1. On a baking sheet, place ready made, ready rolled puff pastry sheet (slyly).

2. Put on topping.*

3. Put in pre-heated oven (180C) for 20 minutes.

* In this instance, crumbled goats cheese, sliced tomatoes and olives. When it came out of the oven I scattered the rocket and drizzled with olive oil.

Other possibilities include:

Caramelised red onion and goats cheese (just slice the red onion and fry on low heat with some olive oil and a wee bit of brown sugar for 20 mins until it goes sticky and delicious, the spread over the tart and crumble the goats cheese on top).

Parmesan and cherry tomato (you know what to do).

Is that the end of the post? It just seems TOO EASY.

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Vegetarian Winter Warmer

Apologies for the quiet spell on the blogging front, in the Keston Kitchen we have been rather occupied by the festive season and by selling lots of calendars (thanks to everyone who has bought one so far)!
This is one of my favourite dishes and I thought it would make an ideal January recipe because as well as warming you up, being stuffed full of vegetables, it makes you feel healthy! It is also pretty economical if you make a big vat of it.
The recipe is basically a vegetarian chilli, it comes from the first Leon cook book and is actually called Lee's Hippy Farm Beans. The Leon book is always the first place I look, on a weekend when I fancy making a one-pot wonder, easy to prepare but you need to have the time to allow it to cook nice and slowly.
I made this dish most recently, just before Christmas when Katie (previous guest chef) and Laura (crafty friend who happens to be vegetarian) were staying. There was thick snow on the ground outside but we were snug inside with blankets and bowls of beans.

Lee's Hippy Farm Beans

Serves 4-5 people

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 large aubergine
3 peppers (one yellow, one red, one orange looks pretty)
Ground cumin
1 big onion, roughly chopped
3 big cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
3 assorted fiery chillies (or not so fiery depending on who you are cooking for), roughly chopped
350g cherry tomatoes
1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
2 tins beans (ideally one mixed and the other kidney, black bean or pinto)
Linghams Garlic and Chilli Sauce (available at Tesco, Waitrose and most importantly SMBS in East Dulwich)
300g baby spinach, well washed
Rock salt

And also (to serve):
Lime wedges (very important)
More chopped chillies or chilli sauce (I tend to make my chilli on the milder side and let people add more heat if they want it)
Grated cheese and/or sour cream (to counteract all that health)
1 pack of tortillas (I didn't bother with these as it is quite filling and so served with some tortilla chips instead)
3 avocados (if they are in season)


Start by putting 4 tbsp of olive oil in the pan. When the pan is hot, fry the aubergine and peppers for 15 minutes until golden and crisp. Season with salt and cumin, then take them out and put to one side.
Get the empty pan hot again, fry the onion in a bit more olive oil for a few minutes until it browns, then add the garlic and chillies. After a few more minutes add the cherry tomatoes. Again wait a few minutes before adding the tinned tomatoes, aubergine and peppers.
Bring to the boil and add the drained and rinsed beans. Now add a good glug of the chilli sauce. Turn the hob down to a low heat, a gentle simmer, cover the pan for 1/2 an hour, cook uncovered for a further hour; stir regularly. You want a gloopy, unky, smooth texture. Once it is ready, turn off the heat and stir in the spinach well until it is wilted.
You can then serve with as many or few extras as you wish!
Heat the tortillas if you are using them, mash or slice the avocados, wedge the limes, grate the cheese and dollop on the sour cream - yum!

Rachael x

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Caramelised Garlic Tart with Chargrilled Asparagus and Courgette Salad

Last week there was a birthday in the Keston Kitchen. One of the gifts we bought for Charlotte was the new Ottlenghi book (Plenty) and so it was only fitting that the celebratory meal followed the Ottolenghi theme.

Some of the recipes from Plenty were published in a little booklet that came with the Observer a few months ago and a dish that we had not tried out yet was a tart of caramelised garlic and goats cheese. Julia suggested a delicious looking asparagus, courgette and manori salad to accompany it (minus the manori as this meal was not short on cheese already).

I blind baked the pastry crust and roasted the tomatoes for the salad the evening before but it still took quite a lot of preparation on the night, luckily Matt stepped up and chargrilled all the asparagus and courgettes and the hungry guests were tucking into Julia's wonderful starter of smoked salmon pate while the tart was cooking.

I also made a few individual tarts with spelt flour short crust pastry (low gluten) and although it didn't go quite as well with the flavours of the filling as the puff pastry, Becca, Charl's sister enjoyed it and the leftover spelt flour tarts were polished off by everyone else.

As with most Ottolenghi recipes it was time consuming to make but the extra effort was definitely worth it when it came to the results!

Caramalised Garlic Tart

This recipe says it serves 8 people but it is so good it could easily be finished off by 6 people in our household

375g all-butter puff pastry

3 whole heads of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

220ml water

3/4 tbsp caster sugar

1tsp chopped thyme (plus a few whole sprigs to finish)

salt and black pepper

120g soft, creamy goats cheese

120g, hard, mature goats cheese

2 free range eggs

100ml double cream

100ml creme fraiche

Roll out the chilled pastry into a circle that will line the bottom and sides of a shallow, loose bottomed 28cm tart tin. Line the tin with pastry and then place a circle of greaseproof paper on the bottom and fill with baking beans. Leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Blind bake the case for 20 minutes, remove the beans and paper before baking for 5-10 minutes more, until golden. Set aside.

Meanwhile, make the caramalised garlic. Separate and peel all the cloves, put them in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer, blanch for 3 minutes and drain. Dry the pan, return the garlic to it along with the oil and fry on a high heat for 2 minutes. Add the vinegar and water, bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add the sugar, chopped herbs and 1/4 tsp salt, and simmer for 10 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the cloves are coated in dark syrup.

Break the goats cheese into pieces and scatter in the tart case. Spoon the garlic and syrup evenly over the cheese. Whisk the eggs, creams, half a tsp of salt and some black pepper, then pour over the garlic mix, filling any gaps and making sure the garlic and cheese peep over the top.

Turn the oven to 160C/gas mark 3 and bake the tart for 35-45 minutes, until the filling has set and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little. Take the tart out of its tin and lay a few sprigs of thyme on the top before serving.

Chargrilled Asparagus and Courgette Salad

The below ingredients serve 4-6 people

Salad:

350g cherry tomatoes, halved

140ml olive oil

24 asparagus spears

2 courgettes

25g rocket

Course sea salt and black pepper

Basil Oil:

75ml olive oil

1 garlic clove, chopped

25g basil leaves

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Start by preparing the tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Mix the tomatoes with 3 tbsp of olive oil and season with some salt and pepper. Spread the out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, skin side down. Roast in the oven for 50 minutes or until semi-dried. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Trim the woody base of the asparagus and blanch for 4 minutes in plenty of boiling water. Drain and refresh under cold water, making sure the spears are completely cold. Drain well again, then transfer to a mixing bowl and toss with 2 tbsp of the remaining oil and some salt and pepper.

Slice the courgettes very thinly lengthwise, using a mandolin or vegetable peeler. Mix with 1 tsbp of the olive oil and some salt and pepper.

Place a ridged griddle pan on a high heat and leave there for a few minutes. It should be very hot. grill the courgettes and asparagus, turning them over after about a minute. You want to get nice char marks on all sides. Remove and leave to cool.

To make the basil oil, blitz all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

To assemble, arrange the rocket, vegetables and cheese in layers on a flat serving plate. Build the salad up whilst showing all the individual components. Drizzle with as much basil oil as you like and serve.

Best enjoyed around halloween - with all the garlic it is guaranteed to keep any vampires at bay!

Happy Birthday Charlotte

Rachael x

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Sweet Autumn Fennel

Sweet Autumn Fennel by Charlotte

Fennel is a top ingredient that should not be confused with celery (for those of you who are strongly against the long stringy stuff). The first time I tried fennel was in Italy, eaten raw and dipped in oil with salt and pepper, which I highly recommend. Last year we had a spate of making a roasted fennel and chestnut side dish - this is also a great dish and in season right now. Maybe go for peeled chestnuts as peeling lots can really test your willpower.

This recipe is taken and adapted from the first Ottolenghi cookbook and has been made twice and tried and tested by lots of friends, who expect a good spread when they come round. Instead of making it in one large baking dish I opted for small ramekins as both occasions were a wee bit special and I decided individual pots were in order. 

Serves 10

Ingredients:

4 fennel bulbs

3 tbsp olive oil

Sprigs of thyme, about 6

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp black pepper

200ml whipping cream

100g Parmesan, grated

300g cherry tomatoes, tasty ones

Crumble top:

100g plain flour

2 heaped tbsp golden caster sugar

65g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Method:

- Mix the flour and sugar and rub in the butter to make a crumble topping.

- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

- Trim the fennel and slice into  small pieces, place in a bowl with the olive oil thyme leaves, garlic, salt and pepper and mix together.

- Put a small amount in each ramekin, divide the cream and pour over the fennel in the 10 ramekins.

- Mix the crumble topping with the grated Parmesan and sprinkle over the fennel.

- Cover each ramekin with foil and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

- Remove the foil, arrange 3-4 tomatoes on the top of each ramekin and bake for a further 15 minutes. 

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