Greetings one and all. It's been too long since my last post and so I thought I'd get back in the habit! I've been travelling around quite a lot recently and there are so many recipes I want to share with you. This one is simple but tastes SOOO GOOD! I tried a similar dish in Spring Restaurant in Somerset House and it haunted me for weeks, in a very good way. You know when you just can't stop thinking about something you've eaten? And then last week in Tinos, Greece when we were shooting for Bon Appetite Magazine I had this - braised courgettes on flat bread. They're extremely easy to make but take a little time. The idea of braising courgettes was a bit alien to me until then but once you try these you'll want the courgettes as an accompaniment to EVERYTHING.

BRAISED COURGETTES

Serves 4 (as a side dish or on toast as a light lunch)

Ingredients -

4 courgettes

6 sprigs of Thyme

50g-100g grated parmesan

Olive oil

Salt 

Pepper

Method -

- Slice courgettes thinly (2mm thick)

- In a medium hot pan add the courgettes along with the thyme

- Saute for around 30 minutes until the courgettes are soft. Be careful when moving around the pan as you don't want to break them too much but you want to cook them as long as possible without them getting to a mush.

- Add the grated parmesan towards the end of the cooking and mix carefully through the courgettes

- Serve on toasted flat bread (I used Turkish side in the picture) rubbed with garlic or as a side to a nice steak

Bistrotheque, Rice Pudding and a good lump of jam.

Every time I go to a decent restaurant and see rice pudding on the menu I have to have it. In my opinion to impress someone with a mille feuille is easy, you don’t have them often and they always taste great but to impress someone with as simple a dish as rice pudding is a challenge.

This happened last weekend at Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green (@BISTROTHEQUE). We had a 3 course meal, every dish as perfect as the last. We started with cocktails – I had a cucumber flip which was sublime. The glass had been rinsed in Ricard before pooring in the flip and so with every refreshing cucumber-y sip came a faint aniseed taste – INCREDIBLE. (Recipe to follow when I buy Ricard)

Then came the starter, lardons, frisee, poached egg. To be honest at first it looked pretty but basic, after I started eating it I realised that the egg was done to perfection and the lardons were some of the nicest smoked bits of meat I’ve ever had. Confit duck leg and green beans followed, literally a leg of confit duck on a pile of green beans. It looked as if I was going to be left hungry but I wasn’t at all. The portion size was perfect. I haven’t had as nice confit duck in the Dordogne!

And then came the pudding, the rice pudding, damson jam, toasted almonds. Simple but perfect! A few glasses of wine later and it’s definitely one of the top 3 meals I’ve eaten in London! Bold statement I hear you say, maybe, but it’s definitely worth the visit.

There are certain things that you don’t realise how brilliant they are until you’re older, for me rice pudding is one of them. I don’t think I ever appreciated as a little boy the subtle flavours you can add and versatility of the dish. Also, it’s very easy to make, is filling and you can make it very cheaply. This is my version of the one I ate at the restaurant, please don’t be put off by the long cooking time as you literally don’t have to do anything, the prep time is about 3 minutes!

(Serves 3-4, Cooking time including prep: 1-2 hours)

RICE PUDDING

Ingredients –

75g pudding rice

1 ½ pint whole milk

3 tbsp sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

butter

nutmeg (optional)

Method –

-       Turn your oven to 160 degrees centigrade

-       First you need to rub butter onto the buttom and sides of your casserole/baking dish

-       Put rice, sugar and milk in the pan

-       Place in the oven

-       After about 45 minutes take out the oven, stir well and grate a good amount of nutmeg over the surface

-       It’s done when there’s a thin layer of skin on the surface (my Sisters favourite bit) and there’s still a bit of a wobble in the centre

-       Serve with toasted almonds and whatever jam you have in the cupboard, I went for dark cherry jam.

Stuffed Tomatoes - A Veggie Dream!

I’d been wanting to do stuffed tomatoes for a while, there’s something pretty cool about stuffing things and tomatoes seems to one that always gets left off the list. I always end up putting them off thinking that they’re going to take ages but the other day I saw some dried out bread from a few days prior and was trying to use everything in the fridge so thought I’d give them a whirl. I’m so glad I did, that night of the Olympics was incredible for more than just the medals…It was an Olympic feast! We had grilled aubergine, homemade potato salad, stuffed tomatoes….

This is a great recipe for using things up – leftover cheese, spare meat, spare herbs etc. the recipe’s pretty loose so just use up what you’ve got! I made some the next day and used less breadcrumbs and threw in a handful of minced steak, definitely worth a try.

Enjoy

Ingredients:

4 medium tomatoes

½ red onion, chopped finely

2 cupful breadcrumbs

100g feta cheese

1 handful coriander, chopped finely

1 lemon (zested)

salt

pepper

rocket (to serve)

Method:

-      -  Slice a small amount of the base of each tomato so that they will stand up on a baking tray

-      - Slice the tops off the tomatoes about 1cm from the top, these will act as the lids

-      - Carefully scoop out the middle and reserve the liquid in a bowl, place these upside down on some kitchen towel for a few minutes

-      - Throw all the other ingredients in a bowl and combine together using the liquid of the tomatoes and a touch of olive oil if needed

-      - Stuff the tomatoes with the mixture and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until tender