whatkimcookednext

Hooray for Houmous or is it Hummus or Hummous??

You have to be impressed by any kind of food that has so many spellings and no-one is completely sure what the correct one is! For the moment, I am going to use Houmous (although Joe uses Hummous). Spelling apart, I have always bought my Houmous from the supermarket in convenient little tubs, but that was before I knew how incredibly simple it was to make. I was also impressed that most recipes don’t include any oil other than for garnish, so it was also a lot less fattening than I had thought. So now on to the recipe and who better than our local resident expert on middle eastern cookery to show us? Pictured below with the lovely Helen.

You will need:

1 can of chickpeas (drained and washed, with a few whole ones reserved for decoration – there is a school of thought that say that you should use soaked, dried chickpeas but canned is just, so convenient!)
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic – crushed
2 tablespoons of tahini ( you can buy this at any good supermarket, although Joe does buy some super-special stuff at a speciality store)
Juice of 1 lemon (if you like it extra lemony, you could us the zest, too)
Water for thinning (approx 1 tablespoon)
Salt and Pepper to taste
You can add a pinch of cumin if you want a little spiciness
Good qaulity olive oil and finely chopped parsley or coriander to decorate

Method:

Place the drained chickpeas, the lemon juice (and zest if used), garlic and the tahini (and cumin if you are using) in to a food processor and blend really well for a few minutes
Test, and if the mixture is still thick, add 1 tablespoon of water and blend further which gives a really smooth, silky texture
Add salt and pepper to taste

Joe had a very traditional way of serving it, spread carefully in a round shape on a plate.

He then drizzles virgin olive oil on it and some finely chopped parsley, he would normally keep a few of the whole chickpeas to decorate with, but we forgot and blitzed them all! It may also be nice to add some finely chopped red peppers or chillis for a real spicy kick.

This was served with toasted pitta bread and of course, some of Joe’s trademark falafel. Delicious!

Burger and Lobster – what’s not to love?

A late lunch on a Saturday afternoon in london is always one of life’s great pleasures. Particularly if you are lunching with the lovely Ellie. So, having put the world to rights over a glass of champagne or two, we never quite made the shopping that we had originally intended, oh well. Our main mission was to try out the much feted ‘Burger and Lobster’ restaurant in Soho. There are 3 restaurants now http://www.burgerandlobster.com/ as this interesting concept is clearly doing extremely well. Their premise is very simple, come up with a few things that you cook brilliantly and price it reasonably – and that’s exactly what they’ve done. In other words don’t go there unless you love either burgers or lobster!

When I say the menu is simple, I mean really simple, there isn’t one! All you can have is a burger, a lobster or a lobster roll all served with chips and salad for £20.00. Ellie chose the lobster roll and I had the grilled lobster. Being provided with plastic bibs was not the highlight of my lunch although the gloriously abundant size of the lobster definitely was. Ellie on the other hand embraced wearing her bib as the “must have” Burger and Lobster lunchtime accessory:

Her lobster roll was absolutely delicious, filled with really tender and moist lobster meat and lots of it. The fries and salad were also good quality. We had a bottle of house pink champagne to go with it and it was honestly the perfect lunch. Whilst we didn’t have the burger, plenty of people round us did and from the look of the quality and the quantity and also listening to the comments of people eating them, it seemd they were definitely of a very high standard and we heard no negative or disappointed noises at all. As for me, I was in lobster heaven. This was my kind of meal, a huge grilled crustacean, with lots of fun implements for cracking and picking. The lobster itself was cleverly served to maximise your ability to get the most lobster meat out of it and to stop you inadvertently flinging lobster claws at your neighbour’s table in feeble attempts to crack them (unless you wanted to, of course). Frankly, I loved it.The only minor down side is they don’t take bookings for less than 6 people, but there is a perfectly good cocktail bar area to wait in, so it is really no hassle at all. There are desserts, but they are not meant to be the highlight, and are served in little disposable cups, we had chocolate mousse but the lobsters and the burgers are definitely the stars of the show.

What the Halloween shall I do with all that pumpkin? Make cupcakes and spooky soup, of course!

It’s that time of year again, when Katy and I carve pumpkins, just because we can and it’s such fun and we hope that the “Trick or Treat” brigade don’t throw bricks if not donated sufficient amounts of chocolate (It was worrying last year how many of them had voices that had already broken). Disappointingly, no Halloween parties or discos this year, but on the plus side it means we don’t see Josh in his red velvet devil costume (Yes he really does, the minx, be grateful it’s Katy in the photo). However, the biggest question on everyone’s mind is not “Paranormal 1” or “Paranormal 2”, it’s what the heck do you do with all that scooped out pumpkin?

Well, Ellie’s recipe for a really good curried pumpkin soup to use up the flesh and for roasted pumpkin seeds is always a winner. I’ve included those further down as they are very easy to make and delicious. However, making cakes with vegetables is still the new black, so never one to resist a fashion trend, I present to you my Pumpkin Cupcakes. PUMPKIN CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter, softened
190g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
120g cooked, mashed pumpkin (Just boil until soft and then drain)
275g self-raising flour plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Splash of milk if the mixture looks a little stiff
50g chopped walnuts plus a few for decoration

For the icing: 100g unsalted butter, 200g icing sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence all beaten together until pale and creamy

For the Cupcakes:

Pre heat the oven to Gas mark 4/160 fan/180 electric.
Cream the butter and sugar together (I chucked them in the food processor) until they are pale and creamy
Add the eggs followed by all the spices and the mashed pumpkin.
Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently, add a little milk if very stiff.
Stir in the chopped walnuts and place in twelve large cupcake or muffin cases.
Place in the oven for 25 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Decorate as you wish, I used vanilla butter icing (Literally, combine all the ingredients until creamy) and sprinkled with bright orange glitter, or get as spooky as you like with black icing etc.

The pumpkin really does make these cakes lovely and moist, in fact if you have left over mashed butternut squash or parsnip it would be just as nice.

Ellie’s Spooky Soup You will need:

The innards of one pumpkin, (less a little bit for your cupcakes!) flesh chopped into manageable chunks – keep the seeds
One onion, chopped.
A couple of cloves of garlic, chopped.
One chopped up chilli.
A big pinch of dried curry leaves, or a big spoonful of curry powder.
Approximately 750mls of stock – made from 2 Kallo Organic chicken or vegetable stockcubes
Salt and pepper to taste, plus a big dollop of double-cream or half-fat crème
A splash of the oil of your choice.

Method

Heat up your oil in a big pan and throw in the onion, garlic and chilli.
Cook until it all starts to soften but not go brown.
Chuck the pumpkin chunks in with it, add all the seasoning, and cook the lot until it’s going a bit golden and gooey (about 5 minutes)
Pour your stock in over the top, bring to the boil, and then simmer over a low heat for maybe 20 minutes, until the pumpkin has gone really soft.
If you have a hand blender (the kitchen gadget of champions, in Ellie’s humble opinion), then whiz it up in the pan until it’s smooth; otherwise, obviously, you could stick it in a proper blender; if you are not lucky enough to own either of the above, a masher and a lumpy soup will still be tasty.
Dollop in your creamy component of choice, and then give it another whiz and heat it again for another minute or two

Serve with some sort of bread.

Toasted Pumpkin seeds

Take your pumpkin seeds (you can use butternut squash seeds as well, which is also good made in to Ellie’s soup as a pumpkin substitue).

I tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon paprika.

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to low – Gas Mark 1 120 degrees C for fan assisted, C140 not
Rinse your seeds and then pat them dry with some kitchen roll
Place in a bowl and stir in the oil, salt and pepper and paprika
Line a baking tray with aluminium foil
Spread the seeds out on the tray and place in the oven for around 15-30 minutes until golden brown or until your hear them start to pop These are great on the top of the soup, but also lovely hot from the oven with a glass of wine. Experiment with curry powder, worcester sauce, garlic or chilli oil.

Have a lovely Halloween!

Fabulous Falafel….a masterclass from my neighbour Joe.

My lovely neighbours Helen and Joe are an interesting and glamorous couple, but who knew that Joe (pictured below) was an expert at Middle Eastern cookery? So when I was invited along to learn how to make his trademark falafel, I didn’t hesitate and rushed down the road, pinny at the ready. I had only had falafel at the local kebab shop before, but I was assured that this was completely different and of course, far superior.I arrived expecting to find a few small bowls with the ingredients weighed out, little did I know that Joe does nothing by halves and when he cooks we are talking cooking in bulk, hence three washing up bowls full of chickpeas! Don’t panic, however the measures below are for a far more reasonable amount!

You will need:

2 cups of dried chickpeas soaked in cold water (minimum overnight, preferably up to 2 days changing the water regularly)
1 onion, coarsely chopped (white onion is best)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
Chilli powder to taste
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Drain the chickpeas and place in a food processor or a grinder with the onion and garlic

For the quantities above, add the other ingredients, if you are us…put all the ingredients on a clean kitchen surface
and mix (click on video below)

Either roll in to small balls or use an amazing falafel making gadget (No, I didn’t know they existed either…)

Either use a deep fat fryer or place some sunflower oil in a heavy saucepan and place over a medium heat. You will know when the oil is ready as a small piece of bread will float to the top when dropped in – always be VERY careful when dealing with hot oil.
Fry the falafel about 6 at a time, until they are golden brown and crispy round the outside (see video below)

Serve hot with salad, hummus, hot pepper dip, tsaziki – basically anything you want

Play around with the spicing to make them as mild or as spicy as you like, but I can guarantee you they are absolutely delicious. Joe casually whipped up some fresh hummus for us all (recipe to follow) and we had an elegant lunch of falafel, hummus, flat bread and tomato salad…oh yes and quite a lot of very good wine.

Joe also introduced me to two further delicacies which I had never tried before…

Fresh pistachio nuts

and cactus fruit

Who says life is dull in suburbia???………………and by the way, this is how much falafel mixture we ended up with to put in our freezers.

Afternoon tea – with strawberry, nectarine and vanilla jam

Strawberry and Nectarine Jam with Vanilla

I hate throwing anything out (as my over-stuffed wardrobe proves), but particularly food. So when I had a punnet of strawberries and a couple of nectarines that looked like they wouldn’t last much longer without serious resuscitation, I had to do something with them. As you know, I’m a great fan of making jams and jellies in small quantities, particularly if you’re not entirely sure how successful the result will be and this was a perfect opportunity.

Now I know, you are meant to make jam when the fruit is at its freshest, but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t good when it may be slightly past its best. To avoid over-boiling which could be the kiss of death if your fruit isn’t as fresh as you may like, it’s better to use ready-prepared pectin which means you don’t have to over-cook. Also, on this occasion though, I decided I’d add a little extra flavouring as an experiment to see what happened. The result was lovely; the added vanilla worked brilliantly with the flavour and frankly, it was good enough just to eat straight from the jar with a teaspoon.

Ingredients

400g punnet of strawberries, stalks removed and coarsely chopped (about 375g chopped weight)
2 nectarines (150g chopped weight)
Juice of 1 small lemon
750g preserving sugar with pectin
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Knob of unsalted butter (about 1 teaspoon)
100mls Certo liquid pectin

Method

Place the nectarines in a jug of boiling water, leave for 2 mins and then take the skin off and chop coarsely
Place the strawberries, lemon juice and sugar in a large sauce pan over a very gentle heat and allow the sugar to dissolve, stirring every now and then
Once the sugar granules have disappeared and the fruit is clear and syrupy, add the vanilla essence, chopped nectarine flesh and a knob of unsalted butter (the butter cuts down the foam)

Turn up the heat and boil for 2 minutes
Remove from heat and stir in Certo liquid pectin
Leave to stand for 5 minutes then bottle in to clean, sterilised jam jars

Scones

The perfect combination with the jam is clotted cream and fresh scones. Scones are not difficult to make, you just have to remember not to over-work them or they will be heavy. They also don’t last, so eat them same-day, which has never proved to be a problem! This is my own recipe, which is a sort of combo of other people’s wisdom.

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
50g unsalted butter
125ml buttermilk
1 large egg – beaten, with 1 tablespoon of it reserved for glazing

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 fan/220 non-fan/Gas mark 7
Butter a baking sheet
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and butter in to a food processor and whizz for a few seconds until it looks like breadcrumbs
Tip in to a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar
Make a well in the middle and add the butter milk and egg
Combine quickly, first using a knife and then with your fingers – do not over-knead – if it is too dry add a little milk, but it should be quite wet and squidgy
Tip on to a floured service and knead very slightly
Press down to a thickness of approximately 2 cms and using a 5.5cm cutter, start to cut your scones – NOTE: apparently they rise butter if you don’t twist the cutter – not sure why??
Place your scones on the buttered tray, glaze the tops with the reserved egg and place in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until well risen and browned on top
Eat with clotted cream/butter and jam – yum!

Easy-peasy peanut butter cookies and rice crispie bars…and they’re gluten-free, too!

Quick recipes that are gluten-free are always a challenge, so here are my two favourites:

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 jar of crunchy peanut butter (454g)
2 eggs
400g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Chocolate chips (optional)

Method

Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4/180 non-fan/160 fan
Mix everything together and roll in to 12 balls
Place balls on a baking sheet, lined with greased baking paper and cook for 15 to 20 mins dependent on whether you like your cookies soft or crispy
Yes, really…that’s it!!

Chocolate Crispy Squares (courtesy of BBC Food)

Ingredients

5 Mars Bars chopped up
150g/5ozs unsalted butter (plus a bit extra for greasing the baking tin)
100g/3 1/2 ozs of rice crispies
75g/3 ozs Plain or milk chocolate

Method

Grease a 20cm/8in square deep sided tin with a little usalted butter
Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and add the butter and mars bars
stir until completely melted and smooth

Remove from the heat and stir in the rice crispies until completely covered

Place in the tin and push down to ensure it is in the corners
Add the remaining chocolate the to the bowl, and when melted spread over the top
Set aside to cool and harden, preferably in the fridge overnight
Cut in to squares and keep in an airtight tin

Offer to guests and pretend it was MUCH more complicated than that

Cream cheese and chilli jam – best party dip ever

I had the neighbours round yesterday and to start with, I put out a big plate of tortilla chips and a load of dips, including hummus, salsa, guacamole and cream cheese with chilli jam. Here is a fact, the cream cheese dip with chilli jam always goes completely in the first half hour irrespective of how much you put out. It’s as if there is something secretly addictive in it that makes you actually incapable of only having one dip in it.

The best thing about it, is that it really is the easiest dip in the world to make and th recipe was given to me by the lovely Joyce and there’s a woman who knows a thing or two, about good, simple cooking.

Go for it.

JOYCE’S LOVELY CREAM CHEESE CHILLI DIP

All you will need is 1 packet of cream cheese, I used philadelphia, but you could in fact use a block of any good, really creamy cheese.

1 small jar of either sweet chilli dipping sauce, or my own lovely home made chilli jam (recipe below or buy it, up to you!).

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint and

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil and

a large bag of plain tortilla chips.

Method: All you do is turn out the cheese on to a large plate, place the majority of the chopped herbs on the top (Joyce adds chopped red pepper, too), leaving a little for decoration on the side. Spoon the chilli jam over the top of the cheese and serve. that’s it – pure genius, Joyce.

This is what it will look like VERY quickly.

Quick recap on the Chilli Jam recipe…(loosely based on Nigella’s)

150g fresh red chillies with seeds removed
150g red peppers, seeds removed ( I like to use green and yellow as well for a rainbow effect)
1kg jam sugar
400ml cider vinegar
200ml apple juice

Method

Place the cut-up chillies into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the red pepper and pulse again until they are chopped in to small pieces
Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and apple juice over a very low heat with as little stirring as possible
Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave it to bubble gently for 10 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool for about 30 to 40 minutes
Ladle into clean, sterilised jars.

Brighton rocks Part 2 – even more cool places to go

It’s summer, or technically anyway even if it’s rainy and cold. What do we do in the summer? Yes, go to Brighton for the day, or even for the weekend if you’re feeling frisky! After the success of her first Brighton recommendations, I’m pleased to welcome back guest blogger Ellie (pictured below on the right with Kate in Greece last month where it definitely wasn’t raining) and I’m also please to let you know that yes, Brighton still rocks…..

Greetings from the seaside. Regular readers and stalker types among you may remember that, some time ago, I wrote a guest post on eating out in Brighton. Was it last year? The year before? Who knows?

Well, as it’s summertime again and culinary matters have inevitably moved on somewhat since my last little guide, I thought it was due an update…

As you know, breakfast in Brighton is something you don’t want to miss out on, particularly after a traffic-clogged weekend drive or a sticky train journey from Victoria. I believe that all the breakfast establishments I mentioned previously are still in business (and still very good), but there have been a couple of notable additions to the canon.

Mange Tout (81 Trafalgar Street; no website) is my new local first-stop for all things breakfast. It’s French, it’s cool; the staff are all good-looking and really lovely – what more could you want? Well, food-wise it’s pretty rad, too. My usual breakfast companion assures me that the Eggs Benedict is the best in Brighton (it’s beaten the previous gold standard, which was Bill’s); I like the vegetarian breakfast, as it comes with ricotta, a surprisingly brilliant addition to the norm. Everything is served with properly good sourdough bread, and the coffee is excellent.

It’s also open for lunch and, on some nights, dinner. Mange Tout is worth a visit at any time of day, but it’s the perfect place to hang out for breakfast – full of hipster couples and families with the world’s most beautiful children, mostly. Whatever you fancy, though, it fulfills my pet love of being pretty relaxed about what meals happen when – you know, they won’t mind if you really want breakfast just after it’s officially finished for the day, or if you’d like a steak and a glass of red at 11am. As the walk through the Lanes can be a slow and circuitous one, let’s face it, you may not have made it very far by lunchtime. If that’s the case, I’d recommend hanging around a bit longer and joining the queue outside Pompoko on Church Street (110 Church Street; http://www.pompoko.co.uk). Yes, there is pretty much always a queue but it goes down really quickly as it’s a fast, fun, share-a-table-if-you-need-to kind of place; order at the counter from a numbered, laminated menu. The speciality here is genuine Japanese street food – not a piece of sushi or sashimi in sight (if you want posher Japanese food, I’d head up to Café Murasaki on the Seven Dials or Moshi-Moshi, in a delightfully converted public convenience building over in the south Lanes).

Here at Pompoko, it’s all about curries, noodles and dumplings. I usually like to get myself a little variety of snacks – edamame, miso soup, steamed dumplings and, my favourite, fried octopus balls. To drink alongside your meal, it’s basically water, Japanese tea or cans of drink only, and it’s a really fun experience if you just want to grab something quick but different. It stays open late and, being located directly opposite the Dome and the Corn Exchange, it’s also perfect for a quick pre-going out snack.If you’ve made it a little nearer to the sea by now on your travels, you could do a lot worse than ducking into Pho (12 Black Lion Street; http://www.phocafe.co.uk). It’s a chain, but a small, nice one – at the time of writing, they’ve got a couple in London and now this one in Brighton. That’s it so far, but I expect there will be more. There deserve to be, as they are really good at what they do. It’s Vietnamese food and – while they do other dishes as well, such as Vietnamese curries and fried noodles – it’s all about the noodle soup, which is what ‘pho’ is.

You get an absolutely epic bowlful of it, accompanied by a plate of herbs, garnishes, chilies and lime, in order to accessorise as you wish. Proper pho is made with beef stock (although less traditional alternatives are available), with the addition of brisket, meatballs, chicken, prawns or mushrooms. You can customise and mix-and-match as you see fit, but I usually go for one of the classics – you can also choose the extra-spicy version, but that’s a bit hot for me, and I say that as someone who always goes for extra-hot in Nando’s! If you’re feeling brave after your meal, you might sample the special ‘weasel coffee’ – but I’ll let you find out exactly what that is for yourself…My first suggestion for dinner is a Brighton institution, one that’s been there far longer than I have, but which I have been particularly enjoying of late. The Regency (131 Kings Road; http://www.theregencyrestaurant.co.uk) sits on the corner of one of those seafront squares straight out of Brighton Rock, in a fantastic building that gives you a great view of the sea. It’s old-fashioned in the best possible way. Serving mostly fish, there’s a huge variety and if you’re not much of a pescetarian, then you can get anything from spaghetti to a roast dinner or a steak, all best followed up by a good old steamed pudding or (as the menu really says) ‘spotted Richard’. It’s incredibly good value and there’s something for everyone, which has made it a favourite for us whenever we have visitors – you really can’t go wrong at the Regency. Alternatively, if you want to grab something on your way back to the station on your way home, you should head back to Trafalgar Street and to Caffe Aldo (77 Trafalgar Street; http://www.caffealdobrighton.co.uk). As the name implies, it’s a pretty basic café, with options to take-away or to bring your own wine if you’d like to sit in – and, most importantly, they do the best pizza in Brighton. Simple as that.

Although eating is obviously the most important part, you could also go and do some drinking and dancing at the super-cool Green Door Store, have a bit of a singalong at Lucky Voice or in the bar at the Pelirocco, buy some lovely clothes in Nola or go and get your hair cut at Shine. See you there, probably!

When good bananas go bad – Part two – the banoffee souffle

Yes, it’s happened again. There they were looking fresh, yellow and appealing and overnight they turned from innocent fruit in to guilty, squashy criminals that could not be tolerated.

This my friends is another classic case of what happens when good bananas go bad…

One solution was to make banana loaf, which is indeed a noble answer but I really do think I have come up with the best solution ever, so prepare yourselves for …

When good bananas go bad – the sequel.

Banoffee Soufflé, yes get very excited. This is honestly one of the easiest and best dishes I have come up with and I cannot recommend it highly enough

All you need isFor the soufflé:

2 medium bananas, mashed with a little lemon juice
4 egg whites
110g/4ozs caster sugar

Butter to grease the dishes and icing sugar for dusting

For the toffee sauce:

100g unsalted butter
150g dark soft brown sugar
125ml double cream
Seeds from a fresh vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

Preheat your oven to Gas 6/Fan 180 non-fan 200

Generously butter 6 to 8 (depending on size) ramekins
Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and leave peaks
Slowly add the sugar, bit by bit and whisk until really thick and shiny
Gently fold in the mashed banana with a metal spoon, taking care to keep as much air in as possible
Spoon the mixture in to the ramekins and then run either a knife or your finger round the edges (about finger nail width) so that they can rise
Pop them in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are well risen and browned
Whilst the soufflés are in the oven, make the sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat
Add the vanilla and brown sugar and stir for a few minutes until it has all combined and is lovely and thick
Stir in the double cream and it is ready to serve
Once your soufflés are ready, serve and then when they are at the table carefully make a hole in the top and pour some toffee sauce in to the centre reserving the rest for people to add as they wish. This is so easy and it also utterly delicious. Try it!

Guernsey Potato Peel Pie, not just a book club review, but a recipe too

I am extremely lucky to live in a road with the most brilliant neighbours. They are fun, generous, don’t live in your pocket but are always there if you need them. Even better, we have our own neighbourhood book club which nicely complements our Tomato Growing contest (more to follow on that later in the year) in ensuring we all see each other regularly. Once a month, we meet and discuss the merits of a designated book, which is always a lively discussion aided by lots of wine and the fact that we all love a good debate. Last month, the lovely Helen, pictured below was our host.The designated book was ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society’ which was a light and enjoyable read. The book is set in Guernsey during the Occupation and highlighted many of the hardships that the islanders went through, many of which I have to confess to being completely unaware of, however it also highlighted the extremes they went to to feed themselves and in the course of the book, a potato peel pie is mentioned. Having a few old King Edwards knocking around in the fridge, I thought it might be fun to try and create a potato peel pie to take with me to book club, instead of the usual bottle of wine. I confess that in the interest of making it taste good, I have not used the austerity measures that the original recipe called for and have liberally added cheese, cream and garlic, and the result was that it tasted really good! So if your book club is reading this and you fancy trying to make one for the occasion, or you want a very simple vegetarian potato and cheese pie, give it a try!

My attempt at the Guernsey Potato Peel Pie: You will need:

For the pie crust:

3 large potatoes – skin grated, including some of the white flesh
Teaspoon of oil to grease the pie dish
1 small, finely chopped white onion
1 large egg, beaten
25g plain flour
25g grated parmesan
1/2 teaspoon of paprika

For the filling

Remainder of the potatoes above
1 clove of garlic
1 egg yolk
100g cheddar grated
50g parmesan grated
1 tablespoon of cream
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the over to Gas mark 6/220 fan/240 non-fan
Grease a small pie dish with the oil
In a bowl, mix up all of the ingredients for the pie crust
Press in to the pie dish, to form a nice thick crust and place in the oven for 20 minutes
In the meantime, place some water in a saucepan and add the chopped potatoes and garlic. Bring to the boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender
Drain and allow to cool slightly
Add the remaining ingredients and mix well
Turn the mixture out in to to the cooked pie crust and smooth out so it looks like a flan
Reduce the Oven to Gas Mark 4/160 fan/180 non-fan and cook for a further 12 to 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown
Serve immediately

It turned out to be a rather lovely, slightly different Cheese and Potato pie.

Next month’s book is”The Hunger Games”…that could be interesting…