Thomas the Cook

I came up with this combination when I was pretty skint in my third year of Uni. My housemate and I couldn't afford a night out so I decided to cook us both a meal with whatever was left in the cupboard. I had my heart set on making ice cream as I'd had an ice cream machine for Christmas. Unfortunately something had happened to the blade so I decided to use my lasagna dish to make a crunchy granita with some orange juice and whatever I thought of next. To my surprise, it was pretty amazing with the orange granita served in glasses with a shot of grappa over it.

Rob's boozy granita

1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
Grated zest of 2 oranges
Juice of 6 oranges
Juice of 1 lemon
Shot or 2 of Grappa

In a small saucepan, bring water, sugar and orange zest to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove pan from stove and cool.

Pour the granita mixture into a wide and shallow container, such as a lasagna dish.

Cover with a lid, foil or plastic wrap. Freeze the mixture 1 to 2 hours, until it is solid around the edges. Take the container out of the freezer and scrape the ice with a fork, mixing it from the edges into the center.

Repeat this scraping and mixing process every 30 minutes or so (at least three times) until the entire mixture has turned into small, sequined ice flakes. When ready to serve, "rake" with a fork to loosen the granita and spoon into serving dishes. Drizzle liberally with grappa and give yourself a pat on the back.

I mentioned on my Facebook if people associated a particular recipe or ingredient with me, to mention it and I'd try to feature it on here. One of the first people to comment was a family friend called Angela (aka 'Sian', long story!) who simply said 'Spinach and ricotta cannelloni, because I came over and you'd just made it, and it looked lovely'. Nuff said Angela, here it is!

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni
Ingredients
(Tomato sauce)
3 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves , crushed
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 x 400g cans chopped chopped tomatoes
small bunch basil leaves
(White sauce)
2 x 250g tubs mascarpone
3 tbsp milk
85g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), grated
2 x 125g balls mozzarella , sliced
(Filling)
1kg spinach
100g Parmesan or pecorino grated
3 x 250g tubs ricotta
large pinch grated nutmeg (optional)
400g dried cannelloni

First make the tomato sauce.
Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the garlic for 1 min. Add the sugar, vinegar, tomatoes and some seasoning and simmer for 20 mins, stirring until thick. Add basil and divide the sauce between 2 or more shallow ovenproof dishes. Set aside. Make a sauce by beating the mascarpone with the milk until smooth, season, then set aside.
Put the spinach in a large colander and pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt it (you may need to do this in batches). When cool enough to handle squeeze out the excess water. Roughly chop the spinach and mix in a large bowl with 100g Parmesan and ricotta. Season well with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Using a piping bag or plastic food bag with the corner snipped off (or your fingers but it's so messy lol), squeeze the filling into the cannelloni tubes. Lay the tubes, side by side, on top of the tomato sauce and spoon over the white sauce. Top with Parmesan and mozzarella. You can now freeze the cannelloni, uncooked, or you can cook it first and then freeze. Bake for 30-35 mins until golden and bubbling. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 mins before serving.

I tend to make this on a Saturday if I happen to spot some decent salmon fillets. My mother is postively addicted to this, and my father is quite partial too. If I'm making it for just my mother and I, I used a whole chilli as we love hot food. The nuttiness of the wild rice and the bite it has really compliments with soft, sticky salmon and the pak choi give that healthy iron-rich kick (alternatively use broccoli). Enjoy!

(serves 4)
Ingredients
4 salmon steaks or fillets 
3 tablespoons oil (veg or sunflower)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 fresh chilli
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
sesame oil to garnish (optional)
Wild rice or sticky rice (basmati, long grain or sushi rice)
Pak choi x 2

In a shallow baking dish, combine brown sugar, oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Place salmon steaks/fillets in a baking dish. Turn fish over several times to coat; refrigerate 30 to 45 minutes. Remove salmon from marinade. Cook on foil sheet on medium hot grill, turning once during cooking, about 6 to 12 minutes per inch of thickness.

Cook rice per pack instructions or have a look at a sticky rice recipe here .

Cut pak choi in half. Heat a few tablespoons of water in a griddle or a wok and place the pak choi cut side down, on a high heat so the veg steams. Once they're nearly cooked through, very lightly sprinkle with soy sauce and/or sesame oil. I personally like to transfer them to the baking dish I've taken the salmon out, to pick up some sticky teriyaki goodness :)

The more I've thought about this blog and the recipes I've put in it, I've realised that it's is a place to put all the recipes people ask me for. It's pretty much out of laziness because there's always someone asking me to make them food: "I'd love it if you made ...... again" or "That ....... you made was lovely. I don't know what to do for tea tonight". So as much as I enjoy making you all food, this can be a place of reference if you ever like the sound of the food I make and don't know where to start :)

I made this risotto when I was living in a flat in Cardiff. It took me ages, making the stock from scratch as I hadn't any stock cubes. It was a beautiful, herby experience. I'm used to not eating meat so didn't even consider making some for my housemate, who insisted it needed meat so she defrosted some spicy meatballs and mixed it into her portion. I suggest if you want to taste the sage and squash, that you don't do that. A risotto isn't a side dish!

Sage and butternut squash risotto

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
About 15 sage leaves, chopped
flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large knobs of butter
1 large onion, chopped
400g arborio or other Italian risotto rice
2 glasses white wine
1 litre/1¾ pint hot chicken or vegetable stock
good handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
75g pine nuts, to serve

Cut the butternut squash into 6-8 wedges, remove the seeds and place in a roasting tray. Pound or chop the garlic and add a generous glug of olive oil, half the sage leaves, sea salt and pepper. Tip into the tray and rub over the butternut squash with your hands. Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes until softened and becoming golden in colour.

Once the squash has cooked, cool slightly, then scrape the soft flesh away from the skin into a bowl. Lightly mash with a fork or potato masher until it is fairly chunky in texture. Scrape any juice into the bowl and keep warm while making the risotto.

Heat the olive oil and a good knob of butter in a pan. Gently fry the onion until softened. Add the rice and stir for about a minute until the grains are coated with the oil and butter. Pour in the wine and stir continuously until it has cooked into the rice. Add a good ladle of hot stock and the remaining sage and season well with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down so the stock is simmering gently. Keep adding ladles of stock as it cooks into the rice, stirring and moving the rice around in the pan. After about 15-20 minutes the rice should be soft but still have a bit of bite left in it.

Remove from the heat and stir the squash into the risotto with the parmesan, butter and season. Add extra stock if the risotto seems too thick.

During this time, place the pinenuts in a fairly hot frying pan and toss around until golden. Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls and scatter with the pinenuts and extra parmesan.

                               Happy Valentines Day

I've realised that today I've had great pleasure from two Yorkshire things: my Yorkshire Terrier Alfie, and homemade Yorkshire puddings. There is nothing that speaks of Sunday more than roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. Even though it is temptingly easy to use Aunt Bessie frozen stuff, I find watching the homemade version puffing up in the oven a far more satisfying sight.


The golden rule is to get the oil really hot and be quick, without scalding yourself. I've found a nifty little instructional video, but I am concerned that the person demonstrating the recipe should have arm hair nets on. You'll see what I mean. If you want to make individual ones, use a deep muffin tin or ramakins, preheated with the oil.

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-yorkshire-pudding

I'll also attach a photo of Alfie as a pup, purely to add some cuteness to your Sunday.

As far as I'm concerned, anytime is torte time! It's one of those things that when you think about it, you have to stop whatever it is you're doing and go into daze thinking about the chocolatey goodness. Making this chocolate torte has many associations in my mind. Once, I made it as an alternative to Christmas pudding and there wasn't enough to go around as people kept turning up asking for it. Another time it served as the most comforting treat for my friend and I after we'd watched one too many weepy films on a girly weekend. But the best time to make it is when you're craving chocolate, and once you try this recipe, you'll be craving torte at a shameful rate. Go on, you've got spare time on the weekend surely? ;)

Ingredients
12 digestive biscuits
50g butter
2 egg whites
75g caster sugar
225g plain chocolate
285ml double cream

Crush the biscuits. Melt the butter, and stir in virtually all of the biscuit crumbs. Press into the base of a loose bottomed 8in (20cm) tin.  In a bowl, over a pan of simmering water, whisk the egg whites and sugar for about 5 mins until it forms stiff peaks. Whip the cream until it holds it shape. Fold the chocolate into the meringue, followed by the cream. Pour into the tin, smooth the top and sprinkle the remaining biscuit crumbs. Chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Just before serving, remove from the tin and slide onto a plate.

During my last year of university, I lived in a house of 9. It was generally chaotic but I was lucky enough to make some good friends, including 3 French students. After we had all graduated we stayed in touch, and last year I was lucky enough to go to St Malo to visit them. There, we stayed with my friends parents, with his father Bob calling himself 'the pirate' as an homage to his town's history. Our hosts had heard how I'd come to love confit duck legs that the housemates had introduced me to in our student house. After an afternoon spent strolling through the walled city we drove back to the house where I was greeted with one of the most glorious sights the human eye can experience: a kitchen table loaded with roasted potatoes, mushrooms with lardons and beautifully cooked confit duck. Even the air smelt like lard, but the meal was heavenly. I've since looked for confit duck recipes, and surprisingly my slow cooker comes with a recipe for it, but I don't want to spoil that perfect memory. I've heard you can buy big tins of confit de canard in a deli in Cardiff but I'm yet to find it. So this is my plea: if anyone can give me a fool-proof and tested recipe for confit duck, I'll be eternally grateful!

Two years ago, I went on a long weekend break to Barcelona with my friend Lucy. By day two we were confident enough with the metro system and our maps to explore the backstreets and find something authentically Spanish and truly Barcelonian. We walked past many plazas filled with groomed holiday makers paying over the odds for drinks and tapas, but after an hour or so we came to a place called Ubeda. By this time we were starving and tired, and despite the fact that the place looked quite small and empty we were charmed by the decor and won over by the menu.

By the time our food arrived in tiny, dented little pans we thought we were going to hoover it up. When we tasted how good the food was, we made sure every mouthful was savoured. The staff looked at us strangely as we made appreciative noises and at one point, held hands upon tasting the Iberian pork stew. I don't blame them for looking, it must've been an odd sight. We had other dishes like goats cheese with honey and figs, mushrooms with garlic in olive oil and lots of bread to soak it up with. But the winner was definitely the Iberian pork stew, and although you can only get thinly sliced Iberian pork (similar to Parma ham) in this country, when this is cooked slowly it really is amazing. If you have a slow cooker, even better.

Ingredients
4-5 pork chops, diced
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
1-2 celery sticks
2 carrots
1 red pepper
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato purée
paprika
salt and pepper

Fry the pork chops in a little oil until nicely coloured, remove and put aside. In the same oil, fry the diced onion, celery and carrots until the onions are transparent. Add the garlic and red pepper, stir and add the tinned tomatoes, purée and paprika to taste. Add the pork back into the sauce once it has reduced a little to cook the pork through. If you have more time on your hands, you can put it all in one pot or slow cooker and cook slowly for a few hours. Serve with crusty bread, rice or mashed potato. I find that mashed sweet potato goes well with the paprika and red pepper.

One way to use dandelion leaves or any other bitter salad leaf (such as chicory or rocket) is as a base to a wonderful and simple salad of blue cheese and pear. It's a seemingly unusual combination but think of how well apple and cheese goes together, or brie and grape. Give it a go and you'll be surprised.

Blue cheese, walnut and pear salad

Quarter and core the pears, then cut each quarter into two or three slices. Arrange on top of the leaves. Break the cheese into chunks and scatter over the pears, along with the walnuts. Trickle honey over each portion, then a good trickle of olive oil. Finish with a scattering of thyme and seasoning. Serve with toasted, coarse-textured bread such as ciabatta.

Very early on in my life I knew I thought about food differently to other people my age. One instance that still sticks in my mind is when I went over my grandmother's house during the summer holidays. There were kids in her street I'd play with and I'd often like to busy myself by drawing or rooting around her garden looking at the different insects. I remember her saying that pretty much anything could be turned into food if you knew how, and she was always telling me about the natural world. There is a certain weed that grows with tiny long leaves with a white/purple ombre to them, that she once told me you could turn into jam. Whether it was true or not I went about the garden stuffing them into jars.

When I made friends with a girl who had a tortoise, we'd go picking dandelions to feed it with. When I mentioned that my grandmother said we could eat them too, she didn't believe me. I relayed the same information to my housemates in university as I'd noticed a patch of dandelions whilst we were sunbathing on the patio. They didn't believe me either, nobody did until the celebrity chefs started mentioning them and it became fashionable. Still, this isn't an 'I told you so' tale, more of a warning that if you tell someone dandelion leaves are edible and you grab one to munch to prove your point, then make sure you THOROUGHLY rinse it unless you want to digest a cat's territorial markings. It may be bad for you eating bagged salads washed in chlorine, but there can be far worse things to have on your salad.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn my hand to screenplays and write the Welsh version of 'Snakes On A Plane!', it's just a nifty little way of introducing something that still influences my daily life i.e. my decision to turn vegetarian at age 8.

I can pinpoint the day that I turned vegetarian to an exact date, as it happened on my 8th birthday. We were on our way to Tenerife on holiday and I was clutching my favourite stuffed animal toy, a lamb my elder sister had so sensitively named Minty. My legs swinging off the chair in excitement, I could see green fields out of the plane window and I enquired about the little white dots I could see. Of course they were sheep, and I sat back in my chair quite secure that there were happy little sheep everywhere. Being a chatty (and rather peckish) child I asked the air hostess what we would be eating:
" 'Scuse me lady, what will we be having for dinner today?"
"Lamb" said the hostess in a rather casual manner. A wave of despair engulfed me as my fingers grabbed Minty tighter, I gasped at the thought of eating him and buried my head into my mother's shoulders. It was unthinkable, cruel and just about the worst thing I had ever heard. From that day onwards, despite pleas and attempts at negotiation from my mother, I didn't so much as lick a beef flavoured crisp.

I was vegetarian for twelve years. It was difficult having to explain it but as ever I held my beliefs and was ready for the usual questions people had in school or by baffled relatives.

When I was 20 I was at a friend's BBQ birthday party and was rather suddenly tempted by a piece of white pudding that she had had flown over from Ireland for the occasion. Since then I've been a meat eater, but the time I spent as a vegetarian has ensured that I'm stringent about animal welfare when I'm buying meat.

And guess what my favourite meat is? Well let's just say I'm glad Minty is no longer around...

I've turned my hand to growing my own herbs and veg a few times over the years. I once had a fabulous little olive tree that was a couple of years away from producing edible olives, it really gave the delapidated student house I was living in an unexpected twist. Curly blue carpet? Check! Dangerous gas hob? Check! Mediterranean shrub? Check! I tended to it and moved it around a lot to give it enough sun, but unfortunately I was in such a rush to move out from the house due to the carbon monoxide leak that I left it on the kitchen roof. You may not think it counts as a big loss as olives are easy to come by these days, but it was like a portable piece of Italy that I'd grown attached to.

When I moved back home for the summer, I brought back the mini herb garden that used to keep my olive tree company. It had been a lush, green and compact little thing but it never recovered after my housemate forgot to water it when I went on holiday. It struggled to stay alive for a few weeks but when I brought it back home, it must've spent its last bit of energy fending off the insects and birds who eventually pecked it away to nothing.

After Christmas I spotted a grow your own chilli set in town and decided to give it a go. That was 2 months ago. I now have 27 little chilli seedlings, parsley, thyme, peppers and basil all thriving in the conservatory. All I have to do now is make sure the dog doesn't go in there and 'water' them himself...

As you may have gathered from the blurb(s) dotted around this blog, I certainly don't want this to become purely about recipes. I want this to also be an open and honest discussion about food and the way we think about it. If we're honest with ourselves, the amount of cooking we do that is done by following recipes to the letter is rare compared to the everyday 'I'm going to cook _______ today, because I feel like it'. Most of the stuff I cook either comes from cravings that appear out of nowhere, like 'needing' to devour the irony-squidginess of spinach or having my lips tingle from a lot of chilli.

We all have our idiosyncrasies when it comes to food, lots of us gross out our friends with our strange food combinations. They can be things that have passed down through families or random cravings that just won't go away, and I'm going to list some of my freaky foods in the hope some of you join in!

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I do love to eat:

- Cabbage water i.e. the pale green water drained after boiling cabbage. My grandmother used to give it to us when it was warm, and us grandkids became so accustomed that we'd fight over who had the one with most bits in it!

- Burnt oven chips. My mother never claimed to be a top chef but she always tried, although after so many years of burnt food you get used to it. I love it when they turn to a charcoal-like crunch!

- Baked beans straight from the tin. When I was a student I relied on tinned food and had a very small food budget, my midnight snack would often be a tin of beans with late night GCSE Bitesize programs on in the background as I crammed for the next day's exam.

Comment below to share your unusual must-haves!

Forget your acai berries or sprouting beans, minestrone is my superfood. Anytime it's miserable and drizzly outside or I feel my throat getting sore and I suspect the onset of a cold, I raid the vegetable drawer of the fridge and assemble this wonderfully comforting soup. The great thing about minestrone is that it is a very flexible thing to cook i.e. you can use more stock or water for a thinner, more summery soup or leave out the pasta pieces if you're avoiding gluten. And it lasts for ages! You can keep it going by adding more pasta and as with most soups and stews, it tastes better the next day.

I found a basic recipe years ago but once you get the hang of it you tailor it to your own tastes. Here is my favourite way of doing it...




Easy minestrone

Ingredients:
1 pack of pancetta cubes or 100g bacon
1 carrot
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
small pinch of chilli flakes
1 courgette
1 aubergine
1 pepper
2 fresh tomatoes
1 carton of passata (500g)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomatoe purée
1 pinch sugar
handful dried pasta
fresh and/or dried herbs


Heat a tablespoon of (any) oil and add the pancetta and fry until beginning to brown. Add medium diced onions finely diced carrots and cook until the onions become transparent. If using dried herbs or chilli, add a teaspoon of them at this point. Add the finely chopped garlic and stir. Add the courgette, aubergine and peppers that have been cubed (1cm/1.5cm) and mix to ensure all vegetables are coated with the pancetta and onion mixture. The aubergines may need another light drizzle of oil but be careful not to add too much. Add the chopped tomatoes, passata and purée and add a small pinch of sugar. Fill the tomato tin with water and pour in. Gently simmer until vegetables are almost cooked through, then add the pasta broken up into bite size pieces. When pasta is cooked, add fresh herbs and season to taste before serving.

Once in your bowl you can make it more indulgent by adding a dollop of pesto, shavings of Parmesan or pecorino. It's even nicer the next day when you can add more pasta for a more filling dish or add some beans e.g. borlotti, cannellini.

I find writing the first couple of words of anything to be a very staggered activity. As much as I enjoy writing, it will take at least two cups of tea before I finish this blog entry. As self-aware as this food blog debut is, the sentiment behind it is very sincere and I want you to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. This blog will be a pleasure to write and research as it's about my favourite subject: food!

Although, food isn't just a topic or talking point, it's intrinsic to every part of my life. So many stories from my childhood, university years through to the present are centred around food and feeding people. I know blogs aren't necessarily the way people find recipes and inspiration but I'm hoping to offer a bit more than that. Every meal I cook has a motivation or memory attached; be that a healthy stir fry I put together after feeling guilty for dodging exercise, a comforting risotto on a rainy day, or a hearty minestrone when recovering from a cold. I want to share my recipes with you, and hope you enjoy what's to come on this little blog of mine.

:)