Our favourite recipe

So this one is our ultimate recipe, you just take one moose, and a punnet of ripe strawbs. Hull the strawbs, de-bone the moose, and … oh okay, but we nearly had you there, right?
Happy April Fools Day and Happy Birthday to Hospitality Inc founder Lucy!

Kath xxxx

That ain't no pie, lady!

My dear friend Kent in San Francisco has just become a fan of this blog. It would be safe to say that Kent is a man who enjoys his nosh. (He once crashed a car when he saw a sign across the road for fried chicken, and instinctively veered towards it.) We don't get to see our American friends much any more (miss you Erin, Mike, Kristen, Locknecks et al) – even less so since we all had the babies and life changed. But when we do, we always build in a good amount of gourmet experiences.

The last time that we stayed in SF, me and Kent decided to cook a meal together for all of our friends. We wanted to make it a typically British affair, and so he took me to a supermarket where they had a British aisle. It was hilarious to see what home delights could be found across the pond. Suffice to say that according to this American retailer, our nation's culinary contribution consists of Marmite, Bisto, Tetley Teabags and Lime Marmalade. But I for one was pretty happy to find the Bisto, as I made a retro jug up to serve with this Shepherds Pie.

So, Shepherds Pie. The Americans loved the name. They were expecting something a little more, well, pie like though. Of course they all thought it was hilarious tht this pie contained no shepherds and was not covered with any pastry. But it's our language, and we shall do what we like with it, I reckon!

The reason that this dish was such as success that night was that it's so easily adaptable for vegetarians or vegans. We simply made two large pots of the mince, one with 1kg best lamb mince, and one with 1kg soya mince. Here's what else we added to each pot.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peelend and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large glass good red wine
2 beef or vegetarian stock cubes
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large glass water
1 bouquet garni

We fried off the vegetables and mince in the oil, then added all other ingredients and simmerered for 1 1/2 hours.

We boiled 2 kg potatoes and mashed with plenty of butter, milk and a little nutmeg. We poured the mince into two shallow bowls, topped with the mash, and baked in the oven for 45 minutes on a low heat.

We then served it with steamed vegetables and plenty of bisto gravy!

Cheat's Pumpkin Ravioli

I may have mentioned already that we are getting a lodger. The girls are excited because they sound very exciting and exotic... and having checked her out on Facebook, also very beautiful!! Oh, and Italian...

I love making people feel welcome, and think that the medium of food is a very powerful introduction into one's home and and family, hence the practicing of Italian dishes. (The salt crusted sea bass was lovely BTW...) 

I have also recently discovered a fantastic local Italian wholesaler, run by a family from Puglia. They open their doors on a Saturday morning to the public, and display an array of goodies to try. Recently I have bought sage pasta, anchovies, the most delicious Parmesan, squid ink something or other and lots of olives. Oh and wine. Lots of wine....

I have also been trying out some quick and easy, yet still reasonably impressive meals to prevent Dilette from getting homesick....Tonight, the secret method of QUICK ravioli made from sheets of fresh lasagne...

Did you make this Pumpkin Ravioli yourself? Yes I did. (Did you make the pasta? No I did not...)

Definitely DELICIOUS and definitely NOT a disaster, for anyone following us on Twitter.

I ravioli della zucca erano molto saporiti!

Porridge – the healthy power breakfast!

I've been reading a lot about the negligible nutritional qualities of most big brand boxed cereals recently, and so have vowed to try and find alternative breakfasts at least half of the week. This morning, we'd run out of bread, so plans for sausage sandwiches (made with Irish sausages from The Co-op) will have to wait until tomorrow. So today was porridge day. Here's how we serve it in our house (smiley faces optional)…

– Speed is of the essence in the mornings (two full time working parents, one girl at school and one at nursery) – but we loathe instant porridge. For a start, it's more like dust than a proper porridge oat. Secondly, these varieties often have unnecessary nasties added. So we opt for thick whole flakes - they only take 5 minutes to cook.
- we don't have a microwave (don't like 'em, never needed 'em) so cook the oats on the hob in a large pan and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon
- we like half milk, half water for a creamy finish - and soya milk is really good in porridge (plus cuts down the amount of mucus-producing dairy food that your family are ingesting)
- we like a drop of sweet stuff on our porridge (although it always brings back memories of my godfather) Slan White, who used to eat his porridge with salt in the mornings). But we don't like to start the day with a refined sugar crank, so opt for agave syrup (it's low GI) plus a few raisins.
- because we're catering for littl'uns, the raisins make the face, the agave syrup the long golden hair.

Eat this for breakfast and you'll feel happy and full, and will only need a mid-morning snack of oat cakes or a piece of fruit to last you until lunch.

Lunch Envy

I'm sure that anyone who works with other people has experienced this, it's a bit like when you go out for dinner and wish you'd ordered what someone else has chosen, and if you're practiced at it, you may even get them to swap with you! (Doesn't usually work if they are sitting at another table however!)

I walked into our staff room the other day, and spied our Deputy Head with a bowl of something deep pink and delicious looking. She knows I am interested in all things foodie, and caught me eyeing up her bowl of loveliness with amusement. 'What's that?' I asked, to which she replied in her Welsh lilt, 'Get yourself a spoon doll and have some FFS.'

                                           Beetroot and Orange Soup. Yummy.

Vodka Pasta and Pals

Kept the catering really simply this weekend for three reasons – although I still had a houseful for dinner and we all had a splendid time. So what were the reasons for the simplicity?

Firstly, am running a half marathon next weekend and so... not that the bastard long training runs are done and dusted, it's all about the carb loading and tapering (aka stuffing face with pasta and not running an awful lot).

Second reason – the ladies were actually nipping off after dinner to a party at Leon , so didn't want to do too many courses of anything fancy shcmancy, or make it a long and drawn out dinner type thing.

And thirdly, these are my lovely, known 'em since I was 10, school friends and we very rarely get together. I wanted something simple but cooked with love, so that the focus was on spending time together, not timing my complex dinner party food. As you'll see from this pic, it was all about fresh, simple flavours with a bit of a twist. The twist, in this case, being vodka, which adds brilliant depth to a basic pasta sauce.

Here's how I make one of my old favourites – vodka penne. It always goes down a treat and is really easy to throw together.

Basically, you just make your favourite version of a tomato pasta sauce (you can follow our one in the recipes section) and add a really good slug of vodka to taste. You can make this up to a day in advance. Then, when cooking dinner, simply heat gently, stir in single cream and chopped flat leaf parsley. Penne works best for this type of sauce.

As not all of my guests like chilli, I served this on the side. But normally, I would add a liberal tsp of dried chilli flakes when cooking to give this a real kick.

The non marathon training ones among us drank champagne and sloe gin with dinner. It looked potent – and I looked on longingly.