Hello..

There’s a chill in the air and the leaves in London are turning, so after a disappointing summer weather-wise, autumn is here.

On a culinary note however, I stumbled across an enormous patch of wild garlic in Sussex in May and tasted the finest English asparagus in June.  One way to deal with the change in the weather is to look to fabulous seasonal produce, which will mean crunchy apples and pears, wild mushrooms, scallops and sea bass this autumn.  But I’m getting ahead of myself – there are still summery peaches and leaves readily available now.

Seasonal Recipe

Last of the Summer Salad

This makes a lovely starter or light lunch, with wonderful colours and flavours.  The dressing is really versatile and also goes well with a more wintery salad of chicory, apple, walnuts and crispy proscuitto.

4 ripe white nectarines or peaches, cut into wedges

150g wild rocket, washed

100g watercress, washed

1 small fennel bulb, shaved finely

200g gorgonzola or other blue cheese

12 basil leaves, roughly chopped

Dressing:

6 tsp dijon mustard

4 tsp caster sugar

2 tsp white wine vinegar

50ml vegetable oil

½ tsp wholegrain mustard

Whisk the Dijon mustard with sugar and vinegar.  Slowly add oil while whisking to create a smooth emulsion.  Add wholegrain mustard and whisk again.  Taste for adjustments and seasoning.  Set aside.  Mix rocket, watercress, fennel and basil with half the dressing.  Transfer to individual or one large serving plate.  Tear or crumble the blue cheese over the top and arrange nectarine/peach pieces on top.  Drizzle over remaining dressing and serve immediately.  Serves 4-6.

Cooking Classes

The autumn class calendar kicks off next week with speedy suppers for those who don’t want to live on ready meals but are too tired and busy to spend much time in the kitchen after work.  As the days get shorter and cooler, it’s a good time to think about entertaining, and the autumn entertaining class will give you plenty of delicious recipes to cook for your family and friends.

If you’d like to know more about spices, their history and everyday use, then the spice appreciation class will demystify this wonderful topic, and includes a wide variety of spiced recipes.

If you are interested in private classes, I can tailor classes specifically for you to cover any area of skill or cuisine you want to concentrate on.  Have a look at the essentials classes I offer – you can choose one or more to create your own program. 

After using lots of different knives, I have come to the conclusion that my Global 20cm chef’s knife is unbeatable for use for just about everything and good value for money.  I've had mine for about ten years now and it's still great.  If you’d like to learn how to use a knife properly, I run a knife skills class for 1-3 people to ensure that your fingers remain intact when you’re cooking.  We will cover chopping everyday things like garlic, onion, tomatoes and herbs, as well as filleting fish and carving meat.

Eating etc..

I totally agree with Heston Blumenthal that the main reason people eat fillet steak and consider it the ‘best’, is that they haven’t had good quality other cuts.  My favourite is a sirloin, with gentle marbling and succulent texture.  We ate at Hawksmoor restaurant in Spitalfields London recently, which specialises in American-style steaks from cattle reared in Northern England, and refreshingly doesn't even offer the fillet cut.  I would recommend the sirloin or the rib-eye.  Of course, don’t forget that you get what you pay for, and I urge you to buy the best meat you can for cooking.  A lot of supermarket beef can be un-aged, injected with water and dye, and not worth eating as far as I’m concerned.  If you can’t afford expensive lean cuts of beef, then slow cook the fantastic flavoursome cheaper cuts.

Argentinian-Style Sirloin with Chimichurri Sauce

This marinade begins ‘cooking’ the meat with the acid in the juices, so it really doesn’t require long when cooking.  Resting meat after cooking is very important, so try and be patient!  You could serve this with some chunky roast potato and/or sweet potato with the skin left on for extra flavour and nutrition.

4 x 170-200g sirloin steaks

3 cloves garlic, crushed

5 tbsp fresh orange juice

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 ½ tbsp dried oregano

pinch dried chilli flakes

Sauce:

½ cup coriander

1 ½ cups parsley

1 ½ tbsp red wine vinegar

1 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

½ small red onion, finely chopped

100ml extra virgin olive oil

Mix the marinade ingredients and add to steaks and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cooking.  For the chimichurri sauce, finely chop herbs and combine with vinegar, chilli, garlic, onion and oil.  Season to taste.  Sauce will keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks.  Heat a grill, griddle pan or barbecue until very hot.  Take steaks out of marinade and cook for 2 minutes each side, then a further 1-2 minutes each side (depending on thickness).  The steak should be medium/medium-rare for maximum flavour.  Rest for 3-5 minutes and serve with chimichurri sauce.  Serves 4.

Spice of the Month: Galangal

Part of the ginger family, galangal is a tropical plant with white, orchid-shaped flowers.  The rhizome (root-bearing stem) is harvested and either used fresh or dried.  Galangal is used widely in Thai cooking and has a tangy aromatic flavour similar to ginger, with a hint of sweetness.  Fresh galangal is easy to find in Chinatown and some better grocers.  Try this simple delicious recipe to appreciate its beauty.  If you can’t get fresh galangal, simply add dried slices to the soup base at the beginning. 

Cloud-Ear Mushroom & Galangal Soup

600ml chicken stock

400ml coconut milk

10 slices fresh galangal

3 coriander roots

2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 kaffir lime leaves, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic

1 long red chilli, roughly chopped

1 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)

20g dried cloud-ear or shitake mushrooms

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

Heat chicken stock and coconut milk in a large saucepan over medium heat.  In a mortar and pestle, pound the galangal, coriander roots, shallots, lime leaves, lemongrass, garlic, chilli and palm sugar.  When combined, add paste to the soup base and bring to the boil.  Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Strain soup, discarding solids and add mushrooms, fish sauce and lime juice.  Simmer for a further 10 minutes and taste for seasoning.  Serves 4 as a starter.

(recipe from The Spice & Herb Bible, second edition, Robert Rose Inc.)

Have a great month and don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries, questions or comments.

Please pass this newsletter on to anyone you know who loves to cook.

Happy Cooking!

Kate

www.lovetocook.co.uk

kate@lovetocook.co.uk

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