Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Summer One Pot Pasta
*I actually used 16 oz. of thin spaghetti and it worked great - you may need to add a bit more water and reduce the cooking time if you do this. If you use the linguine as it calls for, just follow the recipe as is. And I know 2 cups of onions sounds like a lot, but it gives it great flavor!
One-Pot Pasta
12 oz. linguine*
12 oz. cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 sprigs (about 10 leaves) basil, chopped, plus more for serving
2 T. olive oil
4 1/2 c. water
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)
Combine pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, basil, olive oil, and water in a large straight-sided skillet. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil mixture (uncovered), stirring and turning pasta frequently with tongs until pasta is al dente and water has nearly evaporated, about 9 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with additional basil and serve with Parmesan cheese.
Source: Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Summer Falls into Autumn Pudding
Summer Pudding is probably my favourite British pudding. There is something about the sharpness of the fruits and the tender bread shell soaked with juice that really appeals to me, especially when doused with a liberal pouring of cream.
For some reason I didnt make a summer pudding this summer so I thought Id bridge the seasons with a summer into autumn version. I had two ripe pears in the fruit bowl, a punnet of raspberries, brambles (blackberries) from my hedgerow and some blackcurrants from the freezer, any combination of soft fruits will do, you want ones that will produce lots of fruity juice.
Summer Falls into Autumn Pudding
Serves 6
1 1/4 kg mixed berries and currants
175g caster sugar
1tbsp Framboise (optional)
1-2 tsp Galloway Chillies, Chilli and Raspberry Jam
Half a loaf of white bread.
1. Slice the bread and cut off the crusts. Line a 1.25ltr pudding basin with cling film making sure you have plenty over the side, this helps you to remove the pudding more easily when it is ready. Line the cling filmed bowl with bread, filling in all the gaps.
2. Put the blackberries and blackcurrants into a pan with the sugar and just enough water to cover the berries and no more. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and the berries have started to release their juices, about 5 minutes. Add the peeled and chopped pears and the raspberries and simmer gently for another 2 minutes.
3. Add 1-2 tsp of Chilli jam, I used Galloway Chillies Special Edition Chilli Raspberry Jam. I found that 1 tsp wasnt really enough to give a kick, so I would recommend at least two, but it will depend on the type of Chilli Jam you use. This is of course, optional!
This is what the berries should look like, still whole and not cooked out.
4. Fill the bread lined bowl with the berries and lay more slices of bread across the top. Fold in the cling film.
5. Place a saucer on top of the pudding and weigh it down with something heavy like a tin. Place it in the fridge overnight.
6. Place the remaining juice and berries in a sieve and press through to get all the juice and pulp.
7. Add a tablespoon of Framboise (Raspberry Liqueur), Cassis (Blackcurrant Liqueur) or Creme de Mur (Blackberry Liqueur) - not all of them just one tablespoon! This is optional, it will still taste gorgeous without the alcohol.
8. Unwrap the cling film from the top and turn the bowl onto a plate lift off the bowl and remove the cling film. I used a pastry brush to paint the bread with some of the sauce or you can spoon it on to cover any patches where the juice hasnt seeped through the bread.
Im also adding my Summer Falls into Autumn Pudding for Shop Local a new blogging challenge from Elizabeths Kitchen as it features Chilli Raspberry Jam from local producer Galloway Chillies.
Galloway Chillies produce a range of delicious chilli jams and the Hot Chilli lemon Citrus has recently been awarded a gold star by the Guild of Fine Food at the Great Taste Awards.
Posted with BlogsySunday, February 16, 2014
Summer Holiday Reading My Notorious Life by Madame X
If you enjoy stories of strong women, like the White Queen, on TV at the moment, you might want to pick up a copy of My Notorious Life by Madame X, a novel based on a true story by Kate Manning. It would be a great book to take on holiday, easy reading and great story-telling.
About My Notorious Life by Madame X:
In the end, they celebrated. They bragged. They got me finally, was their feeling. They said I would take my secrets to the grave.
They should be so lucky.’
Axie Muldoon, the headstrong daughter of Irish immigrants, forced to beg for pennies as a child on the brutal streets on New York City, grows up to become the most successful – and controversial – midwife of her time.
‘Saved’ from poverty by a well-meaning philanthropist, Axie is sent West with her younger brother and sister. But the kindness of strangers is short-lived and soon Axie returns to the city of her birth, alone, but determined to one day reunite her family.
When she is taken in by a Manhattan doctor Axie learns the craft that she will live by – and later fight for. She rises from the gutter to the glitter of Fifth Avenue high society, and discovers that the right way is not always the way of the church or the law, and that you should never trust a man who says ‘trust me.’ But what if that man is an irresistible risk-taker with a poetical Irish soul?
As Axie’s reputation grows she finds herself on a collision course with the crusading official who would be the righteous instrument of her downfall. It will take all of her power to outwit him and save both herself and those she loves from ruin.
About the Author:
A former documentary television producer (and winner of two Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award), Kate Manning has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Glamour and More, among other publications. She is the author of Whitegirl, a novel, and is an adjunct faculty member of the English Department at Bard High School Early College. She lives with her family in New York City.
My Review
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the characters are well drawn, lively and appealing. The story is told by Axie Muldoon and lapses into the vernacular just enough to remind you of her lowly roots. There are no heros or heroines in this story just desperate people trying to make their way in a rich MANs world. It is very much a mans world and reminded me just how fortunate I am to have been born where and when I was. In Axies time both rich and poor women suffered from medical ignorance and moral posturing. Today it is mainly poor women who still suffer but unfortunately there are still many societies where matters of conception are still hugely contraversial and, of course, it is women who suffer.
If you enjoy a good story of a feisty young girl and her family, fighting fate, at first to survive and then to make something of themselves, you will enjoy this novel. Its a family story full of love and compassion without being soppy, its a tragedy, a social history and an entertainment. My Notorious Life by Madame X will hook you in and keep you reading until you discover just how Axie survives her trials and outwits her enemies.
My Notorious Life by Madame X
Author Kate Manning
Publisher - an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing
RRP £12.99
Online Price £11.69
www.bloomsbury.com/author/kate-manning/
@KateManning10
Many thanks to Jude for providing this copy for me to review, I was not paid for this review and my views are my own.
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