Fromage Fort

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We are now a few days into the new year but our fridge is still well stocked with festive leftovers. As we are big cheese lovers we ensured we had enough to get us through the holiday season and then we were given yet more by a generous friend. We’ve made a pretty impressive dent in our supplies but the cheese drawer in the fridge is still pretty full.

There are of course many things to do with spare cheese besides just nibbling it with bread or crackers. Melted into cream it can make a quick and easy sauce for pasta or gnocchi (gnocchi with blue cheese sauce is great on a cold winter’s evening with a glass of red). If you have leftover root vegetables you can make a cheesy, creamy gratin. If you’re still making well stuffed sandwiches with your Christmas leftovers why not add a generous helping of cheese and turn them into a hot, gooey toasty?

If you are tiring of eating from the same blocks of cheese or you find yourself with a few scrappy ends of different cheeses you can repurpose them by mixing them together with other tasty ingredients to make a spreadable potted cheese. You can go the classic English route, mixing the cheese with softened butter to achieve a spreadable consistency then seasoning with mustard, cayenne, mace and maybe a little sherry or brandy.

There is also the French approach, which I used today: fromage fort, where the cheeses are typically blended with wine, garlic and herbs to produce a soft, full flavoured spread. The recipe will be different every time depending what spare cheese you have on hand – simply experiment with the seasonings until you achieve a result you like.

Fromage Fort

8oz mixed cheeses (I used the leftover ends from some cheese from Christmas: approximately 4oz cheddar, 2oz of a hard goats cheese and roughly 1oz each of Brie and Stilton)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp heavy cream (optional)

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt (optional)

Crumble or grate any hard cheeses and roughly chop the softer ones. Put in a food processor with the garlic and white wine and blitz together.

How chunky or smooth you want it is down to personal preference. I like the different cheeses to be well blended so tend towards a smoother spread.

Taste it and adjust for seasoning. Depending on the cheeses you use it may not need any additional salt, but a grinding of black pepper is a good idea. You can also add whatever herbs take your fancy. I added some dried thyme but chives or rosemary would also work well.

I also added a little cream to make the spread smoother and balance the flavour.

Fromage fort will keep in the fridge for at least a month. The flavour will develop as it ages.

Parkin Truffles for Bonfire Night

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The 5th November is one of those dates in the calendar that always brings me pangs of homesickness. Back in the UK November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night. Guy Fawkes was arrested on November 5th 1605 after he and his colleagues planted explosives under parliament in an attempt to kill the king. Bonfires were lit around London to celebrate the failure of the plot and thus was born a celebration that continues to this day.

Although some places, such as Lewes in Sussex, still hold serious celebrations, for much of the country it is simply an excuse to gather with friends, let off a few fireworks and enjoy some hearty winter fare. November 5th is a date that always triggers food and drink related memories for me, whether it is enjoying a pint of a strong, dark winter brew in a North London pub before heading to the local park for the firework display, or the time we went to the Suffolk coast in early November and the firework party on the beach included an old tin bath full of jacket potatoes wrapped in a blanket.

In Britain, every year at this time food magazines and the recipe sections of newspapers will run articles on hearty bonfire night fare, from sausages and baked potatoes to hot chocolate and toffee apples. A popular item in these articles is parkin, a sticky gingerbread cake from the north of England made with black treacle, oats and ginger. It seemed an ideal candidate to turn into truffles to enjoy on November 5th.

I baked the parkin using a recipe for “Yorkshire Parkin” from “Oats In The North, Wheat From The South” by the Regula Ysewijn (missfoodwise.com). The initial result can sometimes seem a little dry but leave it for a few days and it almost magically becomes moister and stickier.

The parkin was then crumbled and mixed with golden syrup and butter to form the truffle centres, to which I also added some extra ginger, both ground and crystallised, to boost the flavour. These were then coated in more dark chocolate to make an excellent treat to enjoy on a cold winter night.

Parkin Truffles

8oz parkin

2oz golden syrup (or agave syrup)

1oz unsalted butter

Pinch ground ginger (optional)

0.5oz crystallised ginger, finely chopped (optional)

Salt

8oz dark chocolate

Crumble the parkin into a bowl. Melt the syrup and butter together in a small pan over medium heat.

Pour the syrup mixture over the crumbled parkin and mix well to combine. Add ground and/or crystallised ginger if required and a pinch of salt.

Melt 4oz of the dark chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler or a glass bowl over a pan of water. Add the melted chocolate to the bread and syrup mixture and stir to combine. At this point you can sneak a little taste to check if any adjustments to the seasoning is required.

When cool, place in the refrigerator for an hour or two until the mixture is firm.

Taking a teaspoon full of the mixture at a time, roll into balls to form the centres of the truffles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then return to the fridge to firm up again.

Melt the remaining 4oz of dark chocolate for the coating in a double boiler. Dip the truffle centres in the melted chocolate to coat and place on baking parchment to set.

Yield: around 35 truffles

Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta

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We feel lucky that a lot of the food we eat comes from farmers and producers that we know personally and have bought from for many years.

During this pandemic we have to tried to support them more than ever, especially as the bulk of their revenue comes from restaurants that have been closed or operating at limited capacity for some months.

The current situation also presents opportunities. A farmer emailed to say they had a glut of newly harvested pink eyed peas. The timing didn’t work out for them to include them in their weekly CSA box, and there simply wasn’t the demand from restaurant customers to shift them so we were offered a great deal on a 10lb bag of fresh pink eyed peas.

A 10lb bag of pink eyes peas is pretty big, but undaunted we managed to find good uses for every last one. Some we gave to friends, others we blanched, packed into 1lb bags and stuck in the freezer for winter, but we simply had to eat some of them while they were fresh. The fresh peas only took 7-8 minutes to cook in a pan of salted boiling water.

Tomatoes are also plentiful at the moment so it seemed obvious to combine the peas with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes and enjoy them piled onto freshly toasted homemade sourdough.

Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

A generous pinch of chilli flakes

1.5lb fresh tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

12oz cooked pink eyes peas

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, salt, basil and oregano. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the pink eyed peas and simmer until warmed through (about 10 minutes).

To serve as bruschetta, toast or grill slices of bread just before the peas and tomatoes have finished cooking. Rub the warm bread with a clove of garlic, then pile the peas and tomatoes on top, season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Alternatively, you could serve the tomatoes and peas on generously buttered hot toast for more of a “beans on toast” vibe.

Beet Stalk Hummus

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In these uncertain times when many people are trying to deal with some form of lockdown it is more important than ever to make the most of all the food we buy and not waste any.

We are thankful that we are still able to buy from many of the farmers that we’ve built relationships with over the years. With hand washing and social distancing protocols in place at the farmers market and everyone wearing face masks it can be a surreal shopping experience, and we miss being able to chat with the vendors, browse the stalls and bump into friends but we love that we have the opportunity to still support local farmers and producers in these difficult times.

A lot of wet weather earlier in the year has delayed a lot of spring planting so the market offerings are still dominated by greens and root veg. Amongst other things we’ve been getting beautiful bunches of both golden and red beets with their greens still attached. The roots store longer than the greens so we invariably use the greens first. So it was that I ended up with a couple of bunches of beets with a couple of inches of stalk still attached. As I usually roast the beets I thought I could do something different with the stubby stalks and wondered if they would form the base of an interesting hummus.

Like much of my cooking at the moment I used whatever I had in the house. This is a recipe where you can play about with the ingredients you have on hand and invariably come up with something delicious. I added a couple of small roasted beets to add some colour but they could be left out. I used cumin and coriander but you can experiment with different spices, or maybe add some chillies to make it hotter. Other spices that work well with beets include caraway seeds, chives, dill, fennel and tarragon. I added pistachios for texture and flavour but walnuts, hazels or pecans would be a good substitute. The tahini could be omitted if you don’t have any. Just have fun.

BEET STALK HUMMUS

7oz beet stalks

2oz cooked beets

0.5 Tsp Ground Cumin

0.5 Tsp Ground Coriander

2oz Pistachios

1 clove garlic

1 Tbsp tahini

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cook the beet stalks in salted boiling water until tender. Put in a food processor with the cooked beets, cumin and coriander, pistachios, garlic, tahini and olive oil.

Blend until well mixed but still relatively coarse in texture. Try and avoid ending up with a smooth puree. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. If necessary you can add more olive oil to loosen the mixture a little.

Store Cupboard Chocolate Tiffin

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Like much of the world I am spending most of my time at home at the moment.

As we are trying to avoid supermarket visits it is an ideal time to see what is lurking in the distant recesses of the fridge, freezer and store cupboard. We’ve actually had some surprisingly good meals by getting inventive and creative with what we already had on hand.

We like to bake as well as make chocolates and candy, so we usually have quite a few bags of nuts, dried fruits and other baking ingredients on hand, as well as chocolates ranging from white and milk through to 100% cocoa dark. On inspection a few of these have gone past their best by dates. Only by a month or two and they are still usable but now seems the ideal time to use them up.

So what better than a recipe that easily enables us to combine a few of these items into a delicious sweet treat.

If you’re planning to use expired products it is best to use some caution. Best by dates are primarily used by retailers to manage quality and stock rotation and when a product reaches that date it doesn’t necessarily mean that it suddenly turns bad. Things like dried fruits and dried pulses can often be eaten safely for some time after their dates. Nuts contain oils and can turn rancid over time so need a little more care. This article is a good guide to sell by dates. If somethings looks or smells suspicious or you have any doubt just toss it.

Back in Britain the term “tiffin” is often used to describe a confection where biscuits or dried fruit are added to melted chocolate and chilled until set. In other places it is sometimes known as a fridge or icebox cake. It is a very forgiving recipe and is a good way to use up odds and ends of chocolate, biscuits/cookies, dried fruit and nuts that you have sitting in your store cupboard.

There are no hard and fast rules for making tiffin. Detailed below is the method I use and the ingredients I used for this particular one but you can just experiment and have fun with whatever you have on hand.

You can use whatever chocolate you happen to have. If possible I like to use a mix of milk and dark chocolate. For this one I used a 50:50 mix of 38% cacao milk and 64% semisweet dark chocolate, both from Guittard.

I usually use around 16 to 18oz of cookies, fruit, nuts, candy etc. added to 12oz chocolate. To add smoothness to the mix I add butter and some form of sweetener such as golden syrup, agave or honey. If you don’t have these things you can still come up with something delicious. It’s hard not to if you start off with chocolate and some tasty additions.

Store Cupboard Tiffin

6oz dark chocolate

6oz milk chocolate

2oz butter

4oz golden syrup

8oz toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

3.5oz raisins (soaked overnight in 2 tbsp rum)

2.5oz crystallised ginger

Salt

The evening before you want to make the tiffin, mix the raisins with the rum and leave to soak overnight.

Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper.

Place the butter, syrup and a pinch of salt in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt together over low heat, stirring frequently.

Add the milk and dark chocolate to the pan and stir continuously until smooth.

Add the nuts, raisins and ginger to the chocolate mix and stir well to ensure that everything is coated.

Spoon the mixture into the lined baking tray and carefully spread it until level.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting into generous chunks and enjoying.

Marmalade Ice Cream: Penguin 60’s Recipe Books

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In 1995, to celebrate its 60^th anniversary, Penguin Books published a series of small, pocket sized books known as the Penguin 60s series. There were 2 main sets, each of 60 books, one of “classics” (with black spines) and one of 20^th century and contemporary writers (with orange spines). To keep the “60” theme going, in the UK they cost 60p each (about 78c at today’s exchange rate). As avid bookworms we couldn’t resist them.

Penguin also published small sets of these books on specific themes: children’s books, biography, travel and cookery.

Although just consisting of ten small books, the cookery series featured some of my favourite British food writers such as Elizabeth David, Nigel Slater and both Jane and Sophie Grigson. They are handy little volumes which I still thumb through when looking for inspiration, regularly spotting recipes that had escaped my notice on previous occasions.

So it was that I recently spotted a recipe from Sophie Grigson for marmalade ice cream that I’d never noticed before.

We have just finished marmalade season. While much of the preserving calendar revolves around storing the bounty of summer, the season for fragrant Seville oranges is from around December to February so in the Northern hemisphere it provides a preserving opportunity in the middle of winter, filling the kitchen with the glorious bitter sweet aroma of the Sevilles as they transform into thick, sweet marmalade.

As I generate a new set of jars for my store cupboard it is a good time to see how much I have left from last year’s batch and come up with ideas to use it up. As Sophie says herself, her recipe is “a good way to clear the shelves, before the winter’s new arrivals”.

Seville orange marmalade is of course wonderful when simply spread onto hot buttered toast. But it is also a versatile ingredient. You can use it in cakes or cookies, make a glaze for meats or vegetables, or even use it in cocktails or to make chocolates.

The ice cream recipe only has two ingredients and seemed fairly simple so I couldn’t resist.

The recipe tells you to put 12oz of marmalade in a bowl and “beat”. If your marmalade has fairly big pieces of peel in it you might want to chop it up a little or even give it a quick blast in a food processor to give you a smoother texture in the final ice cream.

Then whip 10oz of heavy cream (double cream in the UK) until it is stiff, fold it into the marmalade and put the mixture in the freezer. It doesn’t require stirring or beating as it freezes and can be served directly from the freezer.

It really is that simple and a delicious blend of creamy, sweet and bitter.

Carrot Top and Arugula Pesto

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I’m a big fan of using every scrap of produce I can in the kitchen so when I recently picked up a bunch of multi-coloured carrots at my local farmers market I didn’t want the greens to go to waste once we’d eaten the carrots.

Carrot tops can be a little bitter and not to everyone’s taste but mixed up with other ingredients to balance them out you can still make use of them in the kitchen.

I opted for pesto, with some peppery arugula / rocket, raw cashews, grated parmesan and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil. I was delighted with the result: bright and fresh with earthy, herby undertones this would be great with pasta or spread on a sandwich.

Carrot Top and Arugula Pesto

Greens from one bunch of carrots (about 2oz), washed, drained and coarsely chopped

3oz arugula (rocket) leaves, washed, drained and coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp sea salt

3oz raw cashews

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3oz grated parmesan

Place the carrots, arugula, garlic, salt and cashews in a food processor and process for around 30-45 seconds to mix well.

Add the cheese and the olive oil and process for another 30 seconds or so until smooth.

Serviceberry Liqueur

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Every year I look forward to the arrival of serviceberries from mid-May to early June. These sweet purple / red berries have different names across the States so are also known as juneberries, sarvis, Saskatoon berries, shadbush and sugarplums amongst other names.

Serviceberry liqueur from britinthesouth.com

Over the years I’ve found a number of trees to forage not far from where I live. Occasionally I’ll bump into other folks also taking advantage of this free harvest but more often curious bypassers will stop and ask what I’m doing, not realising that this abundant fruit source is growing on their doorstep.

Over the years I’ve found many ways to enjoy and preserve this fruit, ranging from syrup and jelly to shrubs and even in cocktails. My latest idea was to turn it into an alcoholic drink itself by making a liqueur from it.

Making fruit liqueurs by infusion is a relatively simple but very satisfying way to use up fruit and enable you to enjoy it months after you picked it.

The process is relatively straighforward. Take a large jar and fill it with clean, dry fruit. Add sugar to the jar to approximately a third of the level of the fruit. Then fill the jar to the top with alcohol. For this liqueur I used vodka. Given its neutral flavour it will give you a liqueur which tastes primarily of the fruit you are using, but you can experiment with other alcohol to give you a different flavour profile in your final liqueur. Sloes and gin are the classic example but you can try whisky or brandy. This process also works well with strawberries and blackberries if you don’t have access to foraged serviceberries.

Leave the fruit, sugar and alcohol to infuse for at least 3 months, shaking occasionally to help dissolve the sugar. Then you simply strain the liqueur through muslin or a jelly bag, and put into sterilised bottles. I usually leave this serviceberry liqueur to infuse for around 6 months, bottling it a week or two before Christmas, just in time for gift giving or winter sipping.

Seville Orange Marmalade & Whisky Truffles

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One of the preserving bright spots in early months of the year is the arrival of Seville oranges, the tart and bitter variety that makes fantastic marmalade.

In my part of the world they typically show up in January or February and I look forward to the delicious aromas in the kitchen as the fruit and sugar boil away on the stove.

I usually make a big enough batch to keep me in marmalade for the rest of the year and have a few jars spare to give away, as well as some to use in baking or other recipes.

Marmalade and whisky have a great affinity for each other. Back in Britain it is common to find marmalade with Scotch whisky as an ingredient, and they are often used together in desserts and even cocktails. So I couldn’t resist pairing some of my latest marmalade with Scotch whisky and dark chocolate to make some delicious truffles.

I used one of my favourite chocolate making techniques, a simple combination of chocolate with jam or preserves plus a splash of booze. I’ve used it many times before with great results, such as Georgia Peach Bellini truffles and blueberry ginger truffles.

Seville Orange Marmalade and Whisky Truffles

7oz Seville Orange Marmalade (I made mine with this recipe)

14oz Dark Chocolate (preferably at least 60-70% cocoa. I usually use Guittard or Ghirardelli)

2 tbs whisky (I used Scotch)

Unsweetened Cocoa powder

Melt 7oz of the chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler (or use a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water).

Once melted add the marmalade and whisky and stir to combine. Allow to cool and then put in the fridge until the mix is firm.

Use a teaspoon to scoop walnut sized balls from the chocolate mix and roll into balls before covering with a light coating of cocoa powder. Put the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and then return to the fridge to firm up again.

Melt the remaining chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler and then coat the chocolate balls. Once again place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray for the chocolate to cool and set.

Collard Floret Gratin

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Spring is officially here and the local seasonal produce that is available is slowly transitioning away from the winter staples that we have enjoyed for the last few months.

Collard Floret Gratin from britinthesouth.com

One of the things I love to find at local farmers markets at this time of year is the fresh tender stalks of young kale, or collards or purple sprouting broccoli.

They are versatile, quick to cook and invariably delicious.

I particularly like to pair them with cheese; they are great dipped into a cheesy sauce but the collard florets I recently picked up made a great gratin.

Lightly steamed and then baked with a creamy cheddar sauce it was a satisfying dish to herald the dawn of spring.

Collard Floret Gratin

1 small bunch of young collard green florets (about 4oz)

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp all purpose flour

1 cup milk

5oz mature cheddar, grated

0.25 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Bring water to a boil in a steamer (if you don’t have one just put a colander above a pan of boiling water)

Rinse the florets and then steam for until tender (about 5 minutes). Drain thoroughly.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat then stir in the flour. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add the milk and stir thoroughly to disperse any lumps. Cook over low heat, stirring regularly, until the sauce begins to thicken (5-10 minutes).

Add the grated cheddar and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring often, until you have a thick, smooth cheese sauce. Taste and season if necessary with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Arrange the collard florets in a oven proof dish, and then pour over the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the grated parmesan on top, then place in the oven and cook for around 20 minutes until golden on top.

Brit In The South

A Blog from the Deep South with a British Twist

Fromage Fort

Parkin Truffles for Bonfire Night

Pink Eyed Pea and Tomato Bruschetta

Beet Stalk Hummus

Store Cupboard Chocolate Tiffin

Marmalade Ice Cream: Penguin 60’s Recipe Books

Carrot Top and Arugula Pesto

Serviceberry Liqueur

Seville Orange Marmalade & Whisky Truffles

Collard Floret Gratin