Help request: What do I do with Tartufo e Chardonnay

Hello Internet, I need some advice. I received this tartufo e Chardonnay oil as a gift for Christmas..a couple of months have passed and I still haven’t used it because I don’t really know what to do with it.

Do I just add it to a risotto? I’ve heard about using truffles with eggs, but how?

So this is my request for ideas and recipes – please help!

Much appreciated x

Beef fillet with a sort of mushroom gratin

This is a meal for a special occasion. I’m not too fussed about Valentine’s day, but if we’re both home, which we were this year, I’ll make the effort to make a nice dinner, and here’s what I made this year.

This is another recipe I got from Gordon Ramsey’s F Word when we used to watch it a few years ago. First you prepare the mushroom gratin by cooking a mix of mushrooms (shiitake, chestnut and whatever you can find) in a pan with some butter, garlic and finely chopped shallot. Once cooked, transfer to a bowl and when cooled add chopped dill, 3 tbs cream and 1 egg yolk to bind.

In the pan sear the beef fillet on each side for a minute, then put into an ovenproof dish (your frying pan itself might be ovenproof), load the mushroom mix on top and put into an oven on a high heat (around 200 degrees). We like our meat quite rare so I only put it in for 7-10 minutes, bug it depends on the thickness of the steak and how you like it. The best thing to do if unsure is bring it out and cut a little down the middle to check how it’s cooking.

I served this with creamy dauphinois potatoes.

Indian lamb kebabs

Following my day’s Indian cooking lesson, on Monday I made the lamb kebabs all on my own.

They are lamb mince mixed by hand with onion, ground coriander seeds, garlic, chilli, salt, ground cumin, crushed chilli, garam masala, turmeric and magic paste (blended ginger and chilli). Rolled into parties the size of your palm and fry in a pan. I added oil to my frying pan and as some oil came out of the mince it was a bit too much, next time I’ll test by frying without all first off and add oil if they need it.

These were served with some lettuce and onion and cucumber raita made with grated cucumber (seedy bit removed so it won’t be too watery), crushed cumin seeds, coriander, mint sauce and yoghurt.

Eton mess

Mmmm, I love this dessert! I cheat by buying ready made meringues but make my own strawberry sauce by putting 3 strawberries in a pan in low heat, with a splash of water, a squeeze of lemon juice and a tablespoon of caster sugar.

The main mix is whipped cream (I use double cream as I find single cream doesn’t thicken up as well), some cut up strawberries and crushed meringues, all stirred together.

The mix is put in the glasses, strawberry sauce poured on and topped off with chocolate sauce made with melted chocolate, a little butter (about a teaspoon) and a bit of milk (about a tablespoon) – all melted in the microwave.

Lovely weekend treat 🙂

Jacket potato with prawns

Today’s lunch: jacket potato with a bit of salad and prawns with a home made marie rose sauce. Once I learnt to make the sauce a couple of years ago I’ve never bought the ready made one again because it’s so easy to do while the potatoes are cooking, with ingredients I always have anyway.

If you’d like to make your own Marie rose sauce, here’s how: start with about 4tbs mayonnaise, add 2tbs ketchup, juice of 1 lemon, a good dash of Worcester sauce, about a tbs of paprika and some cayenne pepper. Mix and taste to check if the balance is right.

Pancake Tuesday

I love pancake Tuesday – although admittedly it is pretty much the only day of the year I make pancakes.

I make 1 cup pancakes (using a mug) – 1 mug of flour, 1 mug of milk, 1 egg and pinch on salt. Mixed with a hand blender and cooked in a flat frying pan on a high heat, oiled to prevent sticking.

Served with lemon, sugar, strawberries and sweetened desiccated coconut.

Have you had pancakes today?

Mexican hot chocolate

I’ve just made Gina’s of Running to the Kitchen’s Mexican hot chocolate – chocolate with a chilli kick, yum!

Cooking Indian food with Ren

Last Christmas Rich surprised me with his gift for me – a day cooking course at Ren’s kitchen

I’ve had an absolutely brilliant day. We started out by actually tasting the spices we were going to use and thinking about what type of flavour they would add – aromatic spices are used for depth of flavour (cumin, mustard seeds, coriander), spices like chilli and pepper for heat and other spices which can be offensive if you use too much – like turmeric which has an antiseptic flavour on its own or garlic for some people (not me).

Ren then showed use how to make her magic paste by blending ginger and fresh chillis (I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing!). We used the paste to add heat to all of the dishes we made today and it’s been a complete revelation, I am sure I will always have some ready in my fridge from now on.

My problem so far in making curries at home is that they never taste as good as the ones you get in restaurants, I think it’s the depth of flavour that has been missing mainly. Ren showed us her base curry recipe- I was so surprised by how quick it was to make a tasty thick sauce, which only needed the meat adding – in this case chicken – and left to cook until the chicken was done.

Next we made saag aloo:

Lamb kebabs which we had with a cucumber raita (which I forgot to take a picture of):

And some vegetable pakoras (which, fyi, are the same as bhajis):

We also made special basmati rice, chappatis and a sweet Indian desert.

The best thing about today was not just making the recipes and learning a set number if dishes, but learning new skills to tweak and create my own dishes.

I’m looking forward to a lot more Indian cooking.

Piri Piri chicken

We made this for the first time on New Year’s Eve and has since become a firm favourite and a meal possible to prepare in 20 mins for a quick weekday dinner.

Fry some skin on chicken skin side down until it’s crispy. While its cooking make the piri piri sauce by simply liquidising red onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 chillis, 2 tbs smoked paprika, zest of 2 lemons, juice of 1 lemon, 4 tbs white wine vinegar, 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce and a handful of fresh basil.

Turn the chicken over, pour in the sauce, some peppers cut up into largish bits and cover.

At the same time put some rice on with a pinch of saffron in, by the time the rice is cooked the chicken will be too, and should be nice and tender.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

Alpine Eating

This week we’ve been in Livigno – skiing is the perfect holiday for me, lots of exercise and lots of food.

Check out this plate of local delicacies:

What you can see there is polenta (just about), sausage meat, deer stew, veal stew, pizzoccheri – something I’ve had here for the first time, they’re not too different from gnocchi in that they have a pasta-type consistency but are made from potatoes and a lot smaller than gnocchi, served in a tomato and bacon sauce – gnocchi in a creamy sauce (also local, I’m not sure what was in it, bacon again, cheese and a pesto-like sauce), and of course pasta.

All of this washed down with the aperitivo of choice here, an aperol spritz, made with aperol, prosecco and lemonade:

To be honest, the spritz was a little bitter for me (or I’ve not yet developed the palate for aperol) so we tried some locally brewed beer instead – 2 litres of:

Are you interested in some more food I’ve eaten this week at our hotel?

Creamy vegetable lasagne layered with aubergines and marrows and plenty of parmeggiano on top:

Rabbit, stewed I think, with roast potatoes and buttery broccoli:

An impressive – and tasty – creme brûlée with the sugar lit at the table when served (I’m doing this at home from now on, especially if we have guests over):

I could go on but I’m worried I’m beginning to bore you. Back in the kitchen in the next couple of days so after a short period of silence I’ll be blogging again soon.