How To Make Perfect Rice (and no machine)

A Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you all had a fantastic festive holiday and ate loads of great food. Or just ate loads. Consuming huge amounts of Quality Street is one of Christmas’s highlights for sure but I wouldn’t necessarily class them as ‘great’ food. However, once emptied, the tin is very handy for the storing of future magnificent baking projects! I do believe my Grandma has Quality Street tins that have housed many a Victoria sponge since the late 17^th century, or so it would seem. So in their own little way, however vague, I guess Quality Street have had a hand in ‘great’ food there somewhere.

So we made it up to the Alps after Christmas to squeeze in a little snowboarding before the start of the new season on Mariquita. It's going to be a goody of a year onboard in 2012. We will be sailing to the UK for two regattas and have some new members of crew to meet very soon and train up in the ways of all things ‘Mariquita’. The old (less of that) remaining crew will be responsible for singing the sea shanties extra loud to make up for anybody who doesn’t know the words.

There will be delivery food and provisioning to start planning for the long sail to Gosport, Portsmouth in April, a trip which could take 3 weeks or so and there will also be the usual hope of fish catching and the freshest of sashimi eating along the way.  And of course the hope of flat calm seas…

But back to our little visit to the Alps before I start to worry too much about that one.

We stayed in a little self-catered wooden chalet and as these things go with self-catered accommodation; what it lacked in the way of saucepans it made up for in small red, beetly-type bugs which crawled out of the woodwork and hung out in the curtains and dropped occasionally from the ceiling onto our heads while we had dinner. Which was nice…

Anyhow. The thrust of this blog comes from a rather long conversation we had concerning rice and how best to cook it when faced with a kitchen minus a rice cooker (and in fact anything helpful like a sharp knife).

Now rice cookers are a new thing to me. I don’t have one and didn’t realise that so many people seem to have a fear of cooking rice in a saucepan. This is a shame because rice cookers are so big and I’m wondering how to tell George that he will have to keep his rice cooker in his garage because I need my kitchen space for useful things like plates. (We’re in the process of buying a real house on real solid ground. Very exciting)

Personal domestic issues aside, my rice cooking recommendations were kindly noted, have been tried and tested and I was told I must blog the technique because it was such a success. Hopefully I have saved at least one kitchen from one more expensive gadget. I’m sure that a lot of people know this one but for those who don’t, this never fails, makes perfect rice and is worth a try before you spend any money on a machine; which may then lead to the need for an extension. Although, saying that, if you do need and extension, my Dad is a great architect and would love the work.

Normally I just guess-timate the amount of rice, water and time and once you have cooked rice a few times following the instructions below you will then be able to do the same thing with the guessing and have the confidence that it will work. I promise!

 Okay, so for perfect rice every time without a machine or any other gadget then rice know-how, here it is;

 For 4 people you will need;

 

65g rice per person, 260g overall

300 ml of cold water

a good pinch of salt

one saucepan

cling film or 1 tight fitting lid

Method;

• It’s all about 3’s with rice. I normally fill the saucepan with two thirds rice and the last third water. So when cooking rice for up to 6 people you can expect there to be no more than a fingers width of water above the rice in the pan. For now, put the measured amount of rice in the pan and then fill with the measured amount of water and make a mental note of how that looks. Add a little salt and stir. Now add a very good lid or a layer of cling film. There needs to be no way for any steam to escape. That’s the important bit! Cling film is great for this and don’t panic, it won't pop.

 

• Now turn on the heat and bring the rice to a gentle boil. AS SOON as it starts to boil, turn the heat down to its lowest setting possible. The smallest flame, the lowest heat. Out of heat up to ten, I go down to a 2 on an electric hob and the smallest flame on a gas hob. So, so far it’s specific but easy, yes?

• Keep the heat this way for approximately 16 minutes. And in NO circumstance take off the lid! It is the steam that is cooking your rice perfectly and if you take off the lid or the cling film the steam will escape and the water will not absorb. Lecture over, once the 16 minutes is over, turn off the heat.

• BUT DO NOT TAKE OFF THE LID YET. Let the rice ‘rest’ without any sneaky peeking. It is still absorbing water at this stage and this is the crucial ‘fluffy’ rice making stage. If you used clingfilm then the clingfilm will suck itself down onto the rice which is great. Just leave it as it is.

• You can leave it like this for as long as you need to which is great if you are cooking the rice in advance. But definitely leave the rice to rest for no less then 10 minutes. When you are due to serve it simply take the lid or cling film off and fluff up with a fork. To heat it up if you have left it for a while, simply put the rice over a gently heat and keep stirring it till it is well heated. 

• There. It might look like a complicated method but do this a few times and it will become as easy as one, two, C for three (little Chinese take-away joke there).

Oh and it is known as the ‘absorption’ method which is in effect how a rice cooker works.

Once your rice is cooked you can get down to finishing that turkey curry. Or perhaps fry some onions, garlic and ginger in a frying pan and add a few beaten eggs to scramble, add a little soy sauce, some bean sprouts and possibly some cooked prawns. Stir in your cooked rice, mix well over a high heat and you have a little special-fried-rice on your hands.

A good start to 2012, I hope without too much 'lets all eat salad after Christmas'. It is still winter after all. 

Stay tuned for boat friendly recipes and an exciting programme for Mariquita and her crew. I’ll try not to go on too much about my new home that will be waiting for me in Suffolk. But let’s just say, I love this year already and it has only just begun.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers. 

Homemade Chestnut Pasta

 I’m very excited about this blog. It will be my first ever two-part blog; the first instalment today and concluding chapter tomorrow. It’s just that I have so much to tell you and two great recipes. I’ll be up to the wee hours if I try to write it all out for you tonight. Forgive my apparent lack of commitment, all will come clear soon.

Firstly I really wanted to show you pictures of the boat at this time of year and how she looks a bit like the trees here in France that have lost their leaves for the winter.

Bare.

Even her usually glossy cap-rail has been covered with plastic wrap to keep the varnish preserved from the weather which is due any minute now. The interior of the boat is quiet and covered in dust covers and most of the crew have left for the winter. There are 5 of us left out of 12 crew. Lunch takes me a measly 45 minutes to cook and although I will adjust eventually, so far I keep trying to over-feed the remaining crew. Well, it is winter and they need fattening up for the cold months ahead surely.

Where did all my blocks go?

Now, autumn being a season of produce and harvest and because I missed out on the whole jam making adventures because I had to go sailing (poor me), I was desperately trying to come up with something interesting I could make with the glut of sweet chestnuts we have here in the cote D’azur. The chestnut festival’s final day was yesterday and I hit upon my great idea whilst rummaging around in the freezer for a suitable Sunday dinner.

The last hour of the final chestnut festival in La Garde Freinet

Rabbit. It is a shame that rabbit is not as popular in the UK as it is in France and I really don’t know why. For sure the wild rabbit is a very gamey meal and probably best suited to the game lover but a farmed rabbit is very mild and basically a lot like chicken. 

I had one in the freezer and as rabbit works very well with pasta I came up with my idea; chestnut pasta!  A low gluten, tasty roast chestnut pasta I could make myself and serve with the rabbit. Now can you see why I am so excited? 

Today I think I will start with the chestnut pasta recipe and follow with the rabbit sauce tomorrow. How will you sleep?!

So a quickie on the health benefits of chestnuts. They have fewer calories than any other nut and are the only nut to contain vitamin C. They have a high starch content and because they are so ‘dry’ can be used as a flour substitute, a fantastic non-gluten alternative. And it made the tastiest pasta ever.

Okay, I’ll stop blathering on and crack on with the recipe.

I don’t have a food blender but I do have a pasta machine. If you don’t have either this is still possible to make so do try it!

For chestnut pasta for 4 people you will need;

170g chestnut flour or 30 roast chestnuts, the skins removed

90g strong white flour

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp fine sea salt

Method                           

 

• I went to the chestnut fare and bought about 30 roasted chestnuts which I shelled and put into my mini food processor to make into flour. It worked! Brilliantly!  If you don’t have roast chestnuts then you can get chestnut flour from most health stores. It’s sort of nice to do it yourself though and I think the chestnuts had that nice smokiness from the good roasting they’d had at the festival.

• Sift both of the flours into a large cold glass bowl or into a food blender. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, salt and olive oil. Using a fork, start to whisk the eggs and slowly begin to draw in the flour from the edges of the well, incorporating more flour until you have a rough dough. It will get to the point when it’s easier just to get your hands in and bring it all together. If using a blender, blend till the dough forms.

• Now is the fun, stress relieving bit. Knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes on a cold flat surface, sprinkling on more plain flour if you need to. It should be a silky, springy dough and not too dry or sticky. When the dough is fully kneaded, wrap in cling-film and rest in the fridge. This is a good time to start the rabbit dish, the recipe for which I will share with you in the next exciting addition of, ‘An Autumn Boat’!!!

• Anyway. Once the pasta is fully rested (bless) sift some plain flour over a cold, flat work surface and begin to roll out half of the pasta with a floured rolling pin till it is good and thin enough to cut into tagliatelle or papperdelle or whatever shape you please! If, like me you have a pasta machine then proceed as you would normally and then use the tagliatelle function on the machine to finish. I usually rest the pasta again covered in flour and some clingfilm on a tray in the fridge.

• When you are ready to cook the pasta, put a large pan of salted water onto boil. The pasta will take just minutes! Literally just 3-4 of them. Drain in a colander and drizzle with some good olive oil.

• Serve with the rabbit sauce coming tomorrow in the next exciting addition of blah blah blah…

As you can see the pasta had a lovely ‘marron’ colour and wasn’t at all crumbly or difficult to work with and tasted delicious

Thanks for reading such a long and maybe slightly over-excited blog. I think perhaps tomorrows will be slightly calmer. But no promises. If you need any help with any of this then do feel free to contact me on the gmail address at the top of the page.

Á Demain!

Sage and Walnut Pesto before the Storm

So there I was telling you about how the next few weeks are going to be so astonishingly busy until about October and as it turns out I’ve actually had time to write and send a blog.

The calm before the storm,

I say ‘send’, lets not get carried away. This could be a little like how I swell with pride for writing postcards when I’m on holiday and then fail pathetically to manage the well known ‘hefty’ task of sending the things in the post. A hand delivered postcard is rubbish. Shame on me.

We’re here in Monaco amongst many other classic yachts, I’ve done my huge supermarket shop for the week and cooked dinner, prepped tomorrow’s sandwiches and chatted with great friends. There are disturbing rumours of very little wind this week and the temperature is back up there. I’m sure you’re all pretty bored of my talking about the temperature so I’ll move right along.

(31 degrees in the galley)

I made this pesto on our little trip here from St Tropez. The journey started out well. Thankfully at about the time I was cooking lunch. An hour or so later and I suspect I would have felt differently about the whole thing as the swell grew to a couple of meters.

The sage was from my Captain’s garden. Jim’s little sage plant had also grown to a few meters over the summer so he generously donated some to a very good cause. Lunch. And this pesto recipe is a bit of a favourite amongst the crew. It makes a nice change from the well known basil version. It’s very, very healthy being full of walnuts and fresh garlic, lemon juice etc. I could go as far as to say it’s practically like eating one of those overly- healthy green smoothies in a tasty form with some pasta. Okay, I lie. It tastes a lot better than that.

I think sage is up there on my favourite herb list. It’s so…..manly? Robust, savoury, grown-up…  I should do this for a living. Anyway, try it. You’ll love it.

For Sage pesto you will need;

A good bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked off the stalks

3 cloves of garlic

40g shelled walnuts

400g pinenuts

30g Parmesan cheese

Juice and zest of 3 lemons

½ tsp sugar

300ml Olive oil

Method;

• The flavour of walnuts is much improved by a little toasting in a hot pan, as is pinenuts. So begin by dry frying the walnuts and pinenuts in a hot frying pan. Keep them moving around over a high heat and fry for about 4-5 minutes keeping an eye on the pinenuts.

• To take the surprising element out of the raw cloves of garlic, I added these whole in their skins to the nuts in the hot frying pan. It acts as a little ‘sweetener’ to the cloves to give them a little cook first.

• Tip the toasted nuts into a mixing bowl. Peel and slice the garlic and add to the nuts. Then rip the leaves of sage off of any stalks and add to the nut and garlic mixture.

• Pour in the oil and lemon juice and season with the sugar and salt and pepper. Blend well but not so it’s too smooth. Keep a little texture.

• Now add the lemon zest, parmesan and any more oil if it’s a bit thick. Check the seasoning and mix well.

• Hey Pesto! 

If your mixing this with pasta then make sure you reserve at least a large ladleful of the pasta water to mix in with the pasta and pesto. It helps to make a great sauce. A tablespoon of crème fraiche is no bother either. As you wish.

It’s a great recipe in that it is easy, tangy and zesty, nutty and punchy. A bowl of penne, a rocket or watercress salad, something good and peppery with some nutty brown bread and a cold glass of something a little bit pink perhaps. Love it.

We’re race training tomorrow with our recently arrived regatta crew and the racing starts on Thursday. It’s all pretty exciting really. That and we have the one and only Sir Robin Knox Johnston racing with us this week! What an honour. I hope he likes my sandwiches.

I’ll keep you as up to date as I can with the gossip from Monaco. Take care and speak very soon.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers.

A Lemony, Courgette, Feta and Pinenut Pasta

Rain? Who ordered this? And why oh why does a rainy day insist on following a sleepless night? I promise I’m not the sort to grumble or inflict others with my 5-hour-sleep blues. And I think I was quite perky today considering. But just so you understand; It was an inexplicable case last night of sleepy eyes closing, turn off light, lie there thinking about why I didn’t say what I should have done that time 2 years ago. Turn the light on, read until eyes are closing, turn off the light, lie there thinking about how if I had said what I should have said, what would she have said back?  STOP IT! Turn light on, read till nodding-dog begins, turn light off. Continue in this manner until 2 30 am. I'm sure you know the score.

So I’ll admit that for the first time in a long time I was severely lacking in crew-lunch inspiration. Not to mention the rain and nothing in the fridge. Is this an Antibes thing? I’ve not spent much time here before.

I love how French markets make it look like I read the entire instruction manual for my digital SLR Camera.

Anyway, whenever I’m having a cooking blank, my trick is to boil it all down to one ingredient and build very simply from there.  One vegetable, one herb, one protein, one carbohydrate; that sort of thing, it usually works. So off I tottered in the pouring rain to the, thankfully covered, Antibes Market to look for that one ingredient. It wasn’t difficult. We’re in Courgette season and they were all over it. Flowered, baby, light green, dark green; my main ingredient in abundance.  Get all French about the crowds and you can get yourself some very nice little purchases in no time at all.

Having said that, by the time I had enjoyed all that a good French market can offer I had just less than an hour to cook lunch for 12. Lack of time, it can really help make a vital decision.

Courgettes led to feta cheese, led to lightly toasted pinenuts led to penne pasta with lemon zest and juice, wet garlic flavoured olive oil, lots of parsley and some chilli flakes. Salad, charcuterie and a selection of cheeses. Lots of lovely French bread and who’s complaining? 

I dare them. Just kidding guys, feedback always warmly accepted with gratitude (when I've had 7 hours of sleep not 5).

 

This is no biggy and very simple but sometimes it’s the simplicity that you need to be reminded of to create something tasty, and despite the heavy rain, full of the joys of spring. It’s so easy to get caught in a huge panic of complicated ingredients when the best meals (think Italian) are the most honest and fresh ones. Easy peasy and be sensitive with the tired one in the corner please.

  To feed 6-8 you will need;

Penne pasta

6 smallish courgettes, sliced

4-5 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed with the blade of a knife to open but kept whole

8 peppercorns

100ml olive oil

1 pack feta cheese

100 g pinenuts

Zest of 2 lemons, juice of one

Sprinkle of chilli flakes

1 cup grated pecorino cheese and more to serve

There must have been more…nope that really was it.

Method;

• Put your pan of water on to boil for the pasta. A nice big pan, the biggest you have got filled to within 2 inches of the rim. Each piece of pasta needs ‘room to dance’ as the Italians say. Fair enough, nobody can do their best on a crowded dance floor. Once the water is boiling, add salt. For a large pan of water, 6-7 litres, I add probably 2 tbsp salt.

 

• Next thing is to put a good inch depth of olive oil into a small saucepan. Don’t be shy now, glug it in there. Then plop in your 5-6 cloves of garlic and the peppercorns. Turn on the heat and when the oil begins to have a little sizzle, turn off the heat and leave the oil aside to marinade.

• Heat up a griddle pan. I was putting the courgettes down, once the pan was really hot, as they were with no oil on at all. Then brushing the side facing up with some of the garlic oil straight from the pan and sprinkling on some salt and pepper. Turn the courgettes over once they have good grill lines as shown and then grill the oil and seasoned side to the same effect. When you have done one load, put on a warmed plate and set aside. Continue grilling the courgettes till they are all done.

• Put a smallish frying pan on to heat with no oil in it at all, a dry frying pan. Lightly toast the pinenuts. Keep an eye on them and keep turning them over either with a little cool flip of your pan or by stirring with a wooden spoon. Set aside when they are lightly toasted.

Squeezing the pans on. 

• When the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain making sure you keep a good ladleful of the pasta water or ‘stock’. This helps to become your sauce and if you’ve ever had stodgy pasta before, this is how you remedy it. Never throw away all of the pasta cooking stock ever.

• Pour the pasta and a little of its water back into the pan and then add the sieved garlic oil and pecorino cheese and stir to combine. You can either squeeze the cooked garlic into the pasta or save for later. 

• Basically pour the pasta into a pretty serving dish. Scatter over the griddled courgettes; crumble over the feta cheese and pinenuts. Then a dish like this deserves a good grating of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice, lots of black pepper and a big handful of roughly chopped fresh parsley and mint. 

  

• Serve with French bread, platters of cheese and charcuterie and some lovely crunchy salad with a simple French vinaigrette.

I managed to make this in an hour and my head wasn’t all there. You might be quicker. The crew enjoyed it and didn't seem to notice my glazed expression. This would be a good cold pasta salad too if you run the cooked pasta under lots of cold water to stop it from cooking immediately and make sure that the olive oil has fully cooled down before you add it to the pasta.

Antibes market is great. I love these moments in my life and career. I could spend a fortune but the budget saves the day. Just to wander around enjoying the general hustle and bustle is a serious joy. Even in the pouring June rain.

It’s stopped raining now. It’s the evening and I’m drinking red wine down below feeling pretty cosy. One more glass of red and I reckon I’ll be sleeping fine tonight. No more saving the world or sorting out the mysteries of the universe for me.

 

Just a little advanced warning, I’ll be cooking the courgette flowers I bought at the market tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes. They are very special so I wanted to be fully ‘with it’ to enjoy the experience.

I best get to bed then.

Goodnight! Sleep tight.

See you soon. Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Chicken & Porcini Risotto with Lemon Thyme

It’s Wednesday today and we have the day off. And I find myself lying in a swimsuit by a pool in the hot May sun of Nice. Nice.

Cheeky Chappy, Birthday Boy Will

George and I wandered over to the on-shore crew accommodation which Nat, Niki, Will, Matty and Tom are currently living in before we leave for Corsica on Monday. Also it’s Will’s Birthday today. Happy Birthday Will! 

So they live here in ‘digs’ and the rest of us live on the boat which, as you’ll know if you read some of my earlier blogs, has its ups and its downs. Never leaving work is one of those downs, so on a day off it’s important to try to get away from the boat and treat yourself to a new perspective on life. Some breathing space; a different experience, a change is as good as a holiday and all that.

And as different experiences go, this will do nicely thank you. It’s a beautiful pool and it’s quiet and although I’m not sure I have enough sun lotion on, I think I’ll lie here and write this blog and if I get burnt, I’ll blame you, ok?

Smoking Halyards Can Seriously Damage Your Health

Talking of burns, I got a goody on my arm and a few on my fingers. They say smoking is bad for you and I can tell you it hurts too. I’m actually talking about ‘smoking’ halyards. It’s a non-technical term for letting a halyard go quickly but in a controlled manner if a sail needs to be dropped instantly. And my position on the boat when we’re racing means that I get to ‘smoke’ a lot of halyards. (Hence the sailing gloves) This particular halyard was the spinnaker halyard and although I have done it plenty of times, for some reason or other I took too many turns off the cleat and was effectively holding around 2 tons of sail in my hands. I let it go, but managed to control the drop enough that no one noticed anything untoward until I squeaked pathetically to George that I had to go down below to shove my ‘smoking’ hands into the ice maker. It was a great drop and I’m in no position to give up smoking quite yet but I think I’ll be slowing it down a little.

Just as exciting, the night before the smoking halyard incident I made a risotto. It had to be a risotto. All the ingredients were there for a goody of a risotto; a bag of dried porcini mushrooms, a pot of fragrant, zesty lemon-thyme, home-made chicken stock and some plump little chicken breasts. If I’d been really clever I would have gone to get some of the wet garlic that’s been kicking around in the markets at the mo. Wet garlic is so exciting and so delicious, I’ll try to get hold of some whilst it’s in season and get a recipe for you. But as I just had the normal, dried bulbs a fair amount of that went in instead.

The risotto fed 6 of us and I managed to get away with only putting in 2 chicken breasts but coupled with the ‘meatiness’ of the mushrooms, it was a perfect combination and great for the budget. I can’t ‘big-up’ homemade stock for any risotto enough but as I’ve said before a cube or two will do if you haven’t any fresh.

Love and affection is also heavily required for a risotto. Set the time aside to make it. Stick on some of your favourite tunes and pour yourself something special into your favourite glass and dedicate yourself to your risotto. Love your risotto.

So here it is, chicken and Porcini risotto with lemon-thyme. Serve with a good rocket salad and I reckon my brother-in-law (Bill for short), would probably be the best person to ask being a real sommelier, but I do think red, white or rose would suit this one. Ch-ching!

For Chicken and Porcini risotto you will need;

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar (Feeling a bit Mary Poppins every time I write that)

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 ½  pints chicken stock

Bag of dried porcini mushrooms or any funky dried forest mushroom that you like

1 pint hot water

Box of risotto rice

2 tbsp lemon-thyme, chopped and smashed a little

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp crème fraiche

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 glass of dry white wine for the risotto and as the bottle is open…

Method;

• Begin by putting your dried mushrooms into a ceramic dish and pour in about one pint of hot water. This rehydrates the mushrooms and the water will take on a marvellous dark brown colour and mushroom flavour which you will add to your stock.  Soak the mushrooms for about 15 minutes then skim them out gently. Some sediment may have sunk to the bottom so when you add the mushroom liquor to the stock, make sure this gets left behind.

• Meanwhile, put the chicken stock into a pan and bring to a gentle simmer. This is an important rule when making risotto, to have hot stock.

• Gently sauté the onion in a heavy bottomed, deep pan with some sunflower oil and a small knob of butter. After a few minutes add the sugar. Season with some salt. Then once the onion has started to soften, add the chicken breasts.

• Sauté the chicken for a few minutes and then when all the pink has gone, turn up the heat to get a good sizzle and add the drained mushrooms. Then add the rice and half of the lemon-thyme. It will want to stick to the pan so you need to keep it on the move. It gets fun now.

• When the rice has had a good fry and is starting to look opaque now is the time to throw in a glass of dry white wine. It will have a good sizzle and splutter but keep it stirring, this is all good stuff.

• Having now added the mushroom liquor to the hot stock, you can start adding the stock to the risotto. Do this one ladleful at a time, stirring constantly until all the liquid has been absorbed, then add another and keep this up until all your stock has gone or your rice gets to it’s al dente stage. 

• Now no one likes a stodgy risotto so when you think the rice is almost perfect, I always add a good few ladles of stock to loosen it all up. Then turn off the heat, add the crème fraiche, parmesan, lemon zest and juice and the rest of the lemon-thyme. Taste and season till it is perfect, then bung on the lid and let it rest whilst you spruce up a little salad and muster your hungry.

If you make a few risottos you’ll start to get your own little ‘risotto tricks’ to get that perfect consistency and flavour. I always use up all my stock, so I either make way too much or have a boiled kettle ready to top up if I run out. I love adding lemon zest and juice and sometimes a final splosh of wine at the end of cooking can turn an average risotto into a great one.

Tomorrow I will begin to make a few delivery meals for the trip to Corsica. To be honest it’s only a 36 hour trip and I’m hoping we’ll catch some fish. So what goes in the freezer can stay there for a busy regatta if we do. I’ve stocked my cupboards with sushi-making ingredients in optimistic hope.

So now, if you’ll forgive me I will probably need to turn over and roast the other side of me. And then a nice little dip in the pool I think.

I don’t think I can help myself but I so have the best job in the world. Life at 33 degrees is turning out okay for now.

Thanks a lot for reading. See you next time.

It Was A Pesto Recovery.

In the end it had to be homemade pesto pasta. Mainly due to what was, or wasn’t in the fridge and the fact that it was Sunday and all the shops in France are well and truly shut on a Sunday.

The pasta definitely did the job and I felt one hundred percent better and healthier. Lots of fragrant basil, the healing oils of garlic, some toasted pinenuts and the cleansing properties of freshly squeezed lemon juice. All perfectly bundled into a steaming bowl of al-dente carbohydrates.

And I’m on top of the world again.

I really wondered about putting this one in though as a recipe. You’ve probably all made it before and it is just pesto. It’s a shame that I think that about such a simple and yet such an amazing recipe. I guess It’s from past lazy, rushed meals and the jar of shop bought stuff making the odd appearence (who me? Never).

But the homemade version is always a revelation and I think you should all try it for the simple, up-lifting experience of it!

Its cheap, its easy and its healthy, need anymore excuses? Here goes;

For 5-8 people you will need;

500g pack spaghetti or more depending on the hunger vibes your getting

Large pan of boiling salted water

A good sized bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked from the stems. We’re talking like a small posy. The smell will have you won over already.

2 good sized cloves of garlic, skins removed and sliced

Grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon

50g lightly toasted pinenuts

100 g grated Parmesan cheese or Pecorino

150ml olive oil to start with

Salt and pepper

Just to let you know that these amounts are really just a guide line. You can make your pesto more lemony or more nutty. You really can’t go wrong so play around with it to your liking.

Method;

• Whilst you have a large pan of water on to boil make your pesto. When the water comes to the boil add, roughly, a tbsp of salt to a litre of water. Don’t be shy.

• Put the basil leaves, garlic, lemon zest and juice, pinenuts, parmesan and the oil into a food blender and whizz till it’s all combined. It shouldn’t be too pureed; a bit of texture is nice. If you only have a hand blender then that will work fine.

• Season with a little salt and a good grinding of pepper remembering that the parmesan can be salty. Add more olive oil if it needs to be loosened.

• Taste and adjust the flavours as you wish.

• When the spaghetti is ready, strain it but keep roughly 3 tbsp of the pasta water to mix in with the pesto.

• Tip the pasta back into the pan and add the pesto and pasta water. Stir to combine and serve with lots of salad and some nice crusty bread.

• And there end’eth your hangover.

You can use walnuts if you wish to really boost the health benefits. I have a nut allergy on board so I stick to the pinenuts. Also if you don’t like the idea of so much raw garlic (maybe you have a date), then you could roast the whole cloves in their skins in the oven which makes the garlic a little sweeter before adding to your pesto.

We’re going out for our first trial-sail of the year tomorrow. Very exciting. I hope I remember how to do it and which bits of rope to pull and when. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck and see you soon.

Pumpkin Lasagne

We arrived in Cannes yesterday afternoon, gracefully motoring in as Arnold Schwarzenegger finished up his tea on one of the big Super Yachts and left with his entourage of body guards…was it something we said? Anyway, this is what it’s all about here. Its all glamour and sparkly, shiny, expensive boats and women.  I might have to start brushing my hair in the morning.

On the opposite end of the glamour scale, I’ve had a few requests for the recipe for my kitchen-sink-lasagne which featured briefly in my last blog.  It may not be very ‘Cote D'azure’, but is a great way to feed lots of hungry mouths in a very short space of time. Everything but the kitchen sink can go in it, hence the name (I’m sure you hadn’t guessed that) And it costs nothing to make. Ace.

More often than not, I find myself with around 90 minutes to cook lunch for 12 people  and can’t afford to take the time to go to the shops. Kitchen-sink-lasagne day I looked into the fridge to find 4 courgettes, a quarter of a bit of a pumpkin, and some very odd bits of cheese. Thus followed a huge lasagne!  So here it is and obviously you can use most left over vege’s that are in the fridge. If you have onions, you can make a feast out of anything in my book;

For a lasagne for 6-10 people you will need;

3-4 onions, thinly sliced

3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 medium sized potatoes, chopped into small cubes

Pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and chopped as small as the potato

4 courgettes, grated; the water squeezed out of them

100 g pinenuts, dry fried in a pan till golden

A box of dried lasagne sheets (or fresh if you have)

A white sauce (bought or homemade, instructions below)

Any bits of left over cheese, rind and all!

tsp of fennel seeds

Method

•         Because you’re probably in a hurry, the lasagne will cook quicker if it’s soaked first, so put a load of the pasta sheets in a dish of water. Unless you have fresh in which case skip that bit.

•         Gently sauté your onions in some olive oil or sunflower oil with ½ tsp sugar. (I usually do this with onions, I find it helps drawer out their sweetness and helps round off the flavour of most dishes. My grandma taught me that)

•         In another pan, at the same time as your onions sauté the pumpkin and potatoes in some oil until soft. Don’t fry them too hard, they don’t want to be browned, just soft. Add the fennel seeds and continue sautéing for a few more minutes. Add to your onions.

•         Squeeze as much of the water out of the grated courgettes as you can. Fry this in some oil for a few minutes then add to the rest of the vege mixture along with the toasted pinenuts. Season with some salt and pepper. 

For the white sauce

¾ pint of milk

2 tbsp butter

2-3 tbsp plain flour

A dash of grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper

100-150g of bits and bobs of cheese,

•         Now for the tasty, cheesy white sauce bit;  If you have a carton or jar of white sauce then just heat gently and add your finely chopped or grated bits of cheese. I used some goat’s cheese, parmesan and some French Cantal but cheddar or anything would be great too.

•         To make the sauce from scratch plop a good tbsp or about 50g butter into a small-ish saucepan. Melt the butter then add 2 wooden spoons worth of flour or 2 heaped tbsp. Stir into the butter on a medium heat so that’s its sizzling. When it looks a bit honey-combed or granular then take off the heat. Now start adding some milk bit by bit, stirring loads with a wooden spoon or whisk to incorporate it fully into the flour and butter after each addition. It gets a bit doughy but that’s cool. Eventually it’ll start turning into a nice looking sauce. When you have incorporated all the milk put back onto a medium heat and keep stirring all the time till its thickened. When it has thickened nicely, let it simmer gently for about 5 minutes.

•         Take off the heat and then add you cheese, nutmeg and seasoning till you're very happy with the taste. Please use freshly grated nutmeg. The pre-grated stuff is truly useless. Make sure your sauce is not too thick; you need a good amount of spreadable cheesy, creamy sauce.

•         Now you can start layering. Spread a few spoonfuls of the veg mixture across the base of your dish. Just a light smearing of it is all you need to start off with. Lay your sheets of soaked lasagne sheets over the vege's so that there are no gaps.

•         Next spoon about a third of the vege mixture over the lasagne sheets. Then pour over a good dribble of the cheese sauce till it thinly covers the vege mixture. Top this with more lasagne sheets.

•         Keep repeating this process till you have come to the top of your dish. I like to finish off with a last layer of pasta sheets then a final topping of cheese sauce and some grated cheese.

•         Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, till nice and golden and bubbly on top.

I’ll be off to the Cannes market as soon as possible so I’ll be coming up with some slightly more, good looking, Cannes worthy dishes for the crew. And it’s getting hot, slowly but surely. So it’s definitely salad time of year again.

Please do use the comment box below if you have any requests for recipes or you tried a dish and wish to tell me how it went. I'd love to know. Cheers!

See you soon and hopefully with a bit more of a tan. I really need to try to fit in a bit more round here. But then I would still like to keep eating so I'll let you know how it goes. Who really cares about being a size 8 still at the age of 33?