I wanted... I bought.... I made

Food chain weekend so it needs to be simple on the homefront. Complicated plans for Sunday night invariably come to nought. So - I'm thinking more pork balls Saturday night as I have some water chestnuts to use and some cabbage that will make a nice side dish only balls as we had a snack at St John about 5.30, high tea if you like, so not specially hungry, Sunday a roast, easy and fabulous more balls! . Monday vegetable curry I think roast chicken, and all the trimmings, Tuesday we're out, Wednesday steamed chicken and ginger carrot salad and steamed aubergine and ginger rhubarb fool for dessert as the lovely Vicki was round, Thursday pasta with mushrooms steamed savoury custard, spicy cabbage and rice, as I have a little hankering, Friday steamed eggs steamed leek and bacon pudding as the hankering will be assauged on the weekend I'm thinking!

At the Ginger Pig I bought a chicken roasted Monday night and cold in lunchboxes for a few days while the sun was shining and it looked set to be a lovely day. Paid £13.70

At Booths I bought steaming potatoes with the chicken then the rest in salad for lunches, blood oranges to recreate a treat from Anchor & Hope juiced and mixed with campari and soda, brussel sprouts and a butternut squash roast dinner hot and cold in lunches for £3,80

At Monmouth I bought coffee - £10.50

From Wild Beef I bought eggs - £1.50

From the Fresh Olive Company bought a melange in a medium pot - £3.50

At Gastronomica I bought a great piece of toma - £7 - and emerged into the pouring rain to run across the road.

At Neals Yard I bought milk and yoghurt - £8.90

At Flour Power I bought a toast loaf - £1.10

At Elsey & Bent I bought a tub of mandarins - £2 - despite liking their name I don't often buy much here and it turned out the mandarins were too hard to peel so, though they were meant for lunches they ended up as juice so it will be another long time till I'm shopping there again

From Teds Veg I bought rhubarb bought loads so have a tub in the freezer, had it for breakfast with yoghurt and made a fool Wednesday night, leeks pudding and peppers still to be used - £10.80

Spent £62.80. Still raining as we ran across the road for the bus. Perhaps this winter means to last forever.

Let's do Lunch!

This week was not as I had planned it, partly because I made lots of fabulous food Saturday night as a Chinese banquet, one of the upsides of which was having an easy peasy Sunday and the delight of the last of the tofu, aubergine, peppers and rice for lunch Monday already packed into boxes

Monday night I made a leek bread pudding that was even better than I was expecting, like a deeply luxurious Sunday lunch without the roast and it was seriously good for us for lunch from Tuesday till Thursday, and the man had clementines and cold steamed pudding as well for nutrition and sweet treats! Packed the night before, I got ten minutes more in bed and the man got to make coffee!

Oh dear - come Friday and the lunchbox was bare! So I shall take myself down to Whitecross Street for a hot chorizo roll and the man will take himself to Wasabi for a little sushi.

Steamed Ginger Syrup Pudding

One of the things I've been contemplating making since the arrival of the Miele steam oven is steamed pudding of the sweet variety. Used to eat them as a kid for 'special' dessert after Sunday lunch - always the full roast sitting at the dining - as opposed to the kitchen - table, pretty much the only time it was used unless there were guests. It was part of the whole magic of Sunday, growing up, using chrystal wine glasses and silver cutlery, all of it kept separate to the every day stuff. Always the event of the week!

When I told my friend David about the trial his instant reaction was oooh, puddings! Charlie at the Ginger Pig thought it would be the best use for the oven too! The man, of course, loves sweet things and trad Brit things and so, with David joining us for dinner Saturday night it was definitely time to take the plunge. I planned an asian menu - lots of steaming, lots of flavours, and the best dessert I could imagine was ginger syrup steamed pudding. With custard. Actually, when I thought it up I planned to use dollops of thick cream but on informing the man he looked a bit askance. 'Oh' he said. 'That might work. I've only ever had it with custard'. Being as he's much more of an expert than I in such matters, custard it was, St Delia's recipe producing a delightfully rich golden confection and peace was restored to the world.

Ginger syrup steamed pudding

175g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
50g stem ginger from a jar, chopped plus 2 tbsp of the ginger syrup
2 tbsp golden syrup,
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tbsp milk

Generously butter a large pudding bowl and line the base with a circle of baking paper.

Scatter the chopped ginger over the base of the pudding bowl, drizzle with both the golden and the ginger syrup. Set aside.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter, sugar, eggs and milk and mix with electric beaters until smooth. Spoon into the basin and level the top.

Butter a large sheet of foil then fold 2 pleats in the centre. Place, buttered-side down, on top of the pudding basin and secure with string around the rim. Trim off any excess foil.

Place the pudding into the steam oven and cook at 100C for about 2 hours.

Remove the foil, loosen the sides of the pudding with a knife and carefully turn out onto a plate.

Serve with custard! The guys both loved it, proclaiming it utterly, correctly, perfectly British.

The man had leftovers as a cakey treat with his lunch for a couple of days.

I wanted...I bought...I made

You know the signs outside Pizza Express saying Francesco Mazzei is making the pizza? It's true - here he is making mine Tuesday night!


Saturday night David is coming over for dinner to admire the steam oven and is hoping for sweet things. I do so hate to disappoint so steamed ginger syrup pudding is on the menu to follow a chinese feast with some steamed little spiky balls and silken tofu and grilled lamb made vast amounts of food though the lamb ended up as a barley stew later in the week but there was also a very fine steamed eggplant as a centrepiece. Sunday I want to try a leek bread pudding steamed a second lot of pork balls and some of the leftovers from Saturday night, Monday the last giant pork chop with steamed potatoes leek bread pudding baked!, Tuesday I'm out learning the secrets of Francesco Mazzei's pizza's so the man might like a hot pie, Wednesday steamed chicken with stir fry peppers steamed lamb and barley stew with steamed potatoes which was intensely savoury and I shall post about it next week, Thursday eggs en cocotte with mushrooms the lamb was so good we had it again! and Friday I'm out and the man will probably go for fish and chips!

After being so cold last week at Borough I wrapped up warm in my lovely fake fur coat, furry boots and knitted gloves. Bit Michelin Man but cosy as pie. At Ginger Pig Charlie was looking seriously cold and suggested I lend him the coat... I gave him a challenge instead, asking him about beef tendons, as we had some in a restaurant and they were amazing and then, by chance, I found a recipe. He showed me where they were on a beef shin and promised he'll try and have some for me next week. In the meantime I bought lamb neck chops, thinking of one thing but he said Ooooh making a stew which set me off on another track. Also bought pork mince lots of balls and chicken for the freezer and spent £25.64

Then to Teds Veg for a change. Bought leeks pudding to die for!, peppers, cabbage and aubergine various stir fries and steamings - £8.30

From Booths I bought potatoes for steaming, carrots, a cucumber and some clementines for £3.90

Eggs from Wild Beef, a bargain £1.50

A pie for the man, steak & kidney of course - £2.50

At Neals Yard bought milk and cream and bread for £9.30

A large loaf from Flour Power this week though not for toast! £2.20

So spent £53.34


And here's one I made, after stellar instruction

Last week's lunches

We had a very nice collection of lunches last week, most of them packed into tubs the night before for extra speed. Actually the real reason I like having them in the fridge overnight is that I get to spend an extra ten minutes in bed and the man has to make the coffee!

Mondays lunch, and the same for Tuesday was slices of cold roast beef from Sunday's dinner, with leek pudding and cold roasted heritage carrots that were really sweet and deeply flavoured. Packed the night before on both days, so very quick in the morning!

Wednesday's lunch was the last of the roast beef. I used the leftover rice from Tuesday's dinner to make a little salad with some raw carrots and celery and dressed with a splash of olive oil, which took me about 5 minutes. Added clementines.

Thursdays lunch was the other half of Wednesday's dinner which was seasoned pork steamed for 10 minutes then eggs added at the same time as a dish of spiced shredded cabbage for the last 5 minutes, served with rice. It was lovely hot and equally so cold. Packed the night before so no time needed in the morning.

Friday's lunch was parma ham in granary baguette - very yum. I'd bought the ham the day before to line the moulds for my steamed eggs and picked up two baguettes at Paul, one to go with dinner and one to make lunch. Took me a couple of minutes to put together.

Slow cooked ham & eggs

This simple and lovely supper was a delight. I wanted to steam whole eggs, not a custard, like the traditional en cocotte but not baked - obviously. And they had to be runny yolks if at all possible. I am gaining in confidence with the steam oven and fancied seeing if I could make this work.

Perused various bits of the web and discovered that egg yolks set at 65C and yolks at 63C and the alchemist chefs like Joel Rubuchon cook them at these kind of temperatures for 20-30 minutes, or more. I'm loving this idea - slow cooked egg. I'd been out and bought some parma ham at lunch time, thinking it would make a good lining for the ramekins. I had a little cream left from making the leek pudding and could see how that would be good. But it needed something to make it meld in my imagination. Checked the fridge and spied a block of Parmesan. The man cut me some curls using the vegetable peeler and I was good to go.

The Miele steam oven can be set at different temperatures, in increments of 5C. So I started with 65C - hoping it would err on the side of 63C - and set the clock for 15 minutes. The buzzer went and, oooh, not good. Warm but still an entirely liquid egg. Another 12 minutes, same temperature. The buzzer went and, oooh, still not good. Still warm but still liquid. So, with a decisive stroke, the temperature went up to 100C and the clock to a mere 2 minutes. Voila! Creamy whites, liquid gold yolks. Utterly perfect.

Slow cooked ham & eggs

4 slices parma ham

4 teaspoons thick cream

the leaves from a sprig of thyme

4 curls of Parmesan

4 fresh eggs

Black pepper

Set out 4 ramekins. Line each one with a thin slice parma ham, top it with a spoon of cream. sprinkle that with the thyme leaves, add a curl of Parmesan and a grind of pepper and then break an egg into each dish. Cover each ramekin with a sheet of clingfilm to stop the tops going rubbery.

Heat the steam oven to 65C, cook the ramekins for 25 minutes. Increase the heat to 100C and cook for 2 more minutes.

Eat with a teaspoon!

We had 2 each, with a simple fennel salad and crusty bread on the side and it was perfect. Would also make a great lunch for ladies!

Steamed Leek Pudding

Still very winter in London so craving comfort food as February plods on. Seriously fancied roast beef Sunday with all the trimmings. Found a recipe from HFW in the Guardian for a steamed leek pudding and I was intrigued. Actually it would be fair to say I was utterly intent on making one because a) I love leeks and smoked bacon b) most of Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall's recipes work out a treat and c) I am undeniably a greedy cow and I could imagine how wonderful it might be!

According to ham and pease pudding leek puddings are the traditional accompaniment to stewed meat in the north east. It makes perfect sense for anyone who's ever seen the intensity with which leeks are cultivated, the care lavished daily, the night time vigils to prevent skulduggery, all determined to be the prize winner in local shows. All that attention produces ENORMOUS leeks, the big beasts of the vegetable world, but probably not entirely naturally. Obviously a leek that is over 8cm in diameter would be so tough and stringy it will be inedible, steamed or otherwise. For eating, smaller is sweeter.

I have certainly never made a steamed pudding before and I'm not convinced I have ever eaten from one either. If I have it wasn't memorable. I loved the idea of making suet pastry having previously fallen in love, in winter, with suet dumplings. Suet makes for such a silky mouthful it is irresistable though possibly not entirely good for you.

I am thoroughly enjoying playing with the steam oven from Miele and have used it nearly every day since it arrived. Have mostly made Chinese dishes, it being a cuisine that has a lot of time for steaming but there is a strong tradition too in Britain for steamed puddings, mostly sweet but occasionally savoury too.

The recipe is very simple but I would double the quantities for the filling next time or at the very least use bigger leeks, especially if I was planning to serve it to six. It had a great flavour but there could have been a lot more of it. See c) above.

Leek pudding

HFW sasys 'A north country favourite. Serve it alongside a roast, so the ­tender ­pastry can soak up the meat juices. Serves six as a side dish'.

200g self-raising flour

100g shredded suet (beef or vegetable)

1 tsp English mustard powder (I omitted the mustard as I don't like it)

Salt and pepper

50g butter, plus more for greasing

6 slices unsmoked bacon, cut into 2cm pieces - use 12

3 leeks, white and pale green part only, washed and finely chopped - use 6

70ml double cream - double that to 140ml

Mix the flour and suet with the ­mustard, a pinch of salt and pepper. Combine with just enough water – about 140ml or so – to make a ­stiffish dough.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the bacon until just golden. ­Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan, gently sauté the leeks in the same fat until soft, move the pan from the heat and stir in the cream.

Roll out the dough into a large ­circle. Cut a quarter out of the circle. Generously butter a one-and-a-half-litre pudding basin and line it by dropping the larger piece of pastry into it, drawing together the cut sides to make a firm join. I didn't know this trick but it worked flawlessly!

Fill with alternating layers of leeks and ­bacon.

Roll out the remaining ­quarter of pastry into a circle and lay it on top. Press together the edges of the pastry lid and casing to seal. Put a double layer of ­buttered, pleated foil over the top and tie in place with string.

Put a large pan of water on to boil (fill the pan with enough water to come a ­little more than halfway up the side of the basin), and place a pan lid or upturned tart tin in the bottom to act as a trivet. Lower the pudding on to the makeshift trivet, cover the pot and leave bubbling away for two hours. If the water gets low, top up with boiling water. I obviously used the steam oven which simply heats to 100C then cooks, with no requirement for more water, for the requisite two hours but if I am to make it again these instructions will come in handy.

Once cooked, remove the foil, run a knife around the edge of the pudding, turn out on to a plate and serve hot.

Sadly this was not great next day cold - the filling remained toothsome but once cold the pastry reverts, like the ugly sisters after the ball, to undesirable stodge.