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My mega Mother’s Day Meal

This Mother’s Day, being unable to go to a restaurant because of the virus plaguing the world as we speak, I decided to cook the mega-est Mother’s Day Meal I could think of. And, why not learn some cool new cooking skills along the way? Of course, none of this could have been possible without my family’s personal chef and all-around legend, Gale Lawler a.k.a. my mum. She held my proverbial hand the whole way (not my literal hand obviously, as rolling pasta would have been pretty tricky without it); passing on her cooking wisdom, tips and tricks to a novice like me.

Mother’s Day meal menu written by the woman herself

Now, for the menu. Thankfully, I managed to procure all the ingredients from the supermarket. A tricky task in these panicked stock piling times but I did have hope that people probably wouldn’t be stocking up on duck or sea bass fillets. However, these are unprecedented times so everyone’s meal times could be morphing into the middle class’s midweek dinner table. To start. Duck ragu with homemade pappardelle. For main. Sea bass on Provençal lentils. To finish. French strawberry tart.

To start.

The idea for the Mother’s Day meal starter actually came from arguably one of the most entertaining food shows on our screens – Come Dine With Me. One of the contestants made a duck ragu with homemade pasta. Somehow, seeing a woman drape her homemade pappardelle on a clothes horse finally gave me the push I needed to try and make homemade pasta for the first time. And, what a joyous experience it was.

For the pappardelle I used good old Gordo (Gordon Ramsay’s) recipe for saffron pasta dough (this time just minus the saffron) from his book ‘3 Star Chef’. This of course was per mother’s recommendation. Feeling the dough come together in my hands while kneading was so satisfying and to finally get to the point where the dough bounced back when prodded was a joy to behold (well at least for me). I was most nervous about rolling out the pasta dough as so many times on TV and in videos you see people become tangled in the long strands of golden dough (I bet you thought I was about to trail off into the fantastical tale of Tangled, rest assured I am more of a Frozen fan). However, with my mum’s guidance this process became easier and easier with every roll through the machine. Gale’s tip: The quicker you roll the pasta through the machine the less time there is for things to go wrong or for the pasta to get stuck.

For main.

This was possibly my favourite course to serve to my diners as it arguably looked the most impressive. With an artful drizzle of the cream and chive sauce around the bed of lentils topped with the sea bass fillet the only thing missing was the garnish, the seemingly pointless but oh so necessary bit of green (cue the chive strands atop the fish).

I must say, this recipe was truly faultless. For the lack of work involved the flavour was phenomenal. This especially applies to the sauce. Consisting of four ingredients, the sauce was as easy as pie and could be paired with many other fishes and alternative sides such as a fillet of baked salmon with new potatoes and steamed asparagus (see my previous post ‘Simple fish dishes: the ideal midweek meal’). Erin’s tip: season the sauce with plenty of cracks of black pepper, don’t add salt as the stock provides more than enough.

To finish.

I was definitely most excited to prepare this course. My mum is the Queen of desserts (me not so much) and I wanted to impress her. Not that I am a perfectionist or anything. How many times have we been on holiday to France, strolling down a quaint cobbled street only to stumble upon what looks like the warmest and most inviting bakery? This is always followed by what me and my dad think is window shopping only to find out that mum drags us in just to grab a couple of things for after dinner. Cut to us walking out of the shop ten minutes later with a collection of macarons, three different fruit tarts an éclair and some other choux filled loveliness. This is why this course meant so much as in these times of isolation I thought I would bring the twee Parisian bakery to her with my French strawberry tart.

For this delight of a dessert I had to make my own sweet shortcrust pastry (having never made any kind of pastry before) and homemade crème patissiere. However, having the guidance of a woman who has been making pastry and custard for tens of years I somehow wasn’t fazed by this prospect.

The first step was to make the sweet pastry. The recipe I used was from the Pieminister cookbook ‘A Pie for all Seasons’ by Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon. After combining the ingredients in a free-standing mixer and kneading the pastry for a few seconds until it came together it was time to chill (the pastry of course, I still had another two courses to make). As this was a rich dough which could prove tricky to handle the recipe recommended chilling for at least 4 hours. I can tell you that at the end of the 4 hours the chilled pastry was more of a pastry brick so we had to wait for it to thaw a little in order to roll it out. With my mum’s help we rolled the pastry onto a rolling pin and then onto our pastry case tin but not without casualties. Half the tin came out lined with the pastry but the other half had to be patched up. However, once baked it was thin, tasted exactly like a shortbread biscuit, as the recipe stated, and was well worth the work. Gale’s tip: don’t be too fussy. If it crumbles you just patch it up. It’s not the end of the world.

The next step was to make the crème patissiere. Something I had always wanted to make but which is normally Gale’s job and which I have to say she is a bit of a legend for in our household. My dad has even been known, after a glass of wine or two, to stand over the bowl late at night greedily spooning it into his mouth. The process went smoothly and it was far easier than I had anticipated, just be patient when waiting for it to thicken. The tart as a whole looked beautiful and tasted so. Not too sweet because of the genius addition of some lemon zest into the custard. Gale’s tip: keep whisking the custard constantly when it’s on the heat. The bottom can catch quite quickly.

I hope this inspires others to take on a few new cooking tasks while they spend more time at home in the coming weeks. I would encourage you not to be so scared of tackling the shortcrust pastry you’ve always wanted to make for that pie or of wrestling with those seemingly never-ending sheets of pasta to ramp up your lasagne. Mostly, I learnt to listen to my mum more (as we all probably should) because she certainly knows her stuff. Happy (belated) Mother’s Day mum.

Pimp that pizza for your Friday night dinner

Has your Friday night pizza for dinner become a boring event? Are you tired of the plain old usual pizza toppings? Then look no further than my guide to pimp that pizza.

Everybody loves the old Italian reliables of Margherita or pepperoni atop a crisp golden pizza dough base. Or, maybe you are more of a meat feast person. On the other hand, you could be at the opposite end of the spectrum and you delight in the veggie heaven they call (in Domino’s) the garden party. Whatever kind of pizza you love and no matter how much you love it, don’t you ever get bored of the usual?

Well I am here to be the devil on your shoulder, whispering into your ear, why not spice up your life? I am the pizza topping equivalent of the voice in countless boys’ heads in Casa Amor (yes, I watch Love Island) saying “but, couldn’t you be happier?” I am here to add the jazz hands to your pizza’s performance. This may mean just taking that frozen cheese and tomato pizza from the freezer and adding some sliced mushrooms and torn basil. Pimping is always better (in pizza terms only, of course).

Here are a few of my pimping ways to get that Friday night homemade pizza popping.

Give it some pesto pizzazz. In my opinion, pesto improves most things. It adds the necessary seasoning as well as the fresh herby note needed to lift a heavy dish such as pizza. A family favourite of a Friday night would be a tomato base topped with mozzarella (not Buffalo as it’s too moist), sliced red onion, thin rounds of chorizo and salami, baked, and once cooked drizzled with fresh pesto. Once you try it you can’t deny it, it is good.

Julius would be proud. Courtesy of everyone’s most beloved Italian chain, Pizza Express (where else would I be talking about), comes the genius addition of a drizzle of Caesar dressing to a crisp tomatoey base. This pizza is probably my personal favourite with slices of Parma ham and halved cherry tomatoes crisped and softened respectively while the pizza cooks. Then comes the show; once cooked sprinkle a handful of rocket leaves, shavings of Parmesan and a good drizzle of Caesar dressing on top. Fresh, delicious, some may even say angelic.

Tarti-what? I said, tartiflette. Yes, who could imagine a potato bake adorning a pizza dough base? Paul Hollywood can. Damn that blue eyed silver fox for changing the pizza game for me forever. Invision cooked fluffy sliced potato topped with soft onion, fragrant garlic, crispy lardons, a sprinkling of thyme, slices of Reblochon (or if unavailable, Brie) and drizzled with double cream all on a pizza base, baked. It is either a French twist on an Italian classic or an Italian twist on a French classic but, whichever way round it is undeniably delicious.

However, what makes homemade pizza so great, and the toppings we choose to pimp with shine, is the sauce. Here are my top tips (passed down from my mum, shout-out to Gale) for the perfect tastiest tomato-based sauce. The sauce starts off with the usual onion and garlic cooked until soft and then a tin of chopped tomatoes added and then blended but, there are three key things that truly make the difference. One, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to the sauce to offset the acidity of the tomatoes. Two, add in a squeeze of balsamic drizzle or thick balsamic vinegar with the chopped tomatoes to add depth to the sauce. Lastly and most certainly not least, make sure to reduce the sauce for at least 20-30 minutes to really enrich the sauce.

Where shall my next pizzaventure take me? Maybe to the creamy isles of a Carbonara with a white base this time (sorry mum), pancetta and a baked egg in the middle. Heck, I don’t even like egg very much but it has to be worth it for the aesthetic satisfaction of the oozy yolk alone right?

Simple fish dishes: the ideal midweek meal

When it is midweek and your struggling for some food inspiration for the night’s meal I urge you to look no further than a simple fish dish. Usually an easy fish dinner takes the form of some frozen Birds Eye or Young’s (other brands are available) battered cod fillets and chips bunged in the oven and served with some boiled frozen peas on the side. I am most certainly not saying this kind of dinner is to be frowned upon as it was a satisfyingly simple favourite of mine at Uni and was in fact my dinner last night. However, I would say that it pays to be a little more creative with a fish dinner as it can turn out to be worth the extra 10 minutes, tops, in the kitchen.

While flicking through some old scraps of recipes from the hordes of old food magazines my mum has collected over the years (yes, I admit it, we are recipe scrap bookers) we stumbled across a criminally simple recipe for a cod, cherry tomato and green olive tray roast from a 2016 issue of Olive. In the entire recipe (a.k.a. one paragraph) there are about 4 steps. This seemed the perfect solution for the classic dilemma of what to have for tea when you cannot be bothered cooking.

The beautiful dish of cod, cherry tomato and green olive tray roast in all its glory

This was generally a solid recipe with simple clear instructions, few steps and easily accessible ingredients. Fish wrapped in parma ham is a crowd favourite and relatively impressive for the very little preparation required. I would argue the stated cooking time maybe a tad too long at 15 minutes as the cod was slightly dry, however this is the sacrifice for getting crispier ham. Alternatively, if you do not mind slightly more washing up, you could crisp the ham on a separate tray and place on top of the fish when that has cooked with the vegetables ensuring a more satisfying crunch to the parma ham and softer, more succulent fish.

The ingredients for the vegetable element of the dish were gloriously simple to prepare (segment the onion and chuck in the tray along with the tomatoes) and cooked beautifully in the time stated, not too mushy but soft and juicy (the rhyme was unintentional, I swear). I love flavour, who doesn’t? With this in mind I would recommend adding another onion to ensure the balance of vegetables is equal and if you don’t mind adding another ingredient to the basket then how about including a sprinkling of thyme or basil at the roasting stage? Due to the simplicity of the dish seasoning is king so remember to season generously at each stage, even the fish.

They recommend in the recipe to pair this with buttered orzo and I have to say it works perfectly. What a revelation to butter the orzo that would usually transform, once drained, into a solid mass stuck together by all that starch. This may have been obvious to some but with the salty butter running through it was glossy and silky and helped season also.

As well as this stunner of a forgotten recipe there are many other fish dishes simple to prepare and thus perfect for the midweek meal. A great one is harissa salmon which entails placing the salmon and green vegetables of your choice (some favourites include broccoli and asparagus) in a foil packet drizzled with a mixture of harissa (now widely available in super markets), olive oil, lime juice and salt and pepper, cooked for 10-14 minutes and served with rice. Or, for a bit of adventure and creativity experiment with the en papillote method and include different ingredients or fish to make your own personalised package (stop me when I start to sound like a Moonpig advert). A classic pairing would be cod in a parcel with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and, if you happen to have some white wine in the fridge, or you’re just generally a bougie b****, then slosh some of that in as well.

The world can be your oyster, or rather your papillote, on a drab Tuesday or Wednesday night. All it takes is a bit of creativity and arguably only a thimble-full more effort.

It’s time to take a stand… for tapas

The Lawler family attempt croquettes, Pollo Marbella, patatas bravas and red wine glazed chorizo

Classic Spanish tapas has always been a family favourite. With every Lawler birthday celebrated at the now long gone but dearly missed and forever in our hearts La Tasca in the Cardiff Brewery Quarter. We would consistently order so many dishes that they would be brought to our table on a gigantic tray and would be spilling off the table once served. The absolute king of the menu was the Pollo Marbella; a creamy chicken dish with peppers, onions and a hint of brandy in the background. Check out our homemade attempt at recreating the latter and some other classics above.

Unfortunately, (the Cardiff) La Tasca is now a distant memory. The Lawler clan now had to find a new tapa joint to frequent at every major celebration. On my 18^th birthday enter Bar 44 on Cardiff’s Westgate Street. It truly upped the ante with the chain feel not so obvious and the menu filled with traditional Spanish dishes sitting alongside more modern takes. The star-studded menu featured the old classics of gambas (yes, the gambas of pil pil fame), albondigas, croquetas and the mega star that is patatas bravas while also showcasing some up and coming talents like Welsh steak with watercress and truffled manchego or a confit duck burger.

However, we could have a new contender for the Lawler’s tapas top spot with Santiago’s Tapas, Church Street. A family run independent traditional Spanish and Cuban restaurant that has been open for a year. This restaurant first caught my eye when, one dreary and cold Saturday night, we had been turned away from Bar 44 because of an electrical outing and needed a warm place to eat some delicious grub. Santiago’s was bustling and the warm glow emanating from the door was irresistible. While it was full that night we had the opportunity to go again and it is fair to say it did not disappoint.

Santiago’s was the traditional tapas serving taberna we had been waiting for, with the chain restaurant feel completely absent and the hearty Spanish food present and correct. Once we ordered the plates were coming in hot and fast, firing at you from out of the kitchen, reminiscent of a trip to Barcelona and a traditional tapas bar. In this restaurant if you didn’t speak Catalan or at least Spanish you hadn’t a hope of ordering, with the waiters looking away absently while they took your order and literally throwing the plates on the table while they shouted an order to another table.

With all of this stunning tapa on offer in Cardiff why do we and other restaurants insist on tarnishing its name? Some restaurants seem to think that just because calamari are on the menu and they serve their small plates in terracotta dishes that this constitutes tapas. Don’t we think it’s gone too far when you call buttermilk chicken or gyozas tapas dishes?

There are many and varying origin stories for the moment the beautiful tradition of tapas was born. Some stories imply the tradition was borne of the 13^th century King Alfonso X either making it illegal to serve alcohol without also serving food or him becoming ill and only being able to eat small portions of food, hence tapas. I would like to believe that it came from humbler origins, with bartenders serving wine with a coaster, or tapa meaning cover or lid, in order to keep the flies out and in turn acting as the perfect vessel for some slices of ham, Manchego cheese or some juicy olives. It seems that tapas has been used as a buzzword for far too long in order to draw the customer into the romanticised notion of a bottle of wine and some small plates (no wonder with its history) in order to distract from the lack of quality and flavour in the food.

This is not to say I do not enjoy another countries’ cuisine’s take on tapas. I have been privy to the delights of Argentinian inspired tapas (inspired being the operative word) at Chandos Social @ Otira in Bristol. This night was unforgettable, not least because Wales beat England in the Six Nations, but because of the food. They offered traditional croquetas alongside beef and bone marrow burgers, soft as butter lamb sweetbreads with an almost curried coating and charred cauliflower drizzled with herbed dressing (see above). Beautiful food, inspired by the Spanish concept of small plates but not claiming to be tapas in its own right.

To all restaurateurs and chain owners, this is a plea from the people (or maybe just me) to please give tapas a break. The well know chain of Mexican food, Wahaca, has taught us you can serve small plates and still be culturally appropriate by alternatively calling it street food. If you want to serve small versions of teriyaki chicken alongside pulled beef on crispy potatoes and some calamari just call it a small plate or a starter.

Love a Chinese but hail the homemade? Kwoklyn Wan offers the answers in his ‘Chinese Takeaway Cookbook’

Here’s a review of Kwoklyn Wan (yes, Gok Wan’s brother’s) recipes for your takeaway favourites, with no MSG in sight.

Kwoklyn Wan’s *Chinese Takeaway Cookbook*

Flipping through the pages of this cookbook you spot the absolute classics of everyone’s favourite takeaway (Chinese right?) and its iconic pamphlet style menu. Queue recipes for prawn toasts, beef and green pepper in black bean sauce and multiple variations on your fried rice and chow meins. There is even a recipe for crispy seaweed and BREAKING NEWS: it is not made of seaweed but Savoy cabbage. The very thing I say I love and have blogged about yet I had no idea of its versatility. Mic drop and mind blown or any similar expression can be used to describe my absolute gobsmackedness at this discovery (almost as flabbergasting as the discovery that WILL.I.AM spells William).

I love cooking homemade Chinese food but do not let the long sprawling list of ingredients deter you because most are store cupboard fillers like soy sauce or any kind of oil like peanut or sesame. This long list of seemingly endless ingredients usually indicates a couple or very few short and simple steps to serving up your dish piping hot.

This Saturday I chose to cook what can only be called a veritable feast of homemade Chinese takeaway dishes. While there was fried rice and prawn toasts these were from different sources (the fried rice a sacred Lawler family recipe and the prawn toasts an old family favourite). Other items on the menu included Singapore rice noodles, char siu pork chow mein, sweet and sour chicken balls (how cool) and shredded crispy chilli beef. Here is my take on these recipes from Kwoklyn Wan’s Chinese Takeaway Cookbook.

Firstly, for the noodles. The Singapore rice noodles recipe really did have the classic sprawling list of ingredients, not least because there was the option to make your own curry powder (well worth it if you have a spice grinder to hand, as you do). However, even with the amount of ingredients quite a bit of adjusting was needed. As with most stir fry recipes they underestimate the amount of time needed to cook the vegetables. One minute was recommended and then another two with the noodles but some common cooking sense is needed here to get them to your desired texture. Further adjustment was needed when it came to the wet ingredients as it would have been dry and lacking in flavour had I not added extra fish and soy sauce (and I mean extra, extra, read all about it kind of extra).

The char siu pork chow mein recipe was far more reliable with cooking times and measurements more accurate. This recipe included making the Chinese roast BBQ pork which really was a great recipe and tasted absolutely delicious with the aniseed flavour of the pork crust. After cooking the pork you obviously want to use it, hence why I was far more liberal when adding it to the dish and went for more than the stated 60g. Again, more soy sauce was needed, the recipe called for 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce but this didn’t season well enough so a dash of light was added. Apparently, a balance of the Force was necessary for this pretty delicious recipe.

Now, for the belle of the ball, or rather the ball itself: sweet and sour chicken balls. This recipe was a tale of two halves: the chicken balls were perfect but the sweet and sour sauce was unfortunately far from. The batter was great and cutting the chicken into 3cm cubes makes the balls the perfect size. The batter stayed soft when cooking and not doughy in the centre, which happens quite often with the takeaway offering, and it must act as some kind of moisture insulator as the chicken cooked through but stayed insanely soft and moist. Unfortunately, the sweet and sour sauce was a bit of a let-down. After following the recipe and simmering the sauce for 5 minutes we added the cornflour mixture (3tbsp cornflour with 6 tbsp water) and it transformed into a thick kind of bland paste rather than a sticky tart sauce. Thank goodness mum was on hand with prior sweet and sour sauce knowledge to save the day with the juice from a tin of pineapple and lashings of soy sauce.

Now, the takeaway classic of shredded crispy chilli beef which I have to say was a pretty perfect recipe. I followed each step with each measurement stated and it came out super tasty and reminiscent of what would be delivered to your door, but arguably far less greasy.

This recipe book all in all has very exciting and interesting recipes, totally reminiscent of the classic Friday night Chinese takeaway. The recipes will need some adjusting with soy sauce for seasoning or varying the cooking times but if you can use your common cooking sense then you will have a tasty meal and an empty plate at the end of the night.

Cabbage: A redefining of the unloved Christmas vegetable

After the festive holiday season some of us may have some sad leftover vegetables hanging around in the fridge. Cabbage and Brussel sprouts seem to always take up this space in the post-Christmas lunch fridge, never the favourites on the Christmas roast dinner plate. Well, I am here to tell you: no more.

These sad little vegetables remain unwanted and unloved because of their reputation as bitter bowls of mush. To this I say, you just haven’t eaten properly cooked cabbage or Brussel sprouts. One of the reasons I love cabbage is for its bitter flavour but this has to be offset by pairing it with salty ingredients like bacon or cooking it in stock. To avoid the dreaded mush, cook your cabbage for less time. You want it to be soft but still with a bite to it. Keep testing the cabbage with a fork through the thickest part of the leaf and when it glides through easily et voila, it is cooked.

So, to redefine the place of cabbage in our minds and hearts I have cooked up a leftover vegetable recipe. For this you can also use Brussel sprouts, thinly sliced, but I chose my number one, cabbage (specifically Savoy cabbage). At first sight this may seem an odd combination but please trust me when I say, it works!

Creamy Savoy Cabbage and Bacon Spaghetti

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
100g pancetta, cubed
1 brown onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ Savoy cabbage, sliced
2 glasses of Champagne (leftover from the bucks fizz of course)/dry white wine
150ml double cream
350g spaghetti
Chilli flakes, pinch
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan (to serve)

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the cubed pancetta until it begins to crisp slightly.
Add the diced onion to the pancetta and fry until it is softened and begins to turn translucent. Then add the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
Add the cabbage to the pan and stir for 1 minute to coat in the oil and existing ingredients then pour in the wine and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, lower the heat to medium low and let the wine reduce and the cabbage cook for around 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil water in a pan and cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Remember to salt your water. Drain when cooked, reserving some of the pasta water.
After 10 minutes, or when the cabbage feels cooked, lower the heat to low and pour in the cream, adding a pinch of chilli flakes and seasoning with salt and pepper.
Add the spaghetti to the pan and mix, adding a splash of the pasta water to help the sauce coat the pasta. Serve with a grating of parmesan over the top.

She’s salty, but not about food

A chance to tell you why the hell I’ve constructed yet another food blog to send into the vast webasphere.

Food organises all of our lives; our minds (or at least mine) are consumed by questions of “when will I eat lunch?”, “what do I fancy for dinner?” or “what’s in the fridge”? It is the centre piece for all of our greatest celebrations like the Christmas dinner table, the sky high, tiered and florally-decorated-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life wedding cake, or even that f***ing salad from Neil, the baby’s, oh so glorious christening feast. So, why not give it the credit it deserves? And, who better to give it this credit than a recent English Literature graduate of The University of Bristol currently in an oh so fulfilling and entertaining temp admin role.

I have been lucky enough to have two brilliant home cooks as parents with three course meals making a regular appearance on the weekend menu growing up. But, it was a trip to Florence, Italy, in the summer of 2018 that really ignited my interest in the most uniting or dividing topic of conversation known to man (let us not discuss coriander, marmite or the age old question of whether a Jaffa cake is a cake or a biscuit). During this trip I sampled some of the best pasta I have ever tasted and I finally realised what I had been missing out on for 20 years by uttering the words “I don’t like mushrooms”. Porcini mushrooms and truffles are now some of my favourite ingredients. So much so that my favourite crisps are truffle and olive oil flavoured (available in M&S and Waitrose so you know I’m bougie).

In uni I really got the chance to start food writing and started my foodstagram @erinss_eats. Here, I will get the chance to write again. I will be creating some of my own recipes as well as reviewing others from blogs, magazine websites and cookbooks. I also wish to impart my judgement, because I am salty after all, on different food shows, recipe books and restaurants as well as issues in the wider world of food like the culture of fine dining or food fads. However, I promise I won’t be too bitter because food, after all, is my one true constant love and life partner.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to know everything about food, far from it. I just want to entertain, help my readers cook great meals, inspire people to try different foods and educate myself and you in the process. Plus, this food blog could help me fulfil my dream of becoming the next Greg Wallace (a.k.a non chef who gets to judge and eat lots of delicious food) but hopefully with more hair and less resemblance to an egg.