Chocolate & Raspberry Pavlova

Well I was nervous. I'd never made a pav before, and my oven is temperamental at the best of times. I followed the instructions exactly and held my breath. The result was spectacular... a dinner party dessert to be proud of! The meringue shell was crispy, the middle was chewy and the whipped cream and fresh raspberries formed a lovely contrast. I know I shall be making this again for when I have a few mouths to feed. I took a picture of the meringue, in case it collapsed to rubble when I inverted it.

Chicken & Cashew Nut Curry

I had an informal dinner party on Sunday, a group of friends round to play Tarot (a french card game) and decided this would be an easy, prepare in advance and leave to it's own devices, main course. Well the curry was delicious, although I'd forgotten to fish out the cardamon pods, and I was the only one to crunch down on one!

Gingered & Minty Fruit Salad

I followed the recipe as closely as possible, but replacing fresh lychees with canned ones, and white peaches with more the more easy to find yellow fleshed variety. I have to admit to being very unimpressed with the pawpaw, or papaya as it's called here. I thought an exotic fruit like that wouldn't be so bland tasting! Maybe I picked a dud though... The minty, gingery syrup was lovely with the rest of the fruit, and I loved the *crunch* every now and again from the pomegranate seeds.

Baked Ricotta with Grilled Radicchio

This sounded great for a light supper, and I used mini springform pans instead of one large one. The ricotta was delicious and light, the lemon zest making it a little more exciting, and went well with the sesame bread pictured. Unfortunately the radicchio took a one way trip to the bin- it was way too bitter, and really disappointing! Anyone else have the same reaction to this dish?

Rice Paper Rolls

I have a friend from Laos who tried to explain to me how to make these, as we were making our way through the most amazing buffet her sister had prepared for her baby shower. Mountains of food, so different from what you usually see on offer in local Thai or Vietnamiese restaurants. The flavours were so much more pronounced, that I went out the next day to get a Thai cookbook, convinced I would master these dishes in no time. The book is still sitting there, gathering a little dust, as I find the whole rolling process a little daunting. That is until Nigella suggested just making simple ones, no tucking under, just rolling up, as you would with a swiss roll. Easy Peasy! I made the Vietnamese dipping sauce from the prawn and black rice dish, as it was so gorgeous. They made a perfect starter for my dinner party this weekend.

Roasted Quinces

You should have seen me last week prowling around all the fruit shops in my area, hunting for quinces. I even contacted a very nice & helpful lady, Michelle, who I found through Google to help me on my quest. She pointed me in the right direction, and I came home with a couple of lovely specimens. From that fruitshop onwards, I saw them everywhere, at largely varying prices. I quartered the recipe, as I couldn't bring myself to use a kilo of sugar (!) . I have to admit that I hadn't cooked quinces before, so was not sure what to expect...well I discovered another fabulous ingredient, hugely fragrant and a delicious texture, highlighted by the creamy mascarpone. Michelle also mentioned that around Christmas time she puts a couple around her home as they give off a lovely scent, I love this idea and will be trying it this winter.

Mint Julep Peaches

I have to say I'm very proud of this picture and how the dish turned out. I took a certain liberty by replacing the bourbon with amaretto, as I'm really not too keen on it. Amaretto on the other hand I can find lots of uses for, cooking or glugging now and then ;o)

These tasted fabulous, even though I couldn't find the white flesh variety of peaches. I doubt the flavour varies that much once they have been poached in the syrup and alcohol. They were spectacular to look at, and I did admire them a bit too long before the other half asked me what was taking so long! Another favourite, and I'm running out of superlatives... going to have to dust of my thesaurus one of these days.

Short Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon, Garlic & Parsley

This is a pasta version of one of my favourite risotto recipes. I thought I had rigatoni or penne in the cupboard, turns out I had orecchiette, which were fine. A really zesty pasta dish, complete with still slightly crunchy asparagus, and generously covered with grated reggiano. I'm certainly getting my moneys worth with this pasta dish!

Mauritian Prawn Curry

It was my first day off all week and I was itching to get into the kitchen. I hadn't made a curry in ages, and I'd never made a prawn one, and being in an adventurous mood I assembled my ingredients. I couldn't find curry leaves, fresh or dried, so I added a teaspoon of curry powder. This was actually very easy to make, and I managed to use up a few leftovers from my overflowing fridge. I love coriander so was a little heavy handed (even added some more after taking the pic). The basmati with a couple of cardamon pods was a perfect match to this mellow but tasty curry.

Strawberry Ice Cream

It's when you taste the real stuff that you wonder what they add to make the synthetic flavour that we are used to! Haagen Dazs has just lost a really good client, as I've crossed over to the other side, and I tell you the grass is greener :o)

The vanilla bean added to the custard really brings out the strawberries, and it's so creamy...

Lemon & Lavender Cupcakes

A friend's birthday was this weekend so I thought I'd make the lemon and lavender cupcakes instead of a birthday cake. I went and tracked down some lavender and made my own lavender sugar, shaking it like maracas every day.

I didn't have instant royal icing and I couldn't find the meringue powder they use over here but I found a recipe on the net and proceeded to have an icing disaster. I'm a bit of a icing novice, otherwise I'd have realised that icing sugar and milk wasn't going to create the effect I was looking for. As soon as I'd spooned the icing onto the cupcakes it sank into the sponge, never to reappear, and however much I added it never formed a layer much to my dismay. I am also new to food colouring, a little goes a long way I hear you say? Nigella says we are looking for 'pastel serenity and not 70's record-sleeve murk', well we got murk... practice makes perfect! I'll try again when I get back from the UK in November with royal icing powder.

As for the lavender sugar I don't think it had time to absorb the oils and odeur as I couldn't taste not even the tiniest hint of lavender. The lemon ones were more flavourful, and I'll add a bit more lemon oil next time. I kept the cupcake tops for my friend Leonie (10 months) who ate nearly all of them! Cupcakes make your hair curl!

Rigatoni al Pomodoro e Prezzemolo

I work nights so I usually eat at work but as I was doing a late shift, 10pm-6am, I had time to eat at home. This is a quick and easy dish to prepare, but I was a bit worried there wouldn't be enough sauce (I do tend to over sauce though) but it was perfectly portioned, and I added some crumbled goats cheese that I had lying around in the fridge. My husband finished the bowl off at 2am, after a night on the tiles with his friends.

Baci Ice Cream

I made this last week and it's been sitting in the freezer tempting me ever since, calling my name, but I managed to resist until tonight. I needed something to put out the fire in my mouth (see below) and I wasn't disappointed. My husband said it tasted of frozen chocolate mousse, which is pretty accurate, but a really dense chocolate mousse, as even when it melts it stays solid. I'm generally a polyscooper kinda girl but one scoop of this is enough for even the biggest greedyguts. There should be some kind of warning with this recipe, like "consume with moderation otherwise may result in death by chocolate". I can't think of a better way to go...

Prawn & Black Rice Salad, with Vietnamese Dressing

I searched high & low for Nanking black rice, and was about to order from Merchant Gourmet when I spotted Forbidden Rice at one of my bizarre ingredient stores. It has the most wonderful nutty flavour, with a slight indigo tinge... really stunning against the pink prawns. The dressing is sensational, even though my rather sensitive tastebuds took a beating with those little birdseye chillies. 10/10 and adopted firmly as a favourite.

Pappardelle with Courgettes, Sultanas & Pinenuts

After an intense session at the gym I was in need of a carb fest and felt like pasta. My local Stokes shop is selling the most fabulous pumpkin orange coloured ceramic serving dishes from Portugal, pasta, lasagna, salad bowls for nearly nothing (unfortunatly not shown on the website). I picked up the pasta dish which is huge... and holds at least 4-6 servings. I shall be adding to my collection so watch this space!

The pasta itself was very easy to make, I sweated the courgettes with garlic for about 40 minutes, while the sultanas steeped in the marsala, then quickly dry roasted the pinenuts and tossed everything together, and added the parsely & parmesan. Very good, with interesting flavours, and i'd never used pasta & sultanas in the same sentence before!

Banana & Butterscotch Upside-Down Tart

Think tarte tatin meets banofee pie. I'm a huge fan of tatin's and I invariably order it when it's on the dessert menu...but this is even more heavenly due to the butterscotch sauce replacing the usual caramel. Next time I'll make a buttermilk icecream to go with it...mmm!

Spiced Pink Soup

I didn't realise there were chilled soups too, so I thought I'd better do these soon before it's -20°C outside. I had to be very devious with this recipe as Chief Guinea Pig aka my husband has a severe beetroot phobia, that dates back to somewhere in the 80's, when his school served it overboiled and puréed. The conversation went something like this:

Him: ( sniffing suspiciously) What's in it?

Me: Cumin & coriander

Him: What else?

Me: (lying through my teeth) Potato

Him: Why's it pink?

Me: Well pink is Nigellas favourite colour, so she used food colouring to make pink soup...(!)

(5 mins later)

Him: That was really delicious, can you make it again?

Me: Of course darling, but I thought you didn't like beetroot...

Him: (he's french) Quoi! C'est pas vrai! Tu déconnes! Je déteste la betterave...tu m'as pas fais manger ça, quand même...followed by a few other expletives, then sheepishly finishing with, well, yours is different... it's all right I guess!!!

While we are on the subject of strange coloured food I saw this in my local veg shop, & just had to buy it...since when have purple peppers been around? Or am I just totally behind the times and out of the loop?!? Someone please reassure me...

Flatbread Pizzas

I thought these would go well with the spiced pink soup above, and I had everything I needed except halloumi cheese, which I substituted with goats cheese. My favourite was the chilli & coriander one, a really great combo. They were really easy to make, and will be great aperitifs for the next gathering we have, each one cut into eighths. The options are endless...maybe roasted fennel and cumin or roasted peppers & feta.

White Chocolate & Passionfruit Mousse

Ooh La La ! What a decadent pudding. This one caught my eye the first time I flicked through the book and I remember thinking it would be perfect dinner party material. I halved the recipe and decided it's even better when there's just two, there are more leftovers to finish up! The raw egg in the mousse might put some people off, but I'm not young, not old, not sick and not pregnant so there was no excuse not to make this...and i'm so glad I did. Passionfruit are not very easy to find and when you do they are expensive, but for this dish: very worth it...

Seared Mustard-Coated Salmon

I had been planning to do this dish later in the year, after my trip to England in October, as I was convinced I'd never find english mustard powder in Montréal. Today I struck gold, not just once but twice. One of my favourite haunts for those hard-to-find ingredients is La Vielle Europe, rue St Laurent. Today I came home with not only a really retro looking tin of Colemans mustard powder but a jar of Branston Pickle! This is quite a feat, as i've been pickle depraved for the best part of a year and was suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms. Any non- Brits will be wondering what on earth I'm going on about, but the ex-pats will know exactly what this is all about.

Anyway, the salmon was delicious served with the hasslebacks and mangetout. The mustard taste was very, very subtle (maybe too discret?). Maybe I'll mix some crushed mustard grains in next time to give it a bit more oomph...

Hasselback Potatoes

I had a trial run with these last week, so I knew they would be perfect with the seared mustard salmon above. I left them a little longer this time so they were really crispy. New potatoes will never be the same in this household... Vive la révolution!

Summer Crumble

I'm making the most of the last apricots available to make this crumble. They were a bit soft & fluffy so cooking them was the only option. I've always loved crumbles, probably as they are one of the most quintessential English puddings. I really liked the added ground almonds in the crumble, and will adapt my other crumble recipes in the future. Apple season is around the corner.....

Greekish Lamb Pasta

After the courgette bonanza my husband was demanding Meat, and his favourite is lamb. I was feeling like pasta, so this was an ideal compromise. Nigella say's "I don't usually go in for meat sauces with pasta hugely, but this is heavenly, food for the 'Greek' Gods", and I have to agree as I'm not a big meat eater but this hit the spot. Think jazzed up spag bog, with a more delicate tasting lamb highlighted with the salty feta. I used cremini mushrooms, because Giadas always telling me to, and it's the first time I've seen them in my local fruit & veg shop. I might add some ground cumin to the browning meat next time just to take it to another dimension.

Ricotta Hotcakes

It's raining, Agassi is playing, a perfect lazy sunday so I was looking for brunch material. These fit the bill perfectly. I didn't have any strawberries but I had nectarines in the fruit bowl and blueberries in the freezer. There are none left, the two of us polished of the lot. I must get back to the tennis, he is playing so well.

edit: anyone else admit to shedding a tear or two?!

Figs for a Thousand and One Nights

I saw some rather small but otherwise perfect figs at my local grocers and I picked up 6 with this recipe in mind. I love fresh figs, but they are not always easy to find in Montréal. I have to admit that I substituted the mascarpone cheese with natural yogurt, as that was what I had in the fridge, and at $10 a tub I figured it wouldn't do any harm. However, this dish was so moorish (no pun intended) I shall be making this again in the very near future and will get the mascarpone this time. The rosewater & orange blossom flavoured syrup was heavenly drizzled all over the figs. 10/10 Nigella!

Happiness Soup

I'm a little worried about finding some ingredients for my project as autumn creeps up on us, so while yellow courgettes are still around I'm making the most of it. This fluorescent soup is summer personified, it's fresh & flavourful. I can imagine eating this mid-January in the middle of a snowstorm and pretend I'm eating on our sunny terrasse. I'll make up another batch this week & freeze it. It went very well with the garlic nan.

Garlic Bread

I googled Barbari nans to see how different they were from regular Indian nan bread, as I don't have any Iranian food shops nearby. I picked up a few from my local Indian restaurant and prepared them with the garlic butter (100g not the 175g stated- my arteries will thank me someday). They went very well with the Happiness Soup above.

Courgette Fritters

I'd made these before so I knew I was onto a winner. I halved the recipe and made 7 big fritters. They really taste fabulous, I love the salty feta with the fresh & dried mint and the crispy courgette batter. They go really well with the salad below.

Double Courgette & Bean Salad

We had a courgette day today. I made this salad to go with the courgette fritters above. The salad started fine, I prepared all the ingredients and then got to the broad beans. I don't remember ever having cooked these myself before, although I ate them all through my childhood. I started opening them , popping out the beans, looking at them strangely...were they always so small??? 10 pods later when I had enough beans to fill a dessert spoon I realised I'd bought runner beans *doh* so I carried on and podded 750g of these midgets to produce an eggcups worth of beans. So don't adjust your screens and its not your eyesight thats at fault.

Anyway mistakes are part of cooking, and the end result was a delicious salad.

White Chocolate Almond Cake

A friend from the Delia site came all the way from Ottawa to see me today, and I thought this cake sounded perfect for afternoon tea. I made it last night and to my horror it immediately started puffing up like a soufflé, and then 'tanned' considerably. I quickly covered with foil and added an extra 35 mins to the cooking time as it was wobbling like a jelly all over the place at the designated 40 minute mark. I let it cool and hoped it would develop over night. I covered the 'tan' with a liberal shaking of icing sugar, prepared the raspberry & mango salsa to serve with, and served up. Well I don't know if my oven or the recipe is at fault because it was...a bit disappointing. I couldn't taste the 175g white chocolate I put in at all and it was a bit 'eggy.' I'd really love someone who's made this before tell me how their cake turned out. My oven can be dodgy at times, but still...after an hour and a quarter it should be cooked properly!