No. 44 - May 2006
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Happy Cooking !
Florence Sandeman, Editor
...and I quote
"Don't take a butcher's advice on how to cook meat. If he knew, he'd be a chef."
Andy Rooney
What's New This Month
A Cut Above
The first in a short series about the different cuts of meat
Beef
Click the picture to find out about the various cuts of beef - what they're called, where they're from and how they're cooked..
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Food in Film
Here's the first in, what I hope to be a long series of recipes or food featured in films. The aim is to post recipes which have been featured in films. Click the film to see the first in the series.
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Cooking Tip of the Month
Measuring sticky substances
When measuring sticky substances like honey, golden syrup or treacle, lightly oil the spoon or cup first. The sticky substance will just slide off. It really doesn't affect the taste at all.____________________
What's in Season
Asparagus, early beans, broccoli, carrots, cherries, chervil, early cucumbers, green apricots, kale, lettuce, new potatoes, pears, radish, rosemary, spinach, spring greens, early strawberries, watercress
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How does your Kitchen Garden grow
Outdoors
By the end of May the temperature and low risk of frosts means you can start sowing the seed of more tender plants such as courgettes, marrows, runner, dwarf and green beans and outdoor cucumbers however if any frosts are expected, be prepared to cover the new seedlings with cloches or fleece.
Continue to sow beetroot, broad beans, cabbage, turnips, cauliflowers, peas, and parsnips through to mid-may and further small sowings of carrots, lettuce, radish, spinach and spring onions to ensure a continuous harvest.. Continue gradually thinning out seedlings to their final spacing
Indoors
Continue to sow tomatoes Aubergines, and Capsicums and sow dwarf and French beans 3 to a 7.5cm/3-inch pot.
Continue thinning out seeds which were sown in pots or trays last month
Maintenance
Plants such as tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes and capsicums which were sown indoors last month should be potted up individually to 7.5cm/3-inch pots by the time they have reached 10cm/4-inches tall.
Once all danger of frosts have passed, start hardening off indoor sown plants. It's best to leave this until very late in May.
For detailed growing instructions visit growing herbs and vegetables section
See the extra article on Hosepipe bans below
It's National Vegetarian Week
Monday 22nd - Sunday 28th May 2006
What is a Vegetarian ?
This may seem like a silly question, but it the answer may surprise you. I used to think a Vegetarian just didn't eat meat or fish - but that's not necessarily true.
According to the International Vegetarian Union (IVU), for membership purposes "vegetarianism includes veganism and is defined as the practice of not eating meat, poultry or fish or their by-products, with or without the use of dairy products or eggs. " Vegetarianism is often further broken down into OVO-LACTO- eats eggs and dairy products, and LACTO eats dairy products but no eggs. And then there's cheese - another mine field. They can be made with or without rennet which is derived from the stomach tissue of a slaughtered calf.
So, what's the difference between vegetarians and vegans? As far as I'm concerned, it's HUGE. Vegans exclude all animal flesh including meat, poultry, fish and seafood plus animal products such as eggs, dairy produce and even honey." They also avoid items which may have animal products used in the manufacture such as certain wines, beers and cereals. When making wines/beers they sometimes use Albumin (found in egg whites) or isinglass (obtained from the swim bladders of fish) to clarify or "fine" it. That's why you find Vegan wine on sale. As for cereals, some have Vitamin D3 added which apparently is of animal origin.
Whilst researching, I came across some other terms used, a couple of which I'd never heard of and one which, I must admit, made me smile. Which one? I'll leave it to you to guess.
Pescetarian: Similar to a vegetarian, but also consumes fish.
Fruitarian: Same as Vegan, but only eats foods that don't kill the plant (apples can be picked without killing the plant - carrots can't). wow!
Herbivore: Mainly eats grass or plants. Not necessarily a Vegetarian.
Plant-Eater: Mainly eats plants. Not necessarily a VEGETARIAN.
Pseudo-Vegetarian: Claims to be vegetarian, but isn't. Often used by vegetarians to describe semi-vegetarians, and Pescetarians.
Non meat-Eater: Does not eat meat. Most definitions do not consider fish, fowl or seafood to be meat. Animal fats and oils, bonemeal and skin are not considered meat.
If you have a particular ingredient you want to use, why not use the search form to find a vegetarian recipe for it by adding "vegetarian" to the search. e.g. Cheese MC vegetarian. I just tried it and there are well over 70! The word "Vegan" can also be added to the search criteria as can "dairy" for dairy free recipes or "Eggless" for egg free recipes.
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Recipe of the Month
Mandarin Meringue Pie
This is a twist on an old favourite. The idea came to me when I found out my best friend, Simon, loves Lemon Meringue Pie, but as I always try to cook him something he's never had before, I thought about replacing the lemons with oranges. Unfortunately, my local supermarket didn't have any loose ones so, as I was on foot and couldn't carry a heavy load, I bought 3 Mandarins instead. I hope you'll agree when you try it, that it worked out brilliantly. He loved it!
Serves 4-6
Cooking and Prep time:
70 minutes plus chilling
Ingredients
200g/7oz Shortcrust PastryThe juice and grated zest of 2-3 Mandarins
Cold Water
3 Level tbsp Cornflour
A large knob of Margarine
75g/3oz Sugar
3 Egg Yolks
For the Meringue
3 Egg Whites
50g/2oz Caster Sugar
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas mark 6.
2. On a floured board, roll out the pastry and use to line a 23cm/8 inch flan tin. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the mandarin juice and zest in a measuring jug and make up to 300ml/10fl.oz with cold water. Whisk the cornflour into the water mixture.
4. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and cook gently until thickened, stirring constantly. The mixture should be quite stiff.
5. Remove from the heat and add the margarine, sugar and egg yolks and stir vigorously until well blended.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C, 3255F, Gas mark 3. Remove the beans and paper from the pastry case and pour in the filling. Set aside
7. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, stir in most of the caster sugar and pile or pipe over the mandarin filling, making sure the edges are well covered.
7. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 140C, 275F, Gas Mark 1 and continue to bake for a further 20 minutes. This slower baking will help the meringue stays crisp when cold. remove from the oven and allow to cool.
NB If the top gets soft before you serve it, just flash it under a very hot grill - but only for 30 seconds or so. Once it's cooled, it will be crisp again.
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Hosepipe Bans
If you only grow a few veggies or herbs here and there, you won't have too much trouble utilising a watering can. But if you have anything more than a few pots, hosepipe bans can spell disaster, especially at this crucial time in a plant's growing cycle.
Certain parts of the UK already have hosepipe bans in place, so here are a couple of tips to make sure you save young plants from suffering too much.
Try collecting rain water from the down pipes on your house and/or garage by plumbing in 1 or 2 water butts. This may seem extreme, but if you've got a large area it's well worth the effort. You'll be surprised how much water runs off your roof.
Add lots of well-rotted manure or compost to the soil and planting hole before planting. This will increase the water retention capacity of the soil.
Do your planting in the evening so that the new plants
don't get immediately scorched by the sun.
After planting make a circular ridge of soil surrounding individual plants. Then when you irrigate the water won't run off to the sides but will be contained within the moat.
Make sure you weed regularly. Weeds are notoriously good at competing for moisture and seem to survive when other wanted plants don't.
It's better to give a good watering which penetrates right down beyond the roots once a week than to just wet the top inch of soil. Water close to the stems without the rose fitted, but be careful not to dislodge very small plants.
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Readers' Questions
Question
I am planning to cook scallops as a Chinese dish. Can you please let me know whether I need to remove any part of the scallops or can I cook and eat the whole thing.
Answer
It seems to have become popular to just use the white fleshy part, especially with many TV chefs, however once shelled, they can be eaten in their entirety although quite often the roe (the orangey bit) does come away from the scallop (the white bit) during cooking.
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Whether you're looking for everyday, exotic or unusual food and drink, visit
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New and featured Recipes
V = Vegetarian GF = Gluten/wheat Free DF = Dairy Free
Soups & Starters
Asparagus Milanese V GF
Balsamic Asparagus V GF
Spinach Pate V GF
Mozzarella and Parma Parcels GF
Lentil and Lemon Soup Vegan GF DF
Chilled Cherry Soup Vegan GF DF
Aubergine Salad Vegan GF DF
Desserts, Cakes & Bakes
Strawberry Yoghurt Ice cream V GF
Tiramisu V
Panna Cotta GF
Compota de Peras Vegan GF DF
Baked Mango Vegan GF DF
Accompaniments
Dauphinois Potatoes V GF
Walnut Tossed Potatoes Vegan GF DF
Roman Broccoli Vegan GF DF
Asparagus with Capers Vegan GF DF
Kale with Cream V GF
Creamy Spinach with Pine Nuts V GF
Fried Green Beans with Coconut V GF
Creole Rice GF DF
Mango and Chilli Salsa Vegan GF DF
Main Courses
Steak with Balsamic Prune Sauce GF DF
Lamb with Garlic and Sweet Potatoes GF DF
Potato Rosti with Bean Salsa Vegan GF DF
Burmese Tofu Salad V DF
Penne with Artichokes and Tomatoes V
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