...and they are on our Spring Recipe pages.
Crespolini - pancakes stuffed with spinach and ricotta
Written by Claire
Crespolini
(Italian Spinach and Ricotta stuffed, vegetarian pancakes)
Make up a batch of pancakes, either plain or Buckwheat, using the pancake batter recipe
For the filling:
- 500g/1lb ( raw weight) of spinach leaves
- 500g/ 1lb Ricotta cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steam the spinach until tender (microwaving in a cling filmed container works very well for spinach, don’t add water)
Drain any excess liquid from the spinach and add the Ricotta cheese, salt and pepper to taste, mix well.
Divide the mixture between the cooked pancakes and roll up. Place the pancakes in a single layer in an ovenproof dish.
For the Béchamel sauce
- 600ml/1.5 pints milk
- 1 onion
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves
- 6 black peppercorns
- 50g/2oz butter
- 50g/2oz plain flour
- Pinch grated nutmeg (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 100g/4oz Parmesan Cheese
(for those of you in a real hurry, forget the onion, cloves, bay leaf and peppercorns and just go ahead making the sauce with the butter, flour and milk)
Impale the onion with the cloves and place in a saucepan with the bay leaves, peppercorns and milk.
Bring to a simmer and then leave to stand
Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour, cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes
Strain the milk into the flour and butter and stir well (a whisk is best to avoid lumps)
Cook for a few minutes and add the grated nutmeg if using.
Pour the sauce over the pancakes and sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese.
Bake in a preheated oven 190C/380C Gas 4 for 30 – 40 minutes, or microwave, and grill the top.
Flippin' good pancakes for breakfast this morning. We ate them simply with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinling of suger. Pancake batter recipe here.
We have made every kind of pancake there is - banana fritters for breakfast, buckwheat with smoked salmon and creme fraiche for lunch and lemon and sugar for tea. Each more delicious than the last, and easy with it.
I hardly dare write the words because I know I am going to be inundated with spam - but as I was one of those children that liked spam fritters at school it'll probably be ok.
The Papers are getting fed up. Enough about Food they say. And of course at suffolkfoodie we agree - let's move on from the 'kitchen as lab' trend and just make sure your children are able make a half-decent sandwich.
Yes, so am I. Tell us where yours is and we'll tell everyone else to come to it.
More of a focus on health and safety, we did vegetarian and made baked 'falafel' (no oil, no salt) with cous cous, orange, kidney bean and sweetcorn salad. Made me want to go for a Macdonalds. What happened to school kitchens - and chocolate crunch with pink sauce? We weren't obese in those days...
It may not be the only reason I became vegetarian, but lodged somewhere in the back of my memory is the image of a smooth spongy material spread on a well-done piece of buttered toast. It was truly offal – though I see from brief search on the internet such delicacies are not entirely confined to the past.
My memory has stopped short of storing the flavour of it, but I do remember eating brains on toast when I was a kid in the 60’s. I also remember pig’s trotters, brawn, kidneys, fish roes and liver - evidence enough that we didn’t have a lot of money, and that we used every possible bit of the animals that were killed to feed us.
Perhaps we were less fussy then, but I remember fighting with my two brothers at every meal to finish whatever was put in front of us. Seconds! Thirds! Whoever wolfed down the first helpings would get their hands on the next. Oxtail stew, sheep’s hearts anyone? I think our mother drew the line at tripe and black pudding (we lived in London after all), but she put her mind to the best presentation of the least palatable stuff available at the local butchers.
There was plenty of it, and it was cheaper. Of course we had beef stew on rarer days, but there was cod, haddock, sprats, and a plentiful supply of cheese, bread and digestive biscuits. Then, every Sunday, a roast with all the trimmings. At Christmas, the (gravy) boat was pushed out with pork, beef, and of course turkey. But during the year no-one turned their noses up at less glamorous fare. Nor, as my memory assures me, slimy grey sheep’s brains boiled first, then fried in butter, liberated from their membranous sheath and thickly spread on toast.
...made by some young suffolkfoodies - thanks for the picture Arianne and Dominique - I'm coming to your house for tea!
This is a pretty village right in the middle of USA - land Mildenhall and Lakenheath, with a Native American buried in the churchyard and a pub that sells chili!
More...
Vanilla Cream Rice Pudding with Roasted Rhubarb Compote
Written by Claire
For the rhubarb compote - see above
For the creamed rice
300ml/10floz milk (full fat is best)
300ml/10floz double cream
1 vanilla pod
150g/6oz short grain pudding rice
150g/6oz caster sugar
Place the milk and cream in a saucepan or better still, a double boiler.
Split the vanilla pod length ways and scrape out the seeds and add the whole lot to the cream and milk.
Bring the milk mixture to a gentle simmer and add the rice and sugar.
Simmer gently, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes until the rice is soft and the liquid absorbed.
(Watch carefully to ensure that the rice and milk do not burn on the bottom of the pan. If you do not have a decent heavy based saucepan, it is suggested that you bake the rice pudding in the oven, although it will then have a darker colour and a skin on top, but still delicious!)
Remove the vanilla pod before serving the creamed rice with the rhubarb. Delicious hot or cold!
Eggs poached in cling film, food all over the floor, a manic sound track, lots of crying and mackerel with rhubarb on Masterchef. But all is calm at suffolkfoodie, with Inspector x's delicious rice pudding with rhubarb on our recipe pages. Yorkshire's forced rhubarb grows in candlelight and now has Protected Designation of Origin status from the European Commission.
In ASK for a family celebration at the weekend. Clutching our '2 mains for 1' vouchers we ordered a variety of starters. All arrived hot and at the same time, followed by the main courses, delivered swiftly before impatience could build.
The kids tucked into their staples of garlic bread followed by pizza. I had the Capra Grill (goat's cheese on ciabatta with caramelised onions, tomato, salad and a balsamic dressing). Well presented and delicious. To follow a dish of penne with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Very tasty, and filling.
Coffee to finish but others had desserts, with the banoffee pie in particular a high scorer. ASK can be disappointing when busy, with service and portions stretched too thinly, but I couldn't fault any aspects of this meal. The vouchers helped.
Parsnip Fritters - crispy and light vegetarian fritters suitable as a starter, light supper or as nibbles with drinks. Who can resist a plate of savoury fritters? This recipe is an original recipe created and served by me at The Chalice Restaurant in the 1980's.