New year, new pie

So, it's a new year and we've all survived the Christmas come-down again. We're a few pounds heavier, a few pounds poorer. And what have we learnt?

Well, I've learnt that chestnuts are delicious and that a jar of them at Christmas will leave me with a few left over in January. Cue frantic hunting through my recipe books and files for interesting ways to use them up. And just look what I found (erm, and adapted)! Yes siree - it's pie-shaped.

The pie-ness of it is actually beside the point. What I made to begin was a rich and creamy mushroom and chestnut sauce/filling. Chop a few shallots and fry them in a large pan until they're going a bit transparent. Add a good slosh of brandy and let it reduce a little before adding plenty of chopped mushrooms. Any kind will do - I used half chestnut mushrooms and half shiitake. Add the chestnuts themselves to the pan, broken into pieces. Finally add a little double cream to bind the whole thing into a creamy whole. You'll probably need a decent old grind of black pepper in there too.

With this base the world's your lobster. I piled it into an ovenproof dish and topped with readymade puff pastry*. Bake it for 20 minutes and eat it with steamed broccoli, sugar snap peas or asparagus (or all three). I think filo pastry may work instead, if you prefer it.

If pies aren't your bag, baby, stir it through some penne pasta. Or serve it with grilled polenta. Or heap it on topp of jacket potatoes. Like I say - world, lobster. It's fereezable for a couple of months, too. And if I screw up my eyes and go 'la la la' I can probably ignore the calories in the cream, too!

*Twee pastry decorations, as depicted, are optional.

Spanish food for Christmas

Christmas time, ho ho ho. I'm quite traditional about the whole yuletide thing, particularly when it comes to food. Each year I fend off suggestions of a goose, chicken, pheasant or duck for Christmas dinner because turkey's just what you must have. Similarly, satsumas, sprouts, chocolates and cheese are the order of the day (not necessarily together, but certainly in rapid succession).

This year, however, we decided to create our own hamper for Christmas full of indulgent things we love. And for me that means breaking slightly from tradition. The things I love includes Spanish ham, olives, marcona almonds and cava.

So, this afternoon I went to Brindisa in Borough Market to stock up on luxury Spanish food for Christmas. I've never been there before - clearly a serious oversight! It's the best shop in the world, bar none. I mean, I love Fortnum and Mason, particularly at Christmas, but they don't feed you samples of ham, cake and olives the second you walk through the door!

Brindisa smells like a delicatessen in Spain and every surface is heaving with bottles of olive oil, pulses or nuts. There's an obliging young man expertly carving a leg of delicious ham on one side, a young girl handing out cake on the other and a stack of chillies in the middle. My eyes were on stalks the second I arrived. I bought some of the delicious ham, carved for me and lovingly wrapped. I also bought melt-in-the-mouth olives, almond cake and some plan marcona almonds. Simple food, not messed-with or fussed-over.

So, this year we'll have a little slice of Spain in with our ever-so-English Christmas fayre. Feliz navidad.

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Floret. The best a man can get.

I've been awfully busy lately and busy often means little time to cook or eat out. I haven't had many particularly noteworthy food experiences for a while.

This evening, though, I stumbled upon an unexpectedly delicious find. A recipe in Waitrose Food magazine caught my eye and I did my usual adaptation jobbie.

I love cauliflower, so I'm always tempted by cauliflower cheese. But this had the added bonuses of broccoli and bacon lardons too.

So, steam some broccoli and cauliflower florets (fairly small ones) for 3 or 4 minuted - or longer if you prefer vegetables a little bit mushy, like I do. In the meantime fry bacon lardons for a few minutes until they start to brown. Drain the vegetables and put them in a big ovenproof dish with the lardons and plenty of black pepper. Pour over some cheese sauce (you could make the sauce, but it isn't really a particularly rewarding thing to make and shop-bought ones are pretty good). Top it all with some breadcrumbs mixed with loads of parmesan shavings. I sprinkled even more parmesan on top as well, because I was in a cheesy mood. And that's it - stick it in the oven for 15 minutes.

I ate it with a roasted chicken breast, but I bet it goes well with loads of things. Ok, I know it isn't haute cuisine but it was completely delicious - try it!

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Snap happy

By the way, you've probably noticed that I've started adding photos. My new fancy phone makes life a lot easier: when I take a photo it asks if I want to blog it! Simples.

If you hadn't noticed, do keep up, please!

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Hot off the press

I didn't like bread when I was a child. I wasn't very keen on sponge cake either; my childhood was a non-stop succesion of left crusts and party food forced down with a cup of tea (not a big fan of fizzy drinks either).

As a grown-up I've learned to tolerate bread, although I still don't much like the flabby sliced stuff. So, no sandwiches for me, which means lunchtimes are a constant challenge of imagination and resourcefulness!

Since discovering the panini press in our kitchen at work I've worked out that almost any kind of bread is better if you toast it. Even an uninspiring cheese and tomato sandwich becomes bearable after 2 minutes of heat and squishing. But, of course, the strong suit of the press is the panini itself. Oh, the endless variations of fillings! I've become so addicted to making paninis that I've even bought a press for my kitchen at home, too.

So, what should you fill it with. Well, funny you should ask! You know how good Thai food has a perfect balance of the four flavours - salty, sweet, sour and spicy? I've worked out the formula for a perfect panini: something meaty, something tangy and something melty.

Try it: you can't go wrong! The meaty thing doesn't have to be meat, it's essentially anything with a lot of umami, like mushrooms. The melty thing is usually cheese, and a particularly robust cheese could be both meaty and melty. To get you started, here's my five favourites.

• Bacon, brie and onion relish.
• Chicken, goat's cheese and yellow pepper.
• Ham, mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes.
• Tuna, mozzarella and rocket.
• Portobello mushroom, mozzarella and spinach.

There, that'll get you on your way. Now, go and be creative. Then come back and tell me your favourite inventions.

Pig-adilly

I started my evening at The Athenaeum at Picadilly by learning that Michael Winner had recently hated it and slated it. Strangely comforted and encouraged by this news, I looked forward to great things!

The evening began in the hotel bar, a plush, tucked-away little affair covered in mirrors. We were served plenty of canapes and nibbles with our cocktails. The cocktail I chose was amazing; in fact I had a second one to double-check and it's definitely delicious.

My first thought as we moved onto the restaurant was 'gosh, how tiny'. The small, rectangular room is strangely laid out, with American style banquettes and booths in the middle. It doesn't generate much atmosphere but ensures a quiet, private meal.

And what of the food? Well, my starter of chicken liver parfait with brioche toast was excellent, as was my husband's chilled beetroot soup. The amuse bouche and bread was also great. the wine list was pretty interesting and the service prompt, friendly and knowledgeable. But. The main course was average, bordering on forgettable. I ate sea bream with courgette mousse and something else which obviously traversed the border of forgetability! It was all ok, but could have been any fish, any mousse, any restaurant.

This is surprisingly common: restaurants with fantastic, showy trimmings and sub-standard mains. I won't hold it against the Athenaeum (7 out of 10 overall). On the other hand, it probably won't leap to the front of my mind next time I'm booking dinner.

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Tarty piece

The apple tree in our garden has been looking a bit over-burdened lately. Some branches hang out onto the road and we'll only need one pretty windy day to cause a traffic nightmare. Not to mention the fact that our garden's a bit of a kitty highway, and an apple on the head probably wouldn't do a cat much good.

So it's nice to see a glut of apple recipes in the food magazines this month. October's delicious. magazine arrived last week featuring a tempting French-style apple tart. On closer examination it turns out to be a quince and apple tart from Rick Stein's latest book. Helpfully, though, it does give an apple-only alternative.

It's dead easy: make an apple puree with some apples, caster sugar and a splash of water. Roll out some ready-made puff pastry and cut around a medium sized plate (the magazine recipe does give exact sizes and quantities, but I just used a large-ish side plate and about 4 small apples for the puree). Lay the pastry onto a greased baking sheet, prick it with a fork all over the centre and spread the apple puree over the top. Leave a little perimeter round the edge. Stick the whole thing in the fridge for a while.

In the meantime put the oven on - about 200c or whatever that is for gas ovens. Peel and thinly slice another 2 or 3 small apples. Take the tart out of the fridge and lay the slices on top in circles, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle a hefty amount of caster sugar over the top and bake it all for 30 minutes.

And that's it. There's something in Rick's recipe about glazing it with jam, but life's too short. It's nice hot, but better cold with a cup of tea or hot chocolate. Just sit back and think of Paris!

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