Let’s Start Cooking!…
(All Recipes have Gluten-Free Options)
Welcome to Menu Mistress…
I love cookbooks and have an extensive collection! The idea of Menu Mistress is to share recipes from these books that I’ve tried and tested. This blog is essentially for people who love food but don’t have the time, energy or patience to find that winning recipe – that’s the job of Menu Mistress! Naturally I also enjoy eating out, so I’ve turned my hand to restaurant reviews too – check them out here!..
(Recipes are updated every week – scroll down and sign up at the bottom of this page to receive a weekly reminder)
Tuesday Treat
Rhubarb Almond Pudding
I adore the tart flavour of rhubarb, so much so that as soon as I see it in the shops – either the forced variety which is available at the beginning of the year or the field grown from April to September – I’m keen to find a recipe to enjoy it with. This is one of those recipes which fits the bill perfectly. It’s simple and easy to throw together, even on a weekday evening, and gives instant pleasure. It’s not a particularly refined dessert; it’s quite a heavy, almost ‘stodgy’ pudding but the wonderful flavour of the rhubarb makes it an all-round pleaser. The recipe is from Donna Hay’s cookbook, ‘One Pan Perfect’ – and it absolutely is!
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rosewater
360ml buttermilk
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
300g ground almonds
2 tablespoons cornflour
165g unrefined caster sugar, plus extra
3 – 5 stalks rhubarb (depending on the size), halved and trimmed to fit the dish
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- Place the eggs, vanilla, rosewater, buttermilk and orange rind into a jug and whisk together.
- Place the ground almonds, cornflour and sugar into a bowl and stir. Then add the buttermilk mixture and mix to combine.
- Pour the mixture into a deep 25cm round baking dish (capacity 1.5 litres). Top with the rhubarb then brush well with the maple syrup and sprinkle with a little extra sugar.
- Bake in a preheated oven, 180’c fan, for 40 minutes or until firm and the rhubarb is soft. Serve with double cream or fresh custard!
May 2024
I’ve read that May is one of the world’s favourite months. It doesn’t surprise me as it seems to be a month when things feel more alive than ever – with lots of ‘new growth’ around us and the warmer weather, it often feels like anything is possible (yes, perhaps you could even find time to cook that cake that’s been on your list for ages!…). As if in anticipation of these new beginnings I’ve been adding some new cookbooks to my collection – yes I know, any excuse! This month’s recipes have been tried and tested from three of my newest cookbooks. All three cookbooks were published only last autumn and are by cookery writers who were completely new to me. I’m pleased to say that, although this month I’m only sharing one recipe from each book, I have tried more than a few of their recipes and they’ve all been a success so I’m sure I’ll be sharing more from their pages; they are books which have definitely enhanced my cookbook collection!
Menu One is ‘Tarragon Roast Chicken’ by Julius Roberts. At first, when I heard about Julius Roberts I thought he was just an ‘Instagram’ success story due to his ‘young’ good looks. However, I was just being a cynical ‘old’ woman as it turns out that he knows a thing or two about cooking having worked in the kitchens of a favourite restaurant of mine, Noble Rot (see my reviews here). Having discovered this, naturally, I bought his book! The book is a joy, his enthusiasm for food jumps off the pages whilst the recipes which I’ve tried so far are keepers. Menu Two, ‘Sichuan Chicken with Peanuts and Spring Onion’, is from Claire Thomson’s cookbook, ‘One Pan Chicken’. Among all the chicken recipes this one caught my eye as it’s the authentic recipe which Thomson’s Sichuanese stepmother gave her. I figured it would be a good one and was right! Finally, Menu Two is ‘Penne alla Vodka’, from the late Russell Norman’s cookbook Brutto. The cookbook is named after his restaurant which is in Shoreditch, it’s been on my list of restaurants to review for some time now but in the meantime, I thought I’d invest in the book. Again it’s a beautiful book, however, I feel sadness when I flick through it as Norman unexpectedly died shortly after it was published. How lucky we are that he left this wonderful book as part of his legacy.
Hopefully, these May recipes will inspire you to cook something new this month!… Don’t forget to pop by next week for my ‘Tuesday Treat’!
(Need some music for you kitchen?.. Lend an ear to my latest playlist, ‘Music to Cook to…MenuMusic Twenty-Seven’… With its upbeat soul tracks it’s made for the brighter weather!)
Click here to go straight to this weeks Recipes
Music to Cook to….what I’ve been listening to in my kitchen!….Click on this link to listen to my playlists (listen without judgement – it’s just a bit of fun!)
Any feedback or recipe ideas? Leave your comments at the very bottom of this page… or feel free to contact me personally here!…
Have you made one of the recipes from Menu Mistress?…Why not take a photo and share it on Instagram, please mention @menumistress or tag menumistress!
A little bit of housekeeping…
To find all the recipes from my blogs go to the Recipes page, where there is a link to print them off.
Oven Settings – All my recipes presume that you are cooking with a fan oven, increase the temperature by 20’c for conventional ovens without a fan.
‘Staple Side Dishes’ – when you see this beside a recipe, it indicates that I have previously published this side dish on Menu Mistress. I have re-published it so that you don’t have to trawl through my old recipe blogs to find it – Menu Mistress is about making your life in the kitchen easier!
Gluten-Free – I am gluten-free, so all of my recipes have gluten-free options, although I must stress that if you have an allergy please double check all ingredients. If flour is used you can substitute it with gluten-free flour (I use Dove’s Free From range) and likewise with other ingredients such as pasta or soy sauce, you can use gluten free options.
Most of the recipes on Menu Mistress are courtesy of the creativity of cookery book writers, old and new. The recipes are an ‘amuse-bouche’ for those available in the books. Please go to my Cookbooks page for more information.
Menu One
Tarragon Roast Chicken (Serves 4)
Tarragon is one of my favourite herbs, I love the way it’s subtle aniseed flavours lift a dish. Chicken with tarragon is a classic match, hence I’ve already shared a few recipes on Menu Mistress (here!) which celebrate this combination. Each recipe is different and has its own values. This ‘Tarragon Roast’ is a new favourite of mine which I found in the cookbook ‘The Farm Table’ by Julius Roberts. In this recipe the chicken is spatchcocked and cooked with a tarragon, cream and wine sauce. It’s a simple dish but one that is full of flavour. For an extra shot of tarragon serve with a crispy green salad with ‘tarragon dressing’ (recipe here!).
If you get your chicken from your butcher, ask him to spatchcock it for you, alternatively it is very easy to do yourself…
How to Spatchcock a Chicken:
On the backside of the chicken, using a pair of strong kitchen scissors, cut along either side of the back bone to remove it, then flip the chicken over and press down very firmly on its breast bones, it will give a satisfying crack as it flattens! Some people like to insert skewers to help keep the chicken flat during cooking but in my experience they make no difference, so I prefer not to use them as they make it more difficult to carve the bird.
Click here to watch the video on me spatchcocking a chicken on my Instagram Page!
1 chicken, spatchcocked
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole head of garlic, cloves unpeeled
250ml double cream
20g bunch of fresh tarragon, leaves removed and roughly chopped
1 heaped tablespoon Dijon mustard
A glass of dry white wine
Sea salt and black pepper
- Lay the chicken in a large, high-sided roasting tray. Season generously with salt and pepper on both sides, and drizzle the skin with olive oil, working it into the nooks and crannies. Place the unpeeled cloves of garlic under the chicken, then roast in a preheated oven, 220’c fan for 20-30 minutes until the skin begins to turn golden brown.
- Meanwhile, mix the cream, tarragon and mustard in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.
- After 20-30 minutes, turn the oven down to 140’c fan, take the chicken out of the oven and pour a generous glass of white wine into the tray (not over the chicken!). Then pour the cream mixture all over the chicken and place back in the oven for 30-40 minutes until it’s cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes, loosely covered with foil. Carve straight from the tin, serving with lots of the cream sauce.
Menu Two
Sichuan Chicken with Peanuts and Spring Onion (Serves 4)
This recipe is from Claire Thomson’s cookbook, ‘One Pan Chicken’. Amongst all the recipes for chicken this one caught my eye as it’s the authentic recipe which Thomson’s Sichuanese stepmother gave her. I figured it would be a good one and was right!..
700g boneless, skinless chicken thigh, diced
2 teaspoons ground Sichuan pepper
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons light soy sauce (gluten free if required)
2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons black rice vinegar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
4 star anise
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
4 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil
8-12 small dried chillies, stem and seeds discarded, then roughly chopped
1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and cut into similar lengths as the diced chicken
80g roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
Sea salt
- Season the chicken with a big pinch of salt and the Sichuan pepper, then dust with half the cornflour, to coat. Next, add 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and all the Shaoxing wine (or sherry) and mix well.
- In a bowl, mix together the sugar, vinegar and sesame oil, along with 2 tablespoons of water, the star anise, sesame seeds and the remaining soy sauce and cornflour. Put to oneside.
- Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Add the dried chillies and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add the chicken and cook for a few more minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and spring onions and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through.
- Mix through the vinegar mixture, stir-frying over a high heat for a couple of minutes to fully coat and cook the chicken.
- Remove from the heat and scatter with the crushed peanuts to serve.
Menu Three
Penne Alla Vodka (Serves 4)
I must admit that until I tried this recipe I was a bit sceptical about the idea of vodka in an Italian tomato sauce. I had always assumed it was an American addition, so not authentic. However, when recently I saw the recipe in the Italian cookbook, Brutto by Russell Norman, I was convinced of its authenticity; Norman was an Italophile and the proprietor of the popular London Italian restaurants, Polpo and latterly, Brutto. Although the addition of the vodka may seem gimmicky, it does in fact add a different dimension to a simple tomato sauce – it helps to balance out the flavours of the tomatoes and cream enabling this creamy sauce to be rich yet light. It’s a winning recipe!
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes, drained
1 large onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
200ml vodka
320- 400g penne pasta (gluten free if required)
4 tablespoons double cream
2 teaspoons caster sugar
100g Parmesan, grated
Olive oil
Sea salt
- Place a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a ovenproof saucepan and over a medium heat sauté the onion with a pinch of salt for 10-12 minutes until glossy and translucent, being careful not to let it brown.
- Add the garlic, chilli flakes and oregano and combine, stirring for a few minutes more. Pour in the vodka, increase the heat a little to bring to a very gently bubble and cook until the liquid is reduced by a third.
- Now add the drained tomatoes to the saucepan with a good pinch of salt and continue to boil for a few minutes.
- Transfer the saucepan, uncovered, to a preheated oven, 140’c fan, and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and coloured a little on the top.
- Remove the sauce from the oven, add the double cream, sugar and half the Parmesan. Use a stick blender to create a smooth sauce.
- Meanwhile cook the penne until al dente, according to the packet instructions and drain. Immediately add to the sauce stirring until fully combined.
- Serve with the remaining Parmesan on the side.
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