Celeriac Steak

Based (loosely) on https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/nov/11/thomasina-miers-celeriac-steaks-sherry-lardons-capers-recipe

What you need

• 1 celeriac root
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves
• parsley (fresh)
• handful of pitted green olives
• 1-2 tablespoons of capers
• handful of raisins
• 2 teaspoons honey
• salt, pepper
• double cream (1 tablespoon)
• 150ml sherry, 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• slice of bread (i am not fussy which bread neither if it's stale or fresh)
• 3 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Equipment

• 1 pot (for cooking the celeriac)
• 1 or better 2 frying pans (as you will see below)

How you do it

• fill the pot with water and put a tablespoon of salt in it. Heat to boil
• in the meantime, peel the celeriac and slice the peeled root into ca 10mm thick slices
• put the peeled celeriac slices into the boiling water and cook at low heat for 10-15min. Ideally, the slices should be "al dente" at the end. You can test it by piercing the slices with a knife. If it goes through like butter the slices are ready
• keep 1 cup of the cooking water and pour away the rest of the water. Put the celeriac slices on a board to cool
• Peel and cut the onion, garlic and carrots. Cut the olives into slices. Wash and cut the parsley (fine). 
• Cut the bread slice into little cubes
• in the sauté/frying pan pour in half of the oil and heat it up. Put the onions into the hot pan and cook at medium heat for ca 10min. Stir frequently to avoid the onions from getting burned.
• Increase head and add sliced garlic and carrots, mix with onions and cook for another 2-3 minutes
• Add the sliced olives, capers, parsley and raisins. Stir and cook for ca 2 min
• Pour in the sherry, cooking water and sherry vinegar. Heat up until it boils. Keep it cooking for ca 5 min.
• The cooking water should have enough salt, but add to your liking. Grind in pepper.
• Add the cream and the honey. Stir well and cook for another 5 min. The sauce should be reduced by now.

• If you are using the same pan for frying the celeriac/bread cubes then removed the sauce in a little sauciere (or small pot). Wipe the frying pan clean (of course after it cooled down a bit). Put it back on the cooker. 

• Put the rest of the oil into the frying pan and heat up.
• When the oil/pan are hot place the celeriac slices. Don't stack them up. Put just enough in the pan to cover the surface area.
• Fry for up to 5min - while checking to ensure the bottom side doesn't burn. 
• Turn the slices around and repeat until the slices are slightly brown.
• I put the bread cubes in with the celeriac steaks to fry them at the same time. Works well.

• Once fried place a couple of slices and bread cubes on a plate. Slightly pour over the sauce.
• Voila 

Banana Bread

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bananabread_85720

What you need

• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• vanilla extract
• 85mL yoghurt (or buttermilk)
• 110g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 285g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
• (a bit of salt)

Equipment

• baking form
• sieve
• kitchen mixer
• 2 bowls

How you do it

• preheat the oven to 180C (160-170C with fan)
• put butter and sugar into one bowl and mix until creamy. It helps if the butter is soft or molten
• in the second bowl add the flour using a sieve, add the vanilla extract and the bicarbonate soda
• pour the content into the first bowl. Mash the bananas, add to the flour/butter/sugar mix. Then add the eggs and yoghurt
• Mix until creamy
• grease the baking form and pour the baking mix into the form
• put in the oven for ca 60min

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

What you need

• butternut squash
• 2 carrots and 2 celery sticks, if it comes with leaves the better
• medium sized onion
• pepper
• 1 chilli 
• 1 garlic clove
• tablespoon cumin seeds, paprika powder
• 1 bay leave
• rosemary twigs
• 1L vegetable stock
• 2 medium sized potatoes
• 2 table spoons olive oil

Equipment

• chopping board and knives
• large soup pot

How you do it

• cut the butternut squash in quarters (or eights) and remove the skin. Then cut it into cubes/triangles (depending on how you cut)
• peel carrot and cut into small pieces. Wash/cut celery include the leaves if you have them
• peel and cut the onions, chilli and garlic into small bits
• put the olive oil in the pot and heat up. When hot add
• chilli, pepper, onion and garlic, rosemary, paprika, bay leave and cumin seeds
• stir for ca 1min
• add the carrots, celery and butternut squash bits and mix until everything is covered.
• peel the potatoes and cut into cubes. Add to the pot
• Stir for ca 2min until everything is covered and nicely mixed
• add the stock so that all of the veggies well immersed
• bring to the boil and cook for 45min at slow heat
• cool down
• use a blender to mash it all up and get you a nice thick soup
• add salt/pepper to taste

Chorizo and Baked Eggs

Based on https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/aug/26/thomasina-miers-recipe-piperade-baked-eggs-chorizo

What you need

• 5 tomatoes
• 1 green, 1 red pepper
• 5 eggs
• 1 garlic, 1 red onion
• 1 carrot, 1 piece of celery
• 1 ring of chorizo
• salt, pepper
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 table spoon fennel seeds and paprika powder
• 2 tbsp or rice wine or sherry

Equipment

A skillet will do. and an extra bowl

How you do it

• peel & cut/slice onion, garlic, carrot 
• wash and slice/cut peppers and celery. Quarter the tomatoes.
• put 3 table spoons of olive oil in the skillet
• peel and slice the chorizo. Heat the skillet and add the chorizo slices. Cook for a few minutes, ca 5min, until the slices start becoming crispy
• take the chorizo slices out, but keep the oil (or most of it) in the skillet
• add the onions to the skillet and cook until they start turning brown
• add the carrots and celery bits and cook for a few minutes (2-3)
• add the garlic, fennel seeds and paprika. mix/stir and cook for a few more minutes (2-3)
• add the pepper and tomato pieces. Mix and pour in the rice wine/sherry. Cook for 20 - 25 min until the tomatoes getting soft and mushy. 
• finally, I add the chorizo slices back in. Mix it all
• make 5 indents and pour in the eggs into each one of them. 
• Cook until the egg whites are set

Thomasina Miers recommends to serve it with sourdough bread.

Courgette Salad

This is a recipe I picked on from a French podcast (France Inter) called 'on va déguster'

What you need

• 2 large courgettes (or zucchini as they are called on some countries)
• 1 large red onion
• ca 80g pine kernels
• picked lemons or simply a dried fruit mix. Ca a handful
• salt pepper
• the juice from one lemon
• fresh ginger, ca thickness of a thumb
• 80-100ml olive oil

Equipment

• pan - or oven safe dish
• 2 bowls
• kitchen blender

How you do it

• peel the red onion and cut it into small pieces. Put into the bowl
• cut off the end of the courgettes and wash them. Cut into thin slices. A grater might help. Put into bowl. Add the dried fruit mix (or pickled lemons)
• heat up the pan. Pan should be dry (no water, oil etc). When hot put the pine kernels in. Stir and fry until they start to turn slightly brown. Take off the heat and let cool down.
• the podcast recommends to roast them in the oven. In this case, use an oven safe dish. Heat the oven up to 180C put the kernels into the dish and roast for ca 10min. Remove and let cool down a bit.
• In the 2nd bowl pour the juice from 1 lemon and the olive oil. 
• peel and cut the ginger into small pieces. Add to the bowl containing the lemon juice/olive oil
• With a handheld blender go into the lemon juice/ginger/oil mix and blend the ingredients until it is a smooth liquid. 
• pour the juice/oil/ginger blend over the courgette mix
• add the roasted pine kernels and add some salt and freshly ground pepper.
• stir the whole mix so that everything is nicely covered in the juice mix
• cover and put in the fridge for a couple of hours

Basic Meringue

Not sure what to do with the left-over egg whites? Look no further.
https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/basic-meringue/

What you need

• the whites from at least 3 eggs. In my first attempt I had 6 egg whites left over
• caster sugar 175g for 3 egg whites. I took 200g for 6 egg whites
• a spoon of vanilla essence
• some chocolate powder for sprinkling

Equipment

• baking/grease proof paper
• baking tray
• mixer

How you do it

• preheat the oven to ca 120C fan or 140C normal
• pour the egg whites into the bowl and start whisking
• while the mixer is beating the egg whites add the caster sugar one teaspoon at a time, so it doesn't form any clumps
• once you got the sugar in add a teaspoon of vanilla essence
• keep whisking until it starts getting thick and creamy (and very white)
• put the baking paper on the tray. and with 2 tablespoons get the egg white out of the bowl and put it onto the baking paper. You can try to shape them if you wish. I just got some blobs onto the paper. 
• Make sure you leave room between the blobs.
• put into the preheated oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Actually, it's not really baking at that temp rather it's dehydrating the egg white.
• Once the time is up. I leave the tray in the oven and let it cool down naturally. You might want to sprinkle some chocolate over the meringue.

Pickled Gherkins

From https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dill-pickled-cucumbers

What you need

• small/baby cucumbers, ca 1kg
• rock salt - ca 85g
• black peppercorns - 1 tablespoon
• mustard seeds - 1 tablespoon
• 2 bay leaves 
• coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon
• sugar - 100g
• 700ml - 1l vinegar (>= 6%, e.g. white wine vinegar)
• 10 cloves
• dill
• chili flakes - 1 tablespoon

Equipment

• sealable jar - e.g. Kilner click top jars 2l
• saucepan
• large bowl

How you do it

The night before

• wash and slice the cucumbers and put the slices in a large bowl. 
• mix with rock salt (or layer with rock salt)
• leave overnight

On the day

• drain the brine from the bowl and rinse the cucumber slices
• clean, wash and dry the jar(s) thoroughly
• wash the dill sprigs
• add the cucumber slices to the dry/clean jar(s)
• put the seeds and peppercorns in the saucepan and roast them gently. When you start smelling the spices add the chilli flakes and bay leaves
• then add the vinegar and sugar
• bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves
• pour the hot content into the jar. 
• Make sure the pickle covers all of the cucumber - but also leave a 2cm gap at the top
• seal the jar
• let it rest for 2 weeks