Potato, Courgette & Corriander Pie

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
150g Spenwood/Pecorino cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, peeled & chopped
1cm fresh root ginger, peeled & chopped
350g pots, peeled & thinly sliced
175g courgettes, thinly sliced
1 large onion, peeled & thinly sliced
75 ml white wine or vegetable stock (chicken stock can aslo be used).



Mix the corriander, cheese, garlic & ginger in a bowl. Line a dish with half the potatoes and cover with half the courgettes and then half the sliced onion. Spoon on half the cheese mixture. Continue with a second layer of the remaining potato, courgette and onion. Pour on the wine or stock and cover with foil. Bake in the oven (gas 5) for an hour until tender. Top with the remaining cheese mixture and finish off under the grill.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe:

226 g butter, room temperature
150 g granulated white sugar
160 g light brown sugar
2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
420 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking-soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
270g chocolate chips

Preheat oven to gas mark 4 with rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl cream the butter. Add the white and brown sugars and beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated, adding the chocolate chips about half way through mixing. If you find the dough very soft, cover and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).
For large cookies, use about a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop or with two spoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake about 12 - 14 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Cool completely on wire rack.
Makes about 4 dozen - 3 inch round cookies

Madeleines

Madeleines were made famous by Marcel Proust in his novel 'Remembrance of Things Past' in which he wrote: "She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called 'petites madeleines', which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell....... An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses....".

115g unsalted butter melted
140g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
130g granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


First, melt the butter and allow it to cool while you make the batter.
In a small bowl place the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until well blended.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar at medium-high speed until the mixture has tripled in volume and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted (about 5 minutes). Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine.





Sift a small amount of flour over the egg mixture and, using a large rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the beaten eggs to lighten it. Sift the rest of the flour over the egg mixture and fold in being sure not to overmix or the batter will deflate.
Whisk a small amount of the egg mixture into the melted butter to lighten it. Then fold in the cooled melted butter in three additions. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or several hours, until slightly firm.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to Gas mark 5. Generously butter two 12-mold madeleine pans. (Make sure the pans are well greased or the madeleines will stick and be hard to remove.)
Drop a generous tablespoonful of the batter into the center of each prepared mold, leaving the batter mounded in the center. (This will result in the classic "humped" appearance of the madeleines.)
Bake the madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the centers spring back when lightly touched. Do not overbake these cookies or they will be dry.

Remove the pans from the oven and rap each pan sharply against a countertop to release the madeleines. Transfer the madeleines, smooth sides down, to wire racks to cool. The madeleines are best served the same day but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days or frozen, well wrapped, for up to 1 month.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson is the daughter of former Conservative cabinet minister Nigel Lawson (now Lord Lawson) and the late Vanessa Salmon, socialite and heir to the Lyons Corner House empire, who died of liver cancer in 1985.

Lawson attended Godolphin and Latymer School and Westminster School before graduating from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, with a degree in Medieval and Modern Languages.

She took part in the third series of the BBC family-history documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, in an edition first broadcast on 11 October 2006. She traced her mother's side of the family, the Salmon (originally Solomon) family (owners of J. Lyons and Co.) to Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors in the Netherlands and the Rhineland of Germany. One of these ancestors, Coenraad Sammes aka Joseph, had fled to England to escape a prison sentence following a conviction for theft. Nigella was disappointed not to have Sephardi ancestry in her family.

Career
Lawson wrote a restaurant column for the Spectator and a comment column for The Observer and became deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times in 1986. She became, among other things, a newspaper-reviewer on BBC1 Sunday-morning TV programme Breakfast with Frost. She has also co-hosted, with David Aaronovitch, Channel 4 books discussion programme Booked in the late 1990s, and was an occasional compere of BBC2's press review What the Papers Say, as well as appearing on BBC radio.

Following slots as a culinary sidekick on Nigel Slater's Real Food Show on Channel 4, she has fronted three eponymous TV cookery series broadcast in the UK on the channel. She has had two series of Nigella Bites in 1999-2001, plus a 2001 Christmas special, and Forever Summer with Nigella in 2002, both of which yielded accompanying recipe books. She hosted a daytime TV programme on ITV1 in 2005 titled Nigella, in which celebrity guests joined her in a studio kitchen. The show was not well received by critics and ended after a short run. Besides her own cookbooks, Nigella is featured in Off Duty: The World's Greatest Chefs Cook at Home (2005). A third series called Nigella Feasts, based on her book Feast, debuted on the USA's Food Network in Fall 2006.

Her first biography, Nigella Lawson by Gilly Smith, was published by Andre Deutsch in September 2005, but was remaindered within weeks of release. However, a paperback edition, subtitled "A Very British Dish", was due to be published in the summer of 2006.

More recently in late 2006, Nigella did a show on BBC Two called Nigella's Christmas Kitchen. Two of the episodes secured the second highest ratings for BBC Two, with the third episode becoming the top show on the week that it was aired.

According to UKTV Food Lawson has a personal fortune in excess of £1.7 million. She was voted author of the year at the 2001 British Book Awards. More than 2 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. She also has a profitable line of kitchenware, called the "Living Kitchen" range available at numerous retailers.

Popular culture
Her style of presentation is often gently mocked by comedians and commentators, particularly in a regularly-occurring impersonation of her in the BBC television comedy series Dead Ringers, who perceive that she plays overtly upon her attractiveness and sexuality as a device to engage viewers of her cookery programmes, despite Lawson's repeated denials that she does so.
She has also been featured on BBC One TV impersonation-sketch show Big Impression, where Ronni Ancona has done impressions of her, which mock and embellish the fact that she uses slightly exotic foods. For example, in one sketch, a recipe requires Phoenix eggs. In her act, Ancona also lampooned Nigella's tendency to present her recipes with over-description.

Personal life
Lawson married journalist John Diamond, whom she met in 1986 when they were both writing for The Sunday Times. They had two children, Cosima and Bruno. Diamond died of throat cancer in 2001. Lawson married art-collector Charles Saatchi in September 2003, and came under some criticism when it was suggested she had started her affair with him before the death of Diamond.

Green Tomato chutney

Ingredients
15g/½oz root ginger
8-10 chillies
2kg/4lb green tomatoes, chopped
500g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and chopped
250g/8oz raisins, chopped
625g/1¼lb shallots, chopped
2 tsp salt
500g/1lb brown sugar
570ml/1 pint malt vinegar

Method
Bruise the ginger and tie in a muslin bag with the chillies.
Place all the other ingredients in a preserving pan and suspend the muslin bag among them.
Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
Remove the muslin bag. Pour into warmed sterilised jars, cover and label.

Italian shopping spree

I am, an italiaphile. One day I'm sure I'll get around to learning the lingo and perhaps even visiting. Until then I'll contend with cooking the food and drinking the wine.

My spending spree bought me:-
100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Olive oil wil juniper berries and bay leaves
olive oil with oregano
Olive oil with pink pepper corns and rosemary
Lemoncello
Risotto rice
Crissini

and a spanish chorizo

Orecchiette with Carbonara and king prawns

For the carbonara sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
3 slices pancetta
1-2 tbsp double cream
1-2 tbsp fresh parmesan, grated
1 egg yolk
Bring a large pot of salty water to the boil.

For the carbonara, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan, over a moderate heat.
Add the slices of pancetta to the pan, and fry for 2-3 minutes, on each side, or until crisp and golden.
Meanwhile, place the double cream, parmesan and egg yolk into a small bowl. Stir well. Add the prawns and heat through.
Cook the Orecchiette as per packet instructions. When the pasta has cooked, combine with sauce. Serve with black pepper.

Orecchiette is the most typical pasta shape of the Puglia region. It takes its name from the shape which is said to resemble little "orecchio" (ears).