St Melons

We're approaching summer, I'm in one of my favourite places in England, Whitstable, and I'm craving salty sweetness on a lighter note. After a looooong afternoon sleep today I woke up thirsty and famished. I had all the ingredients to hit the hungry spot and within 5 minutes I was eating.

There's no recipe required for melon and ham. Age-old and thrown together, so long as the melon is tender and juicy and your ham, properly aged and flavoursome you'll have an instant mouthwatering hit on your hands. Just melon and ham no longer satisfies me these days..unless I'm in Spain or Italy eating THE best ingredients at their optimum. I always involve some kind of cheese and a dressing for embellishment...and a maybe a bit of bite.



ingredients:
Aged Serrano or Parma Ham
Cantaloupe Melon
Buffalo Mozzerella
Balsamic Vinegar (Aged and sticky)
Smoked/lightly salted Almonds (flaked or whole)



Method:
Cut half the melon in to nice big chunks
Tear open the mozzerella place on and in between the melon
Drape over the ham however you wish
Drizzle with balsamic and throw over the nuts

To test a Melon for ripeness bang its bottom with the palm of your hand and listen for a hollow sound, it should also feel dense and heavy. If its a corker you'll be able to smell the flesh outside of the rind and the base will give a little when pressed.



Honeydew and Galia melon are also lovely here but I'd steer away from Watermelon. You could also use lovely ripe peaches if melon absolutely isn't your thing and parmesan and rocket work a treat too.

Try these guys for smoked nuts if you don't have a good market close by http://tiny.cc/9m8ae

Trulee it is Brulee

Creme Brulee...gorgeous, velvety, creamy deliciousness and super easy to make using the cooker top method.

I was taught to cook the custard mix in a shallow oven bain marie. I love creme brulee this way but waiting to find out if your custard has any air bubbles around the sides when you take it out of the oven is agony. As far as I'm concerned, a single air bubble ruins the whole experience. The mix can also become too firm which doesn't have a very pleasant mouth feel.

So, here is a really simple way to cook and set the custard without the faff and bother of the bain. You still have to have your wits about you but I promise the results will blow you and your guests away. The texture of this mix is a little different to the bain marie method, more gooey but no less delightful.

I set my custard in something pretty. Any excuse to get my beloved china out and I'm in! You can set yours in any old vessel..even a large one that everyone can dive in to. If you want the sugary topping, make sure it's mega heat proof.



Ingredients: Serves 4
4 large egg yolks
3 tbsp caster sugar (plus more for the top) I usually only go for 2 tbsp because I'm not a sweet fanatic
1 pint/500ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
Raspberrys
Icing sugar

Custard Method:
Heat the cream in a heavy bottomed pan on a moderate heat. While that's on the go beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a heatproof bowl. When the cream is just below boiling point (important) pour it over the egg and sugar mixture, stirring all the time. Slit open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, adding them and the now empty pod to the bowl.
Place the bowl over a pan which is half full of simmering (not boiling) water and stir and scrape with a rubber spatula until the custard thickens. Don't be tempted to put the mix directly on to heat, the whole thing will scramble.
Pass through a sieve into your four vessels.
Once completely cold, cover and chill. To get the best texture from this mix you should make it the day before and chill in a very cold fridge for at least 24 hours.

Sugar Topping Method:
If you have a blow torch just go for it.
If not, put your grill on to its highest setting and wait for at least 15 minutes
Place the pots on a tray (as near to the grill bars as possible) and wait for the sugar to bubble and you're away.

I'm not a fan of the traditional sugary topping - too sweet for me. I eat with raspberries and a fine dusting of icing sugar.

Whodunnit?

Selling my chocolates face to face with my customers is so unbelievably rewarding and invaluable to me. If you are a small, niche producer and like me you think, obsess, dream and even have nightmares about your product there's nothing quite like receiving an instantaneous thumbs-up for your efforts.

Showing your product at food festivals, fairs and farmers markets is a brilliant barometer of how good your product is. There's nowhere to hide and nothing to separate you from the customer comments and facial expressions other than your flimsy stall so you better be ready and be as confident as you possibly can be with your product before you brave the unapologetically opinionated masses.



About 10 years ago I became a devotee of the organic movement and a little later became concerned with food production, provenance and trading ethics and I've talked a little bit before about my experiences with sourcing fine, organic and ethical chocolate; that I found almost impossible. I digress. While I'm sensible enough to know that not everyone shares my view and that in fact I'm in a minority, my extensive consumer research all but proved that a niche/gourmet food buyer (the kind of person who enthuses about food and attends farmers markets and food events across the country in search of quality or simply for something different) would absolutely be concerned with pesticides, trading ethics, E numbers etc. Not so. Not a single customer has asked me if my chocolate is ethical, organic, natural, whether it contains E numbers and so on and I have to say I'm surprised. When I'm researching and sourcing ingredients or conceptualising a new flavour I'm often so preoccupied with the aforementioned that it's small wonder I ever produce a solitary truffle.



So, reporting back from ground level I can tell you unequivocally that what the customer really wants to know is if you have made the product yourself. "Are you the producer?" and "Did you make this yourself?" are the two most common questions I'm asked. You could put this down to geography or demographics of course and maybe time will tell a different story but all of this has really made me think. Media and marketing groups muddy our perceptions more than I ever thought possible. There is still nothing and no better way of measuring your product than good old fashioned face to face customer contact and I hope that will continue to thrive.

For more information on excellent farmers markets and food festivals in your area please do not hesitate to contact me. You can meet me and sample my chocolates at the Speciality & Gourmet Food Market in Nottingham and various places around the country, all year round. For more information, regular updates and exclusive chocolate offers visit

http://www.boutiquearomatique.com/market/

Sign-up today!

Love, Shelly

Sausages & Lentils a la Nigella et Rosanna

I can't quite believe it now but I'd never eaten lentils outside of an Indian restaurant until about seven years ago. If you came from 'up North' lentils were suspiciously and unfairly derided as sandal and sock-wearing fodder; reserved only for chanting prats - their words, not mine. It's a cliche but my life pretty much turned upside down when I moved to London and thank GOD it did.

I made my lentilly fateful trip to The Epicerie (attached to Conran and Orrery) on Marylebone High St one lunchtime, it was nearing the end of the day and pretty much the only thing left to take out was puy lentils with smoked sausage and beetroot.

http://www.orreryrestaurant.co.uk/restaurants/orrery/epicerie



Clinging to the counter with hunger I went for it and never looked back. I'm a big Nigella Lawson fan and I return to one of her lentil recipes (in part) again and again which is the one I'm sharing here. The other half of the dish is inspired by my lovely friend Rosanna. We had the funniest time on her gypsy themed hen on a barge on the Oxfordshire waterways. 10 girls, copious prosecco and a whole load of dressing up = ACE! The highlight for me however was Rosanna's gorgeous lentil dish...I ended up finishing off everyone else's plate...no change there then!

Ingredients: Serves 4:
3–4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
Sea Salt
500g Puy lentils
1 fat clove garlic - skin removed
8 really good quality sausages - anything with tomato works well and preferably Italian
100ml red wine
50ml water
Very fresh flat-leaf parsley for sprinkling - curly parsley will not do
Few tbsp of ricotta cheese
Very good raspberry or sherry vinegar
Plain/non pickled whole beetroot, quartered

Method:
To cook the lentils, put 2–3 tablespoons of the oil into a good-sized saucepan (and one which has a lid that fits) on the heat and when it’s warm add the chopped onion. Sprinkle with salt (which helps prevents it browning) and cook over a low to medium heat till soft (about 5 minutes). Add the lentils, stir well and then cover generously with cold water. Bring to the boil, then cover and let simmer gently for half an hour or so until cooked and most, if not all, the liquid’s absorbed. I don’t add salt at this stage since the sauce provided by the sausages later (and which will be poured over the lentils) will be pretty salty itself. So, wait and taste. You can cook these in advance.

When either the lentils are nearly ready or you’re about to reheat them, put a heavy-based frying pan on the hob, cover with a film of oil and add the bruised garlic. Cook for a few minutes then add and brown the sausages. When the sausages are brown on both sides – which won’t take more than 5 minutes or so – throw in the wine and water and let bubble up. Cover the pan, either with a lid or tin foil, and cook for about 15 minutes. Using a fork, mash the now soft garlic into the sauce and taste for seasoning, adding a little more water if it’s too strong. Courtesy of NL.

Drain the lentils well and transfer to a roomy serving bowl. Add the beetroot and a whole bunch of roughly chopped parsley and very gently amalgamate. Sit the sausages on top and pour over your gravy. Drizzle with a little olive old and sprinkle over your preferred vinegar. For the finale, add a few good blobs of ricotta on top.



Don't be tempted to use pre-cooked, tinned lentils. Fine if you have to use them, I just think they're always a bit too soft, boggy and waterlogged. I've swapped Rosie's sherry vinegar for raspberry, just because I tried it and it worked a dream.

Colemans works excellently well on the side.