Recipe corner: Creamed spinach

As mentioned on Monday, I have recently added this to my rotating repertoire of side dishes for a roast (roast potatoes are the only fixed point, everything else is up for grabs. Controversial?) This is SUCH a simple dish but a fabulous accompaniment. Because the flavours are mellow (the Parmesan is really a seasoning, so it’s not particularly cheesy - just fabulously savoury) it would go with most things. And it is so soft and comforting, I can quite imagine just eating a bowl of mashed potato with this spooned on top with an extra cheeky shower of Parmesan. 

Ingredients

15g butter

15g plain flour

150ml milk

Scant teaspoon of English mustard

10g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Shallot, finely chopped

Bag of baby leaf spinach (c. 120g)

Knob of butter, splash of rapeseed oil

Nutmeg

Serves 2, as a side

Melt a knob of butter and a splash (just a teaspoon or so) of oil over a very low heat. When the butter is just melted, throw in the shallot. Add a pinch of salt to help it sweat and then cook it, slowly, until soft and translucent. This dish is about softness, so be sure to cook until all hint of crunch is removed.

Add the spinach leaves, still keeping the heat low, and then cover. Cook, covered, for five minutes or so, stirring occasionally and wonder as the spinach wilts to practically nothing. Remove the lid and continue to cook until any visible liquid has disappeared. At this point season - you won’t need too much salt, but add a good grind of black pepper and a generous grating of nutmeg. I went for about a quarter of a small nut as I wanted a real whack of nutmeg flavour, but go slowly if you’re not sure - it’s heady stuff. Remove the spinach mixture from the pan and set aside.

Turn the heat up slightly (so now medium low) and then we’re making a standard roux. You know the drill: melt the butter then stir in the flour to create a pale, golden paste. Pour the milk in, a third or so at a time, stirring briskly on each addition to ensure a smooth sauce. Once all the milk has been added, lightly season (remember you already have well seasoned spinach), stir through the mustard and bubble the sauce, gently, for a couple of minutes. Taste, to ensure all the flour taste has been cooked out. Remove from the heat and melt through the Parmesan. Finally, add the spinach back to the sauce and combine well.

Bake in a hot (180 fan) oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden and bubbling. I would suggest covering it for the first half and then removing the lid / foil for the remainder, but I have a beast of an oven. If you’re having it as part of a roast dinner (for example) it a good one to prepare in advance and just whack in to bake alongside potatoes et al.

Back to skool

Well, we've just returned from a lovely couple of weeks in Scotland and the gloominess of the weather here this morning couldn't have matched my mood more if it had tried. I love a bit of pathetic fallacy. It's been an extremely chilled out fortnight - not doing loads, but pottering, eating (of course) and, er, book buying. When you come back from holiday with nine more books than you left with, you may well have a problem. But, in my defence, Bookcase in Carlisle was an absolute bibliophile's dream. And I was supporting the local economy in Tobermory by picking up a few there as well...(we won't mention the fact that D and I also made a little pre-holiday trip to Waterstone's the day before we left because that would just make me look like some sort of addict).

The highlight of the trip from a food perspective had to be another meal at the very wonderful Inver which I may well cover in a separate post. But after nearly a fortnight of no real cooking, it was glorious to be back in the kitchen yesterday and we had that homeliest of homecoming meals: roast chicken with various trimmings including a simple creamed spinach that I will share with you (and my future self for posterity).

September (I know it's nearly over, but let me claim it still) is always a good time for fresh starts and while we were away, D and I talked a bit about lifestyle changes that I feel I need to make. Long term readers of this blog will know that I have never, never been a fan of exercise but the sedentary lifestyle occasioned by near permanent working from home, not to mention the fact that I turned 40 at the end of last year, means that any meagre fitness I ever had seems to be slipping away and there is absolutely no excuse for it. The only time I've ever really enjoyed exercise was years ago when I was a member of a gym - I like classes and I love swimming - so I've screwed my courage to the sticking place and arranged for an introductory session at a local club this week. The chap on the phone asked me to describe my current fitness levels. I could only pause before laughing and saying "Pants". I hope they like a challenge. It won't be cheap but I can afford it and I should be investing money in this sort of thing - i.e. myself, my health, my future, rather than continuing to create the UK Book Mountain in my living room.

And as a further incentive, I have booked a personal styling consultation at the beginning of December as a little Christmas present to myself. I randomly saw an Instagram reel of this gorgeous, plus size woman extolling the virtue of tucking your top in (yes, really) and when I looked at her profile I saw that she worked as a stylist and personal shopper in the Leeds branch of John Lewis! So again, courage screwed, I booked a slot. I'm in desperate need of a little push to get me out of tracksuit bottoms and loungewear. And I should have a couple of months of gym-going under my belt by then - enough to make a bit of a difference in confidence if not in shape.

Thus - and let us come back to the pathetic fallacy - as the sun has appeared in the last hour, so am I feeling a wee bit better about the fact that the holidays are gone and winter is coming. Life plods on but there is still much to look forward to.

Local heroes

We went to the last day of the Harrogate Food Festival last week, feeling that as self-proclaimed foodies it was the kind of thing we should be doing on a bank holiday weekend. We failed to take into account that we neither of us like crowds, or uncomfortable plastic chairs, or paying over the odds for things - this could have proved unfortunate. As it was, one overpriced chicken gyro aside, we had quite a pleasant time, aided by a couple of excellent gins. 

The festival was taking place in the grounds of Ripley Castle so we decided to treat ourselves to a night in Ripley at the Boar's Head Hotel, which I remember visiting a few times when we first moved to North Yorkshire and always enjoyed. Gentle reader, while I would not hesitate to recommend the hotel to you (reasonably priced, a beautiful room and some of the most comfortable pillows ever) the hotel restaurant was a bitter disappointment. Can't fault the staff but the food was...not good. I really hope that this is a temporary blip due to the current problems in the hospitality industry, and that the bone dry chickpea fritters with a side of pallid boiled potatoes and crunchy mange tout is not typical.

A relief, then, to find that another old favourite in that part of the world, The General Tarleton in Ferrensby, appears to be going from strength to strength. We went on Saturday night for the tasting menu and thoroughly enjoyed it; not least, at £55 per head (and £55 for the matching wine flight which was poured with an extremely generous hand by the charming waiter) it was remarkably good value for money.

Not necessarily pushing at culinary boundaries, nevertheless, the kitchen was turning out well executed plates of delicious, crowd pleasing food. From the dinky little lobster bonbons, pleasingly crisp and sweet, via a plate-lickingly good beef tartare, and a divine chocolate and raspberry torte, this was all excellent stuff and I would whole heartedly recommend it should you ever find yourself sort of Harrogate way and want to be soothed by good, honest cooking and friendly service.

Bonbon!

Beef!

Chocolate!

Next week, fingers, toes and eyes crossed, we are off to Scotland for a couple of weeks and I will do my best to keep you updated with any particular food highlights, although given that the first night away will be spent in Carlisle (don't ask...) I can't necessarily promise too much!