Chicken & Porcini Risotto with Lemon Thyme

It’s Wednesday today and we have the day off. And I find myself lying in a swimsuit by a pool in the hot May sun of Nice. Nice.

Cheeky Chappy, Birthday Boy Will

George and I wandered over to the on-shore crew accommodation which Nat, Niki, Will, Matty and Tom are currently living in before we leave for Corsica on Monday. Also it’s Will’s Birthday today. Happy Birthday Will! 

So they live here in ‘digs’ and the rest of us live on the boat which, as you’ll know if you read some of my earlier blogs, has its ups and its downs. Never leaving work is one of those downs, so on a day off it’s important to try to get away from the boat and treat yourself to a new perspective on life. Some breathing space; a different experience, a change is as good as a holiday and all that.

And as different experiences go, this will do nicely thank you. It’s a beautiful pool and it’s quiet and although I’m not sure I have enough sun lotion on, I think I’ll lie here and write this blog and if I get burnt, I’ll blame you, ok?

Smoking Halyards Can Seriously Damage Your Health

Talking of burns, I got a goody on my arm and a few on my fingers. They say smoking is bad for you and I can tell you it hurts too. I’m actually talking about ‘smoking’ halyards. It’s a non-technical term for letting a halyard go quickly but in a controlled manner if a sail needs to be dropped instantly. And my position on the boat when we’re racing means that I get to ‘smoke’ a lot of halyards. (Hence the sailing gloves) This particular halyard was the spinnaker halyard and although I have done it plenty of times, for some reason or other I took too many turns off the cleat and was effectively holding around 2 tons of sail in my hands. I let it go, but managed to control the drop enough that no one noticed anything untoward until I squeaked pathetically to George that I had to go down below to shove my ‘smoking’ hands into the ice maker. It was a great drop and I’m in no position to give up smoking quite yet but I think I’ll be slowing it down a little.

Just as exciting, the night before the smoking halyard incident I made a risotto. It had to be a risotto. All the ingredients were there for a goody of a risotto; a bag of dried porcini mushrooms, a pot of fragrant, zesty lemon-thyme, home-made chicken stock and some plump little chicken breasts. If I’d been really clever I would have gone to get some of the wet garlic that’s been kicking around in the markets at the mo. Wet garlic is so exciting and so delicious, I’ll try to get hold of some whilst it’s in season and get a recipe for you. But as I just had the normal, dried bulbs a fair amount of that went in instead.

The risotto fed 6 of us and I managed to get away with only putting in 2 chicken breasts but coupled with the ‘meatiness’ of the mushrooms, it was a perfect combination and great for the budget. I can’t ‘big-up’ homemade stock for any risotto enough but as I’ve said before a cube or two will do if you haven’t any fresh.

Love and affection is also heavily required for a risotto. Set the time aside to make it. Stick on some of your favourite tunes and pour yourself something special into your favourite glass and dedicate yourself to your risotto. Love your risotto.

So here it is, chicken and Porcini risotto with lemon-thyme. Serve with a good rocket salad and I reckon my brother-in-law (Bill for short), would probably be the best person to ask being a real sommelier, but I do think red, white or rose would suit this one. Ch-ching!

For Chicken and Porcini risotto you will need;

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar (Feeling a bit Mary Poppins every time I write that)

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 ½  pints chicken stock

Bag of dried porcini mushrooms or any funky dried forest mushroom that you like

1 pint hot water

Box of risotto rice

2 tbsp lemon-thyme, chopped and smashed a little

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp crème fraiche

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 glass of dry white wine for the risotto and as the bottle is open…

Method;

• Begin by putting your dried mushrooms into a ceramic dish and pour in about one pint of hot water. This rehydrates the mushrooms and the water will take on a marvellous dark brown colour and mushroom flavour which you will add to your stock.  Soak the mushrooms for about 15 minutes then skim them out gently. Some sediment may have sunk to the bottom so when you add the mushroom liquor to the stock, make sure this gets left behind.

• Meanwhile, put the chicken stock into a pan and bring to a gentle simmer. This is an important rule when making risotto, to have hot stock.

• Gently sauté the onion in a heavy bottomed, deep pan with some sunflower oil and a small knob of butter. After a few minutes add the sugar. Season with some salt. Then once the onion has started to soften, add the chicken breasts.

• Sauté the chicken for a few minutes and then when all the pink has gone, turn up the heat to get a good sizzle and add the drained mushrooms. Then add the rice and half of the lemon-thyme. It will want to stick to the pan so you need to keep it on the move. It gets fun now.

• When the rice has had a good fry and is starting to look opaque now is the time to throw in a glass of dry white wine. It will have a good sizzle and splutter but keep it stirring, this is all good stuff.

• Having now added the mushroom liquor to the hot stock, you can start adding the stock to the risotto. Do this one ladleful at a time, stirring constantly until all the liquid has been absorbed, then add another and keep this up until all your stock has gone or your rice gets to it’s al dente stage. 

• Now no one likes a stodgy risotto so when you think the rice is almost perfect, I always add a good few ladles of stock to loosen it all up. Then turn off the heat, add the crème fraiche, parmesan, lemon zest and juice and the rest of the lemon-thyme. Taste and season till it is perfect, then bung on the lid and let it rest whilst you spruce up a little salad and muster your hungry.

If you make a few risottos you’ll start to get your own little ‘risotto tricks’ to get that perfect consistency and flavour. I always use up all my stock, so I either make way too much or have a boiled kettle ready to top up if I run out. I love adding lemon zest and juice and sometimes a final splosh of wine at the end of cooking can turn an average risotto into a great one.

Tomorrow I will begin to make a few delivery meals for the trip to Corsica. To be honest it’s only a 36 hour trip and I’m hoping we’ll catch some fish. So what goes in the freezer can stay there for a busy regatta if we do. I’ve stocked my cupboards with sushi-making ingredients in optimistic hope.

So now, if you’ll forgive me I will probably need to turn over and roast the other side of me. And then a nice little dip in the pool I think.

I don’t think I can help myself but I so have the best job in the world. Life at 33 degrees is turning out okay for now.

Thanks a lot for reading. See you next time.

Tasty, Mega Easy, Savoury Mini Scones!

Where to begin? Firstly, Mariquita had the best birthday ever. We had a lovely sail during the day and Jim our esteemed captain bravely relinquished the helm so that we could all have a little steer on her big day. Then as soon as the sails were dropped, down below scarpered Sian and I to chill bubbles and build canapés for the party.

My Turn! The knee pads and gloves don't look so cool at the helm.

Then there was the birthday cake to assemble. Now, baring in mind I only had one day to make all the food, I hope that you’ll understand and forgive me if I said that I used…gritting my teeth…packet cake-mix to make 2 huge cakes needed to feed about 70-80 people. Yep, me. Never done that before. Bit weird. But hey, needs must. I didn’t have the time to make from scratch and we don’t have the budget to buy a pre-made cake from any shop in the Cote D’Azur. And it was a whopper of a cake! I surrounded the cakes with chocolate fingers which was then flooded with chocolate mousse (pre-made; I know!) Then I melted about 6 bars of white chocolate and poured that over the top of the mousse. The decoration was very much an after thought but I think it went well. Anyway, despite the cheating, it was a delicious cake and everybody seemed to get a piece. And surely that’s what counts.

So I must give you the recipe for the mini pecorino and courgette scones that I made. They were so easy, took no time at all and everybody loved them. I will definitely be making them for any large ‘do’ that I ‘do’ in the future. Topped with a small dollop of smoked salmon mousse, a wee sprig of dill and Bob’s your Uncle. And they kept very well over-night (pre-salmon mousse) and I bet they freeze well. So here goes.

For 70-80 mini scones you will need;

700g self raising flour

170g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

250ml plain, natural yogurt

80ml milk.

200g pecorino cheese or parmesan

2 large grated courgettes.

3 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

Tsp salt

Method;

• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and cut the butter into the flour. Work the butter into the flour with your finger tips, running your thumb across your finger tips so that the flour and butter looks like breadcrumbs. This bit can be done in a food processor if you are lucky enough to have one or lucky enough to have the cupboard space to put one in. I digress.

• When you have ‘breadcrumbs’, add the cheese and poppy seeds and just before you add the grated courgettes, taking fistfuls, squeeze as much of the juice out of the courgettes as you possibly can. (You can save this very healthy green juice and freeze for stocks or smoothies if you wish).

• Once all of the ‘squeezed’ courgette has been added, mix all the ingredients together well with a fork.

• Make a well in the flour and courgette mixture and fill with the yogurt and milk. Using a knife, gradually stir the milk and yogurt into the flour and then when it all starts to come together then it’s time to get your hands in. It does all eventually come together as a nice dough but if you think it seems a bit dry then add milk a tbsp by tbsp. It should be a work-able dough that isn’t too wet but definitely not dry.

• Knead the dough on your floured kitchen surface then cut the dough into two pieces to make it easier to roll out. It’s a lot of dough!

• Roll the dough to an inch fat. This makes for nice tall, well risen scones. Then with a 4cm pastry cutter, give it a fast, hard thwack with the palm of your hand, cutting out the scones. Try not to twist the cutter to get through the dough, this will only stop the scones from rising properly and that’s when you get lop-sided scones. It’s a straight down affair.

• Brush the tops of the scones with milk and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C gas mark 6 for 12-15 minutes on a baking sheet.

I baked mine in quite a few batches because my oven is pretty small and ineffective. Actually to be fair it did a grand job that day and I have a strong feeling that my oven is a bit like my old Morris Minor, Barbara, I had when I was a student. If you said anything nasty about her, she would break down on you, guaranteed. So, well done little ‘Force Ten’. You did well.

Of course, if you only wish to make these scones for a small tea party or ‘yeast free’ sandwiches for a picnic/packed lunch then you could halve the recipe and make them full sized. Or served warm, with a gazpacho or a tomato and basil soup would be lovely too. The possibilities are endless.

I really hope I’ve not gone down in your estimations too much with the packet cake mix and that the scones have made up for it. I was very honest.

Oh and by the way, we’re now in Nice. We have moved here for a week before sailing to Corsica. We trained today and will again tomorrow and tonight I finally got round to using that bulging bag of dried Cep mushrooms (Poricini) I bought at the Cannes market. I’ll give that recipe to you next time. Formidable, Tres Bien, they say here!

See you soon and Thanks for coming.

Just took off me pinny.

If you can't stand the heat, get out the galley!

I'll admit it; I'm absolutely exhausted. But very happily exhausted. It's not everyday in my job onboard Mariquita, that I get to cook all day long and that is definately what occured in the galley today. I am even a wee bit surprised at how well my little 'Force Ten' oven coped with it all.  By 'With it all', I mean, 70 mini pecorino and courgette scones, 90 sausage and apple rolls, 50 croustades and 2 ginormous cakes. Not to mention lunch for 8 and dinner for 7. I also made a huge bowl of salmon mousse for the scones and tapenade for the croustades. Phew.

Yummy apple and sausage rolls. And only 80 more to go!

I hope you'll forgive me if I don't put any recipes up tonight. I'll post you some pictures as evidence though and I'll promise to send some recipes soon. I had to sort of make the scone recipe up a bit. I couldn't find a suitable recipe in my small collection of books onboard (weight restriction) but having sampled a few of the little blighters, fresh out of the oven for research purposes, I can assure you that it is a fine recipe. And with my new-found sense of responsibility to record my recipes, I'm sure I've remembered it well.

Slice in half and add a dollop of salmon mousse. Garnish with a sprig of dill. Well, thats the idea anyway.

Mariquita's 100th birthday party is tomorrow after a day out sailing. Mariquita is looking fantastic for her big day. Sian, the stewardess, has been buffing and polishing as fast as her OCD will carry her. The booze is safely stored and my fridge is bulging at the seams. It's so much fun, throwing a party. But I may be pretty tired by the end of it all. I'll have 40 sandwiches to make in the morning for the crews lunch, the cake to decorate, canapes to prepare, a staysail to trim, lines to pull and champagne to drink. I suppose at some point in all that I'll have to try to put some lipstick on and perhaps a frock. And as we all know it's usually wise to get that done before champagne drinking starts in earnest.

But it's not everyday you're One Hundred years old! I wonder what Mariquita was doing, where she was and who was living onboard when she was 33...

Sleep well. I'll let you know how the party goes. Those pesky mosquitos will not be bothering me tonight!

Meatballs in Sauce - Lip-smackingly good!

It’s funny how all the little grammar lessons I learnt at school have come flooding back since I have been writing this blog. Well, I say that and you may be thinking the word ‘flooding’ is a bit strong. Perhaps ‘dribbling’ would be a more accurate description? However, my red and green underlined mistakes according to Word are becoming much less frequent. I like to think that I’m making my old English teacher proud. And hopefully not too shocked or worried. I’ll crack on.

If you had to choose one meal that you had to live off for the rest of your life, what would that be? It’s a very tough and probably an odd question but I made my chosen meal the other day for the crew and had to give you the recipe for Suzy’s Spicy Meatballs. Spicy meatballs in a rich and moorish tomato sauce with black olives, served on a bed of tagliatelle, a peppery rocket salad on the side, with lots of parmesan shavings and a glass of red wine. Absolute heaven. What else is there in life? I’m trying to think…nope, that’s it.

Now the key ingredient here is cumin. Not the most Italian of spices I know but it works and I simply can not make meatballs without cumin now. Well okay I could but I do get a bit stroppy. The cumin adds a real mellow depth and added ‘meatiness’ to the meatballs. A dilemma you might come across is whether to pop one in whole or politely break it up into a tidier mouthful. Though meatballs, sauce and long pasta is never going to be a polite meal is it? Expect to get through a few napkins, don’t wear white and enjoy flinging out some of those table manners for this one. Get stuck in. (Invisible exclamation mark right there)

For 5-6 people, you will need;

For the meatballs;

2 x 500g packs of minced beef                                                                       

1 tbsp dried oregano

look at those little rascals awaiting the pan.

2 tsp fine salt

1 tsp ground cumin

4 thick slices of white bread, crumbed (blitz in a food processor)

3 tbsp milk

Black pepper

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

For the tomato sauce;

2 onions, finely chopped

You guessed it, 1 tsp sugar

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

3 small dried birds eye chilli’s or 1 fresh hot chilli (or as much or as little as you please)

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 cans of tomatoes

A good handful of black olives in brine

A bunch of fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Balsamic vinegar

Method;

• Begin my making the tomato sauce. So that whilst you’re having fun making your meatballs, the sauce can quietly bubble away getting richer, a little thicker and even more delicious.

• In a frying pan gently sauté the finely chopped onions in a little oil. Sauté for about 3 minutes before adding the sugar and then for another 5 minutes so that the onions start to colour a little. Add the celery, garlic and chilli’s, and continue to sauté gently for another 5 minutes. Be careful not to catch the garlic; it’s so bitter if it burns. Give it all a little stir as it cooks and the heat low.

• Add 2 tbsp tomato puree and stir it into the vegetables, letting it have a little sizzle. Then add the 2 cans of tomatoes. If I have any left over red wine hanging about (a rare occurrence but has been known) then this will go in too.

• Season with salt and pepper and about 3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. At this point I will also add the brine from the olives if there is any. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn down the heat and let it sit and simmer without a lid to reduce whist you crack on with the fun part.

• In a small bowl mix the breadcrumbs with the milk and leave to soak for a bit.

• Put your minced beef into a nice big bowl. For 2 packs of minced beef I add about 2 tsp salt. Minced beef does need a good seasoning so don’t be shy with the salt or your meatballs may end up being a little disappointing. Add the cumin, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and give it good long grinding of fresh black pepper.

• Add the soaked breadcrumbs and now it’s time to get your hands in there. Don’t mess about with trying to mix it all up with a spoon, it will take forever. Get both hands in and squelch it all together through your fingers, really mixing it all up well.

• The shaping bit is fun to do with kids and great to get them involved with dinner. Take walnut sized amounts and roll into balls. They really don’t have to be perfectly shaped, rustic is good. I like to make about 4-5 per person.

• You can chill them now at this point to help ‘set’ them, but if they have been rolled well then I do normally go straight ahead and start frying them in a pan and they have never broken up on me yet.

• So with your frying pan on a fairly high heat, add some sunflower oil to the pan and then add about 5-6 of your cute little meatballs at a time to sear them. Don’t add too many or they wont brown very well. I like to move them around every minute or so until they are browned all over and then I plop them straight into the tomato sauce. Keep going until all the meatballs are browned and in sitting happily in your sauce.

• Let the meatballs sit in the simmering tomato sauce for another 20 and then stir in the black olives. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

• When you’re ready to serve with a bowl full of steaming tagliatelli or spaghetti, rip up some fresh basil leaves for garnish. 

• Have some parmesan cheese ready for grating and a bottle of red ready for pouring.

If you are thinking of making this then I’m so excited for you. Let me know how they were please. 

Mariquita is officially 100 years old on Friday! We’re so proud of her and will be throwing a small dock party to celebrate. That’s after a day sailing around in the bay of Cannes. The race training has been going well and we’re all looking forward to our first regatta in Ajaccio in Corsica, starting on the 23^rd May. Would love for you to come along and see how we do.

So many birthdays this time of year. Niki, the bosun had one yesterday. We didn’t quite manage to get her thrown into the water as is the tradition. She put up too good a fight and I had no intention of going in with her. I did make her a 3 layered cake though. One blackberry sponge, one vanilla and one raspberry, sandwiched together with white chocolate icing and covered in strawberries. It was pretty good.

I’ll see you soon, hopefully wiping tomato sauce from your face and looking forward to another recipe to try out on your loved ones. I’ll let you know how the 100th Birthday celebration goes. And hopefully without a headache. See you soon.

 P.S My lemon-thyme plant is thriving so apparently they don't get sea sick.

Butternut, sage and Pancetta Tart. It's Deep.

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in France. And to make it even more beautiful, we have the day off to enjoy it. I love spoiling myself on a Sunday morning with a cheeky breakfast, which today was a boiled egg with 2 pieces of buttered, toasted walnut bread. And although I had no agenda in mind I found myself at the market with my trusty trolley a little while later. You really do fit in with the crowd if you have a trolley in tow so no sniggering at the back please. And boy was there a Sunday crowd.

Today I had the time to enjoy it. I didn’t need anything and so therefore I bought a few things. No pressure to buy, so pleasure-purchasing ensued. I do think you’ll agree that a bulging bag of fat, dried Cep’s, teamed with a fragrant, potted lemon-thyme plant can lead to a pleasing list of dinner ideas. I’ll leave you to ponder that one and move on to ‘Roger’s Pie’, your recipe for today.

The crew attended a ‘Team-building’ course during the week (hence my absence). It was held at our Captain’s home in the French country-side, a great relief from living in the city and an enlightening, few days.

To make things easier for me, we had simple buffet lunches of French bread, cheese and ham’s and salad. But to add a little something warm and pleasing I had made 2 tarts in advance that needed simple heating and serving. Roger’s pie in 2 forms; original and vegetarian.

Roger Smithers was my Dad’s best friend and the Smithers family and our family grew up together. Roger very sadly died at the age of 58 from Prostate cancer. We held the wake at our house and I did the catering. I had planned to cater for 100 people and thought I had it all sussed and organised. But the night before the funeral, I had a small panic attack and decided that there wasn’t nearly enough food, especially if more than a hundred people turned up. Roger was a wonderful guy; 200 hundred people turned up.

It was a case of ‘make what I can from what’s in the house’ and thus ‘Roger’s Pie’ was invented. Quiche is easy enough to make and can feed a lot of people if you make lots of them, but I had only 4 eggs. So instead I made a huge batch of thick, white sauce and added my 4 eggs to that which filled 3 large tarts. It makes for a much creamier tart, without the ‘egginess’ of a quiche and suited the ingredients of the tart very well, being I think a little bit more ‘robust’. It set perfectly well too once cooled.

The filling was my favourite combination of roast butternut, sage, onion and cubetti de pancetta. The vegetarian version replaces the pancetta with feta cheese which gives the same ‘salty’ element to combine with the sweetness of the butternut. It really is such a goody, especially when made with homemade, wholewheat, shortcrust pastry, and it freezes so well. You must make this, you’ll love it.

For Roger’s Pie, you will need;

1 quantity of homemade, wholewheat pastry. (Or bought shortcrust, you know me, I love short-cuts)

1 quantity of white sauce made with whole milk.

2-3 eggs

1 butternut squash cut into thick wedges, skin left on.

2 medium onions, finely chopped

A bunch of fresh sage, around 15-20 leaves

1 pack of Cubetti de Pancetta (Italian lardons basically or use normal UK bacon lardons if you can’t find any)

A good grating of fresh nutmeg

Method;

• Begin by rolling out the pastry and lining your chosen tart tin. With shortcrust, like most pastries, it is not necessary to grease or flour the tart tin first, so just roll it out and bung it in there. Bake blind on gas mark 5 for 15 minutes. (Cut a piece of baking paper that lines the pastry and comes out and over the top edges of the pastry in its tin. Fill with baking beans or a bag of rice as I do, which stops the pastry from rising and the sides from collapsing in. Bake like this for 15 minutes.)

• Take out of the oven to remove the baking beans and paper and put back in the oven for another 5-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool a little. Leave the oven on for the butternut.

• While the pastry is cooking, and your white sauce is cooling, (recipe for white sauce in blog titled, ‘A Glamorous Lunch in Cannes’) roughly chop up the butternut-squash ready for the oven. Drizzle with a little sunflower or olive oil and season with salt and pepper in a baking tray, making sure they are not too cramped together. I do it this way because it’s a lot easier to peel the cooked butternut flesh out of the skins once it has cooked. It can be a lot of hard work peeling one of those little rascals when it’s raw.

• On a fairly high heat, fry the cubetti de pancetta in a small drizzle of sunflower or olive oil till cooked and starting to brown. Set aside.

• In the same pan, gently sauté your finely chopped onions in the bacon fat. Add some salt and pepper and ½ tsp sugar. Continue sautéing until the onion has just started to colour a little. Chop half of the sage leaves up finely and add to the onions, sautéing for another 3-5 minutes. Set aside with the Pancetta.

• When the butternut has roasted and is soft and smelling divine, cool a little before using a sharp knife to peel the flesh out of the skins and chopping, roughly into small bite-sized bits.

• Start to layer up the ingredients in the pastry shell, beginning with the sautéed onions and sage. Then add the pancetta and follow with the butternut.

• Add the beaten eggs to the cooled white sauce and add a good grating of fresh nutmeg. Stir well with a wooden spoon, perhaps giving it all bit of a beating to combine.

• Pour the white sauce over the onions, sage, pancetta and butternut, filling the tart as much as possible (I sometimes give it a good jiggle to ensure the white sauce has got to the bottom) and decorate with the remaining sage leaves.

• Bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes. Leave to cool before serving but it is best left a little warm if you can. It reheats very well too.

Wow, that was a long one. It can be made in stages so that once you’re ready to make one you have the pastry case all cooked, ready to be filled and the white sauce prepped up to a day in advance. But it truly is such great tart to make and enjoy for lunch with a salad. Obviously with the vegetarian version, replace the Pancetta with a pack of feta cheese. I go for a whole pack and break it into big crumbly pieces on top of the butternut. It is super-delicious I promise.

The vegetarian version with feta cheese

I used to make this for a great deli I worked for in the Hamble, Hampshire and apparently some guy used to come in and have it for his breakfast every morning. I’m not sure I can say it’s good with coffee but I guess he thought so. Anyway, the crew loved both versions on our team building course. Oh yeah, I promised photos of our last sailing day, so here they are. As you can see, the weather was a little boisterous but great fun.

I’ll let you know what happens with the cep’s and lemon-thyme. I’m pretty excited.

I hope plants in pots don’t get sea-sick…

 

Natty and Matt on the wet side being very brave.

Enjoying the company of 'Halloween', another beautiful Fife design.

Spooning!

Make Your Own Kitchen Knife! I Did.

It’s peeing with rain today and though we were supposed to go out race training, it’s blowing about 50 odd knots out there, so we cancelled. I’m pleased. It’s a lot of hard work when it’s blowing and we get very wet and very tired. It can be exhilarating if it’s a good race with great competition but today we were just training and we’d have been the only ones out and we don’t want our mast to fall down unless in anger.

Actually we don’t want the mast to fall down at all so even in a race, if it get’s too much for our 100 year old, beautiful, Fife design, gaff rigged cutter – we’d go in. We’d run back home to port.

That’s not to say we haven’t pushed it. Last year’s racing at the Pendennis regatta in Falmouth had us harnessed on and life-jacketed up. The wet weather gear remained wet all week and the staysail team (Matty, my hard-working and trusty number 2) and I did a lot of our job underwater. Mind you, I think we saw a lot more air then Will and his runner’s team did. That was an awesome regatta and we held our own and more against the big-boy-schooners. We were brave.

So whilst down-below, dry and safe, I thought I’d tell you about my kitchen knife. (Blimey, sandwiches, her cabin drawers and now her knife – is she trying to get rid of us?) 

But really, stay! I made it myself. I did! And I really couldn’t recommend it highly enough as a one-off arts and crafts project. It’s really not that difficult, although I did get some very helpful guidance from my Fella who has made a few of his own rigging knives. He’s so clever, my Fella. As well as handsome, did I mention that already?

When you first use it for that true culinary purpose you designed it for, it is the most gratifying moment. Pride, I really can’t say more than that other than that you will be swelling with it.

My Knife. A sturdy cutting machine with a lovely rose wood handle and bronze rivets.

Being a ‘Global’ knife fan (weak wrists me, had the carpel tunnel operation done in both now) which are so lovely and light and sleek, I decided I needed something a bit more robust and solid. I’m not a fan of meat cleavers but wanted something of that calibre. So I designed my own ‘demi-cleaver/butchers knife’.

The steel I used is 440 grade, stainless-steel from the metal supermarket. The exciting bit is that this needs to be hardened by you, in your back garden in a fire. Cool eh?

The handle is made from rose wood and a small bit of ebony near the hilt. Rose wood is lovely and has a distinct smell.

So I chose my favourite design, drew it onto my piece of metal and cut that out with a hack-saw. That really didn’t take too long and wasn’t that hard to do surprisingly.  I then drilled 2 holes into the ‘tang’ to fix my handle on after it had been hardened. The trick is to sharpen your knife (I used an angle-grinder but in doing so you must make sure the metal stays below 150 degrees, or thereabouts.) but don’t sharpen it all the way. You finish off the sharpening after you’ve hardened the knife in your cool, homemade forge. Which could be a fire in a wheel-barrow. Hey, it worked.

Our knife hardening forge. Good excercise too.

So the Fella and I used a wheel-barrow as our forge. We put a hole in the bottom of the wheel-barrow and put a dinghy pump hose into the hole (everybody point at the yachties!) so that once we’d built a fire in the wheel barrow, we could pump a constant flow of air into the fire to get the heat right up.

So before this get’s way too boring and I lose you, (Hello? Hello, anybody there?) I’ll just say that you get your knife to a cherry-red colour which means it has reached the desired, hardened temperature and is now hard. You need to quench the knife as soon as it’s out of the fire, in water or oil. I used oil. Then you can complete sharpening it and put on your handle with rivets. I shaped the handle once it was riveted onto the knife, again with an angle grinder (the best tool ever).

And there we have it, see easy. Actually now I’ve written that down I can honestly say I won’t be making one again but also that I will have this knife forever and feel so good every time I use it. Especially when it’s to butcher a whole, road-kill, wild-boar we picked up off the road during the winter. (Wild-Boar recipe described in blog titled ‘A Week Late!’) That was a very special moment for me and my homemade knife.

Road-kill and a handmade knife. Cool.

So have a go, why not? You could always email me for more detailed instruction and I’ll just ask George, the expert.

Apparently we’re still on for race training tomorrow. Let’s hope we get some of what you guys are getting in the UK this Easter weekend. Here we are in the South of France, the sunny Cote D’Azur. Mmm.

Happy Easter! See you soon.

Quick Moroccan Lamb and Cous Cous

Generally speaking, I’m not much of a planner. Planning entails writing lists and sticking to something. I’d say I was a bit more spontaneous (my mum would say, unorganised). My ‘planning ahead’ is doing a weekly shop in the supermarket and picking up some of what looks good, fresh and in season. And then taking it from there.

I begin cooking the crew lunch after morning ‘Smoko’ (coffee break) this the moment I will look in the fridge and make a decision as to what is on the menu that day. Sometimes I may start cooking and not be absolutely sure where it’s all going. I think the crew have learnt not to ask until about half an hour before I serve it, or the response they could get can go; ‘um, well, it’s going to be mushroomy I think, with some tarragon and possibly some potatoes, so maybe a frittata but could always be a pasta…I’m not really sure yet.

Some might find this stressful but I find it keeps me on my creative toes, keeps the menu fresh and I haven’t repeated many meals so the crew don’t get bored with my cooking; a risk that comes from cooking for the same people every day. Mind you I say this and they may well all be pretty bored of my cooking. Bless ‘em though, they’re doing a good job of hiding it. Thanks guys.

So I did actually plan this recipe ahead, a rare occurrence. I had even cooked it last year I think and thought it would be a good one for the blog because it’s easy, quick, very tasty and though I hate to use the word ‘cheap’ with reference to my cooking, it is. Let’s say budget friendly shall we? That sounds a bit less ‘Oliver Twist’.  I guess writing this blog is helping me become more organised. Oh dear.

I was lucky enough to find a reasonably priced shoulder of lamb for sale and decided to do a Moroccan lamb casserole with couscous. Please don’t switch off just because I said couscous. So many people tell me it’s dull and they don’t like it, but you can make it sooooo delicious I promise.  The crew loved this one (again) and they’re big, strong sailor types so don’t be afraid of the couscous. Love the couscous! 

Morrocan Lamb with couscous

And so for my second meat recipe of this entire blog so far, you will need;

A shoulder of lamb, boned, or leg of lamb would do, or shanks.

2 onions peeled and sliced roughly

2 tsp honey

5 carrots peeled and cut into chunks

All lined up and ready to go. Thats not 5 spice by the way, its cumin.

2 sticks of celery cut into chunks

2 aubergines cut into chunks

3 cloves of garlic, crushed                 

3 tbsp ground almonds               

3 tsp cumin

3 tsp coriander

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp mint sauce or jelly

1 tsp of your homemade Harissa paste (See blog titled ‘A Store Cupboard must have’)

2 tbsp plain flour

1 pint of homemade chicken or lamb stock or use stock cubes if that’s what you have.

I can of drained chick peas

Couscous, wholemeal, medium or whatever is your favourite

Handful of raisins or chopped, dried apricots

½ tsp turmeric

Chicken stock or vege stock

Fresh coriander and mint

Method;

• First begin by searing the lamb in a little sunflower oil. Don’t put too much meat in the pan at once, or it’ll lose its heat and the meat will stew instead of brown.

• Put the lamb aside once it’s all browned and start sautéing the onions, carrots celery and aubergine all at the same time. Told you this was quick and easy.

• Once you’ve stir fried the vege’s for a bit, add the garlic and all the spices and let the heat work on the spices for a few moments.

• Next add the Harissa paste and mint sauce, honey and the flour, let it all combine and then slowly start adding the stock, incorporating all the flour each time you add some stock.

• Season with salt and pepper, add the ground almonds and chick peas then bring to the boil. Once it has come to the boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer very, very gently for an hour or longer if you have it with a lid on.

• For the couscous (I rarely weigh this and go by sight which makes it quicker) put the couscous and a small knob of butter or blob of olive oil into a bowl. Add a little salt, ½ tsp turmeric and some harissa paste if you wish and stir to combine. I put some golden raisins in too but you could add dried apricots or prunes. Pour in boiling stock or water till it sits above the level of the couscous by about 1cm. Put on a heavy plate or cling film to seal and leave for about ten minutes.

• When your nearly ready to serve, you can stir into your couscous some toasted flaked almonds and the chopped fresh coriander and mint. Lovely.

• Taste and adjust the seasoning of the lamb accordingly and serve with the couscous and some flat breads if you wish.

When it comes to everyday food it really needn’t be any more complicated than that but also needn’t be dull or repetitive. This lamb dish is so tasty and cosy but with a light summer lift when served with the couscous and all its fresh herbs. All nutty and fruity.

Any left-over couscous can be stuffed into half peppers later on in the week with some spices, cheese and baked for lunch. Sweet.

As I write this the sky is beginning to cloud over.We’re sailing again tomorrow and the weathers looking a wee bit boisterous so we could be getting wet. I decided on cherry tomato, mozzarella and pesto wraps and smoked mackerel and tuna mayonnaise baguettes. That should keep them happy if it's a hard day out on the water.  


Don't worry Mummy, I'll be wearing my harness. Standard issue on our boat and I tested my harness out last year at the Pendennis regatta in Falmouth so I know it works. All good fun! I promise to take lots of photos. Thanks for reading and see you next time.