There’s something frugal and maybe a little dull about a dessert called “Baked Fruit”, but it’s a real cracker. I was intrigued to try it because there must be a recipe for the dish in almost every trendy cookbook available these days. I know Jamie and Nigella certainly have them.
I had some nectarines to hand but you can experiment with whatever fruit you like (I believe rhubarb and figs work very well).
Halve and stone one large nectarine per person. Arrange (cut side up) in a baking dish. Dust each piece fruit of with a little caster sugar (I used vanilla sugar) and add a few drops of brandy over the fruit. Bake in the oven at 240°C for about 12 minutes. It’s excellent served with rich mascarpone, sweetened with some vanilla sugar.
Strawberries and vinegar might not sound like a likely combination, but this makes a fantastic and easy dessert. Take a large punnet of strawberries, enough for two people. Wash, hull and slice the berries into a bowl. Mix a teaspoon of caster sugar with a teaspoon of good balsamic vinegar and add to the sliced strawberries. Mix gently then cover with cling film and allow the berries to macerate for an hour or so.
Serve with a blob of mascarpone, sweetened with a little vanilla sugar.
Serves 2.
Grind a garlic clove with a big pinch of rock salt, then add it to about 100g of softened butter. Add a grind of black pepper and some finely chopped parsley. Now, here’s a tip I picked up from one of Rick Stein’s programmes: add a little splash of brandy to the garlic butter. Mix well. Goes particularly well with a charred and bloody steak.
A nice variation would be to use a little chopped tarragon instead of the parsley.
I’d be hard pressed to pick a favourite item from my ever-growing collection of kitchen gadgetry. But, my cast-iron grill pan is absolutely indispensable. A steak isn’t the same unless it’s cooked on a proper grill pan. My beloved pan has recently been growing a healthy layer of rust while I wasn’t looking. I bought some delicious looking rib-eye steaks today which I plan on cooking tomorrow, so it’s time for action.
Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of information on the web concerning pan seasoning; a lot of it conflicting, a lot of it surplus to requirements. Here then, is my simple guide to seasoning your cast-iron pan. You’ll need some vegetable oil and plenty of kitchen paper. I’d also recommend using some disposable gloves for this, it’s a messy job.
- Pre-heat the oven to 140°C/280°F.
- Remove any rust or encrusted food particles by scrubbing well with a “Brillo” pad or some steel wool and detergent.
- Coat the pan liberally with oil using a cloth or some kitchen roll. You need to be generous with the oil and rub it in with your kitchen roll. When the pan is fully coated, use some more kitchen roll to remove an excess oil.
- Leave the pan in the oven for 1 hour. The idea here is to bake the oil into the pores of the cast-iron, thereby preventing corrosion.
- Let the pan cool fully and remove any excess oil with some kitchen roll.
How do I prevent my pan from rusting again?
Unless you’re extremely careful, every cast-iron pan will need to be re-seasoned occasionally.
To maintain the pan, never ever use washing-up liquid to clean it. In future, when you’ve finished cooking and the pan is still hot, add some water and allow it to sizzle. Use a spatula to loosen any bits of food clinging to the pan. Transfer the pan to the sink and clean lightly with hot water. Just never use detergent as it removes the film of oil, which allows it to rust.
