Dinner party poussin

Sorry, this turns out to be a bit blurry. But you can get the idea.

One solution to a dinner party crisis - especially if you are not a magnificently confident cook (who is?!) - is to throw a lot of money at the problem.

I don't like doing this, because I have been brought up to think that if I do not buy all my clothes from H&M and make dinner out of half a loaf of stale bread and some turnips then I am wretched and profligate and will probably go to hell. Although when you're from a family as protestant in thought and word and deed as mine, hell is a far too good, interesting and racy place for sinners.

This is why I'm always cooking cabbage.

But it is a fact that you can just go out and spend a lot of money and throw an impressive dinner party. Like doing this Lucas Hollweg thing I found in the Sunday Times the other week. I don't have much time for Lucas Hollweg normally - partly because he says things like "I cooked this for my book group and they loved it!!!!!" but mostly because he's got a fucking wicked job and I am not big enough NOT to hate him for it.

Nigella's always going on about how marvellous poussin are for a party and my objection has always been meanness. "£3.99 each?!?!" I find myself screaming silently to myself. "Absolutely not. They can have boiled ham and carrots."

But if you are half-minded to unload some cash, poussin are a good idea - as everyone gets one each, so you don't have to do any tedious carving and they're more festive, somehow.  The idea is to pile up the poussin in a bowl and everyone helps themselves in that modern, faux-naif, nauseatingly bourgeois way.

Lucas does this with a sort of middle-eastern marinade thing, which works pretty well and smells great. It also means that you can do this with a salad and couscous, rather than dicking about with a lot of veg.

This is not his exact recipe, but it's kind of the same idea.

For 3 poussin you need the following quantities for the marinade:

4 tbs olive oil
1 tbs groundnut oil
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp paprika - any sort
3 crushed garlic cloves

Soak the birds in this mixture for as long as you can. Ideally for a few hours, but even one hour makes a difference. If you've got a lot of poussin, increase the quantities of your marinade accordingly.

Then sprinkle over with salt and roast at 180C for 35-40 mins.

If you're doing this with couscous, add to it some lemon juice, coriander, salt and pepper, chopped cucumber and toasted pine nuts. We also had this with some minted yoghurt, which was just a lot of fresh mint chopped up and added to Greek yoghurt with some salt and pepper.

V nice. If pricey.

Hello from Healdsburg!

Michele and I just finished our 15th Passport to Dry Creek Valley event at the magnificent Frick Winery, and this may have been our best year yet! We are dead tired and heading out to dinner, but I wanted to share a few shots of the menu and pairings. We got so many wonderful compliments, which really makes all the hard work worthwhile. We have to give a HUGE thanks to our sous chef Elizabeth Howes, from Saffronlane.com. She was truly a delight to work with, and a pros pro.

We'll be back into San Francisco tomorrow afternoon, and things will get back to normal soon. I do have a new video right around the corner, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the photos!

Green Goddess Seafood Nachos - Dungeness Crab, Shrimp and Lobster Cream Cheese on Green Avocado Chip. Paired with Grenache Blanc and Viognier.

The Classic - Cambozola Cheese on Fig Bread with Fresh Strawberries. Paired with Cinsaut Rose and Cinsaut

Sausage Skewers Deluxe - Italian Sausage Skewered with Luxardo Maraschino Cherry and Fennel Pollen. Paired with Counoise and Grenache.

"Main Line" Philly Cheesesteak - American Kobe Beef with Truffle “Cheez Wiz” and Peppadew and Jalapeno Pepper Relish. Paired with Carignane and C2 North Coast Red Rhone Blend.

Duck ala SFQ - Duck Leg Confit, SFQ Barbeque Sauce and Scallions on Chocolate Tortilla Chips, with Duck Crackling and Orange Gremolata. Paired with Syrah and Cotes Du Dry Creek.

View of the winery from the Kobe grilling station. What a gorgeous morning it was.

For more information about all the great Frick wines mentioned above, check out the winery website. Cheers!

Bread and cabbage soup

It's really hard when you have a baby and none of your friends do, to not be a massive arsehole about it. I mean doing that thing where when they say something like "I was in the shower the other day..." and you respond with "A SHOWER!!!!! I haven't washed since 1978!!! You can't when you've got a BABY YOU KNOW. WHEN YOU HAVE A BABY YOU'LL UNDERSTAND!!!!"

Or similar responses to tales of mini-breaks, lie-ins or trips to the cinema.

I'm mostly pretty sanguine about stuff like that. Whatevs. I chose to have a baby. And I'm pleased about it - mostly because I'm bored with mini-breaks and trips to the cinema. And Kitty sleeps now so I get to have my lie-in. I mean, until 7am.

But the other day someone suggested that they might come round for lunch. Not that they might bring round lunch for us all, but they might come round for lunch. That I would make for them to sit down and eat.

Lunch. Now lunch is something I haven't cooked and eaten in my own home for a long, long time. I've got other shit to do. Even on the weekend. And that's fine - I've always thought lunch was boring as hell. Now I eat cheese sandwiches at 12.45pm and very happy I am with it, too. But the suggestion that I am going to cook, on a weekend, lunch for other people? Are you. Fucking. Out. Of. Your. Mind?

I did not say this. I kept it to myself. They don't understand - and that's okay. One day they will understand and by then Kitty will be about 10 and making ME fucking lunch and mixing me gins and tonic and I'll laugh until I'm sick.

But, as I said, Kitty sleeps now and goes to bed at 7pm sharp. So dinner - now dinner is a thing that we're getting back on track. (I mean, not for other people - one step at a time, pal.) And the other night, in my ongoing obsession with cabbage, (I do not understand it, but it is a fact), I made Jamie Oliver's Italian cabbage soup and it was out of this world. Really, really amazing - I can't recommend it highly enough.

I did this for 2, so the quantities are quite small, but don't fret too much about exact amounts if you are doing this for more people, because it's only a soup for god's sake

Jamie's Italian cabbage soup, for 2

6 savoy cabbage leaves - not the horrid leathery outer ones, stalks removed and roughly chopped
2 handfuls of curley kale or cavolo nero
5 or 6 slices of 1in-thick sourdough - or you could use ciabatta. Is that sourdough? I'm never sure
1 large clove garlic
4 rashers bacon or pancetta, chopped
4 anchovies - please, picky eaters, do not leaves these out. It won't taste like fish I PROMISE, it'll just taste savoury
2 pints chicken stock - you really need actual chicken stock here
2 handfuls parmesan
2 handfuls pecorino - Jamie's recipe specified fontina but Waitrose didn't have it so I used pecorino and it was very nice
1 stalk rosemary, leaves picked
3 sage leaves
some olive oil
salt and pepper

1 Bring the chicken stock to a simmer and cook the greens until soft - about 3 mins. Then remove to a bowl, leaving the chicken stock in the pan.

2 In a casserole dish heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and then fry the bacon and anchovies until the bacon is coloured, then add the rosemary leaves and the sage and cook for another 2 minutes

3 Then put back in the greens, toss them about and then put back in the bowl

4 Lightly toast your sourdough and then rub one side of each with the cut face of the garlic

5 To assemble your soup, put 1 or 2 slices of bread on the base of the casserole pan, then some cabbage, salt and pepper, some of each cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. Then repeat until all your bread, cabbage and cheese is gone - finishing off with bread sprinkled over with cheese.

6 To finish pour your stock in and shove in a 180C oven for 30 mins. I did 15 mins with lid on and then 15 mins with lid off because I didn't want the top to burn and it worked out really well.

Just don't expect me to make it for you for lunch.

Food Wishes is a Finalist in the 2011 Saveur Magazine Best Food Blog Awards!

It is with much pride and happiness that I announce Food Wishes has been chosen as a video category finalist for the 2011 Saveur Magazine Best Food Blog Awards! Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate us! This is an extra special honor since the finalists were actually chosen by a panel of live human editors, and not simply by most online votes.

Speaking of which, this final round IS done by popular vote. You've all been so supportive in the past regarding various awards and recognitions, and I'm sure I can count on you again! Please go to the 2011 Saveur Magazine Best Food Blog Awards page, and cast your vote. Thanks!!

My Snackpicks' No-Bake Macaroni & Cheese with Crunchy Cheez-It Gratin

One thing a cook never stops searching for is the perfect macaroni and cheese topping. If it's crunchy, or has the potential to be crunchy, we'll try it as a topping. This time, a handful of Cheez-It crackers, toasted in butter, are taking their turn, deliciously covering this creamy, no-bake mac and cheese.

By the way, just because I'm using this on a no-bake recipe, doesn't mean you can't use this in the traditional way. If you want to try this cheesy topping for a regular macaroni and cheese, just toss the crumbs and Parmesan in melted butter, but don't crisp it up in the pan. The topping will brown during the baking time, and will come out just as nicely.

This recipe is part of a series of eight snack videos I did for Kellogg's Snackpicks.com. When you click on the video player below, you'll be taken to their great snack-filled website to view the video and get the written instructions. If you have questions or comments, please come on back and post them here. Thanks, and enjoy!

Chicken with Chipotle and Green Onion Gravy - Practice Makes Pan Sauces Perfect

I know it's Easter Sunday, but the show must go on. I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this delicious chicken with chipotle and green onion gravy recipe, but this week is so insanely busy, I wanted to get it up as soon as it was ready.

Nothing groundbreaking this time, just a simple exercise in pan gravy perfection. If I only had one day to teach someone how to cook, you better believe this archetypal sauce recipe would be one of the first things I'd demonstrate.

This entire procedure takes about 20 minutes, and the basic technique can be adapted countless ways. I usually avoid those yawn-inspiring, "Easy Weeknight Dinner" recipe lists, but this fits that description perfectly.

It's also a great random chicken recipe generator. You could make this same dish every Thursday night for a year, and by switching up the flavorings and spices, never have the exact same recipe twice. You can also recklessly rotate the starchy, gravy-absorbing side dishes, as this shines with any manner of rice, pasta, or potatoes.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your holiday, don't eat too many leftover Easter eggs, and the next time you're looking for an easy weeknight dinner, give this chicken and gravy recipe a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

3/4 cup chicken broth, or as needed to adjust thickness

1/2 teaspoon chipotle, or to taste

2 tablespoons minced green onions

Some Happy Easter Lamb Ideas

I want to wish everyone who celebrates, a Happy Easter tomorrow! No fresh new holiday-appropriate video to post today, but since lamb is such a classic Easter dish, I wanted to share some of my favorite lamb recipes from posts past.

All of these would make for a lovely Easter dinner tomorrow. For dessert I'd go with hollow chocolate rabbits and marshmallow peeps. Enjoy!

Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb

Toasted Sesame and Root Beer Glazed Lamb

Grilled Lamb Chops with Orange and Fresh Mint Sauce

Jinx-Proof Braised Lamb Shanks

Grilled Lamb Steaks with Minted Honey Sherry Vinaigrette