Perfect Shortbread

I haven't made shortbread in years, but it is one of the few things I remember making more than once when I was small. The memory of eating pure sugar and butter mix sticks in my head more than the actual shortbread, however, and my fondness for it comes more from tartan wrapped packages of shortbread in hotel rooms rather than homemade. Nonetheless, I read this article on how to make the perfect shortbread, and I was curious. It is an excellent recipe, definitely a biscuit that stands up by itself, as opposed to being the foil to cream and fruit.

I did not have any trouble finding rice flour in the supermarket, but if your local doesn't stock it, I would suggest trying a health food shop, or an Asian supermarket.
My notes are in italics.

Ingredients
115g butter, at room temperature
55g caster sugar (I like to use golden for flavour)
Good pinch of salt
130g plain flour
40g ground rice
Demerara sugar, to finish

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 150C. Put the butter into a large mixing bowl, and beat with a wooden spoon until soft. Beat in the sugar and salt.
2. Sift over the flour and ground rice and mix to a smooth dough; if it doesn't come together, add a little more butter. I found I needed more butter here, and used my hands to finally bring in together.
3. Line a 15cm cake or tart tin with baking parchment, and pat, or lightly roll, the dough into a shape slightly smaller than the tin. Alternatively pat out to 1cm thickness and cut into biscuits and put on a lined baking tray. Put in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes until firm.
4. Bake for around an hour (about half that for biscuits) until cooked through, but not browned. Take out of the oven and cut into fingers, slices or squares. I made mine into biscuits, and at 150C in my (very weak) oven they took over an hour to cook.
5. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then sprinkle with demerara sugar and transfer to a wire rack.

Tomato and Basil Sauce

Tomato and basil sauce for pasta is about as far as you can get from ground breaking but my aim is to build up a comprehensive collection of recipes on my blog which are accessible, rather than a Blumenthal-esque towers-of-soup-recipe blog. I sometimes find myself trying a bit too hard to innovate,. and it's times like these I need something classic to remind myself that simple does not have to mean boring.

A decent tomato sauce is not at all difficult, and very useful. You can use it as the base for other dishes- pizza sauce, the lubrication for meatballs and pasta. It's cheap to make and is pretty non-threatening to children who are fussy eaters (though the basil might be a bit too green).

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
800g tinned tomatoes
Good lump of unsalted butter
pinch sugar (if needed)
Basil leaves, a good handful.

Method
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, fry the onion until softened in the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Once the garlic has release its scent, add the tin of tomatoes. Turn up the heat to medium high, and let it bubble away until thick and pulpy.Stir from time to time, otherwise the bottom will burn. Season with salt and pepper, and some sugar if you think it needs it (I often do). You can add the pepper before this stage, but not the sugar or salt- after reducing it down the flavour will taste too concentrated, so wait until you reach the consistency you like. Stir in a big lump of butter, letting it melt in the residual heat. Just before serving, stir in the basil leaves, torn up roughly with your hands.

Chicken Stock

There is no definitive recipe for chicken stock, what I put in it on one occasion will probably vary the next. I'll always include some onion, carrot and celery, but if I have trimmings from other vegetables, such as the coarse part of leeks, then they will go in too. I always try to include some bay leaves at the very least, but thyme, rosemary and parsley stalks are additions that feature regularly too.

 You can use a leftover chicken carcass from a roast, or a fresh one.  Using a carcass from a roast makes a brown stock, which is rich and full bodied. Uncooked chicken makes a white stock, which is ideal for lighter dishes. Chicken wings make very good stock too, their high proportion of bone is what you want for a stock. Add giblets if you have them, except for the liver, which will make the stock bitter.

Always start with cold water, and only add enough to cover the stock ingredients. Hugh F-W likens it to making tea, if you use one teabag in a large teapot you'll end up with a weak brew. It's tempting to use more water than you should- after all, you'll get more stock- but it won't have much flavour or be able to offer much by way of gelatinous texture, which is the point of making your own stock. Don't let the stock boil when you're making it. Boiling causes the fat to emulsify with the stock which you don't want. Some people will have you clarifying the stock with egg whites and crushed eggshells, I'm content to just skim as much unwanted stock grease as I can off the top.

Ingredients
Chicken bones- e.g. Leftover carcass from a roast chicken, or a fresh chicken carcass or chicken wings

Vegetables- onion, carrot and celery plus any extras, such as leeks, mushroom peelings.

Aromatics- On this occasion, I used a one teaspoon black peppercorns, 2 cloves of garlic, and some rosemary, thyme and parsley.


Method
If you are staring with fresh chicken and want to make a brown stock, start by roasting the bones on a high heat in the oven until they are golden brown.

Put everything in a heavy bottomed saucepan, or a stockpot if you possess one. Cover with cold water, poking any rogue bones or flavourings that stick out back under the water- if they aren't covered, they won't be giving anything to the stock, and you want to extract all the flavour you can.

Slowly bring the water to a simmer, and then turn the heat down to the lowest setting so that the stock just emits a few gentle bubbles. Leave for 2 hours, at the very least, about 5would be perfect. Don't allow it to boil at any point.

Strain the stock twice, once with a colander to remove the large pieces, and then with a sieve, preferably lined with a (clean) piece of muslin to catch everything else. Allow to cool, and place in the fridge. The fat will solidify and settle on the top, and then you can remove it easily with some kitchen roll.

You can keep this in the fridge for about two days or freeze for a later date.

Mayonnaise

I like making mayonnaise, there is something incredibly satisfying about turning two egg yolks, seasoning and oil into an unctuous, wobbly bowl of deliciousness. People might try to scare you out of making it- not only can it curdle, but it has raw egg yolks in it. Ignore any naysayers, and make something that's worth dipping your frites into.

This is a classic recipe, no innovation or twists on my part. I wouldn't dream of it.


Ingredients
Approximately 250ml groundnut oil
2 eggs yolks only
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 heaped tsp mustard powder
1 level tsp fine salt
freshly ground pepper- white if you want to avoid black specks
1 tsp white wine vinegar

Method
Combine the egg yolks, garlic, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl. Give them a whisk to combine them. Drop by drop, add the oil, whisking as you go. Go cautiously at first, make sure each addition of oil has been combined into the egg mixture before the next. Soon your mixture will stiffen, so add the vinegar. Now you can relax slightly, and pour the oil in a thin stream into the eggs with one hand, whisking with the other. When all the oil is added (more or less, depending on how you like it), taste, and adjust the seasoning according to your taste.