POTATO SALAD WITH ROSEMARY ROASTED FENNEL AND CREAMY MUSTARD AND HONEY DRESSING

Spring makes me think in new ways and I have now been thinking about potato salad for a while. Potato salad makes me think spring and it makes me think summer for some reason but I wanted to do a 'last of the winter potato salad' so I used fennel because here in Italy it is a winter-spring vegetable, well at least to me, after a long winter I usually don't buy fennel even though it is available in spring (and now I am talking about the calendar one, not the one I apply as soon as I can feel spring in the air) so to me it is definitely a vegetable for the colder season. But to make it a more interesting ingredient in a potato salad, I roasted it with a little rosemary and extra-virgin olive oil and made a creamy mustard and honey dressing for the whole thing. I loved it and I hope you will love it too!





POTATO SALAD WITH ROSEMARY ROASTED FENNEL AND CREAMY MUSTARD AND HONEY DRESSING
2-3 servings

salad:
6 medium potatoes
1 large fennel bulb
the white part of a small leek
rosemary, finely chopped
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

dressing:
1 tblsp Dijon mustard, I used whole-grained
1 tsp honey
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tblsp sunflower oil or some other mildly flavoured type
4 tblsp fresh cream

- Trim the fennel bulb and then cut it it into thin wedges. Put them in an oven-proof form, sprinkle them with salt and pinch or two of chopped rosemary and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft and slightly golden.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water and cut them into pieces when ready. Slice the leek thinly and add to the potatoes in a bowl.
- Mix the ingredients for the dressing.
- Add the fennel wedges to the salad and drizzle the dressing all over it. Mix well.

Back! The London Report

I have to confess that I didn't take many photos in London but I am full of mental images! We had a great time, walking, talking and walking, going to places from the past and to completely new ones thus making the whole trip a completely new experience to remember. The hotel was great, stylish and very clean but with small, essential rooms and with a green policy that I think is great as well. It was good to retire there in the evenings and I even got to see Julie and Julia, I didn't feel like seeing it but I am happy I did because the parts with Meryl Streep are so good, both because she is a good actress but also because Julia Child is/was such an inspiring person. The food blog parts I didn't like, I found them boring and I wish they had just made a film about Julia Child instead, it would have gained a lot from that in my eyes. See, I did find something to complain about.



I managed to meet up with an old food blogging friend, Johanna from thepassionatecook, a truly lovely woman who I hope to meet soon again! Maybe we will if the logistics over here work because there is a European food blogger's conference 4-6 June in London.



But we didn't only walk, we ate and drank as well. My birthday dinner (because this was a birthday gift trip) was at a really nice restaurant, About Thyme. Good food for very reasonable prices in a nice place and above all, incredible service, they made us feel as if we were dining in a three star restaurant! It was a memorable evening. I also spent enjoyable hours sipping cocktails in the Aethenaum hotel in Mayfair with K and a very old friend that I hadn't seen for 20 years but it was as if we had met yesterday, that is how it is with true friends I find, you just go on where you left it.



Yesterday I was supposed to meet up with the food photographer Marie-Louise Avery (who I regard a bit like my guru) in her studio but I, my stupid twit, forgot her mobile number and I couldn't get into my email account from the hotel so I did some sentimental walking on my own in the basking spring sun. And then I went home and it is so nice to back with my family. And with you too!

ORANGE DRENCHED SPONGE CAKE DESSERT WITH YOGHURT AND WHIPPED CREAM

I really shouldn't be sitting here in front of the computer but start thinking about what to bring with me tomorrow on my London trip, it still seems so unreal that I haven't really planned anything much. And let's not forget there is a general strike on tomorrow which means that I have no idea when I will go; the silly thing is that I have been worrying about British Airlines going on strike and then the strike is here in Italy instead. Typical. But as many other things here in Italy, strikes tend to be unorganized or maybe it is the systematic Swede in me who thinks that when there is a strike going on, it should be total and not spread out in flecks. I am obviously a totalitarianist if that is something you can be and I blame it on my roots, a certain rigid edge that has been softened after many years in Italy (and I am grateful for that).



This is a dessert I made some time ago when I had lots of oranges and a sponge cake on the dry side, I wanted to use them both and in order to avoid that it got too sweet, I decided to mix whipped cream with a nice thick yoghurt that gave it a nice twist. This is a recipe sketch and you can add and subtract ingredients to make it suit your taste.





ORANGE DRENCHED SPONGE CAKE DESSERT WITH YOGHURT AND WHIPPED CREAM

freshly squeezed orange juice
honey or sugar
sponge cake, better if it is a bit dry
fresh cream
nice full fat natural yoghurt
chopped walnuts

- Cut the sponge cake into pieces, finger style is a good form.
- Put orange juice and honey in a small pan, 2/3 juice to 1/3 honey, and simmer until it has thickened and become syrupy. Leave to cool down a little.
- Whip the cream until it folds nicely, not to firm as it makes it difficult to mix with the yoghurt. Add the yoghurt (50/50 of cream and yoghurt) and whisk another 15 seconds until it has blended nicely.
- Soak the sponge fingers in the orange syrup and put a layer in a bowl or small bowls, then add some of the whipped cream before you put another of couple of sponge fingers in the bowl. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream, sprinkle chopped walnuts over and finish it with a drizzle of orange syrup.