Preparation time: 10 minutes plus overnight soaking
Cooking time: 35 – 45 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Makes: Enough for four

Ingredients

• rolled oats – 50g
• strong white flour – 200g
• ½ small onion – finely chopped
• 1 large egg
• fast action yeast – ½ tsp
• baking powder – ½ tsp
• 1 good handful parsley – roughly chopped
• salt – a little under 1 tsp
• butter – for frying

The night before you fancy a tasty pikelet, put the oats in a large bowl, pour over 500ml of boiling water and leave until warm. Beat in the yeast, 150g of the flour and the onion, cover the bowl and leave overnight at room temperature.

Next morning, beat in the egg, the remaining flour, salt, baking powder and parsley.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

While this is happening, prepare whatever it is you want to eat with your pikelets – grilled tomatoes, bacon, sausages, baked beans, etc.

Place a little butter in a frying pan, heat and ladle in the batter to make small pancakes.

When the top has just set, flip over and cook the other side.

Keep your pikelets warm as you cook the rest of the batch.

Serve.

Verdict: These would make a great weekend breakfast/brunch/elevensies/lunch/tea/snack. They go particularly well with a fry-up.

Drink: Parsley Pikelets and MasterChef are best enjoyed with a glass of wine.

Entertainment: ‘MasterChef’ of course. Despite Gregg slightly shifting the emphasis of his catch phrase from ‘DOES-n’t‘ to ‘COOK-ing‘, this latest series is reassuringly similar to the last. The one RADICAL departure from the format is the selection of an extra finalist if the contestants are considered too good to split “Choosing between you two was very difficult, soooooooooo………….you’re both going through.” The converse also happens if the standard is low. This now seems to happen so frequently it has become a new MasterChef cliche. And talking of cliches, if India Fisher says “The contestants have been on their feet 6 hours now but there is no let up as they return to MasterChef HQ…etc.” once more I’ll …………

Blogger-D’s comment on Guardian Online

I’m guessing that the amount of publicity given to 6Music these past few days must have done quite a bit to their listenership, I hope it has. Thompson and his fellow idiots should check out the figures and listen to their audience of proper music lovers. Does the BBC not exist to provide for the people?

6Music is the best music radio station this country has ever had, it’s audience loves it with the passion of the true music fan.

I am way past listening to Radio 1 and will never be old enough to listen to Radio 2. I give you the track list for this morning’s breakfast shows:

6Music

Depeche Mode, Jonsi, REM, Camera Obscura, Local Natives, Don Drummond and the Skatalites, The Clash, Mumford and Sons, Gorillaz, The Smashing Pumpkins, Dum Dum Girls, The Go-Betweens, Groove Armada, Madness, Toots & The Maytals, Goldfrapp, The Dells, Cocteau Twins, James, Robert Pollard, David Bowie, Mlle Car & Franck Garcia, Tom Robinson Band, The Strange Boys, Flash and the Pan, The Big Pink, The Stems, The Waterboys, 2Pac, Arctic Monkeys, Bob Dylan, Yo La Tengo, Sam Sparro, XTC

Radio 2

Diana Ross, Cat Stevens, Kelly Rowland, Madness, Amy MacDonald, Mariah Carey, The Beatles, Paloma Faith, Bread, Free, Elvis Presley, Bryan Ferry, The Police, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Jason Mraz, Gabriella Cilmi, Queen, Mary J Blige, The Mavericks, The Velelettes, Mika, The Righteous Brothers, Dire Straits, Madonna, Dusty Springfield, The Isley Brothers, Mamas Gun

Evolution vs Devolution

It has to be stopped.

Join the debate

‘From concept to the last sprig of garnish by Fanny and Johnnie Cradock’

No3, published by Purnell in 1970, every Thursday, price 4′6. The issue which brought you Fanny’s infamous ‘Banana Candles’

Click on the images for larger view in Flickr.

Save 6 Music – sign the petition

Click below for more pages plus a selection of recipes for invalids including Virolised Milk Jelly, Nourishing Lemonade, Invalid Pudding, Restorative Jelly, Fish Custard and Gruel.

Something funny to look at while you are waiting

A range of four T-Shirts inspired by last night’s viewing of George Lucas’ little known and very strange 1970 classic ‘THX 1138′. Click here to visit our shop.

The offer of some Valentine themed goodies from our friends at Interflora and a cooking apron from our latest chums at The Last detail, prompted us to cook up something which would make an ideal romantic dinner for two. Besides, it was the day before the day before Blogger-D’s birthday – reason enough to dig out the pasta maker, dust off the Royal Doulton and open up the Imperial Banqueting Suite here at Yumblog Hall.

If you would like to win an Interflora hamper, enter this competition

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 – 45 minutes
Skill level: Medium. This recipe assumes some knowledge of making fresh pasta and ravioli as I was too lazy to explain everything in detail.
Makes: Enough for 2 although you will probably have some of the filling left over

Ingredients

For the pasta:

• pasta flour – 115g
• 2 eggs
• salt

For the filling:

• ricotta cheese – 150g
• 1 egg yolk
• parmigiano-reggiano cheese – grated – 65g
• parsley – chopped – 4tbsp
• nutmeg
• salt

For the sauce:

• 400g tin of tomatoes
• celery – finely copped – 2tbsp
• carrots – finely copped – 2tbsp
• onion – finely copped – 2tbsp
• butter – 40g
• double cream – 50ml
• s & p

To make the sauce, put all the sauce ingredients apart from the cream into a saucepan and cook uncovered at the slightest simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the cream and adjust the seasoning.

Turn up the heat a little and simmer for a further minute stirring continually.

The sauce is now ready to serve.

…and here are the flowers which went with the chocolates

To make the dough, combine the flour, eggs and a pinch of salt to make the dough. Add more flour if too wet, or a little water if too dry.

Knead for 8 minutes, wrap in cling film and set aside until needed.

For the filling put the parsley, ricotta, parmesan, egg yolk, salt and a pinch/grating of nutmeg into a bowl and mix together with a fork until fully combined.

Use your pasta machine to roll out the pasta.

Cut out small circles using a pastry cutter.

Spoon a small amount of the filling into the centre of half of the pasta circles.

Wet the edges and lay over the rest of the pasta circles and gently squeeze together to form a seal.

When finished, set aside on a floured surface until required.

Cook in plenty of salted boiling water for a few minutes.

Spoon the ravioli into the serving dishes and pour over the sauce.

Verdict: Great pasta. Great sauce. Great meal. Happy Valentines day.

Drink: A little for her, considerably more for him.

Entertainment: Part 1 of the totally absorbing ‘Mesrine‘ on DVD. Buy it, rent it, steal it, kick a journalist to death for it, but just watch it. Vincent Cassel is superb.

Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 6
Recipe: David Myers and Simon King aka The Hairy Bikers

Ingredients

• double cream – 500ml
• caster sugar – 4 tbsp
• 3½ gelatine sheets
• raisins – 2 tbsp
• dark rum – 2 tbsp
• ground ginger – ¼ tsp
• ground allspice – ¼ tsp
• ground nutmeg – to taste
• 1 small handful berries, such as redcurrants, to serve

Place the raisins into a small bowl and cover with the rum. Set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, soak the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water until softened. Drain and squeeze out any excess liquid using your hands.

In a heavy-based pan, heat the double cream, sugar and ground spices. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and simmer for 2-3 minutes, whisking until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat and whisk in the drained gelatine until dissolved. Drain the raisins and stir into the cream mixture (discard the soaking liquid).

Spoon the mixture into six moulds or ramekins. Set aside to cool completely, then cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least two hours, or until set.

To serve, dip the ramekins briefly into hot water to loosen each panna cotta and turn out onto serving plates. Scatter over some redcurrants to garnish.

Verdict: As we were at our Christmas residence in Berlin there were no ramekins, so a single bowl had to be employed; it took a little longer to extricate the Cotta from this receptacle but nonetheless it popped out in the end. The dessert was well set and super rich. The suggested portions are undoubtedly correct so if you see what you deem to be a small portion in front of you, fear not, you will be sated. The spices with the rum and the raisins give it the flavour of a delightfully creamy Christmas pudding, though obviously there needn’t be any seasonal constraints on its consumption

Drink: Don’t forget to knock back the raisin infused rum.

Entertainment: The Bickering of the Sisters, an occasional event that is literally not a joy to behold, even for the participants, doesn’t even require the fuel of alcohol, but the presence of a parent is usually sufficient as a catalyst.