Heavenly Bites

Christmas in London

2011-12-21T13:21:00.000Z

Last Friday we took a trip into London to go and see the English National Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum. It was magical! As was the rest of London at Christmas - take a peek ......

Easy Christmas Dessert - Lemon Meringue Roulade

2011-12-14T14:10:00.001Z

If you're looking for a nice, light Christmas day dessert then look no further. It's dead easy and looks mighty impressive.

This recipe taken from the British Lion Eggs website is now a firm family tradition and Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it.

· 4 large egg whites

· 225g/8oz caster sugar

· 1 tsp almond essence

· 1 tsp raspberry or white wine vinegar

· 50g/2oz ground almonds

· 1-2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted

· 6 tbsp lemon curd

· 300ml/1/2pt crème fraiche

· 1 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

· A few fresh raspberries to decorate

· Raspberry or mango coulis to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3, 10 minutes before baking. Line a Swiss roll tin with a single sheet of greaseproof or baking paper and reserve.

2. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and standing in peaks then gradually whisk in the sugar 1 spoonful at a time. When all the sugar has been added, carefully stir in the almond essence, vinegar and then the ground almonds. Mix lightly together.

3. Turn into the lined Swiss roll tin smooth the top and tap the tin lightly on the work surface to remove any air bubbles. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top is pale golden and feels firm and set. Remove from the oven and leave until cold.

4. When ready to serve, whip the crème fraiche until thick, reserve. Invert the cooled roulade onto a large sheet of greaseproof or baking paper, sprinkle with the icing sugar and carefully strip off the lining paper. Spread with the lemon curd and then the crème fraiche. Leave for a few minutes to allow the roulade to soften then carefully roll up. (You will find that the roulade cracks slightly on rolling.)

5. Place on a serving platter, sprinkle with the toasted almonds and decorate with the raspberries and serve.

Cooks note: don't worry if the meringue cracks when you roll it up - it just adds to the "yule log" effect. Plus a bit of icing sugar sprinkled over through a sieve covers up a multitude of sins.

Gluten-free Christmas Tiffin Road & Amaretti Tiffin Road

2011-12-14T12:13:00.003Z

This recipe is a cross between tiffin and rocky road, so I call it Christmas Tiffin Road. Instead of marshmallows I use chopped up Crunchies Bars, which gives it even more texture. These little treats are very easy to make and make wonderful homemade gifts but make sure you keep a batch for yourself because they're highly addictive!

To make a different kind of tiffin road [for those who aren't gluten intolerant] you can use amaretti biscuits and white chocolate instead. As I did in the photo above.

250g dark chocolate, chopped or bashed in a freezer bag with a rolling pin

150g milk chocolate, chopped or bashed in a freezer bag with a rolling pin

175g butter – salted or unsalted – I use salted

4 tbsp golden syrup

200g gluten-free shortbread biscuits – I used Waitrose Shortbread Biscuits - bashed in a freezer bag into biggish chunks - keep the rubble

150g brazil nuts, chopped into chunks – one nut cut into about three pieces

150g sour cherries or dried cranberries – I prefer sour cherries

125g pistachio nuts – left whole

3 Crunchie bars – bashed into small chunks – keep the rubble

White chocolate stars for decoration or edible glitter or any other festive decoration

Line a 25cm/10in x 30cm/12in baking tray with greaseproof paper

Place both chocolates, butter and golden syrup into a heavy-based saucepan. Cook over a low heat to melt, stirring occasionally

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the crushed biscuits and nuts

Add the berries and stir

Lastly, add the Crunchie bits and fold in [make sure you do this last, as if the mixture is still too war the honeycomb bits will dissolve]

Smooth the surface as much as possible but it will still be “rocky”

Sprinkle with white chocolate stars, however only do this once the mixture has cooled a bit, otherwise they may melt

Refrigerate for two hours or until mixture has just set but is still soft enough to cut

Remove block of rocky road from the baking tray

If using edible glitter, sprinkle with glitter

Using a very sharp knife cut into approx. 24 pieces

Gluten-free Mince Pies

2011-12-06T13:07:00.007Z

What happens when you cross a person who was brought up a Jehovah's Witness [in case you don't know they don't celebrate Christmas] with someone, who at 46, loves Christmas as much as a 4 year old?

The answer is........... you get a lot of compromise going on. Compromise and negotiation which would put United Nation peace negotiators to shame!

Here is a prime example of how we view Christmas - my favourite Christmas film is Bad Santa - his favourite film is "Elf", followed closely by "Miracle on 42nd Street". That pretty much sums things up nicely.

Our first Christmas together Pixie bought me [at the age of 40] my first ever advent calendar. Not just any old cardboard calendar from the supermarket. Oh no, a proper fabric, embroidered calendar with little pockets, which he proceeded to fill - on 01 December - with a mixture of individually wrapped tiny chocolates. He still has the advent calendar from his childhood.

Every year, since we met 6 years ago, I've been de-humbugged ever so slightly. I can't say I look forward to it exactly but I don't dread it quite so much.

Last weekend I baked my very first batch of gluten-free Mince Pies using this recipe from BBC Good Food. They turned out great - as you can see below.

Cooks tips:

My one tweak [and I always make a tweak it seems] is that I find fruit mincemeat too sweet, so I substituted some of the mincemeat with dried cranberries to add some tartness. It worked a treat.

As suggested in the recipe, I used Sainsbury's Finest fruit mince meat. Which is for all intents and purposes gluten-free. There was an allergy warning on the label was that it wasn't 100% guaranteed gluten-free because of the manufacturing environment. So for those who are ultra gluten intolerant you should look for a totally gluten-free version.

p.s am I the only one who finds Billy-Bob Thornton sexy?

Easy and foolproof Risotto - Bacon and Leek

2011-11-17T15:32:00.016Z

I first time I tasted risotto was about 16 years ago. I was vegetarian at the time and a friend made me porcini risotto. I absolutely loved it! I took to ordering it in restaurants because often it was the only decent vegetarian option on the menu but never tried to make it for myself.

A couple of years later I started going out with an Italian. His family lived in a town outside Milan and owned a Deli. I literally had the contents of an entire Italian Deli at my disposal but because I was a devout veggie I didn't touch any of the lovely cured meats, homemade ravioli and the like. Now I must tell you that I wasn't a veggie because I disliked meat. Oh no, I bloody loved the stuff - in fact salami is in my top ten foods. I was the only veggie I know who loves meat and spent 12 years denying myself the pleasure of it.

Each time I visited Italy it was an exercise in deprivation and frustration. His family thought I was odd anyway. I had very short hair - think Dolores O'Riordan from the Cranberries - and my shoe choice of the time was Vegan Doc Martens. This did not sit well with the fur-wearing, stilleto teetering, long "blonde" haired clones. Anyway I digress...........

The next time I tasted risotto my "father-in-law", who was a wonderful cook, make me a totally plain risotto topped with shavings of truffle. Oh my god - it was sensational! Truffle is in my food top five. So my love affair with risotto began and it's never ended. The recipe below is one of my favourites.

As to my rather long foray into vegetarianism........

Eventually it all got too much for me and I had to give in. Nowadays I eat meat with gay abandon and make up for all those years of ordering crappy vegetarian options in swish restaurants. Nowadays I buy organic and am still concerned about animal welfare. To all those real life-long veggies I'm a heretic but what can I say ...... I'm weak.

[Serves 4]

300g Carnaroli or Arborio risotto rice

3 x generous knobs of butter and a tiny splash of olive oil

1 large white onion or two medium

2 cloves of minced garlic

250ml of dry white wine – room temperature is better than cold

1 litre of chicken stock [I use one and a half Knorr chicken stock cubes]

3 large or 4 medium leeks – sliced approx. 3 mm thick

1 packet of smoked bacon [6 slices] – grilled until well done and with the fat cut off

1 heaped cup (250ml] of grated parmesan cheese – plus extra for serving

Freshly ground black pepper

Finely chopped parsley to garnish

Method:

Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic

Put into heavy bottom pot with first knob of butter and add a small splash of olive oil

Saute until transparent over a very low heat – approx 10 minutes – stirring very few minutes

In the meantime ……

Grill bacon until well done and the fat is quite brown. Cut off fat using scissors and chop or cut into small-ish bit size pieces – set aside

Saute the sliced leek with the second knob of butter - for now more than a few minutes, they should still be a little crunchy as they will continue to cook once added to the risotto

If using a stock cube make up stock with boiling water , if using fresh stock bring to boil, either in microwave or in a separate pot on the stove

Add rice to onion and garlic mixture and turn up heat from low to medium – stir rice for 2 minutes until well coated with butter and rice is just starting to turn transparent

Set a timer for 15 minutes – then immediately

Add wine and stir rice continuously until the wine has been absorbed by the rice – heat should be medium, so that the rice bubbles nicely but not vigorously

Add a generous splash of stock [about a soup ladle full] and stir until almost completely absorbed by the rice

Continue in this way until the timer goes off – stirring all the time

Now do the bite test – the rice should have a little bit of bite in the middle and also remember the rice will continue to cook once it comes off the heat and you stir in the bacon and leeks

Stir in the bacon and leeks and once combined add the grated parmesan cheese

Add a generous grinding of black pepper

Stir a few times to combine and then add the final knob of butter

Stir a few times and leave to rest for two minutes

Serve in bowls with a generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of parsley

Cooks tips:

I prefer to add all the wine first, as I feel this give the rice a nice flavour

I prefer to use smoked bacon because I love the smokiness and it goes really well with leeks

I don't add extra salt because the stock cube and parmesan cheese make it salty enough for my taste

If you've ordered risotto in a number of restaurants you'll know that everyone seems to have their own interpretation of how dry or wet a risotto should be. Personally I like mine not to be stodgy. Kind of like if you stood a teaspoon up in a pile of it, it would fall over slowly as opposed to standing up straight.

Remember, when you add the parmesan to the rice at the very end it causes the mixture to stiffen - so it's wise to have it runnier than you'd ideally like before you add the parmesan

Adding a generous knob of butter at the end gives the risotto a silken texture. The key is to only stir it a few times [some purists say three times in a clockwise motion] so as not to overmix it and potentially ruin the texture

Risotto purists believe in a resting period - I'm not 100 sure why? Maybe someone can enlighten me? I imagine that the italians know what they're talking about when it comes to this dish - so I just do it ;-)

Pepperbiata Pasta Sauce

2011-11-15T17:04:00.003Z

Pixie loves peppers and Pixie loves pasta and Pixie loves chilli. So this my Pixie Pleasing creation - a cross between pepperonata and arrabiata sauce. I've christened it Pepperbiata.

The chopping of the peppers can be a faff but this recipe makes a big batch. So for the two of us we get three generous servings out of one lot of tedious chopping.

Serves 6

2 red peppers – chopped into stubby matchsticks
2 yellow peppers - chopped into stubby matchsticks
2 orange peppers - chopped into stubby matchsticks
1 very large or 2 medium white onions – finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic - minced
2 -3 red chillis – finely chopped [pips included] – not the fiery Bird’s Eye chilli that you’d use in Indian curry but the milder variety found in UK supermarkets which are actually raw Jalapeno chillis
4 tablespoons of olive oil – this may seem like a lot but it is integral to the flavour and texture of the sauce
1 bottle passata [approx. 690g - sieved tomatoes]
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
Heaped tablespoon of sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x heaped teaspoon of cornflour dissolved in 2 tbsp of water
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Torn basil leaves to garnish

·        Gently fry onions and garlic in olive oil until transparent – approx. 10 minutes

·        Add chilli and fry for another minute

·        Add peppers - turn up heat and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously

·        Add passata and tins of tomatoes and stir everything together

·        Add sugar, salt and pepper and stir

·        Once bubbling turn the heat down low and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes

·        Add the cornflour mixture and stir through and simmer for another 5 minutes

·        Serve on the pasta of your choice and sprinkle liberally with parmesan cheese

Cooks notes:

· the idea of adding the cornflour is to prevent the sauce from separating once mixed into the pasta. I really don’t like any watery residue on the plate or bowl. It also helps to give the sauce a silkier consistency

· this sauce tastes even better the next day or even up to 3 days later as the flavours have time to meld together

· this sauce freezes really well

Heavenly Venetian Carrot Cake with Tipsy Marscapone

2011-10-30T17:26:00.003Z

The carrot cake has a long and distinguished history, hailing from the Arab speaking world in the 10th century, on to the Middle Ages and then finally gaining popularity again during the 2nd World War when rationing meant no sugar to bake with.

According to Nigella this recipe hails from the Jewish Quarter in Venice and thanks to the inclusion of olive oil, pine nuts and marscapone has a distinctly Italian feel to it.

I first saw Nigella make this recipe on her series Kitchen. I've made it many times and it's never let me down. The complexity of flavour never fails to impress. Plus it's a healthy option because it uses olive oil, only half a cup of sugar and lots of vege. An all round winner.

Thanks to only using ground almonds in this recipe this carrot cake is incredibly moist and gluten-free. The rum soaked raisins and the booze-spiked marscapone, make this cake feel more like a sophisticated, adult dessert than simply a tea time favourite. If you're not too keen on carrot cake then please try this one as it's quite a departure from normal carrot cake.

Here is Nigella's recipe:

Ingredients

For the carrot cake

3 tbsp pine nuts
carrots - 200-250g/7-9oz
75g/3oz golden sultanas
60ml/2¼fl oz rum
150g/5oz caster sugar
125ml/4½fl oz regular olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 free-range eggs
250g/9oz ground almonds
½ tsp ground nutmeg, or to taste
½ lemon, finely grated zest and juice

For the mascarpone cream (optional)

250g/9oz mascarpone
2 tsp icing sugar
2 tbsp rum

Preparation method

For the carrot cake, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line the base of a 23cm/9in round springform cake tin with re-usable non-stick silicone liner or baking parchment and grease the sides with olive oil.
Toast the pine nuts by browning in a dry frying pan; the oven alone is not enough to scorch out the paleness. Set aside.
Grate the carrots in a processor (for ease) or with a coarse grater, then sit them on a double layer of kitchen paper and wrap them, to soak up excess liquid. Set aside.
Put the golden sultanas in a small saucepan with the rum, bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 3 minutes.
Whisk the sugar and oil until creamily and airily mixed.
Whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs and, when well whisked, fold in the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, golden sultanas (with any rum that clings to them) and, finally, the lemon zest and juice.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. The batter will be very shallow in the tin.
Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the cake and put it into the oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the top is risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out sticky but more or less clean.
Remove from the oven and let the cake sit in its tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unspring and leave it on the rack to cool.
For the mascarpone cream, mix the mascarpone with the icing sugar and rum.
To serve, transfer the cake to a plate. Put the mascarpone cream in a bowl to spoon alongside the cake, for those who want.

Cooks note:

I use Grand Marnier instead of rum in both the raisin liquor and the marscapone, as GM has an orange flavour and therefore adds another dimension to the flavour.

I make sure I use 250g of grated carrot as it makes the cake that little bit bigger and moister

I don't bother to toast the pine nuts first, I just sprinkle them on top and they go golden brown all on their own

Heavenly Mississippi Mud Pie

2011-10-05T14:00:00.005+01:00

The first time I tasted Mississippi Mud Pie I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I was 22 years old and on a trip to Kauai, Hawaii with the American family that I was au-pairing for. We went to this wonderful hotel one evening just to have dessert. If my memory serves me correctly I think I may have become so effusive over the beauty of the concoction that my lovely boss ordered me another slice.

I remember ordering it whenever I saw it on the menu during the duration of my U.S sojourn but it never quite lived up that “the first time”. I was recently looking for dessert inspiration online and happened upon a recipe for MMP – it brought the memories flooding back for me and I was gripped by the urge to make one.

Well I did and it was delicious. Who says retro-80’s food can’t make a comeback? It turns out that Pixie always used to order it back in the day and was delighted at the prospect of trying a homemade version.

The recipe I used below is from the BBC food site. I adapted it to be gluten-free by using gluten-free Borboun Biscuits for the base. Easy as!

Ingredients

For the base

• 300g/10½oz bourbon biscuits, crushed

• 75g/2½oz butter, melted

For the filling

• 85g/3oz dark chocolate, minimum 70 per cent cocoa solids

• 85g/3oz butter

• 2 free-range eggs

• 85g/3oz muscovado sugar

• 100ml/3½oz double cream

For the fudge sauce

• 150g/5½oz dark chocolate, minimum 70 per cent cocoa solids

• 150ml/5½fl oz double cream, plus extra to serve

• 3 tbsp golden syrup

• 175g/6oz icing sugar, sieved

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.

2. Mix the biscuits and melted butter together in a bowl. Press the mixture into the base and sides of a 23cm/9in springfrom tin. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

3. For the filling, melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water).

4. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl for 5-6 minutes, or until thick and creamy. Fold in the cream and melted chocolate mixture. Pour into the chilled springform tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until just set. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

5. Meanwhile, for the fudge sauce, heat all of the fudge sauce ingredients in a saucepan, stirring regularly, over a medium heat until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

6. Spread the sauce over the cooled pie and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Serve with double cream.

Cooks tips and observations:

The fudge topping didn't set very quickly - so I'd say it needs to be in the fridge for at least couple of hours - I left it to chill overnight
I used a large fork to make the swirly pattern
I covered the pie with foil for the entire baking period to prevent it from getting too brown on top
I took it out of the oven after 35 mins - as my oven is quick and it also continues to cook once it comes out
As you can see, I didn't push the biscuit mixture up the sides of the tin as I find it never comes out even

Make this and be prepared for chocolate heaven!

Heavenly Apple Cake

2011-09-22T10:52:00.007+01:00

Colleagues have taken to bringing in oodles of cooking apples from their gardens for everyone. Which is a lovely gesture and somewhat forced me to find a recipe to use them in. This cake turned out brilliantly. The bake has a dense yet light texture - thanks to the yoghurt I think?

This recipe is an adaptation of a Waitrose card recipe:

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

2 apples

225g demerera sugar

200g butter, softened [I used soft light brown sugar, as it's easier to get light and fluffy with the butter]

3 large eggs, beaten

200g self-raising flour

150g pot Natural Yogurt

For Crème Fraîche:

500g Half Fat Crème Fraîche

2 tbsp Honey

½ tsp organic cinnamon

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Lightly grease a round 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, line the base with baking parchment, then grease the top of the parchment.

Core the apples and slice thinly (no need to peel). Put them in a large bowl, add 25g of the sugar and toss well to coat. Arrange the slices in the tin, overlapping them slightly to form circles.

Beat the butter and remaining sugar together until light and fluffy, using an electric hand whisk or wooden spoon. Add the eggs, a little at a time, until they are fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth. If the mixture begins to curdle, simply add a spoonful or two of the flour and continue to add the egg.

Fold in the remaining flour and yogurt, then carefully spoon the mixture over the apples. Place the cake tin on a baking tray and bake for about 1 hour, or until golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 20 minutes or so. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Spoon the crème fraîche into a serving bowl. Beat the honey and cinnamon together, then stir gently through the crème fraîche. Chill. Serve the cake in slices, with the honeyed crème fraîche.

Cooks tips:

As you can see from my picture the sides browned a little too much. My fan oven is the bane of my life in this respect as most things seem to come out a bit too brown around the sides. So for the last ten minutes watch it like a hawk. Next time I'll take mine out 5 minutes earlier.

I also made an error of whipping and not folding the honey and cinammon into the creme fraiche. This resulted in a runny, double cream consistency which tasted nice but couldn't be spooned on the plate next to the cake. There is a definite reason for mixing the honey and cinammon together first and then gently folding into the creme fraiche. Sometimes I wished I was more obedient ;-)

Next time I think I might add cinnamon to the cake batter mixture - because I love cinammon with apple and just having some in the creme fraiche doesn't infuse the cake with the flavour.

Website of the week: Crumbs

2011-09-15T16:24:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I was bemoaning the fact that I don't have enough quick and easy recipes. By quick, I mean very quick. Something tasty that I can knock up literally in 5-10 minutes once I get home exhausted after a killer spin class. I default to scrambled eggs, an omlette or baked beans on toast far too often!

So there I was twittering away - my favourite form of skiving at work - when lo and behold I came across this great website called Crumbs. To my joy and delight I discovered, in the left hand column of the homepage, links to recipes you can make in 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and a bit longer.

Crumbs is written by two sisters who are busy mums with young children. Now I'm not a Mum but I am busy and I have a very large "child" who demands to be fed on a daily basis.

Heavenly Orange Sponge Cake with Orange Buttercream Icing

2011-09-13T17:08:00.010+01:00

Pixie loves sponge cake and he loves oranges. So, seeing as he's been poorly, I decided to try and cheer him up by combining two of his favourite things. This is also a childhood favourite of mine. I used the zest of two oranges, one for the cake and one for the icing. This produced a STRONG orange flavour, so if you prefer a more subtle flavour, use the zest of one orange and split between cake and icing.

Ingredients

220g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

220g caster sugar, plus extra for dredging

4 medium eggs, lightly beaten

220g self-raising flour - to make this recipe gluten-free I used Doves Self-Raising Flour

Zest of one orange - less if you want a subtle flavour

3-4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice. [Zest the orange and then squeeze the juice]

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C, gas mark 4 (the temperature at which most cakes are baked). Line the bottom with greaseproof paper and grease the sides of two 20cm-diameter sponge tins.

A sponge is made by the creaming method; that is, the fat and sugar are creamed or beaten together until light and fluffy before other ingredients are added. It's important to beat the butter and sugar well, as this incorporates lots of air which makes the cake light. Begin with very soft butter, add the sugar and beat with an electric whisk for 2 minutes, until fluffy and pale. I find 5 minutes works even better.

Now add the eggs. Beat them lightly first to break them up. Add a quarter of the egg, plus a spoonful of flour and beat on the lowest speed until completely incorporated. Adding the egg gradually along with a little flour should stop the mixture curdling, or forming tiny lumps, which can make the cake heavy. Add the remaining egg in the same way.

Add the remaining flour and fold in with a large metal spoon. Self-raising flour is used because it contains raising agents to give the sponge extra lift. Add a fresh orange juice if necessary to achieve dropping consistency - this means a scoop of the mixture will slowly fall off a spoon when held sideways, rather than running off easily, or sticking completely.

Divide the mixture between the two greased cake tins, smoothing the tops. Put in the oven - preferably on the same shelf - and bake for 20 minutes. The cakes should look well-risen and golden brown, and should have pulled away slightly from the sides of their tins. To make sure the cakes are done, push a metal or wooden skewer into the middle of one. It should come out clean, or with only a few dry crumbs attached. If there's sticky-looking cake mix on it, bake for 5 minutes more, then repeat the test.

After 10 minutes cooling in the tin, turn the cakes out on to a wire rack (if you turn them out when hot, they may break up). Put the smoothest-looking cake right side up (this will be the top of the finished cake) and the other upside down, so its domed top flattens slightly. Leave to cool completely.

Orange Buttercream Icing:

300g of sifted icing sugar
150g of unsalted butter - make sure it's very soft
Zest of one orange - less if you want a subtle flavour
Half a teaspoon of vanilla essence

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. This ensures the icing is very light and doesn't clump together

Put the soft butter into a bowl and add a little icing sugar - start to mix with an electric beater on slow - otherwise you'll be enveloped in a cloud of sugar

Add a few more tablespoons of the icing sugar and combine

Add the rest of the icing sugar in manageable batches

Once blended add the orange zest and beat some more

Add vanilla essence and beat some more

The longer you beat the lighter the icing will turn out. So beat away..........

Heavenly Raspberry Bakewell Cake

2011-09-03T17:35:00.002+01:00

I adore Bakewell Tart but because Pixie is gluten intolerant it's not possible for him to eat semolina. A vital ingredient. I found a recipe on Good Food that is a Bakewell Cake and I've adapted it to be gluten-free by simply substituting Doves Self-raising Gluten Free Flour for normal self-raising flour.

What's great about this cake is that it also contains ground almonds, so it's super-moist and the addition of fresh raspberries instead of jam gives it an intense fruity flavour that isn't too sweet. Also, ground almonds have the health benefit of being lower in GI and as we all know nuts are healthy for you,

It's such a hit with the family that it's requested at every gathering.

Recipe:

140g self-raising flour
140g ground almonds
140g butter [I use half butter and half baking spread]
140g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract [I love to taste almond but you can always leave this out or use 1 teaspoon]
3 tablespoons of milk [I used a little extra milk as I use gluten free flour which can make cakes a little dry but it you're using normal flour you won't need it]
3-4 tablespoons of flaked almonds

20cm springform cake tin. Line the bottom with greaseproof paper

Method:

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees / 160 for fan ovens

Make sure the butter is very soft. I take butter from the fridge and put it in the microwave on "warm" in 20 second spurts until I can easily stick my finger in it and leave a hole]

Sieve both the ground almonds and flour. I put them in the sieve together. The flour goes through easily but the almonds take longer. If there are some stubborn flakes at the end that won't go through I sprinkle them over the rest from a height to incorporate some air

Cream together the butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. For at least three minutes and add the vanilla towards the end.

Break in the two eggs into the creamed mixture and beat for a few seconds on a slow speed to incorporate. Add a few tablespoons of the flour if it starts to curdle or separate.

Add the almond essence and beat briefly on a slow speed.

Add the rest of the flour and almonds in several batches beating for a few seconds after each addition.

The mixture will be quite stiff but that's ok. At this stage, if you're using gluten-free add the three tablespoons of milk and beat for a further few seconds.

Spoon half the mixture into the cake tin spreading it out evenly with the back of a spoon.

Sprinkle over the raspberries - making sure that you distribute them fairly evenly

Spoon over the rest of the mixture taking care not to push too hard and squash the raspberries

Sprinkle over the flaked almonds

Bake for 40-50 minutes in the centre shelf of the oven

Test the cake after 40 minutes by inserting a toothpick of skewer into the middle. It should come out clean.

Great British Bake Off - pah!

2011-09-01T15:55:00.000+01:00

I'm rather miffed with GBBO this year. I mean really, why does pretty boy Rob still continue triumphant? He's managed to successfully complete a whole two tasks.

Please don't tell me that the programmers have decided to go all X-Factor on us and keep people in purely for their supposed "tick-box" of fit young bloke? Young girls do not watch this programme! Or am I wrong? The people that I know who watch are foodies and people who actually bake.

Also, why decide that two people should go? Was it Sue or Mel, who casually, underwhelming, mildly suggested that maybe two should go. Thanks to the editing we didn't even see Paul and Mary's reaction. Is this another limp homage to the feigned "surprise" that happens in every series of X-Factor.

Dear Beeb - can you EVER grasp the concept of "if it ain't broke don't fix it"?

I'm seriously considering not bothering to watch anymore?

Anyone feel the same?

Hip Paris - website of the week

2011-08-31T17:23:00.002+01:00

About a year after everyone else I'm watching Series 3 of Spiral. It's been languishing on my Skybox hard-drive for a looooooong time. Spiral or "Engrenages". is the highly acclaimed French police, crime thriller series, which revels in lots of very un-PC sexism, corruption, seediness and bad teeth on actors. Oh wait, there is a particularly fine barrister who is the epitomy of gallic gorgeousness. It's so good that I can't bear to watch any less than two episodes at a time.

It's got me thinking about Paris and how, even though I've been there numerous times, I've always felt intimidated by the French and their haughty ways. I've never felt welcome or comfortable. I feel like yes, I've been there but I've never properly engaged with the city. I'm convinced that if I spoke French the splendour and glamour of Paris would reveal itself to me in all it's glory.

I've come across this wonderful website called Hip Paris which, upon a cursory explore, promises to reveal how to experience Paris like a Parisian. It looks as sophisticated as you'd expect and you won't be finding any of the true grit of Spiral on these pages. The dream lives on..........................

Heavenly Homemade Basil Pesto

2011-08-29T13:14:00.006+01:00

Usually when I buy store bought herb pots they perform dismally and limp to their death in a few weeks, no matter how much I tend them.

Recently I bought a pot of basil that thrived and turned into a bush - it must like my kitchen windowsill. It grew so well that I decided that I might just have enough leaves to make some pesto. A first for me. I found a recipe in Delicious Magazine which suited the amount of basil I had.

Ingredients

1 small garlic clove
Pinch of sea salt
25g pine nuts, very lightly toasted
50g fresh basil leaves (this is the amount of picked leaves you get from a large pot from the supermarket)
25g Parmesan, finely grated
Juice of ½ lemon
125ml extra-virgin olive oil

Method

METHOD 1

In a small food processor
Put the garlic and a pinch of sea salt in the bowl and pulse, then add the pine nuts and pulse again until roughly chopped (be careful not to over-process). Add the basil and pulse carefully until it is well mixed but still very textured. Turn into a bowl and stir in the Parmesan and lemon juice. Pour in the olive oil, mixing to a juicy paste. Season to taste.

METHOD 2

In a pestle and mortar
Put the garlic and sea salt in a mortar and pound with the pestle until smooth. Add the pine nuts and pound until they are roughly crushed. Add the basil and continue to pound and mash, bruising the leaves, until it starts to form a paste. Turn into a bowl and stir through the Parmesan and lemon juice. Pour in the oil and mix to a juicy paste, seasoning as you go.

Chef's tip

To use:

1. As well as stirring it into pasta, add a teaspoonful to a bowl of minestrone soup for an instant flavour boost.

2. Spread onto griddled bruschetta and top with fresh ricotta for a tasty starter.

3. Slather over chicken breasts or a piece of white fish, wrap in prosciutto and bake for a simple supper.

4. When cooking mussels, add a couple of teaspoons to the broth.

5. Stir into crème fraîche or mascarpone and use as a dip with spring veg.

6. It’s perfect with simple antipasti such as mozzarella, tomatoes, prosciutto and crusty bread.

7. Stir it into mashed potato for a great flavour.

To store: Put the pesto in a sterilised jar and cover the surface of the pesto with a layer of olive oil. Top with a lid or cling film and keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.

To freeze: Leave out the Parmesan, spoon into ice-cube trays and open-freeze. Tip into freezer bags and keep frozen for up to 3 months. To use, defrost the required amount and stir through some Parmesan.

I used the food processor method and this is the result:

Website of the week - The Boy Who Bakes

2011-08-23T10:18:00.007+01:00

It's the Great British Bake Off on BBC2 again tonight - the highlight of my week. I've just discovered that in Twitter world it's shortened to GBBO.

Through looking at Twitter I've discovered Edd Kimber's website - The Boy Who Bakes. Edd won the competition last year. His site is wonderful - great looking and chocca with inspirational recipes.

I'm already itching to make his Lemon Yoghurt Anything Cake and Danish Coconut Dream Cake.

Yummmmmmmmm!

Follow up 24/08/2011 - well I made the Danish Coconut Dream Cake last night. The sponge came out fantastically - light as a cloud. I'm a big fan of this different method - which is creaming the eggs and sugar together for about 5 minutes [until it forms a ribbon when you lift the beaters out] and then add the melted butter and dry ingredients. I've never done it that way before - it's a revelation!

I think I used the wrong depth tin though as the caramel coconut topping slid off the sponge - luckily I'd anticipated this and put tin foil at the bottom of my oven otherwise it would have been disastrous! I'm asking Edd - the man himself - what depth tin to use. Next time I'll bake the cake a teensy bit less so that I bake the topping more. I was a bit afraid that the cake would get overdone, so baked the topping for 5 minutes instead of 10. Hey, if you don't try you don't learn I say.

Anyway ............ we ate the cake with vanilla ice-cream. It was delicious!

btw - as with ALL my bakes this was made gluten free by using Doves Gluten Free Plain Flour. I used it without making any modifications whatsoever. Sometimes when making a sponge cake I have to add a bit more milk to make sure the batter drops off a spoon in a few seconds. However, with this method it wasn't necessary.

Quick and easy Puttanesca Sauce that delivers big flavours

2011-08-22T14:09:00.000+01:00

I call this pasta sauce the “Thai food of the Italians”. This is because it hits all the tastebuds like a steam train - salty, sweet, sour and hot. Even if you don’t like anchovies, I beg you to leave them in this sauce. If you use a moderate amount, like my 5 in the recipe below, you won’t actually taste much fishiness, however, the saltiness and meatiness just adds an extra dimension to the sauce. Using fresh herbs in the recipe scales new heights of savouriness.

If you can’t get your hands on passata or cherry tomatoes don’t worry you could just use two tins of diced/chopped tomatoes. The end result won’t be much different. I like to use cherry tomatoes because I find their round plumpness is pleasing to the eye and when you bite into them you get some extra sweetness.

This “saucy” sauce has a few legends surrounding it and there are a gazillion recipes out there using massively differing amounts of the standard ingredients – this is my version that I’ve tinkered together and perfected over time. Give this forgiving sauce a bash and you'll wonder how you lived without it.

• 6 medium or 4 large fresh sages leaves finely chopped

• Stalk of fresh rosemary taken off stem and finely chopped

• 3 large cloves of garlic finely minced

• 1 tsp of dried oregano

• Good size pinch of chilli flakes or a medium red chilli finely dices including seeds

• 4 tablespoons of olive oil

• 5 anchovy fillets finely chopped [or more to taste]

• 1 cup of passata [sieved tomatoes]

• 1 400g tin of cherry tomatoes in tomato sauce [the best you can find]

• 1 tbsp of sugar

• Pepper to taste

• 1 heaped cup of black olives, cut in half

• ¾ cup of capers, salted best but in brine will also do

• Fresh parsley finely chopped for sprinkling on to serve

Method:

Heat the olive oil over a low heat

Add the sage, rosemary and garlic and cook very gently for 5 minutes [the garlic mustn’t get any colour at all but should cook enough, so it doesn’t taste rawAdd the chilli flakes and oregano and cook for a minute

Add the anchovies and cook for a minute

Add the passata, olives, capers and stir together

Add the sugar

Add the tin of cherry tomatoes

Season with pepper [I don’t use salt, as the ingredients are salty enough]

Simmer over a very low heat for 5 minutes [don't make the mistake of letting this sauce simmer for too long, it's not meant to cook for ages because the idea behind this sauce is for it to have a fresh and not stewed taste]

Tip - I find that tomato based sauces which arent' cooked for long enough to reduce will often have watery tomato juice separating underneath the pasta. To avoid this dissolve one heaped teaspoon of cornflour powder in a little water and stir into the sauce a minute before serving. The result is a slightly thicker sauce that doesn't separate whatsoever and it doesn't affect the taste of the sauce at all.

Sprinkle on fresh parsley to serve

Serve on pasta of your choice. Most popular seems to be spaghetti or penne.
Serves: 2 large portions, or 4 as a starter

Photo courtesy of Flickr - dboy CCL

The pretty side of Milton Keynes

2011-08-18T14:01:00.000+01:00

Milton Keynes is a rather maligned place and often the butt of jokes. However, amongst the gentrified rabbit hutches and square grey buildings and warehouse snatches of beauty can be found.

These are some photos taken around the Peace Pagoda, Buddhist Temple and Gardens at Willen Lake.

By the way the Mr Whippy, soft serve ice cream van, that parks near the childrens playground serves the most delicious 99 cones. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Homemade 21st Birthday Cake

2011-08-04T16:06:00.004+01:00

My partner's daughter recently turned 21 and I decided to try and push the boat out with my cake decorating skills, which let's face it aren't very sophisticated. The easy option would have been to simply buy a cake but Pixie [my partner] has a gluten allergy, so it's not easily done. So it was down to me to provide something which he could also eat.

Unfortunately I didn't have all the time in the world and wasn't feeling all that, so I couldn't spend ages and go the whole hog. In fact I got up at 6am the day of to decorate the cake I made the night before.

So here's a picture of my lemon sponge cake with lemon buttercream icing surrounded by cut to size Mikado dark chocolate fingers and decorated with store bought chocolate letters and gold candles. Voila!

A jaunt around Berkhamstead

2011-08-03T14:50:00.002+01:00

I had the day off yesterday and in the morning I went on a little jaunt around Berkhamstead. I pretended to be a "lady wot lunch" and saunter around with all the other yummy mummys. I looked with envy at those lucky ladies who sat al fresco outside Costa Coffee sipping a post-gym-workout skinny frappacino.

Berko, as it's known by locals, is a great place for looking in shops which sell stuff that no-one actually needs.

My favourite shop is

Home and Colonial do a lovely mixture of contemporary, vintage and antique.

Upstairs is more contemporary, shabby chic style

Downstairs is like stepping back in time. Think social history museum where everything is for sale. A delight!

Another favourite of mine is Horsfall & Wright. It's very "Brighton" and I love trawling around the shops in Brighton!

I apologise that some of the photos aren't the best but I' always aware that proprietors don't like people taking pictures of their displays.

I ended my jaunt with an actual purchase in my favourite Cancer Research Charity Shop. I never fail to find great second-hand book buys in this particular shop. I bought a great little paperback by Mary Berry [Queen of Cakes] called Fast Cakes for £2.00. I'm itching to try out some of her recipes.

Tasty spaghetti and meatballs

2011-07-23T16:00:00.006+01:00

I've devised a tasty and easy basil and tomato sauce into which I plop fried meatballs. I confess that I "cheat" by using ready-made beef meatballs from Sainsburys or ready-made Swedish meatballs, which are a mixture of beef and pork and slightly smaller. I used to make my own meatballs they take ages and taste-wise wasn't hugely different. It also meant that it became a weekend recipe because it would take too long to do after a day at work.

This recipe makes four large or six medium servings:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 very large or two medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
Half a teaspoon of chilli flakes or one large fresh red chilli
1 bottle of pasatta
2 [400g] cans of chopped tomatoes
1 large bunch of fresh basil leaves
3 tbsp sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper
24 [2 packs of 12] meatballs
2 tsp cornflour mixed with 3 tbsp water
Freshly grated parmesan cheese to sprinkle on just before eating

In a shallow non-stick frying pan slicked with a little oil brown the meatballs in batches - I have a large frying pan so do them in 2 batches. Transfer on to kitchen roll to absorb any excess oil
Heat the olive oil to medium heat in a large, heavy based pot
Finely chop the onions
Finely crush or chop the garlic
Add to the onions and garlic to the oil
Bring them to sizzling point, stirring all the time and then turn down the heat to low
Allow the onions and garlic to gently sweat for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and making sure they don't brown whatsoever
Add the chilli and cook for another few minutes
Add the two tins of tomatoes and stir
Add the bottle of passata and stir
Bring to a bubbling boil, stirring all the time
Add the sugar and season well with salt and freshly ground pepper
Pluck the basil leaves off the plant or stem and roll between your fingers to release the oils and then tear into small pieces and add to the sauce
Add the meatballs a simmer for 15 -20 mins - infusing the sauce with a lovely meaty flavour
5 minutes before serving dissolve the cornflour in the water in a small glass or mug and stir into the sauce. This ensures a lovely silky consistency and prevents watery tomato juice accumulating under the pasta

Serve sauce and meatballs on spaghetti or pasta of your choice. Garnish with basil leaves and sprinke with freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste.

Tastes even better the next day.
Freezes well for up to 3 months.

Photo courtesy of Flickr CCL - The Culinary Geek

Hawksmoor - the best little steakhouse in London

2011-07-22T15:11:00.058+01:00

Some of my earliest and fondest memories of eating out as a child is a steakhouse in Durban, South Africa called Steve and Janets. I used to order a prawn cocktail, followed by a surf and turf steak, or sometimes a rump with garlic sauce. Dessert was either soft serve ice-cream, topped with chocolate sauce, or later on a Tartufo which was an Italian dessert shaped like a breast. [This was the 70's]. I remember the anticipation of my sizzling steak arriving on a black caste-iron plate on top of a wooden board. Me and steak......... have a very long love affair.

Upon moving to London seventeen years ago I was puzzled by the fact that there was nary a steakhouse to be found. I dined in a Tibetan Restaurant, no problem, but a cut of steak accompanied by chips and a sauce was inconcievable?

According to my calculations steakhouses have only sprung up in the last 10 years. Starting off with the Gaucho Grill and then Black and Blue chains. I only went to Gaucho Grill in Canary Wharf once and they disappointingly got our steak order wrong. I went to Black and Blue in Borough Market once and it was good, went to the one in Wimpole Street and it was OK and then went to the one in Waterloo and it was terrible. This was over a 12 month period. I think the brand have seriously taken their eye off the ball, or possibly sold off their franchise to unscrupulous food haters. All I can say is, when in London avoid Black and Blue nearWaterloo Station at all costs. The steak arrived cold, it was overcooked and the limp salad looked a week old. We refused to pay. They obviously bank on only catering to tourists who won't ever return anyway.

What sweet relief when I happened upon Hawskmoor!

The restaurant is tucked away behind non-descript black doors and could be easily missed. I discovered it's in the same street as Pineapple Dance Studios and was fully expecting to see Louise Spence flouncing down the street but there wasn't a TV camera in sight. Although I did notice a clutch of people outside, possibly waiting for a glimpse of the stubbled one with the spectacular calves. I digress..................

We were greeted by no less than three cheerful receptionists and led downstairs, through the bar, to the restaurant. The decor manages to pull off historical modern very well - it used to be the Watney-Combe brewery in the 1800's. Our waiter was a charming young Brazilian, who was very knowledgeable and attentive. I decided to go for the Express Menu, which features a summer salad to start and then a 200g rib-eye steak with a choice of one side dish and a sundae for dessert. 2 courses £20, 2 courses £22.50.

The summer salad consisted of an artfully presented conical stack of julienne vegetables dressed in a very simple but well seasoned and tangy vinaigrette. Light and refreshing and got the gastric juices flowing in anticipation of beefier stuff to follow.

The 200g rib-eye was the perfect size for me. What can I say about the meat ...... if I was Shakespeare I'd write a sonnet about it. As soon as the plate arrived under my nose I was transported back to the steakhouse days of my youth. It was so flavourful that I was glad I didn't order any sauce as it would have diluted the wonderful flavour of the beef. The meat was very tender but with enough bite to still do justice to the magnificent beast it no doubt descended from. For my side I ordered the creamed spinach, which was a tad disappointing. I couldn't detect much creaminess and I think it could have benefitted from a little more seasoning or possibly a hint of garlic. My friend had the grilled field mushrooms which were up to scratch and made the perfect spouse for a marriage made in heaven - steak and mushroom. We didn't have dessert but I saw the sundaes at other tables and they looked fun.

Make no mistake Hawksmoor is a "treat" restaurant, unless you happen to be a city banker. For instance a porterhouse [T-bone] for two sets you back £52 and that's before you have any chips or sides. Click here for the full menu.

I've since been back to Hawksmoor and this time I really was going to the theatre afterwards. So I had the Express Menu again, except I had triple fried chips as a side. For me they were a bit too hard [I think triple fried should have made me realise that] but that's just a personal preference. Next time I'm going to order chips fried in beef dripping instead. I'm also dying to try their roasted marrow bones - another childhood favourite .......... but that's another story for another time.

Hawksmoor has two restaurants. To all you steak lovers out there - fly my pretties, fly ...........

SEVEN DIALS
11 Langley St.
London.
WC2H 9JG
020 7856 2154

SPITALFIELDS
157 Commercial St.
London.
E1 6BJ
020 7247 7392

My lunchtime walk

2011-04-27T16:20:00.003+01:00

I'm lucky enough to work in very large grounds. Now that spring has truly sprung the estate is bursting with life. I took a quick thirty minute walk this lunchtime and took my phone with me. Here's what I saw.

Easter Cakes

2011-04-26T12:29:00.003+01:00

I made loads of food this Easter Weekend just gone but here are the highlights:

Easter Cake - vanilla sponge with lemon curd buttercream icing topped with edible daisies and mini eggs

Vanilla sponge cake top with chantilly cream and fresh strawberries

Recipes to follow soon!

Royal Wedding Fridge Cake to die for

2011-04-20T11:21:00.004+01:00

Much has been made of the story that William and Kate are serving Fridge Cake at their wedding buffet.

I thought I'd share with you my favourite fridge cake [or tiffin] recipe, which people rave over.

Fridge Cake / Tiffin To Die For

250g/9oz dark chocolate, chopped
150g/5oz milk chocolate, chopped
175g/6oz butter
4tbsp golden syrup
200g/7oz shortbread or digestive or rich tea biscuits
150g/5oz brazil nuts, chopped into biggish chunks
150g Craisins [dried cranberries - these give a lovely tart flavour, whereas raisins are a lot sweeter]
3 x Crunchie chocolate bars, or honeycomb, bashed into medium size chunks
1 tbsp of icing sugar for decoration
edible glitter for decoration [optional]

Method:

Place the dark & milk chocolate pieces into a heavy-based pan. Add the butter and golden syrup and cook over a very low heat to melt - stirring occasionally but don't overstir
Place the biscuits in a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin into rubble - don't make the bits too small though as you need a good contrast of textures in the finished product
Place the Crunchie bars in a bag and bash with a rolling pin into rubble
Using a sharp knife and cutting board cut the brazil nuts into small chunks - if find bashing them in a freezer bag makes them too small
Take the pan off the stove and stir in the biscuits and nuts
Add the craisins and finally the Crunchie rubble
Stir until everything is coated with the syrupy chocolate mixture
Pour the mixture into a 25cm/10in x 30cm/12in greased and lined baking tray and smooth the surface as much as possible, although it will look bumpy[I line mine with greaseproof paper so the pieces are easy to remove]
Refrigerate for two hours, or until firm enough to cut
Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with edible glitter if using
Remove the block of cake and cut into 24 rectangles.

Serving suggestion: enjoy with a cup of English Tea whilst watching the Royal Wedding and waving a Union Jack

Best little Lebanese Cafe in London - Le Comptoir

2011-03-31T17:14:00.003+01:00

About a year ago we stumbled upon a great Lebanese Cafe just behind St. Christopher's Place. I can't abide the crush on Oxford Street but Pixie can't visit London without going to Nike Town at Oxford Circus. A nightmare at the best of times [although significantly improved now that all the barriers are down and you can cross diagonally - genius!]

After trolling around Nike Town, drooling over things which I can't afford and which don't fit Pixie, we're generally gasping for coffee but I refuse to do the chains. One day we were on the way to Uniglo [I insisted we took backstreets] and it was on this journey that we discovered Le Comptoir . It has the best coffee and cuppacinos I've tasted outside of Italy and also has a decidedly cosmopolitan, bohemian and glamorous feel. The decor is funky and bright and the tables are very close together, which for someone who is very nosey is a godsend. Thus far we've sat next to an opera singer, the cutest baby in the world and someone who looked like Tinchy Stryder. Pixie swore that last visit we were sitting next to an aging TV star but I didn't recognise her.

Thus far we've sampled the espresso, cupacinno, osmilayah nuts, coconut and pistachio squares, chicken tagine with olives and the lamb kibbeh, served with freshly made humous and salad. All very good and very reasonably priced. Service is quick and often good looking to!

It's got increasingly popular over the last year. I like to think of myself as a trend setter but am slightly upset that we can't always be guaranteed a table at peak times.

Prince William has requested a "tiffin" wedding cake at the Royal Reception

2011-03-29T13:02:00.005+01:00

Good on Wills - he's allegedly requested something very similar to a Fridge Cake or large Tiffin as one of the cakes at their Royal Buffet. It's rather touching that this was his favourite treat as a child and therefore gets onto the wedding menu. Maybe this harks back to Famous Five-esque "midnight feasts" at Eton, which, if fiction is to be believed, usually involved condensed milk and biscuits. Some tiffin squares may have been part of the royal "tuck box" that he took back to school with him?

No doubt the media will dine out on the Royal Wedding for weeks afterwards, dissecting the food as much as the fashion. Should be fun!

Read The Guardian article: Pass notes No 2,949: Rich Tea biscuits UK news The Guardian

Another Masterchef 2011 rant

2011-03-24T16:23:00.004Z

You know that channel flicking funk you get into when you've watched your recorded programme on your Sky box and you really should be getting ready for bed and then you begin to flick? Well, I'd just watched another excellent episode of Boardwalk Empire when I flicked onto Masterchef. Big mistake - you start to watch 30 seconds and that's it - you are transported into some kind of parallel universe where time speeds up.

Last night I caught Sara [the italian] making a seafood risotto for a "Merlin" wrap party. First of all the onion was in huge chunks and THEN, she put the raw rice and seafood in at the same time. WTF? Surely anyone - let alone an Italian - who has reached the stage of being in the final seven, would know that the seafood would come out like leather?

Anyone else notice that? Anyone else, who knows anything about food actually watching?

Raw food revolution

2011-03-24T16:10:00.006Z

Things are slow at work, the sun is shining warmly for the first time in a century [or so it seems] and my boss is away. So this little mouse is whiling away a few hours looking at my favourite thing in the world ....... recipes.

My partner has slowly but surely become something of a gym bunny. Can a man be a gym bunny? Maybe a gym gerbil? He's always looking for something nutritionally balanced to eat after a work out that's a combination of carborhydrates and protein. Recently, whilst browsing the Free From aisle at Waitrose he came across some raw food bars called Nakd [50-80p] and also some Bounce protein balls [£1.49 for 42g]. He really likes them and has now proceeded to sample them all, come up with his faves and get hooked on them. Mmmmmmm.... no harm in that you might say. Well get this - his latest 2 week stash came to £30.00. Lordy - what do these things contain - gold leaf, beluga caviar, Blue Mountain Coffee, diesel made from crude Libyan oil? Hardly........ ingredients are things like dates, nuts, agave nectar and the like.

This lead me to look up raw food recipes and I've come across some wonderful sites. Who would've thunk there are so many amazing recipes out there. The scales have fallen off my eyes!

Here are a few pics and links to get your juices flowing:

The Raw Divas

Ani Phyo

This is only the beginning of my journey and I plan to become an expert. Having just consumed a cuppacino and a Whispa, to stave off crying with boredom I've a very, very long way to go.....................

Photos courtesy of Flickr CCL - sweetonveg - thanks!

RIP Masterchef

2011-02-21T14:58:00.001Z

Should I, shouldn't I? This was the question I was asking myself on Friday evening when I decided to put aside my pre-existing prejudice and give the new Masterchef format a go. After all, I wasn't going to let popular opinion poison my chalice was I?

I lasted less than 10 mins. When the lady with the large boobies on display graced the screen with her "deconstructed trifle" and smeared,what looked like the product of several STD's, across a plate. I shouted switched off the telly and declared my everlasting hatred for programme formatters who thinks it's an excellent idea to appeal to new viewers. Who are these new viewers exactly? Anyone care to enlighten me?

MasterChef: Fans boil over after BBC revamp cooking contest with X Factor treatment | Mail Online

2011-02-18T09:22:00.001Z

As a long-standing fan of Master Chef I'm really sad to read about this. Currently the first two episodes are languishing on my Sky Box disc and I'm not sure if I should even bother to start watching?

What were they thinking of - IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT is a concept that television bosses are unfamiliar with :-(

MasterChef: Fans boil over after BBC revamp cooking contest with X Factor treatment Mail Online

Should I just delete the episodes and retain fond memories of the show?

Calling all lovers of cheesecake .......

2011-02-17T17:02:00.005Z

From the mouth of the main ingredient - check out these fabulous recipes:

PHILADELPHIA - Cheesecake Recipes - Delicious Desserts - Kraft PHILADELPHIA

I particularly like the sound of the Jaffe Extravaganza.

This weekend I'm making my famous No Bake Lemon Cheesecake with Passionfruit Glaze

Photo courtesy of: Flickr - CCL - toobaglu

The Christmas that was ..................

2011-02-14T16:49:00.004Z

Not that you would know it - thanks to the deafening silence on this blog for the last six months - but I was a very busy little bee over Christmas 2011.

I baked up a storm and even made edible presents.
Instead of trying to find the time to backtrack and do really fabulous posts about everything I made, I've decided to do a photo journal of the Christmas past .......

Christmas Lemon Meringe Roulade - meringue filled with lemon curd and whipped double cream

Christmas Chocolate Orange Roulade dark chocolate cake flavoured with orange zest, whipped double cream and candied orange slices

Christmas Tiffin two ways - dark chocolate with shortbread, fruit and nuts and white chocolate with ameretti biscuits, pistachio and sour cherries.

Valentine's Day Cupcakes - vanilla cupcakes with fresh raspberry puree icing

2011-02-14T13:57:00.003Z

These are vanilla cupcakes with fresh raspberry puree icing, topped with a perfect raspberry.

Everyone in the office loved them!

The recipe for the cupcakes is:

100g (4oz) butter

100g (4oz) golden caster sugar

2 eggs, mixed with 2tsp vanilla extract

100g (4oz) self-raising flour

1-2tbsp milk

Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper bun cases.

Cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy [for at least five minutes]

Gradually beat in the eggs and the flour in approximately four batches [alternate - starting with flour].

Add the milk so the mixture reluctantly drops off a spoon

Put 1 heaped tablespoon of mixture into each fairy cake case and bake near the top of a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F, gas mark 5) for 12-15 mins, until springy to the touch, golden and risen. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Note: these cakes turn out small if you make 12 out of this mixture. I usually double the mixture and make around 18 larger cakes

Icing:

250 gm soft unsalted butter

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

150 gm raspberries, puréed and strained

Beat butter until white and fluffy

Gradually add the sifted icing sugar

Add the raspberry puree and beat until blended

[If the raspberry puree makes the mixture thicken a bit too much, add a little milk, tablespoon by tablespoon until the desired consistency reached].

Return of the prodigal baker

2010-09-13T16:33:00.002+01:00

Wow, I'm back after many months in the wilderness.

Here are my excuses - first of all I got a more demanding temp job, then my Mum arrived from South Africa for three months, then I moved to an open plan office, which meant no more sneaky posting at work.

I'm happy to say I've still been baking and have tried quite a few new goodies such as:

Gluten-free Victoria Sponge
Gluten-free choc-chip & nut cookies
Gluten-free sticky toffee pudding
My Mum made: Gluten-free Hummingbird Cake

Basically they're just normal recipes which I've made using gluten-free flour. They all turned our really well. I promise to write posts about all of the above very soon.

I've been loving The Great British Bake off - which has inspired me to seek out recipes and make all of the above. I found myself shouting at the telly going "you don't do that silly!!!!" I found David particularly frustrating, as he'd always try and do things differently, it would come out a mess and yet somehow he got through. At one point I was shouting at the telly that Paul Hollywood must have a crush on him. Anyway...... at least he got his just desserts last week.

I do wonder about the need for having Mel AND Sue - surely just the one would be enough. Has anyone else noticed how Mel scrunches up her face, like she's staring into glare every time she talks to the camera? A double act it doesn't need to be!

An English Summer

2010-06-24T22:13:00.002+01:00

We visited the Cotswolds yesterday ...........

I love England in the springtime

2010-06-05T21:13:00.002+01:00

It's been almost a month since I last blogged and what month it's been. I've taken on a new, busier role at work and my Mum has arrived from South Africa. She's been cooking up a storm and I'll be featuring some of her creations soon.

On this gorgeous summer's day we went to Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. Here are some photos showing the English countryside in all it's genteel splendour.

Asparagus will never be the same again!

2010-05-08T22:08:00.001+01:00

Woe is me! Why you might ask? Well it's because I've tasted perfection and now nothing else will do.

Growing up in South Africa I only knew of one kind of asparagus and that was tinned. My Gran used to open up a tin, drain out the brine and serve it as a side dish along with cold meats, homemade potato salad and a mixed salad made with iceberg lettuce, tomato and cucumber [always those three ingredients and nothing else]. I do wonder why, when most things grow in abundance in S.A, we didn't EVER see fresh asparagus in the shops. Maybe the same reason we ate tinned fruit cocktail with Ideal Milk for dessert. Fighting over who got the solitary squishy, pink "cherry" was obligatory. This was the 70's after all.

The first time I ever tasted fresh asparagus I was around 32. There used to be stalls selling fruit and vege in Oxford St. and they used to sell a bunch for £1 in a brown paper bag. I wasn't too sure what to do with it and decided to boil the whole spears for a few minutes. I then squirted on some lemon juice and dipped them into Hellmans Mayonnaise. Very yummy they were too and my love affair with fresh asparagus began.

I've always suspected that even British grown asparagus was never very fresh by the time they reached the supermarket shelf and then I read somewhere that the only way to eat asparagus was to cut them and eat them right away. Not something I could do living in a flat in London.

Last week I spied some nice looking asparagus in the supermarket and bought two bunches. Only to find when I got home that they were from Peru! If I'd been more observant I wouldn't have bought them. They proved to be quite nice, so I had steamed asparagus for dinner two nights on the trot.

Last weekend I was looking after my neighbour's chickens while they were away and they mentioned they had some asparagus coming up in their veggie patch and that I should help myself, otherwise they may start to flower and then be woody and wasted. So I cut three sturdy spears [only three ..... sniff] and immediately put them in my steamer. I did my usual and ate them with Hellmans Mayonnaise and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Oh my goodness - the taste! So flavourful and tender - it was like the taste of 20 supermarket spears distilled into one. I will NEVER be able to eat shop bought asparagus again - say it again- woe is me!

Does anyone know how easy it is to grow and if it's possible to grow them in grow bags?

Speaking of growing - my mixed salad leaves have sprouted and my french beans are turning into baby bean stalks. Very exciting for a complete novice.

Heavenly Tabouleh Salad

2010-05-01T21:59:00.011+01:00

I regularly make my version of the classic middle-eastern salad tabouleh. I say "my version" because I make it with quinoa instead of bulgar wheat and I add more ingredients than tradition dictates. This isn't only because my partner has a gluten allergy but because I recently learned that quinoa [pronouned keen-wah] is considered a super-food.

In recent times not a week goes by when some fruit or grain isn't declared to possess super powers. However, this little grain was declared as valuable as gold by the Incas. Some provenance huh?

Wikipedia says the following about it's nutritional value:

"Quinoa was of great nutritional importance to pre-Colombian Andean civilizations. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for it's nutritional value, as it's protein content is very high (12-18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians, vegans and athletes. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorous and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest".

For more info and pictures of the plant click here

True tabouleh doesn't include vegetables like celery, carrots, courgette etc. However, I try and eat as much raw vege as possible, so I add whatever I have to hand. I guess my nod towards the pukka salad is my use of copious amounts of parsley and mint. If you're thinking you don't really like the idea of so much mint and parsley, think again. There is a lot of it but it simply MAKES the salad. The combination of parsley, mint, lemon juice and olive oil create magic when blended together. A taste explosion that leaves you feeling instantly refreshed and sanctimoniously healthy.

Tabouleh keeps for at least four days in an airtight container in the fridge. I love nothing more than having this ready to dish up into my lunchbox - add some tuna, hard boiled eggs or cubed chicken breast - and wallah - a colourful, light and super-healthy meal.

Heavenly Taboulleh Salad [serves 4-6]

All the vege should be diced into very small pieces. I use my trusty Nicer Dicer which ensures small, uniform pieces and saves loads of time.

2 large carrots - peel and dice
1 large courgette diced [skin on - spongy middle with seeds removed]
1-2 bunches of spring onions [to taste]
3 medium size tomatoes [deseeded]
1 large bunch of flat leaf parsley finely diced [curly will also do]
1 large bunch of mint finely diced [leaves taken off stalks]
1-2 cloves of crushed garlic [to taste] - I cut mine in half and leave them to infuse the salad, as I can't digest raw garlic
100g quinoa or bulgar wheat
125ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice
125ml olive oil - I don't use extra virgin as the taste is too overpowering, I tend to use light olive oil
1 tsp of salt

Cook the quinoa or bulgar wheat according to packet instructions and cool
Dice up all the vegetables and mix together in a bowl
Sprinkle over the salt
Pour over the olive oil and mix well
Pour over the lemon juice and mix well
Add the cooked and cool quinoa or bulgar wheat and mix well

Pretty as a picture!

I added some diced green and black olives to last weeks salad and it worked very well.

And on a totally unrelated note - I spotted this lovely bloom in my garden this morning:

I vote for the Tea Party

2010-04-26T11:27:00.010+01:00

While driving to work this morning, listening to Radio 4, I heard about the Tea Party and how this revived american-based form of taxation protest [based on the historical Boston Tea Party] is rapidly catching on in the U.K.

I had no idea what a Tea Party stands for but immediately started to make up names for what could be served at a political tea party:

Gordon Brownie

David Macaroon

Jack Strawberry Shortcake

Hazel Eclairs

all served with Alistair Darjeeling

I've since done some research on what the Tea Party movement is about and Time online says:

"Taxation has become a hot button in next month's British parliamentary election: Labour had proposed increasing the National Insurance, which opponents call a jobs tax. Conservative Party front runner David Cameron came out against it, boosting his campaign. "The [American] Tea Party movement has caught a lot of people's imagination in the U.K., and the frustrations are very, very similar," says Mark Wallace, campaign director for the TaxPayers' Alliance, which started six years ago with just a dozen supporters and now boasts 40,000 members. "A lot of people are angry about government waste, what with the scandal over members of Parliament's flagrant expenses at the cost to the British taxpayers last year. They're angry that no political party currently represents their frustrations." more here and here and here.

Any other suggestions for the Tea Party menu?

Photos thanks to Flickr.com CCL - digyesica, norwichnuts,chriscampbell and crumpart

Is it Monday already?

2010-04-25T21:53:00.005+01:00

This weekend saw me cooking and baking more than I anticipated. Friday night I made pizza, yesterday I made lamb curry and today I've made both date and banana loaf AND raspberry bakewell cake to take to the in-laws.

Luckily, I also found time to take advantage of the good weather on Saturday. After the going to the gym in the morning, I spent the rest off the day lying in the garden in my swimsuit. I basted myself in SPF 30 and still managed to get a bit of healthy colour. This went a teensy, weensy way towards making up for the fact that I should have been attending a big family braai [barbecue] in Hillcrest, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. Thanks once again Mr Volcano!

So, my gluten-free pizza looked great but to be honest it didn't turn out all that. I think I was a tad optimistic seeing as I've never made any kind of bread or dough in my life. I thought "how hard can it be?" and just went for it. The bases turned out rather biscuity - probably because I rolled them out really thin. Here are the pics..... looks can be deceiving.

There it is - my American Hot pizza. With pepperoni, jalapeno peppers and green pepper. My interpretation of the Pizza Express classic. I'm determined to persist with making the base and get it perfecto!

Outside my kitchen window the lambs are developing personalities. This one I call "Clingy No. 51" as it loves nothing better than to be as close to Mum as possible. Tooooo sweet.

In praise of Doves Farm

2010-04-23T16:10:00.000+01:00

Since my partner has become increasingly gluten introlerant I've taken to using Doves Gluten-Free flour range in most of my baking and have recently discovered their Gluten-Free pasta - it's the BEST!

I've tried various brands of gluten-free pasta and most of the time the pieces turn our gloopy, sticky and are lacking in al-dente substance. My favourite Doves Farm Pasta is the Organic Maize and Rice Pipe Rigata. You simply wouldn't know it's not the real deal.

The only products I've tried and haven't liked are their gluten-free biscuits. To me you can't beat home-made biscuits - there is something "strange" about shop bought GF biscuits and I've no idea what causes it.

Doves Farm also have a wonderful treasure trove of recipes, including gluten free recipes to browze here

Tonight I'm going to use Doves Farm Gluten Free White Bread Flour mix to make pizza bases. I'm convinced they're going to turn out great. I'll report back............

Alcohol may trigger food allergies

2010-04-22T14:50:00.001+01:00

As I've got older intolerance to alcohol has become a sad fact of life for me. I had a very socially dependent relationship with alcohol from about the age of 15 [we start young in South Africa - and this was the 80's]. In years gone by summers would see me sitting somewhere outdoors knocking back G&T's, mojitos and chilled white wine like there was no tomorrow. Winter evenings you would find me curled up on the sofa sipping a big glass of mulled red wine.

As of about 8 years ago I noticed that red wine made my cheeks very rosy and only one glass would give me an instant headache and thirst. Then about a year ago it got to the point where only two sips would make my face feel like it was on fire. Sadly, in the last six months even a few sips of white wine summon the same reaction.

Hence, yours truly at the ripe old age of 45 is virtually a teetotaller.

I was very interested to see this article in the New York Times online which says that alcohol may trigger food allergies or just an allergic reaction in itself:

"Beer, wine and liquor contain histamine, produced by yeast and bacteria during the fermentation process. Histamine, of course, is the chemical that sets off allergy symptoms. Wine and beer also contain sulfites, another group of compounds known to provoke asthma and other allergy-like symptoms"

It also goes on to talk about other foodstuffs that contain histamine or encourage the body to release histamine.

My partner has over the last two years developed quite a severe allergic reaction to, what we thought was just gluten, however over time more and more things seem to set him off. He read the article and says that most of it rings true and he'd reached the same conclusions himself with regards to many of the listed foodstuffs. Worst of all, it seems he actually craves those things which are worst for him! I thought the body was meant to inituitively know what was good for it and reject what wasn't?

Oh woe is us! Eating and drinking is now potentially becoming a minefield, whereas before we didn't give it a second thought. My theory is modern life, stress, pollution etc. etc. mixed with an aging body leads to a suppressed/over-senstive immune system which start to over-react to any perceived threat.

Any thoughts?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com - CCL - marco varingo

The Domestic Poddess releases her Nigellapp

2010-04-21T10:52:00.008+01:00

Interesting news today that Nigella Lawson's "Quick Collection" is No. 1 in the I-Tunes paid apps. She says "I am iPhone-obsessed and app-addicted anyway, so feel particularly excited about my own 'Nigellapp'.
Jamie Oliver launched his app in November last year [I missed this bit of news] and his "20 Minute Meals" also went to No. 1.

I don't own an i-Phone and have never downloaded an app. Mainly because I can't afford an i-Phone not because I don't want one. Not possessing one probably means I'm not qualified to say this but I think I'd still prefer to use a recipe from a book or on a sheet of A4 that I've printed off the internet.

Being long sighted I have to wear glasses to read and I'd sure as hell need to don my glasses to read a recipe on a small screen. Plus the phone would end up batter splattered and greasy non?

My all time favourite critic Jay Rayner calls the new trend for chef apps a "marketing tool". He goes on to say in this article in the Guardian :

"You just know there was a business meeting in which terms like 'branding' and 'multi-platform' have been bandied about and the result is a cooking app.

The proof of the pudding would be in the eating, he said. "It is not the medium but the content that is important. Whizzy gadgets are fine, but if the recipes themselves aren't very good then people will not go back to them." He added that the best cookbooks are often those whose pages are stuck together with sauce, and questioned how the iPhone would deal with the hands-on, often messy, nature of cooking.
What I would love to see if someone going into the Apple store on Regent Street to explain that the reason their iPhone is broken is because they smeared pesto all over it," he said. "I think people will find when their iPhone is covered in crap, that cooking with an iPhone is not such a good idea."

Hear, hear!

What do you think of the recipe app? Good idea, or yet another sleb chef gravy train ride?

Date and Banana Loaf

2010-04-19T14:58:00.009+01:00

Who needs dainty, cupcakey, frippery and frou-frou? This is a solid, gulag-style old-fashioned loaf that demands you cut off a great big hulking slab, slather it with butter and eat it accompanied by builders tea.

It's not all hulk and bulk though. The bananas make it lovely and moist, the dates are sticky and gooey, it's low in fat, big on taste and only takes 15 minutes to make.

Recently I've been making a real effort to clear the kitchen counter before starting to bake and to get out all my ingredients and utensils beforehand. This may be elementary to many but typically, when I bake, it's chaos and not organised chaos just chaos, chaos. I used to use the excuse that creative geniuses are never organised but then I began to realise I was just being plain stupid.

So now, as you can see above, all is pristine and calm. Even the bananas look calm.

Recipe:

300g self-raising flour - I used Doves Gluten-Free Self Raising Flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

125g chopped dates

half a cup [125ml] caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp of ground nutmeg
2 large or 3 medium bananas - about a cup full of whipped banana but no matter if it's slightly more

1 cup [250ml] milk - I used semi-skimmed

2 large eggs

2lb capacity or 21.5x10.5cm loaf tin

Method:

Sift the self-raising flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.
Stir through the dates and sugar
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
In another medium size mixing bowl chop up the banana into slices
Whisk the banana slices until smooth-ish
Add the eggs and milk and whisk briefly together until combined
Pour half the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and combine at a low speed until blended
Add remaining banana mixture and combine until just blended [don't over-mix]
Pour mixture into a greased or lined loaf tin
Bake for 50 mins at 180 degrees [as I use a fan oven I bake it for 40 minutes -turning the tin around half way through]

The very yummy result:

This is the view out my kitchen window. I'm in lambikins heaven at the moment.

My prize-winning recipe

2010-04-17T18:39:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we made the sad decision to cancel our holiday to visit family in South Africa. Thank you very much furious Mr Volcano living in Iceland.

This morning I checked my e-mail and I found a reason to smile. My Italian Sausage Stew recipe has won the prize for best stew recipe on FoodsForFriendsYeah!

I've won a Julie and Julia DVD and cookbook. I've been dying to see this film and I can certainly do with Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Food For Friends Yeah is a well designed, friendly and informative foodie community started by two foodie-friends.

Thanks so much - you've made my day!!!

Masterchef 2010

2010-04-08T11:03:00.011+01:00

Congratulations to Dhruv Baker - Masterchef 2010! He's amazingly talented, has the "palate of an angel" and is also very easy on the eye. He's already entered into my Chef Candy hall of fame.

I really enjoyed the latest series of Masterchef which finished last night. The format has been ramped up to conclusively test the contestants grit, determination and talent.

For all their faults and foibles Greg and John are the perfect presenters. Do we really want people who are groomed within an inch of their lives? I enjoy expressing my horror at their wardrobe disasters almost as much as I enjoy the food.

My only real complaint about this series is that the contestants are forced [surely they are?] to ramble on endlessly about how much they want to win. How many ways are there to say the same thing over and over again? My tolerance level for any kind of repitition is low at the best of times. We GET it OK? We understood years ago that everyone who enters this show wants to win. I suppose all this "stating the bleeding obvious" goes some way to padding out the programme.

I'm looking forward to seeing Dhruv in action at Taste of London in Regents Park in July. I'm presuming he'll be there, as in previous years the winners have been spied behind the counter of a professional kitchen.

The Easter that was

2010-04-06T12:04:00.004+01:00

Easter cupackes made by my own fair hand. Vanilla sponge with a choice of lemon or chocolate icing.

I followed this recipe. They come out rich, moist and yet light. If you like large cupcakes, then I suggest you double the quantity. The first time I made them I didn't double up and the mixture made 11 smallish cakes. I add two heaped teaspoons of lemon curd to the butter cream mixture but obviously it's to taste - better to start out with less and add more.

A closer view of my lemon curd icing:

Couldn't resist a shot of these flowers my sister-in-law gave me:

Viva Mexico

2010-03-31T11:34:00.004+01:00

One of my favourite "chains" is Wahaca - serving rustic, Mexican street food. It's delicious, different and affordable. Today Thomasina Myers, the one-time MasterChef winner turned restaurateur who co-owns Wahaca, will be chatting live at 1pm at the Guardian Online site

I'm emerging from a winter wherein I feel like I've comfort-fooded myself to death with stews, hearty soups and pretty stodgy english fare. My stomach, belly-jelly and tastebuds are begging for some excitement and change.

To get started I'm planning to make some of these simple mexican recipes by Thomasina - with the help of some ingredients ordered from Mexgrocer.co.uk. I've always wondered where to source dried chipotle chillis and other ingredients and now thanks to the Guardian "Word of Mouth" blog I know.

Photos courtesy of Flickr.com - creativecommons - Kakepugh & su-lin

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all

2010-03-30T10:40:00.002+01:00

The above wisedom was imparted by Mr Nelson Mandela and never a truer word said.

This morning I read an interesting article in the Guardian Online which debated and experimented with the best time to add salt when cooking.

To be honest I'm still rather confused. Any tips or experiences to share?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com - creative commons - joyosity

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt

2010-03-29T12:36:00.002+01:00

I'm proud to say that I'm now officially, as of five minutes ago, middle-aged. What's brought on this milestone you may ask? Well, I've sent off for a "Dig-In - Grow Your Own Vege" pack via the BBC website. I've always said that I'd save gardening for when I retire. However, I've seen what a wonderful crop my neighbours get from grow bags and have decided it's time to start growing things. Herbs are so expensive in supermarkets and packaged salads are meant to contain nasties in the air that's blown into them so they don't wilt.

A friend of mine says that rocket grows like weed, so I think I'll start with that and then maybe some mint and parsely. Plants which are the equivalent of cockroaches [could survive a nuclear bomb explosion] can become my babies.

My metamorphasis from black-plague fingers to green-fingers will have to wait until I get back from South Africa. So in about 5 weeks time I'll be sowing. A tad late I think but that's me........... a last minute merchant of note!

This is what I'm hoping for:

Photos courtesy of Flick.com - creative commons - CarleyJane & thomaspix

Cake stand heaven

2010-03-26T16:27:00.004Z

I love cake stands - especially vintage ones.

I've discovered this wonderful website which sell the most exquisite cake stands using vintage crockery.

Wowee - they're out of my price range. Rich man or National Lottery Win where are you?

So I decided to investigate making my own and found this:

1. How to make a cake stand
2. How to make a cake stand

They won't be as fab as these but one can dream ......................

Now, I just need to quit my job to give me time to make them. Cottage industry maybe.......................??

Photos courtesy of Flickr.com - creative commons - letthemeatcake1

Sophie and I

2010-03-26T13:52:00.006Z

Today I'm probably feeling a bit like The Delicous Miss Dahl. My, my but she's got some awful stick over her schtick. I don't entirely blame her, because these people have agents and advisors and the show has a director. Unless she's completely surrounded by sycophants, surely one of these people should have pointed out that the whole idea would be her undoing.

As people have pointed out, she hasn't committed a heinous crime. [The catholic church are doing too good a job of that at present]. Her only crime is having starred in a 30 minute commercial for herself, her sex-kitten routine, her books and a bit of food assembly. I tried to like it, I wanted to like it ....... but as soon as she confided, in complete earnestness, that she fantasised about "Mozzarella di Bufala" and coquettishly gazed at the camera for the umpteenth dozen time, my itchy finger hit the remote.

The reason I believe that Soph and I may have something in common, is because for about the last two months everything I touch seems to turn to shit.

Last night I decided to make Chicken Biriyani. Two posts down I wrote about finding a South African shop in Milton Keynes. I bought a packet of ready mixed spices which had a biriyani recipe on the back. I mean, surely if a recipe is printed by the manufacturer's they must have made sure it works. Right? Wrong!

I used to make this dish quite a bit in years gone by haven't done so since moving to the U.K. It took a lot of work, was fiddly and time consuming and the end result looked like a mass of poop on the plate. I certainly won't put your digestion in jeopardy by showing you a picture. Actually, I didn't take a picture. I was too pissed off. So anyway.......... this blasted biriyani............. the rice was too sticky and too highly spiced, the lentils were too soft [ok that's my fault, I decided to used tinned instead of boiling from scratch] and it looked like a congealed mass of curry risotto with chicken pieces. I should have known something was wrong when the chicken was cooked in coconut milk. This was NEVER in any biriyani I've made before.

Poor Anthony, he had to agree, yet again, this wasn't my finest culinary moment. In fact those are very few and far between these days. How ironic that I should start a food blog at the precise moment in time my innate cookery skills have gone on vacation............... on a round the world cruise. Come back! Come back! I beg of you!

Photo courtesy of: Flickr.com - creative commones - elena-lu who credits Steven Miesl

Springy Easter Eggness

2010-03-25T11:50:00.006Z

Thank goodness Spring is finally co-operating after the longest, coldest winter in living memory! The crocuses and daffodils which are in full bloom this week really gladden the heart and the eye.

I'm taking a break from my ~~boring~~ lovely job and looking at All Things Easter on the Martha Stewart website. Something about this site both fascinates and appalls me. I mean WHO has the time to make all this stuff and why do the Americans seem to make SUCH a big deal about any holiday? For a country that only gets two weeks holiday a year and who are in financial dire straits, they sure seem to have a lot of "me time". Mmmmm what's that I can taste? Sour grapes mixed with a dash of envy? My guests will be lucky if they get some hastily ~~stolen~~ bought daffodils adorning my Easter table.

So back I go to my Easter surfing - escaping into a lalaland of domestic bliss - being transported into a Stepford-wife world via my flatscreen.

We're having family over on Easter Sunday and so far my plans consist of:

Lasagna for those with tastebuds / Shepherd's pie [sob!] for my in-laws who will only eat tasteless food
Salad and garlic bread
Tiramisu - made the proper, pukka Italian way
Easter cupcakes or possibly one large cake adorned with mini Creme Eggs and a small gold Lindt bunny

Speaking of escape you MUST check out Mowielicious.com - this man is not only gorgeous [see his pic on "about" - I think he looks a bit like Will from Will and Grace] but he takes some of the best food porn pics I've ever seen. His stunningly beautiful site is also doing a Hotel Chocolat Easter Hamper give-way, so get yourself there without further delay.

Back to me........................ National Lottery are you listening? Over here .... yes, me, I'm the perfect person to win you. I would never be bored, I'd find plenty of creative things to do with my time. I even subscribe to you online and you haven't looked my way for about a year, you haven't even given me a £10 glance.............. shame on you!

Photos courtesy of: Flickr.com - creative commons - erbergcanada, anja2010, annamariahorner

The joys of boerewors

2010-03-23T15:48:00.007Z

When I lived in South Africa boerewors was always the last thing I went for at a braai [barbecue]. I was way more interested in lamb chops or rump steak. Having been in Blighty for sixteen years now, my tastebuds have started to hanker after the real taste of home.

So what is boerewors?

The word is comprised of two Afrikaans words - "boer" means farmer and "wors" means sausage. So it's farmers sausage.

"Boerewors is made from coarsely minced beef (sometimes combined with minced pork, lamb, or both) and spices (usually coriander seed, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and allspice). Traditional boerewors is usually formed into a continuous spiral. Boerewors is often served with pap (traditional South African porridge made from mielie-meal)"

The sausage is very highly spiced and has a unique flavour. Historically [we're taking centuries ago] this sausage was air-dried to preserve it and the spices helped with the preservation. The rustic nature of this sausage makes me think of the hardy Voortrekkers [settlers moving inland from the Cape to inhabit the hinterland] encamped in a circle of ox-wagons hoping that the indigenous tribesmen wouldn't kill them in their sleep.

This dry sausage [droe wors] is still popular today along with biltong [jerky] which is dried sticks of beef, game or ostrich.

Recently I was delighted to discover a Cruga South African Shop within striking distance in Milton Keynes. They sell regular, garlic and peri-peri wors and it's delicious! The nice thing about wors [aside from the fact that it's so spiced that it stinks the fridge out] is that it the meat has a slightly granular consistency, so it's chewier than your average banger in the U.K.

Once every fortnight we treat ourself to grilled boerewors, fried eggs and chips. I like to dip the wors into runny egg yolk and then, when the yolk runs out, I squeeze out a lake of tomato sauce [ketchup] and dip into that. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

Photos courtesty of: Flickr.com - creative commons - Paul Watson & Elston

Lemon, Rosemary and Olive Oil Cake

2010-03-20T11:12:00.023Z

Last thing at work yesterday afternoon, in an attempt to fend off impending sleep, I checked out one of my favourite sites "The New York Times" Online. I came across a lovely essay about someone who bakes in the wee small hours. They tried to recreate a scrumptious cake they'd had in London. It sounded delicious - a lemon, rosemary and olive oil cake. It sounded so yummy that I immediately looked for a recipe and found this one. I decided to make it as soon as I got home.

I adapted the recipe to gluten-free by using Doves Gluten Free Plain Flour.

To be perfectly honest my run of things turning out not quite right is still alive and well and living in Buckinghamshire. I cooked it at a too high temperature. It said 350 celcius and I thought that was 190 degrees centrigade when in fact it's 175 degrees centrigrade. So the oven was slightly too hot. Then I should have probably taken it out ten minutes before I did. The upshot being it turned out slightly dry. Boo bloody hoo! We're eating it anyway, spread with butter - waste not, want not and all that jazz.

I looked after our neighbours chickens last week and she gave me these lovely flowers to say thanks. My kitchen is looking very spring-like.

This week I've been catching up with "Lambing Live", who would have thought learning about sheep farming could be so compelling! Our cottage overlooks fields of sheep and we just love this time of the year. Anthony actually watched triplets being born on Thursday - he called me at work just to make me jealous!

These little cuties are in a neighbouring village.

We've got mommies fit to burst in the field this morning. I keep on surveying them for signs of labour [I'm an expert now] but nothing yet :-(

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Icing

2010-03-17T15:27:00.004Z

Along with the leaning tower of cheesecake [below]. I also made some itsy-bitsy, teeny weeny vanilla cupcakes.

I know cupcakes are pratically passe now, due to the over-obsession with them but I've hardly made any in the past and I wanted to give my "mother-in-law" something pretty and girly.

I used this recipe from Good To Know Recipes and they turned out to be the richest and moistest cupcakes I've ever made!

I adapted the recipe for gluten-free:

For the cupcakes [supposed to make 12 but I ended up with 11 small cupcakes - they didn't come much higher than the paper cases]

100g (4oz) butter

100g (4oz) golden caster sugar [normal white caster sugar is also fine]

2 eggs

2tsp vanilla extract

100g (4oz) self-raising flour [I used Doves Gluten-Free Self-Raising Flour]

1-2tbsp milk [I found I used 5 tbsp milk before the mixture dropped off the spoon]

Icing:

100g (4oz) butter

200g (8oz) icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

Lemon curd to taste [I used two teaspoons for a subtle flavour]

Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases

Method:

Cream the butter and the sugar in a food mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs and the flour. Add the milk so the mixture easily drops off a spoon.

Put 1tbsp of mixture into each cake case and bake near the top of a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F, gas mark 5) for 12-15 mins, until springy to the touch, golden and risen. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the topping, beat the butter with 50g (2oz) icing sugar, then add the rest of the icing sugar and the vanilla extract (add a few drops of natural food colouring for coloured icing). Scoop the very top off each cake and cut in half to make 'wings'. Mix some lemon curd into the butter cream, then fill each cavity and place the 'wings' on top.

Extra notes:

I didn't do the whole "wing thing" - I just made the icing and put it on top.

I don't have a terribly sweet tooth and therefore can't handle the mountains of icing some cupcakes seem to have these days. I mean some have over an inch of icing - enough to induce a diabetic coma! I made the amount of icing suggested above but I think it was FAR too much. I had half of it left over.

I was too exhausted too try and find my icing bag and nozzles, so I just used a knife to swirl on the icing and then topped them with either sprinkles and tiny silver balls, or just a small white or yellow sugar flower in the centre.

In retrospect I think that creamcheese frosting with lemon curd may have also worked really well. I'll give it a try next time.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com - creative commons - sugarbloombev

Lemon Cheesecake with Passionfruit Glaze

2010-03-17T13:04:00.007Z

I offered to make dessert to take over to my "mother-in-law" for Mother's Day. I wasn't sure what to make but inspired by the beginning of spring and the fact that Asda had 3 passionfruit for £1, I decided to hark back to an old faithful of mine - Lemon Cheesecake with a passionfruit glaze. This is light, hits all the right tastebuds and looks great.

In case you're not sure what a passionfruit is click here

Lemon Cheesecake with Passionfruit Glaze [Serves 8-10]

15 digestive biscuits

6 tbsp butter , melted

400g cream cheese [I use Philadelphia Light to make it less artery clogging]

grated zest of 2 lemons

200g mascarpone cheese

100g caster sugar

184ml pot double cream

Crush biscuits into fine crumbs - either by putting them in a blender, food processor, or by putting them in a self-seal bag and bashing them with a rolling pin or other heavy object.

Put the biscuits into a bowl and mix in the melted butter. Put the mixture into a 20cm springform tin and, using your fingers or the back of a spoon to spread it evenly, press it down in the tin to form the base. Put the tin into the fridge to set the base while you prepare the filling.

Put the cream cheese, lemon zest, mascarpone, sugar into a bowl and mix well until smooth. (I use a hand beater, or you could use a wooden spoon or a whisk and lots of wrist action)

Put the cream into a clean bowl and whisk until it is the consistency of thick custard - it musn't be standing in peaks. Add to the lemon mixture and fold in gently using a metal spoon, or you can use a electric beater if yours has a slow setting. The idea being that you don't want to overmix at this stage, as it can make the filling too stiff.

Remove the tin from the fridge. Pour the filling over the biscuit base and spread evenly. Return to the fridge to set (at least 4 hours or overnight).

For the passionfruit glaze:

6 passion fruit at the very least - or 8 is they are small

3 tablespoons of water

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

2 sheets of gelatine

- Soak gelatine leaves in water according to manufacturers instructions
- Cut passionfruit in half
- Scoop flesh out of passionfruit, using teaspoon, into a sieve
- Push and squish passionfruit pulp with a large spoon until all the juice is extracted [reserve seeds]
- Put passionfruit juice, water and sugar in a small saucepan over a very low heat
- Stir to dissolve sugar
- Add soaked gelatine leaves and stir gently to dissolve
- Remove from heat and cool [about 10 minutes]
- If you like to see black flecks in the yellow glaze add enough seeds at this stage
- Very gently pour glaze over cheesecake, cover with clingfilm and return to the fridge until glaze has set

Tip: making this the day before and allowing the passionfruit flavour to infuse into the cheesecake makes it even yummier.

The Good Old Beeb

2010-03-10T15:25:00.010Z

I'm pleased to say that 8/10 of what I cook is a success. I'm not sure where I pulled my 80% success ratio out of but it feels like an honest guesstimate.

Being somewhat of a perfectionist I always use recipes, as I hate to waste ingredients and my time by flinging things together in the hopes they work out. I think if you've got a LOT of experience and have mastered the art of classic cooking, to the degree where you "just know" that something will work, then bravo you! I'm nowhere near that place. Yet.

I find the BBC Good Food site a godsend. Not only have the recipes been tested but they've also been rated by real life home cooks like us. I'm pleased to see that they've even made things easier by featuring a link to all their highest rated recipes.

My favourite cooking programmes are: Saturday Kitchen, Masterchef and Come Dine With Me. I love shouting abuse at the contestants when they make silly mistakes. For instance on Masterchef, the number of people who decide to make something they've never made before, I mean HELLO!? or on Come Dine With Me the people who cheat with ready-made sauces and whose idea of a dessert is some berries served with creme fraiche. Not cooking moron, NOT cooking!

My award for best looking chef in the U.K goes to Jun Tanaka of the Pearl Restaurant. This man's hair does things to me. I had the pleasure of seeing him in the flesh at the Taste of London where I sampled his raw kingfish marinated in passionfruit. It was out of this world. I dream of eating at Pearl one day .......................

On the subject of Taste of London - we've gone for the last three years and it's just got better each year. I can't recommend it highly enough. In fact it's an annual highlight for us.

Photo courtesy of: Flickr.com - creative commons - Tom Swain

Gluten-Free Middle East Adventures

2010-03-08T16:38:00.008Z

This Saturday I had a friend up from London for lunch. In true mad-me style, I decided to serve three dishes which I've never done before. She's a very old friend, so if everything went pear-shaped we could have popped in the car and retreated post haste to the nearest gastro-pub.

I made Moroccan Lamb Tagine from an Anthony Worrall-Thompson recipe [although being tagine free I used my trust LeCreuset casserole dish] - as usual I made some tweaks:

I didn't have any of the argan oil he used, so I just used more olive oil
I didn't have lamb stock, so used Knorr vegetable stock granules instead
Waitrose didn't have shoulder of lamb, so I used diced leg of lamb
both Anthony and my friend are allergic to gluten, so I served the dish on brown rice instead of cous cous

I'm pleased to say it turned out great!  Rich, deep flavours, with melt in the mouth lamb and as an added bonus leftovers tasted even better the next day.

On Saturday morning I decided that just having the stew and rice would be a bit too "brown" and also a bit too "soft" on the palate - so I decided at the last minute to make tabbouleh as an accompaniement.    Aaaah, but bulgar wheat is well ..... wheat, so another no, no. So I used quinoa instead. This "gold of the incas" worked really well.

Having recently ordered tabbouleh in my favourite Lebanese restaurant Noura, in central London, I realised that the salad is a lot better with very little bulgar wheat involved. To the point where it makes up about 5% of the dish and the salad has white flecks and is mainly a luscious green.    So I only used half a cup of quinoa.

For dessert I served Cinammon and Wine Poached Pears. I missed out the caramelisation stage, because I tried twice and the butter and sugar wouldn't caramelise, it split. [No idea why]. However, having just the pears, syrup and marscapone worked beautifully. I couldn't find the wine they recommended on the shelf at Wiatrose, so used this one. This dessert was light, had a wonderful depth of flavour and is going to become a favourite.

Having friends over makes me push the boat out and thank goodness I have three more "fall back" recipes for entertaining in future.

Photos courtesy of: Flickr.com - creative commons - sundaydriver & dumin

Gotta love the boy

2010-03-01T17:32:00.006Z

Here I was hoping that the "distaster" label in this blog would be underpopulated but it would appear not. This weekend I went to visit a friend of mine to see her 16 week old baby for the first time. I decided to bake my foolproof Raspberry Bakewell Cake and it turned out just a bit too squidy in the middle.

I've no idea why. I did use normal flour instead of gluten free. I've come to the conclusion that I no longer know how to judge when something is cooked when made with normal flour. Before you ask - I did insert a skewer into the middle and it came out clean. I also pressed down with my finger and it sprang back]. It tasted great but wasn't just so.

To change the subject.......... I've just discovered that Jamie Oliver has these "cafes" called Recipease where you can book a session to learn how to cook something and then eat it. What a fab idea! I like the idea of learning "knife skills" and how to make fresh pasta. What a pity that Anthony is allergic to gluten - as that session would be my first choice. A session would also make a great gift.

Photos courtesy of : Flickr.com - creative commons - recipease search

Tomato & Red Pepper Soup - a disaster makes good

2010-02-24T13:12:00.004Z

I make a really great pasta sauce with onions, orange, red and yellow peppers, tomato passata, tinned tomatoes, medium red chillies and a bit of sugar. It's one of Anthony's favourites. I hadn't made it in a while and he was really looking forward to it.

In Sainsbury's they had run out yellow peppers, however there were some in their "value" bags and I persuaded him to make an exception and buy something "value". So, I made the sauce exactly the same as always and all seemed fine until it came to dishing it up. Upon hitting the rice [we sometimes have pasta sauce with brown rice] the sauce became very runny and strangely enough it had very little flavour.

Lesson learnt. Even though "value" peppers look the same and feel the same, they're NOT the same. For the life of me I don't know how they're grown to look fine and yet in ever other way be fake. I guess it's down to lack of sunshine?

Anthony asked me how I could possibly think that the half price peppers could possibly be the same as the loose ones? I replied, quite loudly it must be said, "BECAUSE THEY LOOKED THE SAME!". I'm usually not such a trusting and naive soul but I thought, just this once, we might get away with paying less for a vegetable.

He ate half his dinner with very long teeth and then came up with a brainwave. Why not liquidise the sauce and make soup?

This I did, adding some little chunks of dried chorizo sausage and a can of chickpeas. It turned out fab and I've just eaten some left-overs for lunch.

In fact I may just buy value peppers again just to make into soup.

Are there any "value" fruit and vege which you've found have much flavour?

Photos courtesy of: dejahthoris flickr.com - creative commons

Raspberry Bakewell Cake

2010-02-22T14:27:00.008Z

I went to Costa Coffee last Friday at lunchtime to indulge in my new favourite coffee - a flat white. I wondered why I felt so speedy walking around Tesco afterwards and now I see they contain two shots of espresso!!

With my coffee I ordered a delicious bakewell slice. Anthony [my partner] loves them too but can't partake because of his pesky gluten allergy. So he asked me to make him the next best thing.........which is my gluten-free version of Raspberry Bakewell Cake

I first found this recipe while looking for gluten-free cake recipes. This has half flour and half ground almonds in it. I decided to substitute the flour with gluten-free flour and it comes out perfectly.

Here are some of my tweaks:

I don't use a food processor, instead I cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs and flavourings. The I sift the ground almonds and flour into the mixture in two parts.

REALLY IMPORTANT - I add 2 tsp of almond essence - otherwise, to my mind anyway, it doesn't taste like something with "Bakewell" in the title should.

I use Doves Self-Raising Gluten-Free flour instead of normal self-raising flour

Check the cake after 40 mins to make sure it isn't going too brown on top and too dry inside. Lessening the cooking time will make the middle stay moist and more like a traditional bakewell slice.

Making pukka bakewell slices are on my "must make" list, however to make a traditional slice I'm going to use semolina - which isn't gluten-free - sorry Anthony, you'll have to reach for the anti-histamine spray.

Photo courtesy of BBC Good Food & Costa Coffee

Let Them Eat Cake / Qu'ils mangent de la brioche

2010-02-19T11:33:00.003Z

Poor Marie Antoinette is, after her bouffant hairstyles, perhaps best known for uttering "Qu'ils mangent de la Brioche" - which is historically inaccurate on many, many levels.

Whilst London is hardly full of starving peasants it does seem to be bucking financial trends and literally eating more designer cake than ever before.

This article from the London Evening Standard reveals that cake sales are at an all time high. I wonder are people putting off the expensive holiday and instead indulging in designer cakes?

Photos courtesy of Flickr.com / creative commons / Bev [Sugar Bloom Cupcakes] & Rosey Sugar

Now you see them, now you don't

2010-02-17T16:46:00.004Z

It's that half past four feeling - that dead zone at work when you just can't be assed anymore and you need to still look busy. What's a girl to do? Well, I always start to look at food sites.

I happened upon this GENIUS recipe for something called Houdini Bars from a wonderful blog called CakeSpy.com.

I'm not so into the idea of using a cake mix as the base, plus I'll need make it gluten-free otherwise my partner won't be able to eat any. I think I'll just use a sponge cake batter. I'm also thinking not to have mixture up the sides but just as a base? Will report back when I've made these. I'm aware that I'm probably doing things a bit ass about face because I should only blog about food once I've made it but I can't help myself.

Cake Spy says these taste bars are like birthday cake, cheesecake and coconut cream pie all at once. Mmmmmmmmm!!

Photo courtesy of CakeSpy.com

Banana and Date Muffins - the best of both worlds

2010-02-16T12:40:00.002Z

I'm a big fan of TV Burp and lately, when I can't decide on something I go into catch-phrase mode and do a bad impression of Harry Hill.

For instance, I really like banana bread and I really like date loaf.... mmmmmm....... but which one is better? There's only one way to find out ............... FIGHT!!!!!

Well luckily in this instance I've decided to adopt the more preferable middle way and persuade them to live happily and amicably together.

I use this Banana Date Loaf recipe and either bake it as a loaf or divide the mixture into muffins.

Here are some of my adaptations which I've tried and tested:

I add a heaped tsp of cinammon
I use dark brown muscavado sugar - which makes the batter a darker colour and imparts a slight treacle flavour
I add a generous teaspoon of vanilla essence
I chop the banana up into slices and use the beaters to mash them into a goo
I love dates, so I use about another half a cup

Dippity Doo Dah Dippity Day

2010-02-15T13:10:00.002Z

In my never-ending quest to eat more raw vegetables, I've come up with a painless way to sneak them into my daily diet. For lunch today I'm having:

Crudites made from:

1 large carrot
2 large stalks of celery
half a large courgette
quater of a large cucumber

[other good vege to use: baby corn, mange tout]

A dip made from:

small chunk of dolcelatte cheese - cut into small bits
3 tbsp of fat free natural yoghurt
Approx. a tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
A good squeeze of Hellmans Mayonnaise

Other dips ideas: teaspoon of pesto mixed with natural yoghurt / good splash of Sweet Chilli Sauce mixed with half a carton of Philadelpha Light

This simple lunch goes very well with Ryvita Multi-seed Flabreads - which provide a crunchy, crackly, taste explosion.

The reason I try and eat more raw vege is because I have a sluggish digestive system at the best of times and also I believe raw foods provide more energy. Plus I have to counter-balance my baking obsession somehow!

Heavenly Chocolate Mousse Cake

2010-02-12T12:00:00.014Z

Today I made my "famous" Chocolate Mousse Cake. It could also be called a torte or tart, or a more sophisticated version of Mississippi Mud Pie. This is my "go to" recipe when I want to impress. Even though I readily admit that it's dead easy, it never seems to dampen the compliments flying my way. It's a grown up dessert because it isn't too sweet thanks to the splash of booze and dark chocolate.

This ultra-simple dessert requires no baking and can easily be dickied up with a few swirls and twirls to make it look super impressive. Plus it's even better made the night before which makes it even more stress free.

My adaptations and observations:

In the recipe the mousse filling calls for 4 tbsps of booze but I generally leave it out or just add 1 tbsp, because personally I'm not a fan of strong boozy flavours. Simply leaving it out makes very little difference to the texture of the mousse.

I use a springform tin but don't press the biscuit base up the sides. I still use the same quantities for the base, it just makes a slightly thicker crust which I think improves upon the texture contrast per mouthful.

I don't use sugar in the biscuit base, as I think it's unnecessary.

Some tweaks:

substitute a handful of Maltesers into the biscuit base mix for a malty flavour
use 300g crushed bourbon biscuits mixed with 75g of melted butter for the base
substitute coconut biscuits or ginger snaps for half to two thirds of the required digestive biscuits
either make or buy a good quality berry coulis [such as Tesco Finest] to dribble over the top
serve with a good quality vanilla ice-cream or a dollop of double cream or creme fraiche
decorate with grated chocolate
deorate with sliced strawberries / whole raspberries
this can easily become gluten-free by using gluten-free digestive biscuits

This recipe is adapted from Delicious Magazine - Chocolate Mousse Torte

Ingredients:

1 tsp instant coffee granules

150g plain chocolate, with at least 60% cocoa solids, broken up

3 large eggs, separated, plus 1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp spirit of your choice, such as brandy, dark rum, Cointreau or Amaretto

3 tbsp Golden Caster Sugar

For the biscuit case:

50g plain chocolate, with at least 60% cocoa solids, broken up

2 tbsp cocoa powder

50g butter

175g digestive biscuits

2 tbsp Golden Caster Sugar

Method:

1. Remove the base from a 20cm springform tin. Lightly butter inside the ring and place it upside-down, directly onto a flat serving plate. Secure it in place on each side with a small piece of Blu-Tack. Line the sides with a strip of non-stick baking paper. (I tend to adopt an easier approach by just lining the bottom with greaseproof paper, as I don't push the biscuit mixture up the sides)

2. Make the biscuit case. Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and add the cocoa powder and butter. Rest the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and leave until melted, then stir until smooth. Put the digestive biscuits and sugar into a food processor and whizz, using the pulse button, to fine crumbs. (I prefer not to make them too fine as having a bit of crunch and texture in the base makes it more interesting on the chew). Stir into the melted chocolate mixture, then tip into the lined tin and, using the back of a dessertspoon, press the crumbs firmly in an even layer over the base and at least 4cm up the sides to form a casing. (As stated I don't bother putting the mixture up the sides as it's difficult to get it looking nice and even in a high sided springform tin). Chill while you make the filling.

3. Dissolve the coffee in 4 tablespoons boiling water. Put the coffee and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl, rest it over the pan of hot water until melted and then stir until smooth. Mix the egg yolks and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Stir into the chocolate and coffee mixture until smooth and then stir in your chosen spirit.

4. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until just beginning to stiffen, then gradually whisk in the sugar to form a soft meringue. The tips of the peaks should fall over, not stand upright. Gently fold the whites into the chocolate mixture and then pour into the biscuit crumb case. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight until firm before removing the springform tin.

Thanks to juanelos on Flickr.com - creative commons

Latest foodie trend?

2010-02-09T15:39:00.006Z

I spied this interesting article in the London Evening Standard, which predicts that eclairs are the next big thing after cupcakes and macaroons.

I'm well pleased with this, as I started making eclairs at about the age of 12. Even before we learned how to make choux pastry in Home Economics [or cookery classes] I was making them at home. Hailing from darkest Africa, ready made desserts simply weren't around in the 70's or 80's. You wanted something, you damn well made it!

I love my eclairs with slightly sweetened whipped double cream and topped with good quality melted dark chocolate. Some of the commercially produced versions feature very sweet butter icing or custard and a gooey coffee or chocolate flavoured glaze. No thanks!

Interestingly the new trend also emcompasses savoury eclairs. What a fab idea. I can immediately think of cream cheese mixed with smoked salmon and capers. Or ricotta cheese, flecks of sundried tomatoes and fresh basil. Really, what is an eclair but a fairly bland tubular, or round receptable, in which anything can be placed. Likewise, anything can be placed on top too, so the possibilities are endless.

Whilst researching pictures for this post, I came across some amazing photos of the Japanese take on eclairs. The Japanese say "you eat with your eyes" - hence the artistry.

I haven't thought about eclairs or profiteroles [little balls of choux pastry] for the longest time and I feel inspired to get choux making again.

Watch this space!!

Thanks to flickr.com - creative commons

Be inspired this Valentines Day

2010-02-09T12:40:00.003Z

Continuing the Valentine's theme - I've found these gorgeous little cuties that you can download and print and this vintage style card. Imagine making both the gift and the card!!!

Here are some more great ideas for Valentine's crafts and recipes.

Oh if only there were more hours in the day to be creative!

Big Love

2010-02-08T15:39:00.004Z

I've just discovered the CUTEST [and very easy] Valentine's Day gift to make.

Check it out on Bakerella.com

Something homemade with love says it all!

Photo courtesy of: Bakerella.com [i hope they don't mind]

Gluten Free Cooking

2010-02-08T12:55:00.001Z

About a year ago my partner discovered that he had an allergy to gluten. Considering toast and pasta were his favourite things in life this came as a bit of a shock. What to do?

Well, luckily he took to rice cakes quite well [instead of bread] and we have chunky, homemade pasta sauces on brown rice. Which ultimately is a lot better for you than pasta anyway, so it's been relatively painless.

Recently he was recommended a gluten-free bread that actually tasted like the real deal. The brand is Genius and he's overjoyed to be able to indulge in toast once more. I enjoy baking but making bread, on top everything else, is just a step too far.

I make my gluten-free goodies using Doves Farm gluten free flour. I'm relieved to say that so far I've been able to simply substitute Doves flour for normal flour and the results have been fantastic.