Daydream delicious...

Egg on egg with butter - Eggs benedict

2007-07-29T13:34:00.000+01:00

Following a brief excursion into mayonnaise making the other week, it got me thinking about egg based sauces. For some reason or another, I had never tasted hollandaise sauce. This would have stemmed from the days when I had to make hollandaise on a regular basis at the pancake restaurant that I worked at - and although it always turned out fine for me - it had kind of put me off with the amount of butter it contained; not to mention the fact that by the end of the day it had turned into a split, coagulated mess.

In effect, hollandaise is a butter sauce brought together with an egg yolk and seasoned. Egg yolk, so I've learnt from Harold McGee himself, is a natural emulsifier and when combined with fat, starts to thicken. The reason that hollandaise is a warm sauce is simple - butter melts when hot.

The hollandaise I made yesterday morning, to adorn my poached egg and muffin, turned out airy and soft with just the right seasoning. Based on Olive's "How to make dead, good hollandaise" from the January issue, the only thing I had to change was the lemon juice, which I used lime juice instead. I am no longer disgusted by hollandaise, and when it's appropriate, I will be making it just like this.

Hollandaise

1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt
Dash of water
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, or other flavoured white vinegar like tarragon
125g butter, melted
Half a juice of lime
Shake of paprika

Melt the butter over medium heat and try not mix the clear liquid with the white liquid. Whisk together the yolk, water, vinegar and salt in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and when it starts to thicken start adding the clear butter liquids very slowly. Once all the butter is incorporated continue whisking until the sauce starts to thicken. If it thickens too much add a splash of water to loosen it up. Whisk in the lime juice and paprika.

For Johanna: Carrot Cake

2007-07-02T19:11:00.000+01:00

My very favourit-ist carrot cake of all time. Made again, yesterday.

Johanna: you have to follow this to the tee. I've made slight variations - all to detrimental effect. In fact, the picture of the cake above didn't work out because I used all white flour and no nuts. Didn't turn out at all.

Carrot Cake

175g brown sugar
150mL sunflower oil
2 eggs
100g white flour
100g wholemeal/barley/rye flour (whichever you have on hand)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
3 medium sized carrots - peeled and grated (no doubt using your Thermomix *jealous*)
50g chopped nuts
1 orange, zested and juiced
Additional 75g brown sugar

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius. Beat together the brown sugar and oil. Add in the zest of the orange and the eggs, beating between each additional. Beat until lighter in colour and slightly foamy. Tip in the flours, baking powder and spice and mix until well combined. Fold through the carrot and mixed nuts. Transfer into two prepared sandwhich tins and bake for about 30-45 minutes until cooked (you know when ;).

While it is baking prepare an orange syrup by slowly heating the orange juice and additional brown sugar over a low heat. When the cakes are removed from the tins (after cooling slightly) poke holes all over them and pour over the syrup.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

50g softened butter
3 cups icing sugar (I know I'm terribly inconsistant with my measurements - try 500mL)
175g cream cheese
Juice from half an orange

Whip together all of the ingredients until light and fluffy. Frost the cake with a layer of the icing between the layers of cake.

Let me know how you get on!

P.S. ~~I'll hopefully be moblogging from the Henley Regatta. See you there - hopefully the weather won't be bad...~~

P.P.S. We've decided not to go to Henley Regatta - We've got to start putting our heads down and start saving money for Le Grande Tour in November... Besides - we have a mower to buy :(

Elderflower cordial

2007-06-05T20:31:00.000+01:00

All last summer I was eyeing off our neighbours elderflower bush trying to work up enough gumption to go and ask them if I could pick the elderflower heads. Last year however, my shyness got the better of me and before I knew it the flowers had turned into berries and the berries fell to the ground.

This year was going to be different and a couple of weeks ago I found myself eyeing off our new neighbour's elderflower tree. Thankfully though I didn't have to overcome my shyness. On Sunday, after weeding the carrots, chard and radishes I sneaked over to the allotment opposite ours and into the elderflower bush (protected by a whole lot of stinging nettles). There were so many I figured that they wouldn't miss a few. I gathered at least 30 elderflower heads and I brought them home dreaming of elderflower cordial and all the things I can do with it. I'm thinking elderflower cupcakes, elderflower charlottes, elderflower granita... the elderflower possibilities are endless. I might have to go and pick some more.

Elderflower Cordial

30 heads of elderflowers
2 litres of water
1 kilogram of sugar (I used half golden granulated and half demerara)
2 limes, peeled and sliced
1 orange, peeled and sliced
4 tablespoons cream of tartar

Into a large saucepan (I talking big), place the flowers, sugar and citrus fruits. Stir together and leave to sit for 2 hours. Add the cream of tartar (which prevents crystallisation). Boil the water and pour over the flowers. Cover and leave to sit for at least 24 hours (although I let ours sit for 48).

Filter through a J cloth into sterilised glass bottles or plastic bottles. If freezing in the plastic bottles leave some space for expansion.

As a flavouring for various dishes I'm going to reduce the cordial down for a more intense hit.

Rocket & Spinach Pesto

2007-06-02T10:58:00.000+01:00

Ideally the first harvest of our allotment would have adorned the top of a pizza, been thrown through a salad or stirred through a risotto. But I wasn't the only one with the same idea. When I went to harvest the rocket the other night, I had found that it had been absolutely ravaged by slugs and other hungry insects. I don't blame them personally because the rocket is absolutely spot on. Peppery and fresh. And anyway - I should've put the milk out sooner.

Rather than waste it I thought it was a good opportunity to make a batch of rocket pesto from the stems that were left over and the few leaves that had made it through the slug storm. I bulked it out a little with the spinach that we had. I'm freezing a bag for us to use on the odd occasion - slicing off a block to stir through winter stews or to add to a toasted panini. Another frozen bag will be for Sabrina and Tim, my allotment buddies, who are currently in Australia and may otherwise miss out on the dilapidated crop.

Rocket & Spinach Pesto

Take a handful of rocket and a handful of spinach with one clove of garlic, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of pine nuts and whiz it all together in a blender. Pulse and don't over blend to much. That's it. Bob's your Uncle.

NOTE - Notice that there's no parmesan here. It's actually because I forgot it. But the rocket spoke for itself because when I tasted it I mustn't've thought it needed anything. Might try it with next time...

An Indian meal to stay home for:

2007-05-28T17:08:00.000+01:00

This post is not a rant about the state of curry restaurants in this Country. I will not mention how many times I have tried the same meal at different curry houses to find out that they all taste the same. And I refuse to enter into a debate about which city has the best curry. Instead - I'll just tell you how I make my curry at home - where it's worth the work, fresher than ever, and better than any curry I've ever eaten out.

With the knowledge of Madhur Jaffrey, the support of Jamie Oliver and the tuition of Padmaja I managed to knock up a pretty good meal. It's just amazing how fresh ingredients that are full of flavour can manage to turn a dish around.

This is how I did it:

Onion Bonjis

I don't call them bhajis, because, although they are bhajis as I (an uneducated Westerner) know it, bhajis are really more like Indian-style tempura vegetables. These onion cakes do have a proper Indian name but I can't for the life of me remember what the name is. So we've named them Bonjis!

4 onions, sliced
3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for frying

This part can be done in advance:

Place the onions in a large bowl and measure all of the dry ingredients over them. Mix through with your hands and while doing so squeeze the onions so that they release their juices. The onion juice will combine with the flour to form a sticky batter around the onion slices. Heat the oil in a frying until sizzling. Drop handful sizes of batter into the oil to make small cakes. Fry on each side for about 5 minutes. Once complete remove to a paper towel or metal rack to drain.

Before serving:

Reheat the oil to sizzling. Re fry the cakes until golden brown and heated through - about 2 minutes each side. Leave to drain for another 2 minutes but then serve immediately with raita.

Easy Raita

1/2 cup natural yoghurt
Handful of chopped coriander
Juice of half a lime

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chicken Curry
inspired by Madhur Jaffrey's Chicken Tikka Masala and Jamie Oliver's fragrant rub

Sunflower oil
5 or so cardamom pods
Half a cinnamon stick (about 5 cm)
2 onions, finely chopped
1 knob of finely grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 teaspoons of Fragrant Rub
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt
3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped (to taste)
500 grams well looked after chicken, cubed
150ml water
Handful of coriander, finely chopped

Brown of the chicken in some sunflower oil. Remove from heat and set aside. Heat some oil in a fry pan until sizzling and very hot. Add the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. Stir quickly then add the onions. Continue stirring until the onions begin to brown slightly. Add the ginger and garlic and stir for one minute. Mix the fragrant rub through. Next, stir through the yoghurt, a tablespoon at a time, until it is absorbed by the spices. Add the tomato, tomato puree and chili pepper and cook for a good minute or so while still stirring. Pour in the water, bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer gently with the heat on low for ten minutes. Season to taste. Return the heat to high and stir the chicken through coating with the sauce. When ready to serve, stir through the chopped coriander.

Fragrant Rub

1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 clove
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 cardmom pods
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toast all of the ingredients in a dry pack on a medium heat until fragrant. Tip into a food processor and ground until fine.

Sag Aloo or Cumin Potatoes with Spinach

450g unpeeled potatoes
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 knob of ginger, finely grated
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
1 handful of baby spinach leaves
Black pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, then drain and leave to cool. Peel and cut them into 2 cm cubes. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. When it is very hot fry off the cumin seeds for 10 seconds. Add in the potatoes, ginger salt, cumin, cayenne and pepper. Stir fry the potatoes for 10 minutes, roughing them up slightly to create crispy edges. At the very end, stir through the spinach leaves and coriander and serve immediately.

Cardamom Rice

Dan is a guru with rice. This is his rice. When it comes to rice, he looks after it every time.

250ml basmati rice
500ml water
5 cardamom pods to taste
Handful of coriander, coarsely chopped

Boil the water. When on a rolling boil, add the rice, bring it back to the boil, stir once then cover. Lower heat to medium-low, then leave for 12 minutes without removing lid. Remove from heat and leave to sit for another 12 minutes, again, without removing the lid. When ready to serve, take out the cardamom pods and split to remove the seeds. Stir the seeds through the rice while fluffing it up with a fork. Stir through the coriander and serve immediately! Enjoy!

Individual Scape and Chard Pies

2007-05-24T21:10:00.000+01:00

Of all the chard pies I've made over the year, I've never actually posted about them. I guess that's because for the most part it makes up one of our fall back meals - like spag bol, or stir fry. So to me it's not all that interesting although oh so yummy!

Since my acquisition of Scapes recently, I've been trying to think of ways to use them. One of the most popular scape recipes seems to be pesto which I hope to try out this weekend. But for the mean time, I decided to try it out as a replacement for garlic in the chard pie. The end result was an earthier, more delicate flavour to the mix - which is a welcome change to an otherwise mundane-ish meal (although I really, really like chard pie in general - it's just you get used to it, if you know what I mean). Below I've detailed the filling only - I've used a standard shortcrust pastry which I not ready to share with anyone just yet.

Scape & Chard Pie Filling

350g chard
250g ricotta
4 slices of thick bacon
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 stems of scapes with bulbs

Wash the chard thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. Chiffonade the chard by layering each leaf on top of the other and roll up like a cigar. Slice into 1 inch strips starting from the leafy end and working to the stem. Separate the stem from the leaves.

Roast the pine nuts until golden brown. Leave to cool. Chop the scapes into 5 millimetre slices. Chop the flower finely and keep separate from the stem. In a saucepan heat a touch of oil with the scape stem. Dice the bacon and brown in the pan with the scapes. Fry until crispy. Add the chard stems and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chard leaves and keep the mixture moving until the leaves are wilted. Add the chopped scape flower.

Transfer to a sieve and press out all the juices ensuring that it is as dry as possible, otherwise the pie may become soggy. Place the chard into a bowl and stir in the ricotta until well mixed through. Add the pine nuts and stir though. Season to taste.

Strawberry Vodka Meringue Cake

2007-05-15T20:14:00.000+01:00

Dear Daydream delicious...,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the length of time I've been away from you. I offer, in way of an excuse, the incompetancies of British Telecom, who went out of their way to cancel our broadband connection and not show up on no less than 2 occasions. I know I should have found another way to be with you, my dear one, but to be honest the offerings I had for posts would have paled in comparison and would not have been worthy.

Please accept this strawberry meringue cake laced with vodka (I know how you like vodka) as a gesture of good will. I made one for you, dear Daydream delicious..., and the other as a house warming gift to my new kitchen. I can't wait for you to meet! You will get along so well and really, really enjoy working together. So much so, I think we should all meet up at least once a week from here on in!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Much love, Bonnie

Strawberry Vodka Meringue Cake

1 punnet of strawberries
125mL vodka (to taste)
3 tablespoons demarerra sugar
3 egg whites
1 cup of castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white vinegar
50g ground almonds
Whipped cream

Hull the strawberries and slice in half. In a bowl mix the strawberries with the demarerra sugar and vodka. Cover and leave in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 160° Celsius. Prepare two 23cm cake tins by lining the base with grease proof paper and oiling the sides with sunflower or rapeseed oil. Whisk the egg whites until they begin to froth. Start to add the castor sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. The egg whites should be forming stiff peaks by this time. With the last tablespoon of sugar add the cornflour. Fold in the vanilla and vinegar until combined. Finally, fold in the ground almonds.

Divide the meringue between both cake tins and bake for 45 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes then remove onto a wire rack to cool completely. Assemble the cake by placing half of the strawberries on the bottom layer, cover with cream and place the remaining strawberries on the cream. Top with the other cake. Serve with the remaining syrup drizzled over the cake.

Marshmallows

2007-04-30T12:00:00.000+01:00

Since British Telecom have not yet been able to restore our connection to the rest of the world I have to sneakily post this entry while on my lunch break at work. I wanted to get at least one more in before the end of April! Oh, how this year is slipping away...

These marshmallows that I made were so sweet they just about burnt our mouths! But considering that they are made purely with sugar, gelatine, vanilla and water - that's hardly suprising.

They were to be for my Easter post - and I did make them for Easter since it really reminded me of being young and making fluffy bunny mashmallows instead of colouring eggs. Bunnys are so much cuter than boring old eggs, no?

For the most part, the recipe is the Cooking for Engineers test recipe. On their site they do go into a load of detail which was really helpful but I did change a couple of things.

Firstly I used a balloon whisk. According to the testers they used the beater because the marshmallow would get stuck in the whisk. Now, personally, I don't have a problem with this. I know exactly what to do with the marshmallow that has been stuck in the whisk - and so does my tongue.

The testers also took the temperature to hard ball state but I wanted a soft and fluffy marshmallow so kept it to soft ball. This is also why I reduced the amount of gelatin to three sheets.

I then toasted the coconut and once the marshmallow had set rolled them in the coconut and some icing sugar and cornflour mix. Next time, coconut all the way!

Bacon & egg with thyme & potato rosti

2007-04-07T14:07:00.000+01:00

Never has savoury food been so appealing to me. For years and years I've had a sweet tooth and although I'm not about to denounce all sweet food, I must admit that its savoury ally has been ambushing me in an attempt to beat me down and win me over. And on the breakfast front it has worked.

Our lazy (or not so lazy) weekends usually begin with a large main meal size brunch and like today, we ended the day with a simple soup - fennel. Apart from a little light snacking during the day this pretty much does for us until the morrow.

When Dan flipped over the calendar to display April's offer, I yummed at first sight. I had to make this bacon & egg with thyme & potato rosti. A right fancy fry up.

Bacon & Egg with Thyme & Potato Rosti

6 good sized potatoes, like desiree
1/2 of a white onion
2 or 3 sprigs of thyme
Bacon
Eggs

Boil the unpeeled potatoes for 8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool until comfortable to handle. Peel the potatoes then grate into a large bowl. Chop the onion and the thyme finely. Mix into the potato and season well. Melt some butter with some olive oil in a 23 centimetre frying pan. Place the potato in the fry pan and pat down. Cook on medium for 15 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for another 15 minutes or until golden brown. While the second side is cooking, grill the bacon. In the last few minutes poach the eggs. Serve with fresh leaves of thyme and a grind of pepper.

A lot of excitement...

2007-03-24T17:08:00.000Z

My life is in the jet stream at the moment and thoughts come tumbling out of my head at a million miles an hour.

Among other things, my life has lately included the following:

Stepping onto the property ladder

We're about to fall heavily into debt - expecting to exchange later this week, we're soon going to own our own little spot on earth. And I cannot wait! Anything to get me out of the current horrible kitchen! Speaking of kitchens...

Optomen TV has asked me to create some video blogs

Soon to be shown on UKTV Food, a new show called Market Kitchen is going to be aired on a daily basis from the Borough Market. They're teaming up with a number of UK Food Bloggers to feature a segment called Food Tube. My submissions so far can be viewed at D.D.TV.

Cupcakes are coming out of my ears!

And I'm loving them! A friend of mine and myself have started a new little company called Daydream Cupcakes. Our first venture out will be at a local farmers' market in Impington on the 21st of April. I've also got a new blog up and running mostly detailing my recipe development but it will soon show ordering details and where they will be available... Hopefully (fingers crossed) on a regular basis.

Allotment anticipation

Another friend of mine, her husband and I have all gone in for an allotment together! Today we spent 3 hours turning and digging the soil. The dirt is excellent with few brambles and loads of busy worms. We're hoping to have the spuds in soon - once we've worked out how to chit them. I dream of eating fresh vegetables on the day of picking and relishing in the therapy of it all. Have I gone mad?

All this and more - a milestone birthday for Dan is about to be celebrated, a writing competition has been entered into, a review of a local fish & chip shop has been submitted to Olive magazine and work is going through a busy time.

And I'm still enjoying myself! Well, why wouldn't I? Life is fabulous and things are looking good. Now I'm off to bake a carrot cake to celebrate... ;)

Lady Grey & Vanilla Custard Tarts

2007-03-09T20:10:00.000Z

Although custard was not a huge feature of my childhood, the moment I poured the hot milk into the whisked eggs for this recipe I was taken back in time. Perhaps to a time when I was 13 and had just had my wisdom teeth removed and all I ate was custard. Or perhaps to an extremely hot Christmas day where a hot pudding with custard was served that was just almost unbearable.

The vanilla recipe comes from a Donna Hay supplement that arrived with this month's Living etc. The little tarts stood out amongst the other very pretty recipes, but seemed more beautiful yet more simple at the time that I knew I would be making them soon.

Almost on a whim and really at the very last minute, I split the cream into two saucepans and broke a lady grey teabag into the cream and let both pots heat slowly. Now I certainly would never advise doing two custards at once. Time was not on my side and I had to work extremely quickly so that the custards would not heat too quickly nor cool down too fast.

These little bites were moorish and delightful. I would certainly make them again for an elegant afternoon tea. Indeed, the mouthful of lady grey custard was just as comforting as a mug of tea.

These daffodils are growing just outside our front door and are a sweet reminder that Spring is well into it's dawn.

Lady Grey Custard Tarts

3 sheets of filo pastry (big enough to cut 12 rounds from each)
50g of butter, melted
Caster sugar for sprinkling

1 1/2 cups single cream
1/2 vanilla bean, split
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons water
2 lady grey teabags

To make the custard, place the cream, vanilla bean and lady grey tea leaves (removed from the bag) in a small saucepan over medium heat until the cream is hot but not boiling. While it is heating, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and creamy. In a separate bowl, whisk the cornflour and water to combine.

When the cream is just under boiling point (I used Nigel's instructions), strain the custard through a fine cloth and sieve into a pouring jug. Extract as much liquid as possible. Slowly whisk the hot cream into the egg yolk, add the cornflour and return the custard to the saucepan that has been rinsed. Stir over low heat for 2 - 3 minutes or until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Cover and refrigerate.

I found that if the custard went too lumpy I had to whisk fast and hard to return it to a smooth consistency. The original also called for 3 egg yolks, but I think this was a bit excessive and unnecessary, so kept it down to two.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Brush one pastry sheet with the butter and sprinkle with the sugar and top with another pastry sheet. Continue layering the pastry with the butter and sugar.

Use an 8 cm round cutter to cut out 12 circles from the pastry. Press the pastry into 12 x 25ml lightly greased mini muffin tins. Bake the cases for 5 - 6 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack. To serve, spoon the custard into the cases. Makes 12.

Crepe Cake with creme anglaise

2007-02-24T16:00:00.000Z

I am quite adept a cooking crepes. I should be. For about a year, I spent 3 hours a day for 3 - 4 days a week cooking up 10 litres of crepe batter for the pancake restaurant I was working in. The music would be turned up loud and I would go into the zone like a machine. I usually had 4 - 5 burners going at a time and I got the technique down pat. I'm sure if anybody did it for this long, they would be quite adept as well.

I saw this crepe cake a few months ago and it has been in my memory, sweet-talking to me ever since. Last week, with Pancake Day looming, I googled crepe cake and found this post in which a crepe cake is eaten. That particular cake was made with pastry cream.

With my fascination with egg based sauces still invading every waking thought, I felt this was more appropriate. So today, I sat down to figure my plan of action.

The first step was to decide what sort of cream to use. According to the gospel, it is worth defining the difference between a pastry cream, a creme anglaise and a custard.

A pastry cream is "meant to stay put in a dish and hold (it's) shape. (It is) therefore stiffened with a substantial dose of flour or cornstarch..."

A creme anglaise is a "pourable cream" and should only be as thick as double cream when cooled to room temperature.

A custard is "...a dish (that is) prepared and served in the same container, often baked and therefore unstirred, so that it sets into a solid gel."

By definition, the custard ruled itself out. The cake in the 'inspiration post' said that pastry cream was used for the layers, but I'm not a particular fan of pastry cream and besides, I did really want to prepare the creme anglaise.

The result was light yet very filling and not overly sweet. It went well for our afternoon snack with a cup of coffee. Dan was particularly impressed. Next time I think I would be inclined to add a layer of lemon curd or other equally tart jam to add an extra element to cake. Unfortunately, it did take a good 3 hours to prepare, so I think it's going to be stuck with a 'for special occasions' label.

Crepes

Makes approximately 22 crepes - each 26cm in diameter

400g sifted flour
8 eggs
Pinch of salt
1 litre milk

Add the eggs to the flour with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the milk. Beat together until incorporated. Add in the rest of the milk and beat until the consistency of double cream. Leave to stand for at least one hour. Pour the batter into a jug through a sieve to ensure that no lumps remain. Heat a 23cm nonstick frying pan to medium high.

When heated, pour in a generous amount of the batter and swirl it to cover the base of the frying pan. Pour out any excess batter back into the jug. When the edges start to crinkle and dry out, try to loosen the pancake with a spatula. When reasonably loose and cooked, flip. When the cake is cook, it will not stick to the fry pan. Place the crêpe on an upside down plate covered in a paper towel. Repeat as above until no batter remains. Patience is a virtue! And eat the first one because it's never any good.

Creme Anglaise
by Nigel Slater

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
400mls milk
200mls single cream
6 tablespoons of caster sugar
1 vanilla pod

While the crepe batter is standing, walk to the co-op and grab some milk, cream, bananas, apples and icing sugar. Measure the milk and cream into a heavy saucepan and heat on a medium high heat with the vanilla pod split lengthwise. Bring to boiling point. Nigel reckons that you will know boiling point right when the milk starts to quiver and tiny little bubbles start to appear on the edges - do not boil! While the milk is heating, beat together the eggs and sugar until light and airy. Through a sieve, strain in 2 or 3 tablespoons of the milk and stir through the eggs. Pour the remaining milk into the eggs - again, through the sieve. Stir through thoroughly. Rinse out the saucepan and pour the creme anglaise back into it and return to a low heat. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add to the creme anglaise. Stir for 5 or 6 minutes until the creme anglaise starts to thicken. Remove from heat and pour into a heatproof bowl. Stir every now and again until ready to use.

To assemble:

Place one crepe onto a flat plate no defined rim. Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of the custard and spread over the bottom crepe. Place another crepe onto the creme anglaise and again, spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of the creme anglaise on top. Continue layering until everything has run out, finally finishing with a crepe on top. Sprinkle over a bit of Demerera sugar over the cake and either caramelise the sugar with a blow torch or under a very hot grill.

Mayonnaise for a good BLT

2007-02-17T14:40:00.000Z

I remade mayonnaise today. The formation of mayonnaise is really interesting to watch and ever since I had so much fun making it the first batch, I couldn't wait for a good enough excuse to do it again. And what better excuse than a BLT for lunch?

I wanted to use our very special olive oil called Adamo which we discovered at the market and can now source from a website. I wanted to see how the oil effects the flavour of the mayonnaise. For the basis of the recipe, I started from Heston Bluementhal's basic mayonnaise recipe found in his Family Food cookbook.

The choice of mixing bowl, as Heston describes, is critical. I made the mistake of starting in my glass bowl but had to start over when after 50 millilitres of oil, I realised that it wasn't thickening. A round bottom bowl should be used, but it is important to be more convex than not. I had a plastic IKEA one on hand that was perfect last time round and worked just as well this time.

A number of different types of 'loosener liquids' can be used; water, vinegar of any sort, lime or lemon juice. To match the almond and pepper of tones of the extra virgin olive oil, I used a lime, although lemon would be fine. I would use vinegar if I wasn't looking for a flavourful outcome.

As an extra note, for any of our bacon dishes we always use Duchy Original Back Bacon. Not only do part of the proceeds go to charity, it is the best flavoured, most readily available bacon that we can find.

Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon of mustard powder
100 millilitres of extra virgin olive oil
75 millilitres of sunflower oil
25 millilitres of mild cooking olive oil
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Dash of cayenne pepper

Using a medium sized handheld whisk, whisk together gently the egg yolk, salt and mustard. When the egg yolk is activated - smooth and slightly lighter in colour, gradually add a dribble of the extra virgin olive oil while still whisking. If the bowl is not stable, place a tea towel underneath it. When the dribble is incorporated and the yolk is starting to thicken, continue gradually pouring in the olive oil. If unsure, add less than more to begin with and watch it really start to thicken. If it becomes too thick or difficult to whisk, add a couple of drops of cold water. This will loosen the mixture at this stage.

Continue incorporating all of the oils and in the last 50 millilitres of oil, add the lime juice intermittently - a few squeezes at a time. Finally, add the cayenne pepper to taste. The mayonnaise can keep for 3 days if refridgerated in an airtight container.

Waiter, there's an egg in my pie!

2007-02-11T11:39:00.000Z

This months edition of delicious. magazine included a short section on pies. As I flipped through the pages, a picture of mini-pork pies gave me the inspiration to not only use quail eggs again, but to also join in on this month's Waiter, there's something in my... pie.

It may be a little early for the event, but when something just feels right for the day - I just go ahead and make it. I bought a little pack of quail eggs during the week, and today - I was in the right frame of mind for a good pork pie.

The delicious. recipe used chilies, parsley and paprika which are not really traditional flavours for a pork pie, so after scouring Hugh's meat book I decided to use his mix with sage, thyme, mace, and cayenne. I didn't have any mace on hand, so used a sprinkling of grated nutmeg instead.

To make the pies, I made up a short-crust pastry which rested in the fridge until ready for use. I boiled the quail eggs for approximately 10 minutes and cooled them under a running tap. (This will prevent the yolk from going grey.) To 400 grams of minced pork, I added 4 rashers of chopped bacon. It may sound strange adding the bacon to pork, but it adds flavour and a little fat to the mix - which helps it all bind together. I mixed in a tablespoon each of sage and thyme, a sprinkling of cayenne, a good ground of nutmeg and salt and pepper. Into a muffin tin, I shaped the rolled out and cut dough. I spooned in a good helping of the meat and made a small well in the centre in which the egg could stand up. I covered over the egg with more pork mix and sealed the pies with more rounds of pastry. I brushed each pie with beaten egg and baked at 200 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.

Next time I'm looking to make a pork pie, I would like to make a hot-water crust. I'm very intrigued to see how hard (easy) it really is! I love the egg as well - it adds texture and interest, colour and flavour. These pies are truly "gala pies".

And so I unveil - The Ultimate Family Feast

2007-01-29T21:47:00.000Z

"If our family came together in one giant reunion and all had to prepare something for us to feast on, what would they bring? The scenario is hardly feasible considering our family spans half of the world's continents, but the question is certainly interesting when the family is full of foodies.

The Ultimate Family Feast brings together the families’ favourite recipes retaining them for the future. With an eclectic mix - spanning generations and cuisines. From war time rationing, “Mystery Tart” to decadent homemade croissants. From Mexican rice pudding to Finnish “Pulla” and Australian pavlova. The 33 recipes would surely make an ultimate feast for any large family."

And so says the back of mine and Dan's new book, that yesterday we finally uploaded and published on lulu.com. I really can't describe the relief of having it done. It was meant for a Christmas present for our family. Unfortunately, our due date slipped away and we had to make a push this January to really get it done. A good reason, I think, for an absence on the blogging scene.

With this post, I unveil it to the world, including our family - who are still waiting patiently for their Christmas presents. To them: as soon as we receive our tester print - your copy will be in the post!

The book, in some way, also reflects on the kind of cooking I've done in the early months of my blog. During the last 9 months or so, I've rekindled my passion for food, re-discovered recipes I've loved, and lightly dabbled in new techniques and styles.

For the next year, I'm aiming for more experimentation, more recipes, less guff and hopefully, a more technical style. With this last project completed, I can now focus on the future.

Of course, please feel free to head over to our lulu storefront to preview the book, and of course, purchase it if you so desire!

I'm certainly looking forward to 2007!

Just to let you know...

2007-01-15T18:02:00.000Z

I'm still on hiatus, trying to tie up a few ends that I hoped to have done by now. For entertainment, check out the first banoffee pies that I made and ate! The crust was bit too thick, unfortunately, but it was tasty all the same.

Made for an excellent Autumn dessert - back in October when I made them...

A Christmas feast for two

2006-12-27T18:04:00.000Z

Indeed, this was a Christmas feast for just the two of us. We hardly even got through a third of it - though we did have a good go. From left to right - not including the magnificent goosey gander we had: my homemade fruit mince pies, creamed brussel sprouts,roasted parsnips, roasted potatoes, sage and onion stuffing and a couple of yorkie puds. The parsnips, potatoes and yorkies were all cooked in goose fat which achieved crisp, tasty results. The goose itself, was, and still is, intensly rich and flavoursome. Tonight we're having goose hash. I bet Mum wishes she was here.

Over Christmas, I've had a bit of time to reflect on what my blog is about. Hopefully, in the new year I'm planning to push my boundaries a little bit further and attempt dishes and flavours that I haven't perhaps tried before. I want to visit different cuisines and techniques and explore my own personal tastes.

With that in mind, I'm going to take a bit of time off, not only to recover from my illness but to spend more time searching and thinking about where I want my blog to go. I'll start posting again from about the 12th of January and I look forward to seeing everyone on the other side. I hope everyone has had a feastful Christmas and I wish everyone a wonderful and joyous New Year.

Without further ado, my much anticipated Christmas pudding.

In preparation: The Gingerbread House

2006-12-23T10:54:00.000Z

Drugged up to my eyeballs, quarantined in bed, I am thankful for wireless and laptops. I've got posts to catch up on. Here are some more of my Christmas preparations.

Last Sunday, before the little virus took a hold, I had a bit of fun building and decorating our Gingerbread House. A few years of graphical drawing at school helped when I drew and cut the templates. A simple royal icing acted as the mortar. Sweets from the sweet stall at the market. Dan's mother's gingerbread men recipe. Couldn't ask for better.

We held off for one day before Dan ceremoniously bit off the chimney - the roof soon followed. By yesterday - with most of the sweets devoured we decided to throw the majority of the walls away. I didn't feel guilty about it, it's done its job. It brought a sweet scent to the room that smelled like Christmas for the leading up to the big event. In its place, the Christmas cake, all ready to go.

Gingerbread

Enough for the house above plus a little left over.

460g plain flour
220g brown sugar
120g butter
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 egg
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 190° Celsius. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients and create a well in the centre.

Place the butter and golden syrup into a saucepand and heat on low. When the lard is fully melted, pour into the centre of the dry ingredients. Add the egg and mix well. Add more flour as required until a dough resembling soft clay is formed.

Place on a heavily floured work surface and roll out to approximately 5mm thick. Place the sheet of dough onto a nonstick baking tray. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until browning slightly. Allow to cool slightly before moving onto a wire rack. Once cool, use templates to cut out the shapes and glue together with royal icing using a piping bag. Decorate and have fun!
Royal Icing

1 egg white
150g icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Whisk all the ingredients together to form a smooth paste. Use quickly before the icing sets.

A menu for hope and cookie swaps

2006-12-16T16:39:00.000Z

As I sit down to write, a mug of hot Assam tea at my side, I finally find myself with a chance to breath admist a hectic schedual of shopping, partying, drinking, working, baking and planning. I'm also stopping to think about the less fortunate than I and I know exactly how I can give to them. Pim's tireless efforts for organising this year's Menu For Hope has most definitely not been in vain. At time of post the total raised so far is in excess of $US20,000 and it's still counting.

There are some wonderful prizes this year and although I haven't had the chance to donate a gift, I'm going to head over to the donation page right now and participate in a different way.

Secretly, I'm hoping to win Jeanne's and Johanna's canapé party because I'm going to invite some food bloggers from the UK to the join in on the fun. It would be kinda like the cookie swap that we had a few weeks ago... pictures of which are after the jump.

From left to right, we were Johanna the hostest with the mostest and the ever Passionate Cook, Sarah the fabulous non-blogger foodie, Laura the cheese from Chalk & Cheese, Bill who bakes well from Bill, please, Jeanne the canapé queen from Cook Sister!, Xochitl the maker of the best Mexican cookies this side of Mexico from Xochitl Cooks and finally, the affianced Jenni from Pertelote.

The delightful delicacies that were on offer.

... and finally because I had to take the picture of the above, here's one of me that I prepared earlier.

In Preparation: The Pudding

2006-12-10T16:42:00.000Z

I remember my mother, every Christmas, boiling a pudding in a cloth to take to our old fisherman neighbour. His wife refused to make one for him due to the length of time and hassle it took to cook. I understand what she feels.

One Christmas Dan and I made the same pudding about 10 times in two different batches to give away as gifts. The puddings had to be boiled for a good 5 hours and then hung up to dry before being re-wrapped, then kept for a further two months. On Christmas day the pudding then had to be reboiled for a further 2 or so hours before serving.

But there is something stoic about the Christmas pudding. Something in me tells me to hold up this tradition proudly and make each pudding with love and patience every year. My Granny sent me this recipe, made easier by steaming in a bowl which gives the pudding more of a lightness that the boiled pudding doesn't have. We give the pudding a grand send of by setting it aflame before taking it to the table.

Christmas Plum Pudding

250g currants
250g raisins
250g sultanas
60g almonds, chopped
60g cherries
120g mixed peel
1 lemon, zested and juiced
180g bread crumbs
90g flour
250g demerara sugar
250g suet
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 heaped teaspoon allspice
4 large eggs, beaten
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon milk
150ml brandy

In a large bowl soak the dried fruit and nuts with half the brandy overnight.

Next day combine all of the dry ingredients together with the lemon zest and juice. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs. Combine thoroughly. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add to the batter along with the rest of the brandy. Fold in the soaked fruit until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

In a large saucepan, place 3 ramekins or mugs facing up which will act as a stand. Fill the saucepan with water until the water is level with the top of the stands. Spoon the batter into a pudding dish. Cover the top with a round of baking paper, wrap the top with calico or a tea towel and secure with string. Lower the pudding onto the stands in saucepan. Cover with a secure fitting lid. Bring to the boil then simmer on a low heat for 5 hours. Check the water level at least once an hour and top up if required.

To store, remove the old paper and cover in new baking paper and wrap in a clean cloth. This will prevent mould. When ready to serve, steam for a further 2 hours or microwave on medium for 10 ? 15 minutes. Turn the pudding out onto a serving plate. Douse with brandy and light immediately before taking it to the table. Serve with either custard, brandy custard or brandy butter.

The day I plucked a duck and then ate it

2006-11-26T19:50:00.000Z

I certainly recommend that any omnivore within our society should have a more hands on approach with the animals' lives that they consume. I don't wish to make this a full political post about animal rights or anything but just wanted to express my concern about people that are so far removed from the source of their meat that they cannot stomach the sight of offal or uncooked meat. Both Dan and I have made a pact to only eat ethically reared meat from within the UK. This ensures that our food miles are down and that we don't eat meat too often. That's alright though, because we always have an abundance of vegetables.

Today I became a little more acquainted with dinner. Dan's brother, Leon, is a keen hunter, who, in the season, takes his lovely Labrador, Fern and goes to the local hunting ground to collect his dinner. Today he brought us ours.

He brought us two ducks and four pheasant (3 females and 3 males) from a hunting ground that specifically rears birds to be shot and consumed by us.

Be careful if you're a bit squeamish. If you click through, there are some pretty graphic photos.

The first stage of the plucking. Here I am removing the breast feathers of the female duck which are so soft. My mother, who used to tell me stories of plucking turkeys at the farm in Idaho, would be proud.

Here's Dan doing the second stage. Thankfully, Leon was patient enough to give us full tutelage so we know enough to do the other four birds on our own. After the main plucking, the wings, and feet are removed, the bird is plucked some more and finally the bird is gutted and beheaded. It didn't smell near as bad as I expected. We also chopped its tale off, which would've been odd if we had left it on.

Before they reach this clean stage, the downy feathers are burnt off with a lighter, or even better, a blow torch. The bird is then fully rinsed. Here you can see the male duck (on the left) which had a much simpler ending than the female duck on the right, which had about 6 shot holes throughout and was pulled from the water by Fern which broke its wing on the way out. At least I know what this bird went through for me to get a meal.

We ate the male duck tonight with some roast vegetable. Dan filleted the female duck and made a stock with the skeletons. I used a touch of the stock to make a brillant rich gravy. The duck was superb. Better than I've ever eaten before.

Here are the four pheasants hanging up in our shed. We'll leave them until next Sunday when they'll be just about ripe for the eating. We're going to slow cook them for a game pie. One bird per person is generally a good rule. How pretty are the feathers?

Elephant garlic

2006-11-25T17:54:00.000Z

A big boy that packs a punch!

Very Valrhona & white chocolate truffles

2006-11-24T16:02:00.000Z

This is my modest first attempts at chocolate truffles. I certainly LOVE trying new things and Johanna over at The Passionate Cook certainly came up trumps with this month's edition of Jennifer's Sugar High Friday.

I pretty much decided to wing it this time and only do a bit of research and make up the rest. A very informative Wiki entry led me to this Cooking for Engineers entry. It came up with the ratio of 2 parts of chocolate to 1 part cream for a truffle-friendly ganache mixture.

To make these slightly different from from your standard chocolately truffles, I put a honey-roasted, chocolate-coated almond within each ganache. They were especially decadent with the use of the 75% Valrhona chocolate, recently picked up a my new favourite farm shop, Burwash Manor Farm Larder. The white chocolate truffle was a little too runny and didn't set to stand up on its own, so I flavoured it with a bit of rose water and used it as a filling.

Check out these other wonderful entries for this month's event!

New England Griddle Cakes aka the best pancakes in my world

2006-11-19T11:57:00.000Z

There's nothing like getting back into the kitchen and producing a lovely stack of pancakes for a Sunday brunch. What a busy November this has been! Family reunions, a food show, thoughts in career movement and attempts at getting onto the British property ladder have all been encroaching my peaceable existance.

I finally got this recipe from my mother. I have yet to find a better pancake recipe. But why look for another when this recipe is perfection itself. When I was growing up, our Sunday breakfast was our traditional weekend feast - rather than a Sunday lunch. We sometimes had waffles, we sometimes had French toast but more often than not we had pancakes.

It was my brother's ambition to break the household record for the amount of pancakes consumed in one sitting and he often reached the dizzying heights of 24 pancakes in one sitting! Mum often had to triple or quadruple the recipe. I don't blame him for wanting to eat so many, these are so good.

Pancakes (New England Griddlecakes)

1 1/2 cups of sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar
3 tablespoons of butter, melted

Sift the dry ingredients together. Beat together the egg, milk, vinegar and melted butter. Add the liquid mixture gradually to the dry mixture, stirring constantly to keep it smooth. Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto a heated non-stick heavy metal griddle. No additional butter is needed as there is enough in the batter. Keep the heat low, so the cakes will not cook too fast. When the top is full of tiny bubbles the under side should be sufficiently brown. Turn and brown the other side. Serve hot with maple syrup. Makes 2 dozen small cakes.

From 'The United States Regional Cook Book', edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, Ill. 1947.

What I did with quail eggs.

2006-11-03T07:35:00.000Z

This little cute pack of quail eggs arrived home in my basket after a day out of cycling. Along one of our routes we stumbled across a tiny little butcher that I had no idea exsisted. I quickly snatched up a well hung ~~hunk~~ chunk of beef, a dainty pheastant, some amount of Old Sussex Cheddar and 18 of these pretty little eggs.

So what do you do with 18 tiny eggs. I thought a 9 egg omelette sounded quite appealing. But the butcher did say that boiled was the best way to have them. So I decided to make this very comforting potato salad with them. My mother's old recipe was perfect because it has a high potato:egg ratio...

Potato Salad

6 medium potatos
18 quail eggs or 6 medium sized eggs
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
3 to 4 sweet gherkins
½ teaspoon of gherkin juice
1 tablespoon of american Mustard
Paprika

Boil the potatoes until a fork can be inserted easily. Drain and cool. Hardboil the eggs for about 5 minutes and chill under running water to prevent grey film forming on the yolks. Peel and dice potatoes and eggs. Listen to music or daydream while doing this as it can get quite tedious - especially with 18 eggs... dice the gherkins. Make a dressing with the mayonnaise, mustard and gerkin juice. Mix into the eggs and potatoes until evenly coated and to taste. Dust with paprika before serving.

Cousins Butchers
36 Grantchester Street
Cambridge
CB3 9HY
telephone: 01223 352856

Chocolate Ganache Hearts

2006-10-27T17:06:00.000+01:00

My hopes were high. My ambitions were big. My plans were tight. My petit fours were going to be elegant, cute and sexy, just like the girl I was envious of in highschool. I was going to make four. Four petit fours. Fitting, no?

All this in pursuit for this month's Sugar High Friday, hosted by Jeanne of Cooksister!. A worthy pursuit! After I was done however, I must admit that I was tempted to announce never to attempt petit fours again, such a disaster as I had. I am not one to say never, though. So I'll leave that open.

In the end I think I became a bit overwhelmed. Same day I had fruit mince to bottle, and on request cheesey scones AND rhubarb crumble cupcakes. My timing was not the best. In the end, the best looking plate were these chocolate ganache hearts. Simply two layers of chocolate sponge with ganache poured over the top to produce a glistening layered effect. The ganache was definitely the tastiest bit about it and I literally had to stop myself from diving into it. I should have just re-made these as a petite four, they were much more impressive!

An afternoon in The Orchard

2006-10-23T22:27:00.000+01:00

A lazy afternoon spent in the dwindling sunshine of mid October. Apples and history holds on to the branches of burdened, sighing trees. I might have picked one to relieve the tension slightly, but an apple volunteered and let go. I read a poem instead. Whispers of families, friends and lovers hardly interrupt the silence, only the mesmerising flutter of the butterflies distract.

Tea for two with fluffy scones smeared in red. Clotting cream makes it go down easier.

The Orchard
Mill Way
Grantchester, CB3 9ND
Telephone: 01223 845 788

In preparation: Fruit Mince

2006-10-21T17:37:00.000+01:00

I've just finished preparing this year's batch of fruit mince ready for the Christmas season. This will be my second year now, and I'm continually trying to develop the recipe for the right balance of alcohol, spices and suet. Next year's batch will be even better, I'm sure.

For some reason, I get a great sense of accomplishment after bottling my homemade fruit mince. It's not that hard though, that's the thing. I guess it's just the feeling of preserving, of sterilising the jars and making sure that everything is just right.

Just a quick note on the name. I've stopped calling it mincemeat. Just the thought of a mincemeat pie conjures up images of Aussie meat pies smothered in tomato sauce. I don't like thinking of that when preparing fruit mince pies at Christmas. From this day forward, it will be known to me as fruit mince.

Christmas Fruit Mince

Makes 2.7 kg (in other words, a whole bunch)

350 grams of seedless raisins
225 grams of sultanas
225 grams of currants
110 grams of mixed peel
110 grams of chopped dried prunes
350 grams of soft brown sugar
450 grams of cooking apples, grated
225 grams of shredded suet
Grated rind & juice of 2 oranges
Grated rind & juice of 2 lemons
50 grams of chopped almonds
50 grams of chopped pecan nuts
1 tablespoon of mixed spice
1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
150 millilitres of brandy

Simply mix all of the ingredients together, except half of the brandy in a large ovenproof bowl. Cover and leave to stand overnight.

Next day, preheat the oven to 110º Celsius, cover the bowl with foil and place in the oven for about 3 hours. Once cooked, allow to cool completely, then mix in the rest of the brandy and put into sterilised jars.

Allow to mature at least two weeks before using. Once sealed it may keep for up to a year.

NOTES:
- Last year I used animal suet, this year I've used vegetable. I think the vegetable will prove to be nicer, in the end, after preliminary tastings.
- This year the mix will be more citrus-y, so the quality of the fruits is definitely a factor.
-Be generous with the nuts, they are luxurious!
-Spice to taste. I love cardamom and cloves, not to mention the cinnamon.
-Go on... put a bit more brandy in ;)

Rieska - A Finnish Bread

2006-10-16T17:46:00.000+01:00

In Finland you can find an amazing array of different types of bread for your eating pleasure. From the dessert-like leipäjuusto (breadcheese) best served with warmed cloudberry sauce through to a large variety of ruisleipä (ryebread). Today is World Bread Day and in honour of this all-important staple, I choose to serve up one of Finland's oldest breads, rieska. Rieska is thought to be the very oldest of all Finnish breads, as it was produced in the days before the fermentation technique was discovered. Every village and area of Finland has its own recipe.

One of my fondest memories of Finland is visiting Mummu (Grandma) at her smallholder's farm and eating her rieska straight out of the oven, hot with butter. When I went back in 2005, I was on the lookout for Mummun rieska, and as always, I wasn't disappointed. Her's, I believe, is made simply with barley flour, water, salt and maybe a touch of milk. They are made well in advance and are hung from the rafters to keep over the extreme winter that Finland experiences. Even though the ingredients are simple, what made Mummu's rieska different was her old, wood stove that after years and years of experience was used to its fullest ability to produce simply wonderful tasting rieska.

When Zorra invited us to participate in World Bread Day by baking any type of bread, I knew that I would have to bake rieska. Unfortunately, I didn't have any barley flour on hand but rye flour worked just as well. This recipe is taken from The Finnish Cookbook by Beatrice A. Ojakangas and uses buttermilk and cream. It was very, very tasty. Recipe after the jump.

Rieska

125 millilitres of buttermilk
125 millilitres of double cream
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 cup of barley flour
1 tablespoon of melted butter

Mix together in a bowl the buttermilk, cream, salt and sugar. Stir in the flour and beat until smooth. Add the butter.

Pour the batter into a well greased and floured 9-inch cake pan. Bake in a very hot oven, 210 degrees Celsius, for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve hot with butter.

NOTES:
- I substitute the buttermilk for the same amount of milk with 1/2 a teaspoon of vinegar added to it. The standard rule is 1 cup of milk to 1 teaspoon of vinegar.
- I substituted the barley flour for rye flour and it was equally tasty.

The BBC Good Food Show, London

2006-10-12T10:03:00.000+01:00

This is just a quick reminder that the London BBC Good Food Show is fast approaching, and as a lover of food festivals I'm just bursting at the seams with excitement. On the 11th of November, we'll be ordering our Christmas goose and mingling with the gourmands and spending too much money! What fun! If you haven't already bought tickets, you can find them here, and don't forget to check any recent Olive magazine for £1.50 off the entrance price. If you are going to be around I'd love to meet up! Give me an email at daydreamdelicious at gmail dot com and we can swap numbers! YAY, YAY, YAY!

A sweet parcel from France

2006-10-10T07:46:00.000+01:00

This month's round of European Blogging By Post was hosted by the gracious Johanna who is the Passionate Cook. Yesterday I received my parcel! I quickly discovered that it was from Cindy over at Gorgeous and Delicious. And here it is!

The parcel contained the largest bag of sweets that I have ever seen in my whole life! The bag included Cindy's favourite, bonbons, which I think I will adopt as my favourite - purely based on the name. The bag is now being shared out between my grateful colleagues!

Next up is this very tasty block of Lindt chocolate - macaron flavour, which is very nice, but unavailable here in the UK. Behind that is a box of La Paille d'Or, wafers with strawberry flavour jam which Cindy ate as a child. Lastly, behind that is a box of rolled crepes called Gavottes which Cindy uses to make a cake called Trianon. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the recipe on Cindy's blog... Thank you very much for the parcel Cindy!

If you'd like to see what I sent, please visit Betty over at Cuisine Quotidienne. To view all of the other participants go here! And finally, after the jump, is a recipe for the Hershey's chocolate cookies that I sent to Betty and the first recipe I've made from my newly acquired Hershey's Cookbook.

Chocolate Walnut Wheels

80 grams of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
6 tablespoons of cocoa
2 tablespoons of light vegetable oil (such as rapeseep oil)
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
2/3 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of chopped walnuts

Cream the butter and add the sugar gradually. Beat well until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Stir the cocoa and oil together to make a paste and add that to the mix with the vanilla. Add flour, salt and nuts and beat well. Form the biscuits with a teaspoon onto a baking sheet. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes, then let cool.

NOTES:
- Hershey's suggest garnishing the biscuit with a walnut half before baking.
- When I'm making biscuits, I always make a sausage out of the dough with cling film before shaping. I then chill or freeze until needed. When its ready, it's so much easier to then just slice the cookies off the sausage instead of shaping them!

A warming spiced pumpkin, carrot and sage soup.

2006-10-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

It's official. October is my favourite month. I've claimed it. Especially this year. Cooler nights that are drawing in. Cycle rides where I keep cool the whole way. And a four month cough that is slowly starting to dissipate. My bets are that by end of October, it will be completely gone. I think I'm allergic to Summer.

Thursday brought with it another box of vegetables, as it always does but it gave a little hint of things to come. It was a small offering, half a medium sized squash, but it was a celebrated offering in the form of this warming soup inspired by Clotilde's own.

Spiced Pumpkin, Carrot & Sage Soup

Half a medium sized squash or pumpkin, skins removed and cubed
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 teaspoon of ginger (to taste)
a pinch of dried chili flakes
1 teaspoon of cumin
2 teaspoons of dried sage or 1 teaspoons of fresh sage

Saute in a large pot the onion in some olive oil until softened, add the ginger, chili and cumin and fry lightly until they become aromatic. Add the pumpkin and carrots and continue frying until they just start to catch on the bottom of the pot. Pour in the stock, and add the dried sage (if using). Bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are soft and tender, about 40 minutes. Add the fresh sage (if using) and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, crusty warm bread and a favourite white wine. Thank the person who made it for you (thanks, Dan).

Johannisbeer-Orange with Vanilla Jam Cupcakes

2006-10-03T16:05:00.000+01:00

Following hot on the footsteps of the matcha cupcakes came these little mouthfuls of heaven. Each cupcake was one mouthful of absolute joy. I couldn't believe my tastebuds at first so I had to have another one, and another one and maybe another one after that. Since there was about 45 on my kitchen bench, I thought best not to tempt myself too much and we both whisked them off to our respective colleagues. "Oh my god", I heard along with "that's so good" and "how did you do that?". Cries from Dan's camp included "they're the best yet" and "I wish it was the size of a football". But alas, I cannot take credit for it, the magic ingredient was Petra's Johannisbeer-orange with Vanilla Jam that arrived in my parcel that she sent me.

To really highlight the flavours of the jam, I kept the cupcakes relatively simple, using a vanilla cake recipe and vanilla buttercream frosting recipe from my newly acquired copy of Crazy About Cupcakes. Hot out of the oven, I injected the cakes with a squirt of the jam from a baking syringe. After they had cooled, I frosted them. A whole pecan on top added that certain something to the texture that was previously missing.

Golden Cupcakes

110 grams of butter, softened
1 cup of caster sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Arrange mini cupcake papers on a tray, ready to fill. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, beating between each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add them to the butter mixture a little at a time, alternating with the milk. Mix well once all incorporated.

With a clean whisk and bowl, whip the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Fill the cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden on top.

Straight out of the oven inject each cupcake with a little jam of choice. If the jam is too thick, thin it down by microwaving it for 20 or so seconds on high. Inject from the top and cover the hole with frosting once the cupcakes have cooled.

Don't get addicted.

Vanilla Frosting

1 1/2 cups of icing sugar
55 grams of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of milk

Whip the butter and gradually add the sugar while doing so. Stir in the vanilla and milk. Whip until smooth and of spreading consistency.

Matcha Cupcakes

2006-09-30T08:55:00.000+01:00

At the moment, Dan and I are going through a bit of a green tea phase and I've seen the evidence that this has spilled over to Dan's work place where they are practically performing tea ceremonies. Their current favourite is a Genmai-cha , a green tea with brown rice which is, I'm told, very relaxing and tastes nutty with an almost savoury edge.

In light of this, I decided to try baking something with the matcha powder, as I had seen a few recipes floating around. I decided to keep it relatively simple with matcha cupcakes. I used the cake recipe which was the base of Chockylit's Green Tea Lavender and Honey Cupcake Bombe over at the Cupcake Bakeshop. I made mini-cupcakes so that if someone didn't like it, they didn't feel obliged to eat the whole thing, but they went down so well, that Dan had to take the second batch to work the next day. The flavours were very prominent, even though I reduced the amount of matcha from the original recipe. The matcha powder itself was of drinking grade and has a high caffeine content with apple tones. I was able to order it online from the Japanese Kitchen.

Be warned - I think this has awakened a cupcake passion for me...

Matcha Cupcakes

Makes about 50 mini cupcakes.

110 grams of butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon matcha

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat the butter on high until soft and a touch lighter. Add the sugar and beat on medium high until light and fluffy. Add the eggs including the egg yolks one at a time beating well to incorporate between each addition. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the batter and mix until well combined. Whisk the matcha in with the milk and add slowly to the batter until well combined and mixed through. Spoon the batter into the cupcake papers until 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 to 20 minutes depending on cupcake size. Remove from tray to cool. Once cool, frost.

Matcha Frosting

110 grams of butter at room temperature
2 tablespoons of single cream
1 tablespoon of matcha powder
3 cups of icing sugar, sifted

Make a paste by adding the matcha to the cream. Whip the butter briefly and scrape down the sides. Add in the sifted sugar and matcha paste. Whip all together until it's a smooth, light and airy.

NOTES:
- I use a piping bag without a metal point to put the batter into the papers. It's so much easier and less fiddly (especially with the mini papers).
- I find I don't need a cupcake pan when doing the mini cupcakes. The papers hold up the batter on their own. If using medium or large sized papers, I would definitely advise using a pan.
- Taste test the batter and frosting to ensure the matcha is distinct in flavour. Different powders have different strengths, so make sure the batter is stronger than the end result that you wish to achieve. The matcha flavour remained, even after 2 days.

In preparation: Sloe Gin

2006-09-26T12:45:00.000+01:00

Autumn is all about the anticipation, and one of the most anticipated events of the year for children and children-at-heart, is Christmas. Getting ready for is probably one of the best things about it. This year Christmas is at our house, if you want to come please feel free but if you don't that's fine too; we're happy to go it alone. So, in anticipation for Christmas, I'm starting a series called "In preparation" which will highlight all of my cooking in readiness for the 25th of December.

First off the mark is Sloe Gin, aptly named because it takes quite a while to mature and the longer you leave it the better. It's made from sloes and better if picked from a forest. I picked mine from eBay, which was much easier and less time consuming. They were in excellent condition and even came with a free recipe. Ah, eBay...

A pound of sloes is best to sit in a litre of gin. About 500-600 grams of sugar is needed, depending on personal taste. We picked the sloes over, removing the twigs and leaves and any that were overly crushed. Each berry was then painstakingly pricked a few times with a skewer - which will allow the flavour and colour to leach from the berries. They were then added to a sterile bottle with the sugar and gin. The bottle was then gently shaken to ensure that all of the sugar was wet.

Every day we tip the bottle over to see that all the sugar is being dissolved, and everyday the colour deepens slightly. In a few months we will decant into smaller bottles, straining and discarding the berries (I wonder if there's a use for them somewhere). Come Christmas, we will enjoy a bottle, and have a few extra spare for unexpected guests.

Breakfast Muffins

2006-09-23T10:42:00.000+01:00

This morning I didn't feel like toast or museli and we didn't have any yoghurt, so I decided to whip up a small batch of muffins for breakfast. I used my failsafe muffin recipe (found after the jump) as a base and added suitable breakfast ingredients. I had one blackening banana, a quarter of a cup of walnuts, half and half of wholewheat flour and plain flour, a few tablespoons of Fenland Honey (recently acquired at Ely Farmer's Market) and gave the tops a scattering of muesli. I halved the recipe and four jumbo muffins were enjoyed with a cappucino and fresh Copella Apple Juice. I'm full now.

Base Muffin Recipe

300 grams of flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
80 grams of castor sugar
220 millimetres of milk
100 grams of butter (melted)

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl lightly mix the eggs, sugar, milk, butter and if using bananas and honey, add them now - bananas mashed. Add the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and fold with a big spoon quickly taking care not to overmix. It should still be lumpy otherwise the final result will be too heavy. Fold in any other mix-ins to be added (like walnuts). Spoon into a muffin pan and sprinkle with muesli (if using). Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 200 degree Celsius oven until well risen and brown.

Täytekakku - Filling Cake

2006-09-19T13:10:00.000+01:00

This is a relatively easy cake to construct. I first happened upon it in Finland and came across it at many celebrations for birthdays, confirmations and Christmas. But, although I had previously tried to make it before, for some reason, I just couldn't get it right. When my "sister", Laura, came to visit the other weekend, I insisted that she show me how to make it.

It is simply 2 sponge cakes each cut in half to make four layers. Each sponge is then doused in either a sugar syrup or a juice of sorts especially around the edges. (I believe that this is the step that I had always missed and why I could never get it right.) Then fruit is piled on the bottom sponge, a dollop of cream spread over the top of it and the next sponge is placed on top. Any combination of fruit works very well. We used raspberries for the first and third layer, and a jar of Ikea cloudberry jam as the second layer. Once all the layers have been constructed, cream is used to "ice" the cake and tinned peaches and left over berries to decorate.

I like to think this cake as relatively healthy compared to a traditional birthday cake with mounds of buttercream icing on top and not a piece of fruit in sight. It is also amazingly light, the sponge soaks up the fruit flavours and if truth be told, I like to call this a Finnish trifle. Except, it looks so much more appealing and regal. From now on, I'm going to adopt this as a birthday cake of choice!

I'm also entering this into Foodography 9 hosted by Andrew. All entries can be found over at Flickr.

Seaside sights

2006-09-12T15:48:00.000+01:00

Dan particularly wanted to go to the seaside. Specifically Southwold. It was a bit of a risk that we took with the weather being a bit fickle as to its intentions for the day - but since we had rented a car we thought it was a risk worth taking.

The English seaside holds so much romance to me. Only the English call it "The Seaside", so old-fashioned sounding. It's a place to go "sea-bathing" and to frolic in the chilly waters. Luckily for the weather, there weren't as many people as there could have been - and equally lucky, the rain held off and in fact the sky was full of the most amazing clouds.

Dan took his 60 year old military camera (Fed II - ex-Russian) with him and took all of the black and white shots. It's amazing how the age of the camera reflects in the photographs he took. He developed the film the same night and scanned them for us all to enjoy.

Of course, a day like that day would not have been complete without fish and chips. We scoured the pavements, beaches and streets - we followed the tell tale vinegar scent and found ourselves two servings of plaice and chips. Unfortunately, athough the original birth place of fish and chips, none that I have tried in England has tasted better than those served up in the take-aways of Australian beaches.

To welcome Autumn, an Apple Tarte Tatin.

2006-09-07T09:40:00.000+01:00

I like to think of August and September as sisters. August as the elder, with a quiet nostalgia about the end of Summer, September - a little more fickle and flirtatious. This year, they're trying on each other's wardrobes. While August was quite grey and rainy, September has a sprightly bounce in her step and is enjoying the bright yellow, green and red hues of Summer. It's yet to be seen whether she likes this makeover, but personally, I think she suits the duller greys. Perhaps I'm biased - since Autumn is my favourite season.

I think it's the anticipation of Autumn that I like the most, and although as a teenager I thought that being anticipated was a sign of weakness - and even wrote a poem about it, I'm passed that now, and the feeling of anticipation brings together hope and excitement. And Autumn, to me always brings hope and excitement.

Now is the time to be planning for events up and coming. There's Christmas and New Year to think about, and holidays to plan for the next Summer. Usually its a start of a new year for Schools and Universities and it's during this time that I can feel the Earth aging elegantly.

It's also the time that I get to snuggle under doonas freely, without being scorned. Where I can light candles for comfort and have long luxurious baths. And most importantly, it's a time when cooking and baking is at its most enjoyable. With an abundance of produce, vendors are eager to let their overburdened stalls of vegetables and fruits go cheaply, and I'm just as eager to use them in preserves, cakes and stews. I usually have to hold myself back though, because most often than not it's more than our little fridge and kitchen can handle and more than we can consume reasonably without making a glut of ourselves.

So I welcome Autumn with a flourish with this tarte tatin. A dessert I hadn't heard of before coming to England. I turned to one of the best sources of French food and recipes on the web today, Chocolate & Zucchini, and Clotilde didn't disappoint. A recipe handed down generations is one that's certain not to disappoint.

Caramel Apple Tarte Tatin

4 apples

For the pastry:
170 g flour
85 g sugar
85 g softened butter
a little milk

In a mixing-bowl, cream the sugar and butter with a fork. Add in the flour, and rub the ingredients together to resemble crumbs. Add in a little milk, and knead the dough to form a ball. The dough should be soft and moist and if it's soft and sticky add more flour to compensate. Wrap in plastic and refridgerate until ready to assemble.

For the caramel:
70 g brown sugar
35 g butter, cubed

Put 70 g of brown sugar in a small nonstick saucepan, and put over medium heat until the sugar melts. This may take some time. As soon as it's melted, lower the heat and continue stirring, add in the butter and stir until the butter and sugar have combined. Pour this paste into a non-stick cake pan, and spread it over the bottom. Arrange slices of the apples that have been peeled and cored.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a circle slightly larger than the cake pan. Place the dough over the apples and tuck the edges in around the apples with a bread knife. Prick the dough with a fork in a few places.

Put into the oven to bake for 45 minutes, until the dough turns golden.

Invert the tarte onto a plate and let cool slightly. It's definitely best served warm. Serve with cream or softened icecream.

BlogDay 2006

2006-08-31T18:32:00.000+01:00

Today is BlogDay! YAY!

Today is a day to set aside and discover new blogs and highlight the ones you like. The past few months, I haven't had much time to surf the waves of the internet, so didn't have any blogs of my own to highlight. Instead, I made it my task to do some surfing and add new blogs to my RSS reader.

So, for my post, I'd like to introduce you to not only the new blogs that I've added, but to 5 of my favourite food blogs who recommended them to me via their BlogDay post. Quite fitting, no?

Without further ado:

1. Non Dairy Diary: Immediately, this appealed to my inner child. It reminded me of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, two of my best childhood friends. This was recommended today by Sam over at the new look Becks & Posh.Delphine has also generously provided the pattern above.

2. Recipes from Tanzania: African food is very much unchartered territory for me, but I am intrigued by Miriam's blog, which I hope will navigate me through the waters of this cuisine. Recommended by Jeanne at Cook Sister!, Miriam blogs in Swahili and English, keeping the language alive while she lives in an English speaking country.

3. kitesurfing the menu: I'm so glad that Helen from Grab Your Fork listed this little beauty of a blog. Kevin, a Canadian, blogs from my home territory in Far North Queensland!

4. the life i chose: This blog really appeals to me. Funny that - since it's about a foreigner in a new country! Thanks, Ivonne, for recommending this on Cream Puffs In Venice.

And finally,

5. an open cupboard: is a simply elegant blog from the San Fransisco Bay Area. With an eclectic array of food on display, I'm sure to find inspiration here. Anne recommended it from her blog: Anne's Food.

Phew! It's still the 31/08, so I made it! I sure glad I found these blogs and look forward to enjoying them in the future!

London's Borough Market

2006-08-30T11:43:00.000+01:00

Borough Market is like a wonderland to me. It sparks a sense of anticipation and excitement. What specialties will I find today? Which vendors will I have a chat with? What are the crowds like? And I wonder which coffee they're serving up over at Monmouth's?

Being the last long weekend before Christmas, we decided to make it a good one. We took an extra couple of days off, and planned different things to do on each. Friday was for London. It wasn't a difficult decision, less crowds is something I always appreciate. We arrived at the market just before lunch hour, and we made sure we got our felafal (a craving I've not been able to satisfy since I left New York 18 months earlier) ahead of the lunch crowds spilling out from the surrounding offices.

And for viewing pleasure, if you continue reading, a few great photos to share the atmosphere.

High on our agenda was a visit to Monmouth's, not only for the special of the day - cappucino style, but for a kilo of beans so we can enjoy that Monmouth flavour in the comfort of our own home.

Unfortunately, buying fresh meat and in particular, fish is something we don't indulge when we visit the market. Just doesn't travel quite as well...

And our favourite fruit shop, in full fledge seasonal abundance.

The Foodblogger's Guide to the World

2006-08-27T18:49:00.000+01:00

Ever since Jen over at Milk & Cookies tagged me for this little meme, I've been thinking about what to put down as the 5 things I recommend foodies to eat before they die. All day yesterday and all day today I've been racking my brain to think of the ultimate list that I can add to Melissa's list at The Traveller's Lunchbox.

Here is my list:

1. Rare breed British Pork - you haven't tasted pork until you've tasted a Gloucestershire Old Spotted, an Oxford Sandy or a Saddleback.
2. Reindeer - Not a healthier red meat can be found. Taking on the flavours of the forests of Lapland, reindeer meat is very lean and tastes like the berries that the reindeers eat.
3. Prosciutto - The subtle flavours of this dry cured ham cannot be beaten. Read more here.
4. Creme brulee - There's nothing like tapping into a creme brulee for the first time. Amelie agrees.
5. Mangoes - And not just any old mango. Mangoes from my home district cannot be beaten. Here is why.

I'm going to tag four fellow bloggers in the pursuit to compile this list and they are:

1. Nerissa, who has just completed a sojourn to Europe who blogs over at Deetsa's Diningroom.
2. Petra blogs from the Black Forest in Germany at Chili und Ciabatta.
3. Piperita blogs in Italian at The Kitchen Pantry.
and last but not least,
4. Mademoiselle who also blogs in German from Switzerland at Chez Demoiselle Differentielle.

Happy Birthday, Slashfood!

2006-08-24T20:03:00.000+01:00

My very favouritist food news website, Slashfood turns one tomorrow, and in true Slashfood style, they're having a birthday cake competition. And the stakes are high. For first place, the winner will receive The Cake Book and the runner-up will receive a copy of Crazy About Cupcakes. Since I own neither of these, I thought I'd give the challange a go.

I've never decorated a cake before, so I thought I'd keep it simple. I copied the Slashfood logo in the hope that it would catch the judges eye. The winners are announced in the morning, so all of my digits are crossed.

See the rest of the competition that I'm up against on this Flickr group.

Updated: Well, I guess the digit crossing worked! I came second. YAY for me! :) Look out for recipes from this book!

The fruits of our harvest

2006-08-20T17:30:00.000+01:00

Little did I know back in January, when I moved into Dan's little flat, that there was a strawberry plant hibernating in the tiny courtyard space, known as our garden. Had I known I may have been a little more careful come the spring and protected it with a net so the hungry sparrows that scour the area didn't feast on them.

Back in June, I found two miniscule strawberries that had survived. They were no bigger than the tip of my little finger and I picked them gently and took them inside to Dan where we tasted them together. I had never tasted a strawberry that could pack a punch of flavour than these two did. Dan and I just stared at each other, both not believing what we had just experienced.

Every week thereafter I combed through the plants looking for more fruit, and today I was lucky. I couldn't believe my eyes! This late in the year! And I found 4!!! But one was half eaten, so I left that as a little gift for another creature. After they did some modelling for the camera, Dan and I again, tasted them together knowing that they were going to be so flavoursome. They certainly did not disappoint.

If we are going to be here next year, I will be sure to protect them so we can savour the berries a little longer. If not, I may have to pluck a plant and take it with me.

Reflections on a Saturday evening well spent

2006-08-13T13:04:00.000+01:00

There is nothing better than waking up on a refreshed, Sunday morning and recollecting the meal that was indulged in the evening before. This meal was a culmination of certain dishes that we both wanted to create.

Tomato Trio Tart

This simple light tart is made from three types of tomatoes on a bed of shallots sauteed in balsamic oil placed on a puff pastry base. I had been craving a tart similar to this ever since I was bitterly disappointed by a plate of sliced supermarket-grade uncooked tomatoes on a cold pastry base which was flaunted on the menu as a tomato tarte tatin in an overpriced restaurant. This one I made was the answer to my dreams and so appropriate to this time of year.

Bream me up, Scotty!

According to Gordon Ramsey, bream is a chef's secret. Dan originally followed Gordon's recipe for poached bream but felt that one bream was a little small for two people and poaching isn't really all that tasty. A couple of months down the line, we were able to get a hold of two whole bream and Dan roasted it with a wedge of lemon and a basil leaf in the cavity of each fish. We served it for the main course with roasted new potatoes. The bream was succulent and sweet and well worth the £5 each that we paid for them.

Passionfruit & Strawberry Roulade

I don't think I really believed my ears when I heard Dan declare his intentions of creating the dessert for the evening. Afterall, he's not really known as the 'pudding chef' of the family. His inspiration came from a punnet of strawberries and four passionfruit that we had purchased on a whim. When both ingredients were typed into Google, the most common suggestions were either a Pavlova or a roulade. He chose the latter, since pavolva is one of my specialties and he didn't want to live up to expectations. The roulade, in fact, was amazing, with crushed nuts and chocolate shavings adding a special touch. I will savour this creation, as I expect I will have to wait a very long time for Dan's next adventures in dessert cooking...

In all, we had a delightful evening with each dish being relatively easy to create. We polished off a bottle of my favourite wine, Brown Brother's Chenin Blanc, which was a perfect accompaniment to these relatively sweet dishes. I certainly would not be disappointed if I was presented with this menu at restaurant.

Cheese (souffle) cake

2006-08-11T20:22:00.000+01:00

Ok, so this was an experiment. I'll disclaim it now. A photo with baking parchment is not the most prettiest photo, I know. But hey, I like to share my semi-disasters along with the best of them. That said, it was really, very tasty.

A punnet of blackberries saw the start of this little dish. The new ramekin dishes sitting in my cupboard was the inspiration. What was expected from the dish was a mini-baked cheesecake. What emerged was a blackberry souffle on a crushed gingernut biscuit base. What caused my cheesecake to turn into a souffle? Ahhhh good question.... I put it down to the fact that I had no cream on hand and justified it in the fact that the addition of cream was added calories and who needs 'em anyway? So no cream went in and this caused the mix to have no 'weight', so up it went into a souffle.

The reason for the baking parchment was to extract it from the ramekin - much needed in the case of normal cheesecake, but completely unnecessary, and certainly not recommended for a souffle. My plate was a big blop of souffle once I had removed it from the ramekin and certainly not photogenic.

Should the concoction be replicated (sans baking parchment) these directions should be followed:

Souffle Cake

Serves 2 - with a little extra for quality control

150 grams of cream cheese
2 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons of unrefined sugar
1/4 of icing sugar
1/4 teaspoons of vanilla
150 grams of blackberries
125 grams of gingernut biscuits, crushed
75 grams of butter, melted

Create the base in the usual manner by mixing crushed biscuits and press them into the bottom of a greased ramekin. Refridgerate until needed. Beat the cream cheese with the unrefined sugar and add the vanilla and egg yolks one at a time and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Mix the blackberries through. In a different bowl, whip the egg whites until frothy. Add the icing sugar, a little at a time until soft peaks are formed. Fold through the blackberry mixture until just mixed. Spoon over the biscuit base and fill to the top of the ramekins. Bake in a 180 degree Celsius oven for about 20 minutes, until risen or slightly browned. Good luck!

It's a blogger's world.

2006-08-08T16:56:00.000+01:00

And it's a beautiful blogger's world. This particular event just goes to show what a lovely blogosphere I've found myself in. Jeanne over at Cooksister! hosted this months European Blogging By Post #5. Food bloggers from all over Europe are invited to 'attend' this event by signing up and putting together a parcel of 5 or 6 particular items from their particular country and sending it to another blogger in a different country that has also signed up for the event. The twist is, you don't know where the parcel that you receive is coming from.

So, look what I received yesterday! YAY for me! Sitting on my desk at work was this cute little package that had made its way from the Bavarian Forest in Germany. The only hint I had as to the contents of the parcel was where it came from: the lovely Petra of Chili und Ciabatta. I did not want to evoke jealous tendencies in the eyes of my colleagues, so I waited until I got home to open my package. Inside, I found a bounty of homemade preserves made mostly from the fruits of Petra's garden. I am one lucky girl.

I think the most exciting product that was in my little parcel was this bottle of homemade Cassis. Made from blackcurrents, this liqueur, I am assured, is very yummy. Petra suggests adding a drop or two to a glass of white wine or champagne and I think it would be equally good over a scoop of icecream. Needless to say, this will be a bottle to cherish and will only be brought out on special occasions.

As I was eating my toast this morning, Dan came out and asked me why I hadn't already opened this jar of redcurrant jam with orange and vanilla. I think I've already deemed it too good to use. I might use it for jam drops. I might use it as a filling for a sponge. But whatever it is, I want to do it justice. The best thing is, if I do run out, Petra supplied me with the recipe.

These special, sweet swizzlesticks are destined for my weekend morning coffee. But which one to try first?

I was assured by Petra that the pineapple in this chutney was not from her own garden. If it was, it would have proven to me that global warning is really getting worse. I think Dan has got his eyes on this one, being a big chutney fan. I could just imagine it with a dab of brie or a chunk of cheddar. Or perhaps it would like to take pride of place on a ploughman's plate.

I couldn't help but to sample this Friesischer Sommer tea last night. Just the thing to end a cooler summer evening. I steeped it for a good five minutes and drank it simply with no milk, no sugar, to really enjoy the flavours. One of the best things about tea is its endurance and I'll hopefully be able to enjoy this tea for a good few months to come.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Petra for sending these delights and especially thanks to Jeanne for coordinating the event. Go here for a full list of participants and their parcels. If you'd like to check out the parcel that I sent to Lilian at iFantabulous.com, go here.

A fruit cake for all

2006-08-07T14:21:00.000+01:00

I think I was rather spoilt in my childhood. Growing up in Far North Queensland, the fruit of the gods were on my doorstep. Every type of exotic fruit was not exotic to me. It was just a part of life. Such fruits include lychees, papaya, star fruits, custard apples and the most celebrated of all exotic fruits: the mango.

Where a box of mangoes and a very full bag of lychees would cost $10 for both, it was easy to be spoilt. And when, for a couple of seasons my brother picked mangoes on a farm that grew produce especially for the Japanese market, I was in seventh heaven. B-grade produce meant a single black spot on the skin - something that a consumer paying $1000 per box of 12 does not want to see. Although I don't personally see the point in paying so much for a fruit, it was all the better for me.

In mango season, it was not beyond me to eat 2 to 3 mangoes per day. I would carefully estimate where the seed would be and slice off each cheek. The flesh would then be sliced into a slanted grid on each side and the skin removed from the seed. Over the sink I would invert the cheeks and suck off each "mini-block" of mango. The juice would be across my mouth and make its way down my fingers to the tips of my elbows and drip into the sink. Last, but not least, the seed would be attacked, making sure that every possible bit of fruit was removed from the seed. Once, I even dried the seed for several months, planted it and grew my own non-fruiting mango tree.

I always believed that this fruit was too good to cook with. That was until I became disillusioned with the fruit when I left my home territory. I was scared to even taste the foreign mangoes in the fear of disappointment. And for the most part, I have been let down. I selfishly bought a very expensive mango in Finland (a country not well known for exotic fruits) and was, in turn, disappointed with the not so soft, flavourless flesh. I tried again in the US which provided me with edible mangoes but none compared to the home grown FNQ varieties. I've given up trying to match those at home, but don't feel so blasphemous when I use them in cooking.

This will go down as one of my favourite fruit cake recipes of all time. I will be able to eat it guilt free my whole life. Given to me by my father's partner, Sharon, this cake is moist, soft and tasty without the use of butter or sugar. This would be a great cake for a diabetic or someone that's watching the calories.

Mango Fruit Cake

425 gram can of mango slices
5oo grams mixed dried fruit
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
icing sugar mixture & lemon slices to decorate

Drain the mangoes by pouring the juice into a large pan. Chop the mango slices. Add the mangoes to the pan with the juices. Mix in the dried fruit and water. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Stir in combined sifted soda, powder and flour. Mix well and add the eggs. Stir until well combined. Pour mixture into a nonstick loaf pan.
Cook in a moderately slow oven (160 degrees Celsius) for about 1 hour, or until and skewer comes out cleaned when put into the cake. Cool the cake in the pan. Serve cake dusted with icing sugar, decorate with lemon slices. You can also serve fruitcake as is, tastes just as great.

If you wish to use fresh mango, use 2 large mangoes and 1 cup of water instead.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

2006-08-03T19:43:00.000+01:00

Running a close second behind Nigel Slater as my most favouritist food personality, comes Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. His endearing charm and passion for real food is a breath of fresh air. And the best thing about him? He practices what he preaches at River Cottage HQ.

Last night, as the rain continued to refresh the land, I curled up in front of Hugh's first series, Escape to River Cottage, and although I've only watched a couple of his television series, I feel that I've learnt so much from Hugh. From Sloe Gin to Pike Terrines and Victoria Sponge, he has reintroduced real English food to the nation. We're slowly working our way through each series, thanks to our ScreenSelect subscription. I am looking forward to devouring each and every episode, but will be sad when it comes to an end. I just hope that Hugh will continue bringing joy into my world.

Thanks to his website for the picture.

Still cooking with beets: Beetroot & Chocolate Cake

2006-07-31T21:11:00.000+01:00

We had another round of beets this week and I already had them tagged for a chocolate cake. Considering that I can't remember the last time I made a chocolate cake, it was definately time to break the fast. With Beet (Superfood) Root added to the chocolate batter, I don't think a healthier chocolate cake could be had. Thanks to Miss C over at La Otra Dimension, I decided to try her mistake-made-good recipe, which is a variation of the National Trust's Beetroot and Chocolate Cake.

To me, the cake was like a giant cookie, with a beautiful, creviced top. The beets added a certain moistness to the cake, and a deeper colour. I iced it with an orange cream cheese topping, although next time, I'd use a fluffy, chocolate, butter icing or even leave it plain. It was devoured by Dan's colleagues who are really starting to get spoilt by my baking for Daydream delicious...

Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

120g butter
120g dark chocolate
150g raw beetroot, grated
100g sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cup flour
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Melt the butter slowly, and when melted add the chocolate which has been broken into smaller chunks. When the chocolate has all melted, add the sugar and salt and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the eggs and mix well. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Fold in the beetroot. Bake in a nonstick pan for 50 minutes. Once removed from oven, cool for 5 minutes then remove from pan. Leave to cool then ice. Or serve hot, dusted with icing sugar.

A remedy

2006-07-27T19:37:00.000+01:00

I'm a cyclist. I cycle to work, I cycle to the shop, I cycle to the park. I've been cycling since early May, when I was presented with my bike for my birthday. And I haven't looked back. Cambridge is a gem to cycle through. Everyone, it seems, cycles. It's a long standing tradition in Cambridge which is quite clear here, with a multitude of cycle paths winding their way from opposite directions across the town. I like the fact that I can get to work quicker when I ride, than when I take the bus. And, since we don't have a car, I like the fact that my carbon footprint is very minimal.

But cycling does have its downfalls, in that, cycling is far from waterproof. Today was the wettest day that I've seen in Cambridge, and at exactly 5 minutes past 5 (just after I've left work) the skies opened up to reveal big, fat, heavy rain. Within minutes I was completely drenched, cycling along the streets, imagining what the drivers were all thinking in their nice, dry, comfortable cars. My skirt was sticking to my legs, my shoes were full of water and the raincoat was not helping in any way.

I was not a happy girl when I got home 25 minutes later. Straight into the shower I went, clothes in washer, and thoughts of magical ginger juice cheering me up. This natural juice, taught to me by Nerida (my brother's girlfriend), is a wonderful remedy when I feel a cold coming on or a bit down in myself. The health qualities of ginger are widely know and when teamed with lemon and honey a more soothing concoction can rarely be found. It's so good infact, that it's been known to completely prevent me from being sick. This remedy comes highly recommended.

Hot Ginger Juice

Enough for one mug:

A nob of ginger, grated
2 tablespoons of honey
The juice of half a lemon
2 mugfuls of water

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and heat slowly. Steep for about 20 minutes which should reduce the mixture by half. The most important thing is not to boil it, otherwise the ginger won't be as strong. Strain into a mug and sip while curled on the sofa, watching the storm and reading the next issue of your favourite food magazine.

The Joy of Suds

2006-07-25T14:37:00.000+01:00

In these hot, long, July days, the last thing I want to do is stand over a hot sink, Marigolds on hands, washing dishes. Mind you, the last thing I want to be doing on a cold, short January day is standing over a hot sink washing dishes. But unfortunately, washing dishes is almost as inevitable as the other 2 inevitables. Cooking always equals some sort of cleaning up, even at a picnic or a BBQ.

Washing dishes has become a ritual for me. A rite of passage to a much deserved clean kitchen. I enter almost a trance-like state, my own form of meditation, my anxieties washing away with each crumb, smear or stain to leave an ambient, serene space on the plate.

I enter the dishwashing meditation with a series of exercises. Stacking plates, collecting glasses, cleaning the sink. This follows by filling the basin with pure, hot, sudsy water and emersing all the glasses leaving them to soak, long enough for the water to cool down to a bearable temperature. With my yellow Marigolds on, I begin a fast tempo'd dance, picking up each glass, mug, bowl and plate quickly so as not to burn my hands. The action becomes blurry as I wipe, scrub and wash each and every utensil that has been in use that day. The dirtiest gets a long, relaxing bath, while the rest of the kitchen gets a once, twice or even a third time over.

Some say I'm obsessed, some say I have OCD, but one thing is for sure, if I didn't wash the dishes I wouldn't be able to cook. And then I would be lost...

The perfect pizza

2006-07-21T20:24:00.000+01:00

I know, that's a pretty big claim. I mean, what self respecting Italian pizza has malt vinegar in the tomato sauce mix? But believe me, this is one tasty pie. At least, it tastes good to me.

I had been building up to this moment for about a year. It all started when I had a craving for pizza but didn't want the nasty take out pizza which is prevalent here in the UK, and since I had little money, a Pizza Express pizza was in my dreams only. So old trusty recipe scrapbook emerged and the pizza dough recipe that has now became engrained in my memory was brought forth.

The secrets (or not so secret anymore) to this recipe are in the dough and the sauce. The sauce was assembled spur of the moment, with condiments that I had in the cupboard and it has since evolved to bring about this perfect pizza. The most important thing is this - it fits me like a glove, but gloves that fit me don't necessarily fit other people. For example, to this day, Dan and I argue over the sauce, he likes a lot of sauce - I like a thin layer, he likes it very tomato-y - I like it quite sweet, and so the argument continues.

We often make this pizza if we really don't feel like cooking much or we feel the craving for junk food. I try to make everything with as little mess as possible and I've managed it every time without flouring any work surface. It's quick (as far as dough goes) and relatively easy. I'm usually eating within 45 minutes. YUM!

This is how my Perfect Pizza goes:

Pizza Dough

250 ml of lukewarm water
450 grams of flour
7 grams of dry yeast
1 tsp of sugar
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/4 tsp of salt

In a small bowl or glass, dissolve the sugar in the water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let sit in a warm, draft free place for 5 minutes of until foaming. In a large bowl mix the flour and salt and create a well. Pour in the oil and yeast mixture and bring together with a fork. Once it starts to come together, use hands to knead it well adding a little flour if too sticky, although other sources suggest otherwise. Form a nice smooth ball and let it rise for 20 minutes. Once it has double in size, either roll out on a floured surface, or do as I do, and shape it in the air, quickly turning it while holding the top of the dough with both hands in front. Lay it on an oiled tray and top as desired.

Tomato Sauce Topping

3 tbsp of tomato ketchup
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of malt vinegar
1-2 drops of hot chilli sauce (to taste)
1 clove of crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and spread over dough. Easy peasy!

The Rest

Top with favourite pizza ingredients. I go for top quality prosciutto, red onion, fresh mozarella, basil, rocket, and that's about it really....

Cook in a 180 degree Celsius oven for about 12 - 15 minutes and enjoy!

This will make enough for me and Dan for dinner, plus, if we can contain ourselves, enough for lunch the next day.

Tickled pink with pickled beets

2006-07-18T11:33:00.000+01:00

Memories of take-away dinners are highlighted by the beetroot juice and tomato sauce mingling together and dripping down my arms. My lips would be stained red and I would struggle to drink from the soft drink can because, if the burger was put down, it would surely fall apart. Ask an Australian and the best hamburgers are made with beetroot. None can compare to the hamburgers made on the corner shop where it seemed that a kilo of lollies were only 20 cents. They are made with flat, buttered hamburger buns, a meat patty, fried onion, two slices of tomato, two slices of tinned beetroot and tomato sauce. Go for the works and get a slice of pineapple, grilled bacon and a fried egg and don't forget a serving of chips. But it was always the beetroot that tasted the best. I sometimes went as far as to remove the beet slices from between the tomato and lettuce and leave it on the paper saving the best bit for last.

My enjoyment for beets have taken a back burner for the past decade or so, but lately they've made a re-emergence into my world. It all started with a jar of Branston Beets that we came across in the local supermarket. We ate them, unlike other condiments and preservatives in our fridge, within a week. A month or so later, the first bunch of beets appeared in our organic box. We put them in a risotto, in salads, roasted them and boiled them served with butter. But the beets are still coming.

So I decided to preserve them, perhaps to accompany me on my journey for the search of the perfect hamburger. I scoured the internet for a simple pickling recipe, and came back to the first one I stumbled across.

The recipe is from That's My Home and has this little note on the side:

"This is the recipe that started me canning. I still have the original recipe on a piece of notebook paper, all stained and torn. It's like an old friend."

How could I resist a recipe with this sort of history?

I'm going to try to leave the beets resting in the fridge for about a month, until I give in to temptation. I'm salivating, just thinking about them...

How To Pickle Beets

7 or so randomly sized beets
1 cup of white wine vinegar
1 cup of water
3/4 of a cup of sugar
1 thinly sliced onion
some spices

Boil the beets as normal until tender, leaving the roots and about an inch of the stems on - this should take about an hour. Once boiled, run under cold water and sit for about 15 minutes. Trim the beets, peel and slice. Place the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add in sliced beets and boil for about 15 minutes. Pack the beet slices into sterilised jars and top with the pickling juices. Seal and emerse the bottles in a hot water bath for about 30 minutes. Let them cool and refridgerate - until the cravings give in.

NOTES:
- My absolute favourite part was peeling the beets! I like making a mess in the kitchen and what better to do it with than bright pink beet juice? As I squeezed the beets, the skin came free and burst spraying the juices over the counter and over me. It made me giggle, but this is a formal warning.
- For spices I used pepper corns, cardamom seeds and cumin seeds - yet to taste the resulting goodness.

Hershey's 1934 Cookbook: Reunited

2006-07-15T17:43:00.000+01:00

I blinked, I did a double take. I think I may have even squinted. As I crouched forward, I let out a little squeal. I recognised the binding, the colour, the printing. Flashbacks to my childhood became vivid as I remembered sitting on the kitchen stool lovingly turning each page over as I had my first experience of food porn. I couldn't believe it. What was the Hershey's 1934 Cookbook, Revised 1971 Edition doing on Janet's cookbook shelf? I slid the book out of its place on the shelf and lovingly opened the stiff front cover. A card flittered out - "Dear Donald & Janet, I hope you can find a place in your new kitchen...." A house warming present for Dan's Mum and Dad back from 1977 and all the way from America. "Oh my God", I let out, "this has the most amazing Red Devil's Food Cake recipe!"

I turned to the content's page, exactly as I remember it. Chocolate Crumb Cake, Chocolate Brownie Pie, Chocolate Marshmallow Pudding, Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate....

My mother had the identical cookbook, sitting in her cookbook collection back home in Australia. She in turn had either taken the recipe book with her from the States, or had had one sent to her, probably about the same time, 1977. "Have you ever made anything from it, Janet?" I queried when I noticed that none of the pages had endearing food stains across the pages. She hadn't, mostly because all of the ingredients were in US measurements, she explained to me and that she didn't know what corn syrup was. When I asked whether I could copy down some recipes, she did the sweetest thing! She bestowed the book on me!

I am so excited to be reunited with this cookbook and when the cooler weather starts to wrap itself around us, I will begin the journey of cooking my way through recipes I'm very familiar with. And I couldn't help but wonder, had that Hershey's cookbook been sitting on Janet's shelf these past 30 odd years waiting for me to lovingly take it up as my own?

Stuffed Cob

2006-07-12T13:46:00.000+01:00

Slashfood is packing a picnic and I'm bringing a plate! Well, not a plate per se, more of a loaf of bread, well, no... not that either. A salad perhaps, or a sandwich. Maybe I could call it a salabreadwich. That has a certain ring to it. Sala-bread-wich. No need for those fancy names like "panino premuto".

Although it is all of these things - a salad, a loaf of bread and a sandwich, in reality stuffed cob is a much nicer name. Although, if you're prone to more aggressive thoughts, it might conjure up images of beaten up friends, or in my case beaten up drunk people. Needless to say, over the past 4 or 5 years, this has become one of my favourite picnic plates. I can make it as elaborate as I wish, garnishing it with roasted sweet potato, semi-sun-dried tomatos and olive tepenade, or easy and plain with German salami, plump tomatoes and slices of cucumber. This is all I need on a small picnic, as it's sooo filling (not that I forget the sweets!) It's always a hit, easy to construct and is very portable.

I reckon that you could take one savoury stuffed cob and one sweet stuffed cob for an all round meal. I could just imagine the layers of peanut butter, jam, marshmallow, honey, nutella....

Ooops! This sweet daydream just melted and everything became a big gooey mess. I think I'll leave the sweet one at home.

And for proof that I've always enjoyed picnics...

A labour of love

2006-07-10T08:48:00.000+01:00

It was a conscious decision when I decided that I was only allowed to eat croissants if:
1. I had made them myself, or
2. I was in France.

There are two main reasons for this:
1. The obvious health benefits (I was getting a bit obsessive).
2. The best ones I could find in Cambridge were from Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range.

I've taste tested as many croissants as I could possibly get my hands on:
1. Mark's and Spencer's
2. Waitrose
3. Tesco's
4. Donaldson's the local bakery
5. Co-op
6. Costa Coffee
7. Starbucks
8. Cafe` de Paris (very nice but putoff when served margarine in its own container)

and perhaps a few more that I can't remember now. (I would've made notes, but this post wasn't even a twinkle in my eye.)

Well, this weekend was THE weekend. I have been planning this weekend for about 10 months - ever since I read French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I knew I had to get it right, because judging by the fat content in the recipe, I knew I would probably get enough calories to last me through the whole of the next year. Unfortunately, life has a habit of getting in the way, and I didn't actually get to start the recipe until mid-Saturday afternoon. But I managed.

Sunday morning came around and I was so nervous about the dough exploding in the fridge that I woke up (naturally) at 7am. Yes, I know! 7am on a Sunday morning! Unheard of. But it was oh, so worth it.

What resulted was a soft, flaky, rich pastry. An Oh, My God moment. My life will never be the same again.

Croissants

Makes 12

260 ml milk
2 teaspoons dry yeast
250 grams sifted plain white flour
3 extra tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
180 grams butter

For the glaze:
1 egg
3 tablespoons of milk

For ease of preparation, allow 3 days for the recipe. For a Sunday morning indulgence, start on Friday night.

Day 1:
Warm 65 ml of the milk to a lukewarm temperature. Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Stir in 6 tablespoons of the flour and beat with a fork until no lumps are left. Cover with some plastic wrap and allow to stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes or until the mix has doubled in volume. The time may vary depending on the weather.

Mix the sugar and the salt into the rest of the flour. Warm the remaining 195 ml of milk to lukewarm temperature. Transfer the raised yeast mixture into a large mixing bowl and quickly mix in the warmed milk. With an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, turn the mixer as high as possible and start adding the flour, salt and sugar a little at a time (but be careful of splash backs). Gradually reduce the speed to a low-medium when the dough is sticky and soft. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2:
Bring the butter to room temperature. Add the 3 additional tablespoons of flour to the dough and work it with hands, finally shape the dough into a smooth square.

Lay out a piece of plastic wrap on a clean smooth surface. Flour the plastic wrap heavily. Shape the cold dough on the plastic into a 38x15 cm rectangle. Position the dough in the portrait position, like a letter. Spread the butter on the top two-thirds of the dough leaving a one centermetre border around the sides and top. Fold the dough into thirds, starting with the bottom third of the dough. Turn the dough 90 degrees and reshape into a 38 x 15 rectangle and repeat the fold. Place the dough into a baking pan and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 6 hours. Roll out the dough and fold as before twice more. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate over night.

Day 3:
About one and a half hours before baking time, place the cold dough on a floured working surface. Working as quickly as possible, roll the dough into a 40 cm circle. Cut the dough into quarters and each quarter into thirds. With both hands, roll the base of each triangle towards the centre to form the classic croissant shape. Place on a baking sheet covered in nonstick baking paper and brush with the milk. Let the croissants stand at room temperature for about 45 minutes to an hour until doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Add one egg to the remaining milk and beat together with a fork. Brush the croissants with the egg wash and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot. No additional butter is needed.

NOTES:
- Although unsalted butter was called for in the recipe, I used salted which worked fine, and I probably wouldn't change it.
- I felt there was perhaps a little too much butter and will probably use about 150 grams next time.
- This recipe makes what I would call 12 small croissants. I will probably cut the dough into 6ths or 8ths next time, rather than twelfths.
- I would invite some people over for breakfast, as they're at their absolute best straight out of the oven. And there were way too many for 2 people. Reheating wasn't quite as yummy.

Mini raspberry pavlova

2006-07-08T17:41:00.000+01:00

I was ecstatic and literally jumping for joy at the sight of a little punnet of raspberries gracing our organic box this week. We didn't sign up for fruit, but it seems they must have an abundance of berries, for a week ago we had strawberries. My karma must be working well for me.

I wanted to do something tasty with them, rather than just eating them with a bit of cream or yoghurt, but I'm didn't want to break their flesh or crush them by putting them into a batter of some sort. Truth be told, I had already decided to make mini pavlovas. The meringue was to be crisp on the outside and soft, fluffy and moist on the inside.

I've been making pavlovas since I was about 10 using a recipe that was in the Good Cheap Cookbook, which my mother still owns, even though it's made from newsprint, is extremely flimsy and old and returns no results from Google. It's a recipe I shall always remember and will probably take to the grave with me. It's quite simple really, but I remember middle aged women being in awe of my ability to make pavlova from scratch when they've usually resorted to buying a store bought one or using Pavlova Magic. For the large Pavlova, I take 4 egg whites per 1 and a half cups of caster sugar. Using a stand mixer with a balloon whisk, beat the whites on the high setting and add the sugar a little at a time. (I've made this recipe many, many times with a hand mixer, which works absolutely fine, just takes a little longer.) Once all the sugar has been incorporated and dissolved, fold in 1 teaspoon of cornflour, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. Shape into a circle on a tray with baking parchment. It needs to be round and flat on top like a cylinder. Cook the pavlova in a 150 degree Celsius oven for 45 - 60 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave the pavlova in the oven until it has cooled.

For these mini meringues, I used 2 egg whites and proportionally less sugar. I think I could've cooked them a little longer on a lower heat and used slightly less vinegar, as they didn't turn out as crispy on the edge as I would've hoped. But, as they say, live and learn. I gave them a little hat, because I had so much mix left over, and you can never have too much meringue! I made an additional filling as well, mixing together some Philly cream cheese, a bit of Greek yoghurt, some icing sugar and a few of the crushed berries. I basically used up what I could find in the fridge to make this filling, as I didn't feel like popping to the shops, and Dan had used the last of the creme fraiche in the vegetable tart he had just made. I would definitely make the filling again, but just use the cream cheese, berries and sugar, maybe a touch of cream but no yoghurt. It was tasty besides and the berries were definitely the star of the plate - which was the intended purpose.

Dear Olive Magazine,

2006-07-06T12:01:00.000+01:00

I would like to get involved. I would like to impress you. Please be in touch to tap my local knowledge, ask me to test recipes, new foodie products, cookbooks and gadgets and hear my suggestions for keeping olive fresh and exciting and relevant to the way I eat! Please?

New format and series of Saturday Kitchen has rocked my boat. Gone are the days of me grumbling at Antony Worral Thompson's patronizing and egotistical remarks, only to welcome fresh and interesting perspectives from James Martin. Thanks, BBC.

I first stumbled across B when I was working next door. A sign said, "Sign up now for a food and wine tasting event! Places limited." I'm not one to shirk at invitations like that, so I signed up. We have been a customer ever since. The evening only cost £5 and we were full and drunk by the end of it, critiquing our way to their next menu. Even though it looks more like a bar, I'd call B a gastropub - because the food is wonderful and they don't serve cocktails. B Bar, Market Passage, Cambridge, UK.

Nigel has to be one of my favourite food writers. So fresh, so endearing, so English and so alive. The Kitchen Diaries is a neverending source of inspiration. It's what I strive for. And it's the way I want to live my life.

Southern California is probably one of my favourite places to visit for gastronimical delights. Here I can find authentic Mexican food without the sicky tummy as all restaurants are graded for cleanliness. And besides, who doesn't want In 'N Out Burger and Krispy Kremes on their holiday? Thanks to usargentina.com for the SoCal map.

A local secret (shhhh, don't tell anyone), Cafe` Adriatic is a deceptively large restaurant preparing modern Mediterranean dishes. With the kitchen on display in the shop window, it's amazing how they can prepare such tasty dishes in such a small place. With safe items like pizza for the less adventurous to the more exotic carpaccio of tuna and whole baked sea bream, Cafe` Adriatic is a safe place for new friends, first dates or dinners with parents. Well priced, the service is attentive and the seafood literally still jumping, I'm looking forward to visiting it again soon. Cafe` Adriatic, Mill Road, Cambridge, UK

Cover the bottom of a pan with olive oil and then some. Add one chopped onion and some squashed garlic and heat on medium until the onion becomes translucent. Add about that much arborio rice and heat the rice through until the rice is well coated in oil. Add a splash of very hot vegetable stock and stir until it has been absorbed into the rice. Add 2 diced fresh-of-the-farm beets and stir through until the mix has turned pink. Add a glug of stock and stir until it has been absorbed. Season with lots of pepper and a little salt. Continue this process, glug-stir-absorb until the rice is cooked through. Add one lemon's worth of juice but beware of the pips. Absorb the lemon juice into the rice. Add a dab of butter and stir through until melted (I didn't do this as butter and I are having an argument at the moment). Serve. (Actual recipe available on request.)

What 5 ingredients would I take to a desert island? Well, if I was sensible, I would probably take a whole lot of fruit and veg, so I could grow them and have an abundant supply. But somehow, I don't think this is the point of the exercise. Thanks to iwantoneofthose.com for the pretty picture.

1. Eggs - so versatile
2. Greek yoghurt - milk and cream alternative and oh so yummy
3. Prosciutto - Good source of protein and no fridge required
4. Strawberries - A life is half lived without strawberries
5. Garlic - For it's health benefits and good for flavouring fish

Well, Olive, I hope to hear from you soon! And remember to contact me if there's any other information that you require.

Warm Regards,

Bonnie
xox

Update: 1st October, 2006

A couple of weeks ago, Olive contacted me to let me know that I am now a part of their ReaderPanel. I'm not quite sure where this will take me or what they will ask me to do, but I'm suitably excited and I can't wait to get my teeth into whatever they throw at me.

Summer supper

2006-07-04T21:34:00.000+01:00

We're always looking for ways to recreate salads, as after a time, they can get a little boring. This salad was far from it. While I sliced up fruit for the big jug of Pimm's, Dan peeled, sliced and grated his way to this gorgeous red salad. With such exciting ingredients like beet, kidney beans, carrot, tomato, and pumpkin seeds, I think the photo speaks for itself. It was a beautiful way to see June out.

Lemons baked well

2006-06-30T10:16:00.000+01:00

It seems I've been having an obsession with lemons of late, and any attempts to hide the infatuation have been feeble. At least I'm not the only one.

When Andrew decided to have a one-off food blog event in response to the Independent's report about the decline of popularity of the Bakewell Tart, I knew I had to be involved. Not only had I never made a Bakewell before, I had never actually tasted one. The Bakewell Tarts found on the High Street bakeries had never tempted me with their sickly sweet icing yet various food programmes about the Bakewell had intrigued me. It is a well known fact that the original Bakewell recipe is a highly guarded secret and I would imagine that Andrew's recipe is probably the one closest to it.

What I'm particularly concerned about is how the original Bakewell Pudding has evolved and been interpretated across the decades. When did almonds become involved? Was the icing added to appeal to a sugar loving generation to increase market sales? And, in this ever increasing health conscious society, what can we do to keep it and its ingredients alive?

While researching this, I came across Delia's recipe for the Lancaster Lemon Tart which was tagged as being a first cousin of the Bakewell Tart. This doesn't really suprise me, with Lancashire being only a county over from Derbyshire. To be honest, I think Delia made this one up, as I couldn't find any other reference to it, apart from her cookbook. But I thought it was a nice varient and it gave me a brilliant opportunity to try out Clotilde's Almond and Lemon Curd. I definately recommend the curd recipe - it was simple and oh, so tasty, and the Tart was a great way to show it off. It's so tasty, infact, I think I'm going to have piece right now along with that other great English tradition - Pimm's.

A quick clafoutis

2006-06-27T09:28:00.000+01:00

What's a girl to do when plums are £1 for 2lbs at the market? Why, she buys them of course, along with a handful of Lancashire asparagus, 6 figs, a bunch of bananas and some fresh garlic.

After gorging on a few of the plums, she leaves them to rest for a couple of days while she does other things, only to come back to find them a little squishy. On a whim, while her best friend prepares a gorgeous baked cod and asparagus tray, she halves each plum over the sink, tears out the stone and places them on a little tart tray and leafs through her cookery scrap book. She finds the recipe - an easy clafoutis that she had long ago written in her book with multicoloured pens. The batter is prepared within 5 minutes, poured over the juicy plums and set in the oven to cook. Forty-five minutes seems to long, 30 just right.

A dollop of creme fraiche served with the slice is so irresistible that seconds are contemplated and contemplations are acted upon. Now, what to do with the figs...

Clafoutis
1 cup of self-raising flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup reduced-fat milk
1 tablespoon icing sugar, sifted

Arrange your fruit of desire, cut sides down, in a lightly greased 25cm flan dish. Sift flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Break eggs into well, add caster sugar and milk. Mix to form a smooth batter. Pour batter over plums. Bake in a moderate oven (180 celcius, 350 fahrenheit) for 45 minutes (although I thought this a bit too long) or until firm and golden. Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with icing sugar.

Lemon Posset

2006-06-23T09:11:00.000+01:00

So how do you enter an icecream event when you're not that partial to ice cream, have a freezer the size of a shoe box and no icecream maker? Hmmmm, I thought, a case for a different creamy dessert. I know I could've opted to showcase a favourite icecream, or purchase icecream to create a magnificent icecream dessert, but as mentioned before, I'm not that partial. I do like the odd lick or spoonful here and there, especially during the first hopes of Summer and when I'm ready for Winter to be dead and gone, but I don't really go out of my way. So hopefully Sam will accept my entry.

I happened upon this recipe while reading the current Olive magazine. By Paul Merrett, it's a simple dessert featuring only 3 ingredients. It struck me when I first glanced at the page. What's a Posset? I thought, Why have I never heard of this dessert before? So simple, so elegant, so right for Summer.

Wiki told me some very interesting information. For example, eggnog is part of the posset family, who knew? Traditionally, a hot creamy drink for the invalid, it's created using wine, ale or other liqueur. How came it to be a cold, creamy dessert? I just don't know. Using lemon instead of alcohol to set the cream, I couldn't think of a better way to end a Summer Feast.

Lemon Posset

568ml double cream
140g sugar
5 lemons - zested and juiced

Place cream in a heavy saucepan with the sugar. Bring to the boil slowly, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 4 minutes until the cream rises to the top edge of the pan. Add the zest and juice and remove from heat. Use less or more lemon juice depending on personal preferences. Cool down for 15 minutes and pour into little serving dishes. At this point, add some little berries or other delicious fruit that might go with lemons to give it a little twist. Chill overnight, then serve.

A beetroot & lemon risotto

2006-06-20T15:31:00.000+01:00

I didn't learn how to make risotto in the traditional manor. I've never followed a risotto recipe, and no member of my family ever taught me (as far as I can remember). Yet, not one risotto that I've ever made has gone wrong. I've collectively followed the advice of various celebrity chefs, and generally just followed their processes. I follow two rules: Never stop stirring and always add the liquid a little at a time. I've never made two risottos alike and I really enjoy experimenting with them. I loved this beetroot risotto. With the beets fresh out of our organic box, not only was it my favourite colour, but it was simply delicious and the process of creating it was like a piece of art - making sure all the flavours matched. Towards the end of cooking, it tasted slightly bland and I felt it needed to be kicked up a notch. Lemon was the solution. In went the juice of half a lemon, but it still wasn't quite there, so in went the other half. Perfect!

I didn't do any precise measurements, but it's a basic risotto recipe with enough rice to serve six. For a really rough guide it probably works out to about 2 cups of rice to 1 litre of stock - but don't quote me on this. This is how my recipe goes:

Cover the bottom of a pan with olive oil and then some. Add one chopped onion and some squashed garlic and heat on medium until the onion becomes translucent. Add about that much arborio rice and heat the rice through until the rice is well coated in oil. Add a splash of very hot vegetable stock and stir until it has been absorbed into the rice. Add 2 diced fresh-of-the-farm beets and stir through until the mix has turned pink. Add a glug of stock and stir until it has been absorbed. Season with lots of pepper and a little salt. Continue this process, glug-stir-absorb until the rice is cooked through. Add one lemon's worth of juice but beware of the pips. Absorb the lemon juice into the rice. Add a dab of butter and stir through until melted (I didn't do this as butter and I are having an argument at the moment). Serve.

Taste of London 2006 - The write up

2006-06-18T15:42:00.000+01:00

It was all that I had anticipated. Nothing more, nothing less. The atmosphere was pleasant and it wasn't overcrowded. The weather continued to shine down on us and was absolutely brilliant. We headed over early and queued up early under the leafy trees of Regent's Park. Here's what I thought:

Salad of smoked duck, with baby beetroot, walnuts & pickled shallots

This starter from Pearl was the only real discription that jumped out at me from the start. So as soon as we walked into the grounds we made a beeline for the Pearl kitchen. We were very close to the front of the queue so I think my order at Pearl was probably one of the first that they produced that day. With the first bite, my palette was slightly confused, as I was expecting a warm slice of duck, instead of the fridge cool that hit my mouth. But don't get me wrong. The salad was a good fresh start to the day. It whetted my appetite and I was ready for some more.

Spice encrusted tuna, Israeli cous cous, chermoula dressing

This was Dan's first choice. He had wanted to try Israeli cous cous for quite some time now, and although I'd never heard of it before I was indeed curious. Israeli cous cous is a cous cous for giants with each grain being only slightly smaller than a petit pois. It's prepared and seasoned in the same way as regular cous cous, however the texture is really quite soft and rolling, rather than soft and grainy, like regular cous cous. Bank flavoured theirs with flat leaf parsley, diced peppers and perhaps a little too much olive oil. The tuna was served as sashimi and the spice that encrusted it was a welcome texture.

Szechuan tiger prawns with Thai basil & blackened beans

I'm afraid that we gobbled this down before we even had a chance to take a photo of it. Oh, it was tasty. I'm so glad that Dan came to his senses and went to Cocoon, which was situated right next door to Hush where he was going to order a char-grilled free range chicken breast marinated in olive oil, garlic & rosmary, served on a ciabatta with wild rocket and pesto. I mean, you don't come to a fancy food festival and eat a chicken sarni even if the name does make it sound posh. Anyway, I think our chicken sarni that we had for dinner on Monday night would have been 10 times better. The prawns were large and fresh and sculpted in a way that bamboozled me. The plate was just spicy enough to warrant a cocktail, so we headed for Specialty Drinks where Dan enjoyed a Mojito made with 23 year old rum and I had a refreshing Campari, Lime & Tonic.

Rare breed beef off the barbie, hand cut chips, horseradish

John Torode's Smiths of Smithfields' main certainly did not disappoint, and this had to be my pick of what we had at the show. The picture certainly does not do this tasty morsel justice. I was glad that the horseradish sauce was not too strong, as it allowed the flavour of the beef to shine through. Hacking into it with a wooden fork, I was even tempted by the half inch of fat hanging off the edge (but not that tempted). After not having red meat for about a month, this was certainly the ultimate dish to break the fast. Oh, and the chips propping up the steak were pretty good too.

Valrhona hot chocolate fondue, marshmallows, biscotti & strawberry kebabs

We had to try at least one of Gordon Ramsey's dishes and after a glass of Pimm's each, we decided to have dessert at Boxwood. Now desserts aren't exactly Gordon's strong point, but this little plate of delectables went down a treat and gave us a nice midafternoon sugar rush. It was an excellent way to end our little tasting menu.

We were contented and full by the time we were ready to move. I was just so happy that within 2 hours, I was home and full and relaxing in front of the Back to the Future Triology.

Taste of London 2006

2006-06-15T12:41:00.000+01:00

Forgive me. I'm a little bit excited. No, a lot excited. In 48 hours, I will have the opportunity to eat at 40, yes 40 of London's restaurants at the Taste of London food festival. After our successful visit to the less prestigious Tastes of Anglia, Dan and I are very much anticipated to find out exactly what delicacies are in store for us... So much so, that I think I'm going to print out the menu to highlight and colour code all the things that interest me most. Stay tuned!

A steak in every Guinness...

2006-06-13T15:38:00.000+01:00

I couldn't have asked for better weather. The Emerald Isle is not well known for perfect weather, and it might only come round one week per year. Thankfully, that was the week that we went to Northern Ireland.

It's been just under 14 months since I was last able to visit Northern Ireland and so a visit was definately overdue. It's even more important to keep up frequent visits, as my Granny is now in her 92nd year and although she's still going strong, I want to try and visit her as much as possible. It was especially exciting, as I was able to introduce Dan to everyone, and meet my new baby cousin Lucy who is 8 months old and an absolute doll.

On Saturday, after a lunch of formalities at Granny's house and Granny's successes to force feed Dan with real Irish butter, we took a trip to the Giant's Causeway. Situated just outside the town of Bushmills, we were hoping to pop into the famous distillery but unfortunately, they were closed for the day. Ah well, there's always next time.

Full of sea breeze and hunger, we trekked off to the small seaside village of Portrush where we partook an early dinner at 55 North. Needless to say, the food was of very high standard and my grilled goats cheese salad was done to perfection. If only I could say the same for the standard of service.

But let's not dwell on that. We headed back for a lovely evening at The Clarendon where Dan was able to taste a real Guinness poured in Ireland. He reported back that it didn't taste any different from those we get in England, and if anyone says otherwise, it's just all in the head.

Bacon baps were on the table for breakfast and the old red sauce brown sauce debate was the hot topic. Kelley (my cousin) was outvoted 4.5 to 1.5 in favour of red sauce with Deborah (Kelley's sister) sitting on the fence.

All in all, an amazing weekend full of promises to return the visit. See you on the 22nd, Kelley!

Il prosciutto di Limoncello

2006-06-07T18:06:00.000+01:00

Growing up in a major Italian community in Australia, I've been influenced by Italian food for a very long time. Even before Nutella became commercially available on the Australian market, my Grade 2 Italian teacher was serving it to me and my classmates on little triangles of super white sandwich bread.

In my 8th year Italian High School class I was first introduced to prosciutto. We were told that it was best served with slices of fresh melon and eaten in one mouthful. The idea of fruit and meat all at once was relatively foreign for us Aussie country kids - used to a meat and two veg diet, and at first we were put off by the idea. But, as I'm quite fond of food, I took the challenge and the first bite.

From that moment, prosciutto and me, well, we were best friends. Listed as one of my favourite foods, I really don't know what I would do without it. By my late teens, prosciutto was relatively easy to come by in Australian supermarkets, and at the slightest hint of a craving, it wouldn't be long before I was savouring the taste of the freshly cut ham.

Alas, my Italian is no longer as strong as my love for Italian food. When I moved to England, I fully expected that the prosciutto that I was used to would be easily available but unfortunately, Northampton didn't deliver. For almost a whole year I had to resign myself to prepackaged supermarket prosciutto that cost £4.00 per 50 grams and tasted like 1 month old cured shoe leather. When I decided to move, I have to admit that one of the charms that attracted me to Cambridge was the neighbourhood that I was moving into. Close to the city centre and on the "wrong" side of the tracks, the area stems off a main aterial road (Mill Road) which is rich in multicultural shops and restaurants.

My favourite of these is a small Italian delicatessen called Limoncello's. Manned on a week day basis by a Milanese named Teo, the shop offers fresh, locally baked bread called Cambridge and Peterborough bread, shipped in fresh pesto, olives, cheese and an abundance of meats. This is where I find my prosciutto. Teo cuts it perfectly every time; skimming it gently across the blade of the meat slicer, the feather light slices fall onto the paper. They are wafer thin and are best eaten by themselves, completely unadulterated.

Limoncello Delicatessen
212 Mill Road
Cambridge
CB1 3NF
UK

Me and My Coffee

2006-06-02T20:17:00.000+01:00

I can't remember a time that I was indifferent to coffee. As a child, it was as elusive as wine - something for the grownups. As a teen, I thought it was horrid and linked it to pretentious people. And now, I am one of them, a coffee convert and forever follower. The way to my heart is over a cappucino.

I adore coffee in all forms except one. Instant. Is instant really coffee? Or is it coffee (bitter and sour) flavoured caffine granules? Of course the marketing people at Nescafe et.al. will tell you that it is made of real coffee beans - but what sort of torture have these poor little beans been put through? I shudder to think.

I often day dream of the day when I own a little deli-cum-cafe with its own special industrial espresso machine. The day I can lovingly press the freshly ground coffee into the filter and froth the milk to thick creaminess, will be the day that I'm happy ever after.

Biscuits for Masses

2006-05-30T12:46:00.000+01:00

Having just celebrated my second birthday in the UK after arriving 17 months ago, I'm still trying to get used to a very sensible albeit modern birthday tradition. Here in the UK, rather than everyone chipping in to buy the birthday cake at work, the birthday boy/girl buy/provide their own sweets, treats or cream cakes. This makes perfect sense to me, since the special person can then decide whether they want to announce the celebration, or keep it to themselves. Another, more frugal benefit of this workplace tradition, is that one only has to shell out cash once a year, rather than multiple times a year, and that one can choose for oneself how much money to spend or effort to put in, without having to worry about peer pressure.

I thought it was appropriate, this year to make my own treats. Since there are approximately 80 odd people in our office, I needed to make something that could be enjoyed by 40 or so, and for those specially tempted to have a couple left over. So, as I didn't want to spend too much money, I brought out my trusty old biscuit recipe that I know make about 60 biscuits - give or take a few. I have been making this cookie recipe since I was about 16 or so and the little magazine clipping takes place 10 or so pages into my recipe scrap book. The recipe takes about an hour (only because there's so much!) and it says it makes 80 cookies - but I always need to make allowances for quality control and the size of biscuits I make. I often substitute the add-ins and have used different types of chocolate, glace cherries and nuts. I also find that the cookie dough is excellent to keep in the freezer - in a little plastic wrap log, to take out for last minute guests or cookie craving moments.

It is a great moment, that I'm posting this recipe - as it's a great weapon of mine and I didn't think I'd ever share it.

Here it is:

500g of butter
1 1/4 cup of castor sugar
400g of sweetened condensed milk
5 cups plain flour
5 teaspoons of baking powder
250g white choc bits
500g milk choc bits
OR
750g of adds-ins of choice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a VERY large bowl cream butter, sugar and condensed milk together using an electric mixer until light and creamy in texture. Add sifted flour, and chocolate bits and mix until well combined. Using 1 tablespoon of mixture roll into balls. Place onto non stick trays and flatten slightly with a fork, leaving plenty of room for spreading. Bake 14-16 minutes or until light golden. Allow to stand on the trays 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Roast Onion Soup

2006-05-21T15:08:00.000+01:00

One of the things I've come to love about England is the seasonality of the produce. I think I arrived at just the right time to be able to experience a push in the food culture towards local, British and seasonal produce. Whether this be thanks to Jamie Oliver's campaign against bad school dinners, or whether cooking has become the new rock 'n roll, this surge of pride for local food and produce is a welcome breath of fresh air. Especially for me, coming from Australia and from such a temperate climate where seasonal veg is pretty much available all year round and exotic fruit such as mangoes and lychees were quite the norm for me.

So, it's always a pleasure to use up vegetables that we have in abundance. We've been getting our organic vegetable box for about 5 or 6 weeks now and in every box we've had about 4 onions - and since we don't use onions every night, the stock pile has been growing. Not wanting to have to throw any of the onions away, Friday saw me looking for a recipe to use up them up in. And, after delving into Nigel Slater's - The Kitchen Diaries, I decided to do a version of his French Roast Onion Soup.

Now, I love onions - especially roasted onions with their slippery and velvety texture and sweet aroma that fills the kitchen. I've never had onion soup before, and this was definitely the best way to be introduced to it.

Roast Onion Soup

4 or 5 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 litre of vegetable stock
olive oil
salt and pepper
sliced bread
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds

Peel the onions and quarter them lengthwise, place in a roasting dish along with the peeled and crushed garlic. Cover in olive oil and season. Roast them in a 200 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes turning once. Let them cool and slice into chunky pieces.

Add them to a pot with the garlic and pour over the vege stock. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer for 20 minutes. Whilst simmering, take 4 slices of bread and cut into quarters and trim the crust. Brush down with olive oil and grill until toasted. Place the sunflower seeds in a dry pan and roast over a high heat until brown.

Serve in a small bowl with the sunflower seeds sprinkled over and the croutes placed on top.

Serves about 4.

And the Mothers met over an English tradition.

2006-05-14T11:21:00.000+01:00

Thankfully, for Dan and I, we are blessed with Mothers that like to talk. So when they were to meet on Sunday we were not too worried that they wouldn't get on.

It was definately going to be a winner when we knew what was going to be on the table for Sunday lunch. A traditional English Roast Dinner. Now, since Janet (Dan's Mother) is a professional cook, her roasts are always superb and she wins everyone over on the first bite. Replicating her dinner would take years to perfect.

Fluffly potatoes, varieties of meat, and even her "experimental" dishes of pickled cabbage all turn out delectable and every bite leaves you hoping that someone else doesn't get the last potato on the serving plate.

And every English roast would not be complete without the Yorkshire Pudding. Janet has perfected the art of preparing and cooking a Yorkie pud. Whether it be in the flopping noise of the batter, or the heat of the oil, they always turn out to perfection being crispy, tall and non-oily.

With dinner over and being full to the brink, Janet tempted us yet again with her desserts - one of which was this simple shortbread and strawberry dessert which was beautifully put together.

Popping the Cookbook's Cherry

2006-05-04T10:33:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, whilst meandering throught the Food section of our local Borders store, Dan and I found a beautiful enchanting book (that I've had my eye on for sometime). It was to be the first cookbook that we bought together. (I can hear you all making a various amount of sighing and ahhing noises now!) We bought Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries.

It was love at first sight. As we flipped through the pages, I knew that this would be a book that would take pride and place on our coffee table - a book to flip through to engage the senses and to delve and dip into to spark the imagination. Nigel Slater has written such beautiful prose that sets the English cuisine and produce off beautifully.

So, on Sunday evening, when looking for inspiration on ways to cook the pork that we had bought the day before, Dan's first impulse was to dive into the book. Lo and behold, he found a Pork with Mustard Sauce recipe. Made with dijon mustard and dill pickle, the sauce was a perfect compliment to the Suffolk pork. We served it up with new season aspargus and a type of potato that we hadn't tried before - Anya.

Pork chops and mustard sauce

Pork spare rib or chump chops - 2 large, about 1 cm thick
Butter -25g
Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
Garlic - 2 large unpeeled cloves, squashed flat
A glass of white wine
Double or whipping cream - 150ml
Grain mustard - 1 1/2 tablespoons
Smooth Dijon mustard - 1 1/2 tablespoons
Cornichons - 8, or half as many larger gherkins

Rub the chops all over with salt and pepper. Put the butter and oil in a shallow pan set over a moderate to high heat and, whenthey start to froth a little, add the flattened garlic and the seasoned chops. Leave to brown, then turn and brown the other side. Lower the heat and continue cooking, turning once, until the chops are no longer pink when cut into.

Lift out the chops, transfer to a warm serving dish and keep warm. Pour off most of the oil from the pan, leaving the sediment behind, then turn up the heat and pour in the wine. Let it boil for a minute or so, scraping at the sticky sediment in the pan and letting it dissolve. Pour in the cream, swirl the pan about a bit, then leave it to bubble up a little before adding the mustards and the chopped cornichons.

Taste for seasoning; you may need a little salt and possibly black pepper. The sauce should be piquant and creamy. If you want, you can sharpen it up. Pour the sauce over the chops and serve.

Enough for 2 with sides of choice.

The Snug

2006-04-29T16:24:00.000+01:00

One of our favourite places to meet after work on a weeknight is The Snug - a petite little bar famous for its cocktails. With a cocktail menu larger than it's food menu, it's become very popular with the local professionals, foreign students taking their parents out and groups of women at the start of a "girls night out". We like to go in and try a different cocktail or two each time, but Dan is particularly fond of a good mojito, and good these mojitos are! (See the picture above.) I personally prefer vodka or gin based cocktails and especially the ones combining both and the martinis are served just the way you like them - and very potent.

Rarely found in England, The Snug also boasts of table service - perhaps to cater to its multitude of American patrons and as if to listen to demand, the menu sways slightly to resemble a menu that you would easily find across the Atlantic. With delights such as breakfast pancakes, brownies and Mexican quesadillas, the food tries hard, but unfortunately falls short of the type of standards that the cocktails achieve.

All in all, a plesant and relaxing non-smoking bar with friendly and mostly attentive service, The Snug is a great place to come for a much sought after cocktail - just be prepared to pay for them. We will continue to visit The Snug on a regular basis.

The Snug
01223 367684
67 Lensfield Rd
Cambridge, CB2 1EN, United Kingdom

IMBB25 - My very first!

2006-04-24T11:36:00.000+01:00

I was considering not entering this months IMBB international food blog event, as I didn't think that I would have the blog up in time, nor the stale bread to do it. But, as Dan is a whizz on the graphics side of things, the blog was looking great by Saturday night. So, with a loaf of overdue multigrain bread in the cupboard and a few apples in the fruit bowl that had been in there longer than I care to admit, I decided to give it a whirl.

With multigrain bread and apples in mind, on hand I also had some mixed dried fruit. From various thoughts of inspiration came Autumn Pudding.

The main inspiration and shape was from a traditional English Summer Pudding and I thought that this might be the solution substituting the berries for apple, but when I discovered that the Summer Pudding wasn't cooked, it didn't quite appeal to me as much. That's when I remembered that we used to make stewed apple and sultana toasted sandwiches as children, I therefore, stewed the apples, buttered the bread and created the pudding.

I was really nervous through the cooking as I wasn't sure if there would be too many juices and cause the bread to go soggy. But patiently, after only about 25 minutes and after digging around the edges with the knife, I decided that it was probably about right and if it was in for any longer it would probably burn.

It turned out exactly as I expected - like an elegant-looking stewed apple toasted sandwich and if swathed in custard would've been the perfect treat on an Autumn evening when the apples are at their best, and comfort food is becoming more desirable. The multigrain bread also gave it a lovely, crunch texture on the outside, but I'm sure any type of bread will work. Of course, it's only Spring now, but I'll be recreating this recipe come Autumn!

Autumn Pudding

5 small apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
about 1/4 cup of mixed dried fruit
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of water
juice of half a lemon
7-8 slices of the bread in your cupboard buttered on one side.

Place the apples, the dried fruit, brown sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stew on a medium heat until the apples are soft. Add the lemon juice and mix through gently. Cut the crusts from the bread and line a pudding dish, pressing the edges of each slice together to create a firm seam. Make sure the buttered sides are facing out. Put half of the stewed apples in the base of the pudding, straining the liquid with a straining spoon. Place another slice of bread on top of the apples (I thought this would be a good idea, as it will give it more stability and soak up some of the juices). Top with the rest of the apples and spoon some of the juice over the top. Seal with 2 more slices of bread - butter facing out, and cook in a 180 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes or until well browned on top.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes. Turn out onto a plate and serve immediately.

Basic Bread

2006-04-23T14:46:00.000+01:00

There's nothing better than Basic Bread straight from the cooker.

I'd been hankering to bake some bread for a few days, and on Friday night, I decided it was time. Especially since I'd already decided that we were having soup for dinner - and nothing goes better with fresh soup than a loaf of freshly baked bread straight from the oven.

I'd seen Jamie Oliver cook this recipe on his various shows and thought that it was basic and easy and that I'd give it a whirl. He also uses it as a base for all of his other types of bread: foccacia, stuffed bread, baguettes etc, etc.

Probably the best thing about it, is that it only uses 5 ingredients and there is minimal washing up to do. Basically, the dough is prepared on the bench top by making a well out of the flour and filling the well with the rest of the ingredients (water, yeast, salt and sugar). The bread rose perfectly (thanks to the use of my airing cupboard) and handled like a dream.

The bread worked wonderfully and had that real sense of being proper bread. I've made bread before - many times, but there always seemed to be something lacking - this was just right.

The soup I made was a leek, potato, pea and spring green soup - using 3 of the ingredients from our vege box. It was a wonderfully tasting, subtle soup, which, on hindsight could have done with a touch of garlic.

The Basic Bread Recipe

Grape Cake

2006-04-21T22:00:00.000+01:00

While I was feeling a bit poorly over the weekend, Dan, knowing I'm a bit of a grape monster, brought some grapes home. Now, because I wasn't feeling too well, I didn't really eat them and they started to turn a bit overly ripe.

I've never cooked or baked with grapes before, and because it would be a great shame for the grapes to go to waste, on the Tuesday, I decided to cook something with them... I was thinking either a crumble, pie, torte, something that seemed quite versatile. When I googled "grape recipes", this grape cake recipe from Recipe zaar showed up - and as I had all of the store cupboard ingredients on hand, I decided to give it a go.

The cake itself turned out very well - moist, and juicy around the grapes. The only problem I had with it was that it looked a bit dated, but the recipe was from the 1970s. I used a square cake tin (as that's all we have) which worked out completely fine.

Here's the recipe I used:

Grape Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened (I would suggest unsalted)
1/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon rind (I didn't have any lemon, so omitted this, and it was absolutely fine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups sifted flour, sift before measuring (I just used 1 cup unsifted, as it was a bit finicky otherwise)
1 1/3 cups green seedless grapes, about 1 lb (or pretty much as many as I thought looked good)

Cream together the butter and the ¼ cup sugar until the mixture is pale in colour. Beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon rind and vanilla. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls at a time and continue to beat until they hold stiff peaks. Stir one fourth of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in the remaining whites. Sift the sifted flour over the mixture, folding it in gently. Transfer the batter to a buttered 8 inch round cake pan. Sprinkle the grapes over the top of the batter. Bake at 180 C (350 F) for 25 - 30 minutes or until it is lightly browned and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack until barely warm. Makes 6 to 8 servings depending on how you cut it.

We had it while it was still quite warm and the grapes were wonderful hot (who woulda thought?). It was great with an afternoon cup of fresh coffee or tea.

Chocolate & Zucchini

2006-04-20T12:48:00.000+01:00

Much inspired by Clotilde's website: Chocolate & Zucchini, I think my blog is going to take a food direction (hence the reason why I've moved it), as food is pretty much my biggest hobby at the moment. Dan and I are both really big foodies and we spend much of our time trying to decide what we should eat next.

The other day we just signed up for an organic vegetable delivery service from Wild Country Organics that brings fresh seasonal vegetables to our door on a fortnightly basis. The vegetables are all seasonal, and random, so we don't actually know what we're going to get until we get it.I was the lucky one on the initial delivery, being the first to get home, and I was delighted to find a box full of knobly carrots, wild rocket (definately wild with all the grass that was mixed in with it) and the juciest, sunniest, most tastiest cherry tomatos that took me back to being a child for a few minutes. The box also included a fennel (our last fennel experiment was a disaster - so we have to think of a new recipe), some courgettes, capsicum, mushrooms, potatoes, leeks, and lots of lovely salads.

Probably the best thing about getting our veges in this way is that we know where they're coming from. All the veges are straight from the farm that delivers it to us, and they're only about 6 miles from Cambridge. I don't think you can get better than that without having a car or a farm yourself.