Buttaz Blog

Banana curry soup

2012-01-22T11:21:00.005Z

My new foodie chum at work recommended this banana curry soup to me. I was more than a little sceptical but with a hand of rapidly-ripening bananas to use up (and dental issues) I took the opportunity to give it a bash.

Quite to my surprise it was actually pretty good. The flavour of the spices in the curry paste really sang out. Each mouthful started with a sweet note but it wasn't overpowering. I think the bananas also contributed to a lovely texture.

I can't imagine this is a soup I'd go out of my way to make time and time again. I think its place is as a way of using up leftovers or as a store-cupboard standby.

Ingredients:
4 bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Onion, thinly sliced
1 pint chicken stock
1 dsp madras curry paste

Method:
1. Sweat onion until soft. Add the garlic when the onion is almost done.
2. Add the curry paste to the pan and fry off for three minutes.
3. Add the bananas and fry briefly.
4. Add the stock and with another pint of water.
5. Bring it to the boil and then simmer for about 20mins.
6. Liquidise until smooth.

It's very good with naan bread as opposed to toast!

Goose-fest 2012

2012-01-02T18:22:00.041Z

I've been trying to convince the family to have goose at Christmas for a couple of years now without much success. However, I managed a break though in that I was "allowed" to cook goose for a new year's treat. The family just love turkey too much for Christmas. I think it's down to the fact that Dad cooks it over night, so when everyone wakes up on Christmas day the house has the smell of gently roasting turkey aka "Christmas".

I managed to secure a Goodman's Goose from a local farm shop. Now for a post with goose I have surprisingly few photos of the goose. Whilst cooking for six there just wasn't an opportunity to take photos. This was the first piece of poultry I've ever bought, however, that came in its own box.

In order to celebrate the goose, I came up with what I thought was a seasonal meal that had more than a passing reference to a typical French festive feast (and was capable of satisfying six):

Pea and parsnip soup
***
Roast goose, celeriac purée, braised red cabbage, mélange of vegetables, roast potatoes and apple sauce
***
"Bûche de Noël" and chestnut profiteroles

Pea and parsnip soup

A deceptively simple soup with the pea and parsnip working very well together. The sweetness was off set with bacon lardons, toasted walnuts and a Parmesan and chive cream. I topped the whole lot off with some parsnip crisps liberally doused in cumin.

Roast goose, celeriac purée, braised red cabbage, mélange of vegetables, roast potatoes and apple sauce

The goose was terrific. Very meaty, more like lamb than anything with wings. The accompaniments all went very well with the goose and each other. The celeriac purée was a revelation (that Koffman knows what he's doing). It felt like a very luxurious roast.

"Bûche de Noël" and chestnut profiteroles

A chocolate roulade with chestnut cream and choux buns filled with chestnut cream. I love chestnuts and as far as I'm concerned you can't have enough at Christmas time. They are a perfect partner to chocolate. My only slight issue was that portion size wasn't the uppermost thought in my mind when I conceived this. To say it was a massive pud is an under-statement. At least I didn't go for a trio of desserts...

PS To make sure I made the most of my goose, I rendered down all the fat, froze the carcass for making stock (once I've got some more poultry bones) and had the goose liver on toast with a great deal of creamy garlicky mushrooms.

PPS I recently realised that it's been nearly an ENTIRE year, since I last had someone round for dinner. That's ridiculous!

The recipes:

Pea and parsnip soup (basic soup recipe from The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit)

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
3 parsnips, peeled, woody core removed and chopped
750ml chicken or vegetable stock
~500g frozen peas
For the garnishes:
~100g bacon
1tbsp grated Parmesan
2tbsp snipped chives
4tbsp double cream
Walnut halves
1 parsnip
Ground cumin

Method:
1. Sweat the chopped onion and parsnips for a few minutes until soft (sprinkle salt on the onions and use a lid on the pan). Use a low heat to avoid colouring the veg.
2. Once the onion and parsnip are soft add the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer gently for 10mins.
3. Take the pan off the and add the frozen peas. Leave to cool.
4. Once cool, liquidise the soup and pass. The soup can then be re-heated just before serving. Don't forget to season to taste with salt and pepper and a touch of lemon juice.
5. For the bacon garnishes, chop the bacon into lardons and fry until crisp.
6. Mix the Parmesan, chives and cream. Use as much or as little cream to create a smooth end result.
7. For the parsnip crisps, peel the parsnip. Then using the peeler shave off thin strips of parsnip. These then need to be fried, a few at a time, in vegetable oil. Take them out just as they begin to go golden and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle liberally with the cumin immediately.

Roast goose, celeriac purée, braised red cabbage, mélange of vegetables, roast potatoes and apple sauce (recipes from The Cook's Book ed. Jill Norman, The Guardian and Sauces by Michel Roux)

Ingredients:
~5kg goose
For the roast potatoes
~3lb floury potatoes, peeled and cut to same size pieces
~3tbsp duck/goose fat
For the celeriac purée:
1 celeriac, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
2oz butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
50ml milk
1tsp Dijon mustard
For the red cabbage:
~900g red cabbage
4 slices bacon, cut into lardons
2 red onions, thinly sliced
2 red apples, grated
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, whole
½tsp each of nutmeg, ground cloves, cinnamon, all spice
2tbsp muscovado sugar
4tbsp red wine vingear
For the vegetables:
9oz Chantenay carrots
9oz Brussels sprouts
7oz tenderstem broccoli
2oz butter
100ml vegetable stock
Lemon zest
Apple sauce

Method:
For the goose:
1. Prick the goose all over with a skewer, paying particular attention to near the parsons nose, underneath the wings and along the side of the breasts.
2. Cover the legs with foil and lay the bird on its back on a rack in a roasting tray. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Roast in a pre-heated oven for 1h at 200°C.
3. Decant the fat and turn the bird over. Roast for another hour.
4. Turn the bird over again (it should be on its back again), remove the foil and roast for a further 30mins.
5. Once cooked rest for 15mins and carve.
NOTE: I found it quite difficult to "carve" because the bird is just so large and the meat is so tender. I would be tempted to remove the wings before roasting next time. The key is to portion the goose (so the breasts are removed whole etc.) rather than try and cut of thin strips.
For the roast potatoes:
1. Place the fat in a roasting tray and put in an oven at 220°C to warm up.
2. Par boil the potatoes for about 5mins until the surface of the potatoes are just beginning to crumble.
3. Drain the potatoes and leave to cool in the colander above the pan for a few minutes.
4. Put the potatoes back in the pan and shake to roughen the edges. Then add to the hot fat mix gently to ensure the potatoes are coated in fat.
5. Turn the temperature down to 200°C and roast for 1 hour, turning after 30mins.
For the celeriac:
1. Boil the celeriac and potato chunks together until soft (~15mins). Drain.
2. Melt the butter and gently fry the garlic until soft (but not coloured). Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Use a potato ricer and and add the celeriac and potatoes to the pan and mix thoroughly.
For the red cabbage:
1. Fry the bacon and onion in a knob of butter. Once the onion is soft add he spices to the pan and fry briefly.
2. Add all the other ingredients and put the lid on. Leave to braise for ~2hours, stirring occasionally. If the pan looks to be drying up add liquid such as water, vegetable stock, or red wine.
3. Before serving, remove the garlic and bay leaves then season.
Note: I made this the day before to give plenty of time for the flavours to develop. Orange zest and juice could be added to give a further zing.
For the vegetables:
1. Prepare the vegetables so that they are approximately the same size (i.e. halve the sprouts/carrots etc.)
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan together with a splash of olive oil.
3. Fry the vegetables until nicely browned.
4. Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Cook until the vegetables are tender (~5mins).
5. Add the lemon zest and season before serving.

"Bûche de Noël" and chestnut profiteroles (recipes taken from Delia Online and adapted from an Olive recipe)

Bûche de Noël

Ingredients:
For the base:
6 large eggs, separated
5oz caster sugar
2oz cocoa powder, sifted
For the filling:
8¾ oz sweetened chestnut purée
1tbsp double cream
For the decoration:
2 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
10 fl oz double cream less 1 tbsp (see above)

Method:
1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thickened.
2. Whisk in the cocoa until blended.
3. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.
4. Mix a third of the egg whites into the yolks mixture. Then fold in the remaining egg white until combined.
5. Spread the mixture into a 13"x9" greased and lined swiss roll tin. Drop the tray a couple of times to remove the air bubbles and flatten the mixture.
6. Bake at 180°C for 20mins. (It should be springy in the middle.) Leave to cool.
7. Meanwhile mix the chestnut purée and cream.
8. Sprinkle a sheet of silicon paper (that is 1" bigger than the cake) with icing sugar and turn the cake out on to it. Liberally spread the chestnut purée all over the cake.
9. The cake now needs to be rolled. Use the edge of the silicone paper as a guide, roll the base over lengthways into a long roll, keeping it on the edge of the paper.
Note: In order to get a tight roll, the first part of the cake should be folded and "broken" onto itself. This will give a tight core around which the rest of the cake can be rolled.
10. Whip the remaining cream until its spreadable and cover the cake (no need to do the ends).
11. Melt the dark chocolate and use a fork to leave strands up and down the length of the cake.

Chestnut profiteroles

Ingredients:
60g butter
75g plain flour
2 medium eggs , lightly beaten
2 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
200ml double cream
180g sweetened chestnut purée

Method:
1. Heat the oven to 220°C. Butter a large baking sheet with a little butter and sprinkle with water.
2. Put 150ml cold water and the butter into a saucepan and heat until the butter melts, then increase the heat and bring to the boil. Take off the heat and quickly add the flour and a pinch of salt. Beat vigorously until the mixture forms a soft ball. Leave to cool slightly then gradually beat in the eggs until it turns to a thick, shiny paste.
3. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a large nozzle and pipe or spoon 24 mounds of the mixture onto the baking sheet, about the size of a tablespoon. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 190°C for 20 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden.
4. Remove from the oven, make a slit in the side of each one and return to the oven for 3-5 minutes to dry out. Cool on a wire rack.
5. Melt the chocolate and dip the top of each choux bun to coat.
6. Whip the cream to a spreadable consistency and mix in the chestnut purée. Transfer to a piping bag.
7. Force the tip of the piping nozzle into the bottom of each bun and fill with the chestnut cream.
Note: To serve, I made a quick chocolate sauce using dark chocolate, double cream , caster sugar and water.

Food Cycle

2011-12-15T16:21:00.007Z

Food Cycle is a charity that

combines volunteers, surplus food and a free kitchen space to create nutritious meals and positive social change in the community

The food surplus comes from food retailers which is then used to feed those in need in the local community.

Since 2008 nearly 8000 kg of food has been collected and turned into over 14000 meals.

It's a brilliant concept that simultaneously address a number of vital issues in today's society. just the type of thing to get involved with. You can volunteer at any one of four locations in London and in another nine cities around the UK and I would urge you to do.

Bite N Write

2011-11-19T19:42:00.002Z

Seems like I missed out on another good food blogging event today. This time it was Bite 'n' Write, in Brumingham.

It was billed as

a day of food blogging workshops, food and mingling with fellow food bloggers

I really must make more an effort to get back into the foodblogosphere following the lost Wolverhampton months. More on that and plans for the future soon, I hope.

Feeding the 5k - TOMORROW!

2011-11-17T18:54:00.001Z

Tomorrow the second Feeding the 5k event will take place in Trafalgar Square in London.

Feeding the 5000 will show how easy it is to reduce the unimaginable levels of food waste in the UK and internationally. And how governments, businesses and individuals can help.

An absurd amount of perfectly good food is wasted every year in the UK and it drives me nuts because it's almost entirely avoidable! In my opinion, there's absolutely no reason to waste food.

I'm gutted I can't go, especially as I turned up too late for the one in 2009 :-(

I urge you to go along if you can and to pledge your support.

Learn more about why this is so important: http://www.feeding5k.org/

Crumbs...literally

2011-11-13T21:51:00.001Z

Major disaster today. I'd been planning a take on a pineapple upside down cake for about a week and finally got round to making it. However, it quite literally didn't turn out as expected.

As I was turning the cake out, I dropped it all over the side. Resulting in a heap of cakey-goodness. Edible but not presentable.

I'll have to give it another go and hopefully post a slightly more successful attempt soon.

FruitShare

2011-11-06T19:05:00.006Z

I learnt about FruitShare today.

Find a good home for surplus orchard fruit

Fruit share is an initiative to encourage the local distribution of surplus garden or orchard-grown fruit that would otherwise go to waste. Whether you are a private individual or a commercial orchard, simply register to add the details of your available fruit.

The site is split up into "Fruit Sharers" and "Fruit Seekers" and you use the site accordingly. Essentially the site lets you either get rid of or find fruit straight from the orchard!

Brilliantly simple. It'll be perfect when I finally get round to starting the preserving I've been meaning to do for a while now.

Too Good to Waste

2011-11-06T18:56:00.004Z

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has just launched a new campaign, Too Good to Waste, to combat food waste in restaurants by encourage people to ask for doggy bags.

Amazingly for every restaurant meal served in the UK, ~0.5kg of food waste is generated. This SRA campaign is currently running in London and they are offering diners, and restaurants, a viable alternative to wasting food by providing over 25,000 doggy boxes to participating restaurants.

All you have to do is check to see if the restaurant is part of the campaign - check on the website and or spot the sticker in their window - then if there are any leftovers just ask to take them with you.

A completely fuss-free humiliation-less way of making more of a meal out. I encourage you to support the effort, if you can. And let's hope it goes nationwide soon.

Best cookie ever?

2011-11-05T23:08:00.004Z

Tonight was Bonfire Night, obviously, and I went to the Blackheath spectacular which was as good as it ever is: 20 minutes filled with "oooohs" and "aaaaaaaahs" in response to coloured explosions lighting up the night sky.

What was unusual was that I went for dinner at a friend's before hand (banger (sausage) casserole, followed by apple dumplings (which I made but completely forgot to take a camera so can't show you)) and as a pre-cursor to dinner had some pretty fine cookies.

Now these cookies came from a recipe in the New York Times which was posted in response to this article all about the perfect chocolate chip cookie. The article's actually really interesting and throws up a few pointers which could improve your baking and seems to explain how to achieve that elusive crisp-chewy-soft cookie texture (it also serves as quite an interesting peak into the American psyche). As baker Maury Rubin puts it

"First there’s the crunchy outside inch or so,” he said. A nibble revealed a crackle to the bite and a distinct flavor of butter and caramel. “Then there’s the center, which is soft.” A bull’s-eye the size of a half-dollar yielded easily. “But the real magic,” he added, “is the one-and-a-half-inch ring between them where the two textures and all the flavors mix.”

The main thing to achieve this seems to be letting the cookie dough rest (in the fridge) for up to 36 hours! Apparently this allows time for the liquid (from the eggs) to be adsorbed firming the dough and improving the final baked texture.

There's also talk of the cookie dough to chocolate ratio, with some going as far as 60:40!

All that remains to do is to convert those pesky measurements...

Recipe for the "best-ever" Chocolate Chip Cookies (taken from the NY Times)

Ingredients:
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 oz) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 oz) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 oz) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 oz) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 lb bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content
Sea salt.

Method:
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

How to cook?

2011-11-03T15:05:00.019Z

There was a very interesting article in tonight's Evening Standard with the headline "Dare you cook without a book?".

Essentially the author was exploring cooking without following a recipe book, as if this was some sort of novel adventure. This, I think, is maybe the fundamental problem with people who moan that their food never turns out like the recipe. It's because they follow the recipe so slavishly that it doesn't.

[The single exception (that some may say "proves the rule") is baking. Baking is more like science. Thus for the purposes of this article, baking isn't cooking.]

Good cooking does, I'm afraid, involve a touch of skill, not just an ability to follow a set of instructions perfectly. As many times as an author tests a recipe, or is prescriptive to the last detail, unfortunately the circumstances in which people cook are completely different. It is unlikely that you will have the same oven or hob as the author, that you used exactly the same ingredients in exactly the same condition, to that your water is the same hardness. I could go on, their are countless variables which will be different. However, the skill is taking account of these differences to be able to cook a steak rare every time independently of where you are, what utensils you've got and the provenance of the ingredients.

To get back to the article the author had spent the morning with Michelin-starred Alex Gauthier (of Gauthier Soho) wandering around Berwick Street market choosing what looked good. They then went back to his kitchen and made a meal.

Apparently this idea of cooking "using only intuition and instinct" is "creating the quiet rumblings of a backlash". In my mind it's actually what cooking is all about.

I'd love to be able to just wander a market and know what's in season and what pairings work without having to do some research before hand. That is what gives professional chefs the edge and makes them professionals. They spend their working life with ingredients searching for combinations which taste great. The other advantage they have is that they are trained in technique and know how to best extract flavour.

Having said that I think it is the author I have issue with rather than Gauthier, his philosphy seems genuine and makes sense. I'm also keen to visit Ducksoup in Soho, which has a daily changing menu based purely upon what's available and good that day.

Experimental Food Society

2011-10-22T18:46:00.021+01:00

I went along to the Truman Brewery in Shoreditch today to have a gander at the displays on offer from the Experimental Food Society Spectacular.

I was quite sure what to expect but I seem to remember reading a fair amount last year about this unusual combination of food and art. I was expecting a fair amount to eat that would both delight and intrigue and challenge normal perceptions of food. One thing's for sure, I didn't quite realise just how "Shoreditch" and arty it was going to be.

For example when I walked in I wasn't prepared to encounter a full-size edible cake Dodo. I don't have the words to express how lifelike this was. The feathers were phenomenal. Each one individually crafted from a wafer of fondant icing (I think).

This normally quite impressive chocolate cake was next on the horizon.

I say normally, because I turned round and saw a replica Eiffel Tower made out of Curly Wurlys.

It turned out this was taken from one of Carl Werner's Foodscapes, which I had first seen on the walls in one of the cross-passages at London Bridge underground station. The Chocolate Express was also there. I managed to get my hands on a signed copy of Carl's book and am seriously considering getting a print (or two) for my dining room.

These quail egg cakes were one of the few edible items.

However, I didn't quite get it. Each egg shell contained a cake which had been made using the quail egg. I order to eat the cake you had to peel the shell away. I don't know about you but I think you shouldn't have to peel your cake before you eat it.

I didn't really understand why this massive Fabergé egg type sculpture was there to begin with.

But on closer inspection, it the crown itself was made out of some sort of nut brittle.

There were a few other crazy things there:

Sharon Baker's Bread Casts
Eat my Cake and their Halloween biscuits. (It looks likes they make great cakes too)
The Food Illustrator had some of the prints from the collection of illustrations documenting what he ate each day for a year
A display by the creator of 2011's "Best decorated cupcake" - Peggy's Cupcakes

All in all quite an eclectic mix of food-related displays from the more "traditional" to the completely ridiculous conceptual art. All of which didn't quite sit very easily with my conscience given there isn't enough food for all the people in the world...

PS Went to Galvin's Café a Vin afterwards and had a red wine and radicchio risotto. Which not only was very tasty but made me feel better about my duck risotto.

New Zealand

2011-10-14T18:52:00.010+01:00

Having been in New Zealand for the last month or so the single most confusing thing was the food. Kiwi's don't seem to have a native cuisine. It seems to be an accumulation of things from all over the world. I guess that explains why so many Kiwi's are proponents of what was known as fusion cuisine (I'm thinking Peter Gordon and Anna Hanson). In fact, in terms of finding some where to eat, I would say it's more like England than anywhere else in the world, even down to pub menus with lamb shanks, burgers and pork belly.

One thing that is definitely Kiwi is Maori culture. Being the good little tourist I duly visited Rotorua and had my fill of Maori tradition including food.

I started off with some cord on the cob cooked in the geothermal hot water pools.

That floating silver buoy is a net filled with corncobs. Apparently the mineral content of the water brings out the flavour of the corn. I'm not so sure.

The warmth of the hot rocks is used to prepare a "hangi" which I tried at the Mitai Maori Village. A big pit in the ground is filled with meat and vegetables (including the ubiquitous kumara) then covered over and allowed to cook for 12 or more hours.

Essentially it was a roast dinner. Now don't get me wrong it was very tasty with an incredible unique smoky flavour.

I experienced a few other things of foody note whilst in NZ. I came across these Dole eco-pineapples

They have their crown removed. This allows for efficiencies in transportation (reducing carbon emmissions and costs) and also provides nutrient material for the farm in the Philippines (read more). I wonder if the appearance obsessed British consumer is ready for pineapples without crowns?

I sampled a "delight" unique to NZ: lolly cake.

Essentially it was a very soft cake (I'm not even sure it was sponge) enveloping soft sweets and dusted with dessicated coconut. It was strangely moreish although VERY sweet. I guess it's one of those cultural curiosities like Twinkies, which just don't translate from their native audience.

I also had a whitebait pancake whilst in Auckland (and yes, before you say it, I know I should really have had whitebait whilst on the east coast of the southern island). The problem here was really the ratio of pancake to fish i.e. too much package and not enough fish meant that the delicate taste of the whitebait was lost.

That was it really. Not the most gastranomic of adventures, but I feel a restricted budget held me back somewhat. Lucky the rugby was great. Oh, hang on...

Singapore slung (bet nobody's ever made that gag before)

2011-09-14T09:00:00.007+01:00

It was my last day in Singapore today, so I felt obliged to go to Raffles for a Singapore Sling.

Now I'm not a massive booze-head (although I am partial to a fruity cocktail, Baileys, Southern Comfort or a good scrumpy. (I realised half-way through that sentence that it wasn't the butchest things I'd ever written so had to make amends with the addition of scrumpy (which I really do enjoy))) and didn't quite know what to expect.

What I received in exchange for my ~$35 was an incredibly pink long glass of cherry citrus booze. It was quite moreish and unlike anything I've had before. Very refreshing too (or maybe that's was just the effect of being out of the oppressive humidity). Although I'm not sure it was worth £17. Mind you the place was packed with table upon table supping up the pink nectar. "Tourist trap", you say?

I was surprised to see that the cocktail was made en mass in a blender using bottled juices. It seemed that the colonial glamour had been swapped for speed and efficiency: money making over elegance. Is this simply the modern Asian way?

I was also surprised that it was a tad crunch underfoot due to the extraordinary number of discarded monkey nut shells.

I was even more surprised when a I spotted pigeons in the bar helping to clear up!

Criminally Good Cupcakes

2011-09-03T14:53:00.002+01:00

Just found out that one of my friends has a cupcake enterprise.

So here's a blatent plug for Criminally Good Cupcakes.

Cooking Comically

2011-08-31T08:48:00.002+01:00

Ever wanted recipes in a ninja comic style? Well now you can:

Cooking Comically

Actually pretty fun. Although will the joke wear thin soon?

SCANDYBARS

2011-08-20T09:43:00.004+01:00

Have you ever bitten into a Toffee Crisp or a Curly Wurly or even an Aero and wondered what a perfect cross-section would look, that is one devoid of teeth marks and drool smudges?

Well, now you can care of SCANDYBARS. A remarkably simple blog which scans in cross-sections of chocolate bars from across the globe.

Remarkably simple and yet exceedingly diverting.

Bacon jam!

2011-07-24T12:29:00.009+01:00

Here's a dilemma:
A great friend invite you over for tea and when quizzed about what's on offer the response is "bacon jam". What do you do next?

Clearly, you high-tail it over to his place to try out his concoction. Unfortunately in my haste I forgot to take my camera so there aren't any pictures. Fortunately I found this article which (as well as being very good) has some ace pictures: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/10/08/bacon-jam-your-wildest-dreams-come-true/

So, what can I tell you about bacon jam? Well, having read the list of ingredients and the cooking method, I was a little dubious. However, I have to admit that it was damn fine stuff. We had it with cheese and bread. (This was the only potential use I could come up with given the constraints of my mates' empty fridge. My thinking was along the lines of that anything you could do with pickle you could probably do with bacon jam and I think I was right). Incredibly smokey and it managed to pull off that amazing trick of being sweet but intensely savoury at the same time. It was undoubtedly a success.

I guess it just goes to prove the adage "bacon makes everything better". I just can't decide whether to make some myself.

Eat your books

2011-07-24T07:50:00.004+01:00

I came Eat Your Books the other day and I quite like it, I think.

The idea is that there is an online archive of recipes in from cookery books you own. Thus you can find recipes in books you own as you'll have you're own "virtual bookshelf".

It would help in times when I've forgotten to write a shopping list or when people ask for a recipe (thus saving me time in photocopying or writing it out).

I haven't signed up yet, but may well do...

Now that's what I call a good idea...

2011-07-07T23:10:00.000+01:00

Cake perfection?

2011-07-07T00:20:00.001+01:00

Does cake decoration get any better?

Epic Meal Time

2011-07-03T17:30:00.002+01:00

Epic Meal Time is a collection of "recipes" made from an unfeasibly large amount of fast food, bacon and Jack Daniels. There's an update every Tuesday.

Only in America...

Watermelons go pop!

2011-06-13T20:53:00.005+01:00

Initially quite funny, but the Guardian article on exploding watermelons does make you think about farming practices and just what goes into the food we eat.

Jamie Oliver helps Sainsbury's offer free fish

2011-06-13T11:36:00.005+01:00

Sainsbury's have just launched a new campaign to highlight sustainable fishing and will be offering free fish to customers who switch to a more sustainable variety. This is clearly a fantastic scheme, but I'll be intrugues to see just how far it spreads in terms of the number of stores involved and its longevity. I found out about this on edie.net:

"Customers buying one of the 'Big 5': cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns, will be offered alternatives such as pouting, megrim and coley for free.

The retailer is hoping to encourage customers to try other varieties of fish and make more sustainable choices.

Jamie Oliver is heading up the Switch the Fish campaign, which is being launched in stores on 17 June in England and Scotland.

He said: "Earlier this year I joined the debate to encourage people to try new, less loved fish which had a great response.

"Sainsbury's is really taking the next step with its campaign 'Switch the Fish' demonstrating its commitment to getting customers to widen their choice when it comes to eating something other than the 'Big 5'.

"Offering free alternative fish is a great way to do this and will in turn help people be a bit more adventurous when they come to do their next shop."

Sainsbury's recently ran a poll with YouGov on consumers fish buying and eating habits. It showed that 41% of the UK eats cod at least once a month and a fifth of people eat tuna at least once a week.

Fish-eaters are put off trying a different type of fish as they are unsure of how it tastes and how to cook it. According to the poll, 84% of Brits have never tried megrim and 82% have never eaten pouting.

Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon MP, applauded the campaign.

He said: "If more people start to choose a wider variety of fish, this will help in our battle to end the terrible waste of millions of edible fish being thrown back into the sea dead because of an out-dated system."

Reads what Sainsbury's have to say on the subject of sustainable fish."

Le Gavroche

2011-04-18T22:45:00.018+01:00

I went to Le Gavroche tonight with my sister as a present for her 21st birthday (and a little(!) present to myself too). Obviously we had high expectations given the reputation of Le Gav. It was also the first time either of us had been to a two star place too.

We had the Menu Exceptionnel, the eight course tasting menu, with matching wine. I figured if you're going to go to a place like this, there's no point in doing it half-heartedly.

In order to get a table, I'd only been able to make a reservation for 1830. It was a bit odd wandering through Mayfair past the US Embassy in the early evening. When we got to the restaurant there was no street furniture marking its presence; it could have been almost any other Mayfair doorway. Remarkable, they had to unlock the front door to let us in. As soon as we walked in the luxury was evident: deep pile carpets, thick flocked wallpaper and impressive chandeliers. We were both surprised that the dining room is actually below street level.

It seemed a little intimidating as we were shown to our table, given that we were the only ones there and probably outnumbered two to one by the front of house staff. Nevertheless we were immediately made to feel welcome and comfortable. (As the night wore on the restaurant filled up and the wine took effect the inhibitions were certainly shrugged off).

I won't go into the detail of each course but give a run-down of the highlights. (There are no photos as this seemed really quite inappropriate). I was glad that the menu started with the fabled cheese soufflé. It was luxuriant as I had hoped and so light as to be described as ethereal.

The lemon dressing on the salmon was intense and complimented the salmon perfectly. The langoustine and snail gratin was delicious: huge shellfish packed with juicy delicately sweet meat. Amazing. The beef was like no other beef I have ever had. Absurdly tender and cooked to pink perfection. The cheese selection was very good and much enjoyed by my sister.

After the cheese they brought a small birthday plate for my sister, which I had completely forgotten that I had asked for. Le Gav's not the sort of place where the staff break out into a round of "Happy Birthday".

As neither of us are particular fans of chocolate desserts I asked for an alternative so we had a passion fruit soufflé with a white chocolate ice cream. The ice cream was put into the centre of the soufflé in front of us. Sublime.

After four hours of absurdly good eating and drinking (I lost count of the number of glasses of wine I had as each course had a matching glass and because my sister was bit slower, I had numerous refills too) it was time to leave. The service had been impeccable and despite having been there for so long, there was no discernible urge for us to leave.

Apparently, Michel Roux Jr sometimes meets the diners, but it was the day after the London Marathon, so we assumed he was not in the kitchen.

PS I actually wrote this post in January 2012, so it must provide a pretty good representation of what I can remember and just how good it was.

Restaurant rights

2011-04-17T18:52:00.005+01:00

Receiving poor food or service in a restaurant is a tricky thing to deal with. Do you say something and risk the revenge of the waiter/cook? It isn't something that should be taken into consideration, but the reality is that is has to be. I've heard far too many stories (both first and second hand) not to have this cross my mind.

Putting aside the vagaries of deciding what to do, do you know what your rights actually are?

I came across this article which explains just what you can expect in all too common circumstances.

Essentially, your rights are based on the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This demands that any service should be carried out with

Reasonable care & skill, within a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost

Using this as a basis you can

Refuse to pay if the food wasn't up to scratch
Refused to tip if the service was bad. Equally you can deduct 10% if service IS included!
Not always get tap water for free as restaurants are allowed to charge. They do have to provide a loo though (as long as there's a drinks license)

Flavour Magazine

2011-04-17T08:49:00.003+01:00

Flavour Magazine has recently launched in London.

I've no idea how I learnt about it nor where one can pick up an actual copy (the whole thing is available electronically so maybe that doesn't matter).

The mag seems more than just commercial food porn with plenty of interesting articles ranging from recipes to chef interviews and thought-provoking comment that's perfect for a London foodie keen to explore the delights of out nation's capital.

I'd recommend picking up a copy if you get the chance.

An update, finally!

2011-03-28T18:21:00.004+01:00

Hello all,

Just a quick note to say that I haven't given up the blogging ghost. Since my last post (which seems like an eternity ago) I've had some pretty major changes including a new job and a complete change to my day to day life. Not least of all has been a humongous upheaval to my Internet access and an inability to be able to update me blog. Which I am missing far more than I would ever have realised.

Recent things that I need to blog about include:

Starting another cake club
Pancake day
My massive red nose day cake

And soon I'll need to write about an upcoming trip to Le Gavroche.

Hopefully I'll get it sorted soon, not quite sure how yet. But there must be an answer!

The Tale of the Red Nose Day cake challenge

2011-03-18T16:23:00.025Z

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, a challenge was set to all of those in the employ of the great Lord ADAS,

"Red Nose Day - Cake Bake!

The Charity committee are looking for people from each office to take part in the Cake Bake for Red Nose Day. A prize to be given for the largest "red nose cake."

On hearing of this, the young(ish) new consultant with a penchant for cake saw an opportunity to make a mark in the strange town he'd been forced to live in and began to plan.

From the very beginning hurdles were put in our protagonist's way: a foreign kitchen, a lack of implements, the refusal of local tradesmen to barter with him (for the silver trays essential to the plan forcing him in to a compromise with the Tesco devil) and Lord ADAS sending him to a conference giving him just a single evening to meet the challenge.

Nevertheless the equipment and ingredients were gathered. With over 4lb butter, 3lb of flour and sugar, 24 eggs and nearly 2kg of fondant icing the size of the task ahead seemed daunting.

Hours later, when the burning furnace had been extinguished, six different tray bakes (cherry mallow, lemon, coffee, gingerbread, coconut carrot and white chocolate) lay waiting to be adorned with their icing.

The butter icing was laid down quickly and efficiently acting as the saddle ready to be ridden by the fine fondant.

The fondant was an opponent the likes of which our hero had never encountered. It tested his skill and patience like nothing before.

Gradually the fondant bent to the rolling pin of our hero and a gleaming white canvas was ready for the final stage.

After 10 hours of battle six cakes appeared from the cloud of icing sugar that enveloped the arena. A brief respite and as the Sun rose the trusty stead was loaded ready to unleash the mightiest of Red Nose Day cakes upon the unsuspecting Lord ADAS.

The furore caused by the cake was unprecedented: gasps, smiles and giggles of delight filled the air.

On measurement the cake was declared to be 39" (about the same size as one of the new magic viewers) and over 9kg.

The challenge had been met and all enemies vanquished. "Never again" muttered out exhausted hero. Well, not for another two years at least...

***THE END***

The easy part in all this really was making the tray bakes. Recipes for the six cakes can be found on the following sites:

Coconut carrot slices
Lemon cake - I didn't do a drizzle, but did use lemon butter icing
Cherry mallow - no marshmallow and cherry topping just vanilla butter icing
White chocolate - white chocolate butter icing here instead of creamcheese
Gingerbread
Coffee cake - with a coffee butter icing

Lancashire apple cake

2011-03-07T13:59:00.001Z

To further my mission to establish a cake club in my new office I took in a Lancashire apple cake today.

Cheese with cake is a classic Northern thing to do and this cake take it one step further by actually putting the cheese in the cake.

This cake is a batter-type cake and has that distinctive texture. It was incredibly apply (quelle surprise!), probably because I'd added so much grated Bramley to the batter. The cheese layer didn't stand out as a particularly prominent flavour. It added more of a subtle note and added some structure to the centre of cake. I'm glad I added a sprinkle of demerara to the top which added a much needed crunch. I think some cheese on the top of the cake could be another welcome addition.

This cake went down very well. That's two from two so far. I just need to find a way of manifesting the enthusiasm for cake eating as cake production.

Lancashire apple cake (taken from The Great British Kitchen)

Ingredients:
½oz butter
7oz plain flour
2tsp baking powder
30z caster sugar
1 lb 10 oz made up of Bramley apples, grated and eating apples cored, peeled and chopped
4½oz raisins
1tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
4floz sunflower oil
5oz Lancashire cheese
1oz demerara sugar

Method:
1. Sift flour and baking powder together. Add sugar, apples, raisins and nutmeg.
2. Beat eggs into oil and stir into the mix.
3. Spoon half into a 9" cake tin . Add cheese and top with the remaining apple mix.
4. Bake for 1 hour at 170°C until golden. Cool in the tin for 30 minutes.

In lieu of pancake day

2011-03-06T16:57:00.009Z

Every year I look forward to pancake day and every year I ask myself (probably like quite a lot of other people) "why don't I eat pancakes more often?". They're so versatile: they can be savoury or sweet, flavoured or plain, stuffed or layered. Whatever form they are always yummy.

[Whenever I'm in Amsterdam I ALWAYS make a bee-line for The Pancake Bakery where you can get full-on pancakes ~18" in diameter and have an entire pancake-based meal: AMAZING!]

This year I knew I wouldn't be able to indulge in a pancake-fest on Tuesday so I decided to make Sunday lunch the focus of my annual pancakey desires and made a tomato and pancake bake (essentially a pancake lasagne without the ragu layer).

I seasoned the cheese filling with a touch (too much) cayenne which invigorated the whole thing. It was pretty good but I reckon you could put some of the tomato sauce in between the pancake layers, although that may take away from some of the cheesy pancake wonderfulness. You could also flavour the pancakes maybe with herbs.

Cheese and tomato baked pancakes (taken from Rachel Allen's recipe)

Ingredients:

For the pancake batter
5oz plain flour
pinch salt
2 eggs
4fl oz milk
4 fl oz water
½oz butter, melted
For the tomato sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1tsp sugar
3tbsp torn fresh basil leaves
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
For the filling:
300g mozzarella, grated
4oz ricotta
1oz parmesan cheese, plus a bit extra, for sprinkling

Method:
1. For the pancakes, place the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, whisking all the time, until the batter is smooth and free of lumps. Add the melted butter and set aside.
2. For the tomato sauce, place the olive oil in a wide saucepan, add the onion and garlic, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cover and cook on a low heat until the onions are completely soft.
3. Add the tomatoes and half the basil, leave uncovered and cook for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and the sauce has thickened. Add the remaining basil and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and the sugar.
4. While the tomato sauce is cooking, make the pancakes. You will need a total of eight pancakes.
5. For the filling, mix the cheeses together in a bowl, to make a spreadable paste.
6. To assemble, place a pancake on the bottom of a 25cm/10 inch square ovenproof dish, spread with a thin layer of the cheese mixture, top with another pancake and continue assembling, alternating seven layers of pancake and filling. Finish with a top layer of pancake.
TIP: You can cut the pancakes to cover the dish better (if it's not round!).
7. Pour the tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with the remaining grated parmesan.
8. Bake at 180°C for 30-40 minutes until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and the centre feels hot when a skewer is inserted.

Lemon cake

2011-02-24T17:35:00.005Z

Although I have left the joys of the ICCHFC behind, I am hopeful that I can rouse my new troops to a regular celebration of cake.

My first attempt to bring the joy of cake to my new office was a lemon sponge "birthday cake" (as office tradition demands).

The lemon sponges were sandwiched with lemon curd and whipped cream and topped with a lemon icing. I decorated it with lemon icing and meringues (attached with lemon curd).

It turns out that there is a strong under-current of cake appreciation and this went down far better than I could ever have hoped. Maybe there is hope for a new cake club...

Corn dogs

2011-02-08T20:04:00.003Z

To keep up the theme of deep-fried American "treats" I had a go at corn dogs. I used a recipe from Lou's blog.

Basically corn dogs are frankfurters in a polenta batter. I couldn't be doing with firing up the deep-fat fryer mid-week, so I just shallow fried them hence the crazy triangular shape.

They were pretty crunchy, but peculiarly grainy too (that's be the polenta then!) . The mustard added a nice tang.

However, I'm not entirely sure these were fit for a meal. They're much more suitable for snacking at the ballpark!

ICCHFC - Week 70: Strike cake(!)

2011-02-07T11:39:00.006Z

In protest of not having been saved a cookie last week, Sara had threatened not to bring in cake. Thankfully she did: a delightful chocolate chip sponge with a Nutella filling.

It was a fitting last cake for me. Next Monday I will be starting a new job, so the Cakers will carry on without me and my Monday's will be poorer for it. I've really enjoyed cake club and can't believe we've been doing it for 70 weeks. The start to each week has been made a little more bearable with the sweet elevenses. I really look forward to the break and banter.

I wonder, when is it appropriate to bring in cake for the first time at a new job?

Deep fried Twinkies

2011-02-05T23:23:00.007Z

A while ago (I'm talking maybe May 2010) J went to the US to visit her brother who is working out there. On her return, as is customary she bought treats for the office. These included a box of Twinkies:

Now Twinkies are pretty hardcore sugary snacks. Despite our best efforts we weren't able to finish the box, so I ended up taking a brace home. Not quite knowing what to do with them I whacked them in the freezer, knowing full well that since Twinkies are reputed to be the only thing to survive a nuclear bomb, I thought they'd last.

Now, I've really no idea how I came across the idea of deep fried Twinkies. (It was probably from the Wikipedia page.) Anyhoo, as I'm in the process of eating my freezer (so I can defrost it), the Twinkies reared their head and I dug out the recipe I'd found from Good Morning America and my trusty deep fat fryer.

The batter was brilliantly crisp, but deep fried warm sponge cake was weird. And not in a good way. The sponge had practically dissolved, almost melted, and the "cream" centre was just about still there, lurking.

To cut through the sugar and fat the traditional accompaniment is a berry sauce. This being a spur of the moment Saturday afternoon thing, I didn't have any berries so free-styled with a dark chocolate sauce. The bitterness of the chocolate just about made the thing edible.

I guess this is the American equivalent of a deep fried Mars bar. Although I know which one I prefer and it won't require a trip across the Atlantic.

If you just happen to have some Twinkies lying about and want to have a go here's the recipe I used (apologies for the cups).

Deep-Fried Twinkies

Ingredients:
2 Twinkies - frozen hard
Flour for dusting
1/3 cup milk
2dsp vinegar
1tsp oil
1/3 cup flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
Wooden sticks - lolly sticks (or toothpicks will suffice)

Method:
1. Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer to 190°C.
3. Mix together milk, vinegar and oil.
4. In another bowl, blend flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Whisk wet ingredients into dry and continue mixing until smooth. Refrigerate while oil heats.
6. Push stick into Twinkie lengthwise, leaving about 2 inches to use as a handle, dust with flour and dip into the batter. Rotate Twinkie until batter covers entire cake.
7. Place carefully in hot oil. The Twinkie will float, so hold it under with a utensil to ensure even browning. It should turn golden in 3 to 4 minutes. Depending on the size of your deep fryer, you might be able to fry only one at a time, two at the most.
8. Remove Twinkie to paper towel and let drain. Remove stick and allow Twinkie to sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Variation: Slice Twinkie into 4 pieces. Flour and batter each before frying. With this treatment, one Twinkie will serve two people if accompanied by a sauce.

ICCHFC - Week 69: White chocolate and cherry cookies

2011-01-31T12:36:00.004Z

Mazza needed a quick and easy recipe this week so using the power of Google found a recipe for these white chocolate and cherry cookies.

Very tasty they were too and perfect with a cuppa.

ICCHFC - Week 68

2011-01-24T10:17:00.003Z

No home baked cake this week but we did have a rather extravagant Fleur de Lys chocolate tart from Paul. I'll leave it to John to exlplin why in his own words:

Hi Cakers,
I do have a delicious cake but because of diy kitchen refurbishment antics, I don’t have an oven so had to buy it.
I promise to make chocolate bourbon biscuits as soon as my new oven is commissioned and hope the inferior shop bought cake will suffice until I’m back in action.
Caker John

I cannot wait for home made bourbons.

The night of the exploding ketchup at Butlers Wharf Chop House

2011-01-23T10:50:00.012Z

Booking a table for four on a Friday night at Butlers Wharf Chop House was surprisingly easy and I even managed to book the three courses for £20 "Best of British Menu", so I was expecting it to be pretty quiet in there. I couldn't have been more wrong: the place was packed making for a very vibrant and enjoyable Friday night atmosphere.

The service was up to the usual high D&D level that I've now realised is standard across the whole portfolio. The food was pretty good too.

***

Chef's homemade black pudding, ham hock hash, Hen's egg

Very peppery black pudding and a fantastic poached egg. I could have eaten a bucket load of the hash (just wish I'd asked what was in it and I was having too good a time to think about it).

***
Baked Jerusalem artichoke and salsify hot pot, fried duck egg

Given this was the vegetarian main, I was intrigues as to what the hotpot was going to be. Turned out it was just a gratin. Quite disappointing really. And I do hate it when the veg are not cooked through. In this sort of dish the veg should melt not crunch. The salad was a very welcome accompaniment to break the tedium.

Traditional beer battered fish & chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce

I had a little pang of food envy when the fish and chips arrived for J & K. The fish was lovely: huge white flakes of flesh in a crisp batter. The half dozen of so chips were huge and OK. We all agreed, however, that the jars where and chip cage were a little over the top, a touch passée and even a little pretentious now. However, this was countered with the appearance of a bottle of Heinz ketchup on the table.

The ketchup was an integral part of what was possibly one of the funniest events I have ever experienced in a restaurant. As is customary, J gave the new bottle of ketchup a firm shake. As her arms started to rise for a second shake, the contents of the bottle made a decision to make a break for freedom. The next thing I remember is K & I shaking with laughter at he sight of J's ample bosom newly decorated with an abstract red pattern. The scene was only exacerbated by the excellent maître d' proffering a clutch of moist napkins but not actually managing to help clear the mess due to the hypnotic effect of J vigorously stroking her chest.

***
Traditional English trifle

My trifle was excellent. The custard was fresh and soft rather than set and a sprinkling of caramel added a fantastic crunch. I was enjoying it so much I completely forgot to take a picture until it was half gone. However, the nature of the bowl meant that there was rather an overwhelming amount of custard and cream and not quite enough fruit to cut through it. Still that's a minor grumble and purely a function of the serving vessel.

Sticky toffee pudding, toffee sauce, clotted cream

K & J both enjoyed their sticky toffee pudding, but declared it a touch too rich.

All in all a great night. Good English food at a bargain price. I must return there during the summer so I can enjoy a table outside overlooking the river. That's pretty much the only improvement to be had.

Lemon sole with butter bean and chorizo hot pot and sticky toffee pudding

2011-01-19T22:50:00.013Z

BK was round for dinner this week. Due to the ridiculous demands of the project I'm managing at work at the moment, I only had time to offer two courses (rather than the customary three). Inspired by Channel 4's recent Fish Fight campaign, I wanted to cook fish and I also wanted quite a hearty winter pud. Consequently we ended up having:

Lemon sole with butter bean and chorizo hot pot
***
Sticky toffee pudding

Lemon sole with butter bean and chorizo hot pot

A perfect example of how a few ingredients simply combined can be made into a very tasty meal that is on the verge of something quite fine. I love chorizo and it's not often that I can find a big cooking sausage so this gave me the perfect excuse to seek one out. This was so good, there wasn't a drop left in our bowls at the end.

Sticky toffee pudding

Apparently this was the "original" recipe and it certainly did hit the spot. Only trouble was I had no cream or ice cream to serve it with. Life is tough sometimes.

Here are the recipes:

Lemon sole with butter bean and chorizo hot pot (taken from One Perfect Ingredient by Marcus Wareing)

Ingredients:
2 lemon sole fillets, skinned, cut in half lengthways
Onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
150g chorizo sausage
1tsp smoked paprika
500ml chicken stock
400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed

Method:
1. Roll up the fillets and secure with a cocktail stick.
2. Sweat the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft.
3. Remove the skin from the chorizo. Finely slice a third and roughly chop the remainder.
4. Add the paprika and chopped chorizo to the onion and fry for 5mins.
5. Pour in the stock and simmer for 10 mins.
6. Stir in the butter beans.
7. Place the sole fillets on top and spoon over a little of the broth.
8. Cover the pan and simmer until the fish is just cooked, ~8mins.
9. While the fish is cooking, hard fry the chorizo slices until crispy. Drain.
10. To serve spoon the broth into bowls, top with the fish and then garnish with the chorizo slices. Accompany with some crusty bread to help mop up the juices.

Sticky toffee pudding (taken from The Cook's Book edited by Jill Norman)

Ingredients: 2½oz unsalted butter
7oz caster sugar
3 eggs
7oz plain flour
375ml water
7oz pitted dates, roughly chopped
2½tsp baking powder
For the sauce:
2½oz soft dark brown sugar
300ml double cream
1¾oz unsalted butter

Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Sift the flour and 1tsp baking powder into the mix and then fold in to combine.
4. Bring the water to biol in a small pan. Add the chopped dates and simmer for 2mins.
5. Remove from the heat and add the remaining baking powder to the pan. Add the date mixture to the sponge mix and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into a 9" square baking dish and bake at 200°C for 30mins (or until set).
7. Once the sponge has cooked, make the sauce. Add all the sauce ingredients to a pan and bring to the boil.
8. Pour half the sauce over the pudding and return to the oven for 2mins.
9. Cut into portions and serve with the remaining sauce.

ICCHFC - Week 67: Banana and walnut loaf

2011-01-18T22:50:00.000Z

Michael produced another lovely loaf this week (so much for the biscuit season!): banana and walnut.Amazingly, there was a piece saved for me on Tuesday and I'm glad there was. The moist, crumbly, light loaf was a lovely pick-me-up for elevenses.

Not overwhelmingly bananary but it didn't take away from the overall experience.

Souk Medina

2011-01-15T22:49:00.005Z

Went to the Souk Medina in the Seven Dials for a birthday bash tonight.

Since we had a large party we had the £30 set menu which included a bottle of wine (or four beers) per person plus food: bargainous! There were three courses all of which were served as big sharing dishes. I love that type of mix and match food. The dishes we had were:

Vine leaves - I hate these dolmades, so didn't have any.
Humous - Why is restaurant humous so much better than the stuff I make at home. It always has an ethereal silky quality. what's the secret to that?
Mergues with batata harra (lamb sausages mixed with spiced potato) - phenomenally tasty. Who doesn't love a sausage?
Plenty of fresh warm pita bread
***
Tagine of lamb with prunes and roasted - Meltingly tender lamb shanks but surprisingly sweet, in fact too sweet.
Tagine of chicken with saffron and herbs - tender chicken (skin left on unfortunately) that had a real depth of flavour. Very moreish.
Tagine of spinach, feta cheese and roast onion - quite bland really, not enough feta and overpowered by the other big flavours.
Tagine of chick peas, cumin and harissa sauce - a spicy and intriguing accompaniment
Couscous with root vegetables
***
Selection of baklava and mint tea - is is possible to make bad baklava? Crispy pastry, nuts and loads of honey.

Dessert was also accompanied by a live belly dancing show. Needless to say, the birthday boy had to join in.

Overall, the food was OK, the service bizarre (alternating between the aggressive and nonchalant to attentive and suppliant) and the atmosphere brilliant. There was a real sense of the middle-east and a lively buzz.

A great venue for a gang to meet up, less ideal for a date or for a foodie treat.

Oeufs à la neige

2011-01-15T14:26:00.003Z

Finally got round to re-making oeufs à la neige that I made for Jess last week.

Tips for good poached meringues are to use very fresh egg whites. You're looking for a delicate light meringue as opposed to a "strong" meringue. (Also the acidity from the lemon juice is an absolute must as it cuts through the sweetness.) Finally, the meringues have to be pretty big otherwise they are a nightmare to handle and cook.

I slightly reduced the sugar content in the custard as I thought it was a little too sweet originally.

Also, I wasn't in the mood to make caramel for the top, so just drizzled over a little Golden Syrup instead.

ICCHFC - Week 66: Oat and cranberry cookies

2011-01-10T11:42:00.005Z

Laura kept up (my unintentionally introduced) theme of biscuits and cookies with some rather good oat and cranberry cookies.

Some of the ICCHFC claimed that these were healthy as they had oats for slow energy release, fruit (dried cranberries) and were made with olive oil. I'm not entirely convinced of this but if it help people with their conscience...

No photo I'm afraid as I forgot my camera and by the time I brought it in the next day they'd all gone!

CuiZine blog

2011-01-09T17:53:00.002Z

I forget that all this stuff I put up on this blog can actually be read by anyone surfing the web. My equilibrium position is to assume that no-one I actually know in the real world reads my ramblings. Consequently, I am always shocked to my core when someone mentions something on the blog. This has happened on number of occasions most recently at a wedding.

Then at the end of last year one of my mates told me about his first post for CuiZine: A Beginners Guide to Trinidadian Street Food.

Having finally got round to reading it properly, I wish I had read it much sooner. The article's very good in both content and style. It's also made me want to go back to Sunjam for some Caribbean takeaway.

Having got my head around a Tumblr blog for the first time (I think), I'm looking forward to more.

Beef carpaccio, open seafood ravioli/lasage, oeufs à la neige

2011-01-09T12:03:00.015Z

My first feast of 2011 is now under my belt. Finally had Jess round (she was my partner in crime for the salt beef adventure and was supposed to come round to share in the home cured delights) on Friday for a menu that was a collaborative affair:

Beef carpaccio
***
Seafood lasagne
***
Oeufs à la neige

Beef carpaccio

Unfortunately I couldn't get a big piece of beef fillet so had to be content with two smaller pieces. However, it still turned out pretty well and the rocket, Parmesan and lemon-mayonnaise were excellent accompaniments.

Seafood lasagne

Most recipes for sea food lasagne are variations on a white lasagne with layers of fish, pasta, spinach and ricotta and béchamel. However, that seemed a touch too heavy and just didn't really fit the bill. I wanted something a bit more delicate. In the end I did a combination of monkfish, prawns and salmon, in a creamy white wine sauce with spinach. It was pretty easy and very tasty although, I think I may have used one layer of pasta too many.

Oeufs à la neige

A classic French dessert made only from eggs, milk and sugar. Forgot to take a photo so will re-make later this week.

Beef carpaccio (recipe from BBC Good Food)

Ingredients:
250g beef fillet
Rocket leaves, a generous handful
Parmesan, shaved with a potato peeler
For the dressing:
1 egg yolk
50ml olive oil
½ lemon , juiced
½tsp English mustard

Method:
1. Sear the beef quickly on all sides in a very hot pan.
2. Wrap the beef in a double thickness of cling film and roll into a tight cylinder. Put the beef into the freezer for an hour to firm it up.
3. For the dressing, put the egg yolk in a bowl and whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream. Season with lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper.
4. Just before serving take the beef out of the freezer and cut slices as thinly as possible. Arrange these on the serving plate.
5. Heap some rocket leaves in the middle and drizzle the dressing around the edge. Finish with Parmesan shavings.

Seafood lasagne

Ingredients:
250g king prawns, de-veined and shelled (reserve 2 prawns with their tails for presentation)
250g monkfish
250g salmon fillet
~50g baby spinach leaves (half a bag)
4 pieces of fresh lasagne
For the sauce:
½ onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 glass dry white wine
2oz butter
75ml double cream

Method:
1. Chop the monkfish and salmon into large chunks. Quickly fry the each fish to seal the flesh. Allow to cool in a bowl.
2. In the same pan, sweat the onion and garlic until soft (add more olive oil if required).
3. Deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce by half. Add the cream and simmer until slightly thickened. Whisk in the butter. Taste for seasoning (a squeeze of lemon works very well) and then strain through a fine sieve.
4. Put the pasta sheets into a pan of boiling salted water. The whole dish can be put together whilst the pasta cooks.
5. Return the sauce to a clean pan and add the cooked fish (including and juices that may have gathered) to warm over a low heat.
6. Just before the pasta is cooked add the spinach to the fish to let it slightly wilt.
7. Once the pasta is cooked add to the fish pan and mix with the sauce.
8. To plate up, put a pasta sheet on each plate then cover with a quarter of the fish, some spinach and a couple of spoonfuls of sauce. Add another layer of pasta and repeat the fish and spinach layers.
9. Garnish with the prawns that still have their tails and dress with more sauce, if required.

Oeufs à la neige

Ingredients:
3 eggs
500ml full fat milk
1dsp vanilla extract
105g caster sugar
Squeeze of lemon juice

Method:
1. Separate the eggs and whisk the whites with the lemon juice to soft peaks.
2. Gradually add in 45g of sugar and whisk until the meringue reaches stiff peaks.
3. Bring the milk and vanilla up to the boil then reduce the temperature to a gentle simmer.
4. Poach large spoonfuls (quenelles, if you can) of meringue in the milk for about 4mins (or until firm) turning them half way through the cooking. Work in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
5. Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar together to a smooth paste.
6. Whilst whisking add the milk to the egg yolks. When thoroughly mixed return to the pan and heat gently until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
7. To serve, distribute the custard between the bowls and top with the meringues.

ICCHFC - Week 65: Jammy dodgers

2011-01-04T19:57:00.006Z

Back to work and first day back I was on cake duty. I had an absolute dilemma trying to decide what to make, as I didn't want to go over-board as I thought nobody would be up for a luxurious gateau given the festive excesses.

With moderation in mind I went for a biscuit: a small(ish) bite which could be had with a cup of tea and still perk up the morning. Biscuit of choice was the jammy dodger.

These were very satisfying to make and I felt a very good use of a bank holiday evening. By all accounts they were worth the effort too. Only John and Hannah were in and I'm not sure if the others will be around to sample these delight. Luckily I've got the blog so they can see what they missed!

The recipe (see below) apparently makes 32. I say apparently because there is no way that you could make 32 unless you made small mean biscuits. And nobody like a mean biscuit. I made a dozen of these jam-filled-shortcake-sandwiches-of-joy.

The shortbread was delicious, even on it's own. Not that I had any of the leftovers or anything...

Jammy dodgers (recipe taken from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden)

Ingredients:
4oz ground almonds
6oz plain flour
6oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
Rind of 1 lemon, grated
1tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
Pinch salt
2oz flaked almonds, chopped
2tbsp raspberry jam
1dsp lemon juice

Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Beat in the lemon rind and vanilla extract.
3. Add the ground almonds and sift in the flour. Mix thoroughly to a dough (it will probably be quite sticky, but don't worry).
4. Gather the dough into a slab, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30mins to firm the dough.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge and allow to warm slightly for 5mins.
6. Divide the dough into four. Roll the dough until approximately 3mm thick. Then cut out circles and place on a greaseproof paper. Repeat with the remaining three portions of dough.
Note: Beware. The dough will be very sticky so be liberal with the flour.
7. Cut a circle out from the centre of half of the pastry discs.
8. Whisk the egg white with the salt until just frothy.
9. Brush the egg white over the pastry rings and douse with the chopped almonds.
10. Bake at 160°C for 12mins or until the biscuit are lightly golden.
11. Leave to cool in the tray for 5mins then move to a rack and allow to cool completely.
12. For the filling, heat the jam and lemon juice in a pan until just bubbling. Take off the heat and brush the bottom biscuits with jam and then top each with a biscuit ring.

Corned beef pie (for a friend)

2011-01-03T19:48:00.003Z

I don't normally post random dinner recipes but this one is for a friend, because I found out that it's his favourite

It's a really simple take on corned beef "hash" (I know it's not really a hash, but I am constantly amazed at what some people consider to be a hash).

The "recipe" is a tin of corned beef sliced and placed on a greased baking tray. Slather the meat in ketchup then cover with mash. Bake at 190°C for about 20mins until crispy. Devour. With beans.

Christmas pressies

2010-12-29T19:51:00.011Z

This year I decided to make edible presents for the family and for the first time I actually made them. I was prompted by a number of blog articles I'd seen on making gifts and set about finding recipes that would appeal to ma famille.

My sisters got a selection of peppermint bark and white chocolate and cranberry chocolates care of Home Baked. Their jar of sweets was finished off with some of Sophie Dahl's peanut butter fudge.
Dad got a rather large amount of chocolate and ginger biscotti care of Cannelle et Vanille (the picture is from that blog too).

Ma got some chilli nut brittle (adapted from a Suite 101 recipe). No photo as it was just a massive jar of caramelised nuts!

Being a boy I didn't get round to making delightful gift tags for the jars. One step at a time! But I did manage to wrap them as all present need unwrapping. Fortunately all the jars survived the trip home intact, (despite the best efforts of Southeastern trains).

I think the gifts were most unexpected and on the whole well received. I was shocked at how long the biscotti took to make. They were the most labour intensive by a long way needing a double baking and lots of care. the fudge is not proper "fudge" fudge but it's ok and crazily sweet.

I also wanted to make my student sibling a Soup in a Jar, jars of red onion marmalade for everyone and some kind of boozy drink. However, time got the better of me. Maybe next year.

Anyway, thanks very much to the bloggers who inspired my Christmas gifts this year and here are the recipes I used:

Peppermint bark

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate
200g white chocolate
4 candy canes (or a small stick of rock)

Method:
1. Line a tray with silicon paper.
2. Melt the dark chocolate over a bain marie and spread evenly onto the tray. Leave to set in the freezer.
3. Slice the rock into thin slivers using a big sharp knife (it's harder then you think).
4. When the dark chocolate is set, melt the white chocolate and spread evenly over the dark chocolate (hopefully the cold dark chocolate will not melt too much).
5. While the chocolate is still runny, sprinkle over the crushed candy canes and leave to set.
6. Cut into into strips.

White chocolate and cranberry chocolates

Ingredients:
200g white chocolate
Large handful of dried cranberries, chopped finely

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie.
2. Stir in the cranberries.
3. Spoon chocolate into moulds.
4. Chill in the freezer until solid (the colder the chocolate the less chance of it melting as you unmould)
Note: I got two great silicon moulds from Poundland!

Peanut butter fudge

Ingredients:
125g/4½oz butter
500g/1lb 2oz dark brown sugar
120ml/4fl oz milk
250g/9oz crunchy peanut butter
1tsp vanilla extract
300g/10½oz icing sugar

Method:
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Stir in the brown sugar and milk, and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes, without stirring.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla seeds.
4. Place the icing sugar in a large bowl, and pour the hot butter and sugar mixture on top. Using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture until smooth.
5. Pour into a 20cm/8in square baking tray, and set aside to cool slightly, then place in the fridge to chill completely.
6. Cut the fudge into squares with a sharp knife, turn out of the tin and store in an airtight container.

Chocolate and ginger biscotti

Ingredients:
150g butter, room temperature
200g sugar
Zest of 1 orange
3 eggs, room temperature
415g flour
25g cocoa powder
12g baking powder
pinch of salt
70g stem ginger, small dice
50g chocolate chunks

Method:
1. Cream the butter, sugar and zest together. Add the eggs one at a time and scrape the bowl.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder,baking powder and salt and add it to the mixer. Mix until combined. Add the ginger and chocolate chunks until well distributed.
3. Transfer the dough into a half sheet pan lined with parchment and form into a log that is about 12"x4" approximately. Bake at 180°C for about 25 minutes or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Let the log cool completely and then slice it into 1/4" thick pieces. Place the cookies on the sheet pans and bake at 160°C for about 10 minutes. Then flip the cookies over and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until dry.

Note: These things are incredibly fragile, so go easy.

Random shizzle

2010-12-19T12:06:00.007Z

Things have been a bit quiet on the foodie front recently, but I have been up to a few things, just not enough to warrant their own posts:

I went to the Taste of Christmas at Excel and was completely underwhelmed. I think I'm getting a bit fed up of these food festivals which all seem to have exactly the same chilli flavoured things, cheese, fudge and sausage stalls.
I did a rather interesting taste test of a new version of a chocolate bar, which was fun. I'm not allowed it say what it was but it might be an anagram of barstar...
Rather sadly, I ordered my first ever take away just for myself after a particularly arduous day at work.
I'd love to go on the Leith's food writing course, but the places are all gone already and it's a tad on the dear side.

Hawksmoor

2010-12-16T19:04:00.003Z

Went to the Seven Dials outlet of Hawksmoor tonight for a Christmas outing with the Comms gang (and therefore the majority of the ICCHFC) for a steak-fest.

At this point, I should admit that prior to hitting Hawksmoor we'd been to Paramount (at the top of Centre Point) for a cocktail or few, consequently this review is not particularly detailed or thorough.

I can simply summarise by saying I will be going back here. The placed was packed full of festive revellers. The underground hall did not detract from the atmosphere in anyway. The big oak tables were a suitable resting place for glasses of full bodied red wine and thick juicy, perfectly cooked hunks of cow meat. I finally had a porterhouse steak and I was not disappointed. Although having shared a 900g portion, Ben and I decided that we could probably have nailed one each. The outside of the steak was crisp and dark from the charcoal grill and the meat was uniformly pink medium-rare (to allow some of the fat to render out).

We had all the side on the menu which were OK, but not awe-inspiring given the steak main event. I was quite surprised that the beef-dripping chips had only about three massive chips in the standard metal "bucket".

Apart from the fantastic steaks my only other over-riding memory is of the inordinate 45minute wait between ordering and the protein arriving, which was a massive disappointment and put the brakes on half-way through an otherwise rather spectacular evening. Apparently this was because two of our party had ordered a steak well-done. Should that really make such a difference?

Anyway, if you like steak go there. I will be going back and attempting to remember a bit more of the experience next time!

ICCHFC - Week 64: Charity bake

2010-12-13T12:04:00.004Z

Today the ICCHFC put on another charity cake bake, as is customary at this time of year. However, for some reason, there was not as much enthusiasm as usual (this may have been due to the effect of pretty much everyone in the office being more interested in extra-curricula activities other than work so that there was a glut of cake and sweets throughout the whole of December.)

By ICCHFC standards it was a pretty poor affair:

Fruit loaf, flapjacks, carrot cake, Victoria sponge, muffins and rocky road were available.

I was quite pleased to hear that my classic Victoria sponge (with oodles of cream and raspberry jam) sold out first. I'd liberally coated the top with icing sugar and used a hot skewer to decorate the top. It turned out pretty well, but I was a bit over-enthusiastic with the first stripe and almost went through the top layer of the cake!

Housebites

2010-12-10T22:48:00.004Z

I discovered Housebites today.

Housebites is

a brand new dining experience, hosted in private homes around the country, combining the intimacy of a dinner party with the range of choice of a restaurant.

Basically it seems to be a way of organising supper clubs or underground restaurants without having to create a massive on-line following and develop a "brand": anyone can attend a Housebite and any keen cook can host one. Simply sign up on the website either as a host or a diner, pay your money and away you go.

The site has only just launched but I shall keep and eye on it as it definitely seems something to try.

ICCHFC - Weeks 62 and 63

2010-12-03T13:36:00.003Z

No cake action for the last two weeks:

Week 62 John forgot to bring it in on the Monday and so promised it for Friday. For what happened next, I will turn to John

“So, I will bring a home-baked cake in on Friday J” – so the cake is at home. I forgot. What a plonka! Sorry folks :-(

As for week 63 Marianne succumbed to a baking disaster...

Next week is charity cake bake week

Jamie's Italian, Canary Wharf

2010-11-27T14:41:00.006Z

Went for an ad hoc familial meal at Jamie's Italian in Canary Wharf last night. I didn't really have any expectations but it's suffice to say that even though it's been open for months I hadn't even contemplated going there.

I was quite surprised when my sister called to say that she'd they'd just walked in and got a table despite it being 6pm on a Friday night. I had heard talk of long queues to sample the delights of this "neighbourhood" restaurant.

We started by sharing a meat antipasti plank. It was literally a wooden plank balanced on two cans covering almost the length of the whole table, topped with various charcuterie and cheese. The cured meats were good as was the pecorino which came on music bread and some sweet chilli sauce. The crunchy root veg salad tasted of nothing despite the advertised "chilli , lemon and mint". However, the mozzarella was the star of the show. Simple beautiful: creamy and full of flavour. Delicious.

Thus far, the food was a touch hit and miss. The plank was also carefully portioned, with three of everything. Not quite the generous offering I expect when I think of antipasti and certainly not worth nearly £7 each! I also didn't like the air of superiority from the unfriendly menu descriptions (how many people know that music bread is a crisp Sardinian flat bread (think Italian poppadom)?) and the supercilious tone of the waiter (especially when he told me that I had ordered game so I should watch out for shot).

Anyway, I had gone down the pasta and secondi route. Rabbit ragu papardelle came topped with a lovely lemon and crunchy herby breadcrumbs which gave great an interesting texture. Also the pasta was very thick curly ribbons which I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately the mascapone sauce was too rich and far too salty for the rabbit so the subtle flavours of the braised meat were lost.

For my main I had grilled pheasant, well, I almost had it. The bird came with Jamie's "special Italian bread sauce". I wish it hadn't. The pungent mixture of garlic and anchovy was frankly disgusting, I simply could not eat it. Given that everything else on the plate was a on top of the sauce there was nothing to do but send it back.

Fortunately the Burger Italiano replacement was very good. Juicy flavoursome beef with plenty of worthy enhancements: "melty fontina cheese, crispy salami, (a little too much) lettuce, tomato salsa, dill pickles, chilli and crispy fried onions". Despite asking for it pink, the burger still came medium and the waiter irritatingly asked if I wanted fries (as if I want a carb side order when I've already has pasta).

My sister and Ma, on the other hand, were very pleased with their prawn linguine and skate special respectively.

We all shared an Amalfi lemon curd for dessert which was rich and suitably tongue puckeringly sour. Although the mascapone and mint chiffonade added little, the English raspberries were the most curious addition for a restaurant that's "seasonal".

Overall I was left disappointed by the inconsistency of the food, the irritating attitude of the waiting staff (I think we were left alone for maybe 30mins once dessert was served, with no opportunity to ask for the bill or coffee) and the style over substance of the place. However, they must be doing something right as by the time we left after 8pm the place was packed and the bar was packed with people waiting for a table. Perhaps, they just had an off night with me. I'd be prepared to go back there but it's not somewhere I'd suggest.

ICCHFC - Week 61: Nutty apple loaf

2010-11-23T21:49:00.004Z

Everyone was curious this week as to how Michael was going to maintain the level of his excellent pear and almond muffin début. He certainly managed it with this brilliant nutty apple loaf.

(Picture care of the Iron Chef Shellie blog).

The cake was full of generously filled with lumps of chocolate, nuts and apple making each and every bite different. Incredibly easy to eat; our first slices were demolished in seconds, hence having to track down a picture.

It would appear that the Hummingbird Bakery's cookbook is Michael's best friend.

Michael's Nutty Apple loaf (recipe from Iron Chef Shellie blog again!)

Ingredients:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
140g soft light brown sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
2 eggs
140g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g shelled mixed nuts, chopped
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 eating apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

Method:
1. Put the butter, sugar and strawberry jam in an electric mixer and cream together until light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl, then beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the nuts, chocolate and apples into the mixture by hand until evenly dispersed. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight if possible.
4. Pour the mixture into a 23x13cm loaf tin, greased and dusted with flour, and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake at 170°C for 50-60 minutes or until brown and the sponge feels firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean, but for a little melted chocolate. Leave the cake to cook slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

ICCHFC - Week 60: Lemon and rosemary cake

2010-11-17T11:33:00.005Z

Laura did remarkably well this week and pulled a massive surprise out of the bag.

I was the last of the cakers to try a slice of the very sticky cake. It was obvious there was a herb involved but the challenge was to identify what. My taste buds told me that it was rosemary but the flecks of green just didn't look like rosemary so like a complete chump I didn't guess rosemary! I'd been fooled by finely chopped rosemary and I was looking for whole leaves. What a plonker.

I don't think I've had a fruit and herb combo before in any type of scenario and it worked really well in this cake. The lemon was very sharp and the rosemary added a great foil to the citrus. It was in that weird place between sweet and savoury. And yet incredibly moreish.

Laura's Lemon and Rosemary cake (adapted from The Times Online)

Ingredients:

200g ground almonds
200g white sugar

200ml olive oil

4 eggs

Grated zest of 1 large lemon

4 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

For the syrup:

Juice of 2 large lemons

Same amount of water

3 tbsp sugar

4 sprigs of rosemary

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. In a large bowl, beat together all the cake ingredients and pour into 8 oiled ramekins.
3. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until golden.
4. To make the syrup, simmer all the ingredients over a low heat, until thickened.
5. Turn out the cakes, prick them all over with a skewer and pour syrup over them.
6. Decorate with Greek yoghurt sweetened with icing sugar, a sprig of rosemary and wedges of orange.

Project: Salt Beef - Part II

2010-11-13T15:54:00.003Z

After two weeks of waiting the salt beef was finally ready to come out of its salty bath. Admittedly it didn't look to promising straight out of the brine.

However, once I'd cleaned off all the gunk (technical term there) and boiled it for 3 hours (together with a leek, a carrot and half an onion), dear Lord, what a magnificent meaty delight I had on my hands.
The meat was a exactly the right pink colour I'd hoped for (the effort of getting hold of some saltpetre had been worthwhile). It was just tender enough to carve easily and then gently fall apart with only the gentlest of probing with the eating irons.

One thing to note, is that it was definitely worthwhile trying to get as much fat off as possible before brining. The small scraps I had left on the surface had jellified and were not particularly pleasant. Thankfully, once cooked they were easily removed.

To celebrate, I had a traditional Irish meal of potatoes, carrots, cabbage and salt beef with some of the cooking broth. (Once the beef was cooked I left it to rest wrapped in a foil sarcophagus whilst I cooked the other veg in some of the cooking liquor.)

How tasty? Very. The meat was beautifully spiced, just sufficient to accentuate it's flavour.

However, that still left me with over 80% of the joint left. So, the following morning I made some mayo (spiced with cayenne) and took in four rounds of sandwiches to work for Jess, The Tilbatron and Karen.

The mayo worked well with the beef. The generous slices of meat were incredibly satisfying and seemed to just melt in my mouth without requiring much chewing. I think it's fair to say that the others were equally pleased with their lunch.

Rather sadly I polished off the last bit in another sandwich for a Saturday afternoon treat. I had two dinners and five generous sandwiches from a 4lb joint and after 2 weeks. Was it worthwhile? I think so, as it was an absolute treat and I had to stop myself picking at the meat every time I opened the fridge door. Let's just say it's not something I'll be making regularly but I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time.

All that remains is to try Jess's

Wedding cake - the pictures

2010-11-13T11:53:00.003Z

I received the official pictures of the wedding cake I made a few weeks ago. Doesn't look too bad, does it?

Here's a thing...

2010-11-12T09:33:00.001Z

Why is the same cut from different animals called different things?

For example, belly comes from a pig, breast from a lamb and brisket from a cow and yet they're all the same part of the animal. Weird, huh?

Tasty nonetheless.

ICCHFC - Week 59: Red velvet cake

2010-11-08T12:06:00.003Z

I really didn't know what to make this time round for cake club. I just wasn't particularly inspired. I had a vague idea to do something with caramel but it didn't really grab me and I couldn't find an appealing recipe that really made me want to make it.

I was flicking through my recipe books trying to find inspiration and I was thinking about the cakes I'd done in the past and what I'd really enjoyed making. Then the angel food cake came to mind; clearly a cake I would never make other than for cake club. So, what about its counter-part a devil food cake?

It wasn't quite that simple, however. Recently there's been an air of mystery about the weekly cakes. Sara has instigated a season of "baker's choice" which has been accompanied by a guessing of the cake prior to the unveiling at elevenses.

With this in mind a devil food cake would be pretty easy to guess. It's basically a massive chocolate cake that looks like a massive chocolate cake. So what about a red velvet cake? A red vanilla chocolate cake coated in a white cream cheese frosting. Surely no-one would ever guess that, would they?

After a pleasant afternoon of baking and icing I had a cake ready for the ICCHFC. Thing is I had no idea how red the cake would be until we cut it open. I forgot to take pictures at the batter and baked stages (d'oh). I was pretty pleased nonetheless.

The cake was an unqualified success. No-one guessed what it was and everyone seemed very impressed by its size, colour and flavour.

Cake club gold baby, yeah!

This picture doesn't do justice to the deep red colour of the cake (too much reflection from the icing). Fortunately John took a better one:

This cake is a favourite in the deepest south of the US of A. Apparently the red colour was originally due to the reaction between the acids in the vinegar and buttermilk with the red anthocyanin in the cocoa and giving it the red colour. However, this was before cocoa was "Dutch processed", so now the red colour comes from a shed-load of food colouring.

After plenty of trawling of the t'interweb for suitable recipes I came up with the recipe below which is a combination of the many many that I found (Just how sweet do Americans like their icing? I frequently saw recipes using more than 1lb of icing sugar!)

Amongst all the recipe trawling I'd also come across the concept of a crumb layer of icing. Effectively a thin layer of icing put on to hold crumbs then left to set before applying the final layer of decorative icing, ensuring a perfect finish. If only I'd known about this when I was making the wedding cake. How much easier would things have been?

My red velvet cake recipe (sorry for the American cups):

Ingredients:
2½ cup plain flour
1½ cup caster sugar
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking powder
¼ cup cocoa
1tsp salt
2eggs
1½cup vegetable oil
1cup butter milk (or as an alternative 1tbsp red wine vinegar topped up with milk to make 1cup and left for 10mins)
1tsp red wine vinegar
1tsp vanilla extract
1 bottle of red food colouring ~38ml
For the frosting:
12oz cream cheese
60z butter, very soft
~6oz icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, bicarb) and stir in the sugar.
2. Beat all the wet ingredients together (buttermilk (or substitute), oil, eggs, vinegar, colouring, vanilla).
3. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the wet to create a smooth scarlet batter.
4. Divide the batter equally between three 8" cake tins and bake for about 25min at 180°C. (The cakes are ready when the top springs back from a gentle prod, the sides have started to come away from the tin and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean).
5. Leave the cakes to cool in the pans for about 5mins before turning out to a cake rack and leaving to cool completely.
6. Meanwhile make the frosting. Firstly beat the butter so it is very soft and smooth. Slowly beat in the cream cheese and vanilla and then the icing sugar. Add icing sugar until you get the flavour you are after bu I'd recommend a minimum of 6oz. Leave in the fridge for at least 10mins to firm up.
7. Layer the cakes with a generous amount of frosting (about 2tsbp). Then cover the cake with a thin crumb layer of frosting and leave to chill for 30mins (or longer).
8 Use the remaining icing to give a perfect white casing to your deep velvet cake.

Crumpets

2010-11-06T16:03:00.005Z

Whilst trying to come up with an idea for my cake club cake for Monday, I was browsing though New British Classics by Gary Rhodes and came across a recipe for crumpets.

I did not realise only 4 ingredients are required to make these beautiful tasty treats. It being Saturday and about brunch time, how could I not give them a go?

So after mixing 8oz strong flour, 1tsp dried yeast, ¼oz salt and ½pint warm water I left the batter to "rise" while I watched Saturday Kitchen.

A quick addition of water to loosen the batter, a gentle fry in a pan and I was in heaven:

So it would seem that crumpets are dead easy to make and incredibly satisfying. I got six meaty crumpets from the batter enough for today and tomorrow.

I love the way that the batter transforms to the familiar pitted crumpet we know and love just by the addition of heat and butter:

ICCHFC - Week 58: Chocolate, chilli and orange cake

2010-11-02T14:11:00.007Z

Seb was back on the case this week and made a chocolate, chilli and orange cake.

Seb's made quite a few adjustments to the original recipe (see below) and wasn't quite sure how it had turned out so was insistent that a photograph should be taken before it was cut, so hear it is:

Seb needn't have worried. Look at that amazing marbled texture:

This was certainly a substantial cake. Despite having changed the recipe it was pretty tasty, although I think the chilli and orange subtleties were lost on me.

Seb's Chocolate, chilli and orange cake (aka Simon Rimmer's original recipe on Something for the Weekend)

Ingredients:
For the chocolate syrup:
200ml/7fl oz water
125g/4½oz butter
1¾oz honey
1lb 2oz dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
For the sponge:
9oz butter, plus extra for greasing
9oz caster sugar
5 free-range eggs
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
14oz flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 orange, zest and juice
For the glaze:
1 orange, juice only
4½oz icing sugar
1 tbsp orange liqueur

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 25cm/10in bundt cake tin.
2. For the chocolate syrup, heat the water, butter, honey and chocolate in a saucepan, stirring regularly, until the mixture is smooth.
3. For the sponge, cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Spoon half of the mixture into a separate bowl.
4. Stir half of the chocolate syrup and all of the chilli into one half of the mixture. Add the orange zest and juice to the other half of the mixture.
5. Spoon the orange mixture into the cake tin and spread the mixture out until it is level. Spoon the chocolate chilli mixture on top. Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool.
6. Meanwhile, for the glaze, mix the orange juice, icing sugar and orange liqueur together in a bowl until well combined.
7. Carefully remove the cake from the tin and brush with the glaze. Pour over the remaining chocolate syrup.

Eating in Norwich - pigeon on toast and roast pheasant

2010-10-31T20:56:00.005Z

Spent the weekend in Norwich eating and drinking. Friday was spent at the Norwich Beer Festival. Saturday was spent eating, browsing great Norfolk produce and then cooking and eating it. Sunday was a modest recovery followed by plenty of sea-side indulgences at Great Yarmouth.

Saturday's dinner was:

Pigeon breasts on toast with mushrooms in cream.

Roasted pheasants with celeriac mash, braised red cabbage, spicy roasted squash and a gravy of roasting juices and red wine.

Followed by an apple and quince crème brûlé.

Pretty good Saturday night, if you ask me.

Autumn feast

2010-10-27T19:15:00.000+01:00

An autumnal feast for supper tonight:

A fat pork chop with blue cheese butter atop a melange of pan roasted vegetable (salsify, parsnip, carrot and apple).

Project: Salt Beef - Part I

2010-10-27T18:08:00.009+01:00

This evening saw the start of a major foodie project: I'm having a go at making my own salt beef.

This has been prompted by my desire to emulate the amazing salt beef bagels from Brick Lane and the very good Birley salt beef sandwiches which I have recently been introduced to by a colleague as a "pay day treat".

What could be better than a vast quantity of salt beef on tap? In fact Jess (said colleague mentioned above) is also joining me in the quest for pink beef joy.

Initial research revealed that saltpetre (potassium nitrate) is required to keep the beef characteristically pink. A little help from the internet was required to locate the requisite chemical.

Once this arrived we ordered the beef brisket from Drings which we picked up on Monday. Yesterday saw the purchase of the plastic boxes.

4lb of prime beef brisket ready for the curative brine. The beef fat I've rendered down to be used for some lovely roasties at some point in the future.

After an exhaustive search on the internet for an appropriate recipe we finally settled on this one from Martha Stewart. Although with input from other recipes I've adapted it a little (see below for the low down on what I actually did). So this morning I made the brine and this evening put my brisket into its salty bath.

Now all that's left to do is to wait 10 days to see the fruits of my labour...

Recipe for salt beef:

Ingredients:
15g (half a jar) pickling spices
1 cup Maldon sea salt
2.3l water
~4lb beef brisket, trimmed of fat
1 bulb garlic, slice through its equator
½cup soft brown sugar
4 bay leaves
1dsp saltpetre

Method:
1. Firstly make the brine by putting all the ingredients except the saltpetre and garlic into a large pot and bring to the boil. Stir until the salt and sugar has dissolved.
2. Take the pot off the heat and leave to cool COMPLETELY.
3. Trim the beef.
4. Put the cold brine into the plastic box and mix in the garlic and saltpetre.
5. Completely immerse the beef in the brine. Use a bowl to weight it down if required.
6. Turn the beef daily (use tongs to prevent bacteria from your hands entering the brine)
7. Leave for 10 days to two weeks.

ICCHFC - Week 57: Pecan blondies

2010-10-26T13:52:00.004+01:00

I'd completely forgotten that Hannah wasn't in on Monday so her box of pecan blondies was greeted with much desire!

I've wanted to make blondies for ages, so I was intrigued as to what they were like. Far less rich than brownies the nuts were a welcome addition (I prefer brownies without nuts) as the white chocolate flavour was not particularly dominant (although I'm not sure any white chocolate cake ever really has a very strong flavour of white chocolate). Nevertheless the blondies were incredibly moreish the whole box got finished off in double time and there was almost a rumpus over the last bits.

Hannah's pecan blondies (care of the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook)

Ingredients:
5oz white chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1½tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups plain flour
Pinch salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

Method:
1. Line a baking pan (46 by 23 cm/18 by 9 inch) with parchment paper and preheat oven to 160°C.
2. In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, place chocolate and butter (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
3. Add sugar and stir until well incorporated. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring briskly so that you don’t allow the eggs to scramble. (Don’t worry if the mixture looks as if it is starting to split.)
4. Add flour, salt and pecans and stir until well combined and the nuts are evenly dispersed.
5. Spoon mixture into prepared baking pan and bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and the centre is still soft.
6. Let cool completely and cut into squares.

Feeding the parents...

2010-10-23T13:53:00.006+01:00

Went home this weekend and cooked attempted to cook a nice meal for the parents. All week I was suffering from the cook's equivalent of writer's block and just could not come up with a decent menu.

I did know that I was going to finish with Queen of Puddings as that gave me an opportunity to use up the masses of cake left-overs from the wedding cake tasting. I also knew I wanted to do fish and something very meaty to please both parental units. A rather successful trip to the Saturday market resulted in me settling for:

Sea bass in a spicy broth
***
Rib-eye steak with roast potatoes and mustard cream cabbage
***
Queen of puddings

Sea bass in a spicy broth

I got a pair of sea bass fillets and a pint of prawns from the fish man at the market. I made a broth using the prawn heads and shells and some Asian aromatics (ginger, coriander stalks, lemon-grass and chilli). Unfortunately I used a touch to much chilli: one red chilli finely sliced with seeds. When will I learn how to use chilli? I either get too much or not enough - grrrrrrrrrrrr! Anyway, I served the fried fish fillets on a mound of noodles surrounded by coriander and prawns. Obviously the picture looks very dry. Mainly because I made a bit of a boo-boo and strained the soup into the wrong bowl so instead of a clear liquor it was a touch cloudy. Still it tasted OK, just a touch hot and I cooked the fish pretty well.

Rib-eye steak with roast potatoes and mustard cream cabbage

No picture here as this was not the roaring success I had envisaged. Error after error here meant I wasn't best pleased with my steak or potatoes. Let's just say they were "very caramelised". I could blame a strange kitchen and equipment but that would be a cop-out. Frankly, I cocked up. Still Ma very much enjoyed it. And I completely forgot to top the steaks with the blue cheese butter I'd made.

Queen of puddings

Despite all the earlier mistakes I'd left the best till last. Both parents loved this pudding and despite seconds even managed to leave some for another day. This was the only recipe (from Phil Vickery's Proof of the Pudding) that I'd used and the piped meringue and different fruits really improved the presentation: I'd made a pair of contrasting compotes: plum and pear and cinnamon. Quite a difficult beggar to serve up nicely though. At least I ended on a high note.

ICCHFC leftovers - orange crème caramel cheesecakes

2010-10-21T20:12:00.010+01:00

Sara wasn't a fan of the orange frosting she made for her pumpkin cake this week. Consequently I volunteered to use up the orange, sugar and cheese mix (far better than throwing it away).

I found this recipe for orange crème caramel cheesecakes which I duly made. The one I had at home turned out pretty well:

It had a very subtle flavour and a lovely texture, smoother that a traditional cheesecake. The caramel delivered a very strong flavour hit and I could happily have had more (I would have done had I not made 8 smaller ones rather than the 6 in the recipe). The biscuit was über crunchy and gave an excellent textural contrast.

The ones I took into work had to stay in the ramekin moulds and had the biscuit "base" on top. Nonetheless everyone was still rather complementary about them despite the presentation.

All in all a good result for some left overs. Although I did use rather a lot of energy and extra ingredients to prevent something being put in the bin. I do wonder what the best option would be had I done some sort of carbon analysis of either landfilling the leftover frosting or making a the puds...

Here's the full recipe, just in case you don't have any leftovers to use up!

Orange crème caramel cheesecakes recipe

Ingredients:
300ml double cream
peel from 1 orange
8oz caster sugar
4tbsp orange liqueur
200g tub cream cheese
4 eggs
For the biscuit base:
250g digestive biscuits
85g butter, melted

Method:
1. Heat oven to 150°C. In a small pan, bring the cream to the boil with the orange peel, then set aside to infuse.
2. Tip 5oz sugar into another saucepan with just enough water to make it sludgy. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer and boil to make a darkish caramel. Add 2 tbsp of the orange liqueur (watch out as it will splutter). Leave it to settle slightly, then pour the caramel over the base of 6 x 250ml ramekins and set aside.
3. Beat the cream cheese and the remaining 3oz sugar together in a large bowl, then beat in the eggs and the remaining orange liqueur. Strain in the infused cream, then beat everything together to make a custard. Skim off any froth and set aside.
4. Place the ramekins in a deep roasting tin. Divide the custard between them - it will only come to halfway. Then bring the tin to the oven and fill with boiling water so it comes halfway up the outside of the ramekin dishes.
5. Bake the cheesecakes for 40 mins or until just set, then remove from the oven and the tin. Leave to cool, then chill at least overnight. These can be made up to 2 days ahead and left to chill.
6. For the bases, crumble the biscuits into a food processor, then blitz to fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until everything is mixed.
7. Divide the biscuit mix between 6 ring moulds on the serving plates. Pack the base firmly into the moulds and chill.
8. To serve, unmould the cheesecakes, saving the caramel sauce in the ramekin. Top the bases with the crème caramels, drizzle the sauce over and around the plates.

Rabbit weekend

2010-10-19T21:21:00.001+01:00

Last weekend was dedicated to the rabbit which had been sitting in my freezer since I picked it up at the London Farmer's Market in Broadgate in August.

My guide for rabbit adventure was Week in Week out by Simon Hopkinson. It has an entire section devoted to jointing and then cooking the different rabbit parts.

I started off with the whole rabbit

and ended up with two shoulders, a saddle and two legs:

I started off with the slow braised rabbit shoulders with white beans and parsley for lunch on Saturday.
Great lunch time fodder; hearty, warming and incredibly easy.

Then I moved on to the saddle for dinner:

I had these quick braised saddles with some Purple Majesty potato mash. Delicious.

Sunday's dinner was a fitting finale as I used the legs to make lapin à la Dijonnaise.

I think I paid tribute to the rabbit with these three dishes. Each was wonderful and made me wish I was in the French countryside, rather than in a flat in the capital. However, I think my heavy handedness with quantities reared its head once again. Rabbit's quite a subtle flavour and the copious amount of sauce and side dishes I had may have masked the other flavours (especially the rich cream mustard sauce of the finale).

Nevertheless it was a great weekend of eating.

On to the recipes:

Slow braised rabbit shoulders with white beans and parsley

Ingredients:
1 tin haricot beans
2 rabbit shoulders
4 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
300ml water
100ml white wine
Handful of parley, chopped

Method:
1. Season the rabbit and brown in olive oil. Add the garlic and fry until slightly coloured.
2. Add the beans, wine, water and bay leaves and the 2tbsp olive oil. Cover and bake at 150°C for 1-11/2 hours, until the beans are soft.

Quick braised rabbit saddles with lemon, rosemary and white wine

Ingredients:
Rabbit saddle, trimmed of sinew
2 glasses white wine
2/3 sprigs rosemary
Juice lemon

Method:
1. Season the rabbit and fry until golden in olive oil.
2. Add 1 glass white wine and the rosemary. Partially cover and leave to simmer until nearly all the wine has evaporated, ~10-15mins.
3. Turn the saddles over add the remaining wine and half the lemon juice and cook, uncovered, for ~10minutes until the juices have mingled and the saddle is firm to the touch.
4. Add the remaining lemon juice and remove the saddle to rest.
5. Carve the met from both sides and serve with the juices.

Lapin à la Dijonnaise

Ingredients:
2 rabbit legs
25g butter
2 shallots, chopped
150ml dry white wine
100ml dry cider
200ml double cream
2tsp Dijon mustard
Lemon juice, to taste

Method:
1. Season the rabbit and brown all over in butter.
2. Remove rabbit from pan and sweat off shallots.
3. Add the wine and cider and reduce by half.
4. Add the rabbit back into pan and bring back to the simmer.
5. Put in an oven at 170°C for 40mins. Turn the rabbit legs half way through.
6. Once baked, remove the rabbit from the pan and strain the cooking liquor.
7. Add the cream and reduce until the desired consistency is reached. Then whisk in the mustard and lemon juice. Season to taste.
8. Return the rabbit legs to the pan to warm.

Muffin!

2010-10-19T20:34:00.003+01:00

Had the "perfect" English muffin, that I picked up from the Flour Station stall at the cheese market I went to on Sunday, tonight.

I split it and topped with some Comté that I also got at the market. Chefs always seem to be banging on about Comté so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

The muffin was pretty damn good as expected and the cheese was quite like Gruyère. I was a little underwhelmed as it didn't blow my socks off, but I'd agree that it's pretty good.

ICCHFC - Week 56: Pumpkin cake

2010-10-18T11:43:00.007+01:00

Sara was baking duty this week and went very seasonal with a pumpkin cake.

It was very carrot cake-esque, with a similar texture and flavour. I'd need to have a slice of each side by side in order to tell the difference (that's not a slight on Sara's cake rather a comment on my rubbishness). I was the only person to have the orange cream cheese frosting and I thought it added a lovely piquancy. Definitely better with than without.

However, now the remaining frosting has been donated to me to do something with (or else it would have been chucked). I think a baked cheesecake may be in order.

Sara's pumpkin cake (taken from Good Food)

Ingredients:
300g self-raising flour
300g light muscovado sugar
3tsp mixed spice
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g sultanas
½tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten
200g butter, melted
zest 1 orange
1tbsp orange juice
500g (peeled weight) pumpkin or butternut squash flesh, grated
For drenching and frosting:
200g pack soft cheese
85g butter , softened
100g icing sugar, sifted
zest 1 orange and juice of half

Method:
1. Heat oven to 180°C. Butter and line a 30 x 20cm baking or small roasting tin with baking parchment.
2. Put the flour, sugar, spice, bicarbonate of soda, sultanas and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine.
3. Beat the eggs into the melted butter, stir in the orange zest and juice, then mix with the dry ingredients till combined. Stir in the pumpkin.
4. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30 mins, or until golden and springy to the touch.
5. To make the frosting, beat together the cheese, butter, icing sugar, orange zest and 1 tsp of the juice till smooth and creamy, then set aside in the fridge.
6. When the cake is done, cool for 5 mins then turn it onto a cooling rack. Prick it all over with a skewer and drizzle with the rest of the orange juice while still warm. Leave to cool completely.
7. If you like, trim the edges of the cake. Give the frosting a quick beat to loosen, then, using a palette knife, spread over the top of the cake in peaks and swirls.

TIP: Pumpkins can vary dramatically in water content, so keep an eye on the cake towards the end of cooking - yours may take less or more time to cook through. Butternut squash works brilliantly, too.

Cheese market

2010-10-17T21:21:00.002+01:00

Went to a cheese and wine festival on the South Bank this morning. There was plenty of English and French cheese on display. These pictures will probably make my sister ("turophile" that she is) quite jealous.

For lunch I had a tarte-diot: a traditional Savoie tartiflette (potatoes, onion, wine, lardons, reblechon cheese) with some very tasty sausages.

To be honest it was a little disappointing as it was a touch luke warm, but it did serve to fill me up after an exhausting morning watching Psycho at the Empire Leicester Square.

Brasserie Joël

2010-10-16T17:03:00.012+01:00

I went to Brasserie Joël to take advantage of the special LRF menu. The restaurant is located in the very swanky Park Plaza hotel at the end of Westminster bridge. The fantastic modern interior of the hotel and buzz in the bar while we had pre-dinner G&Ts helped cement my high expectation for the meal.

I was quite surprised that the LRF menu was basically the same as the pre-theatre menu with just a couple of differences. Still no problem, I was expecting a limited choice for only £16.95 for two courses. The second surprise of the night came with the addition of a cover charge. There are very few restaurants in London that have a cover charge and this unexpected extra always niggles me a little. I felt like I was being duped before I'd even started looking at my set price menu. Nevertheless, A and I enjoyed copious amounts of very good bread and lovely soft creamy French butter whilst making our choices.

A had the spinach, beetroot and ricotta salad, or as the bizarrely phrased menu put it:

SPINACH, BEETROOT SALAD
Ricotta buffalo

Which was OK, nothing too special. It seems that the combination of flavours I featured in my beetroot soup is quite popular at the moment. [I feel as if I have unexpectedly tapped into the Zeitgeist for the first time ever!]

For my starter a bowl of artfully arranged trompette mushrooms and buffalo ricotta was placed in front of me before the waiter dramatically poured the soup over. "Great," I thought, "this is gonna be a special eating 'event'". That thought quickly disappeared from my mind as I took my first sip of lukewarm soup. Quickly followed by a grainy mushroom and then a mouthful of grit. Someone had forgotten to wash the wild mushrooms: disgusting. There was nothing I could do but spit it out and ask for another starter. I should really have asked for the chicken liver parfait but instead asked for the soup again. A fresh one was brought this time piping hot and with clean mushrooms (although I have to admit each time I put one on my spoon I wave of anxiety washed over me).

For her main, A went with a baby artichoke and wild mushroom risotto with Parmesan and pea shoots, which came in a saucepan (sorry about the photo).

I had roast chicken of Bresse with a fricassee of Jerusalem artichoke.

I was quite excited at having some of the renown blue-footed Bresse chicken and was half-expecting the label to be presented with the dish (I'm sure I'd read somewhere that some restaurants show the label to prove the provenance of the AOC protected chicken). It was bloody good chicken, but I'd like to to a taste test with some "normal" chicken to see just how amazing the Bresse chicken is.

Unfortunately the shine was taken off this dish by the artichokes. I don't like crunchy Jerusalem artichokes, it's like eating raw potatoes: horrible. I asked for the artichokes to be checked if they had been served as they should. Apparently, when the chicken came back it was clear that whoever was on the pass had decided that I should have crunchy artichokes. I contend that this was a mistake.

Having had almost four courses and far too much bread there was no way I could even contemplate a dessert.

The service was excellent. The waiters dealt with my problematic dishes graciously and with no hesitation. Although the dining room felt slightly buried in the midst of the hotel I really liked the modern décor and the atmosphere had an enjoyable buzz. It's just a shame the food wasn't up to the same standard.

Belgique

2010-10-15T16:16:00.003+01:00

Went to the new outlet of Belgique on the river-front at Canary Wharf for lunch today. I wasn't sure what to expect and didn't take my camera, but I wish I had. What a little gem.

The food we had was pretty good, although the frites were slightly disappointing just because we all had such expectations. The portions were massive as well.

I think we'll definitely go back there so I'll report back when we do.

However, I can tell you how great the patisserie is because I has this wonderful strawberry bavarois for threeses.

An ethereal strawberry mousse held by a very light sponge and topped off with beautiful berries (spoilt only be a stick of candied angelica, which is anathema to me).

Bits 'n' pieces

2010-10-12T22:12:00.010+01:00

So it would seem I've not been up to much foodie stuff recently, not quite sure why. Maybe it's because I haven't been eating out nor having people round recently. Must do something about that but there are a few irons in the old fire.

I'm waiting to hear back from the SRA having offered to volunteer with them this week.
I didn't get a chance to work at the LRF this year but I am going Brasserie Joël to try out their Festival menu.
I haven't done a cooking "project" for a while but I have a few up my sleeve including a rabbit based weekend of food, making salt beef (or corned beef as the Americans call it), making the apple doughnuts that James Martin made on Saturday Kitchen recently, which he said "no-one would make", and a home-made recreation of Ikea's Swedish meatballs.
Just found the Everything Burger blog which puts my burger post to shame.
Also just found out about an Ikea cookbook which has uniquely stylish ingredient photos by photographer Carl Kleiner like this one:
On a similar arty subject I've just got hold of a copy of Food for thought, thought for food - The creative universe of elBulli's Ferran Adrià. A reflection on the worlds of avante-garde cooking and art. Some amazing photos in it, I'll let you know how it reads.

ICCHFC - Week 55: Coconut, lemon and blueberry cake

2010-10-12T21:56:00.003+01:00

Week 55 was back to Marianne and despite all her protestation, she still manages to produce one good cake after another.

This time she made a coconut, lemon and blueberry cake to use up the lemon curd she had in her fridge.

This cake had an amazing texture profile. The top section was slightly crisp and chewy because of the coconut. This gave way to a light sponge. Hidden at the bottom of the cake was a gloriously rich combination of just cooked blueberries and lemon. It didn't taste too bad either!

ICCHFC - Week 54: Plum cake

2010-10-05T13:29:00.003+01:00

Despite being off on Monday, there was some of Johnny's plum cake left for me to have some and the rest of the ICCHFC to have seconds.

John made a rather scrummy plum cake care of this Nigel Slater recipe.

There were loads of beautiful ruby plums in this cake surrounded by a soft lightly almondy sponge.

We decided that this was not only a good cake but would be great served warm with lashings of custard.

John's version of Nigel Slater's plum cake

Ingredients:
150g butter
150g unrefined golden caster sugar
16 plums
3 large eggs
75g plain flour
tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds

Method:
1. Set the oven at 175°C. Line the base of a 20-22cm cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Stop when the mixture is light, soft and the colour of vanilla ice cream.
3. Meanwhile, halve the plums, remove the stones, then cut each half in two.
4. Break the eggs, beat lightly with a fork, then add them bit by bit to the butter and sugar.
5. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold them gently into the mixture. Fold in the ground almonds too.
6. Scrape the mixture into the cake tin. Place the quartered plums on the cake mixture. Bake for 40-45 minutes, then test with a skewer. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out.

Leftover week

2010-10-01T21:52:00.004+01:00

Last weekend's roast and cooked breakfast left me with a host of leftovers. I'm quite glad to report that I managed to subsist on these alone. Here's what I ate during the week.

Monday - I had cabbage and pork pasta that I'd previously made with pork belly, simply substituting my left over pork for the belly.

Tuesday - Cold meat and apple sauce, mash and beans. Simple, but tasty.

Wednesday - Pork "stroganoff"

Slices of onion and mushroom gently fried. Then paprika and cream added to create a sauce to warm up the pork.

Thursday - Pork, fennel and potato salad care of HFW

Crispy potatoes, big chunks of caramelised fennel and pork. Seasoned with a squirt of lemon juice. Absurdly simple but delicious.

And not to mention more than a few very tasty sandwiches made with the cold meat and various leftover garnishes like apple sauce. Although I must say this pork, tomato and fried egg sandwich for Saturday brunch was particularly good.

ICCHFC - Week 53: Pear and almond muffins

2010-09-27T18:27:00.004+01:00

Things took a bit of an interesting turn this week. It was the first time we have had a guest baker. In return for providing a cake the guest baker is being allowed a slice from each cake for an entire round.

So, this week MM treated us to a round of pear and almond muffins.

I'm not quite sure I believe it was MM rather than Mrs. MM who did the baking, nevertheless these were wicked: soft muffins just how I like them.

A rich almond sponge that had a heart of soft pear. Incredibly moorish, it was difficult not to immediately reach for another.

12/10/10 Update:
It was confirmed today that it was MM that baked not the missus. We can expect plenty more muffins to follow as they are "simple".

Sunday lunch: Beetroot soup, roast pork shoulder, apple and blackberry steamed pudding

2010-09-26T18:30:00.017+01:00

After the wedding, where I didn't get to taste the cake but did manage to persuade the photographer to send me some pictures of the finished (decorated) beast, all the Lufbra gang stayed at mine so I felt duty bound to provide a nourishing full English breakfast and a traditional Sunday roast.

Since I was cooking for six and after a big night I needed things that could be done in advance and were relatively simple. Despite a request for roast pork putting the rest of the menu together proved quite troublesome. Anyway I ended up cooking:

Beetroot soup
***
Roast pork shoulder with mash, cabbage and apple sauce with a mustard cream gravy
***
Steamed apple and blackberry sponge pudding

Beetroot soup

This was deep crimson soup was garnished with soft goat's cheese, spring onions, green apple sticks and hazelnut praline. The idea of the garnishes was to provide a variety of textures and to bring alive the earthy flavour of the beetroot and to give the palate a new taste with every mouthful.

Roast pork shoulder with crackling, mash, cabbage and apple sauce with a mustard cream gravy

Now due to time and space constraints and cooking for six, I didn't plate this up quite as I would have liked. One of the highlights was the apple ring braised in cider which had a beautifully pink halo. The crackling was ok, but the crackling on the pork belly I did before was better. I think it was pretty good for a roast even though there were no roast potatoes.

Steamed apple and blackberry sponge pudding

Sweet seasonal fruit, billowy sponge and lashings of cream. That's the definition of "pud", isn't it?

I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen and people left almost as soon as the last spoonful was downed (pesky train journeys to the Midlands), but it was a lovely day even though there was a little bit of clearing up to do:

I'm going to try and eat off the leftovers for the rest of the week, so look out for a report about how it goes next weekend.

On to the recipes, which were adapted from a number of sources:

Beetroot soup (serves 6)
Taken from a Matt Tebbut recipe in Olive magazine and the praline from One Perfect Ingredient by Marcus Wareing

Ingredients:
750g cooked beetroot, large dice
3 bay leaves
1½ onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1½tbsp red wine vinegar
900ml chicken stock
To garnish:
75g hazelnuts
Pinch fine salt
1½tbsp water
60g caster sugar
3 spring onion, finely sliced
100g soft goats cheese
1 green apple, sliced into batons
Olive oil

Method:
1. Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil until very soft.
2. Add the vinegar, beetroot, stock and bay leaves and simmer for about 15-20mins.
3. Purée and pass through a sieve. If it is too thick add more water or stock until the desired consistency is reached.
4. For the praline, toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan. In the same pan gently melt the sugar and water together until it turns a golden caramel (swirl the pan occasionally). Add the salt and hazelnuts then poor onto silicon paper and leave to cool. Once cooled, roughly chop.
5. For the other garnishes, finely slice the spring onions on the angle and cut thin slices (approximately 3mm) from the apple then slice into batons (there should be a small amount of skin left at each end)
6. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Drop some onions into the middle and top with a few criss-crossed apple batons. Dot small pinches of goats cheese around the outside interspersed with the praline. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Roast pork shoulder with crackling, mash, cabbage, braised apple and apple sauce with a mustard cream gravy (serves 6 heartily)
Elements taken from The Cook's Book, New British Classics by Gary Rhodes and Sauces by Michel Roux

Ingredients:
3.5kg pork shoulder, boned, rind left on
Sea salt
2 red onions quartered, lengthways
2 white onions quartered, lengthways
2tbsp honey
2 lemons, quartered, lengthways
2-3tbsp sage, chopped
1 savoy cabbage, shredded
For the apple sauce:
500g Cox apples, peeled, cored, finely diced
150ml water
20g caster sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
Pinch ground cinnamon
30g butter
For the braised apple:
3 red apples, cored sliced into ¾"(2cm) rounds
~300ml dry cider
For the mash:
2lb floury potatoes, peeled and chopped
4oz butter
~100ml cream
For the mustard cream sauce:
~100ml double cream
2tbsp wholegrain mustard

Method:
1. Score the rind of the pork with a very sharp knife (or get the butcher to do it). Pour a kettle of boiling water over the rind then leave to cool.
2. Pat dry and liberally massage the rind with coarse sea salt. Rub all over with a little vegetable oil and put in the oven on a trivet for 15mins at 220°C.
3. Turn the oven down to 150°C and cook for another 2 hours.
4. Remove the pork from the oven and take out of the pan. In the pan sauté the onions and lemons until just caramelised. Drizzle over the honey and sprinkle with sage. Place the meat directly in the centre of the pan and return to the oven for 1¼ hours.
5. Once cooked (the crackling will be crisp and the meat tender) leave to rest, covered with foil for 15-30mins.
6. To make the mustard cream sauce, deglaze the roasting pan with the cider reserved from the braised apples. Reduce and then add the cream and mustard.
7. Whilst the meat is roasting, all the trimmings can be made. For the apple sauce, put all the ingredients except the butter into a pan and cook over a medium heat for 15mins, until the apples are tender, but not dried out.
8. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the butter and a pinch of salt. If required, loosen the sauce with water to reach the desired consistency.
9. For the braised apples, place the apple slices into a pan and cover with the cider. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 min. Remove from the heat, cover with greaseproof paper and allow to cool.
10. Once cooled, remove the apples from the cider and reserve the cider for the cabbage and gravy. Prior to serving reheat the apples in the oven with a knob of butter.
11. For the mash, cook the potatoes in plenty of salted water until tender. Drain and then use a ricer to mash.
12. Beat in the butter and cream. Then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
13. For the cabbage, melt a knob of butter in a pan and add the cabbage. Then add a little cider (~50ml) and ~150ml chicken stock. Cook until the cabbage is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
14. To serve, separate the cracking from the meat and cut into pieces. Carve the pork into thick slices. Sit one apple ring per person on a couple of spoonfuls of apple sauce. Dish up the cabbage and mash. Cover liberally with mustard cream sauce.

Steamed apple and blackberry sponge pudding
Taken from New British Classics by Gary Rhodes.

Ingredients:
4 green dessert apples, peeled cored and quartered
2oz caster sugar
8oz blackberries
1tbsp blackberry jam
For the sponge:
4oz butter
5oz caster sugar
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
7oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder
¼tsp ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 lemon

Method:
1. Butter and flour a 2 pint pudding bowl (this is the minimum size bowl you can really use).
2. Cut the apple quarters in half lengthways and then again through the middle to give 16 chunks per apple.
3. Melt a know of butter in pan then add the apples and sugar. Cook for 2-3mins then add the blackberries and jam. Stir in and remove from the heat and leave to cool.
4. To make the sponge cream the butter and sugar until white and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs. Finally sieve the flour, cinnamon and baking powder then fold into the mix with the lemon zest.
5. Put half the apple and blackberry mix into the bowl then top with the sponge mix. Cover the bowl with a sheet of greaseproof paper and a sheet of foil folded together to create a pleat to give space for the pudding to rise. Tie the "lid" on with string.
6. Steam for 1¼ hours.
7. To serve turn out the pudding onto a plate and top with the reserved fruit.

Wedding cake

2010-09-24T18:29:00.005+01:00

I took the day off work today so that I could do something I'd been thinking about for weeks. The day could only end in success, but it was how I was going to get to the end which had been troubling me. It was wedding cake day.

I did all the shopping last night and bought plenty of extra stuff too, just in case. The chocolate curls had been delivered last week. I'd spent last night giving the kitchen a deep clean. All was ready. Never before have I started cooking with such a mix of trepidation, excitement and burdened with the wait of expectation.

Thankfully, it all went pretty smoothly:

I cooked the three sponges sequentially and they turned out very consistently. They were standard 4442 sponge cakes, two chocolate and one vanilla (with fudge chunks) sandwiched together with fudge icing.

I had to make three times the amount of chocolate fudge icing as I did on the tasting day. Unfortunately I only realised this as the first batch was running out and it was a nervous few minutes while I whipped up the next. Fortunately a pallet knife dipped in hot water really was my best friend.

The finishing touches were the chocolate curls which were much harder to apply than I thought they would be. I've not idea how many rotations of the cake it took to completely cover the sides of the cake to an acceptable level. However, it was worth the effort. The annoying thing was that I kept dropping them on the top and so had to re-smooth it. Oh and here's a tip: when icing a the surface of a cake and trying to get it smooth, having a pallet knife that is larger than the actual cake would be REALLY helpful.

The most nerve-racking part was moving the cake from my icing board to the silver display board. I'm not sure I breathed whilst slipping the pallet knife under the whole cake and sliding it across. I was terrified that the cake would crumble or break and I'd have to start again.

The final touch were the fudge pieces around the perimeter. It was actually quite relaxing doing these as I was confident that it was job well done and all I had to do was wait for Paul to come and collect the finished cake and I would be absolved of any level of responsibility!

Goat curry at Sunjam

2010-09-22T23:04:00.009+01:00

A late night finish to an evening EcoTeam event and a few days in Liverpool meant that there was no food chez Butters and so I made a rare takeaway purchase.

I've walked passed the Sunjam Caribbean takeaway at least twice a day on my way to and from the station but I'd not yet been in.

I'd been talking to Sara from the ICCHFC about where to get Caribbean food from and she had recommended this place. Apparently her Dad goes well out of his way to visit this Sunjam for the oxtail or curry goat. Apparently it's been there for over 18 years so they must be doing something right.

As a recent convert to the tender and deep flavours of goat, there was no way I couldn't go for this along with a healthy portion of rice and peas.

I wasn't disappointed: a hefty smack of West Indian spice was a good match to the powerful flavour of the goat. It was unbelievably tender too.

I'll definitely be going back for some oxtail.

ICCHFC - Week 52: Chocolate fridge cake

2010-09-22T10:16:00.002+01:00

Despite not being in on either Monday or Tuesday there was still remnants of this Laura's cake left for me to have. I wasn't expecting such a mid-week treat so didn't take my camera.

Laura had made a truly wicked chocolate fridge cake: lumps of biscuit, dried apricots and sultanas suspended in a combination of chocolate, butter and golden syrup and coated in a chocolate fudge icing. Rich does not even begin to describe it.

A small hunk with a cup of coffee was perfect. None of us could cope with more than a nugget at a time. A great pick-me-up for a slow day at work but not for young kids (unless you want them going nuts on a sugar high) or those on a diet.

A Taste Adventure?

2010-09-19T22:55:00.003+01:00

I helped run the SlowFood Taste Adventure at the Start Garden Party at Clarence House today.

The Taste Adventure is an interactive way of introducing people to the use of all five senses when eating and enjoying food. The key message that we aim to convey is: ‘To really enjoy food we need to use all our five senses’ and in order to start the journey of a life-long love of food, we believe it is vital that everyone understands:
• how to appreciate food using each sense individually
• how each sense affects the others
• the basic elements of taste
• the difference between taste and flavour

The Taste Adventure was set on the top deck of the CIAO Ark. Despite the cutting wind the number of children did manage to outnumber the number of people running the session most of the time.

At each of the five interactive stations (one for each sense) and the kids had to identify different foods using only that particular sense. There were some close up photos of food to identify, jars of aromatics to sniff, different drinks to taste, bags filled with different things to touch and then some other foods to listen to whilst eating them.

All of the kids seemed to enjoy it (especially when mum and dad helped with the answers). It was amazing just how knowledgeable some of the kids were; I'm not sure I could have identified the smell of rosemary when I was 10.

All in all a very enjoyable event which is more than I can say about the rest of the Garden Party (unfortunately), even with a flash of Charlie and the Missus.

RIP Konstam

2010-09-17T23:59:00.004+01:00

I made a very interesting discovery on the interweb tonight when I came across the Sustain website.

Sustain is:

The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. We represent around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level.

The site is packed with interesting articles and information on campaigns about all different aspects of the sustainable food agenda. There's far too much for me to go into here so click-off and have a look now.

One of the things that I learnt was that the London branch of Sustain, the London Food Link, has a quarterly magazine, The Jellied Eel. However, I was dismayed to see that one of the cover stories is the closure of Konstam (finally bringing me to the title of this post) which means I'll never get to go there. The restaurant was famous for sourcing 80% of its ingredients from within the M25 and was a leading light of sustainability.

ICCHFC: Week 51 - Johnny’s granny’s fruit cake mash up (aka fruit loaf)

2010-09-13T08:07:00.009+01:00

Sara used a secret recipe to create and incredibly light and yet rich fruit loaf. I have never had such a fluffy cake laden so heavily with fruit. An absolute beauty.

So it is with great pride that I bring you the secret recipe and I can promise you will not be disappointed.

Johnny’s granny’s fruit cake mash up

Ingredients:
6oz soft brown sugar
8oz soft butter
2 eggs
4oz self-raising flour
4oz plain flour
12oz mixed fruit
2oz ground almonds
Small glass of Amaretto (about 100 -150ml)

Method:
1.Combine the butter and sugar then add the rest of the ingredients. The mixture shouldn't be too dry but not runny!
2. Bake in moderate oven (gas mark 3 to 4, 160-175°C) for 1.5 to 2 hours (stick a skewer in to see if it's cooked)

Tas

2010-09-08T22:55:00.009+01:00

Popped into Tas on Borough High Street tonight for what turned out to be a rather massive and tasty Anatolian (aka Turkish meze) dinner at extraordinary value.

We had the Renk menu and for a miserly £10.95 we had:

Tabule - Chopped parsley salad with tomatoes, onions, cracked wheat, olive oil and lemon juice

Humus Kavurma - Humus topped with diced lamb, pine kernels and paprika
Humus with a meaty addition. I didn't know humus could be made so much better.

Zeytin Yagli Bakla - Fresh broad beans cooked in olive oil with red & green peppers, coriander, dill, garlic served with yoghurt
Broad beans and lots of them - lovely.

Kisir - Cracked bulgur wheat with crushed walnuts, hazelnuts, tomato sauce, herbs, fresh mint, dill and spring onions
A tomato dish delivering a smack of umami.

Ispanakli yogurt - Spinach with fresh yoghurt served with or without garlic

Zeytin Yagli Patlican - Aubergine cooked in olive oil with tomatoes, garlic, pepper & chickpeas
Would have been far better if it was warm. I can't cope with "stringy" cold aubergine.

Midye Tava - Fried mussels on skewers with garlic sauce
I didn't realise we were having mussels until I was mid-way through my first skewer. Apparenlty deep frying really can improve anything.

Borek - Filo pastry filled with feta cheese and spinach
Unfortunately we only got one of the little parcel which we packed with creamy feta. I could happily have eaten a plateful.

Felafel - Ground chickpeas and broad beans tossed in spices, deep fried and served with humus

Kalamari - Fried marinated squid lightly battered served with walnut sauce
Not as bad as the aubergine, but three squid rings each was maybe three more than we wanted.

Just to make sure we wouldn't go hungry we also ordered Pastirmali yumurta - Fried egg with oak smoked cured beef and tomatoes. What an addition though. Really tasty beef salami mixed into scrambled eggs.

The place was buzzing from the moment we walked to when we left two and a half hours later at 9pm and it's obvious why. Lots of fresh food giving your tastebuds an extensive workout. With only a couple of exceptions, everything was delicious with a great blend of herbs and spices. All at phenomenal value.

This is the kind of small chain (there are 9 outlets currently) that I actually enjoy going to. Each outlet has its own identity but you can be sure that you'll get the same high level of food and service. I'd not hesitate in going back, if only for the lamb humus and a great hunk of bread.

Byron Bay cookies

2010-09-07T23:54:00.007+01:00

I was sent a rather exuberant package of Byron Bay Cookies, from the master distributor in the UK, Beyond the Bean, to get my teeth in to, in return for my thoughts.

Well, now I have well and truly had the chance to eat far more cookies than is good for me, here are my opinions.

In my mind cookies are huge soft and chewy discs with copious chunks of chocolate/raisin/fudge. The Byron Bay cookies are really biscuits but I guess it's just a question of those Aussie's regional perversion of the Queen's English.

The cookies come in both regular and gluten-free variations and they are all vegetarian. Since I've never sought out gluten free fodder, I was interested to investigate what the differences are to "normal". Having regular (below left) and gluten-free (below right) versions of the white chocolate and macadamia cookies gave me a good chance to do a comparison.

Amazingly the gluten-free was better than the normal cookie. It had a more pronounced richer aroma and despite being much more crumbly actually had a very creamy taste.

The strawberry and clotted cream cookies went down extremely well with me and the guys at work. They were very rich with a soft shortbread texture and little nuggets of intrigue to keep you interested.

As for the lemon macadamia shortbread. This is the Audrey Hepburn of shortbread. An elegant short biscuit with a delicate hint of lemon zing. Absolutely sublime.

The Dotty was a decorated with Smarties and jammed full of milk chocolate lumps (these were the saving grace of the very dry biscuit). I have to admit that the triple chocolate fudge gluten-free was terrible, managing to convert my tongue to an arid wasteland in milliseconds.

Overall though the Byron Bay cookies left me with a positive impression. They are very generous with their fillings and make a great accompaniment to a cup of coffee.

My thanks to Beyond the Bean for providing me with the samples.

ICCHFC: Week 50 - Olive oil, fruit and nut cake

2010-09-06T21:51:00.002+01:00

My turn to bake this week and I just hadn't had a chance to think what to bake. In an extraordinary turn of events I embraced the current tide of "baker's choice" which is sweeping the ICCHFC.

My choice of cake was borne out of perusing some of my recipe books for something that took my fancy. As usual, my in interest in the unusual won over so I went for an olive oil, fruit and nut cake from What's Cooking Baking by Emma Patmore.

Amazingly the cake went down really well. There was a lovely sweet taste of olive oil and the fruit and nuts were like little edible pearls held in the surprisingly light sponge. The top was particularly crunchy and pleasing.

The batter was one of the oddest I've ever put made. The batter just didn't seem to come together very well and had an very gloopy consistency; I put the whole lot in the baking tin in one spoonful.

My Olive oil, fruit and nut cake (taken from from What's Cooking Baking by Emma Patmore)

Ingredients:
8oz plain flour, sieved
1tsp baking powder
1¾oz caster sugar
4floz milk
4tbsp orange juice
50ml extra virgin olive oil
100ml olive oil
3½oz mixed dried fruit
1oz pine kernels

Method:
1. Grease and 8" baking tin.
2. Stir the sugar, baking powder and flour together.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the milk and orange juice and mix together.
4. Pour in the olive oil gradually and stir to mix evenly.
5. Mix in the fruit and nuts.
6. Bake at 180°C for 45mins until the cake is firm and golden.

Best ever duck risotto?

2010-09-05T21:50:00.002+01:00

I think I may have made my best ever duck risotto tonight.

The risotto was made with red wine (hence the dodgy colour) and home-made duck stock. Topped with an egg poached in red wine and duck scratchings. My first mouthful of yolk, scratching, duck and rice really was as good as I hoped it would be. I'd been thinking about making this for ages and I was incredibly happy that this was one of those occasions when all the hard work really was worth it.

I think to improve things, I would use white wine in the risotto and include slightly more duck meat.

Here's the recipe for my duck risotto:

Ingredients:
700ml duck stock
200g Arborio rice
2 duck legs
1 bottle red wine
½ onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1tsp dried sage
2oz Parmesan
2oz butter
1 egg
Duck fat

Method:
1. Roast the duck legs and allow to cool. Remove the skin and slice into thin pieces. Pick the duck meat from the bone and chop into medium sized pieces.
2. Bring the duck stock to a low boil.
3. Sweat the onion in 1dsp duck fat. Once softened add the garlic and sage and fry for about 1min.
4. Add the rice and lightly toast until the grains start to turn translucent at the edges.
5. Add a glass or red wine and stir until it has all been absorbed.
6. Gradually add the stock one ladle at a time until it has all been absorbed and the rice still has a slight bite to it.
7. While the risotto is cooking make the garnishes. Fry the slices of duck skin in duck fat until crisp and golden.
8. Add the duck meat. Then beat in the cheese and butter. Leave the risotto to rest.
9. While the risotto is resting, bring the remainder of the wine to just under boiling and then poach the egg for about 2mins.
10. Spoon the risotto into a bowl and top with the egg and scratchings.

Wedding cake tasting

2010-09-04T17:54:00.015+01:00

Today was the tasting for the wedding cake that I am making. The brief is to create an 8" chocolate and fudge gateau (based on the Capuccino cake I made the other week). The aim of today's session was to try out different flavour combos and icing types and hopefully finalise the design.

To that end I spent last night making the actual cakes. There are going to be two chocolate layers sandwiching a vanilla layer (with chunks of fudge in the cake). I'd identified four different types of chocolate icing to try so I stamped out rings from the large cakes to create four cake stacks (I kept the leftovers so that we had some cake to try out things that I didn't do with my trial cakes.)

Each layer was sandwiched together with some (surprisingly excellent) fudge icing. This gave me four cakes to try out different chocolate icings with.

Icing 1: Ganache

I had a hunch that this was going to be too much. And it was.

The 70% chocolate and cream was too rich and heavy and overpowered the rest of the cake.

Strike 1.
(This is one of those times when I want an experimental kitchen so I can play with different proportions of cream and types of chocolate to create different ganaches for any occasion. )

Icing 2: Buttercream

This was a twist on the traditional chocolate buttercream made with cocoa, as it actually used melted chocolate.

This was a good option and went down well, as expected. After all who doesn't like buttercream?

Icing 3: Chocolate glaze

This was somehting I hadn't tried before. Chocolate melted with butter and mixed with hot water to give it a shine.
This was really difficult to ice the cakes with. Unfortunately the shine was not enough to compensate for the overpowering flavour form this chocolate heavy glaze.

Game over for this option.

(Although I would like to try it again with different types of chocolate).

Icing 4: Chocolate fudge

I'd kept this one to last as I'd a good feeling about it as soon as I'd made it.

Within moments of tasting I saw the eyes of the betrothed light up. This was the perfect combination of flavour, texture and appearance.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

However, that's not the end of the story. We'd decided on the chocolate icing but how would the cake be decorated?

We'd already agreed on chocolate curls for the sides for the previous design. This has been carried through and I'll be using milk chocolate curls to provide a contrast in colour. The final embellishment is going to be small pieces of fudge around the edge of the top surface to demark the transition between sides and top. A bit like this:

The cake is going to be finished with printer's blocks of the bride and groom's initials.

It would seem I have a final cake, all that needs to be done is to order the chocolate curls and for me to make the cake. I've taken the day off to create. I just hope it works out...

Here are the recipes:

Fudge icing (taken from Special Celebration Cake Book edited by Pamela Dotter)
Sufficient to cover the top and sides of an 8" cake.

Ingredients:
9oz icing sugar
3oz butter
3oz soft brown sugar

Method:
1. Sift icing sugar into a bowl.
2. Warm the remaining ingredients over a low heat.
3. Once the sugar has dissolved then beat into the icing sugar until smooth

Icing 1: Ganache (taken from What's Cooking Chocolate by Jacqueline Bellefontaine)

Ingredients:
450ml double cream
375g chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped finely

Method:
1. Bring the cream to the boil.
2. Add the chocolate to the pan and stir until melted and combined.
3. Pour into a bowl and whisk for 5mins until the ganache is fluffy and cool

Icing 2: Chocolate buttercream (taken from What's Cooking Chocolate by Jacqueline Bellefontaine)

Ingredients:
6oz butter
2tbsp milk
6oz chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped finely
12oz icing sugar

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie and allow to cool slightly.
2. Beat the remaining ingredients together until pale and fluffy.
3. Whisk in the chocolate.

Icing 3: Chocolate glaze (taken from The Cook's Book edited by Jill Norman)

Ingredients:
3oz butter
4floz water
8½oz chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped finely

Method:
1. Place the butter and water in a pan and bring just to the boil.
2. Add the chocolate to the centre of the pan and remove from the heat.
3. Slowly stir from the middle drawing the liquid into the chocolate until well blended. Take care not to beat in air and the glaze will develop a shine.

Icing 4: Chocolate fudge (taken from Special Celebration Cake Book edited by Pamela Dotter)

Ingredients:
4oz chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
2oz butter
1 egg
6oz, icing sugar, sifted

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate and butter over a bain marie.
2. Once melted beat the egg and mix into the chocolate.
3. Remove from the heat and beat in icing sugar until smooth

Camino, Puerto del Canario

2010-09-03T13:58:00.008+01:00

The week's eating out ended far better than it started with a magnificent lunch at Camino which is in its soft opening.

I had a delicious and massive Mixto platter:

Chorizo (simply beautiful slices of paprika spiced pork), chipirones (über crispy baby squid that was crunchy and tender), langostinos (very tasty, although I'd rather not peel and de-vein myself), croquetas de jamón, croquetas de eglefino, pan con tomate (refreshing and with a glorious smack of garlic) and pimientos de padrón (sautéed green peppers)

Every thing was fresh and delicious. Proper tapas that puts the La Tasca offerings to shame. With a lovely riverside location I can't recommend this place enough and it's not even open properly yet. This place is a keeper, I just hope it's here to stay.

Amerigo Vespucci

2010-08-31T22:01:00.008+01:00

I went out tonight with Robin of Source it, cook it, eat it for one of our semi-regular catch-ups over a decent meal. It was my turn to choose the venue and I'd seen a £15 for two courses deal at Amerigo Vespucci that was too good to turn down (especially when coupled with a voucher for a free glass of Pimms each).

The Early Bird menu we'd gone for was very limited: only two or three choice which were not on the à la carte menu. I went for the spaghetti carbonara and then the trout alla finocchi (trout with fennel).

We had some bread whilst waiting for our starters. Nothing remarkable about that but on this occasion quite a notable experience. Having asked for bread we were poured extravagant amounts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar onto our side plates (I was even treated to extra vinegar splashed over me). Then nothing. We waited a fair while, finished the Pimms and took in the beige surroundings and awful background music, before hunger took over and we asked for the bread that had been promised. The Italians, kings of tasty carbs, serving up dull bread which I'm pretty sure it wasn't made on site. What a disappointment.

My carbonara was good: plenty of crispy bacon in a cream sauce that wasn't too rich. The pasta was a touch too al dente. When propositioned with extra pepper from a laughably huge pepper grinder I couldn't possibly refuse, so I'll take responsibility for that.

My trout was not so good. The whole fish was presented on a bed of fennel and onion. I presume the whole lot had been steamed together. However, it was undercooked. Never before have I had such trouble removing fish from the bone. The accompanying potatoes and veg were ok, but emptying the side plates onto my plate was unnecessary. Why not just leave the dishes on the table and I'll help myself?

Halfway through my fish I was accosted by a waiter as he lent round the corner and over me to give Robin his second glass of wine. Commendable flexibility from the waiter (scoring an 8.5 from the Russian judge) but an armpit on my head it not conducive to a great dining experience.

We briefly contemplated a dessert but a lacklustre selection and the promise of a beer proved more tempting. Then when the bill came we were charged for some olives which we never had (maybe the waiter ate them while we were waiting for the bread). This pretty much summed up the meal.

Amerigo Vespucci is just round the corner from my office and I'd heard great things from quite a few colleagues. I'd wandered passed at lunchtime when a host of be-suited gents were basking in the midday sun feasting on great food. I was looking forward to finally eating at one of Canary Wharf's hidden gems. I wanted to rave about this place but, alas, it is not to be. I'm so disappointed that the food was merely OK, by no means great, and the service risible. I'll certainly not be heading back there soon, especially not at full price.

ICCHFC: Week 49 - Poppy seed cake with vanilla butter icing

2010-08-31T13:32:00.007+01:00

Hannah was back this week and gave us a choice of:

Poppy seed cake with vanilla butter icing
Hazelnut and chocolate cake
Chocolate and orange truffle cake

Needless to say the poppy seed was by far the most interesting option and was duly voted for.

This cake is only flavoured with poppy seeds and their flavour, whilst distinctive, is subtle. The cake was quite dense and the butter cream was an essential addition. I'm not sure anyone particularly loved it, but then no-one hated it. I don't think anyone would rush to bake it again. An unremarkable cake.

It must be noted that Hannah's version looked exactly like the picture in the recipe!

Hannah's Poppy seed cake (a Rachel Allen recipe as featured on the Good Food Channel)

Ingredients:

150g butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
100g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
75g poppy seeds
For the vanilla buttercream icing:
75g butter, softened
125g icing sugar, sifted
½tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3. Butter the sides of a 20cm cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, beating well between each addition.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder, add the poppy seeds and stir until well combined.

4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, making a slight hollow in the centre with the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until it is cooked in the centre and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to stand for five minutes before carefully removing it from the tin and transferring it to a wire rack to cool.
For the buttercream icing
6. Using an electric whisk, beat the butter until pale and soft, beat in the icing sugar and vanilla extract.
7. When the cake is cool, split it in half using a long-bladed serrated knife. Place one layer of the cake on a serving plate and spread over two generous tablespoons of the vanilla buttercream, then place the other half of the cake on top. Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides with a palette knife or table knife. The cake can also be kept whole, with the icing spread over the top and sides.

One year ago today...

2010-08-30T22:42:00.010+01:00

...I wrote my first blog post on a whim and it's become a normal way of life. To celebrate I made myself a little cake.

However, the real way to celebrate is via the medium of stats. In the past year,

I have written 195 posts (196 with this one) meaning I post every 1.87 days. At what rate does that become an addiction?
People have visited my site from 64 different countries. Unbelievable!

My most popular recipe has been about what to do with duck leftovers.
I've been to, and reviewed, 26 different eateries from all over the shop (not enough time to work out the number of miles visited, although it's something to bear in mind):

33 people have been fed Chez Buttaz and had their meals photographed and written about.

I wonder what the next year holds.

Triple-Layer Cappuccino Cake

2010-08-27T15:38:00.008+01:00

I brought in a birthday cake for Astrid today (although it was her birthday nearly three weeks ago, today was the first opportunity for celebration cake). Astrid had requested my take on the Marks and Spencer Triple Layer Cappuccino Cake:

Layers of chocolate and coffee cake, filled with coffee buttercream and decorated with chocolate squares and curls, dusted with cocoa powder.

but without the chocolate squares.

I love a challenge and this also was a good chance to try out some of the ideas for the wedding cake. A baking two-fer you say? Perfect.

I think Astrid was pretty happy with the end result, if not a little surprised with the sheer size of the thing. I don't think I'm over-egging the cake to say that it was ma-hoo-sive.

I was a bit worried the coffee layer wasn't going to be coffee flavoured enough, but it was good (mind you I think the 10oz of butter cream coffee icing helped).

I also learnt some good things in preparation for the wedding cake, like not touching up the icing in isolated areas (see top left corner of the first pic) and that pressing grated chocolate on to the sides of a cake is pretty difficult.

All in all a definite success for me and Astrid.

Here's my recipe for an 8" Cappuccino cake:

Ingredients:
12oz butter
12oz caster sugar
11oz plain flour
6 eggs
3tsp baking powder
1oz cocoa
4tsp instant coffee dissolved in as little hot water as possible
For the icing:
10oz butter
20oz icing sugar
4tsp instant coffee dissolved in as little hot water as possible
To decorate:
150g grated chocolate

Method:
1. For one cake layer, cream together 4oz butter and 4oz sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Beat in 2 eggs alternating with a spoonful of flour if the mix looks like it is curdling.
3. Sieve the remaining 4oz flour with 1tsp baking powder and gently fold into the mix.
4. For the chocolate layer use 3oz flour and 1oz cocoa. For each coffee layer use 2tsp instant coffee dissolved in as little hot water as possible.
5. Spoon the mix into a greased 8" cake tin and bake for 20-25mins at 180°C (the cake should just about be coming away from the sides and should spring back when gently prodded).
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 20mins before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. For the filling mix 4oz butter and 8oz icing sugar together with 2tsp instant coffee dissolved in as little hot water as possible. Sandwich the cakes together (coffee-chocolate-coffee) with half the icing between them.
8. Mix the icing sugar, butter and coffee together to cover the top and sides of the cake.
TIP: A palette knife dipped in hot water works really well here.
9. Grate the chocolate and gently press on to the sides of the cake.

Food waste

2010-08-25T22:15:00.004+01:00

I just watched Great British Waste Menu and feel compelled to actually write a post I've been thinking about writing for ages about the problem of waste food. The programme was trying to ram home the message that

Just because food is misshapen, blemished or the wrong size, it doesn't mean it's inedible. Yet every year retailers bin a shocking 400,000 tons of food.

To do this Angela Hartnett, Richard Corrigan, Matt Tebutt and Simon Rimmer created a banquet for 60 using waste food sourced from supermarket bins, restaurant waste and suppliers whose food didn't live up to the supermarkets standards.

It's this last thing that really irritates me. The way in which supermarkets dominate the food industry in this country is just madness. They are the ones that introduced these ridiculous standards like tomatoes being perfect crimson red spheres. Consumers have got so used to this that now that's what they expect. Now we've got a vicious circle where supply meets a demand it created and perpetuates. If you go into any supermarket on the continent they have real vegetables that are all different shapes and colours but all taste great (far better than the bland uniform single species we are subjected to).

We need to get back to eating seasonal local food. Isn't it ridiculous that the UK can't now produce enough food to sustain its own population? English asparagus is a wonderful treat available for only a few weeks a year. We should cherish and celebrate this, not fly in supplies from Peru. It's an irresponsible way to behave. [Note I realise I'm over simplifying and that there is now a huge moral dilemma created by importing from a third world whose economies rely on the export trade.]

Another aspect of the problem is that people just don't apply common sense. Slavish conformance to a confusing food labelling system means perfectly good food is thrown away. This is compounded because people just don't cook any more, so they don't know what to do with the random leftovers in the fridge.

This is such a massive subject that something radical needs to be done so that society starts behaving responsibly and acting in a sustainable manner, it leaves me wondering what I can do.

I know something can be done because I barely throw any food out because its gone off. I don't live a puritan lifestyle either. I just buy what I need and make sure I use it all. It's not rocket surgery.

I whole heartedly support WRAP's Love Food hate waste campaign and the work of FareShare. There must be more I can do; maybe teach people to cook or finally find a charity I can volunteer for. It's so very frustrating not being able to make a difference...

</rant>

Infrequent news update

2010-08-23T22:36:00.002+01:00

It's been a quiet couple of weeks on the foodie front. Needless to say I still have some irons in the fire, including:

I've got a commission for a wedding cake! We've nailed the conceptual design (well, subject to bridal confirmation). "Just" a trial run to confirm the actually cake and icing layers to be used. Am massively nervous about this and very conscious that there's barely more than a month till the big day. GULP! More posts to follow as things progress from paper to cake.
Am currently considering the options for my first "proper" set of knives. I know it doesn't make sense to do as much cooking as I do with only one knife. I guess I've just never got round to buying any more. It's the last big thing missing from my culinary toolbox.
I might be doing some work on Unearthed environmental performance which would be a good mix of business and pleasure.
Finally apparently I'm going to be hosting a supper club, starting up a restaurant and giving lessons quite soon. At least if you actually believe the drunken musings of my friends...

P.S. My sister's just started a holiday around Italy. How jealous am I of all the amazing food she's going to eat (especially the gelato)?

ICCHFC: Week 48 - Pecan and apple muffins

2010-08-23T22:08:00.005+01:00

Marianne was back on cake duty today. She seems to be making here way through the Hummingbird Bakery book that she was given for Christmas. This time she went for pecan and apple muffins. Committed to the max (as ever), Marianne brought in disposable plates and cutlery so that we could have the clotted cream as recommended in the book!

Marianne was needlessly worried about these little muffins. Although the advertised apple didn't really put in much of an appearance, these muffins were packed full of pecans and spicy cinnamon. They were a tasty pick-me-up for a first Monday back in the office.

ICCHFC: Week 47 - Bara Brith

2010-08-16T21:49:00.004+01:00

According to everyone else, John brought in a brilliant traditional Welsh Bara Brith. Unfortunately I missed out as I was learning about the "wonderful" PRINCE2 project management methodology in Liverpool Street. I did have more than my fair share of break-time biscuits over the week to compensate, although nothing beats a slice of cake.

NEWSFLASH - Turns out John's Welsh pal had made the cake for him and gave it to John to take back with him at the end of his trip to this motherland!

Rhodes W1 Brasserie

2010-08-12T12:54:00.010+01:00

I had my first Gary Rhodes experience this week when I went to the Rhodes W1 Brasserie with The Sisters. We went using an offer from lastminute.com: £20 for three courses.

The Brasserie is located right at the front of the hotel and has a contemporary minimalist feel about it with high ceilings, lots of glass, dark wood and shiny metal. For a Tuesday evening it was pretty busy and there was a friendly atmosphere albeit slightly subdued due to the cavernous room and the almost gloomy lighting (which also accounts for the slightly worse than usual pictures that follow).

I was expecting a limited menu but got a little carried away when E and I were discussing the menu outside. It was only after we'd decided what we were going to have that we saw that none of our choices were on the menu! It turns out that the three options for each course on the offer menu were completely different from the à la carte menu, which was surprising. Normally offer menus have a selection of the cheapest dishes on the standard menu with maybe a few tweaks.

***

Warm steamed smoked salmon with apple and celeriac remoulade

A perfectly cooked cube of warm salmon on a very complimentary remoulade. However, the grapefruit garnish was tongue-puckeringly sour (even though the little yellow pieces had been given a going over with a blow torch). The sister both enjoyed their (uninspired) starters of chicken liver parfait and gazpacho.

***

Chicken sautéed with mushroom, tarragon and green grapes served with buttered tagliatelle

My chicken was heroically moist and tender with a delicious crispy skin. The tagliatelle, mushrooms and tarragon cream sauce were rich and well matched to the chicken. I'm not really sure what to say about the grapes, they sort of passed me by neither adding nor detracting from the overall experience. Pretty superfluous then, I guess.

***

Strawberry sundae

The desserts were a rather safe affair with a choice of lemon tart with a strawberry and raspberry coulis, crème brûlée or a strawberry sundae. The sundae was pretty good with a balanced mix of sorbet, ice-cream, coulis and Chantilly cream (although someone had been a bit heavy handed with the lemon). The tuile was raised above par with slices of golden raisins running through it.

We had a good night overall. The food was OK, the service excellent but it did feel like we were sitting in reception of the hotel which was bit odd. I wouldn't rush back although having said that I'd like to try the à la carte menu. Mind you, I'd be unhappy at paying pretty high prices (£8 starters and £15 mains) if the food was just as uninspiring, even accounting for the fact that this is the brasserie.