Battenberg (and baked potatoes)

Tonight was the culmination of yet another culinary challenge from K&A. The theme was Battenberg and baked potatoes in recognition of Rhod Gilbert's latest comic DVD offering. I'll give you one guess as to who was providing the Battenberg...

First order of the day was research. Now a cake always has to taste good, but in this case appearance was just as important. A Mr Kipling Battenberg was duly procured. I'm not a fan of using food-colouring but there'd be no option this time. The determining factor for my square cross-sections would be the rise of the cake. Only once the cake was baked would I be able to determine the appropriate proportional length.

Interestingly the packaged described the multi-coloured cake as

chequered sponge with apricot filling wrapped in almond flavoured paste

Hardly mouth-watering, eh?

Once I worked out how to bake "squares" (I divided an 8" square loose-bottomed tin with a greaseproof paper-covered foil divider), I was just left worrying about making marzipan. My Dad always makes the marzipan for our Christmas cake so I knew it was possible and a damn sight tastier than the packaged stuff. I was amazed at just how easy it is making marzipan. Far simpler than I had expected. (Mind you, had the marzipan gone wrong I was prepared to resort to packet-stuff. Only as a last resort back-up.)

It turns out my cake was a behemoth when compared to the mass-produced ones. I'd provided the large Mr Kipling but there were also mini versions available. (It's as if there was no faith in my Battenberg-producing skills...)

In terms of overall appearance I think I did pretty well. It could have been a little pinker and maybe I should have trimmed the brown edges sides of the cakes. I also hadn't enhanced the yellow part of my cake, relying on the natural colour of the sponge.

Taste-wise I think I trumped Mr Kipling. My cake was less sweet and had a far less "false" chemical flavour. I was right about the marzipan being far more palatable too. I now understand why people say they don't like it. I wonder how many of those have actually tried home-made marzipan? It was so good even the leftovers were made light work of.

Anyway, on to the recipe

Recipe for Battenberg cake

Ingredients:

3 eggs

6oz plain flour

1tsp baking powder

6oz caster sugar

6oz butter

1/4tsp almond essence

Red food colouring

Apricot jam

For the marzipan:

75g icing sugar

1 egg

1tbsp lemon juice

175 ground almonds

1 egg yolk

Method:

1. To make the cake make a three egg Victoria sponge batter in the normal fashion (cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and then fold in the sifted baking powder and flour).

2. Divide the batter into two equal portions. To one half add red food colouring until a desired level of pink is achieved.

3. To the other half add the almond essence.

4. To prepare the tin, first of all grease liberally. Then make an 8" foil divider and wedge in the middle of the tin. Then line the tin, and divider with greaseproof paper leaving the ends overlapping (so that it is easier to remove the cake).
5. Put the two cake mixes either side of the divider and bake at 180°C for 20min or until done.
6. Once cool, stack the two cakes on top of one another and trim so that they are the same size. Then split in half longitudinally.

7. Gently warm some apricot jam and slacken with a dash of water until a smooth easily spreadable consistency is achieved.
8. Sandwich the four rectangles of cake together with the jam, making sure to alternate the cakes to achieve the chequerboard effect.

9. For the marzipan, whisk the egg, egg yolk and sugar in a bain marie for about 10mins until pale and thick

10. Take the "sabayon" off the heat and beat in the lemon juice and almonds until smooth.

11. Chill for 30 mins.

12. Roll-out the marzipan, dusting the surface with icing sugar. Ensure the marzipan is large enough to completely enrobe the cake.
13. Brush one edge of the cake with jam and place on an edge of the marzipan. Brush the remaining exposed sides with jam (not the ends!) then swaddle the cake in marzipan. Try to keep the seam at the bottom. Trim any excess marzipan.
14. Tidy up the end by chopping them off (chef's perk!) to reveal a marzipan encased cake.

Tap Water - know your rights!

I hate having to buy mineral water at restaurants. I'm perfectly satisfied with a glass of tap water.

MoneySavingExpert.com has produced an excellent guide to getting free tap water in restaurants. It seems that

...only licensed establishments (those that serve alcohol) in England, Wales and Scotland must provide free drinking water.

According to Section 136 of the Licensing Act 2003, which came into force in April 2010, all restaurants in England and Wales that serve alcohol are legally required to give customers free tap water (the legislation for Scotland is the same, but it's a different act). Those that don't are under no obligation to do so.

That doesn't mean that they can't charge for the use of a glass!

Pied a Terre

I went for lunch today at Pied à Terre which "...is reportedly one of London's best value lunch menus for Michelin star dining.". Unfortunately, it was so good it didn't actually end up being as bargainous as I thought. Now, I don't mean that in a derogatory way. Far from it. It exceeded my expectations for a lunch by so much we were there for over two hours savouring every bite.

We should have realised this was going to be no ordinary lunch as soon as the fresh truffle croquette (a delightful crispy, earthy mouthful) and scallop ball appeared. Canapés at a lunch? With truffle? My my.

Now gnocchi are one of my (many) weaknesses, so there was simply no chance of me not having the chestnut gnocchi. They were billowy pillows lightly fried anointed with Parmesan. The mushroom vinaigrette and the slivers of spring truffle accompanied them perfectly. It made for quite an autumnal dish but so delicate it was perfect for a mild June afternoon.

I'd had a quick perusal of the menu on-line before going and had decided on the rabbit for the main course. Unfortunately it had been replaced by pork belly, the ubiquity of which is making less of an automatic choice. Instead I had to "make-do" with the perfectly roasted fillet of sea-bream. This came with salt baked celeriac and a silky smooth asparagus and Parmesan cream. Delicious.

Oh and the bread! At least five freshly-baked (as in still-warm-from-the-oven) types continuously offered during the first two courses. Are you sure this is the set lunch?

By now dessert was a foregone conclusion. But first, of course, the pre-dessert, a pair of sublime quenelles: coconut ice cream and mango sorbet. The white chocolate tart with poached rhubarb and a rhubarb sorbet that followed wasn't bad either. The tart was actually a white chocolate custard tart with a brûléed top, not what I was expecting but perfectly executed: thin crisp pastry, a layer of rhubarb purée and a ridiculously smooth and just barely set centre.

Coffee was accompanied by a seemingly never ending selection of petits fours: a mango jelly, lemon tart, white chocolate fudge, fresh cinnamon doughnuts and a coconut truffle. And don't forget this was just lunch. Seriously.

The service throughout was impeccable and friendly. A simply faultless meal exceeding all expectations. What a lunch. I need to find an "excuse to go again". You simply must go if you have any appreciation for good food. But just don't go expecting to have "just" the set lunch...

Tasty Art

Tasty Art specialise in food-based art. That is art featuring, not made of, food.

They specialise in London-based artists and feature photographers and artists. It looks like I finally have a reason to do some interior design...

Avocado and Peanut butter

Tonight I hosted a celebratory meal for a very new primary school deputy-head. In order to celebrate suitably a meal featuring avocado and peanut butter was requested.

Now I love the challenge of sculpting a meal to a certain set of conditions but I wasn't too sure what to do with avocado. It's never really used as the main thrust of a dish more as a featuring accompaniment. Thus I turned to Niki Segnit's The Flavour Thesaurus for inspiration and found it in spades. The peanut butter element was far too easy as I love peanut butter and it makes for a great dessert. The problem was more trying to reign myself in. Anyhoo, we ended up having:

Avocado and Cucumber "soup"

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Avocado Tasting Plate

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Spring Vegetable Tagliatelle

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Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich and Grape Sorbet

Avocado and Cucumber "soup"

On a warm June's evening this was a delightful fresh start. The flavours of the avocado and cucumber complemented each other perfectly, accented by lemon juice. A little dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper gave a rounded and more complete mouthful.

Avocado Tasting Plate

Because I wasn't quite sure what to do with the avocado I put together an avocado tasting plate pairing avocado in three different ways: avocado with bacon and blue cheese; grilled avocado, grapefruit and prawn; and finally avocado and mango. I had a hunch that these should be eaten in the same order going from a very savoury salt end through the flavour spectrum to almost sweet with mango.

Rather pleasingly it all worked out rather well. Each of the combinations worked really well. So much so that all the trimmings were very quickly hoovered up and a various different combinations were tried and tested, not all quite so successful as my original!

Spring Vegetable Tagliatelle

Having put so much effort into the avocado and peanut butter elements, I was little lost for inspiration in terms of the main course. I went for a simple spring/summer vegetable pasta: mangetout, peas and asparagus seasoned with lemon and mint. Fresh, seasonal and very tasty.

Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich and Grape Sorbet

For dessert I put together a peanut butter and jam sandwich. Two peanut butter cookies sandwiched together by fresh peanut butter ice-cream and blackcurrant jam, served with a  grape sorbet.

The ice-cream was delicious but was over-whelmed by too much biscuit. Peeling off one of the cookies gave a much better balance. The grape sorbet gave a lovely contrast to the rich creamy ice-cream and also prevented the peanut-butter flavour from being too dominant. It went down well but not the resounding finish I was hoping for.

To try and improve I gave it another go the following day, essentially making and ice-cream "cheesecake". I crumbled one of the peanut butter cookies up as the base, covered that with jam and then put the ice-cream on top. It was served with the sorbet on top and a shard of salted peanut brittle. This had a much better balance although it was just too big! (Not something I ever thought I'd say!)

All in all a very good night. Here are the recipes:

Avocado and cucumber "soup"

Ingredients:

Half cucumber, de-seeded and roughly chopped

Medium-sized avocado, roughly chopped

Juice of half a lemon

Sour cream

Cayenne pepper

Method:

1. Put the avocado, cucumber and lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth adding a little water at a time to achieve a silky consistency.

2. Season with salt and pepper (and lemon juice) to taste and chill.

3. Serve in espresso cups topped with a teaspoon of sour cream and a restrained sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

Avocado Tasting Plate

Ingredients:
Two ripe avocados
3 slices of white bread, crusts removed, cut into three
2 slices of dry-cured bacon
Gorgonzola
Half red chilli, finely diced
Lime juice
Red grapefruit, segmented
Prawns
Mango, sliced
Mint, chopped
Melted butter

Method:
For the avocado, bacon and blue cheese:
1. Fry the bacon until crisp, leave to cool and then cut into pieces.
2. In the same pan, fry one side of three of the bread slices in the bacon fat until crispy.
3. Brush the other side of the bread with melted butter and fry until toasted.
4. Mash half an avocado with lime juice, salt and pepper and chilli to taste.
5. To serve, liberally spread the avocado on the toast. Sprinkle over the bacon bits and add little pinches of blue cheese. Finish with a light drizzle of olive oil.
For the avocado, grapefruit and prawn:
1. Slice and avocado thickly. Liberally brush three slices with melted butter and season. Grill.
2. Brush three slices of bread with melted butter on both sides and fry until toasted.
3. Fry the prawn in a dash of butter until just cooked and then season with lime juice, salt and pepper.
4. To serve, place an avocado slice on each piece of bread, top with a grapefruit segment and a prawn
For the avocado and mango:
1. Marinate slices of avocado and mango in lime juice and mint.
2. Brush three slices of bread with melted butter on both sides and fry until toasted.
3. To serve, top the bread with a slice of avocado and a slice of mango.
[Note: This might actually work better as a mango and avocado salsa, rather than slices of each]

Spring Vegetable Tagliatelle (serves 3, inspired by Simon Rimmer's Pasta primavera)

Ingredients: 
1/2 onion, finely chopped
300g tagliatelle, cooked and cooking water reserved
2oz butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
200g asparagus, blanched, cut into bite-sized pieces
200g frozen peas, podded
200g mangetout
150g baby spinach
1 lemon, juice and zest
Parmesan shavings
Half bunch mint, chopped
Half bunch parsley, chopped

Method:
1. Heat the butter in a pan, sweat the onion until translucent then add the garlic and fry for one minute.
2. Add the asparagus, peas, mangetout and spinach and stir fry for 1-2 minutes, until the spinach has wilted slightly.
3. Add the pasta and a little of the cooking water to the pan and stir to combine.
4  Stir in the lemon juice and zest and the herbs and season, to taste.
5. To serve, divide the pasta and sprinkle over Parmesan shavings and drizzle with olive oil.

For the dessert I'll just give you the recipes for the peanut-butter ice-cream and grape sorbet.

Peanut butter ice-cream (taken from Allrecipes)
Makes 500ml

Ingredients:
2tbsp caster sugar
2 eggs
125ml milk
100g peanut butter
80ml sweetened condensed milk
60ml double cream
1tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until thick, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
2. Bring the milk to a simmer over low heat.
3. Take off the heat and gradually add the milk to the eggs while whisking vigorously. Then pour the whole mixture into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter. Allow to cool slightly, then whisk in the sweetened condensed milk, single cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
5. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Or put in a container and freezer, taking out of the freezer and whisking every hour for the first three hours. Then leave to freeze.

Grape sorbet (from Niki Segnit's The Flavour Thesaurus)

Ingredients:
250ml red grape juice
100ml water
100g caster sugar.

Method:
1. Warm the water and sugar together in a pan until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Take off the heat and combine with the grape juice. Leave to cool.
3. Once cool, pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Or put in a container and freezer, taking out of the freezer and whisking every hour for the first three hours. Then leave to freeze.

Pineapple steamed puddings

Three things coincided today which resulted in this little pud being created: I was bored and had time on my hands; I fancied a pudding; and I had a fresh pineapple to use.

It had a deep caramel flavour combined with the warm spice of cinnamon and all spice which provided a contrast to the perky fresh pineapple. The little bits of red chilli gave it a very gently kick at the end. A little blob of sour cream rounded things off nicely. As with all steamed puddings it was comfortingly fluffy and yet light (and small) enough to be OK for a sunny day.

Not bad for a little Saturday afternoon experiment.

Recipe for Pineapple steamed puddings (makes two)

Ingredients:

2oz butter

2oz dark muscavado sugar

1 egg

2oz plain flour, sifted

1/2tsp baking powder

1/4tsp cinnamon

1/4tsp all spice

2dsp Golden Syrup

3tbsp fre3sh pineapple, finely diced

1/2 red chilli, chopped finely

Method:

1. Make the cake batter as per a normal sponge: cream the butter and sugar until pale. Beat in the egg and fold in the flour, baking powder and spices. (Note: add more spice to suit your taste but remember, you can always add, but never take away...)

2. Butter two dariole moulds thoroughly.

3. Put enough Golden Syrup to just coat the bottom of the moulds (about 1dsp).

4. Mix the chilli and pineapple pieces and liberally fill the mould to about 1/2" depth.

5. Divide the batter between the two moulds.

6. Secure a lid of pleated greaseproof and foil on.

7. Steam for 45mins (until a skewer comes out clean from the middle).

8. Un-mould on to a plate and serve with a dash of sour cream.

Asparagus Soup

I don't think anyone would disagree with the fact that it has not been a classic season for English asparagus (pesky rainy weather). Nevertheless, it is still an annual treat to ram as much of these delicious green spears down as possible. Earlier this week I picked up a particularly thick bunch (in contrast to the more desirable wispy stalks) and was trying to work out what to do with them.

Perusing BBC Food for inspiration (doesn't everyone?), I came across this James Martin recipe for an asparagus soup. Given the delightful spring day (note heavy sarcasm) and the state of the asparagus, a soup did appeal.

The soup was rich and smooth, but surprisingly light. The crispy potatoes and asparagus tips meant that every mouthful had lots of different textures. The watercress was slightly odd (but I didn't de-stalk) and I would leave those out in the future.

Definitely a good way to use up either old or less aesthetically pleasing asparagus.

Asparagus Soup (based on this James Martin recipe)

Ingredients:
2oz butter
1/2 onion, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
300g asparagus, stalks roughly chopped, tips set aside for the stir fry
10fl oz chicken stock
2tbsp sour cream
For the garnish:
4oz Jersey Royal potatoes, cooked and cut into cubes
Asparagus tips

Method:

1. Sweat the onion and thyme in butter for two minutes.
2. Add the asparagus stalks and cook for one minute.
3. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 7-8 minutes, until the asparagus is just tender.
4. Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.
5. Return the soup to the pan over a medium heat and add the cream. Stir well and season, to taste.
6. For the garnish, fry the potatoes in olive oil until beginning to colour.
7. Add the asparagus tips and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the asparagus is cooked through.
8. To serve, divide the potato and asparagus stir fry equally among the centre of shallow soup bowls and ladle the soup around each.