Things you buy, not make.

What do these items on the right have in common?

Well, they are things you buy rather than make. Apparently.

This came up during a pre-Christmas Sunday pub lunch, where the topic of conversation turned to crumpets. I'm not sure why (maybe because I'd made some that morning). This lead to a conversation about things that you buy not make and consequently a culinary challenge.

Tonight saw me prove that you really can make everything. Putting a menu together really was quite difficult. Just how do you feature the teatime treat of crumpets into a dinner menu? My only option was a multi-course tasting menu, so (as you may have guessed from the picture) we ended up having:

Vegetable crisps and red pepper houmous

***

Crumpets

***

Baked beans on toast

***

Fish fingers

***

Scotch Eggs

***

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

Vegetable crisps and red pepper houmous

I've wanted to make vegetable crisps for ages and was very pleased that these turned out really well. I made a variety of root vegetables and seasonings: carrot and cinnamon (depth of flavour), parsnip and cumin (spicy and sweet), sweet potato and smoked paprika (smoky and sweet). Using both a mandolin and a peeler to make different crisps gave an interesting mix of textures. Unfortunately the strength of the red pepper houmous was too much for the crisps (especially the more delicate "peeler" crisps; it over-powered rather than supported.

Baked beans on toast

I got the recipe for these beans from Tom Kerridge and his recent "Proper Pub Food" programme/book. They are quite acidic which tends to over-power the other flavours. I think if I made them again I would reduce the amount of red wine vinegar. I also made the bread (obviously!), which, given it was the first loaf I'd made for quite some time, turned out very well.

Fish fingers

I dissected a cod loin to make the fish fingers. I was going to carefully craft "proper" finger shapes but we came to an agreed position that that would actually be a waste of fish, so we had fish "snowmen". Obviously I made the tartare sauce as well.

Scotch eggs

The main event. I had a practice run a few days before and was quietly confident that these would be a success. They were. The lightly spiced pork, enveloped in a crispy breadcrumb layer with a still runny yolk hiding beneath it all. It was a deeply savoury treat but at the same time delicate. Having it hot really does make a difference in turning it into something of a gastronomic treat far beyond a cold snack. Paul's Plum Sauce (a Christmas present) was a very well-balanced fruity and tangy accompaniment.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

I'd originally been set a challenge of making Revels, but time was against me and I didn't really know how to make revels into a proper dessert. Given the A and K's delight in peanut butter, I went for a super-sized Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It was a chocolate pastry case with a peanut butter cream filling topped with ganache. The level of conversation declined quite considerably when I put this on the table, so I think it went down well. 

My version was more "grown-up" than the American confection. It wasn't quite so sweet, with the the bitter topping a good foil to the silky rich filling (opposed to the chalky Reese's interior). There combination of textures was also rather moreish.

The whole evening, although slightly stressful, went very well with all the food well received (despite "bean suspicions"). Although we did realise that it was a very "orange" feast, as most processed foods seem to be. Anyway, another challenge successfully taken on. Definitely the hardest yet. On to the recipes:

Vegetable crisps and red pepper houmous

No recipe here. Just make houmous as usual (chickpeas, tahini, lemon, olive oil, garlic, seasoning) adding as few or as many pepperdew peppers to suit your taste.

Crumpets

I used my tried and tested Gary Rhodes recipe.

Baked beans on toast (taken from Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food) - serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tin haricot or flageolet beans, drained and rinsed

100g smoked streaky bacon, diced
100g onions, finely chopped
Garlic clove, minced
1 can chopped tomatoes
1tbsp tomato puree
75g soft dark brown sugar
100ml red wine vinegar
250ml water

Method:
1. Heat some oil in a large casserole and fry the bacon until crisp.
2. Add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft.
3. Add the vinegar and de-glaze the pan.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients (apart from the beans) and bring to the boil.
5. Add the beans and simmer over a low heat for 1.5-2h until the sauce is thick and the beans soft.
6. Serve on slices of buttered toast.


Fish fingers and tartare sauce

I'm not sure there's much of a recipe for the fish fingers. Simply cut some fish into suitable pieces, dust in seasoned flour, douse in beaten egg and then cover liberally with breadcrumbs. Fry gently until the coating is crisp.

There's slightly more to tartar sauce though.

Ingredients:

Egg yolk

1tsp Dijon mustard

Flavourless oil

Gherkins, chopped finely (I used cornichons)

Capers

Parsley

Lemon juice

Method:

1. Mix the egg yolk and mustard together in a bowl.

2. Gradually whisk oil into the egg mix until the desired quantity and consistency is reached.

3. Add the capers, gherkins and parsley to taste.

4. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Scotch Eggs (taken from Heston's recipe)

Ingredients:
10 medium egg
450g good-quality sausages, skins removed
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cornflour
45g Dijon mustard
Plain flour, seasoned
125g breadcrumbs

Method:
1. Put 8 eggs into a pan in which they fit in a single layer. Add enough cold water to cover the eggs by 3cm and cover with a lid then place the pan over a high heat.
2. Once the water comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and allow to stand for 3 minutes. In the meantime, fill a bowl with ice and cold water and after the 3 minutes, transfer the eggs to the iced water.
3. Leave to cool for 10–15 minutes.
4. Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, carefully peel off the shells using a teaspoon.
5. Place the sausagemeat in a food processor with the smoked paprika, cornflour, mustard, and a splash of cold water. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and blitz together. Divide into eight balls, approximately 55g per portion.
6. Flatten each portion of sausagemeat between two sheets of clingfilm into a circle, then remove the top layer of clingfilm. Place an egg in the centre of each sausage meat circle. Wrap the sausage meat around the egg, by bringing all of the edges together and twist the top of the clingfilm. Press the edges to seal but don’t press too hard. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
7. Roll each coated egg in the seasoned flour, then dip it the remaining beaten eggs. Finally, roll it in the breadcrumbs, making sure that all sides are coated. Place the eggs in the fridge for 15 minutes.
8. Fry the Scotch eggs until golden brown in a deep fat fryer at 190º.
9. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a baking tray.
10. When all the eggs have been fried, place in the oven for 10 minutes at 190ºC

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (This came from A Cozy Kitchen, sorry about the American cups...)

Ingredients:
For the crust:
4oz butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
For the filling:
3oz butter, room temperature
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp double cream
For the topping:
75ml double cream
75g dark chocolate, broken in to pieces

0.5oz butter

Topping:
Maldon sea salt

Method:
1. To make the pastry cream the butter and sugar until combined. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Sift in flour and cocoa powder, and beat on low speed until just combined. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and form it into a disk; wrap well in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
2. Preheat oven to 160°C. Between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper, roll the tart dough into a 14-inch circle. Gently transfer dough to a 9 1/2-inch tart pan. Press the dough into the tart pan, trimming away any excess dough. Chill the tart shell in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
3. Line the tart shell with a piece of parchment paper, and fill with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and its contents, and bake until the pastry looks dry and set, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.
4. To make the filling, beat together the ingredients until smooth.
5. Fill the cooled tart crust with the peanut butter mixture and smooth top. Chill for 30 minutes to set.
6. Meanwhile, make the ganache. Place the chocolate, cream and butter in a bain marie and heat until the chocolate melts. Pour some the glaze over the tart while still (just) warm.

Top with a few sprinkles of sea salt and serve.

Banana loaf

What better way to herald a (hopefully regular) return to blogging than with a cake recipe? Clearly there are more articles on here relating to cake than anything else.

I've many things to update since my last post (to be detailed in a forthcoming post) not least that I have returned to the place of operation of the ICCHFC and with that a cake request. My cake "prowess" was much vaunted by a former colleague who couldn't believe that I hadn't supplied cake yet. Consequently she practically demanded a banana cake.

Who am I to disappoint? After a week for banana-ripening this was my riposte:

Clearly I couldn't just turn up with a bog-standard banana loaf. Mine was enhanced with a banana cream filling and topped with a rich ganache and some chewy banana coins.

I'm pleased to say it went down rather well. So much so that the requester actually took a break from a meeting for cake sampling.

This was a tried and tested recipe but it wasn't hit-you-in-the-face banana-y, as it has been before. I suspect banana ripeness is the crucial factor. Previously I've used bananas that are so mottled with brown spots they've practically walked out of the fruit dish. This time I didn't use such ripened fruit having read somewhere that the ripeness wasn't actually a string determining factor in imparting banana flavour. I disagree.

Anyhoo, despite me also thinking that it was a tad over-baked, it was still a good experiment. The banana cream adds a burst of freshness and a hit of banana. The chocolate topping is good but one could suggest that ganache may be too rich and over-powering in the quantity I used. I think it needs a light covering instead of a generous slathering. The banana coins were a good addition giving a textural element to the cake.

Anyway on to the recipe that I would use next time (including the reduced ganache quantities).

Banana loaf recipe

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas

2 eggs

1 tbsp honey

8oz plain flour

4oz butter, softened

4oz Muscavado sugar

1.5tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

2oz banana coins, roughly chopped to decorate

For the banana cream filling:

75ml double cream

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2tbsp icing sugar, sifted

Squeeze lemon juice

For the chocolate ganache topping:

50ml double cream

50g dark chocolate

1/2oz butter

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the eggs, one at a time (add a little flour to prevent curdling), and the honey.
3. Mash the bananas but be sure to leave some large-ish lumps.

4. Gently stir in the bananas and chocolate.

5. Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarb and fold in until combined.
6. Pour the the mix into a buttered and lined 2lb loaf tin (add a little milk to loosen the batter, if necessary)

7. Bake at 175°C for 30mins then cover with foil. Continue to bake and check every 15mins until done (a skewer comes out clean)
8. Meanwhile to make the banana cream gently whip the cream to the soft peak stage. Add all the other ingredients and gently combine. (NB. Add the sugar, vanilla to taste).
9. Once the loaf has baked and cooled. Split horizontally and sandwich together with the banana cream.
10. To make the chocolate ganache, heat the chocolate, cream and butter in a bain marie until the chocolate has melted. Stir to ensure all the ingredients are fully combined the refridgerate until the mix has thickened to a spreadable conssitency.
11. Slather the chocolate icing all over the top of the cake and douse liberally with banana pieces to finish.