Phoodie Phile - phoodilicious!

Chocolate chilli marshmallow brownies

2012-12-30T21:51:00.001+00:00

I made these brownies the other day and haven't been able to stop craving them ever since, which is not good for my waist! The heat of the chilli is not particularly noticeable at first bite but you will notice the warmth as it goes down. If you are not sure about the chilli factor I suggest you reduce the quantity a little.

150g salted butter, cut into dice
150g dark chilli chocolate (with 60 – 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped into small bits (or use dark choc and add 3/4 tsp ancho chilli powder preferably or 1/2 tsp chipotle and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)125g plain flour
1 tablespoon good quality cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
225g caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g mini marshmallows, or roughly chopped full size ones

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Butter a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) square baking dish or pan and line with a enough baking paper or foil to leave a bit of overhang on either side. This is so you can easily lift out the brownies afterwards using the overhang as handles.
In a small saucepan, gently melt the butter and dark chocolate together over a very low heat, constantly stirring till just melted. Leave to cool a little.
While the chocolate mixture is cooling, mix together the plain flour and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and caster sugar in large bowl until fairly smooth.
When the chocolate mixture is just warm to the touch, pour it into the eggs and sugar and mix well.
Add the flour mixture and mix thoroughly, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl well to blend any pockets of flour.
Tumble in all the marshmallows and roughly mix.
Pour and scrape the brownie batter into the prepared baking dish, spreading it to the corners. Don’t worry if the marshmallows aren’t evenly distributed.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, rotating the dish halfway through.
The brownies are ready when the batter is set, crackly and shiny on top. A skewer/toothpick poked into the outer third of the brownie should come out clean or with a moist crumb, while the very middle should be quite wet.

You can bake them for a few minutes more if you don’t like your brownies to be too gooey, but at this stage the brownies shouldn’t be done all the way through or it’ll just be chocolate cake when it’s completely cooled.

When the brownies are ready, immediately take them out of the oven and leave them cool completely on a rack. Cut into 9 large pieces or 12 smaller ones, bearing in mind that these brownies are very rich.

Refrigerate any leftover brownies in a container, wrapped in their baking paper or foil. Eat within 1 week ( like that will be a problem?!)

Quick update

2010-11-15T20:39:00.000+00:00

Just a quick update to say I haven't got bored of blogging already - just been crazy busy with the day job and have been away from home for the past 3 weeks (including the weekends!! - I don't get paid enough for that kind of dedication!). Back home 4 days and will now be off to the States (Texas, Colorado and California) on Wednesday for a week on business - so blogging unfortunately got to take a back seat for a few more days :-(

Look forward to catching up on reading your blogs too when I get back ;-)

Ginger Glazed Pork Hocks

2010-11-03T16:50:00.000+00:00

Ginger glazed pork hocks slow cooked in fiery ginger beer

This recipe comes from the Waitrose magazine, a cutting I had stashed away for safe-keeping but unfortunately I did not make a note of the date or photo credit. These pork hocks are slow cooked in fiery ginger beer then glazed in the oven until sticky and golden. They can be cooked in a slow cooker or in a conventional oven as you prefer. Nice served with a buttery mash or colcannon, would also go well with rice and a green vegetable such as a soy braised pac choi or lightly steamed tenderstem broccoli.

Serves 4
Prep time: 30 mins approx.
Cook time: slow cooker 3.5hrs - 6.5hrs (depending on heat setting); conventional oven: approx. 3 hrs

2 x large pork hocks (about 1kg each) - not ham hocks
2 litre bottle of fiery ginger beer
4 x bay leaves
12 x whole cloves
5tbs ginger marmalade (or orange and ginger)
1.5tbs wholegrain mustard
50g dark brown soft sugar
1 tbs finely grated ginger, just the pulp not the fibres

1. Put the hocks in a slow cooker and cover with ginger beer. There should be at least 4cm gap between the contents and the lid of the slow cooker.
2. Add the bay leaves and cloves, cover and cook on high for 3-4hrs (or on low for about 6hrs) until the meat is pulling away from the bone and is very tender.
3. To make the glaze mix together the remaining ingredients, cover and set aside till the pork is cooked.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C/ gas 7.
5. Put the hocks in alarge foil-lined roasting pan.
6. Remove the skin from the hocks leaving a thin layer of the fat on the hocks.
7. Smother the hocks with the glaze.
8. Pour 500ml of the cookign liquid around the hocks and bake in the oven for 20 mins, basting a couple of times, until golden.
9. Serve the hocks drizzled with some of the syrupy pan juices.

For the conventional oven:
Cook the hocks in a large, deep, covered pan, immersed in the ginger beer (add water if not enough beer to cover). Add the bay leaves and cloves and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 2
hours until the meat is pulling away from the bones and is very tender. Then continue as above.

Caramelised Pork Hock with Chilli Vinegar

2010-10-31T13:28:00.000+00:00

Serves 4-6 (as part of an Oriental meal)
Cooking time - 1½ - 2hrs braising

oil for deep frying
2 x pork hocks (not ham hocks)
10 x garlic cloves
20 x white peppercorns
130ml sweet soy sauce (ketchap manis)
130ml oyster sauce
130ml Shaoxing wine or sherry
2 x cinnamon sticks or cassia bark
4cm root ginger, peeled and chopped finely
250ml light soy sauce

Garnish:
handful of coriander leaves
1 x red chilli, shredded
handful of dried fried shallots / fried onions (available in tubs from good supermarkets or Oriental food stores)
white rice vinegar (or white vinegar) into which you have sliced a couple (or more!) red chillies

Caramel:
150g palm sugar or light muscavado sugar
1 x star anise
1 x cinnamon stick or cassia bark

1. Put a couple of inches of oil in a wok and fry the pork hocks until browned.
2. Crush the garlic with the peppercorns to a paste and fry in a little oil.
3. Add the sweet soy, oyster sauce, wine, cinnamon, ginger and light soy.
4. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 mins.
5. Add the pork hocks, top up with water to almost cover the hocks and simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, skimming as needed.
6. Lift out the pork, cool and dice keeping 50ml of the stock.

To make the caramel:
1. Melt the sugar with a little water and cook till it starts to bubble, then darken and caramelise.
2. Add the reserved stock, star anise and cinnamon. The caramel should be like honey in colour and consistency. Keep boiling until it thickens a little.

To finish the dish:
1. Heat some oil in a wok and deep-fry the pork cubes until they are crispy.
2. Add the pork cubes to the sticky caramel mixture and garnish with the coriander, sliced red chilli and fried shallots.
3. Serve with the chilli vinegar as a dip.

In praise of slow cookers

2010-10-27T11:35:00.000+01:00

When I was looking through Nigella Lawson's new book 'Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home' I was dismayed to see that in her "Kitchen Gadget Hall of Shame" she placed the electric slow-cooker as being one of the items she had bought and was now going to give to a "more deserving cause." I was surprised at her condemnation of this great piece of kitchen equipment which I am happy to give cupboard space too. Anyone reading my "About" page will have already read that I used to have a pub with restaurant section - my mid-life crisis attempt to escape driving a desk all my working life! It was during these few years that I really discovered just how great slow cookers can be and a lot more versatile than it might appear at first glance.
I prided my "pub-grub" as being, for the most part, home-made, and as far as possible using seasonal and locally produced ingredients. I supported the local butcher, fishmonger and vegetable and fruit suppliers as well as getting lots of fresh fruit and veg delivered to my doorstep by customers who had a glut of tomatoes, courgettes etc. Even trout arrived at my doorstep following a very successful fishing trip and too many trout for personal consumption. I was lucky that in the same village lived a licensed game keeper who also lectured for the wild deer society (I forget it's correct name). In return for the free use of my function room once a month in the daytime (when it would most likely have been empty in any case) fir his training sessions, he used to regularly bring me venison, rabbit, pheasant etc and these were ideal components for a game pie. Game pie was one of the many dishes that I used to prepare using my much loved slow cookers.

Other favourites that received the slow cooker treatment somewhere in the overall preparation were the pub classics of steak and ale pie, a multitude of variations on the pie theme, chilli con carne, ragu sauce for bolognaise, canneloni or lasagne, all manner of soups, my 'signature' dish of lamb shanks in red wine, rosemary, redcurrant, garlic and red wine, various casseroles and even my home cooked ham was slow cooked in cider using a slow cooker. Christmas and Easter time I used to put the turkey breast in a slow cooker in white wine and various other flavourings, and then just finish it in the oven to get a nice glaze. People always remarked how beautifully moist the turkey was and how flavourful the gravy (made from the slow cooker cooking liquor). Even some desserts got made in the slow cookers - they make a great bain-marie for things like creme brulees and creme caramels and can be used for "steamed" puddings as well.

I ended up with 5 large (6-8litre capacity) slow cookers, 3 of the medium size ones (3 litre capacity) and 1 of the cute small ones which I purchased through Lakeland, the only one I have seen of a size suitable just for 2-3 people. This little one was great for keeping sauces warm throughout the service period. Even though I have now been out of the pub trade for 4 years I am still a devotee of the slow cooker and have kept 2 large ones, one medium and one small. I use them a lot, less so in the summer months when the grill, barbecue and griddle pans come out to play. I am a spring and summer person, I love the warm / hot sunny days and any excuse to get a crowd of people round for a barbecue or al fresco eating. One of the few compensations for me of the autumn and winter is the fact I can really start using my slow cookers again!

There are some links in my "Shop" for anyone wanting to check out these wonderful gadgets and I am planning do include plenty of recipes over time in this blog that can be done in a slow cooker to show other people how versatile and easy to use they are. They will save you time ultimately as you don't need to be constantly watching over them, things never burn in them and will keep warm for a couple of hours after they are cooked in them. They are very cheap to run (about the same energy consumption as a light bulb I believe) and because foods don't burn or caramelise so much in them compared to when cooked in an oven or stove top, they also wash up easily - what a bonus! The cheaper cuts of meat are ideal for slow cooker recipes so you will save money there too and have you can bulk / batch cook staple or favourite recipes for freezing. Another bonus is that cooking the main course in the slow cooker frees up hob space or oven space - I could go on and on singing their praises ;-)

Spanish Style Chicken & Chorizo Bake

2010-10-24T11:22:00.000+01:00

Spanish style chicken & chorizo baked in a tomato & smoked paprika sauce. This is a very easy, tasty and rich casserole.

I had a bit of a sort out of my freezer yesterday and decided to make something out of some chicken breast fillets and some chorizo sausages I found lurking in one of the drawers. This dish doesn’t follow any particular recipe although is loosely based on a cross between a Spanish dish and an Hungarian goulash! Very homely and smoky rich with a very slight sweetness and spice from the hot smoked paprika, although not chilli hot. I also added 4 rashers of smoked back bacon I needed to use up, cut up into lardon size pieces but this was purely to use them up and not essential. You could garnish with some olives or some soured cream, chopped parsley etc.

This is a very easy and lazy (one dish to marinade and cook in with no browning of the meat first etc) main meal dish. I served it with some rice cooked by the absorption method in chicken stock and a knob of butter but could be served with pasta or whatever you fancied.

Spanish Style Chicken & Chorizo Bake (serves 4-6)

4 chicken breast fillets (or use mixture of thigh and breast or all thigh), cut into chunks

6 chorizo sausages (the uncooked variety), cut into chunks – I cut each into 4 pieces

1 large onion, peeled and cut into chunks

2 Red peppers (preferably the long sweet Romano variety), de-seeded and cut into chunks

4 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed and chopped

2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

2 tsp smoked hot paprika

1 tbs sherry vinegar (or use Balsamic)

1 tbs tomato ketchup

1 tbs olive oil (not extra virgin)

1 pint approx. tomato passata / chopped tomatoes (or use fresh chopped tomatoes for a fresher flavour)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Mix everything except the passata and sea salt together in an oven-proof dish and let this marinate if you have time for an hour or so.

2. Add the passata and salt and bake uncovered in a pre-heated moderate hot oven – 180C / gas mark 4 – for an hour and a quarter (a little longer is also fine if this suits you better). Stir the bake up occasionally as the edges of the peppers and onions that stick up a little will start to caramelise and blacken and this adds to the overall flavour.

3. Serve!

The Cook's Book of Ingredients

2010-10-16T15:57:00.004+01:00

This 544 page cook book just published by Dorling Kindersley arrived on my doorstep a few days ago and I have been flicking through it constantly ever since. The idea behind this cook's companion is to provide detailed information, normally including a photograph, of over 2,500 ingredients from all over the world, items both familiar and exotic. There are also over 200 recipes although this is not, in my opinion, the reason why you would buy this book. All the pages have multiple full colour photographs of the majority of ingredients accompanied with some explanatory text alongside the photos.

There are 10 chapters covering: Fish and Seafood; Meat; Vegetables; Herbs; Nuts and Seeds; Spices; Dairy and Eggs; Fruits; Grains, Rice, Pasta and Noodles; and finally Oils, Vinegars and Flavourings.

Each chapter starts off with some general "Essentials" information such as how to buy, store, prepare and cook the items contained therein. This includes recognising different cuts of meat for example and the best cuts for different cooking methods and general timings. After this general section, each chapter then goes on to individual ingredients in more detail e.g. types of fish, their sustainability statistics, alternatives, how best to eat that particular ingredient i.e. roast, grill etc. Also the best time to buy the ingredient for seasonality, how to store, flavour pairings information which gives some examples of other flavours that marry well with the main ingredient e.g hake goes well with olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika, butter and lemon. Finally there is a "Classic recipe" which gives you an idea of the well known classics that a certain ingredient is used in e.g veal and osso bucco. As mentioned previously, in 200 cases there is the actual recipe for the "Classic recipe" information.

The Index section is split into two - the general index which includes the recipes in italic print and a secondary index which is solely the recipes for ease of navigation. Finally there are a couple of pages with the contact details of various suppliers who helped to provide the ingredients including their website addresses for any online ordering if applicable.

I have found this very comprehensive book very enlightening on some of the lesser know ingredients as well as informative as a central place to come to to check cooking times, best cuts etc for the more usual ingredients. You will even find information such as which type of apple to use for different classic recipes, which fall apart on cooking and which hold their shape etc. I am very happy with my purchase and will be dipping into this book both just for the pleasure of reading and learning as well as for using it as a reference book when I come across new ingredients in other recipe books or in the supermarket that I am not familiar with. Highly recommended and would make a fabulous gift too, not just for foodies but for those who are just learning to cook and source ingredients.

Passionfruit Lemon Meringue Tart

2010-10-16T13:26:00.000+01:00

This is a variation of the more traditional lemon meringue pie as I am a big fan of passionfruit having lived in Africa for many years in my childhood. We grew these beautiful scented fruit in the garden. The mixture of lemon and passionfruit provides a tongue tingly sweet, but tart at the same time, filling which combines with the sweet meringue topping. This makes a great dessert or tea-time treat served with cream or ice-cream if you like.

I cheated for speed and used a ready made all butter baked pie shell so I won't give the ingredients or instructions for that element! By all means make your own sweet pastry case if you feel inclined. You can prepare the filling, which is essentially a fruit curd, well in advance as it needs to be cool before adding the meringue topping in any case.

1 x all butter ready baked sweet pastry case / shell (available from all good supermarkets)

For the filling:
1/4 cup (approx 1 lemon) lemon juice plus zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup (approx 3 fruits) passionfruit pulp
2 x large free range eggs, yolks only (keep the whites for the meringue)
1 x large free range egg, beaten
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup cornflour
1 cup water
25g / 1oz unsalted butter

For the meringue topping:
2 large free range egg, whites only
100g caster sugar

To make the filling mix the lemon juice, the passionfruit pulp the egg yolks and whole beaten egg and give a good whisk.

In a saucepan combine the caster sugar and the cornflour, mix in the water whisking well and then cook over a moderate heat, whisking all the time, until thick, translucent and boiling. This should be about 5 minutes or so.

Remove this from the heat and whisk in a couple of tablespoonfuls into the fruit and egg mixture beating as you do so to stop the heat cooking the egg mixture unevenly. Keep adding the cornflour mixture to the egg mixture until all combined.

Then put the mixture back into the saucepan and heat gently, whisking all the time until the mixture is thick. Stir in the butter and lemon zest. Pour into the tart / pie shell. Let this cool completely.

Make the meringue topping by whisking the egg whites till very soft peaks then gradually beat in the sugar a tablespoonful at a time and beating well between additions. When all the sugar has been added the meringue mix should be quite firm and glossy.

To assemble and cook the tart - top the cooled fruit curd with the meringue and ensure that the meringue completely covers the fruit filling. Bake for about 10 minutes at 180C / gas mark 4 until the meringue has set and is a pale golden colour.

Serve the tart either warm straight from the oven or at room temperature.

Masterchef - some random thoughts ....

2010-10-14T11:31:00.001+01:00

As I have been away on business quite a lot recently I have been recording the Masterchef Australia 2010 series on tv to watch at a later date. I watched the 2009 series some time ago and whilst there were a lot of programmes and it did seem to last a long time, I personally felt that the tests that our friends down under have to go through to win the coveted title are hugely more onerous than our UK competitors. Here I am talking about the standard Masterchef UK programme and not any of the derivations such as Professionals or Junior etc.

The last series of the UK version, where Dhruv Baker won the title, was the first time that I saw our UK competitors being put through more rigorous tests of their overall cooking knowledge and ability. Prior to this it mainly boiled down to being able to cook a well rehearsed 2 or 3 course meal, often being able to bring in up to 5 ingredients pre-prepared at home. Not that I am belittling this in any way - I wouldn't want to compete for this! But, I do feel that it is a world of difference being able to replicate a meal that one has had the time to prepare and practice time and again, even with the added pressure of studio environment, camera, lights, action and all that, as well as the unfamiliar kitchen, equipment and so forth, to arriving at the studio having not the slightest idea what you are going to be asked to do that day!

The new tests that our UK have to do include a stint in a professional commercial kitchen, a cooking test to devise one course from ingredients supplied on the day and an ingredient recognition test in the early rounds. It has been interesting to see that these tests do highlight the difference from being a keen and competent cook to being someone who has real potential in the professional cooking world. Often the cook who has produced a very accomplished dish of their own falls apart when asked to devise something on the spot from a pantry full of ingredients. Likewise the lack of knowledge about ingredients is often highlighted with what you would have imagined easily recognisable ingredients (either from sight or taste) being mistaken for something completely different. The test that I personally have an empathy with the contestants is the commercial kitchen exercise where the competitors are thrown into a professional kitchen during a busy service and it's sink or swim time. Having been a keen cook for years and all our friends had been dinner partied to death (well not quite death ;-) ) I went into private catering on a very small scale when my children were very little as it fitted in well with my family commitments and brought in a little money out of what was essentially just a hobby. I was reasonably successful in this and was only held back by the family commitments and the money to go about things on any larger, more professional scale which would have involved an extension to the kitchen and an entire kitchen makeover to comply with environmental health standards for a commercial kitchen etc.

However when some years later I did go down the commercial food root by buying the pub I speak of briefly on my "Abou t" page. This was a major shock to my system and made me re-evaluate completely what it was about cooking that I enjoyed doing and what I didn't! Nothing had prepared me for the complete craziness that ensues during that manic 3 or so hours of lunch or dinner service, even in a very modest and little country pub that I had. That whole scenario I could talk about for ages so maybe will do more blogs about that in due course. Back to those poor unsuspecting Masterchef contestants standing in their pristine chef's whites awaiting their first orders in the pro kitchen - I am surprised that they are surprised however, just how crazy that whole environment can be, even if on reflection they found it fun and exhilarating ultimately. I would have thought that potential Masterchef contestants must watch the show avidly and see other contestants before them go through this same professional kitchen ordeal, yet so many of them seem completely unprepared for what they will encounter! I feel their pain! Still, it is a good test, not only for them personally to highlight whether a pro kitchen environment is really what they want or do they want to channel their foodie skills into another related area such as food writing, private catering etc, but also to the Masterchef judges to see how much the contestants really want the opportunity to make a career int he food world and their aptitude for it.

I am looking forward to having some time to start watching the recordings I have of the new Masterchef Australia series and see what horrendously scary tasks the evil judges have for the next batch of hopefuls :-D

Double Chocolate & Hazelnut Mousse with Salted Caramel Hazelnut Shards

2010-10-10T16:22:00.002+01:00

Double Chocolate & Hazelnut Mousse

This month's "We Should Cocoa" blog challenge hosted by the Chocolate Log Blog is to use chocolate and hazel or cob nuts. I decided to do a Double Chocolate and Hazelnut Mousse decorated with lightly salted caramel shards of roasted whole hazelnuts. The bottom layer is a rich dark chocolate mousse enhanced with Frangelico, an Italian hazelnut liqueur. This is then topped with a milk chocolate layer into which I folded in some crushed hazelnut praline.

Originally I thought of having the top layer made with a caramel mousse made with Caramac bars (remember them?) But these can be a bit difficult to find these days - no idea why because everyone who I ever speak to about these all claim to love them but simply can't find them any more! Then I considered doing a coffee mousse top layer as both chocolate and coffee sit well with hazelnuts and are a classic combination bewtween themselves. However as my husband is not overly fond of coffee flavoured desserts and someone has to help me eat my creation, I opted for the double chocolate option!

Rough recipe follows but as is my style I kept forgetting to measure things out so that I could correctly relay the info! The quantity made 4 large dessert glass fulls but for a dinner party this would easily serve 6 - 8 in more delicate portions!

For the dark chocolate mousse layer:
6ozs Dark chocolate (go for a 50-70% cocoa solids) - melted
4 medium free-range eggs, separated
generous tablespoon / slug of Frangelico hazelnut liqueur (available at many good supermarkets or off-licenses and worth buying as goes nicely in coffee too ;-)

For the milk chocolate hazelnut mousse layer:
4ozs hazelnut milk chocolate (I used Lindt but you could just use normal milk chocolate as you are going to add caramelised chopped hazelnuts in any case)
2 free range eggs, separated
2ozs caster sugar
1 oz chopped and roasted hazelnuts

For the Salted Caramelised Hazelnut Shards:
4 ozs caster sugar
1/4 pint water
2ozs whole roasted hazelnuts (skinned if you prefer)
pinch of sea salt flakes - I used Maldon

First make the praline as it needs to cool and set before you can grind it into a powder for folding into the milk chocolate mousse layer.

To make the dark chocolate mousse:
Put the 2ozs caster sugar into a pan and gently melt, add the chopped roasted hazelnuts and coat well. When the sugar has melted and caramelised, spoon the nut mixture onto some non-stick baking paper and leave to set.

Melt the dark chocolate however you like and works best for you (I do mine in the microwave), leave to cool a little (so the raw egg doesn't start to cook/scramble in the residual heat) then beat in one egg yolk at a time mixing well between additional yolks.

Then stir in the Frangelico liqueur.

Beat egg whites till bordering on stiff peaks (don't overdo it, better to be on the soft peak side) then stir in a large tablespoonful of the whisked whites into the dark chocolate mix to lighten it before gently folding in the remainder.

Pour into your dessert dishes (individual or one big one) and leave in fridge to set.

Make the milk chocolate and hazelnut mousse layer next:
Melt the milk chocolate next, cool a little (so the raw egg doesn't start to cook/scramble in the residual heat) then add one egg yolk at a time mixing well.

Using either a rolling pin or other heavy object and lots of aggression or a grinder / mini food processor (which is what I used) grind the cold hazelnut praline you made first into a powder. It doesn't need to be completely finely ground, a few small bits here and there will add some crunch to the texture of the mousse.

Fold the majority of this crushed praline into the melted milk chocolate mixture reserving some for decoration.

Whisk egg whites as above and fold into milk chocolate mixture as described above.

Carefully spoon on top of the dark chocolate mousse which should have set by this time and then chill again till just before serving. Can do up to this stage well in advance or even the day before but there is a fair chance it will get sampled before you intended if you leave it this amount of time!

For the Salted Hazelnut Caramel shards:
Up to a couple of hours before serving you can make the caramel hazelnut shards but don't make much before this as the caramel will start to melt down again and it doesn't like to be refrigerated either.

Put the caster sugar and water into a pan and heat gently, swirling and stirring if need be to make sure that all the sugar crystals have dissolved and there are no sugar grains sticking to the walls of the pan.

Once all the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and boil rapidly without stirring till the syrup reaches a deep golden caramel. You can very gently and occasionally swirl the pan as it starts to caramelise to evenly distribute the heat and colour. As soon as the caramel reaches the required colour (I like my caramel on the dark side of golden so that it is verging on bitter rather than sickly sweet) add the whole roasted hazelnuts and then pour mix onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper. Add a very light sprinkling of the sea salt flakes to the hot caramel at this stage if you like this combination, but you can omit if salted caramel is not your thing. When set and cold, break up
into shards.

To serve:

Sprinkle the top of the mousse with the reserved crushed hazelnut praline and either stick shards of the whole hazelnut salted caramel directly into the top of the mousse at jaunty angles or simply place these on the side plate as I did. Serve with a cream if desired or a Frangelico liqueur coffee .....got to use up that Frangelico somehow!! ;-)

P.S. - having eaten these after a roast dinner tonight I can safely say that this recipe would definitely serve 8 people as it is very rich and small portions might look stingy at first glance but your heart and hips would thank you for it ;-)

Lakeland - retail therapy for foodies!

2010-10-03T11:04:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I set off to visit Lakeland - the home of creative kitchenware™ as I was in need of an oven thermometer. I did have one before moving to this house but somewhere in the move it got mislaid. My husband ‘decided’ (was coerced if I was being honest!) to cook a roast chicken during the week and complained that the oven wasn’t hot enough and that the chicken and roast potatoes were not browning in the expected timescale. I decided I would get a new oven thermometer as it is always a good idea to have one in any case as many ovens do not run at the temperature you think you have set using the oven dials.

I love any excuse to go to the Lakeland shop for a browse around even if I am not looking for anything in particular. It is my equivalent to my husband enjoying a wander around a Maplin store looking at unidentifiable (to me) bits of electronics and tools. The Lakeland catalogues are fine and even looking at their online store is a nice way to spend some time if feeling bored, but nothing beats actually being able to see and touch the real life items. I was not disappointed and spent best part of an hour browsing through the shop looking at all the new kitchenware and gadgets. Lakeland seem to have thought of everything, with some help from creative ideas from their customers, and sell “must-have” kitchen goods that you didn’t know you needed till you see them!

Part of a buffet spread I did when dabbling in private catering

My kitchen already has an overspill area into the utility area of the garage for all the gadgets and cooking paraphernalia that can’t fit into the bulging cupboards or stand on the worktops – I like to keep the limited worktop area I have relatively clear. From my time when I was a stay at home mother with plenty of time on my hands for entertaining often, to the hospitality and private catering on a hobby scale I did when the children were little and then to the 3 years of running the pub, I have accumulated kitchen stuff that I couldn’t bear to part with even though I now just cook mainly for my husband and myself with the far less frequent dinner party or barbecue. Naturally when we left the pub trade the commercial catering items were sold as part of the inventory but I kept a few treasured items.

I personally do find Lakeland a little pricey but the benefits of being able to find most things culinary that the average home cook needs, desires or aspires to, all under one roof compensates a little. Some of the ideas do seem a little over-the-top but I guess Lakeland wouldn’t produce these things if people didn’t buy them!

Zyliss® Smart Guard Mandoline

I came away with the oven thermometer I set out to buy, £4.99 and £40 worth of other things I didn’t know I needed – no wonder Lakeland stores continue to grow and expand throughout the country ;-) . One of the other items I purchased was the new Zyliss® Smart Guard Mandoline at £24.99 which included a free Zyliss® peeler (worth £7.99) as a special offer. I have used mandolins in the past and am always a little apprehensive about using them but this one for the modest price apparently will prevent any slices of nails and fingers and blood being added to your recipe inadvertently! The reviews of this mandoline on the online store are varied from 3* to 5* but I shall make my own mind up over the next few weeks no doubt.

I can foresee a period of time dedicated to cooking things which require vegetables to be finely sliced or julienned until I get bored and relegate the mandolin to a dark corner of the gadget cupboard ;-D – I’m sure I am not alone in this trait?!

Authenticity - how important is it to you?

2010-09-28T21:25:00.001+01:00

Random thought which crosses the vast, arid plains of my mind from time to time ;-) how important is authenticity in a recipe to you when you cook?

I confess to ~~indulging~~ surviving a Chinese takeaway meal last Friday evening, having just returned home at 6pm from a week away on business. I really just did not fancy the idea of trolley rage down at the local supermarket on a Friday evening. I also had not been organised enough to do an online shop (during a lunch break at work obviously and not in company time - God forbid!! ;-)

So my husband helpfully suggested that he would "cook." In "Pete" language this translates to "what sort of takeaway would you like?" We opted for Chinese and duly arrived back home with Sweet and Sour Pork "Hong-Kong style" (whatever that really means and yes I know that was a totally uninspired choice on my part but hey, I was dead tired and brain was functioning even less than usual!) and "Chicken Chinese-style."

Now for those that haven't read my "About" page of profile, I am actually half Chinese and was brought up on authentic Chinese food, both family style and restaurant style. My mother is a very accomplished cook and at one time my parents had a large share in Hong Kong's largest floating restaurant and considered themselves real foodies. I therefore believe I have a fair idea of what constitutes typical Chinese fare across a variety of regional styles and I have never come across a recipe for "Chicken - Chinese style." Just like Chop Suey doesn't really exist in China (the way we understand the term) or Balti isn't authentically Indian, Chicken Chinese style means nothing to my mother, yet it appears with boring regularity across many Chinese takeaway and restaurant menus.

It appears to have a theme consisting of slices of chicken breast laid on top of soggy beansprouts in a gloopy brown sauce which mainly tastes of oyster sauce. My husband nearly always orders this dish if we have a takeaway and I think he just enjoys watching me wrinkling my nose in derision as I huffily make snide comments about it ;-)

This really isn't very fair of me if I am honest, as I personally am not at all bothered about how authentic a dish is that I make! If it tastes good is all that matters to me. I am no slave to keeping a recipe completely unadulterated from its first mention in the Doomsday book. After all you see lots of native people debate over whether a Lancashire hotpot, for example, should contain carrots/peas/whatever and they never agree with each other! Does it really matter?

To me, far more important that everyone partaking of said dish thoroughly enjoys it and asks you to make it again or for the recipe. Maybe the mistake is to give a "bastardised" dish the same name as an original hallowed dish? Now that I am not guilty of - friends around my dinner table often ask me what I call the dish they have just devoured and I always find that a hard question to answer. I usually end up saying something along the lines of "weeeelllll...it's sort of a .... but kinda isn't ...it started off as a .... but then I added ......." so my guests leave none-the-wiser but they are happy and sated and not outraged that I dared to mess with a centuries old recipe!

Cookery Books and Food Photography – a minor gripe!

2010-09-25T15:20:00.055+01:00

Now I don’t know about you but I rarely buy a cookery book unless a high proportion of the recipes are accompanied by colour photographs. For me a large part of the inspiration to cook a recipe I have seen comes from the way the finished dish looks in the photograph or from an overall description or introduction from the author or a reviewer.

Part of the
cook book collection

I have recently bought three more cook books to add to my completely over-the-top collection (currently stands at over 500 and increasing at a rate that any self-respecting rabbit would be proud of!) My defence is that I have very few other vices these days – I don’t smoke, I don’t drink (well not that much), I don’t subscribe to Tiffany’s, I am not addicted to handbags, kitchen is already gadgeted up to the hilt and I no longer keep horses (which my ex husband used to say it would be cheaper to dig a big hole and pour £10 notes into it as to have horses!) so cookery books and shoes are my main vices (oh, I guess my car isn’t overly sensible and does guzzle petrol but hey …. ). Anyway, back to the subject of the latest additions to my cook book empire, I have noticed with these three new books that I have a bit of a minor gripe about the photography.

“Flavour, a world of beautiful food” by Vicky Bhogal is a lovely recipe book, full of interesting and inspiring recipes from around the world – many of which appeal to me and which I intend to try or at least use as inspiration. However …… here comes the gripe…..whilst the book is full of stunning food photography, a high percentage of these glorious colour photos are of the main ingredient in its raw state e.g. an arty shot of lapsang souchong tea leaves spilling out onto a silver platter (see photo left). Very nice, pretty even, but actually I would much rather see a photograph of the finished dish, “Lapsang Souchong scented salmon with nutmeg butter and kale.” Likewise “Fennel, Salami and Pistachio Loaf” recipe is accompanied by a photo of pistachio nut slivers surrounding some unknown nut shaped ingredient (which I have to show my complete ignorance of its identity - someone please enlighten me?) The photo is a lovely combination of rosy pink and pistachio green hues (as illustrated right) but wouldn’t you rather see a photograph of the loaf in question? The recipe itself I am not convinced I particularly want to dash into the kitchen to try out but maybe if I could see a photo of the finished article it might change my perception?

"Fluffy bunny"
syndrome

"Coast to Coast” by Rick Stein also uses fabulous colour photography of the raw ingredient in many places where it may serve some artistic purpose but again I feel misses the point a little in persuading the reader to make the recipe. Take for example the recipe for “Rabbit cacciatore with grilled polenta” – the accompanying photo is that of the dead rabbit in all his fluffiness. Whilst I am not overly affected by the “fluffy factor” there are plenty of people who are and I feel sure people would prefer to see a pic of the final dish? In the book’s defence, there are several occasions where there are two accompanying photographs opposite each other showing the artsy raw ingredient on one page and the finished dish using said ingredient on another – much better in my view (see raw figs and finished fig tart below). Having said all that, the recipes in the book do sound very nice and having watched some of the accompanying series on tv I am sure I will make some of the dishes within whether or not I like the aesthetics!

Figs au naturel

Fig tart

Candied sweet potatoes

“Lotte’s Country Kitchen” by Lotte Duncan is a lovely cook book, or at least it appeals to me for many reasons; I love her writing style, light hearted, slightly quirky but absolutely getting across the message that she loves food and loves to cook and wants everyone else to enjoy it too. Again the book has some beautiful photography and not confined to just food, raw or otherwise by any means. There are photos of the garden, beautiful flowers, her decorated Christmas tree to name but a few non-food categories. However these photos are used generally in the chapter introductions or in places not directly accompanying a recipe, whilst the recipes themselves, in the main, have a photo of the finished dish. This, to me, is the perfect balance between producing a lovely “coffee table” book which can be flicked through and appreciated for its lovely illustrations and colourful photography whilst also acting as a visual stimulant to get off the sofa and stop just flicking through the book looking at the pretty pictures and get into that kitchen and get cooking!

Would love to hear your thoughts on this – obviously we are all entitled to our own opinions and I hasten to add that this is a very minor gripe as I actually really like all three books mentioned, but in my humble view, whilst I can appreciate beautiful photography whatever the subject matter, I personally would very much prefer to see what a finished dish should look like (provided of course you have a food stylist on hand in your own kitchen!) than to see the component parts in their natural state.

ABode. Glasgow - BarMC & Grill - a Michael Caines restaurant

2010-09-25T13:08:00.002+01:00

This week has seen me in Glasgow on business and staying again at the ABode hotel, one of the group of boutique hotels operated by Andrew Brownsword and the two Michelin starred chef, Michael Caines.

I first stayed at the Abode, Glasgow in 2007 and was there every week for 5 weeks whilst working out my employer’s Glasgow city centre office. In the 5 weeks I was there I stayed in a different room each week and I loved the slight quirkiness of this small hotel, formerly an Arthouse. Located in the city's art district on Bath Street in an historic Edwardian building, ABode Glasgow is a unique boutique hotel that combines listed features such as the preservation of its white glazed bricks with contemporary style and design. The hotel has 59 bedrooms, rated Comfortable, Desirable, Enviable and Fabulous! There are three upper floors housing the bedrooms, ground floor reception and main Michael Caines modern cuisine restaurant. The basement houses the BarMC & Grill for more informal bistro style atmosphere and menu featuring many char grilled items. The lounge bar serves a good selection of wines and cocktails as well.

The bedrooms are off a galleried landing on each floor with a wonderful old-fashioned gated lift running through the central atrium of the building. This lift is the type that has a wooden access door to the hallway but on opening this, the lift then has one of those concertina type metal gates which needs to be closed before the lift will ascend or descend. The interior is lovely old wood panelling, oak I would guess. Needless to say people regularly get out of the lift and neglect to close the inner metal gate behind them which means if you are on another floor waiting for it you may have to give up and walk the stairs! However this isn’t as bad as it might be as the staircase also runs through the central atrium and is a lovely sweeping circular affair and there aren’t many floors!

On one occasion the room I was allocated featured an entire wall (of some considerable height) of stained glass leaded lights in oak panelling and was quite breathtaking. The rooms often have little baskets of Scottish tablet (like fudge), or hand made chocolates available to purchase but my room this time didn’t unfortunately – huge shame as I became almost addicted to the tablet when I stayed there longer term back in 2007!

I have never actually eaten in the main Michael Caines restaurant at the Abode as I don’t think my employers would be very supportive of me expensing “fine dining” meals every night through the company! Whilst I could obviously pay for a meal there personally, I have never been a fan of eating alone and it would seem a dreadful shame to eat somewhere so good, looking like “Billy No Mates!!”

The basement BarMC & Grill is atmospheric and quite trendy looking with its low lighting. It is more casual and better suited, in my opinion, for people having to eat alone whilst travelling on business. The menu changes regularly it seems and there are also daily specials and “meal deals.” Often these meal deals are linked into overnight stays but are also available to “walk-in” diners. When I was there this past week the deal seemed to be a double room for 2 occupants with breakfast and evening meal for £99 providing the evening meal was off the special menu rather than a la carte or in the main restaurant. This seems a cracking deal to me as the hotel is 4* rated and really quite nice if you like the boutique style rather than the big, somewhat impersonal, all rooms look the same corporate chains. The food has always been very nice indeed, as you would expect with Michael Caines and his team of Executive chefs managing and running the kitchens.

Although I stayed three nights last week I only ate at the hotel once this time as had other commitments. I had the chicken liver parfait with caramelised walnuts and pear chutney as a starter followed by some succulent and tasty lamb cutlets and a quatre épices crème brûlée. All delicious and cooked perfectly. I am due back to Glasgow the week after next so am already looking forward to my stay at the Abode again and see what is new on the menu to try. The good food is my compensation for having to be away from home – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

Royal County of Berkshire Show visit

2010-09-19T12:56:00.012+01:00

Yesterday I went to day one of the Royal County of Berkshire show held at Newbury showground. This is an annual event and this year marks the 25th anniversary of the show being held at this venue and 101st anniversary of the show itself.

Whilst an agricultural event in the main, there was much to be enjoyed by all the family whether or not anyone is particularly interested in the countryside events or prize winning farm livestock and various equestrian classes. Apparently over 600 stall holders were present offering everything from tools (boys' toys) to jewellery and one-off fashion items (girls' toys!) and plenty for the younger members of the family as well.

I have always enjoyed a day out at the local agricultural shows from when I was very young and my father used to take me to the Oxted and Edenbridge show. Turning his back on me just for a few seconds the one time, he turned round to discover I had disappeared! Frantically searching round he couldn't see me anywhere but then his eyes were drawn to the hound pens where the various packs of foxhounds, beagles, bassetts etc were penned until it was their time to do a parade in the arena. Apparently he could see a lot of wagging sterns clustered around one spot and then glimpsed me sat on the ground thoroughly enjoying being in the midst of all these happy hounds. I don't even know how I got in with them and my father didn't either - still a mystery to this day! Over the years I have been to many such shows around the country and my children still love to go even though young adults themselves now.

This year my daughter and my best friend joined me and we started off by having a general meander around the livestock areas (to satisfy my daughter's love of pigs - as animals rather than as food I have to say) and watched a bit of judging of the beautiful Dexter cattle (I believe their meat is considered by many as superior even to Aberdeen Angus) and the pig class where it has to be said the pigs seemed to be the ones in control and their handlers just appeared to run desperately around with their pig boards trying to guide them round the judging ring! We also watched a show jumping class as both my daughter and I are equestrians too. Then it was on to the important (and main reason for me) task of finding the food tent and exploring the wares from some of the country's most important producers of fabulous well reared meats, lovingly produced cheeses, hand crafted cakes, pickles, chutneys, preserves, sauces and marinades. I love the food tents at shows like these - all that fabulous food and ingredients in one place and samples to try before buying.

One thing that was very much lacking this year though, much to my dismay, was there didn't seem to be many of the stall holders cooking their own sausages, burgers etc to serve to the hoards of hungry visitors. In years gone by I have always enjoyed the smells of this food cooking and then queuing up to have a Gloucester Old Spot "hot dog" - real sausages with flavour and meat content, not full of fillers and unidentifiable bits of floor sweepings as their main content.

This time I only saw one stand cooking their own sausages and burgers, one stand making paella and one selling their own produced hot pasties. Outside the tent and dotted throughout the showground were many fast food catering vans selling far less interesting and run-of-the-mill burgers and hot dogs, carvery rolls etc but how sad and disappointing that so few of the individual stands were selling off their own freshly cooked items this time.

Anyway, we had a lovely day out and I came home with some wonderful aged Balsamic vinegar dressing, some amazing pear and vanilla chutney (yes really, sounds strange but tastes great - the powerful first impression of vanilla giving way to the hit from the pear - yum) and some Barnsley cut lamb chops, an inch and a half thick which we shall have for dinner tonight - I've yet to decide how to do them and what to serve them with although I have got a pudding in mind already - lemon and raspberry "delicious" - the sort of pudding that separates during the cooking to produce a lovely light lemon sponge on top and a rich sauce below. Time to have a wander through some cook books and find a recipe befitting such fabulous lamb chops!

Book review: Cook in Boots by Ravinder Bhogal

2010-09-15T16:36:00.001+01:00

I have just added another 3 cook books to my collection (it's an obsession which I really ought to get help with!) and thoroughly enjoyed having a good look through the first of them last night.

"Cook in Boots" by Ravinder Bhogal appealed to me straight away as aside from cookery I am also a collector of shoes! Mind you my shoe collection currently stands at maybe 100 pairs approximately (hope my husband doesn't read this) whereas my cook book collection is probably around 5 times that!

Overall the book contains
a lot of recipes that I would make or use as inspiration. They are relatively easy on the whole and the ingredients are also readily available, with maybe a few exceptions on the spices front. However many supermarkets are now stocking the more "exotic" spices and spice mixes and most large towns have ethnic stores or websites such as Seasoned Pioneers will have everything she mentions. There are several Indian recipes, quite a few Oriental themed dishes as well as Mediterranean and Middle Eastern representations. Ravinder's writing style is fun and flirty, easy to read and there are plenty of colour photographs to whet your appetite. This is her first cook book and I shall certainly keep an eye out for any further books by her.

Sweet Potato Salad
with lime, coriander and sweet chilli dressing

Chapters are divided into:-

Bread, Pasta, Potatoes: and includes some interesting salads too such as Sweet potato salad with lime, coriander and sweet chilli dressing.

Working It 9-5: with a small selection of soups and some salads that are easy to make and transport to work e.g. Couscous and roasted vegetable salad with pomegranate molasses and Peanut butter, noodle and chicken salad.

Comfort Food: for those days when you feel like a "hug on a plate" which includes a recipe for Cauliflower and broccoli cheese with tomato sauce and Parmesan breadcrumbs. I had not thought before of using a tomato sauce and a bechamel sauce together, rather like you would do a lasagne, for cauliflower but it sounds lovely and will definitely give that idea a run. The Carrot-spiced pudding also sounded interesting, although personally not a lover of rice puddings, I have family that are and the idea of using carrots and gentle spicing into the mix sounds intriguing enough to maybe give that one a go sometime too.

PMT: a chapter dedicated to things chocolate-y and which includes a recipe for a "Chocolatini" which sounds absolutely divine - chocolate liqueur and vodka based cocktail - mmm. The Raspberry and bitter chocolate lollies also sound like a novel idea.

TV, Remote Control and a Meal for One: this section is all about spoiling yourself when home alone to stop you resorting to a microwave meal - these never live up to expectations even if history has taught you not to expect too much, in my opinion! I am quite often home alone as my husband works a shift pattern and I always use these times to cook myself something I wouldn't serve to him (he's very fussy what he wants to eat and I do end up cooking us separate meals from time to time just so that I don't lose out on things like seafood or haggis or veggie main courses!

Social Grazing: finger food chapter for those pre-dinner canapes or maybe evenings when you feel like having a "carpet picnic" as we call them in our household - lots of tasty nibbles washed down with quantities of good red wine whilst lounging on the floor with lots of cushions, candle light and a good film to watch.

Hangover Food: recipes for the morning after the night before ....

Hard-Up Food: budget recipes which don't sacrifice flavour, or use up leftovers e.g. Zesty angel hair pasta with garlic, chilli, lemon and olive oil and Nasi Goreng.

Skinny Food: presumably for the week after you carb'ed yourself out testing the recipes in the first chapter?!

Food Rehab: this chapter includes some superfood recipes - the pomegranate glazed pork has caught my eye and would mean that the pomegranate molasses I bought to cook the Couscous salad mentioned in the "Working It" section above would have a second outing at least!

Fork me, Spoon me: the double entèndres here are perfectly intentional I feel as the author has put recipes into this section which she describes as "the food of love and rude food" - the sexy rack of ras-el-hanout lamb with potato and saffron rice and the scallops with champagne butter sauce sound worth a twirl one evening. In fact this is probably my favourite chapter and has many recipes that sound delicious and inspiring, like the Lychee jelly with vanilla pannacotta. I often struggle with what dessert to offer after a Chinese or oriental themed meal as the Chinese are not huge lovers of desserts in the way the western world are. My usual fall backs are almond jelly with an exotic fruits salad, a coconut ice-cream with a passion fruit or mango coulis or a char-grilled fresh pineapple in a chilli infused syrup so the lychee jelly sounds like a candidate to add to the oriental themed dessert library.

Meet the Parents: this chapter focuses on recipes for entertaining and includes some vegetarian recipes as well e.g. Dill crèpes with green vegetables, feta and béchamel sauce and Wild mushroom arancini.

Book review: Nigella Lawson's "Kitchen"

2010-09-13T17:27:00.001+01:00

I recently bought Nigella Lawson's new book "Kitchen - recipes from the heart of the home" after reading various reviews on it on Amazon.co.uk most of which gave glowing reviews. I though, along with a minority of other readers posting reviews on Amazon was a little underwhelmed by the book, albeit it contains over 190 recipes in nearly 500 pages and is full of colour photographs.

There are 20 other reader reviews of the book on the Amazon site so I won't go into minute detail of all the chapters and so forth as if you are interested you will no doubt check out the other reviews too! Summarising then my own view on this tome from Nigella:

The big plus points: I totally agree with the majority of other reviewers that Nigella’s friendly but well written chit chat and no-nonsense approach, and the preamble before the recipes and the chapters in general is informative and entertaining. Her section on “Kitchen caboodle” is a light hearted, amusing look at the items and equipment that she loves or can live without. This, of course, is very personal and should not have you throwing out your beloved kitchen equipment which you like even if she doesn’t (you might detect a note of defence there – I love my slow cookers and disagree with her on that score ;-). Her “Kitchen confidential” section has some great hints and tips, again very well written and made me laugh aloud in places. I also like that she has given suggestions for using leftovers and included “make ahead” and “freeze” notes where applicable. The book has lots of photographs and a montage of the main recipe photos within each section at the start of each chapter to whet your appetite.

Now the slightly more critical points: I too, like a few others, found the recipes a little “tired” – there were very few, if any, that held any “wow” factor making me want to take the next week off work and lock myself in the kitchen! I made the Chocolate Orange Loaf cake at the weekend (as described in my blog on the 11th September) to which I added an orange and Grand Marnier liqueur buttercream frosting (at my husband’s request) and I have to say that without that addition the cake, whilst light and perfectly nice in it’s own right, would have been a little bit plain and dull. She perhaps could have included a serving suggestion e.g. nice with a vanilla ice-cream or crème fraîche etc to this and other recipes for those who find knowing how to ring the changes or what to serve the dish with would find helpful. There are several recipes I will probably make at some point but relatively few as a percentage of the number in the book.

My overall view is that this would make a lovely and comprehensive, easy to follow and with a diverse number of recipes from around the world, book for a relatively inexperienced cook, or at least someone who doesn’t have a whole host of other, more inspiring library of cook books to browse through. It is the sort of book I would give as a gift to a newly married couple or someone setting up their first home. It has a little of everything to please many people but maybe not enough of the “Wow, I have just got to try that recipe out at the soonest opportunity” type content. I hope that any staunch Nigella fans don't take my own opinion as something they feel they need to shoot down in flames, we are entitled to our own views even if they are obviously blatantly wrong! :-D

Eating in a recession

2010-09-13T13:00:00.002+01:00

“Even in recession, foodies hold fast” is an article written by Eric Burkett and published on the delish.com website on the 10^th September 2010. It basically talks about the recent findings in various polls that suggest that for a number of categories, not just “foodies,” people who are passionate about their given interest area do not cut back particularly, nor do they feel guilty about their spending even in these hard financial times.

He goes on to suggest that people however are perhaps more careful as to how they spend their money on their hobby / interest and that other factors might impinge on what they spend. For example taking on more work due to lay-offs/redundancies and not wanting to say no to any extra work for fear that you might be next in the staff cut-backs, thus having less time to indulge your hobbies/interests.

I can relate to this, my husband and I are certainly eating out less often than previously but our spending on groceries has not decreased. I am being more careful about not just throwing away leftover food – you know the stuff you carefully pack away after the first meal and think to yourself that you will have that the next day and then don’t? After a few days of bypassing that carefully wrapped package and moving it around the fridge to get to the other items you want you end up just launching it in the bin! I am making more of an effort to plan to use up the leftovers in my weekly menu planning. Actually, let me expand on that last sentence a little more as I don’t actually physically write out a menu plan for the week ahead, more that when I buy say a whole chicken, I think to myself that we will have one meal from that as a roast plus another meal with the leftovers and maybe even boil up the carcass for stock or as a soup base. Therefore that one chicken does the two of us at least two meals and maybe even three and I may freeze the leftovers so that we don’t get bored of eating the same thing/same meat two nights running.

I am also making more of any effort to do some batch cooking at the weekends when I have the time to do so. For example, a couple of weeks ago my local supermarket was doing a special offer on their lean Angus steak mince and if you bought one pack you got a second free. I took the two packs home and made one lot into spaghetti bolognaise and the other lot into chilli con carne.

I froze these in 3 lots of 2 servings of each, a total of 6 meals for two people ready in the freezer for a quick reheat or to use as a basis for another meal e.g. lasagne or pasticchio using either the bolognaise or the chilli for a tweak on the traditional. I buy those plastic freezer and microwave proof takeaway type containers in bulk which means that I can package up the meals in single or double portions and these stack easily and the food can be both frozen and re-heated safely in them. These containers also do last, if you are careful, and are not just single use but can be washed and used again. I find that on those occasions returning home from a particularly hard day at work or a late one, that instead of thinking about having to cook something from scratch or going out to eat, I am now more likely to turn to those frozen meals than go out to eat.

On the subject of going out to eat, this is still one of my favourite things to do but I do resent going out to eat and finding the food poor quality, poorly executed and leaves me thinking why did I bother as I could do so much better myself at home? A meal out like this is such a disappointment and anti-climax as I always go out to eat with such high expectations and anticipation. In these difficult times of recession I am now choosier about where I go out to eat, I would rather eat out less often but have a great experience.

Being more organised and having quick, but quality home-made microwaveable meals from my freezer or making a more concerted effort to use leftovers is my way of justifying the money I still spend on good quality ingredients. I don’t see myself changing my food habits to buying cheaper inferior products which I will enjoy less and potentially waste more of ultimately. I aim to just be smarter with what I buy and cook – what is your take on being a foodie and eating in a recession?

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake with Orange Liqueur Buttercream Frosting

2010-09-11T15:07:00.013+01:00

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake with Orange buttercream

I was requested by he who "ought to be obeyed" to make a chocolate orange cake with an orange buttercream icing. Having recently bought Nigella Lawson's new cookery book "Kitchen, recipes from the heart of the home" I decided to give her recipe for Chocolate orange loaf cake a whirl and adapt slightly adding my own buttercream frosting as her recipe serves this cake plain and with "...just a hint of inner gunge..."

I cooked the cake a few minutes longer than instructed as I didn't want the pudding type "gunge" as she described if I was going to be frosting the cake and serving as a tea time treat rather than as a dessert cake. Otherwise I pretty well followed her recipe and used a standard buttercream frosting augmented with some orange zest and Grand Marnier liqueur - recipe added to the cake recipe below. The cake itself is light and not overly sweet with just a hint of orange. Adding the buttercream made the overall effect sweeter and more orangey.

For the cake:
150g soft, unsalted butter (plus a little extra for greasing)
2 x 15ml tbs golden syrup
175g dark muscovado sugar
150g plain flour
1/2tsp bicarb of soda
25g best quality cocoa powder, sifted (I used Green & Black's)
2 eggs
zest of 2 regular oranges and juice of 1

For the Orange Liqueur Buttercream Frosting:
125g unsalted butter, soft
250g icing sugar, sifted
zest of 1 orange
1 tbs Grand Marnier or other orange flavoured liqueur or orange juice

Preheat oven to 170C/ gas mark 3 and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin (I just greased a silicon mould).

Beat the already soft butter with the syrup and then add the sugar and beat really well to get rid of the lumps of sugar until you get a coffee coloured fairly smooth airy mix (the sugar will still make the mix feel very slightly gritty)

Mix the sifted flour, bicarb and cocoa powder together lightly and beat 1 tbs of this into the butter and sugar mix then beat in 1 of the eggs and repeat with another big spoonful of the flour mix followed with the other egg.

Carry on beating the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and finally add the orange zest and slowly beat in the orange juice.

Pour and scrape mixture into the loaf tin/mould and bake for about 45mins (check after 40 mins) - if you want the cake to be slightly more of a dessert cake texture with a soft middle as Nigella's recipe calls for then 45 mins will be enough (note that a skewer inserted will not come out completely clean for this level of doneness and the middle of the loaf will sink a little on cooling). I continued to cook the cake for another 5 mins.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a while in the tin/mould before carefully turn ing out onto a rack to cool completely.

Dark chocolate cake with a hint of orange,
sandwiched and topped with a boozy orange buttercream sweet frosting

If using the icing - beat the soft butter and mix in the icing sugar beating well to incorporate. Add the zest and the liqueur or orange juice till well mixed in and the buttercream is light and fluffy.

When the cake is cold, slice through the middle horizontally and spread half the buttercream carefully over the bottom half and then replace the top half of the loaf and spread the remaining buttercream over the top.

Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

17 Restaurants and Bars with Amazing Views

2010-09-07T14:20:00.000+01:00

1 7 Restaurants and Bars with Amazing Views:
"From Thailand to California, these restaurants and bars let you take in some spectacular scenery while you dine and drink."

Cheeky pig!

2010-09-05T13:59:00.000+01:00

I am a huge fan of the slow cooker, in fact it's a standing joke with my husband these days as I have 3 large slow cookers, 1 medium size and 1 small size! It's not as obsessive as it sounds on the surface - honest! We used to have a pub in which I was the main "chef" and I always liked my menu to feature good home cooking and not be one of those "ping" (like the sound a microwave makes) food menu pubs that are so much in evidence. One way of doing this was to have various things slow cooking through the day and just perfectly cooked for the evening trade, and the food stayed hot for the 3 hour service. I also batch cooked the staples and then immediately froze in individual portions so that we always had a good stock of the most popular standard menu items but they were still home cooked and not mass produced by the big catering companies - you can spot or taste those dishes on lots of pub menus and know immediately where the pub purchased its food offering. Hence the reason for all the slow cookers and when we left the pub trade I couldn't part with all of them!

Anyhow, I have digressed from the "Cheeky pig!" where I started .....yesterday I bought some pigs' cheeks from the butcher, something I have not seen in UK supermarkets or even butchers before but which are often to be seen in the butchers in Spain where my parents have lived for the past 30 years. Beef cheeks seem to be on the rise in popularity with the celebrity chefs here in the UK and they rave about this underused cut of meat for its flavour and the fact it maintains its shape even after long cooking and doesn't go into shreds. I haven't personally ever cooked pigs cheeks before but have eaten them in Spain and they were very tender and tasty done the way I had them.

I prepared the cheeks by removing the sinew and then cut each cheek into three pieces before sealing off in a frying pan. See the pics below to show the pigs cheeks before and after being trimmed stage. I then transferred them into the slow cooker, together with some diced smoked bacon, onion, a stick of celery (just for flavouring as I don't like actually eating chunks of celery) and some large chunks of carrot (again which I included for the flavouring but intend on removing from the final dish for presentation purposes), some large wedges of peeled and cored apples, seasoning and a bouquet garni. I had run out of cider or perry and couldn't be bothered to drive out to the supermarket again so decided to use a can of fiery ginger beer and some chicken stock as the liquid element. I left the slow cooker to do its magic and after about 5 hours on a low setting had a taste. Very yummy though I do say so myself! I thickened the sauce a little and then put the casserole into the fridge overnight. I do find that so many casserole type dishes do benefit from not being eaten straight away, any fat rises and solidifies on the surface making it very easy to remove and the flavours seem to mellow and mingle better the next day after a quick reheat. Tonight I intend to finish the dish with some caramelised apple slices as a garnish and maybe a swirl of creme fraîche and serve with some spring onion mash potato to soak up the lovely sauce and some steamed tenderstem broccoli. Voilà ...... pork, apple and ginger beer casserole!


Far left pig's cheek as bought with sinew and then showing trimmed.

Lovely chunks of pork sealing off in a pan before transferring to the slow cooker.

I will publish a good base recipe for Pork in Cider which is the sort of recipe that inspires me to make the changes I made; i.e. using ginger beer and pork cheeks etc.

Normandy Pork with Cider

2010-09-05T13:51:00.000+01:00

The Dijon mustard and crème fraîche give this freeze-ahead French recipe a lovely creamy flavour and complement the pork perfectly. Takes 1 and 3/4 hours to make, plus cooling. Freeze for up to 3 months, then defrost overnight and reheat. Serves 8

Ingredients
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1kg lean pork, diced
2 large onions, diced
2 large carrots, thickly sliced
2 parsnips, thickly sliced
2 leeks, washed and sliced into 3cm lengths
500ml dry cider
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp cornflour
200g half-fat crème fraîche
2 Cox’s apples

Method:
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the pork in batches, until just browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and put in a casserole. Add the onions to the frying pan and fry for 5 minutes, stirring, until just transparent. Place in the casserole with the pork.

Tip: If you want to eat this straightaway, prepare up to the end of step 2, leave to cool for 10 minutes, then complete.

Add the vegetables to the casserole, then pour over the cider and add the bay leaves. Put over a high heat and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until the pork is tender.Allow to cool, then freeze in portions for up to 3 months. Thaw for 24 hours in the fridge. To reheat, put into a large pan over a medium heat and heat until piping hot.

Stir the mustard and cornflour into the crème fraîche, then stir into the casserole. Core and cut the apples into wedges. Add to the casserole and simmer for 5-8 minutes, or until the apples are tender and the sauce has thickened. Season and serve.

This recipe was originally posted by delicious magazine.

No hummingbirds were hurt in the making of this cake ...

2010-09-04T15:34:00.005+01:00

This morning I decided to make a Hummingbird Cake - bizarre name for a cake which doesn't actually contain hummingbirds ;-) no idea where the name originated from but I assume that as the cake contains things like pineapple and banana, hummingbirds would love the sweetness!

I love this cake for its ease of making, it freezes and is good with or without a glaze or frosting (to keep the calorie content down in case you are worried about such things but I find the cake very sweet without any added glaze or icing). It is similar in texture to a carrot or passion cake and the banana and pineapple keep the cake lovely and moist and the walnuts add some crunch and texture. In fact you could almost say it is a healthy cake - all that fibre, fruit and protein and even the "fat" element is sunflower oil .... need I say more to convince you to give this a go?!

Hummingbird Cake

Ingredients

3 cups plain flour

2 cups caster sugar (you could use golden caster)

1 tsp Bi-carb of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 x 225g crushed pineapple, in natural juice

1 cup sunflower oil (or other neutral tasting oil)

3 large eggs, beaten

3 medium bananas, mashed roughly with a fork (roughly 270g)

1 cup small walnut pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (not vanilla flavoured essence)

Optional Glaze

1 tbs unsalted butter, melted

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

2 tbs of the juice from the canned pineapple

Optional Cream Cheese Frosting

600g icing sugar, sifted

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

250g cream cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 325F / 160C / Gas Mark 3.
Generously grease or oil a 10" tube or a fluted tube pan. You can use a normal square tin but I find that means the cake takes longer to cook properly in the middle.
For the cake: in a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, bi-carb of soda, and salt.
Next remove 2 tbs of juice from the can of pineapple and set this juice aside for the glaze if using.
Do not add the wet ingredients to the dry until you are ready to add them all at once, I find it easiest to prepare all the wet ingredients and have them all ready to just tip into the flour mixture.
To the flour mixture, add the can of pinapple, including the juice, the oil, beaten eggs, mashed banana, nuts, and vanilla. Fold and stir together till just blended but do not beat.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 15 minutes then invert the cake onto a wire rack and remove the pan from the cake.
Cool completely.

You can make a glaze or a cream cheese frosting, like the type you often get on carrot / passion cake. I rarely bother with this step as I like the cake as it is but the choice is, of course, yours!

To make the optional glaze:

In a small bowl combine the melted butter with the icing sugar. Add enough of the reserved pineapple juice to make a glaze of drizzling consistancy. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.

For a glaze with a whole new dimension, try substituting rum for the pinapple juice.

To make the optional cream cheese frosting:

Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric whisk until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat till completely incorporated. Continue to beat at a medium to high speed until the mix is fluffy and light, at least 5 mins. Split the cake through the middle horizontally and spread some of the frosting into this middle layer and use the remainder to frost the top and sides of the cake if desired.

This is an adaptation of a recipe I originally found on Big Oven, recipe ID 158449. The image of the glazed cake is from this website as well. The images below are my cake cooling.

Looks like the mice have been at the cake but was my fault for being impatient and being a bit gung-ho getting the cake turned out from its tin!

Hummingbird cake straight after being turned out, leaving to cool thoroughly before optional glaze or frosting.

Supermarket stroll

2010-09-03T17:36:00.004+01:00

Having a half day work only today meant that this afternoon I was able to do the main weekly shop at a leisurely pace, browsing every aisle and taking time to really look at the products. I also chose to go to a different supermarket, a large Morrisons, from my usual one - a small Sainsbury is the closest to me in the village/small town that I live in.

I would like to think that I am not a supermarket snob but I think I would be fibbing just a little! I'm a Waitrose girl at heart and I also like M&S when I need something almost ready to go without having to add to it too much on busy work evenings from time to time. Unfortunately neither have stores very close to me now that I have moved out into the countryside. Mind you my bank manager is probably relieved as previously I used to be able to pop to Waitrose in my lunch break from work and could do M&S "on the way home" (well only a minor detour was needed to make that statement true!) However the Morrison store I went to today was actually quite a pleasant experience and the variety of fresh produce and the fish counter was really quite impressive.

I bought some beautiful king scallops which I intend to have tonight maybe seared and tossed with some chorizo, garlic, flat leaf parsley and a squeeze of lemon accompanied by a super healthy mixed baby leaf salad whilst my husband, who refuses point blank to eat seafood or even try it, will be having a 21 day matured beef fillet steak instead - got to push the boat out sometimes!

Whilst at the supermarket I picked up October issues of Good Food magazine and Delicious (I subscribe to Olive so have that one already). I was starting to get a little bored with some of the food magazines a few months back and found that the recipes seemed to be being recycled from years ago and nothing much was grabbing my attention. However in the past few months I have found some interesting articles and recipes in them again so will keep cluttering up my home office with them until I get round to stripping out the recipes and articles I want and filing them.

The quality and variety of produce, meat, fish and ingredients generally has grown enormously in recent years which always makes me then question how come the ready meal market is expanding even more?! The shelves are full of ready meals or elements of a meal (like freshly mashed potato - is it really that difficult to make it yourself or even make a large batch and then freeze portions for later use?) and whilst I fully accept and even use these things myself from time to time I wonder how people can afford to live off them. Whilst unpacking the trolley onto the conveyor belt at the tills I watch so many people on all sides of me lay out box after packet after carton after tin of these heavily processed foods. I smile quietly to myself and feel very virtuous when I look at my fresh ingredients and wonder if those folk with the ready meals look in disdain at my purchases or do they just not consider food worth the time and effort?

Anyway, time to put my feet up with a cup of tea and a flick through the recipes in the magazines to inspire me for the weekend.

The Why and Wherefores

2010-09-02T16:18:00.004+01:00

Q. So just exactly why have I decided to try my hand at blogging?
A. Why not?!

Q. Why write about food and all things culinary, there are so many blogs out there already on these very topics?
A. Good point - but this is really just for me in the first instance, I think about food, recipes, ingredients, cuisines, foodie events, delis, farm shops, restaurants, eating establishments etc a lot of the time. I would like to put my thoughts, ideas and links to favourite places and items connected to this obsession in one place and watch it grow, develop and branch out.

Family and friends have for years said I should write a cook book or give cookery demos or help them with menu planning for special events and in truth if I knew how to be able to earn a living out of my passion for food, quality ingredients, recipes, menu planning and so forth, I'd do it in a heartbeat and give up the day job! However life doesn't seem to work like that for most people and only the lucky few seem able to make a living out of doing what they love. So, for now, this will be a labour of love and hopefully a few folk might eventually stumble across it and enjoy my collection of food related ramblings!

Q. What do I intend to blog about?
A. Well I'd like to post some of my favourite recipes and links to the websites I love to browse for cookery ideas, interesting culinary topics, cook books, web sites dedicated to making me want to buy all the latest must-have kitchen gadgets, write down the handy tips and hints that I come across or have discovered for myself and I would like to think that other bloggers might pay my humble beginnings a visit and share their own ideas and blogs.

I intend to enjoy and hope that if you are reading this that you will do the same!