Lay The Table

Supermarket cheats

Becs — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:15:12 +0000

Admittedly, when I get home in the evenings, I don’t always want to lovingly prepare dishes from scratch, sometimes I get by with a little help from my friend, The Supermarket. Here’s three of these secrets I’ll let you in on…

Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste

Making your own chilli paste can be costly and time-consuming, but this curry paste takes all that out of the equation. Just fry, then add coconut milk, water, vegetables and meat and you’re done! The tub gives you eight portions and is around the £2 mark. Now you can have quick thai food without reaching for the takeaway menu!

Asda thai selection pack

Another thai one, this is perfect for making tom yam (recipe coming soon) and costs just 86p (price correct 9th March 2010, Fratton store). In the pack you get thai shallots, garlic, lemongrass, chillies and galangal. Buying all the ingredients seperately would cost a fair bit more! The only thing it lacks is kaffir lime leaves – I’m lucky I can pick frozen ones up at our local asian supermarket and just take them out when I need them.

New! Ambrosia Crumble Puds

I just tried these yesterday and I swear these are my new pudding cheat. The custard contains compote (there’s a few fruits to choose from, I had apple) and I warmed mine up in the microwave and sprinkled the crumble balls over the top. OK it’s not a proper apple crumble but they still rate top in my shop-bought desserts.

My basic cupcake recipe

Becs — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:59:36 +0000

Here’s my basic cupcake recipe! I find beating the eggs and the sugar makes the mixture much more airy than beating the sugar and butter and the batter is really light.

{Makes about 16 normal size cupcakes}

40mins – Prep time: 20 mins – Cooking time: 20mins

Ingredients

4oz golden caster sugar 4oz margarine (I use Stork) 4oz self raising flour 2 medium/large eggs (get them out of the fridge beforehand to warm up to room temp) 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste/3 drops vanilla essence

Instructions

Oven temp: 160°C/320°F

Lay out cupcake cases. If you use silicon you can lay them on a flat baking tray, if you use paper ones, I advise using a bun tin to make the cakes hold their shape
Whisk the eggs and sugar for at least 4 minutes with an electric hand whisk and beat air into the mix so it fluffs up.
Bit by bit, sieve in the flour and baking powder and add bits of butter, whisking the mixture each time to ensure a smooth texture, until fully mixed, then mix in the vanilla paste or essence.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases, ensuring you smooth the tops down (it doesn’t have to be perfect!)
Put the cupcakes into the oven for 15-20 minutes until they feel spongey and the tops have got some colour.
Once out of the oven, place on a wire cooling rack to cool down

Rolling Stones 40 Licks Cupcakes

Becs — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:25:52 +0000

I entered a cupcake competition at the weekend and the theme was music. I didn’t have any ideas in mind so I asked my twitter friends for ideas and one of them came up with the idea!

The cupcakes themselves use the red velvet recipe I tried before.

For the tongues and lips I used flowerpaste and made the items a couple of nights before so they would harden up a bit. I used gel food colouring to colour them – unfortunately I couldn’t get it to turn bright red! To make the templates, print out the image below twice, cutting out the tongue on one. On the other, draw in the rest of the lips and cut them out.

I then cut around the lip templates using the pink/red flowerpaste then I gently brushed them with strawberry jam and sprinkled them with red sanding sugar. Then I cut out the tongues using the pink flowerpaste, and left them to dry with the lips. When they had hardened and dried, I used white writing icing to accent the lips and tongue.

I made some cream cheese buttercream and piped it on using a piping bag, then sprinkled a few edible gold stars on. Then I added the lips and put the tongue on so it poked out.

Nom and roll!

Chicken satay

Becs — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:55:15 +0000

These make a great party snack or even a tasty supper when served with rice! Good quality chicken is a must, and don’t forget, the longer you marinate these the better they’ll taste! So if you have time to prepare these the day before, even better.

Tip: Add 1tbsp curry powder when adding the peanut butter and brown sugar to the pan for a spiced up version

{Serves 3 people when served with rice as a dinner}

Ingredients

For the marinade

3 chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fresh coriander
2 tbsp oil

For the satay sauce

200ml coconut milk
2 heaped tbsp peanut butter (I find smooth works better but if you prefer crunchy, go ahead)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp oil
Dash of pepper

Instructions

Crush the garlic, roughly chop and coriander and mix with the oil in a large bowl/tray.
Using a meat tenderiser, gently bash the chicken between cling film. This stops it moving about and ensures even tenderising! Then cut into small 2cm wide slices.
Mix the chicken with the marinade, cover and place in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably overnight.
Soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes in a bowl of water, this stops them burning. Then gently push the chicken onto the skewers. We used approximately 10 skewers, using about ⅔ of each skewer.
Cook the chicken for around 12-15 minutes, turning halfway to ensure even cooking.
To make the sauce: Put the oil in the pan and warm slightly over a medium heat before adding the peanut butter and brown sugar. Allow the sugar to dissolve and the peanut butter to become runnier before mixing in the coconut milk bit my bit. Bring to the boil then leave to simmer gently for 5 minutes.

My favourite kitchen tools

Becs — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:00:35 +0000

I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for a while but my favourite gadget list grows on an almost weekly basis. Here I’m bringing you a few of my most favourite (and some even indispensible) kitchen tools which make my life so much easier, and bring a little style to my cooking.

Kenwood kMix hand mixer

I got one of these for my birthday and was sceptical that such a beautiful thing could possibly be that good at mixing. This hand mixer is certainly a thing of beauty, I love the retro cream finish (it’s also available in other colours too) and it’s extremely quiet too. The paddles made light work of beating eggs and sugar into a light batter and it comes with a stand for the paddles and mixer, so you can leave it on the worktop for people to admire.

WMF Salt and Pepper mills

I was once a person who thought a pepper mill was just a pepper mill, but I’ve soon learnt that not all pepper mills are made the same.

I spent a long time tagging along behind Chris on his post-Christmas sales shopping, comparing and contrasting the various different options on offer. These WMF ones are not only extremely stylish sat atop your dining table, but they’ve also got a couple of design differences to those of say, Cole and Mason that make them just that little bit better. Firstly, the grinding mechanism is ceramic, so it’s much harder than the steel ones, meaning it’ll give you years of milling. Also with this design, the mill is at the top of the design, so it doesn’t leave pepper all over your table after you’ve used it. Yes, they seem pricey (Chris got his for £20 each in House of Fraser’s sale) but they are well worth the money.

Optimum baking trays

I think these are a Robert Dyas own brand as I can’t seem to find them anywhere online, not even in their own online shop. They’re currently on buy one get one free and both the oven tray and the muffin tin are outstanding quality. They’re heavy duty and come with a 10 year guarantee. At around £10.99 (and being BOGOF) it’s definitely worth popping down to your local Dyas for.

Titan peeler set

These peelers cut my peeling in time in half! There’s also a handy julienne peeler which is great for adding thin pieces of carrot to a stir fry. If you can find the set with the mandolin board, then buy that instead. I know they’ve been advertised on tv shopping channels which always makes me a bit sceptical but trust me when I say these are brilliant.

Cupcake courier

As I walk to work very often my creations were ending up like they’d been through a war zone, so I searched online for a solution. Lakeland do offer a similar style but it’s only one level high. The reviews of it weren’t great either. This one has perfect sized holes for normal fairy cakes and has three levels, enabling you to take up to 36 cakes in it. The only thing I will say of it is that it’s hard to get the cakes out of it. My colleagues offered to drill a small hole in each of the bun holes so that I can push them out with my finger underneath. I use mine almost every week!

Crockpot/Slow cooker

I originally bought a small slow cooker from ASDA for £10 because I wasn’t sure how much use I’d get out of it. However, it’s soon become a staple kitchen item for me because I have to put almost zero effort into dinner when I get home and the meat is always so deliciously tender. I’ve cooked soups, stock, stews, ham in cider and ribs in it – the possibilities are endless. Just pop all your ingredients in in the morning, switch it on, and by the time you get home the food will be done.

I recently upgrade to this crockpot from Robert Dyas which is just £20 and can serve up to 4 people. I found it much easier to cook my ribs in and the pot is dishwasher, oven and microwave safe. Did I mention it’s very low energy? Environmentally and wallet friendly! Watch out for a crockpot recipe soon on LTT…

Garlic peeler tube

I often have trouble getting the skin off garlic, but this makes it a doddle. Just cut the ends off the garlic, put it in the tube lengthways and gentle roll the tube on hard surface. Magic!

Red velvet cupcakes – a fraught day in the kitchen

Becs — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:43:42 +0000

These red velvet cupcakes have been causing me trauma today! I’ve been trying to learn how to make a swirly frosting like in this video:

Unfortunately the recipe I used was for a large red velvet cake, not cupcakes and the frosting wasn’t strong enough to hold the shape when trying to create swirls on top. Instead I found a batch of pre-made vanilla buttercream in the cupboard and used that to practice. I also made my own sugar sand really easily.

These cupcakes make perfect Valentines cupcakes – you can sprinkle these edible heart sprinkles on top too for that loving feeling. Despite being a really thick batter, they are incredibly light.

The recipes I used for the cupcakes is from Red Velvet Cake recipe from Joy Of Baking.com.

Red velvet cupcakes are tradionally frosted with cream cheese but you will need a stiffer mix like this recipe for cream cheese frosting All Recipes.com. Or you could just use a vanilla buttercream recipe – just make sure to put it in the fridge so it stiffens up if you make it yourself. Make swirly frosting on the top of the cupcakes as in the video.

I pre-prepared the sugar by mixing 6tbsp of granulated sugar with 1tsp red liquid food colouring. I stirred it well to ensure all the sugar was red then turned it onto a plate with a piece of kitchen roll to dry it out. Once dried, split up any big pieces with the back of a spoon.

Gently sprinkle the sugar on top of the cupcakes.

Chicken Rice

Becs — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:46:33 +0000

A recipe that sure does what it says on the tin. Yes, it looks like the world’s dullest meal, but I’ve been brought up on this traditional Malaysian food and the recipe I’m telling you has been passed down through 3 generations of my family (my Grandma was Singaporian and my mother spent some of her childhood there too). If there was one food I had to live on for the rest of my life (apart from Dim Sum), it’d be this. It’s a reasonably cheap eat, I ate a lot of this whilst I was in my final year of university, because it was quick and nutritious.

{Serves 1 person}

Ingredients

1 chicken breast
200g rice (I use Basmati)
3 spring onions
A couple of slices of cucumber
2 chicken stock cubes (I always use Knorr)
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

Wash the rice in a sieve, under a warm tap, allowing the starch to run out. Wait until the water becomes reasonably clear (it’s never 100% clear), then remove from sieve and allow to dry naturally on a plate.
Top and tail the spring onions and add into a pan with the cucumber, chicken breast, 1 1/2 stock cubes and enough water to cover the chicken comfortably. Don’t use too big a pan as the stock you create will be too weak.
Boil the chicken for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat, cover with a lid and leave for 25 minutes allowing the chicken to poach.
Measure 1/2 pint of the stock into a jug and add the other 1/2 stock cube in and dissolve.
In a clean pan over a medium heat, add the butter and allow it to melt and gently fry the rice, turning continuous for a couple of minutes. Add the stock from the jug and bring to the boil, then turn down to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes, or until all the stock has evaporated.
Whilst the rice is cooking, take two forks and gently pull the chicken apart on a plate and then cover with sesame oil.
Serve with beansprouts and baby sweetcorn and lashings of soy sauce!

Review: Restaurant 27

Becs — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:16:17 +0000

I celebrated my turning a quarter of a century last week, and my birthday present from my boyfriend was a meal at the newly opened Restaurant 27. I was extremely excited, as I’d heard the chef from my favourite restaurant Bistro Montparnasse (now just Montparnasse), Kevin Bingham had ventured out on his own and opened this new resturant, and was aiming for a Michelin star.

Before we even got there, I was pleased to be asked if I had any special dietary requirements and if there was a special occasion on the table, and I was called on the day to confirm the details again. When we arrived our coats were taken and we were seated at “the bar” where Chris had a G&T and I had a limoncello. I didn’t realise it was a shot, not a long drink on this occasion and felt a bit out of place downing said shot whilst Chris slowly sipped his drink down. We were served canapes – I’m afraid I cannot remember the names of them, but I will describe them to you:

A radish slice containing goat’s cheese
A Malaysian(?) curry spiced roll
A Caerphilly cheese croquette

All were divine and a great promise of things to come. We ordered our starters and as neither of us are particularly competent with choosing wine to go with our meals, we were given some great advice. There is a good range of wines in terms of price range and variety, and there is also a rare wines menu too for those whose noses and tastebuds are a little more attuned to the good stuff.

Once we were seated to our table, we had a little pre-starter of a shot glass of creamy almond and swede velouté with bombay potato served in a little espresso cup. It was the perfect amuse bouche and similar to the kind of taster we’d had in Bistro M (in there we had a pea and red pepper one which we tried to recreate without success). After that we were served a roll with seaweed and sesame topping and a sundried tomato ciabatta – I was served saffron butter with mine and Chris has seaweed butter with ours. This was dependent on our choice of starter – I ordered the king prawn and mussel chowder with potato and leek cake and Chris ordered butter roasted scallops served with brown shrimp sand and oyster foam. I was a little surprised to see that my chowder also contained salmon as it hadn’t been mentioned on the menu but it was delicious all the same. I don’t normally like fish (I tend to only eat prawns) and I’m a bit of fussy eater so didn’t fancy the other starter options, but the mussels were so soft and tender I completely changed my opinion on seafood. Chris’s starter reminded me of sandcastles on a beach when the sea had gently lapped over them and the shrimp sand added to the seaside feel. We later heard the people on the table next to us complaining that they though there was too much shrimp sand, but it was served on the side so you could have as little or as much as you want.

For main, I ordered the 30 hours cooked belly pork which was a 6 hour upgrade from the one at Bistro M and was delicious as expected although with all the canapes, pre-starters and starter I’d eaten was probably in terms of portion size a little large and rich for my tastebuds and I didn’t quite finish it all. Chris had black forest Gressingham duck which was complimented perfectly by the cherry and dark chocolate.

We also had a pre-dessert which was lemon (again sorry I can’t remember exactly what it was) and it cleared the palette perfectly and was gently fizzy on the tongue and left me feeling light and refreshed ready for pudding.

Pudding I can only describe as sheer delight – if you watched any of the Masterchef Best of British last year where one guy made a sweet shop on a plate, then you’ll know exactly what I mean. The desserts were beautifully presented – a wonder to the eyes and tasted as good. I had the apple crumble icecream cone served with madeleine cake and calvados jelly and Chris had the dark chocolate marquise with nougat, custard truffle and almond gel. I really enjoyed mine but didn’t feel the calvados jelly really went with the other textures of my meal (despite jelly and icrecream being a childhood favourite, it didn’t work with the crunchy tuille cone). The marquise was enjoyable and I loved the nougat particularly.

At the end of the meal I was given a little treat of chocolate cake in a box for my birthday which I haven’t broken into yet – it’s a nice gesture especially as I was so full from all the other delights I’d tasted that evening.

A word about the atmosphere – there’s only about 10 tables which is a good size and ensures it doesn’t get too roudy or noisy in there, but I felt that the ceilings were too high and created a slightly village hall feel about it. There was little to create a cosy atmosphere – there’s not too much to look at on the walls and there’s an picture of two children on the wall (I’m guessing the chef’s children) which seems out of character to the rest of the food related images. If Michelin took into account ambience (which apparently they don’t) they wouldn’t get the sought-after Michelin star. I was also slightly disappointed with the service – we were asked if we wanted dessert wine and then had to ask our waiter to take the dessert order after the first waiter wanted to take the order within 1 minute of being given the menu, and consequently disappeared after we said we needed a little more time.

Our meal came to £106 with two bar drinks, a bottle of wine and a glass of dessert wine between us which I thought was good. I’m still unsure if I would go back – I am a die-hard fan of Montparnasse and not sure whether the same environment has quite been recreated here. The food was surely fantastic though!

Visit the Restaurant 27 website.

Winter warmer: Hot apple juice mixer

Becs — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:49:56 +0000

We’ve been drinking a lot of hot drinks to keep us warm recently, we bought a load of mulled wine from the supermarket (yes we cheated) and when that was gone we moved on Pimm’s Winter which you drink with hot apple juice. During snow week when we couldn’t go to work, we searched the shops of Southsea for a bottle of it and couldn’t find any.

My housemate came back with a bottle of the delicious vanillery Lamb’s Spiced Rum which isn’t the cheapest but it tasted really nice with hot apple, and we put half a cinnamon stick in with the apple juice. Don’t put the alcohol in the pan, you’ll burn it off!

There’s a couple of other suggestions for spirits you should definitely try too: As a replacement for Lamb’s Spiced Rum, try Sailor Jerry Rum or for a more almond/caramel taste, why not use amaretto, like Disaranno.

Extra moist chocolate fudge cake

Becs — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:33:39 +0000

I’ve been looking for a very special chocolate cake recipe for a while – one that actually tastes chocolatey. The recipes I have suggest putting a tablespoon of cocoa powder in a normal victoria sponge but this never ever tastes good to me! This recipe doesn’t use any raising agent surprisingly and comes from The Telegraph from many years ago (I only have a photocopy of the page so can’t tell you exactly when or who to credit).

40mins – Prep time: 20mins – Cooking time: 20mins

Ingredients

For the cake

175g plain chocolate, broken into pieces (minimum 64% cocoa solids)
175g softened unsalted butter
75g unrefined caster sugar
4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
90g ground almonds
90g plain flour, sifted

For the chocolate fudge icing

125ml milk
90g sugar
125g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
45g unsalted butter

Ingredients

Oven temp: 150°C/300°F

Grease and line two 17cm/7inch sandwich tins.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until it melts. Do not let the bowl touch the water and never melt the chocolate directly in a pan as it goes grainy. Stir well.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until frothy and light. Beat in the egg yolks bit by bit. Add the melted chocolate and the ground almonds.
Whisk the egg whites in a seperate bowl until soft peaks form. Do not go on beating or they will collapse.
Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the egg white and the flour into the mixture bit by bit until it has all been used.
Spread the mixture evenly into the sandwich tines and baker for 20 minutes. It’s a good idea to check them after 18 minutes, the sponge should be springy, not firm.
Remove the tins from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes before turning them onto a wire rack.
To make the icing, bring the milk and sugar to the boil and then stir over a low heat for 5 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the chocolate and butter until they have both melted. Pour the icing into a bowl.
When cool, put in the fridge to thicken for a couple of hours (this makes it easier to spread).
Spread half the icing on top of one cake then sandwich the other cake on top. Then cover the cake top and sides with the rest of the icing. I top mine with some “choco crunchies” cake toppings from Asda.