Beef bourguignon

The first time I ate beef bourguignon was when I was in Paris – mind you, this was so many years ago that I barely remember what it tasted like. This was also way before I started my love affair with cooking and baking. What I do remember though, was that it managed to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which is always a plus when it’s cold and gloomy outside.

This dish truly is very simple, and although it may seem like it takes quite a while to cook, you don’t actually need to do very much as you can just leave it to simmer on the stove. Very different from a dish like risotto where you would have to constantly stir it every 2-3 minutes. What more could one want on a cold and gloomy winter’s day?

I love eating this with a dollop (okay not a dollop, more like a huge mound) of mashed potatoes or polenta, as I personally feel they complement each other really really well. I favour polenta over mash, as polenta is much easier to whip up and requires less washing up. Always a winner when it’s been a long day at work – in my books anyway!

Another plus is that this dish can actually be turned into a vegetarian dish – simply by omitting the beef, and replacing it with more mushrooms. I’ve cooked both the mushroom and beef versions countless times, and I honestly can’t choose between the two.

Beef bourguignon
Please note: I know this may not be the most traditional (or correct) way to cook this, but it works well for me.

• 500g stewing beef
• 100g pancetta cubes
• 4 carrots, diced (I use a lot as I love carrots)
• 6 shallots, quartered
• 250g chestnut mushrooms (use them whole)
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 600-700ml beef stock (I use stock cubes)
• 350ml red wine
• 2-3 sprigs thyme, leaves removed from the stems
• 1 sprig rosemary, leaves removed from the stem
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a pan/pot over medium high heat, and brown the beef on each side (usually takes 3-5 minutes). Remove from pan and set aside.
2. In the same pan, cook the pancetta cubes until they start to release their oils. Add the quartered shallots, diced carrots, mushrooms and tomato puree to the pan, and cook for 5 minutes until everything is nicely browned.
3. Return the beef to the pan, and stir to combine.
4. Add the red wine, beef stock and herbs to the pan, and bring to the boil.
5. Turn down the heat, and simmer over medium heat for 2-3 hours. Alternatively, you can slow cook it in a 150°C oven.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve with your choice of polenta or mashed potatoes. Or maybe even some pasta!

For the polenta:

Use a 1 part polenta: 4 parts water* ratio. Put polenta into a pan (over medium high heat), add the water and bring to the boil, stirring constantly the whole time. Be forewarned that the polenta will bubble madly, which is why you need to stir it whilst it cooks. The consistency you are aiming for is that of mashed potatoes.Season with salt and pepper. I also season it with garlic olive oil to add some extra flavour.

*I sometimes use an equal mix of water and milk to cook this as I find it makes the polenta creamier.

Yet another birthday cake!

I have always been intrigued by the red velvet cake, but shockingly have never tried a “proper” version. I tried my hands at some red velvet cupcakes, but I evidently did not put enough food colouring in as it came out brown rather than red. They tasted brilliant though, and I was immediately a fan. I did, however, still want to try the red velvet cake from Hummingbird Bakery (I got the recipe for my cupcakes from their cookbook) – but as I wasn’t keen on trekking to South West London in the winter, I decided I would wait till their store opened in Soho.

In the end, I didn’t have to do that, as R got me this very cake for my birthday!

As you may have noticed, my previous post was about R’s birthday, and this is because we have birthdays that are only a week apart. It can be either good or bad – depending on how you see it. Good as we get to have a joint celebration somewhere in between, bad because there is an endless supply of cake in those 2 weeks. Which is what happened last month – I *almost* feel guilty when I think of how much cake I ate in December, what with birthdays and Christmas and all…

But back to the gorgeousness that is this red velvet cake. I love the simple yet effective way the cake was decorated, with some red velvet cake crumbs sprinkled atop the cream cheese frosting. Definitely something I will do in the future when decorating cakes. The fact that it was a triple layer cake also made it look that much better – height is obviously a plus when it comes to cakes! And just look at the beautiful way the icing is done on the edges of the cake – I can only wish I could do it so skillfully.

The cake itself was very moist, and surprisingly not too dense or “sickly” considering its size. I did find the icing a bit too sweet though, and found that after a while, I had to leave some of it behind. (Shocking I know) It wouldn’t stop me from eating this again though!

And of course, there had to be some food as well. I was actually (very unfortunately) on call on my birthday, so R had the entire day to shop and cook dinner. He made this delicious rack of lamb, served with potatoes and roasted vegetables. The lamb was ridiculously good, with a crispy herby crust on the outside and tender meat on the inside. I sometimes find it amusing how R never cooked before he met me  – and now, here he is producing such yummy food. Am not complaining though.

Note: there are 2 photos of the dish being served in different ways as we were experimenting! I also apologise for the terrible photos, but I was hungry and for some reason my light (and my brain!) wasn’t cooperating!

Herb crusted rack of lamb with potatoes boulangere and courgettes provencal
Based on this recipe by Gordon Ramsay

For the lamb:

• 2 large racks of Lamb, cut in half with 3 bones each portion

• 4 slices of stale bread made into crumbs
• 100g grated parmesan
• Sprig parsley
• Sprig thyme
• Sprig coriander
• Sprig rosemary
• 2 tablespoons English mustard

1. Season the lamb with salt and pepper, and seal in hot olive oil. Bake in the oven at 200°C for 7 to 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a blender, thoroughly mix all the herb crust ingredients together, season and set aside.
3. Remove the lamb from the oven and brush with the mustard before dipping into the herb crust mix covering the fat thoroughly.
4. Allow to rest and before serving simply return the lamb to the oven for a further 2-3 minutes.

For the courgettes provencal:

• 6 large courgettes cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 500g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 sprig basil
• 1 sprig coriander
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

1. Sauté the courgettes and rosemary in olive oil, season and add a dash of vinegar.
2. Add the tomatoes, basil and coriander and cook for approximately 5 minutes further seasoning with a little more oil and vinegar.
3. Allow to cook until the vegetables have just begun to soften.

For the potatoes:

• 1 liter chicken stock
• 1 sprig thyme
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 3 crushed cloves of garlic
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 large onions, peeled and sliced
• 4 large Desiree potatoes peeled and finely sliced, on a mandolin if possible

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Bring the chicken stock to a boil and infuse with thyme, rosemary and crushed garlic cloves. Strain before use.
3. Gently sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil until softened and lightly colored.
4. Rub an oven proof dish with olive oil and layer the onions followed by the potatoes, repeating until the dish is full finishing with a final layer of potato. Make sure to season each layer as you go.
5. Pour over the stock until it comes 2/3rds of the way up the dish. Press down on the mixture to help the liquid absorb and finally drizzle a little olive oil on top.
6. Bake for approximately 20 – 25 minutes or until soft and golden on top.

To serve:
Slice the lamb into 3 chops per person, serve with the courgettes and a generous helping of the potatoes before spooning over a little of the vinaigrette from the vegetables.

For the cake:
Go to the wonderful Hummingbird Bakery (branches in Old Brompton Road, Portebello Road & Wardour Street)
http://hummingbirdbakery.com/flash.html

A birthday cake (and some food)

I still remember the first time I baked a birthday cake – it was about 4 years ago in my tiny little kitchen, where I impulsively decided to bake a simple chocolate cake for my flatmate. Being completely clueless about cake decorating, I just used halved strawberries along the sides of the cake, and was happy when it looked reasonably presentable. Fast forward to 4 years later, when I start planning what cake to make at least a week in advance, and inevitably ending up with too many ideas.

I went through the very same process during R’s birthday, and didn’t actually manage to decide which cake I would make until I was shopping for the ingredients. Shocking, I know. Anyway, I finally decided on Tartelette’s chocolate, mango and coconut cream cake. The vibrant colours just looked so beautiful, and I knew R would like the tropical theme of the cake.

(Edit: Just a note to say that all this took place more than a month ago, I just didn’t get around to posting till now. )

As you can see, I didn’t do terribly well with the cake as I am completely incompetent when it comes to splitting cakes into half. I have much to learn! Alternatively, I may just bake each layer in a seperate tray instead of trying to split an already thin cake into half… Despite the rather “uneven” look, the cake was delicious. The sponge layers were the best sponge cakes I’ve ever baked, and I think I’ll be using Helen’s recipe from now on. I did find that the mango mousse was not “mango-ey” enough for me, but this may have been because I used canned mangoes instead of fresh.

I topped the cake with some raspberries, lemon swirls, and dried mango slices (only thought of the mango once I sliced it up, which is why it’s not in the photo above).

And of course, it wasn’t just about the cake – there had to be some food as well…

A very simple proscuitto wrapped tomato/buffalo mozzarella salad, topped with fresh basil leaves and a dash of olive oil. This was inspired by a recipe in Donna Hay magazine (as always!), and was wonderfully delicious. I chose this primarily because it was very simple, and because I knew I would be spending a long time on the cake. Definitely something I will make again in the future.

Beer bacon wrapped beef fillet with a mushroom sauce, served with cheesy semolina. This was also a Donna Hay recipe. I was originally slightly disappointed as my sauce was not as dark as it appeared to be in the photos that accompanied this recipe – but as it still tasted amazingly good, I just had to be content with less attractive photos.

In the end, we were so stuffed from all the food that we couldn’t even eat the cake. That’s saying something as I always have room for dessert. R just blew out the candles, and we had to wait till the next day to eat the cake.

The recipe of the chocolate mango and coconut cream cake can be found here.

Beer bacon wrapped beef fillet with mushroom sauce
Adapted from a recipe in Donna Hay magazine, issue 40

• 2 rashers bacon
• 3/4 cup dark ale
• 2 x 200g beef fillet steaks
• olive oil, for brushing
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• 150g chestnut/white mushrooms
• 150g oyster mushrooms
• 1/4 cup beef stock
• 2 slices of cheese (I used raclette)

1. Place the bacon rashers in a bowl, and pour the ale over it. Leave to marinade for at least 1 hour.
2. Remove bacon rashers from the bowl, and reserve the ale. Wrap a bacon rasher around each beef fillet steak.
3. Heat oven to 180°C. In the meantime, brush the steaks with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Cook the steaks in a hot ban for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until they brown. Place the browned steaks in a baking tray and cook for 8-10 minutes (I like my beef to be medium-rare). Set aside and keep warm.
5. Heat some oil in a pan, and fry the mushrooms until they are browned (should take 1-2 minutes). Add the beef stock and reserved ale, and cook for 2 minutes. If you want to make the sauce thicker, either add some cornflour to the mixture, or cook until it reduces.
6. Place the steaks on a plate, top with the raclette cheese, and spoon over the mushroom sauce.

Note: I also served this with some cheesy semolina. This was simply semolina cooked with milk and some soft cheese.

Having fun with turkey leftovers

I have a confession. I cook turkey for Christmas so I can have tons of turkey leftovers. You see, I think there’s just something so enjoyable about coming up with new dishes from something old.

As most of my friends have either left London or were not here over Christmas, it was just R and I trying to eat a 5kg turkey. (I did try to look for a smaller turkey, but that was the smallest one they had in store!) But I wasn’t complaining, as it meant I would have lots and lots of leftovers to play around with!

One of the dishes I made was a turkey leftovers pizza. This was inspired by a pizza feature in one of the issues of Donna Hay magazine… as you can see, I am easily swayed by good looking food. Although I’d never tried anything like this before, I decided to just go for it as I figured it would be hard to go wrong when it came to pizzas.

I made the pizza bases with wholemeal flour as I had run out of plain bread flour, and I must say I could hardly tell that it was wholemeal. In fact, I might start using a mix of plain/wholemeal flour for pizzas in the future. For the fillings, I used all the leftovers from the dinner (except the gravy) – turkey, brussel sprouts, stuffing, potatoes and even the cranberry sauce!

And despite the fact that this was a very ‘thrown together’ (or as we Malaysian’s would say – “rojak” style) dish, both of us really enjoyed it! Though to be fair, it’s hard to not like pizzas. I do wish that I had rolled out the dough to make thinner pizzas though. I should also seriously consider getting a pizza stone…

I also made some Asian inspired turkey ’salad’ , which I also made last year. This is a Jamie Oliver recipe, which I originally thought was no longer available online. (I have since found the recipe here). As I didn’t have a recipe at the time, I decided to just work from memory. What I like most about this is that the turkey becomes really nice and crispy – slightly reminiscent of crispy duck. When eaten with the crunchy cashews and sweet cranberries… yum. We had the salad with a hoisin based sauce, smeared on a homemade tortilla.

The last thing I made with the turkey leftovers was a turkey and leek fusilli. This was a very simple dish, tossed together in a matter of minutes. Rather terribly, I had leftovers from this dish itself, so baked it with a mozzarella topping the following day – and I have to say it tasted better baked. Or maybe it was all that cheese….

I really enjoyed our turkey leftovers this year, and am already counting down to the next time I get to do this all over again. So if you ever are faced with tons of leftovers, just remember that there is always a good way to use them!

Turkey leftovers pizza

For the pizza dough:
Recipe from Donna Hay magazine, issue 47

• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour (I used wholemeal bread flour)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Place the sugar and water in a bowl, and stir till the sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast over the sugared water, and leave for 10 minutes until bubbles appear on its surface.
2. Place the flour, sea salt, and olive oil in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture, and mix using the dough hook on slow speed until a dough is formed (this normally takes me 7-10 minutes). The dough should be soft and elastic.
3. Divide the dough into (roughly) equal sized balls – you can make either large or small pizzas, depending on what you prefer. Cover with a teacloth or clingfilm, and leave to rise for 30 minutes, or until it doubles in size.
4. Press each dough ball into a round, and roll out to the desired size. The pizza dough is now ready to use.

For the toppings:
I don’t have a proper recipe for this, but I used the following ingredients, and just randomly threw them onto the pizza bases. Quantities don’t really matter as it really depends on how much of each you have available.

• torn pieces of leftover turkey
• sliced leftover brussel sprouts
• sliced leftover potatoes
• 2cm cubes of leftover stuffing
• mozzarella, torn
• cranberry sauce

Turkey and leek fusilli

• 500g fusilli
• 2 cups cooked turkey, shredded
• 3 leeks, cleaned and chopped into ~2cm pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can chicken/mushroom soup (I used Campbell’s chicken soup)
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook the fusilli in a pot of salted boiling water, for about 7-10 minutes, or until it is cooked al dente. Drain the fusilli and set aside.
2. Heat some olive oil in a pan over high heat. Fry the garlic for 1 minute or so until it becomes fragrant.
3. Add the chopped leeks, and cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the shredded turkey, followed by the can of soup. Turn down the heat, and leave to simmer for 1 minute.
5. Toss the fusilli with the sauce, and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you wish, grate some parmesan to serve.

*Alternatively, cook the pasta as above, top with torn mozzarella and put in the oven until the cheese melts to become a yummy gooey mess.

Asian inspired turkey ’salad’
Inspired by this recipe from Jamie Oliver

For the turkey ’salad’:

• 2 cups brown turkey meat
• 1 cup  cashew nuts
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 teaspoons ground five-spice powder
• 1 tablespoon runny honey

For the sauce:

• 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons plum sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• pinch of brown sugar

1. Put a pan on medium high heat, and shred the turkey meat into the pan using your fingers.
2. Add the cashews, dried cranberries and five spice powder. Stir till all the ingredients are well mixed, and let it toast whilst you make the sauce.
3. To make the sauce, just mix all the ingredients in a bowl until they’re well combined.
4. Smear some sauce on a tortilla, top with the turkey ’salad’, wrap – and serve!

Note: I also served my tortillas with (leftover) potatoes and stuffing.

If you’re interested in making your own tortillas:
Homemade tortillas
Adapted from this recipe from Cooking Mexican Recipes

• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons corn oil
• 3/4 cup warm water

1. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water and oil to the flour mixture, and mix with the dough hook attachment until a dough is formed. (This took about 7 minutes for me.) If your dough is too sticky, add more flour 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the right consistency.
2. Divide the dough into equal sizes (mine were probably 30-40g each), and leave to rise for a few minutes.
3. In the meantime, heat a pan (nonstick or cast iron) over high heat.
4. Flatten the dough rounds (on a lightly floured surface), and roll them out into rounds roughly 4-5 inches in diameter.
5. Place the rolled out tortilla in the heated pan and cook for 30 seconds until brown spots appear on its surface. Flip over, and cook for another 30 seconds on the other side. Be careful to not overcook the tortilla as it becomes very hard and crunchy if you do so – I made this mistake with my first tortilla, but I can’t say I was complaining as I thought it tasted like a healthier version of Doritos!

Of turkey, cranberries, and the end of 2009.

I still remember the first time I had a proper Christmas dinner with roast turkey – it was in my third year of university, where my flatmates and I decided to take the plunge and cook a turkey for the first time ever. And it turned out pretty well! I have fond memories of that dinner, mostly because I spent a fair bit of time decorating the table, and was really pleased when it turned out nicely!

My first ever Christmas dinner!

Since then, I’ve tried to cook a Christmas dinner every year. It’s lots of fun, and it creates a lot of leftovers – which I love.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of the food channel, and I watch as many Christmas specials as I possibly can. My favourites are Nigella (because she’s Nigella), and Jamie Oliver. Rather dissapointingly, Nigella didn’t have a Christmas special this year, but thank goodness for reruns!

I normally cook the turkey in the traditional way – butter on the turkey skin, with some herbs stuffed in the cavity. However, Jamie had this interesting method of cooking his turkey, what he called the “self basting turkey” method. This simply meant he stuffed butter under the turkey skin, which helps to crisp the skin as well as keep the breast meat nice and juicy. What was even better was the fact that he used flavoured butter – which I thought looked amazing.

The bad thing about stuffing butter underneath the turkey skin is that the areas with the flavoured butter looked darker (and “dirtier”), due to the herbs in the butter. It still tasted delicious though, and the skin was amazingly crispy – the crispiest skin I’ve had on a turkey to date.

And of course, what turkey is complete without some stuffing? I like cooking the stuffing separate from the turkey, and usually cook them in individual “meatball” sized pieces. This year, I decided to do something different, and cooked it in a loaf pan – which made it look a bit like meatloaf! There are cranberries and walnuts in addition to the sausagemeat, which I enjoyed as they provided a nice contrast of textures.

The turkey “meatloaf” stuffing

There were also dishes served on the side…

Roasted potatoes with a twist – inspired by this recipe by Martha Stewart. There was just the right amount of lemony-ness in the potatoes, which I absolutely loved. I also liked that I got to use olive oil instead of something more sinful like goose fat. All I can say is, if you’re a fan of lemons, you’ll love the taste of these potatoes!

Brussel sprouts, with pancetta and chestnuts. This dish was inspired by the one and only Nigella – she cooked this on her show, and I thought it sounded really interesting. It turned out well, and I really enjoyed the various textures in the dish: the crunchy brussel sprouts, salty pancetta and sweet chestnuts. Can’t say I’m a fan of brussel sprouts though – I’ll eat it but I wouldn’t order it in a restaurant, let’s just say.

Cranberry sauce, a necessity for a Christmas meal (to me anyway!). This was cooked with orange peel and and a touch of cinnamon, which gave it a very nice “festive” feel. I didn’t like how bitter the cranberry seeds were, so decided to run the sauce to a sieve – and the sauce became much sweeter.

In all, I must say that I really enjoyed my Christmas dinner – and I still have some leftovers in the fridge, which is brilliant. I’m one of those people who enjoys turkey leftovers more than the actual meal itself, as it gives me the chance to create new dishes!

On another note, I can’t believe it’s already New Year’s Eve. Time has really flown by, and I can hardly believe how much has happened in the last year. I won’t go into it all as it would be a really long post, but all I can say is that I’ve enjoyed 2009 immensely.

So, here’s wishing all of you a very Happy New Year. May 2010 bring joy, good health and good food to you all! xxx

Roast turkey
Inspired by this Jamie Oliver recipe

• 5 kg turkey
• 2 clementines
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary

• 200g butter
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary (chopped finely)
• 2-3 sprigs lemon thyme (chopped finely)
• 2-3 bay leaves (chopped finely)
• rind of one clementine

1. Make the flavoured butter: Mix softened butter with the grated clementine rind, chopped rosemary, chopped lemon thyme and chopped bay leaves. You may add dried cranberries to the butter, but I left this out as my stuffing already contained this.
2. Preheat your oven to as hot as it can go (for me, this was 220ºC).
3. Get your turkey, and use a spoon to work your way between the skin and the breast meat. Take care when doing this as you do not want to break the skin. Stuff the butter into the cavity you have just created. Rub any remaining butter all over the turkey.
4. Halve 2 clementines and pop them into the cavity with a few sprigs of rosemary. Jamie says that this is so the fruit will steam and flavour the turkey.
5. Put your turkey into the preheated oven, and immediately turn the oven down to 180ºC.
6. As a rough guide, each kg of turkey will need 35-40 minutes to cook. That said, each turkey and each oven is different, so just check on your turkey every 30 minutes and keep it from drying out by basting it with the juices from the bottom of the pan.
7. When the skin gets golden and crispy, the turkey should be done. To check on this, gently pull the drumstick outwards – if the juices run clear, the turkey is done. Alternatively, it is done when a meat thermometer (inserted in the thickest part of the breast) reads 65ºC.
8. Move the turkey to a platter then cover it with a double layer of foil to keep it warm while it rests for at least 30 minutes.

Cranberry and walnut sausagemeat “meatloaf” stuffing
Inspired by this recipe

• 400g dried cranberries
• 150g walnuts, chopped
• 1kg sausagemeat
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 6 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• 1 bunch sage, finely chopped
• 3 slices of proscuitto

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC.
2. Mix all the ingredients (except the proscuitto) together, using either a spatula or your hands. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed up evenly.
3. Put the sausagemeat mixture into a loaf pan. Top with proscuitto slices.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, until cooked through.

Cranberry sauce

• 500g fresh cranberries
• 400g sugar
• rind of 2 clementines (I simply peeled the rind off, there is no need to grate it)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• splash of red wine (ideally I would use port, but I only had red wine to hand)

1. Heat all the ingredients (except the red wine) in a pan over medium high heat. Once it reaches a boil, add the wine.
2. Turn down the heat, and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
3. If you like, you can sieve the mixture to get a silky smooth cranberry sauce.

Brussel sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts
See this recipe by Nigella – I followed it pretty closely (by my standards anyway!). Only changes I made were using red wine in place of marsala, and omitting the parsley.

Roast lemon potatoes
See this recipe from Martha – Only change I made was to use fresh herbs (which I used for the turkey) instead of dried.

* I’ve only posted the links for the last two recipes as there would be too many words in this post otherwise!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year. There’s just something about the decorations, the food, and the classic movies on the telly that make it all seem very… fun.

I decided that I would make gifts for my friends this year, and started planning about a month in advance. Now, when you are as undecided as me, this is not always a good idea. I kept on finding such great ideas that I grew quite concerned at the number of recipes I began to accumulate. Nevertheless, I finally managed to make up my mind, and made some oreo truffle pops and Mowie’s spekulatius biscuits. I originally planned to make a few other types of biscuits, but didn’t have the time to do so.

I had never made (or even tasted!) spekulatius before, but Mowie’s description of the biscuits and the amazing photos he took was enough to convince me to give it a go. And I certainly wasn’t dissapointed! The best way I can think of to describe these little beauties are that they taste like crunchy shortbread, with a nice festive aftertaste from the spices. The taste develops with time, and were amazing 2 days after they were initially made.

I also made oreo truffles, which are one of my favourite things to make. I must say I favour this way of making truffles to the more traditional way of using chocolate ganache, as this feels less fiddly. Relatively anyway. Why do I say relatively? Well… because I decided that I would try making Bakerella’s reindeer pops – which I immediately bookmarked the moment I saw them. I mean, how cute are they? They took quite a lot of work though – especially those reindeer horns! They almost drove me insane. Which is why I stopped at 12… (plus I had run out of red/orange smarties…).

Having said that, I felt that all the effort put in was definitely worth it. And I must admit that I had lots of fun packing them up to be given away! I’m strange like that, I find such things therapeutic.

German spekulatius
Slightly adapted from Mowie’s family recipe
(Makes 60-65 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter)

• 500g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 170g sugar (I used brown sugar)
• Seeds of 2 vanilla pods, or 1 tsp vanilla essence (I used 1 tsp vanilla bean paste)
• 2 drops almond essence
• 2 eggs
• 200g cold butter, cubed
• 100g ground almonds (you can also use hazelnuts)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp mixed spice

1. Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add all the other ingredients.

2. Use your hands to mix the ingredients properly until a ball of dough forms. Alternatively, do what I did and let your stand mixer do the hard work for you. I used the K beater at medium speed, which worked very well.

3. Place the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes, as the dough needs to be cold before you start cutting out shapes.

4. Preheat your oven to 180˚C in the meantime.

5. Roll the dough out thinly (roughly 5mm thick), and cut the dough using your desired cookie cutters.

6. Place cookies on trays lined with greaseproof paper, and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes (until golden brown).

7. Allow the cookies to cool before peeling them off the paper. Store biscuits in a biscuit tin, and slowly enjoy your little bites of goodness!

*You can decorate these by placing flaked almonds on each cookie, I brushed the spekulatius with melted butter to help them stick. (I didn’t use an eggwash as I didn’t want the cookies to be shiny).

Oreo truffle pops
Makes 10-12, depending on the size of your truffles

• 1 tray of Oreo cookies*
• 1 tray of cream cheese (I used extra light cream cheese)
• 200g dark chocolate
• lolly sticks

• 100g white chocolate (for decorating)
• coloured sugar/crushed Oreos/sugar sprinkles (for decorating)

1. Crush the Oreo cookies until it reaches powder like consistency. I use my mini food processor to do this as I find it does a much better job than me!

2. Mix the crushed Oreos with the cream cheese. You can do this using a wooden spoon in a bowl, or with a stand/handheld mixer.

3. Form the mixture into balls, and place them on a tray lined with either foil or greaseproof paper. Put a lolly stick into each truffle ball, and flash freeze for 10-15 minutes.

4. Whilst the truffle balls are in the freezer, melt some dark chocolate in a double boiler.

5. Dip each truffle ball into the melted chocolate, and leave to dry. I leave mine for at least 30 minutes, just to be safe.

6. Decorate as you wish – I used white chocolate, crushed Oreos, and coloured sugar. And not forgetting the reindeers, instructions for which can be found here.

* You can also use Tim Tams, which I actually prefer, but they are just much harder (and more expensive) to find in London!

Cologne Christmas Market @ Southbank Centre

The weather has become considerably colder in the last week or so, which is a sign that winter is well and truly here. It also is a sign that somehow, the year has flown by, and we’re only a week away from Christmas!

I adore Christmas in London – what’s not to like? The Christmas decorations, the buskers playing Christmas tunes on the saxophone, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas (Is You)” playing in departmental stores, the pop-up ice rinks, the FOOD… See what I mean? In the recent years though, I have discovered another reason to love Christmas in London – Christmas markets. There are quite a few markets around: there’s one in Hyde Park (which also has a ice rink and various carnival type rides), one in Natural History Museum (though it’s a very small one it’s nice as it gives you something to do post ice-skating!), and of course, the one in Southbank Centre.

I’ve always loved Southbank, and could think of nothing better than a leisurely stroll along the banks of River Thames, camera around my neck (of course). There was also the added bonus of the Chocolate Festival that was happening last week…

The chocolate stalls were all huddled together just before the actual Christmas Market itself, and were selling a variety of chocolate based items:

Colourful chocolate discs

The ever present hot chocolate (which I can never say no to!)

Fudge! Not sure why this was sold in the Chocolate section though, I would have thought fudge would fit right into the actual market itself.

Yummy churros (sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar), with a dark chocolate dip. This was really good as they were fresh out of the deep fryer, and when coupled with the dark chocolate – mmmmm is really all I can say. Totally worth the calories.

It was then time to continue on to the Christmas Market itself…

Every German Christmas Market needs to have sausage rolls – or as they’re more fondly known, Bratwurst. These were absolutely amazing, especially in the cold weather. I can’t say the bun that came with it was very good (I wish they’d toasted them, and smeared them with butter), but the sausages were more than enough to make up for it. There are 4 varieties sold – Bratwurst (the original), Geflügelwurst (chicken), Käsekrakauer (the cheesy one), Schinkenwurst (the smokey one). And I must sheepishly admit that we tried all of them except the Geflügelwurst. What can I say, both R and I have very little self control!

But then again… could you say no to this? Especially when topped with ketchup (curry or the normal variety) and mustard…

And if we hadn’t already had enough unhealthy food, we then passed by a stall selling fried potatoes – bratkartoffeln. I am a massive fan of potatoes (to the extent that I own a potato cookbook), and it was very hard to say no to this. Especially when it’s fried with bacon and onions. And served with garlic mayo! I wish I could say I felt guilty when eating this, but I wasn’t as it was simply too good.

There was also a few other food stalls whose food we didn’t get a chance to sample….

Paella

Roast pork with peas and mash, served in a giant Yorkshire pudding. This looked very tempting but I decided to go for the potatoes instead…

The cutest mini pancakes I’ve ever seen, with the always delicious Nutella

Roasted and candied nuts – a brilliant winter snack

A selection of pick-and-mix

A selection of gingerbread biscuits

And of course, it wasn’t just about the food. There were lots of stalls selling a variety of items, all of which would make for unique Christmas presents or stocking fillers.

Adorable Christmas themed figurines (not sure how else to describe them!)

Necklaces made from real flowers

Fake snow!

Rather unique 3D and 4D puzzles – I think these would make great stocking fillers!

Scented and decorative soaps. I don’t know about you, but I could never be able to use such pretty soap!

A very cool bauble

And some very cute doll decorations for your Christmas tree

All in all, it was a great afternoon out in one of my favourite places in London. It can’t get much better than that, can it? Especially when you have views such as these…

The Christmas Market is open from now till next Wednesday, so do pop by for a visit if you get the chance to!

Cologne Christmas Market @ Southbank Centre
Open till 23 December 2009
http://www.xmas-markets.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=3

Burger heaven

The weather in London has been terrible lately – rain, rain and more rain. (With a little bit of sunshine thrown in once in a while.) If I had my own way, I would hide indoors the everytime it rains, curled up in my duvet whilst drinking a hot drink of some sort. Unfortunately life can’t stop whilst the weather is miserable, which is why I turn to food to cheer me up.

I first came across these burgers in Donna Hay magazine – they were in a feature called ‘Posh Patties’, and I fell in love almost immediately. The burgers looked so good that I was almost salivating with hunger. Though to be fair, I love most of the photos in Donna Hay magazine, as it is the ultimate food porn. I mean, the photographers manage to make lemon slices look absolutely stunning. How ridiculous is that?

I love most burgers, and these are no exception. I especially like the vegetarian burger as it uses halloumi, which has a very meaty texture, and goes amazingly well with the grilled vegetables. I also decided to make the burger buns from scratch as I have this disease where I feel the need to use my beloved KitchenAid stand mixer at every possible opportunity. The buns came out really well and I was very pleased with how they turned out!

Burger buns
From the King Arthur Flour website

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup sugar (I later felt this might have been too much, I’ll cut down on sugar the next time I make this)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 egg + 1 tablespoon water
• sesame seeds

1. Put the lukewarm water and sugar into a bowl of a stand mixer, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Sprinkle the yeast over the sugar and water mixture, and leave for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to “bubble”.
2. Add the bread flour, salt, egg, and butter to the yeast mixture, and mix on low speed (with a dough hook) for 8-10 minutes until the mixture forms a nice dough. If you find that the dough is too sticky, just add more flour until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.
3. Pour oil into a large bowl; use a some kitchen roll to oil the bowl. Transfer dough to bowl, turning dough to completely cover all sides. Cover with clingfilm or a tea towel, and leave to rise until doubled in size. (usually takes an hour)*
4. Divide dough into 6 equal portions, and shape each portion into a burger shaped bun. Leave to rise again until they become very puffy (about an hour). **
5. If you wish, brush the burger buns with an egg wash, and sprinkle sesame seeds on the tops. Alternatively, just dust the buns with flour.
6. Bake the buns in a preheated oven at 190°C, for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool.

*It was at this point I left the house to do some shopping, and I ended up leaving the dough to rise for a good 3 hours.
**I only left it to rise for 15 minutes as I didn’t have enough time to wait a whole hour… or roughly translated as: I was getting hungry.

Roasted tomato, aubergine, and halloumi burger
Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine
(Serves 2)

• 1 tomato, thickly sliced
• 2 burger buns, sliced
• 1 aubergine, sliced
• 200g halloumi, sliced
• olive oil
• harrisa mayonnaise (I added some harissa to Japanese mayonnaise, how much harissa you use depends on how spicy you want your mayo)
• caramelised red onions
• rocket leaves

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the tomato on a baking tray and brush with oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until cook. Set aside.
2. Brush the bun halves with oil, and place them (cut sides down) on a non-stick pan over a high heat, until the surfaces are golden brown.
3. Heat a grill pan (I use a Chasseur grill pan) over high heat. Brush the aubergine slices with oil, and grill for 2 minutes on each side. Cook the haloumi slices in the same way.
4. Spread the bun halves with the harissa mayonnaise. Top the bottom half of the burger bun with the tomato slices, aubergine, haloumi, caramelised onions and rocket leaves. And enjoy!

Cheeseburger
Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine
(serves 4)

• 500g beef mince
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 portebello mushrooms
• 4 burger buns, halved
• olive oil
• 200g sliced Swiss cheese
• caramelised red onions
• rocket leaves

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Mix the beef mince, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce in bowl, and mix to combine. Divide into 4 equal portions, shape into patties and wrap it in a slice of Swiss cheese. Place on a baking tray, and roast for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and patties are cooked through.
3. Place the mushrooms on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, and roast for 8-10 minutes. (I cook the mushrooms and the beef patties in the oven at the same time)
3. Brush the bun halves with oil, and place them (cut sides down) on a non-stick pan over a high heat, until the surfaces are golden brown.
4. Top half a burger bun with another slice of cheese, beef patty, mushroom, caramelised onions, rocket leaves and top half of the burger bun. Sit back and bite into the meaty goodness that is this burger.

Upper Street @ Angel, Islington

First of all, I must sincerely apologise for the shocking lack of posts in the last two weeks. Planning R’s birthday present, meal and cake definitely took my (very) fickle mind a long time, but I was quite happy with how it all turned out. Will post about it sometime in the near future – I have a shocking backlog of posts like you would not believe. Eeep! This is precisely why I respect bloggers like Lorraine, she’s amazing and manages to find time to blog everyday – no easy feat, let me tell you.

But yes, let me stop rambling and introduce you to the yumminess of Upper Street. Now, I have to admit that I had never, ever eaten anywhere in Angel before this year. Shocking really, considering it’s actually not too far from where I’ve lived for.. well. Only five years. A friend who lived in the Highbury & Islington area was completely appalled by this, and thanks to her, I discovered some really interesting restaurants/cafes.

Fig & Olive is a pretty restaurant located halfway along Upper Street, which serves what they describe as “Modern European” cuisine. I’m a complete sucker for good decor, and Fig & Olive ticks all my boxes. Just look at those cool lamps!

[Please be forewarned that I could be making up the names of the following dishes as this meal took place quite a while ago.]

First up is the crabcake served on a bed of creamed spinach and mayo. I know crabcakes seem a tad boring, but this one was seriously good. The breadcrumbed exterior is beautifully crisp, and you are greeted with gooey crab goodness when you cut through it. The spinach (or what I remember to be spinach – please correct me if I’m mistaken) was a great pairing, as it had just the right amount of salt to complement the sweetness of crab meat.

The vodka flame grilled calamari salad is seriously good, and is one of my favourite ways to eat calamari. The salad itself is nothing special, but it’s worth a try for the calamari alone. There’s just the right amount of burnt-ness in the calamari, and although the you get a mild hint of the vodka, it’s by no means overwhelming.

The duck served with a cherry sauce and sauteed potatoes was interesting, but if I remember correctly – it was a little on the salty side. R felt that there were too many potatoes served on the side, and had to leave quite a bit behind.

The slow roasted pork leg with mash looked like a ridiculously huge dish, but in reality, there wasn’t too much meat on the bone (and I actually managed to clean my plate). Again, there may have been (possibly) too much mash, but I have never been one to say no to potatoes. Another thing to note that the sauce for this dish seemed remarkably similar to the sauce of the duck dish….

Fig & Olive does serve desserts, which are displayed beautifully by the entrance of the restaurant. However, we decided to not have dessert here as I had something else in mind…. cakes from Ottolenghi! This restaurant is serves simple yet delicious food with a Mediterranean influence. Now, I have never actually eaten the food at Ottolenghi as I have always been too hungry to wait it out in the long queues for a table, but I’ve had the cakes and pastries (taken away and slowly devoured at home), and I must say that they are absolutely gorgeous.

The pastries at Ottolenghi are displayed in the most beautiful fashion, with platters of delicious looking creations sitting atop colourful stools of varying heights. I didn’t manage to get a photo of the displays, but trust me when I say you’ll find it hard to not swoon if you’re a dessert lover such as myself. But it’s not just the way they display the desserts which has me constantly raving about Ottolenghi, it’s the yummy desserts….

Raspberry mascarpone tart, topped with a berry jam/coulis. The crumbly pastry crust was just delightful, especially when paired with the sweet mascarpone filling.

Vanilla cupcake, topped with a vanilla bean frosting and some blueberries. The cupcake was light and fluffy, and I really enjoyed this. I also liked that the frosting was not overly ’sickly’, which sometimes happens with some cupcake frostings.

Lemon semolina tart. I got this because I love polenta in cakes and muffins, and I figured that semolina would taste similar. I actually find that I prefer polenta to semolina when it comes to cakes as the texture of polenta is more evident (I hope that makes sense!). It doesn’t take anything away from this tart though, as it was very refreshing – a tad too much lemon sugar syrup over the top though.

Carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting. This was lovely – just the right amount of spices to balance out the sweetness of the carrots. I think they also used cardamom in their spice mix, which I’m not a huge fan of, so that meant the cake lost some of it’s appeal. The cream cheese frosting was awesome though.(which cream cheese frosting isn’t?)

Now this is where is gets tricky. I think this was a custard tart…. but I can’t say for sure. This is what happens when you buy too many desserts. I might have also semi-erased this from my mind as this was the pastry I liked the least. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t live up to my high expectations of Ottolenghi.

And whilst I’m on the subject of Ottolenghi, here are some photos of other sweet treats I’ve had here in the past: (I try something new everytime I go there, and they have such a wide selection that it’ll be a while before I revisit these)

Passionfruit custart tart, topped with a soft meringue frosting. Just look at this tart, it’s so beautiful that it was I knew I had to try it the moment I laid my eyes on it. How I wish I could pipe that well! The crumbly tart case is baked to perfection, and the passionfruit pips add texture to the soft meringue which is already delicious.

Lemon (I think) polenta cake, topped with a lovely simple sugar icing. This was the first time I had eaten polenta in a cake, and I fell in love almost instantly. I really enjoyed the textures in the cake, and I suspect there may have been some sort of ground nuts in it as well. This is a cake I would buy each time I visit Ottolenghi (unfortunately they didn’t have any the second time I dropped by, sniff).

Hazelnut meringue, with gooey caramel on the inside. I could not resist buying one of these giant meringues as they looked sooo inviting (I seriously think I have a problem). The meringue was beautifully crisp like how all meringues should be, with a great hazelnut aftertaste. The caramel slathered on the innards of the meringue was a pleasant surprise, but one I only enjoyed for a few mouthfuls as it got seriously too sweet (i.e. it hurt my teeth) after a while. Didn’t stop me from eating up the rest of the meringue though, I just left out the caramel-y bits.

So yes. These are two of my favourite places to eat in Islington, and I hope I’ve managed to convince you that they are worth a try if you happen to be in the area. If anyone has tried the (non-sweet) food at Ottolenghi, I would be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Don’t you just love the look of the stacked meringues? So pretty.

Ottolenghi
287 Upper Street
London N1 2TZ

http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/

Fig & Olive
151 Upper Street
London N1 1RA
020 7354 2605

(Not so) red velvet cupcakes

Cupcakes have taken the world by storm, and a flavour that’s right on top of that list is the red velvet cupcake. I remember seeing it on many American food blogs, and being very intrigued by the bright colour. Now, I’m normally not a fan of food colourings, but for some reason red velvet cupcakes are on my list of exceptions.

I made these cupcakes because I had some leftover chocolate frosting from a birthday cake I baked. I won’t write an individual post about the cake as I have no good photos of it (as I only finished decorating it an hour or so before leaving for dinner, and it had to sit in the fridge to set, and then I had to get dressed…. you get the picture), but I must mention the recipe as it was simple yet very good. I used this yellow cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and really liked it. Do remember to use cake flour though, you can add corn flour to plain flour to achieve this.

A quick (and bad) photo of the cake, right before wrapping it up in the foil (which was how I transported it to the restaurant).

Red velvet cupcakes are normally paired with a cream cheese frosting, but I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with flavours…. so I decided to try this to use up the leftover frosting as I’ve never made red velvet cupcakes/cakes before. I have to admit that my red velvet cupcakes looked more like brown velvet cupcakes, as I didn’t use much red food colouring (and what I did use I suspect was expired…), but it still tasted divine though! Just a little less attractive to look at. Just a note – the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook suggests using Dr Oetker’s “red” food colouring, and not “natural red” or “scarlett” as the latter two makes the cake come out brown.

Red velvet cupcakes
from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook

(I know the recipe seems ridiculously complicated as there are so many steps, but it’s actually much simpler than it looks)

• 60 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 150 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 10 g cocoa powder
• 20 ml red food colouring (preferably Dr. Oetker Red Food Colouring)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 120 ml buttermilk
• 150 g plain flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 11⁄2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

2. Put the butter and the sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed.

3. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste.

5. Add the food colouring mixture to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).

6. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added.

7. Scrape down the side of the bowl again.

8. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture.

9. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.

10. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

11. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

12. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon or pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I topped the chocolate frosting with chocolate shavings (more leftovers from the cake), and the peanut butter ones with crushed amaretti biscuits (as I didn’t have any peanuts to hand).

 

Chocolate frosting
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from The Dessert Bible
Makes 5 cups of frosting (to frost and fill a two layer 8-9 inch cake) – I think you’d probably need 1/3 of this amount for these cupcakes

• 15 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I use Green & Black’s)
• 3-4 teaspoons mixed berry jam (I use Bonne Maman)
• 2 1/4 cups sour cream, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, and stir until chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat and let chocolate cool. (Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds, stirring well, and then heating in 15 second increments, stirring between each until the chocolate is melted.) – I prefer the double boiler method as I find it’s easier to accidentally burn your chocolate when using a microwave. Maybe it’s just me though.

2. Whisk the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract until combined. (I used the paddle attachment on my stand mixer.)

3. Add the cooled chocolate slowly, and mix on medium speed (or with a spatula) until mixture is uniform.

4. Let the frosting cool in the refrigerator until it is of a spreadable consistency. This should not take more than 30 minutes. Should the frosting become too thick or stiff, just leave it out until it softens again.

 

Peanut butter frosting

• 1 cup peanut butter (either crunchy or creamy, depending on what you prefer)
• 1 cup light cream cheese
• 1/4-1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Mix peanut butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with the balloon whisk, until well combined. Alternatively, mix with a hand held mixer.

2. Add icing sugar to the mixture, and mix. Feel free to add in more icing sugar if you prefer a sweeter frosting.

3. Lastly, add the lemon juice and whisk/mix the frosting for about 1 minute.

4. The frosting should then be ready to use, but if it does get too runny, place it in the fridge to let it thicken.

(Please note that you won’t be able to pipe the frosting if you use crunchy peanut butter due to the nut pieces which get stuck in the nozzle – which is what I learnt when I tried to pipe it!)