CSN Stores giveaway!

I have an aunt is a great fan of giveaways and competitions. I remember how she would hand me a competition entry form, saying “Can you come up for a catchy slogan for why you love shopping at Jusco? Your dad could win a car!” Maybe she’s a lucky star, as my parents have won a trip to Hong Kong and a TV in the past. Not through a catchy slogan I came up with though, so I can’t take any credit!

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this story is because I’m hosting a giveaway on the blog, in conjunction with CSN Stores. Who is CSN Stores, you ask? Well, they are an e-commerce company comprising of over 200+ online stores. And they sell everything from a modern platform bed to a pretty cake stand! Basically, if you’re doing a spot of shopping for the home, I bet you’d be able to find what you wanted on their site. In fact, you’d probably find a lot of other things you want but don’t actually need…

Like me. I love wandering around homeware stores – spending time in such places in truly one of my favourite things to do in my free time. CSN Stores is similar. I don’t really want to admit how much time I spent browsing through their site and finding things I *wish* I had in my flat…

This beautiful china cake stand – I love the painted flowers on this, and I think it would be a great way to display cakes or muffins on the dining table. Things always look so much better when presented well, don’t you think?

Krups Citz Nespresso coffee machine – I’ve got a few friends who own one, and they say the coffee is surprisingly good and the machine is a breeze to use. An added plus is how it’d match the colour of my beloved KitchenAid stand mixer!

Le Creuset stoneware soup bowls – it would be so nice to serve soup in these, and think about what good props they’d make!

Zak 2 piece helping hands salad server set – they come in a range of vibrant colours, but red is by far my favourite.

Hyder day bed – I didn’t even know such things existed! This would be perfect for my post-lunch weekend naps… a bit pointless yes, but since this is a wishlist (as opposed to an actual shopping list), I figure I can get away with wanting a day bed for my living room.

Chicago metallic 12 cup dainty daisy cupcake pan – a girl can never have too many cupcake pans, and this one is one of the prettiest ones I’ve seen. These would be perfect for a girly tea party, they’re so cute!

But enough of me prattling on, because you probably want to know more about this giveaway. Thanks to CSN Stores, I will be giving away a $75/£50 gift certificate to one lucky reader – this gift certificate can be used to buy anything from their website! You could get yourself a daisy cupcake pan of your own (or something else, if cute cupcakes aren’t your thing).

So, you know what the prize is. But how do you enter? It’s easy:

• Visit the CSN Stores website (US/Canada residents click here, UK residents click here), and leave a comment below telling me what you would buy with your $75/£50 gift certificate.

For extra entries:

• Tweet about this giveaway (you can use the “tweet” button below). Don’t forget to use @breadetbutter and #csngiveaway so I can find you! This gives you ONE entry.
• Stumble this post (you can use the “stumble” button below), and leave me a comment to let me know you have done this. This gets you TWO entries.

Simples!

* The giveaway is open to readers from UK, US and Canada.

*Giveaway ends on Wednesday 6th October 2010 at 23:59 (British Standard Time). The winner will be chosen at random, and will have 24 hours to confirm his/her email address, following which the code for the gift certificate will be emailed to him/her by a representative from CSN Stores.

Mixed berry yogurt gelée

It’s gotten awfully nippy in London in the last week, and I’ve had to start wearing scarves again. I’d been holding off on my scarf wearing, simply because in the strange world that is my mind, it’s not autumn until I have to resort to scarves. But sadly, summer is now well and truly over, and my (rather extensive) scarf collection will be put to good use again.

As some of you may know, I have an immense backlog when it comes to blog posts. As I was looking through it, I saw photos of the mixed berry yogurt gelée that I made recently – and thought it was the perfect post to bid goodbye to summer.

I’m a huge fan of yogurt (there’s always yogurt in my fridge), and I use in many ways – a simple snack, dips, curries, desserts… And the list goes on. So, its no surprise that I was immediately drawn to the idea of yogurt gelée when I saw it on Heather’s blog.

Rather coincidentally, the people at Total contacted me, and asked if I would like to try their range of yogurts. Maybe they knew of my love for yogurt? Anyway, what caught my attention was the claim that their 2% and 10% greek yogurt would not split when cooked. As I mentioned above, I use yogurt to cook curries (because its muchhh healthier than using coconut cream regularly), but have always found that they split – leaving a slightly “bitty” curry. It doesn’t affect the taste, but let’s face it: it’s not very attractive.

Photo courtesy of Total

So, I figured that the best way to “test” Total’s yogurt was to put it to the hob. And I am pleased to report that it is a lot more resistant to splitting than any other yogurt I’ve used in the past. After using the whole range (they do it in full fat 10%, 2% and 0%) in a number of recipes, I found that the full fat version was beautifully un-splittable even when heated over high heat. The 0% version did split, but this was only after a good few minutes of it bubbling happily on the high heat (plus, they never claimed that the fat free version was unsplittable anyway).

Of course, the gelée requires the yogurt to be heated, and I’m very glad I chose to use the full fat yogurt as it turned out beautifully. The mixed berries are placed into the containers first then flash frozen in the freezer before the yogurt layer is poured on top of it. This gives you lovely distinct layers. If you get impatient and do it before the berry layer is properly frozen, you get slightly ‘smudged’ lines (like me)…

Do note that I didn’t use any gelatine in the berry layer, which means that tastes like a chilled berry coulis when you come to eating it. If you want to have both layers in jelly form, add 1/2 tsp gelatine (dissolved in 1 tbsp water) to the mixed berry mixture.

Mixed berry yogurt gelée
Adapted from this recipe on Sprinkle Bakes

For the mixed berry puree layer:

• 250g mixed berries (I used frozen mixed berries from Waitrose)
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp sugar (you may need to use more/less depending on how sweet/tart your berries are)

For the yogurt gelée layer:

• 2 cups Greek yogurt (I used Total)
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste – optional (you can also use vanilla extract/half a vanilla bean)
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp gelatine
• 2 tbsp cold water

1. Place berries and the honey in a food processor or blender, and whizz until it forms a smooth puree.

2. Taste the puree, and add the sugar according to how sweet you want it to be.

3. Pour the mixed berry puree into your containers (you can use anything from ramekins to glasses to mugs – obviously something see through will be best so you can see the layers and colours), and place in the freezer.*

4. Whilst your mixed berry puree is setting in the freezer, make the yogurt gelée. Pour the water into a small bowl, and sprinkle the gelatine over the bowl. Set aside for a few minutes to allow it to bloom.

5. Combine the yogurt, vanilla (if using) and sugar in a pan and stir to combine. Heat over medium high heat until it thins, this should take anywhere between 3-5 minutes.

6. Add the gelatine mixture to the yogurt mixture, and stir to combine. ** Remove the pan from the heat, and let the yogurt mixture cool slightly. (It should not be piping hot when you pour it into the containers.)

7. Remove your containers from the freezer, and layer the yogurt mixture on top of the mixed berry puree.

8. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and serve. This recipe makes 6 ramekins/5 ramekins + 2 shot glasses worth of gelée.

*To make a ’tilted’ layer: When freezing your mixed berry layer, place your glasses/containers in a larger bowl so it is tilted – and gravity does the rest for you!

** Heather microwaves the bloomed gelatine mixture for 10 seconds (it will turn liquid), but I didn’t do this as errr…. I have the tendency to burn things in the microwave.

Beef and broccoli noodles

I was one of those children who hated vegetables. I still remember how I would only eat a very small group of vegetables: beans, beansprouts, carrots and cauliflower. No leafy greens ever made it onto my plate. Surprisingly, my mum would never force me to eat them – she would offer them to me, and if I said no, that was it. Turns out my mum hated vegetables when she was a child, but then grew up to love them… and she figured that I would be the same. And how right she was!

From being a terrible child who only ate a very limited amount of vegetables, I have turned into someone who loves them. I happily eat almost any vegetable now (with the exception of okra which I simply can’t like), which I sometimes find hard to believe. Funny how things pan out, really. Thinking back, I’m very glad I was never “forced” to eat my portion of veg when growing up, as I suspect it would have made me hate them forever. (Please note that this does not mean I advocate not eating your greens when you’re young though!)

But why am I telling you this seemingly unrelated story of my childhood? Well, because of this dish. Beef and broccoli noodles to be exact. Broccoli was one of the major “no no’s” in the younger me, but is now something I eat on a regular basis. When cooked well, broccoli tastes absolutely amazing. But overcook it and you end up with a pile of green mush that no vege lover in the world would want to eat.

I tend to cook my broccoli the “Heston” way – see this article for more details. The broccoli is cooked in minimal amounts of hot smoking oil, and then covered with a pot cover to allow steam to build up and cook it all the way through. I like his method because it not only tastes a lot nicer, but also means you retain the nutrients within the broccoli (which you lose via boiling).

This beef and broccoli noodle dish is inspired by this recipe from Steamy Kitchen. Sometimes you see a photo of a dish, and you immediately know you *must* try it because you know it will be amazingly delicious. The first time I saw the photo for this dish on Jaden’s blog: that was one of these moments. And I was right, because this is so so good.  On another note, I challenge you to look at Jaden’s photos of this dish and NOT want to lick your screen. I assure you it is quite impossible. My photos look so amateurish compared to hers! Oh well.

I didn’t follow the exact recipe because, well – that’s me. Instead of using stock in the sauce making process, I add extra oyster sauce/rice wine/soy sauce to make up for it. I also use lots of black pepper because I enjoy the extra kick it provides.

Beef and broccoli noodles
Adapted from this recipe on Steamy Kitchen (original recipe from Noodles Every Day)

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 5 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 5 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 500g frying steak/beef sirloin (cut into 3cm x 5cm pieces)*
• 600g fresh noodles (I used 2 x 300g packets)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely diced
• 400g tenderstem broccoli
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and mix until completely dissolved. Add the sesame oil and beef, and mix well. Marinate for 20 minutes. Drain and discard the excess marinade.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles until 1 minute shy of being done, and drain.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a pan or wok over high heat, and stir-fry the garlic until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

4. Add the beef to the pan and stir-fry until tender, 3-4 minutes. Remove onto a plate and set aside.

5. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, and stir fry the tenderstem broccoli for 2 minutes. (You’re aiming for half cooked broccoli at this point)

6. Add the remaining soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine to the pan.

7. Add the noodles, and stir to ensure the noodles are coated with the sauce. Cook for 1-2 minutes until most of liquid is absorbed.

8. Return the beef to the pan, mix with the noodles and broccoli.

9. Season with freshly ground black pepper (to taste), and serve.

* you can cut them into smaller pieces (1cm x 3cm), but remember to reduce the cooking time accordingly

The food of Florence [part 3]

Gelato. This Italian style ice cream truly needs no further introduction.

During my recent (or come to think of it, not so recent) trip to Florence, I completely overindulged on this gem of a dessert. I lost count of how many scoops of gelato I consumed – though in my defence, it was very hot and I needed a good way to cool down. And judging from the roaring business of the gelaterias, I suspect I’m not the only one with this mindset.

As you can see, we consumed a fair amount of gelato during our trip. (We actually ate a lot more than what you see in the photos, but I didn’t want to scare you all with the sheer amount of it all…) We visited about 4-5 gelaterias throughout the trip, but two of them stood out – these are the two I shall blog about here. Do note that there are a fair number of ‘tourist trap’ gelaterias which serve not-very-good gelato at very high prices. You should only expect to pay about 3-4 euro for a medium sized cup.

I mentioned previously that one of the waiters in I’Tozzo di Pane recommended his favourite gelateria to us. And I’m very glad he did, or I doubt we would have found the place! Gelateria La Carraia is slightly further off the normal tourist routes (it’s a 10-15 minute walk from Ponte Vecchio) but I can safely say the walk is worth it. Plus, you can eat more gelato under the guise that you’ve “earned it”. Sort of, anyway.

This place was ALWAYS filled with people each time we paid them a visit (and we went at different times of the day!). Which is always a good sign, especially since they’re not in the main tourist areas. An extra plus is how a large majority of their customers were locals. The gelato here was very good – creamy and very flavoursome. Prices are also more reasonable compared to some of the other gelaterias dotted all around Florence (cones start at 1 euro and go up to 3 euro, cups start at 1.30 euro and go up to 6 euros for a massive cup). My favourite flavours were pistachio (pistacchio) and coconut (cocco), whilst R was a huge fan of the lemon (limone).

The other gelateria which we found ourselves going back to was Perche No!. It took us a while to find this gelateria, much to our initial dismay. Imagine how silly we felt when we finally found it on a street that we’d walked by countless times! It’s true that you never notice something unless you’re actually looking out for it. Anyway.

My favourite flavour here was the sesame (fiordilatte miele e sesamo) – the one on the far right in the photo above. As I enjoyed this so much, I was delighted to find that they had a brief description of each of the flavours on their website. Turns out that the sesame gelato is made from mozzarella, sesame caramel and Mugello chesnut honey. Mozzarella! I definitely didn’t even think that it contained cheese of any sort – perhaps this explains why I enjoyed it as much as I did (I looove cheese you see). This was a perfect combination though, and the crunchy bits of sesame caramel went really well with the creamy gelato.

In between all the gelato eating, we also managed to find the time to eat some sandwiches. Even before I set off on the plane, I had two such places highlighted on my list of “places to eat in”.

Da Nerbone is situated in the Mercato Centrale, which is Florence’s food market. They only open for lunch, and are famed for serving excellent Fiorentine “cucina povera” (poor people’s food). From what I could gather, the menu consisted a few pasta dishes, some soups and sandwiches. The sandwiches are the main event here though. There was a huge crowd of both locals and tourists each time we walked past the stall, which is always something I use to judge how good the food is. Food is also cheap, you’ll probably spend only 5-8 euros per person when eating here.

The tripe sandwich (trippa alla fiorentina). Tripe is basically parts of the stomach of the animal (usually a cow), and is very popular in this part of Italy. Now, I have an admission to make: I don’t like eating offal of any sort. It’s not that I find it disgusting, but I just don’t like the texture of it. But I’d heard so much about this sandwich that I knew I had to try it. And I managed to eat it all – so that in itself tells you that it must have been a darn good sandwich. The tripe was cooked well and was beautifully tender. Topped with the green sauce (which contained some parsley amongst a lot of other ingredients, I bet) – yum. One thing to note here is that the bread used is not of the soft variety, and is slightly hard. I suspect this is so the bread can soak up all the wonderful juices of the tripe. I’m not complaining though, as I wouldn’t want my sandwich to turn soggy and fall apart in my hands!

The other sandwich that’s highly popular is the panino con bollito – a boiled beef sandwich that’s bagnato (dipped in the meat juices). Pure genius, this is. I love that the bread is dipped in the meat juices before the sandwich is put together, as it makes for a very juicy and flavoursome sandwich. The beef was again beautifully tender, and was topped with their familiar green sauce. If I must be honest, I preferred this – it didn’t taste as “slimy”. I’d still quite happily eat either though!

The other popular sandwich place is Il Fratellini. It’s known as “the hole in the wall” because that’s what it is – a tiny stall in what looks like a hollowed out wall. No seating is available, but customers are more than happy to eat on the sidewalks. The menu is on two boards next to the counter, and they have approximately 30 variants on the menu. With most of the sandwiches only costing 2.50 euro, this place is great for a quick lunch or snack. In fact, we bought some sandwiches for our last dinner in Florence – we had a plane to catch in the evening and didn’t have time for a proper sit down dinner, so we packed the sandwiches and ate them when we got to the airport.

Ham and truffle cream. The beautiful aroma of the truffle cream hits you the moment you lift this towards your mouth, and goes beautifully well with the salty ham.

Wildboar salami with butter. If you look closely, you’ll note that the butter is served in beautiful thick chunks here. Utter perfection (as this is how I eat freshly baked bread – with similarly thick chunks of butter). The wildboar salami tastes meatier compared to normal salami, and makes me wish wildboar was something that was more available in London.

Ham and parsley sauce. This was good, but nowhere close to the deliciousness of the truffle cream version.

For such a small place, they also have a rather impressive selection of wines. Again, these are very reasonably priced.

So that rounds up most of the food I ate in Florence. (See here for part 1 and part 2.) Writing this post makes me yearn for the food, and for that reason I’m sure it won’t be long before I visit again.

Some addresses:

Gelateria La Carraia
Piazza N. Sauro 25/r
50124 Firenze

Perche No!
Via Tavolini 19r
50122 Firenze

Da Nerbone
Mercato Centrale (Stall no. 292)
50123 Firenze

Il Fratellini
Via dei Cimatori 38/r
50122 Firenze

I know this post is fast becoming one that is too long, but I wanted to share some photos I took during my trip. No more words, I’ll let the photos do the talking.