Category Archives: Uncategorized

20/12/2011 · 8:40 pm

That’s shallot! more last minute Christmas presents…

Christmas is all about sharing…so here’s another recipe for you. Balsamic pickled shallots, easy peasy to make and ready to eat in 3 days…the perfect last minute Christmas present…

All you need to make about 4 jars is…

750g small shallots

500ml white wine vinegar

75ml olive oil

300ml water

70g golden caster sugar

1/2 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp black peppercorns, cracked

1 handful basil leaves

50ml balsamic vinegar

Put your shallots into a large bowl and pour over a kettleful of boiling water. Leave them to sit for a few minutes, drain and as soon as they’ve cooled enough to handle, get peeling!…

Put all of the other ingredients (except the balsamic vinegar) into a large saucepan. Bring to the boil before lowering the heat and simmering for 3 minutes or so. Pop your peeled shallots into the liquid and simmer for 8-10 minutes until tender…

Now, I have a word of warning, beware of going too close to the bubbling, vinegar concoction, I learnt the hard way that if you get the vapour in your eye…it stings like hell!

Use a slotted spoon to scoop the shallots and basil out into sterilised jars (read about how to sterilise your jars here). Then whack up the heat and boil the remaining liquid rapidly for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and stir in the balsamic vinegar. Pour the liquid over your shallots until they’re covered. Seal the jars and leave them for 3 days to get tasty! Then they’re ready to eat, but there’s no rush as they’ll keep for up to 3 months.

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18/12/2011 · 9:59 am

Christmas gifts for the tardy! caramelised red onion chutney…

I’ve been ridiculously disorganised this year when it comes to Christmas presents, which is very out of character. I’ve been blaming it on my job but I can’t deny that it hasn’t all been work work work, I’ve been dragged (kicking and screaming obviously) into the whirlwind of the festive season, have imbibed many a glass of mulled wine and managed to catch up with friends left, right and centre so I can’t complain!

However, all of this seasonal activity has left me in a situation of it being the weekend before Christmas and there being a big void where all the presents for my family should be! With just one day to rectify the situation I set to work making a selection of goodies that will hopefully suit all tastes…

I knocked up some Limoncello, Christmas pudding vodka, balsamic pickled shallots, Christmas spiced granola and caramelised red onion chutney…

It was very easy to make and if you’re on a budget it’s perfect as all you need to make 4 (smallish) jars of delish caramelised red onion chutney is…

8 red onions

1 red chilli

2 bay leaves

25ml olive oil

200g brown sugar

150ml balsamic vinegar

150ml red wine vinegar

I was using this recipe, which I found on the Guardian website, but that is taken from The SuperJam Cookbook.

First things first, you need to get your jars ready…they will need to be clean and sterilised. I recommend using nail varnish remover to get rid of stubborn labels that you haven’t been able to soak off! I find the easiest way to sterilise jars is to put them on a hot cycle in the dishwasher and hey presto…you’re ready. If however, you don’t have a dishwasher, after you’ve given them a good wash put them in a low oven (160 degrees) for about 10 minutes. They should still be warm when you put the chutney in them.

Now, all you have to do to make the chutney is cut the onions and chilli up into short, thin slices and put them into a big pan with the bay leaves and oil…

Cook them on a low heat for about 20 minutes. I was being very wary as I didn’t want to get them stuck to the bottom of my pan so let them cook for a little longer until they were soft and taking on some colour. 

Then add the sugar and both vinegars and simmer for about 30 minutes until your chutney is dark and thick…

Spoon your chutney into your sterilised jars, seal and leave to cool…

Apparently the chutney matures in flavour and is at it’s optimum tastiness after about a month…that’s if you can resist it for that long! I just wish I’d doubled the quantities as I have a feeling that 4 small jars will disappear in the blink of an eye!

I’m planning to buy a couple of cheeses to accompany my chutney and make up a little hamper…easy!

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11/12/2011 · 9:19 pm

Frostbite For The Corpse…

On Friday I went on a food based adventure into the deepest, darkest depths of…South Bermondsey. We jumped in a taxi at London Bridge and drove into the ‘derelict underbelly of South East London’. The nearer we got to our destination the less populated and more dominated by imposing warehouses it became. I think the taxi driver thought we were crazy and was convinced we were in the wrong place, however, google maps told us otherwise, so we bit the bullet, hopped out of the taxi and walked (slightly nervously) through the gates of a dimly lit industrial estate. On rounding a corner we were met by this…

We were heading for a festive feast hosted by a group of South East London creatives who call themselves ‘For The Corpse’ (FTC) so, we knew we were in the right place! Frostbite For The Corpse was billed as a ‘unique dining experience’ and that, my friends, is exactly what it was! 

We entered the building…

Followed the tealights up the stairs…

Crept through a tunnel of dark drapes to be wowed by this…

The FTC gang has transformed their amazing live/work, warehouse space into an amazing winter wonderland

with hand crafted stalactites (the stalagmite vs stalactite debate went on for quite some time!)…

We’d been advised to dress warmly and told that Christmas jumpers were strongly encouraged. I didn’t need much encouragement and had sourced the perfect attire…I’m glad I did as it was a tad nippy! However the FTC’ers hospitality knew no bounds, they’d thought of everything, providing a pile of hot water bottles and a kettle for us…

We were ridiculously early but were told to make ourselves at home, plied with mulled wine and encouraged to try our hand at the spud gun shooting range, where we took great delight in trying to knock Macaulay Culkin’s block off everytime he peeked over the crest of the snow capped mountain…

As the other guests arrived we were treated to a steady stream on canapes/starters including some delicious cheese puffs. I’m afraid I was slacking on the photo front at this stage. 

We all settled into our seats at the festively laid tables and were served up the most delicious, succulent, tender, steaming, not to mention HUGE plate of venison stew with mashed potato…

Aptly and in my opinion very amusingly, there were screens all around the room, showing Bambi whilst we ate 🙂

The dessert was an absolute triumph…a gorgeous, melt in the mouth, chocolate log. Deliciously moist and, I believe, flourless. The creator of this masterpiece was Reid Peppard, a lovely lady, who’s  better known for her bespoke taxidermy artworks. I’m really hoping she’ll share the recipe with me, so I can give it a go myself. Dessert was accompanied by steaming glasses of hot buttered rum, something I’d never tried before but will most definitely be trying again.

Frostbite for the Corpse, was a fantastic experience. FTC are a group of genuinely lovely people, who made us feel very welcome and had put so much effort into the every single aspect of the evening. With 2 great events under their belt, I’m intrigued to see what they’ll come up with next! 

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04/12/2011 · 6:38 pm

My Afternoon Tease debut in Cambridge…

This weekend was a momentous one for me…I ran my first ‘Afternoon Tease’ cake stall at the Mill Road Winter Fair in Cambridge. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, 15 solid hours of baking, quite a few sleepless nights and endless list writing, but I managed to pull this out of the bag…

I chose to make my favourite selection of goodies that I’ve blogged over the last year and a half, here…coconut macaroons, banana pecan fudge loaf,chocolate orange cupcakes, lebkuchen, sticky lime and coconut drizzle loaf, sticky toffee cupcakes, chocolate brownies.

In the calm before the storm, I nervously wondered whether the good people of Cambridge would actually buy my cakes…

I’m very chuffed to say that everything sold like proverbial ‘hot cakes’ and I was cleared out well before the end of the fair.

One of my bestsellers on the day were the Stollen Buns…

To make them you need…

500g Strong white bread flour

3tbsp light muscovado sugar

7g sachet fast-action yeast

3tsp ground mixed spice

1tsp salt

85g butter

200ml milk

1tbsp black treacle

2tbsp brandy

2 eggs

2tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil

250g mixed sultanas, raisins, peel and glace cherries (I used Sainsburys Taste the Difference Armagnac soaked fruit)

Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon

400g marzipan

A handful of flaked almonds

For the syrup…

50g icing sugar, sifted

4tbsp hot water

This might sound like it’s going to be a long winded, tricky recipe but although you do need to set aside some time for letting it rise etc, it’s pretty low maintenance and I promise you…it’s worth it!

Mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, spice and salt in a large bowl. Rub the butter in with your finger tips until it has the consistency of crumbs and there aren’t any lumps of butter left.

The recipe I was using said to warm the milk, treacle and brandy in a saucepan, making sure it’s warm, not hot before adding 1 beaten egg and the oil. However, as I was using fruit already soaked in Armagnac, I omitted the brandy at this stage.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and leave to one side for 10 minutes before giving it a quick knead on a floured surface. Pop it back in the bowl, cover it and leave it to rise until it has doubled in size.

Now roll the dough out to A4 size, scatter over the dried fruits and zests and knead until they are evenly distributed through your dough. Be prepared for raisins to fling themselves liberally around your kitchen! 🙂

Roll the dough into an 50 x 15cm oblong and dampen around the edges with some water…

Roll the marzipan into a 50cm long sausage and place along the middle of your dough. Roll the dough around it and pinch the final edge to seal it so that your buns don’t unravel in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Slice the dough sausage into 14, discarding the very end pieces. Place your slices on a couple of baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper, with plenty of space between them…

Re-cover them and leave them to rise until plump and pillowy.

Beat the remaining egg with 1tbsp milk and use to glaze the buns. Finally, sprinkle them with flaked almonds and then put them in the oven for 15 minutes.

Whilst they’re cooking mix the icing sugar with hot water to make the syrup. Paint this over them as soon as you take them out of the oven…

Then make a cup of tea and then sit down an savour!

I really enjoyed being part of such a lovely event, meeting so many nice people and receiving some great comments and feedback. Cambridge hasn’t seen the last of the ‘Afternoon Tease’…I’ll be back!

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30/11/2011 · 10:01 am

The Young Turks/Clove Club…a gastronomic quartet!

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently, mainly due to preparations for my forthcoming cake stall at Mill Road Winter Fair. But also, working in the hospitality industry, I’ve been enveloped in the final stages of prep for the festive season, which started back in August! 

Recently, however, I did make time to book myself in for dinner at The Ten Bells in Spitalfields, which has been temporarily taken over by a gatronomic quartet made up of, chefs; James Lowe and Isaac McHale (The Young Turks) and Front of House stars; Daniel Willis and Johnny Smith (The Clove Club).

The Ten Bells is a pretty infamous pub, famed for being Jack the Rippers local, or something along those lines 😉 It’s received a bit of a face lift since those times although it still retains a certain shabby chic-ness. The Young Turks have also added their own quirky touches…

The 3 month residency got off to a flying start with every sitting being fully booked. The fact that I had to be put on a waiting list, ready to pounce on a cancellation at a minutes notice, just made it even more exciting and me, even more determined! At about 4pm on my chosen day I received a ‘first come first served’ email letting me know that a table had become available…needless to say I didn’t pause for breath before hitting reply and securing a table for me and my friend.

On the night in question, we shared a table with a wonderfully friendly couple, and were plied with our first drink of the evening, a delicious Hendricks cocktail…

(*I apologise now for my pictures, the lighting was very cool, but not very conducive to food photography.)

We were presented with the mouthwatering menu…

along with a gorgeous little boule of sourdough bread. I was very happy to see that there was no stinging on butter, and that our table companions set the precedent of sprinkling rock salt on theirs, which made it instantly acceptable for me to do the same!…

First up we were given a few little taster snacks of pear and Middle White ham…

pumpkin and Ogleshield buns…

and devilled sprats, which had a beautifully surprising chilli kick…

Then we had grilled leek, dried scallop and seaweed. It was a very delicate dish that tasted of…well, the sea! (in a nice way)…

I think the next course was actually my favourite…parsnip, oats and pheasant. It was in essence, savoury, creamy porridge served with a tender, rich pheasant ragout and topped with parsnip crisps…

The main event was the Old Spot belly with fennel, molasses and red radish…

It was cooked the perfection and as well as tasting delicious, was a piece of artwork! We had to ask the identity of the delectable white blobs and were informed that it was garlic infused cream, decanted from a pressurised canister. All I know is that it was divine!

Dessert was apples, sour cream and apple brandy…

I loved the texture of the apples, likening them to the dried apple rings that you can buy in health food shops, a childhood fave of mine. We also had a glass of Mufis dal Siet 2007, Marco Sara, Udine, which packed a punch but accompanied it perfectly.

The whole meal was absolutely delicious and at £39, I thought was well priced for the amount and quality of food we received. It was one of those meals where you savour every mouthful and halfway through each dish you start mourning its loss. But all good things must come to an end and end it did, with me having to rush off like Cinderella with a train to catch back to the provinces!

The menu changes regularly but I can only imagine that everything they concoct is equally delicious…catch it whilst you can (until the end of Jan 2012).

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15/11/2011 · 1:36 pm

The Afternoon Tease goes public!

I’m very excited to announce that I will be running my very first ‘Afternoon Tease’ stall at Mill Road Winter Fair on Saturday 3rd December! I’ve been busy planning, writing lists upon lists, making signs and losing sleep over what to bake…or more importantly what the good people of Cambridge will want to buy! I’m definitely going to be including some of my old faithfuls that I’ve perfected and that never seem to disappoint but I thought I’d throw something a little festive into the mix as well…and nothing says Christmas better than sweet, lightly spicy, gorgeously glazed, chewy centred lebkuchen…

They’re also surprisingly easy to make. You need…

250g plain flour

85g ground almonds

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

A pinch each of ground cloves, freshly grated nutmeg and ground black pepper

200ml clear honey

85g butter

Zest of 1 lemon

All you have to do is put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Then gently heat the butter and honey in a saucepan until the butter melts. Pour the sticky mixture into the dry ingredients along with the lemon zest and mix it up until it combines into a smooth dough. Don’t worry if it still looks a bit sticky, just cover it and leave it to one side to cool. One word of warning…do not underestimate just how much 200ml of honey is, I wrongly assumed that I had plenty in my cupboard and had to make a last minute dash to the shop mid-bake!

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

Now it’s time to get your hands dirty. Roll the dough into approx 30 smooth balls (to give you an idea, they should be about 3cm wide), then put them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. You’ll need a couple of trays as your lebkuchen need room to spread out…

The recipe said to flatten them into a disc but in the time that it took me to roll the rest of the mixture into balls the first ones had settled themselves into the perfect dome shape!

Bake them for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. I don’t own one yet (it’s on my Christmas list) so I had to make do with leaving them on their tray.

To ice the biscuits you need…

100g icing sugar, sifted

1 egg white, beaten

Mix the icing sugar with the egg white and 1-2 tbsp water to form a smooth, runny icing. Dip the top of each of your biscuits into the icing to give it a gorgeous glaze and then leave to dry in a warm place.

Once set they’ll keep for up to a week in an airtight container.

I love lebkuchen, mostly for the fact that they’re delicately spiced and not as pungent as gingerbread. I especially loved the inclusion of black pepper in this recipe. Having said that, I think I might try adding a teaspoon more of ground ginger next time and I maybe need to make some slight tweaks to the icing, as mine wasn’t in a hurry to set!

I can, however, confirm that they actually benefited from being left overnight, the icing (eventually) set beautifully and the texture improved. In the season of excess, I think these simple biscuits are a perfect sweet treat and who wouldn’t be happy to receive a gorgeous little jar of lightly spiced Lebkuchen?

If you’re Cambridge based or are around and about on 3rd December…pop over and say hi and try one for yourself!

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Gallery

Yesterday I savoured brunch at Bills in Cambridge. The food was amazing, I’d even say it was worth putting up with slow service and surly staff for. Praise indeed coming from the most impatient person in the world!

I had the veggie breakfast with a twist…poached eggs, mushrooms, guacamole, sweet chilli sauce & toast with a cheeky side of sausage and bacon! controversial 😉

In summary…great food but don’t do if you aren’t prepared to wait for it.

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13/11/2011 · 9:07 pm
08/11/2011 · 10:01 am

Delicate pistachio and rosewater cupcakes…

I stumbled upon a bottle of rosewater in the supermarket the other day (not literally) and bought it on impulse with no idea what I was going to do with it. I scoured my collection of recipe books and found a recipe for pistachio and rosewater cupcakes in my book of 500 cupcakes and muffins.

I felt quite nervous baking with rosewater for the first time and was cautious with quantities as I didn’t want my cupcakes tasting like a bowl of pot pourri. The sponge was very light and the cream cheese and pistachio frosting was delicious but the delicate flowery taste of the rosewater was barely discernible. I’ll definitely be braver and add more next time.

To make these delicate pistachio and rosewater cupcakes you will need…

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g caster sugar

225g self-raising flour

4 eggs

1 tsp rosewater

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees and line a couple of cupcake tins with 18 cupcake cases.

Simply put all of the cupcake ingredients in a bowl and mix together with a handheld electric mixer until it’s smooth and pale.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases. They should be approx 2/3 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before moving onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing you need…

200g cream cheese

175g icing sugar

2 tbsp rosewater

3 tbsp chopped pistachios

Use an electric whisk to mix together the icing sugar and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. I recommend sifting your icing sugar to minimise the chances of lumpy icing. Once it’s smooth stir in the rosewater and the chopped pistachios. Dollop a generous amount of icing onto your cooled cupcakes. The presence of the pistachio’s in the icing is a bit of a godsend…you’ve got no chance of creating a lump free, perfectly coiffured cupcake so just pile it on and be done with it! 🙂

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06/11/2011 · 5:26 pm

‘Malaysian by May’

Supper clubs are an amazingly sociable way to eat delicious food in homely, relaxed surroundings. I happily turn up to supper clubs on my own, knowing that there will be a roomful of friendly people to meet and that I’ll always have something in common with them…a love of food! I’m yet to have a bad supper club experience and am always looking for new and exciting events to attend. In June of this year I was excited to learn that a group of my favourite supper club hosts had joined forces to create…the Grazing Asia Supper Club, a collaboration between Luiz (The London Foodie), May (Slow Food Kitchen), Uyen(Leluu) and Mimi (Meemalee). I’m a huge fan of Leluu’s supper club, and have become a bit of a repeat attender and have even helped out behind the scenes on a couple of occasions. I’ve also taken part in a couple of The London Foodie’s cooking clubs and although I’ve met May at various foodie events I’ve never had the pleasure of sampling her cooking. So when I heard news of a Grazing Asia event called ‘Malaysian by May’ I jumped on it and booked myself a place. The event had the added bonus of being hosted at The London Foodie’s lovely house and having previously heard from him all about his kitchen renovation plans I was dying to take a peek at the finished masterpiece. I spent the first part of the evening admiring the gorgeous new fixtures and fittings and suffering a severe bout of aga envy, just check out this bad boy…

Once all the guests arrived we started the Malaysian feast with these delicate and refreshing Nonya Kerabu chicken lettuce cup wraps, which had a great chilli kick to get the taste buds going…

We all took our seats and May explained what she had in store for us, a gastronomic tour through the diverse cooking styles that make up Malay cuisine, which combines influences from Indonesian, Chinese, Indian and Thai cuisine.

The first dish we tried was Otak Otak, which is a spicy steamed fish custard…

The texture of this dish was something I’ve never experienced before and at first glance it looked pretty strange. But appearances can be deceptive…the light, spicy, set custard made with coconut milk, surrounded chunks of tender, flaky white fish. It melted in the mouth and was totally delicious!

Next up we had stir-fried Lala clams…

We got stuck in…all table manners went out the window as we used our hands to pluck the juicy clams from their shells and slurped the amazing garlicky liqor from the bowl…nothing was wasted!

My favourite dish of the evening was the Hokkien fried rice cakes…

Thick strips of gorgeously glutinous rice cake and fresh greens in a rich dark sauce, topped with the crispiest bacon lardons. The contrast of textures was perfect!

At this point May told us we’d only just finished our starters and the mains were still to come. This was my kind of meal!

The mains all came to the table in a neverending parade of deliciousness. We had Nonya Curry Kapitan Chicken…

Nonya Prawn Pineapple curry…

Slow Cooked Dongpo Pork Belly…

All served with spicy green beans and Nasi Lemak… 

 

which you top off with Sambal Ikan Bilis, a deliciously powerful dish made from deep fried anchovies, onion and tamarind paste… 

I don’t know where I found the space but I just couldn’t stop eating…everything was so flavourful and fragrant. The mix of flavours and textures were a sensation!

As we were all sinking into food coma’s, a pudding of Bubor Cha Cha, a warm coconut soup with sweet potatoes and yam, was served. I found it quite difficult to get my head around it because it was most definitely a sweet soup but was still very savoury in taste, especially when you came across a lump of sweet potato or yam. 

I have to say I’m not sure the coconut soup was my cup of tea as it didn’t satisfy my incredibly sweet tooth but there was no need to worry as we were also presented with a huge pile of incredible coconut candy…

I had to leave very shortly afterwards full to the brim with delicious food and on a complete sugar high. What a fantastic evening of delicious food and great company. I can’t wait for the next one.


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24/10/2011 · 10:00 am

Coconut carrot slice…not for cinema consumption!

Unfortunately I am not graced with a pantry like Nigella’s (and that’s not a euphemism). It’s a pretty rare occurrence to be able to bake something using only supplies that are already in the cupboard, without the need for a trip to the shop. However, that’s exactly what happened to me on Friday night, when I decided to take part in National Baking Week and try a new recipe for coconut carrot slice…

The inclusion of grated carrot made it amazingly moist but unlike your typical carrot cake it didn’t have a cream cheese frosting and instead was topped with a crunchy mixture of dessicated coconut, sugar and butter…

To make it you need…

250g unsalted butter

300g light muscovado sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

200g self-raising flour

50g dessicated coconut

200g carrot, grated

2 tsp ground mixed spice

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and line a (20cm x 30cm) tray with greaseproof paper.

Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan and then leave to cool for about 5 minutes before adding the sugar, vanilla and eggs. Beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, coconut, carrot, spice and salt. I discovered at the last minute that I didn’t have any mixed spice so I improvised and used 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves and a few gratings of nutmeg, which worked perfectly well!

Tip the mix into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes. Whilst the cake’s in the oven you need to make the topping with…

85g dessicated coconut

25g light muscovado sugar

25g melted butter

Mix the coconut with the sugar, then add the melted butter and stir together. Smooth this crumbly topping over the cake and pop back in the oven for a further 10 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Leave it to cool before cutting into about 15 generous slices… 

I love having a few simple traybake recipes up my sleeve and have definitely added this one to my repertoire. My only word of warning is that coconut carrot slice doesn’t make for a very suitable cinema snack! After managing to sneak my contraband cake into the cinema on Saturday, I ended up with a very messy lapful of dessicated coconut and sugar 🙂 Hey ho, I’m sure there are worse things that could’ve happened!

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