I just thought...

...i'd say, you're never to old to give trick o' treating!

More exciting news

Hopefully I will soon have a stall in Greenwich Market (*insert smiley face here*) selling sweet things. I have already decided on a few taste-tingling products, but may need some taste testers. (Anyone? I guess i'll have to sample them myself...) Check soon for more news!

Halloween dinner party

Sorry I haven't posted for ages; I've had a lot of revising to do. On the bright side, I finally began to look at La Rousse Gastronomique.

So in a few weeks I will be having a dinner party for about eight people and will have a Halloween theme. So far i'm thinking of having a very Halloweenish starter, pumpkin soup. Or maybe homemade pumpkin and pine nut ravioli? Well, it depends whether they'll still sell them in Asda in November...

I have absolutely NO clue for main course- suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

And for dessert, maybe a ghoulishly chocolatey cake?

What about a spookily creamy and marshmallowy hot chocolate as an after dinner treat? Awoooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Black Forest

Today was my first day in Germany's Baden-Baden (literally Bath-Bath) and we started off by going to the local market. It was absolutely amazing, but there were some vegetables I had never ever seen before (pictures up later). After the market, we went on a hike in the Black Forest and viewed so much fantastic scenery (again, pictures up later). Right at the top of the hills/mountains there was snow. SNOW. Last week I was getting a tan, this week I am having snowball fights! We rambled around the forest for over 3 hours and covered at least 10km. It was only suitable to have Black Forest Gateau from the restaurant at the bottom. There was so much kirsch in the cake, and as much cream as sponge. If this is how it is supposed to taste I will DEFINITELY not be having it again. In fact next time I'll stick to a blueberry tart or a lemon cheesecake...

Extreme happiness

The amount of happiness you feel when your comment is published in the Metro! Today, Friday the 21st October 2011, my comment was featured in the metro.

"Is a jaffa cake a biscuit or a cake?" was the moral dilemma I sent in to the 'send us your txt' section. I'm sure I'm not the only person puzzled by this?

Jaffa cakes are sold in boxes like biscuits, yet are called Jaffa cakes? More information following my query will come soon!

http://www.theologian.org.uk/audio/JaffaCakeswithKentHughes.html

Food hero: Donal Skehan

25-year old chef Donal Skehan is possibly the coolest a chef can get?! Good cook, handsome, nice, handsome and handsome. Oh, and he was in a band. His website http://www.donalskehan.com/ tells you all about him and gives recipes which sound delicious. For instance dark-chocolate beetroot cupcakes (http://www.donalskehan.com/2011/10/dark-chocolate-beetroot-cupcakes/). The way he writes is not only informative, but enticing.

I would encourage you to read his books and watch his tv programme, however I think his tv programme is only featured in Ireland...?

http://edible-ireland.com/2011/06/15/qa-with-donal-skehan/

McDonalds

The differences in your feelings before and after you have a McDonalds:

Before- anticipation, hunger, excitement

After- lethargic, regretful, miserable


Nevertheless, if someone was to give me a McDonalds happy meal right now, I certainly wouldn't complain...

Home cooking made easy (ep 4)

Anybody who watched the most recent episode of Lorraine Pascale's new tv show, is it me or did she empty practically a whole bottle of red food colouring?! Also, I like my ready-made stuff as much as the next person, but using pepperami for sausage rolls?! How drunk was she when she thought of that?

Aside from a few criticisms I LOVE HER. Le pain d'epi which she made looked absolutely divine, and I could have quite easily eaten the whole 'Graffiti' cake she made...


My food hero this week is Lorraine Pascale.

Blood Orange and Champagne Panna Cotta Crush

Blood Orange and Champagne Panna Cotta Crush

(This picture is from the Marks and Spencer website)

This is not a panna cotta. Sure it is set and has a creamy texture, but it just tastes like flavoured cream. I do not understand where the champagne comes in. And what are the jelly lumps on top all about?! Once you have scraped the jelly lumps off, it is quite pleasant, but definitely not for £3.79 (for 2!). I got them for 50p reduced, and for 50p they are worth it.

I just can't get over the fact it is not a panna cotta! aaaaaaaaahhhhh

 

Orange and basil cheesecake

Imagine a cheesecake. An orange and basil cheesecake.

My dad brought home some basil, and for some reason, when I think about it, basil seems to work with almost everything.
So here is my -NEVER TRIED AND TESTED- recipe for orange and basil cheesecake...


Ingredients:
-250g marscapone
-250g ricotta
-100g icing sugar
-1 orange
-some basil leaves
-150g of shortbread
-40g butter

Method:
-furiously mix together the marscapone and ricotta and icing sugar.
-grate the orange and add the zest to the marscapone-ricotta mixture.
-rub the basil and bruise it a bit to release the flavour.
-chop the basil finely and squeeze the orange, and add to the mixture.
-mix the mixture aggressively again and set aside to make the base.
-bash the biscuits till crumbs, and melt the butter in the microwave.
-mix together the butter and (what was) the biscuits.
-press the biscuit mixture into the base of a tin.
-dollop the cheese mixture on top of the biscuit base and chill in the fridge till serving.

Tip:- garnish with a few (caramelised) orange shavings.

Apple Crumble Tart

Apple Crumble Tart with caramel ice-cream

Make a sweet shortcrust pastry mixture without the water. Half the mixture and put half aside for later. With the rest, add water until it resembles a dough. Chill the dough in clingfilm in the fridge. An hour later, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll the pastry out over a tart case, prick it with a fork, and fill with sliced apple. Top the apple with the crumble mixture and cook in the preheated oven for 40 minutes- or until the crumble is cooked. Best served warm with a scoop of complementing ice-cream.

Lorraine Pascale

Recipe for Lorraine Pascale

Ingredients
1 teaspoon of Nigella Lawson
2 tablespoons of Nigel Slater
a dash of effortless chic
a packet of brillaince

Method
Get all ingredients in a bowl and misk. Leave to set.

Lorraine Pascale is some sort of genius. In her first seies (which I swear was called) 'Baking made easy' I didn't like her at first but by the end I was waiting for her next episode in which I could learn an easy way to make foccacia. Now she is back with 'Home cooking made easy' my life is complete.
Monday, 8.00pm BBC 2. My night = sorted!

Great British Bake Off

FINALLY caught up with the Great British Bake Off and it managed to make me so hungry -as per usual... I'm really glad Jo won, but they were definitely all deserving winners.

Details for applying for the next series:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/beonashow/great_british_bake_off3

Crème brûlée

Solid custard = brilliant!

Creme brulee

Pancakes

Imagine a stack of pancakes drizzled with syrup and with slices of crispy bacon and bursting blueberries to start the day...

the BEST recipe- no question about it- is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fluffyamericanpancak_74828

ALWAYS USE SELF-RAISING FLOUR as it gives an extra lift.

I'm really sorry that I don't have a picture. I thought I did. Honest. :-(

A dinner party I had...

This is the dessert I made for my very first dinner party. It was a quintuplet featuring: lime and chocolate cheesecake, panna cotta, white chocolate-dipped raspberries, sticky toffee pudding and a sachertorte.

Lime and chocolate cheesecake:

Crush chocolate cookies, and mix with melted butter. Then press mixture into base.
Mix marscapone and ricotta with lime zest and a dash of lime juice. Stir together vigorously to get a very pure consistency. Load onto the base and leave in the fridge to set.

Quintuplet of desserts: (anti-clockwise:)
Chocolate sachertorte, sticky toffee pudding,
chocolate-dipped raspberries, panna cotta,
lime & chocolate cheesecake.

Spinach & ricotta ravioli

Spinach and ricotta ravioli

I do not have a pasta machine so I flattened the dough with a rolling pin, and pressed all the edges with a fork. This is dedication!

Make sure you roll the pasta really thinly, so it's not too heavy and stodgy.

Spinach & ricotta ravioli

Plum Frangipane

I can't help it. I confess that I am a frangipane addict. The tastiness.
Pastry + cake-like mixture + sweet fruit. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?

Plum frangipane

Peach clafoutis

Clafoutis are definitely better with smaller whole fruit because the liquid doesn't leak out into the batter.

HOWEVER I was quite impressed with the appearance of this clafoutis.

It's annoying because clafoutis are the one thing I cannot make. They always taste terrible and eggy, but on the positive side they always taste better when they have set in the fridge for a bit after being cooked.

Peach clafoutis

BIRTHDAY CAKE! (Austrian sachertorte)

I used the Delicious. magazine's recipe for an Austrian Sachertorte for my brother's birthday. It was a wonderful cake to make (and eat) because it was so moist and it left that gooeyness in your mouth. I topped it with white-chocolate raspberries which I prefer to chocolate-dipped strawberries, purely because raspberries tend to be sharper, so there is a larger contrast of flavours.

Austrian Sachertorte

Meringue cupcakes

Meringue-topped cupcake

No it is not a cloud. Yes i'm sure. Yes really.

Basically a cupcake with a meringue topping.

The cake can end up tasting dry, so put something liquidy under the meringue topping, or chocolate because:

-chocolate melts

-chocoloate is always a winner.

 

Valentines Day (part 4)

Petit-fours: macaroons with a chocolate ganache centre

I think they are rose but I am not certain... Recipes for macaroons are basically ground almond macaroons.

Chocolate ganache; heat cream till bubbling, pour over chocolate. If you want you can add a couple of teaspoons of melted butter to the chocolate to make the mixture glossy.

Heart-shaped macaroons

Valentines Day (part 3)

Dessert: chocolate mousse and candied orange

I personally think that chocolate mousse is basically an uncooked chocolate meringue. Just me?

There are plenty of recipes available for chocolate mousses as they are so popular (and yummy!!)

I actually made the candied orange. PROUD. It's not as hard as it seems when you first do the recipe, you just need a free (/rainy) day.

I think the brown splodges on the side are caramel?

Chocolate mousse and candied orange

Valentines Day (part 2)

Main course: parmentier potatoes with flash-fried steak

Parmentier potatoes are very small diced potatoes coated with quite a bit of butter and oil but make sure they're not too greasy!

Flash-fried steak; fry steak in a pan of HOT oil till cooked.

Steaks!

Valentines Day

Garlic and chilli prawns

For Valentines Day I made a meal with my brother for our parents.

Starter: garlic and chilli prawns
I'm pretty sure everyone has their own take on these, mine is pretty simple. Slice a few cloves of garlic, and add some dried chilli to a pan of olive oil. (I find dried chilli gives a more delicate flavour.) When the pan has heated up, add the prawns until cooked. SERVE.

"Eclairs"

For my grandma's birthday I tried (note tried) to make choolate eclairs however my choux pastry was a bit greasy due to the butter separating, so they tasted like churros.

Is it me or do they look like Viennese biscuits...?

I tried to make these using the quickest recipe I could find, but none were fast enough, so I combined 2 recipes.




My attempt at chocolate eclairs.

Chocolate tarts

L-r: Chocolate and mandarin tart, chocolate and ginger tart

I cannot remember the exact website, but I used a recipe very similar to: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/614297

however the recipe above seems a lot simpler than the one I used. I had to do so many unnecessary actions to the pastry that left it very hard and dry. Chocolate filling is gorgeous though!

Framboisier

My very sorry-looking Framboisier.

The recipe I used:
http://www.cuisine-french.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/recettes/framboisier_ill.html

I followed this recipe more or less, but the main change that I made was using rice flour for the cake. The final product tasted like heaven (a perfect raspberry mousse) with a bit of hell (a revolting bottom which was surprisingly NOT soggy!)

Framboisier

http://www.cuisine-french.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/recettes/framboisier_ill.html

I followed this recipe to make framboisier, but I made the cake myself using rice flour, so the finished product tasted like a very nice raspberry mousse which a disgusting bottom- which was surprisingly not soggy!

TWITTER

Follow me on twitter:

www.twitter.com/futurefoodie

The daunting first post.

Okay so here goes...

I love food, and I love writing so it makes sense to start a food blog. One day I would love to become a chef, a food journalist, or a food critic. Maybe all three? I love to try all sorts of recipes and usually when baking, I find a recipe and slightly alter it to make it my own.

Bon appetit!