Guacamole

Well my one at least.

I find avocado to be very spreadable when puréed, so its a healthy yet tasty alternative for butter. Often used in Mexican culture, guacamole is traditionally made by mashing avocado and mixing it with: pepper, salt, citrus juice, chopped tomato, sliced chilli and diced onion.

However my recipe is a little different, perhaps a slightly anglicised(?) one?

1 avocado
freshly cracked pepper
drizzle of olive oil
2 teaspoons of worcestershire sauce
handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

Mash the avocado into a smooth consistency with a few lumps.
Mix in the olive oil, and pepper.
Then mix in the worcestershire sauce.
Add the tomatoes, stir in, and voila!

Serve with crisped prosciutto or baked salmon.

 

Alternatively, you could,
replace the worcestershire sauce with some tequila
add lime juice
add chilli

Baked salmon

Salmon is an easy fish to cook well, and this recipe shows one of the easiest ways.

2 fillets of salmon
butter
herbs- dill, oregano, etc
pinenuts

Preheat an oven to 180C.
Place the salmon fillets on separate pieces on tin foil.
Sprinkle herbs on the salmon fillets, and top with thin slices of butter.
Wrap the tinfoil up loosely into a parcel and put into the oven for 20 minutes.

In the meantime put a pan on a medium heat and gently toast the pinenuts. When the pinenuts are golden brown, take out of the pan or they will continue cooking.

Unrap the cooked salmon and serve with the pinenuts, and some fresh egg noodles.



You could...
instead of using butter, top the salmon with basil pesto and toasted pieces of flour tortilla
replace the butter with a drizzle of white wine
add sprigs of rosemary


Many people think that salmon cooked this way should be eaten straight from the oven, but I think there is often more flavour in the salmon when it is cold.

No.193 (Tap Coffee) - Wardour Street

This small independent chain of three shops all located W1 shows how coffee should be...

 

Walking in to No.193 Wardour Street, there are plain wooden benches, and high stools for adults who want to feel like children with legs dangling above the floor. Looking around, all you can see are hipsters and advertising types in beanie hats and checked coaks sipping their 2-shot macchiatos.

 

A latte and an orangina comes to £4.20, an acceptable price for the notoriously extortionate West End. The latte is brought to your table by the 20-something pierced good looking barista in a small glass (as it should be). Spotting the heart on the top of the coffee does make you think you might get the barista's number, but then you realise everyone else has one too.

 

The latte is smooth and creamy, and a good choice amongst the other drinks offered. Cakes are available (around £2.50), as well as sandwiches. The orangina tastes like orangine.

 

The constant grinding of coffee ensures it is never silent, and adds to the delicious aroma. With a lack of women, the crowd is surprisingly tame, entertained by the modern art on the walls, and the coffee machine at the end.

 

Although it is a chain (albeit a small one), the bathroom shows exactly what they think of mainstream coffee shops... the toilet brush holder is a Starbucks mug.

 

Worth another visit? Definitely, but the seats are not the most comfortable...

 

Find Tap on twitter, or at their website.

Poached pears*

Poached pears are a surprisingly quick dessert. The softer the pear, the quicker it will poach and the less sweetness it needs.

You can poach pears in many liquids, a sweet dessert wine being one of them (and my favourite too!)Alternatively, you could use white wine, juice, or a syrup- perhaos spiced with cinammon or cardammon.

one-two pears per person, peeled  cored
a bottle of sweet wine, like muscat
a few star aniseed
some cardammon pods
a cinnammon stick
seeds of a vanilla pod

In a medium sized saucepan over a low heat, add the liquid and the spices, and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
Then add the pears which should be covered by liquid. If not, add more wine, or water to dilute it. You could add pear juice to intensify the flavour, but only fresh and definitely not a juice drink.
Leave the pears on a low-medium heat for about 20 minutes (for a medium sized pear), or until the pears can be cut through easily.
Remove the pears and leave the liquid on a medium heat to reduce into more of a syrup.

Serve the pears hot and drizzled in the syrup, with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Perhaps...
if you use water, you could use pear stock: leaving the pear skins in freshly boiled water to infuse.
you could poach in milk.
or cider?
use another hardish fruit like an apple.




*thanks Grandma!

Fabrica (E8)

Espresso (£2.40 I think)

Brownie (£2.50)

Arrving at Dalston Junction I didn't exactly have a plan of where I was going, so finding Fabrica in Kingsland Road was a pleasant surprise.

Walking in you're greeted with heat (useful in Winter), and a selection of European languages. At the bar - which is more of a breakfast bar than a wine bar - there are different cakes and pastries ranging from £2 to £3.50. Along the bare-bricked walls there are bottles of Fentiman's rose lemonade and coca-cola lined up on one side, and pieces of art on the other.

Savoury foods like salads and sandwiches are available to feast on. Made with artisan bread, you can watch the huge legs of pork being sliced for you.

The cosy atmosphere is encouraged with the amount of tables and chairs crowded into the small space. If you are lucky enough to get a squishy armchair, pat yourself on the back, but otherwise, you run the risk of breaking a creaky and weak wooden chair. There's a sense of community like in Le Pain Quotidien as there are a couple of tables there to be shared.

Aside from the safety hazards of the rough wooden tables aching to give the customers splinters, the lack of personal space, and the smell of oil by the bathrooms, Fabrica is one of those cute places worth going into to have a (quick) coffee, and reading a few of the weekend newspapers.

Coffee-wise it's quite good, but doesn't reach the standard of very good, as it's quite watery and a little cold. On the brownie side of things, chocolatey but dry, and a little small to cost £2.50.

Would I go there again? Hmm, there are better places, but I haven't seen any better ones round here. Yet.


Fabrica is near Dalston Junction station, which can be reached by Overground.

Pancakes

What is the difference between a pancake and a crêpe?
Crêpes are made from a thin batter and are light, whereas pancakes are thicker and fluffier. The size of a pancake is usually around half that of a crêpe.

What is the difference between an American pancake and an English pancake?
American pancakes having a raising agent like baking powder, and often use buttermilk instead of milk. Buttermilk can be made easily by squeezing some lemon into milk 10 minutes before you need to use it, and leaving it to curdle.

American pancakes
150g self-raising flour
a teaspoon of baking powder
125ml milk
one egg - I like to separate and whisk the white to give more lift.
olive oil or a few tablespoons of melted butter
a few teaspoons of demerera sugar depending on whether you're making sweet or savoury pancakes

Sift the dry ingredients together, and then whisk in with the rest of the ingredients.
On a medium heat, melt a blob of salted butter in a pan.
Pour in the liquid and don't touch until the pancake has solidified and begins to bubble. As American pancakes are small, you can make several in the pan at the same time. I tend to make mine between 7 and 14 cm diameter.
Flip the pancake and leave until golden.
Stack high and serve.

Notes/variations
Add blueberries or raspberries into the pancake mixture.
Serve the traditional way with crispy streaky bacon and maple syrup or golden syrup.
Fill with cheese, ham and spinach  and pine nuts, and roll to make a roulade.
Top with an egg or melted gruyere.

Crêpes
200ml milk - I find that full-fat holds a better texture
125g plain flour, sifted
2 eggs - and a bit of eggshell if you're like me!

salted butter

Blend all the ingredients together; this is best done adding the flour a little at a time.
Heat a crêpe pan (basically a normal pan with a thick base and low sides) until it starts steaming.
Turn the pan down to medium heat, and melt butter in the pan, swirling it around.
Pour in some of the mixture and leave until the edges curl and you can see steam. As long as you tilt the pan whilst pouring the mixture in, you will have a thin and evenly spread crêpe.
Flip the crêpe and leave until it turns golden.
As soon as it is ready, take off the heat, put in the filling and roll.

Notes/variations
I used salted butter as brings out the flavour of the crêpe.
Putting sugar in the butter before putting the crêpe mixture in it will give the crêpe a caramelised taste.
When all the crêpes have been made, you could roll them up, put them in a lined baking tray, cover with custard and bake until the custard sets- a bit like a bread and butter pudding.
Alternatively, you could make Crêpes Suzette.

White chocolate macarons and a dark chocolate mousse filling (Macaron mess)

150g ground almonds (very fine)
225g icing sugar, sieved
100g white chocolate- probably about 80g once you've had a bit of it*
3 egg whites - keep the yolks for later
50g caster sugar
dash of salt

150g dark chocolate
20g salted butter
3 egg yolks
a whole egg separated

Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the salt and gradually add the caster sugar whilst whisking on a slow pace.
Fold the almonds and icing sugar into the meringue mixture, and then fold in the melted white chocolate.
Pipe the macarons  onto a baking sheet evenly spaced. If there are peaks on top of them, dab them with a damp finger.
Leave the macarons to rest for 40 minutes, until a skin forms on the top of the macarons.
In a preheated oven of 150C, bake the macarons, and make the mousse filling during the meantime.

Melt the dark chocolate and butter in a bain marie.
Once fully melted, beat the egg yolks into the chocolate and butter.
Whisk the egg white into stiff peaks and completely fold into the rest of the mousse mixture.
Pipe the chocolate mousse onto the cooled macaron halves.

However, if like mine you decided to use all your macaron mixture in one batch... break up the macarons and combine into the mousse getting a macaron mess (instead of Eton Mess - see what I did there?). It tastes the same even if the presentation is questionable.

Variations:
use coffee or dark rum in the mousse
make caramel macarons instead of white chocolate
make a lavender praline filling

*it might just be worth getting 200g on the off chance you eat more than a nibble. Just a thought...

Chloé's warming meaty winter broth

3 small white onions, sliced medium-sized
3 garlic cloves, crushed and cut in half
one and a half teaspoons garam masala
a teaspoon of dried chillies
one and a half teaspoons of cumin seeds
a tin of plum tomatoes- use blended fresh tomatoes for a more concentrated paste
beef chunks
lamb chunks
rapesed oil
red wine- deep, rich ones work best
*worcester sauce/balsamic vinegar - not mandatory but it adds that little je ne sais quoi

In one pan and one pot, heat generous drizzles of rapeseed oil until they run around the pan/pot quickly. Use the a medium-high heat on the hob.

In the pan add the sliced onions and garlic, and in the other add the meat. Turn both hobs down to medium at most. You want to brown/ sear the meat, whilst softening the onions. When the meat is completely browned (you can see no pink), and the onions have reduced in size by at least double, it's done.

In the onion pan, push the onions to the sides and drop in the cumin seeds. Leave the cumin seeds to toast for about half a minute, and then stir into the onions. Repeat again with the garam masala, then again with the chillies.

Add the tomatoes (and worcester/balsamic) to the meat along with a generous glass of the wine. For the chef. I mean the meat. No definitely the chef. You can blend the tomatoes before you add to the meat, but you get a more watery outcome at the end, so if you throw them in whole, they'll break up naturally into juicy chunks.

When the onions have fully absorbed the spices and are nice and golden-brown, add to the the tomatoey meat pot. Cover the pot and leave to simmer until the meat is nice and tender (30 minutes- 2 hours depending on how you like it and how big the chunks are). If you have a concentrated sauce, add a knob of butter a few minutes before serving to smoothen the sauce and give a more creamy, delicate flavour.


Serve with rice or a big hunk of foccacia.




All of the recipe can be varied to be adapted to your ingredients. I used beef and lamb because they were reduced from £5.60 to 50p...Obviously not boasting or anything.

Tarte au citron Meyer

Tarte au citron is a classic French tart filled with a tangy lemon custard. I used Meyer lemons which are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin. They are quite sweet in comparison to other lemons, yet still quite tangy.

A nice even bake :-)

175g 00 flour (this flour is very fine, so makes the pastry more crumbly, it's fine to use normal plain flour though too)
140g unsalted butter, diced
30g soft brown sugar
25g icing sugar
zest of one lemon

5 eggs
160ml double cream
the zest and juice of 3 Meyer lemons
100g caster sugar

Sieve the sugar and flour, and mix with the zest of one lemon.
Add the cold butter and rub until you achieve a crumble mixture. As there is a lot of butter in this pastry, it shouldn't need any liquid. If you do add liquid, the consequence is that the pastry will not be as crumbly when cooked.
Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden up.

Preheat the oven to 200C and butter a tart case.
Roll the pastry to less than a 1 centimetre thickness, and roll over the tart case.
prick the pastry case and blind bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. Instead of using baking beans, you can use baking paper with a similar sized cake tin on top.
Whilst the cake is cooking, whisk the eggs until they increase in size by about one and a half.
Add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice to the eggs, but continue whisking.
When thoroughly combined, pour in the double cream, and whisk again. You can add milk if you want a thinner mixture.
Pour into the tart case and bake for about half an hour, or until the filling is a little wobbly.

Serve cold with a spoonful of clotted cream.


You could

• decorate with candied lemons
• spread the base with lemon curd or melted dark chocolate, and cover with the filling mixture
• use tangerines instead of lemons

Spätzle

Spätzle dough

Spätzle is always fried in butter, but toasted breadcrumbs give an extra delicate crunch.



Freshly cooked spätzle

 

Spätzle is a good carbohydrate to mop up thick sauces with

Use approximately 100g of plain flour per person, and 1 egg for every 3 people as a general guidelines...

Add a dash of salt to your flour, and add the egg.
Mix with your hand of a spatula until you have a soft and slightly (but not too) wet dough. If you were using a food processor, use the dough hook.
Remember you can always add more flour or tepid water to get the perfect consistency.

Using a spätzle press, press the dough immediately into boiling water. When the spätzle has risen to the top, it is cooked... this usually takes half a minute to a minute. Immediately drain and pat dry.

With some seasoned melting salted butter in a pan, add breadcrumbs and toss the spätzle in it until it is crisped and golden.



What is spätzle?
Spätzle are a sort of pasta/noodle/dumpling originating from the Alsace region of Germany. Its often served topped with melted cheese

Our Christmas Dinner

Iceberg lettuce with  celeriac remoulade, dressed grated carrot and apple*, radish and tomato

 

Red cabbage with balsamic and apple*

Wild boar and venison goulash with chestnuts*, onions and carrots

Freshly made spätzle

Chestnut jam, chestnut jam glazed mousse topped with crumbled toasted walnuts* and a morceau of orange and almond cake

*all items marked with an asterisk were foraged (mostly from Baden-Baden, Germany)

Orange and almond cake

Orange and almond cake

   

 

*sizing is not accurate; the orange is definitely not that big

 

 

This cake is an easy wheat-free bake, perfect as a light end to a meal.

 

Ingredients:

a large unwaxed orange

125g ground almonds

3 eggs, separated

75g sugar

 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C and butter a cake tin.

In a large saucepan on medium heat with a few tablespoons of water, put the orange in, cover, and leave to simmer for about half an hour, or until the orange has softened considerably.

When the orange has softened, dry it and blitz it. Although the pith has a lot of fibre, it can give a slightly bitter taste.

In one bowl whisk the whites of the eggs until you have soft peaks.

In another bowl, beat the yolks and the sugar until the volume of the yolks has doubled.

Add the ground almonds and orange mixture to the sugar/yolk mix until thorougly combined.

Gradually, add the egg whites, but be careful to not knock out the air you have obtained.

Pour into the cake tin from a low height. If you pour it from high, air is lost from the mixture.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and when the cake is pricked, the fork comes out clean or with a few crumbs.

  

Variations:

Add baking powder for a higher rise in the cake.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, juice 4 large oranges. Reduce the juice in the pan till it is slightly more syrupy. Prick the cake with a fork several times, and drizzle the orange reduction over it. When you prick the cake, it absorbs more of the liquid.

Chestnut glazed mousse

Chestnut glazed mousse

Chestnut glazed mousse

Ingredients:
350ml crème fraîche
400ml fromage frais
2 tbsp caster sugar (use icing sugar if you prefer a finer mixture)
a vanilla pod


half a jar of homemade chestnut jam

Method:
Whisk together the crème fraîche, fromage frais, caster sugar, and the seeds from the vanilla pod until you have a smooth mixture.
Generously decant into several pots- small jam jars would look nice.

In a small saucepan, heat the jam over a medium heat. When it has melted, pour it over the creamy mixture. However if your chestnut jam is more of a purée, immediately pour over the creamy mixture.

Variations:
For extra lightness, whisk egg whites and add to the mix.
For a richer mixture, replace some of the crème fraîche and fromage frais for double cream.

Almond Tart with a Spiced Sauce

Possibly one of the crumbliest pastries ever?

Buttery and flakey!

Tart and sauce



It looks a tiny bit like a Crema Catalana...

Ingredients

Pastry

150g plain flour

140g diced unsalted butter

35g caster sugar

Almond Mixture

110g ground almonds

100g caster sugar

3 eggs

70ml double cream

30ml milk

Sauce

3 teaspoons of camp ( a coffee and chicory essence)

1/4 teaspoon of cinammon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

40ml double cream

20 ml milk

Method

Preheat a fan oven to 200°C, and butter some tins for the tarts- I used Yorkshire pudding tins which are quite flat, but give a very even bake.

Stir the flour and sugar together and rub in the butter until you have a crumble mixture. As this dough is very buttery, it probably won't need any liquid, but if it does, use an egg yolk or a few drops of milk.

Cover the ball of pastry dough in clingfilm, and leave to harden in the fridge.

Whisk together all the ingredients of the almond mixture until it is thoroughly combined and it has increased in volume slightly.

Roll the pastry on a floured surface to a thickness of about 0.75 cm.

Cut the pastry into shapes, place in their tins, and prick the pastry bases a couple of times.

Give the almond mixture another quick whisk in case the ingredients have separated, and pour into the lined tart cases. Pour the mixture to the same height as the pastry, or even a bit higher.

Bake in the oven until the almond mixtures have set and turned a golden colour.

Turn the tarts out onto a wire rack and leave to cool down.

Whilst the tarts are cooling down, mix together the cream, milk and camp.

Add the spices to the liquid and beat.

Pour the mixture into a presentable jug.

Serve the tart warm with the sauce as a dessert, or with a summer fruits compote for breakfast.

Or...

use chestnut flour in the pastry to make the tart even more nutty!

add poached cherries to the almond mixture

swap some of the ground almonds for polenta

add a drop (or two) of rum to the sauce

Orange and Armagnac Scones

Orange and armagnac scones

Ideal as a Christmas Eve treat

Tasty!

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons of armagnac

10 tablespoons of raisins

the zest of two large Valencian oranges

235g plain flour

55g unsalted butter

35g muscovado sugar (caster is fine but muscovado gives a toffee-like flavour)

a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

milk (at least 120 ml)

a beaten egg

Method:

The night before you want* (*aim) to eat the scones, leave the raisins to soak in a cup of armagnac.

The following day, preheat a fan oven to 200°C and grease a baking sheet with a knob of salted butter.

In a reasonably sized bowl, rub together the flour and butter until you have a crumble like mixture.

Mix the sugar and the zest into the flour/butter.

Take the raisins out of the armagnac and gently pat dry- you don't want to squeeze out all of the juice, but you want to get rid of most of it.

Stir the raisins into the mixture, and once thoroughly combined, add the milk slowly.

Whilst you add the milk, continue mixing the scone dough. I use my hands, but its fine to use a spoon.

You want to achieve a soft dough and slightly sticky dough.

On a floured surface, gently tip out the scone mixture.

Roll the dough to an even thickness and use the cutters to press out shapes. Circle cutters are traditionally used, but for a minimalist scone I would suggest square cutters.

On your buttered tray, lay your scone shapes evenly spaced.

Brush your scones with the beaten egg, and bake in the oven for about 14 minutes- or until they have risen and the tops are golden.

Serve warm with marmalade and cream.

Alternatively...

change the unsalted butter and raisins for salted butter, and served with an espresso chantilly

swap the raisins and sugar for manchego and rosemary

Rosemary Apple Charlotte and Milk ice-cream

4 small apples (washed and peeled -with the skins set aside for later- and diced)
dark brown sugar, or muscavado sugar (for a toffee, nutty taste)
100ml double cream
400ml milk (goat's milk or hazlenut milk would also work really well)
3 egg yolks (you could use the egg whites for a meringue or accompanying apple souflées
a few sprigs of rosemary
2 well-toasted (BURNT) pieces of toast.
a few speculos (speculos are french biscuits which you'd normally have with your coffee- they have a toffee-like sweetness yet the texture of a biscotti meets digestive)

Preheat the oven to 160C.
In a saucepan, add the diced apples, the rosemary, and a splash of water (or calvados if you want alcohol). Keep on a low heat and leave to soften.
In another pan, heat the milk until it begins to boil, then turn the heat down and add the sugar (stirring continuously). Then whisk in the egg yolks, constantly so you don't get scrambled egg. When it is all combined, add the cream and thoroughly stir. Pour the custard into the ice-cream maker (or into a covered tub and put in the freezer).
The apple should be softened by now, so take the rosemary out and add the speculos. Mush it a bit to get a thick consitency, but not too much as it's nice to have the odd lump. Pour the apple mixture into the ice-cream maker, or generously drizzle into your tub to achieve a ripple effect.
On a lightly oiled baking tray, put on the apple skin and leave in the oven until the moisture has started to evaporate. Then, turn the grill on to maximum, and keeping an eye on them (like I should have done better) wait for them to harden and crisp up a bit. It should take a minute at maximum. When they are perfectly coiffed, gently pat them dry with a piece of kitchen towel to get rid of excess grease.
In the toaster put in two slices of toast, and when they are reasonably charred, take them out and generously slice them so you get reasonable diamonds/slithers/any other pretty shape .
The custard should have solidified quite a bit by now, so add the toast to it, and then leave it in the freezer to set.

Serve with the apple crisps and perhaps a dark-chocolate sauce.

Tanzania and Madagascar: Rainbow Tours

On a relatively mild September night I find myself strolling the roundabout of Old Street trying to find the correct road to lead me to the Open Kitchen in Hoxton. Twenty minutes after marching in the wrong direction, I admit myself to defeat and ask a Travelodge for the way. Finally I arrive at my destination of The Open Kitchen half an hour early clutching an overflowing bag. Sometimes being too prepared can backfire, but not this time. Meeting the welcoming guys from Rainbow Tours I immediately felt comfortable in the vibrant surroundings.

Upon arrival I was offered red and white wine as well as canapés, which was sufficient to make anyone happy. The first blogger I met was Amy from London Food Adventures . Having a keen interest in food photography, she made me more determined to improve the standard of mine.

Based in the comprehensive kitchen above the restaurant, each blogger had their own area to work in. The chef Attoma Manji showed us the dishes and how to make them prior to us starting. On the menu was SamakiwaKakuango (steamed fish with fried onions), as well as a curry-like simply named Beef with Greens (Malagasy).

You could clearly see many bloggers' eyes beginning to water due to the dicing of the onions, but our tears soon evaporated when we smelt the ginger and garlic which we added to our sautéeing onions for the beef dish. We finely sliced the cabbage in the style of chiffonade to add to the dish later. Tearing chunks of fresh red beef, we browned them in the pan and then added beef stock. Water could have been used instead but beef stock just strengthens the meaty, hearty flavour. After the beef stock had reduced a little bit, we added rice, topped with some more liquid (Fiona from London Unattached added in some of her red wine to make a French- African fusion bourignon), poured in some chopped tomato and added the cabbage. You don't want to add the cabbage too late, because you want some crunch, but you still want it to soften. Once the rice is cooked it's ready to eat. Adding some chunks of cabbage at the end give another dimension to the texture.

The fish was a pretty easy dish to make too- the kind of meal you could make in less than 30 minutes. Once I had preheated the oven I scored my seabass - any firm white fish works well. Slicing red chilli, crushed garlic and olive oil, I combined it all together and stuffed into the fish. I left the fish to cook for 20 minutes whilst I made an accompaniment which didn't taste too disimilar to a cooked salsa.

I very thinly sliced three plump tomatoes with half a large onion. In a pan of hot oil, I chucked in the onions and left to soften till they had considerably decreased in size. Then I added the tomato with some very finely chopped parsley. Every now and then i'd add a bit of water and stir a little. When it had all reduced, I served it with the baked seabass.

Funnily enough, I actually have a slight Tanzanian heritage (one of the recipes is from Tanzania). My paternal grandad was brought up on the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar which belong to Tanzania, so I have slight links with the country which I hope to visit some day.

Although it was the first blogger event I have been to, I thouroughly hope to go to more... Not only do you learn to make foods you might not normally, you meet new people (like the lovely Maya from Brunch, etc. ).




PS.. Apologies for not posting for an eternity! I will definitely, definitely, definitely be posting very regularly from now on.

Fig and Marsala Ice-cream

Apologies for not blogging for a (very very very) long time! So hear is an especially tasty recipe.

I stayed in a region of Catalunia- near Perpignan, France- for two weeks during mid-August. Whilst  exploring a night time market in Céret, I came across a tiny stall selling figs and mini raspberries for a decent price of €2.50 a punnet. Unfortunately, the figs were relatively overripe, and a few already had slight alcoholic flavours in them, therefore I found it impertinent to use them and preserve their flavour as soon as possible.
As we were due to return to England only a few days later, we had various other items in the kitchen that needed to be used up. Essentially this recipe is just using bits and pieces from the fridge, so it is an ideal one to adapt to the ingredients you have available.

Recipe

an overripe punnet of figs
half a large tub of crème fraîche
a pot of crème Anglaise (French custard) 
a few spoonfuls of greek yoghurt
5 tablespoons of marsala wine

Cool your ice-cream maker, or put a tub in the freezer.
Blend the figs into a pulp (I find when you have bits, it can be quite nice).
Once the figs look like a coulis, add the marsala wine, and blend again to evenly mix.
In another bowl, cream the crème fraîche, crème Anglaise and greek yoghurt into a smooth consistency, and then dribble in the fig/marsala liquid. Stir together until you have a purple liquid.
Pour into the ice-cream maker and leave to churn, or into the chilled tub and stir every now and again.
Serve with figs or biscuits- I used a bit of loaf cake.

To create fig and marsala ripple ice-cream, do not stir the fig/marsala liquid into the cream mixture once it has been poured in.
Add fig jam for extra flavour.

Banoffee Pie

Ingredients
2 bananas
397g condensed milk (or dulche du leche)
300g chocolate chip biscuits
35g unsalted butter
200ml double cream
giant chocolate buttons (or just chocolate) These were on special offer so...

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
In a pan on a medium heat, pour in the condensed milk and continuously stir until thickened. This should take about 20 minutes. Even if it looks wrong, continue stirring (and take off the heat).
Bash the chocolate chip biscuits until you have crumbs and stir in the melted butter.
Compress the biscuit-butter combination into a baking tin, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the base has hardened. When it has cooked, take out of the oven and leave to cool down.
Slice the bananas into about 1 cm thick.
Pour the cooled caramel onto the biscuit base, cover with chocolate chip buttons and arrange the sliced bananas on top.
Whip the cream into soft peaks and layer onto the banoffee pie.
Sprinkle a few more chocolate buttons on the cream to decorate, and leave in the fridge to chill.

Variations
Orange zest in the cream and caramel, and orange biscuits in the base.
You could melt the chocolate if you wanted to evenly use it.
Using softened icecream instead of cream.
Using custard instead of cream and sponge instead of biscuits to makea banoffee trifle.

Thyme Shortbread

Crumbly, rich and fragrant- delicious!

Ingredients
250g plain flour
130g butter
100g caster sugar (if you want an extremely fine shortbread, substitute with icing sugar)
a couple of sprigs of thyme

Method
Mix the flour and sugar together in a cold glass bowl.
Pull the thyme leaves off and rub to release the flavour.
Add the thyme to the flour and sugar and mix.
Dice the cold butter and rub into the flour until you have a crumb mixture.
Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge to harden up.
After 20 minutes, preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and ten minutes after that, butter a tin for the shortbread.
Take the crumb mixture out of the fridge, and compress into the buttered tin.
Flatten the mixture so the shortbread doesn't rise, but don't push it down too much or it will become quite crisp when cooked.
After the shortbread has been in the oven for 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 180 degrees, and leave to cook until golden and hard. This should take about 25 minutes.
Leave the shortbread to cool down and eat.
Store in an airtight container for 3 days.

Serve with clotted cream and a sprig of thyme.

Tips
Replace thyme with other flavours like: tea, mint, orange, chilli.