Unfortunately my scales weighed their last bit of flour a few weeks ago before packing it in meaning I have not been able to bake for a while. However there is one substitute that doesn't always require the use of scales and is staving off the baking withdrawal symptoms: traybaking.
I think rocky road has to be one of my favourite traybakes. You only have to look at the ingredients in front of you to know that in just over two hours you will have an irresistable chunk of chocolate satisfaction waiting for you to sink your teeth into.
I like mine made with a mixture of milk and dark chocolate which does not have to be the expensive stuff. This isn't about sophistication or the best ingredients you can find, I hate to say it but it's about pure junk food. To ensure it didn't turn out impossible to slice I added olive oil spread, honey and maple syrup to the melted chocolate because that's what I happened to have in the fridge although just the spread or some butter would suffice. I also topped mine with dessicated coconut, again because I happened to have some.
These came out really well which isn't hard to achieve really because nomatter how wrong the proportions might be, tastewise it's still bound to hit the spot. Chocolate, marshmallows, cherries and digestives - you can't fault the combination!
Rocky road Makes one 8x8 inch tray
300g chocolate (mixture of milk and dark)
2-3 tbsp olive oil spread (reserve the third and add if the melted chocolate is still too thick, I find this differs between chocolate brands)
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp runny honey
7 digestive biscuits, crushed into random sized pieces
10 marshmallows, quartered
20 glace cherries, halved
2-3 tbsp dessicated coconut (optional)
Line baking tray. Melt chocolate, olive oil spread, maple syrup and honey together in a bowl. Once melted and combined reserve 75ml of mixture and set aside. Add digestive biscuits, marshmallows and glace cherries to chocolate mixture and mix. Press mixture into baking tray. Spoon and spread the remaining 75ml chocolate mixture on top, and sprinkle with dessicated coconut. Cover and chill in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.Can be kept in fridge for a fortnight but it's so yum that it's unlikely to last that long!
What I love about Shrove Tuesday is that you can eat as many crepes or pancakes as you like without feeling like a freak. Crepes for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Go ahead it's Shrove Tuesday! Three course meal of blinis, galettes and crepes? Why not? It's Shrove Tuesday! I relished a two course meal of an egg, ham and cheese galette and chocolate crepe in the wonderful Creperie de Josselin in Paris a couple of years ago. Portions were huge and while my boyfriend sat struggling with his, I sat as if I was in pancake heaven. Only in a creperie in France or on Shrove Tuesday would I be able get away with it. I have received astonished looks from those who have witnessed me munch through pancake after pancake in one breakfast sitting. In nursery school when I tried my first pancake ever on Shrove Tuesday, I remember my teacher laughing "Another one?" as I went back for a third. I still remember clearly how they tasted. Soft, squidgy, warm and buttery.
As I have a busy week ahead and it's been since Paris that I had my last galette, this year Shrove Tuesday is Galette Sunday. Made with buckwheat flour rather than white or wholemeal, galettes are darker and crispy and make for nicer savoury dishes than its softer, paler cousin the crepe. Buckwheat is also gluten-free so these are a great alternative for coeliacs, plus vegans get a look in too because the recipe I've used is free of eggs and milk. Fillings obviously would need to be adjusted to suit. Be sure to make the batter ahead of time to let it rest, preferably the night before, otherwise the galettes will be too brittle to fold.
It may have been the recipe I chose, but my experience today taught me the perfect galette takes a lot of practise. They say the first crepe in the pan is always the worst, but in the case of galettes, or maybe more specifically my galettes, it is the first three or four. The trick is to have the batter at the right consistency and not to pour too much into the pan. The thicker it is the longer it takes to cook and nomatter how long I left it, it remained very wet. When I did manage to make a lovely crisp galette, it was when just enough batter was poured to thinly cover the base of the pan, so thin that several little holes appeared as it cooked but don't worry about these. Better to have a crispy galette with a few holes than a big brown mushy mess in your pan. I should have taken a picture of my pile of failed attempts which just seemed to get bigger and bigger.
Opting for the sweet-savoury sensation I filled them with goats cheese seasoned with black pepper and thyme, and served them with warm baked figs and honey. Delicious.
Goat cheese galettes with baked figs & honey Makes 8 servings
For the batter:
250g buckwheat flour
125ml water
125ml sparkling cider (or water which would do just as fine)
5g salt
300ml water for after batter is allowed to rest
For the filling:
500g soft goats cheese, crumbled
thyme
black pepper
For the baked figs:
8 figs
5g butter
5 tsp sugar
lemon juice
Add salt to the flour in a bowl and mix in the water and cider in two parts. Once combined mix on lowest setting if using a mixer or by hand for 10 minutes. Allow batter to rest in fridge for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight. Add 300ml water, going slow with the last 100ml which should be added gradually to achieve the required consistency of somewhere between that of single and double cream. Mix on slowest setting or by hand for 5 minutes.
Figs can go in the oven before the second mixing of the batter. Preheat oven to 200 degree C and smear butter on base of baking dish. Trim stems from the figs and cut figs in half. Place figs cut side up on baking dish and sprinkle with half the sugar and a little lemon juice. Place in oven for 15 minutes. Baste with juices before sprinkling over the remaining sugar and baking for a further 5 minutes.
To make the galettes, heat a frying pan or round flat griddle until hot. Smear with a little butter. Pour just enough batter to cover base of pan thinly. Allow to cook then top with goats cheese according to how the galette will be folded. You are not meant to flip galettes but I cheated and flipped mine (which was a feat in itself) to get them to cook. Sprinkle cheese with some fresh thyme and ground black pepper. Allow cheese to melt before folding galette and serving with baked figs and honey.
As I was in London for the weekend, we had planned to have sunday lunch at Little Bay in Farringdon to take advantage of their current 'pay what you think it's worth' February promotion (get there while you can!). This was until we realised that in typical London fashion all underground lines to Farringdon were closed for engineering works. To save from further disappointment we decided to head towards Chinatown where we were bound to find a place for some tasty eats before I boarded the train back home.
Leong's Legends was first in our list of preferences. I have wanted to try this well-reviewed Taiwanese restaurant for quite some time, especially having experienced the real deal in Taiwan and missing the food there desperately. Looking at the menu in the window not many dishes struck me as Taiwanese but we wanted to give it a go anyway as it was also recommended by a Taiwanese friend. So in we went. The place was packed and the staff were busy. So busy that we were completely ignored for the whole time we stood there feeling like right plums. Pushing past us several times to grab whatever they were grabbing not a single member of staff made eye contact or offered "We're full right now, you will have to wait a while" including someone who appeared to be the manager. Having eaten in all sorts of Chinese places I'm quite used to abrupt or unfriendly service but I've never been blanked so rudely before. It was particularly poor and surprising especially for quite a nice looking restaurant so I'm torn between trying again in the future or not. Feeling slightly, though mainly wrongly, embarrassed off we went in search of somewhere else.
Dan dan mian
Baozi Inn was next on the 'to try' list. Specialising in Bei Jing and Sichuan dishes, was Baozi Inn to be our third time lucky? Well we managed to get fed so I guess so! We walked in to be immediately greeted and seated by the window in a 1950's China kitsch setting. Low wooden stools, exposed brick, red lanterns... it all looked quite charming but possibly a little polished for what it was trying to convey.And the plastic vegetables looked a little out of place to me and more suited to a French or Italian.
My boyfriend ordered a set meal which consisted of pork rib noodles in broth, dragon dumplings in broth and pickled cucumber salad. I went for the Northern China pork baozi and the dan dan mian which is a very traditional Sichuan noodle dish. I also ordered a glass of coke which I oddly crave with spicy foods in anticipation of the mouth-numbing noodles. While the food was generally tasty and definitely filling, as I left I couldn't help feeling that it was ultimately disappointing, too salty and over-priced. My dan dan mian was very oily and barely hot and spicy enough to warrant the breaking of my usual avoidance of fizzy drinks. Instead of the heat I was after, I was left with an uncomfortable parched feeling in my mouth which I could only put down to copious amounts of salt and MSG. They were also very sparing with the topping of pork. And while the baozi was good, it was not good enough for a return visit, or maybe I'm just too attached to their Cantonese counterparts. The cucumber was tasty with a nice refreshing crunch but I think I appreciated these more for cleansing the palate which was much needed with my dishes but not in a favourable way. Positive notes were that the ribs and broth of my boyfriend's noodles were very flavoursome and the one dish I really couldn't fault were the dragon dumplings. The broth was light and just right, and the dumpling casings were lovely and silky. I could have had more of these very easily.
Clockwise from top left: cucumber salad, dragon dumplings, pork rib noodles, dan dan mian, and my half-eaten pork baozi!
Service was quick but there was some hovering which was quite distracting at times. When we arrived, there were two other sets of diners but by the time we left, the restaurant was steadily beginning to fill up. So while I was not impressed, I may be in a minority.All in all Baozi Inn was ok but didn't live up to the hype or to the prices. I've eaten better Northern Chinese and Sichuan cuisine cooked by friends from the regions. We paid £18 for our meal including drinks.
Baozi Inn 25 Newport Court London WC2H 7JS Phone: 0207 2876877
When lectures are cancelled for a second day running And it's cold and slushy outside, I delve into 'The Little Prince' Whilst sipping a brew of masala chai.
Masala chai Makes 2 servings
375ml water 8 cardamom pods 8 whole cloves 1 inch stick of cinnamon 3 slices of fresh ginger 165ml milk 3 tsp brown sugar (or to taste) 2 black tea bags
Put the water, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and ginger into a pan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer very gently for 10 minutes. Add milk and sugar and bring back to a simmer. Turn off the heat, add the tea bags, and cover. Let steep for 2 minutes. Remove tea bags and strain masala chai into two cups and serve immediately.
Slushy on the roads but gloriously snowy in the fields. My first snowman in years!
What do you do when when lectures are officially cancelled because of snow? Jump for joy and bake brownies of course! I've made brownies twice before and both times they didn't turn out how I wanted. Texture-wise, taste-wise, everything. The perfect brownie recipe I think is one of the most elusive and this along with previous failures certainly made me wonder whether I should try again. However when the idea of that yummy chocolately dense fudgy gooeyness enters my mind I always want to be able to make it into something tangible, through my own efforts.
So here is my latest attempt which I made today and they're actually really good, my best attempt yet. Prevous mistakes have taught me well. I've learned that recipes with too much 70% chocolate and cocoa powder make brownies that are far too bitter. I've learned that I should not leave it baking for just a little longer. I've learned that plain brownies are better than those loaded with chocolate chunks or nuts. And from bakery or coffee-shop bought brownies, I've learned that I have a preference for brownies which have gound almonds in them.
So a bit of a google search brought up Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba) brownies which are a French brownie. These are based on the Reine de Saba chocolate and almond cake which requires the separating of eggs and the whisking of egg whites, and the addition of rum amongst some other ingredients. However the Reine de Saba brownie recipe which seems to be quoted all over the internet omits these.
The recipe makes soft, dense brownies and although they lack the flaky top layer, the top still has a slight bite and crack to it. I personally would prefer them slightly richer because I do like my brownies quite intense, then they would be perfect! Reine de Saba brownies Makes 9 squares
125g dark chocolate (I used 70%) 125g butter 125g sugar 3 eggs 60g ground almonds 50g plain flour
Preheat oven to 180˚C and line an 8x8 inch square cake pan. Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over simmering water. Mix in the butter until melted. Remove bowl from heat and mix in the sugar, then whisk in the eggs, and finally incorporate the ground almonds and flour. Pour mixture into the cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.
I baked mine for 20 minutes however I think less would have been better, or 20 minutes at a lower temperature, as the edges were a wee bit overdone. The middle was however lovely and dense and gooey.
Finally! The deadline I had been waiting so long for has passed. Finally! I can catch up on all the foodie blogs I love. Finally! I can catch up on The Great British Food Fight!! Finally! I can take the time to cook again!
When I'm studying hard or know I should be, even just ten minutes to make a simple pasta dish feels like an eternity. If I'm not sitting infront of my laptop, I start stressing that I should be, despite the fact that a lot of the time even infront of my laptop I'm procrastinating as opposed to actually working.
I had wanted to write about a Chinese dish I made recently as Chinese New Year has just come and gone. It turned out really well, really delicious. However I kept it on the hob a little too long and certain components ended up looking a bit too worse for wear for photographing. Once I've perfected the dish though you will surely see it here.
Or maybe I should simply stick to the baking! Baked things are without a doubt easier to pretty up and photograph. I baked these dog biscuits after the new year for when I went to visit a friend who only just got a miniature schnauzer puppy last autumn. Incredibly adorable! And very funny! I'm such a dog (or animal) person but as I'm not yet in the position to love my own, I happily adore everyone else's instead.
Hence the reason I made these biscuits! I came across the recipe on Chubby Hubby. They're incredibly easy to make and come out quite soft therefore good for the older doggies too I should think. I did a bit of a google search just to double check because I heard nuts can be poisonous to dogs, but peanuts are deemed a legume rather than a nut so all is ok.
Popped into an empty Ferrero Rocher box (of which there were plenty lying around after Christmas) with a stray ribbon added for cheer, I had a cute little gift for my new little puppy friend.
Peanut butter dog biscuits Makes many biccies!
230g wholewheat flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 260g natural peanut butter (I used unsweetened organic) 225ml milk
Mix together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. In another bowl combine peanut butter and milk. Whisk with a fork until it has the texture of a thick milkshake. Add the peanut butter and milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well and knead until it forms a uniformly mixed ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
Using half the dough at a time, on a lightly floured surface roll out to 6-7mm or 1/4 inch thick. The dough is very greasy so I found it easier to roll with cling film over the top. Using a cookie cutter (or in my case improvise with a shot glass), cut out shapes and place 2cm apart on a baking tray. Roll the dough scraps together and repeat. Place the unbaked biscuits in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This is easier if you place them all on the baking tray first. Meanwhile preheat oven to 200˚C.
Remove the biscuits from the freezer and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.
One batch of muffins is never enough when I come home which explains the two muffin recipes back to back.Orange and cranberry muffins are by far one of my favourites and I always look forward to making them at this time of year when there are fresh cranberries in the shops.
I first discovered the tangy orange and cranberry combination at, ahem, Starbucks quite a few years ago as one of their Christmas limited editions and was entirely addicted for a whole winter. However I wasn’t going to let the obsession burn a hole in my pocket a second winter running so it became only wise to attempt to make my own. I played around with various recipes, some using marmalade, some using cranberry sauce, and the one I settled on draws from a couple. It makes gorgeous muffins that are not too sweet so the tartness of the cranberries really zing on the tongue which is just the way I like these. Although dried cranberries would do fine I’ve only ever wanted to make these with fresh berries for all their brightness, tanginess, juiciness and loveliness. They burst and wrinkle in the heat of the oven oozing their juices everywhere so when I pull the muffin tray out the whole thing looks like a delightful pink and orange explosion. These muffins don’t rise into the cute mounds I’m used to I think because of the weight of the cranberries. Instead they tend to ooze over the sides onto the tray further adding to that look of explosion but don’t let this dissuade you because they are still wonderfully moist and the scent that fills the kitchen as they bake is so uplifting. In fact I love to savour the scent of one of these first before I tuck into it.
Orange and cranberry can’t help but refresh the taste buds with their zest and sharpness combined. But I also love how their bright deep pink and orange together dance at the eyes and their tangy aroma awakens the nose. If like me you are not a morning person in the slightest, one of these muffins along with a strong cup of caffeine will at the very least give you enough zing to get you out of bed.
Orange and Cranberry Muffins
Adapted from ‘Muffins Fast and Fantastic’ by Susan Reimer
Makes 10-12
280g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
½ tsp salt
110g caster sugar
1 egg
Finely grated orange zest of 3 large oranges
Juice of three oranges (about 260ml); add water to make total of 260 ml if not enough juice
85g butter or 90ml vegetable oil
110g fresh cranberries left whole, plus more for topping (increase the volume of liquid by 3 tbsp if using dried cranberries)
Preheat oven to 190-200˚C (375-400˚F, Gas Mark 6) and prepare muffin tray with muffin cases. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar. In another bowl beat egg with a fork then add zest of orange, juice (plus water if needed), followed by oil/melted butter. Pour all of wet mixture into dry and stir until just combined, adding the cranberries during the final strokes. Batter will be lumpy. Spoon immediately into muffin cases and top each with a few more cranberries. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently.
