Chocolate cups with blueberries and ginger

Sometimes you need a chocolate hit and nothing else will do! This recipe is adapted from Paul Heathcote's recipe on the Great British Chef's website and it is a great dinner party dessert as you can make it the day before and serve straight from the fridge. So no faffing around when your friends want your company!

Ingredients:
300ml of double cream
50g of soft brown sugar
The seeds scraped out of 1 vanilla pod*
100g of dark cooking chocolate [up to 70%]
1 whole egg

Stem ginger in syrup: slice 1 into thin slivers
Blueberries

You need: a food processor

Method:
1. Put the cream and sugar and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan on the lowest heat

*Tip: Don't throw the vanilla pod away after scraping the seeds out - put it into the jar with the remaining sugar to get vanilla flavoured sugar!

2. Break up the chocolate into chunks and place in a food processor - pulse into rubble
3. Prepare your serving pots: put a small number of blueberries in the bottom of your serving pots - I use tea cups and they fit about 5/6 fat blueberries per person

4. Sprinkle a few strips of stem ginger on the blueberries
5. Once the cream has come to the boil, whisk to dissolve the sugar and take off the heat

6, Pour the hot cream into the food processor on top of the chocolate and pulse for 20-30 seconds
7. Allow to sit for a about minute then add the whole egg to the mix and blend for about 30 seconds
8. Check everything looks smooth or else pulse the processor a few more times
9. Pour equal amounts of the chocolate mix into your prepared pots of blueberries
10. Cover and pop into the fridge to chill overnight and to allow the mixture to set

Serve with extra blueberries or raspberries and a sprinkle of icing sugar or just on its own! This is a very rich chocolate dessert, so a few berries are needed to cut through the richness but it is not so hefty a pudding that you wouldn't be able to polish it off in one sitting!

Cauliflower and potato bhaji

I've been picking up really handsome specimens of cauliflowers at the farmer's market recently and thought I ought to share my go-to recipe for this glorious brassica. Not many would agree but I love the humble cauliflower. Not with cheese. Not that over cooked atrocity that gags the cauliflower with gallons of melted cheese. That is a crime against cauliflowers. No to make this white globe sing, you have to use spices. Indian style.

You can't beat a simple aloo gobi i.e. Cauliflower bhaji with potatoes - Bengali style. It can be a stand out side dish for an Indian meal or with rice and a poached egg on top, you can make it into a main meal. Your call. 

Once you cut off the outer leaves you are left with this flower - don't chop of the stem/core as it contains all the nutrients and is perfectly edible as are some of the small lighter leaves. Personally I think the core is the best bit!

Ingredients:

Cauliflower: cut off bite sized florets and dice the core

2 small brown onions or 1 medium: peeled, diced

1 or 2 medium potatoes: peeled and diced

2 cloves of garlic: whole or just crushed slightly

Turmeric: 1/2 a teaspoon

Garam masala: 1/2 a teaspoon

Spice mix: pinch of panch paren - fenugreek, cumin, fennel, black onion/nigella, mustard seeds 

1 small whole fresh green chilli: stab it with a knife so that it doesn't explode when you fry it but don't open it up [you want the flavour not the heat]

Salt

Rapeseed / vegetable oil

Panch paren spice mix of seeds

Method: You need a large frying pan with a lid for this dish

1. Put the diced potatoes into a small pan with cold water and bring up to the boil - let it boil furiously for 1 minute then drain and set aside

2. Temper the oil in the frying pan: Heat a couple of good glugs of oil gently and add a couple of pinches of the spice mix of seeds, the chilli and the garlic

2. When the seeds start to spit and pop, chuck in the diced onion with some salt and gently fry for 5min on low heat with the lid on - sweat the onions and soften

3. Add the potatoes, turmeric and the garam masala and stir well

4. Crank up the heat and add the cauliflower - stir quickly and then pop in a splash of water and stick the lid on immediately. Then turn down the heat. This will allow the cauliflower to steam. Leave it alone for 5 minutes

5. Take the lid off and stir well - turn up the heat to evaporate excess water: the end result is a dry bhaji. If it sticks add another splash of water - don't let the spices burn

6. Check the seasoning [both potatoes and cauliflower can take a lot of salt] and when the potatoes are cooked through switch off and pop the lid on for 5 min. It doesn't matter if the cauliflower is under cooked - they taste better slightly al dente and in any case everything will continue to steam in the pan after the heat is switched off.

I hope you give this dish a go .. eat it with rice or chapatis and some cooling yogurt. Don't worry if you can't find all 5 of the spices in the seed mix. Even a couple of them will give this dish a great flavour. Some Bengali shops will have the mix ready made but if not you can source the seeds individually from most supermarkets and make up a batch for yourself. If all else fails, if you ask nicely, I'll give you a batch! This mix is used in many veggie dishes to temper or flavour the cooking oil and it always gives the most incredible results!

Jamie's seeded bread

I made bread!! The very first loaf out of my erratic oven, that no longer has the door seal or any temperature indicators on the dials, as they have been scraped off over years of hard cleaning. It looks pretty good I think and sounds like bread i.e. when you rap it with your knuckles ala Paul Hollywood style, it sounds hollow. I think it is a good bake but I can't be sure! After watching the bake off bread extravaganza last night, I got the urge to bake and the only recipe that got me excited was Jamie Oliver's high protein bread recipe in last weeks' Sunday times magazine. It's a seeded protein loaf, wheat free, gluten free and right up my street! 

I've looked at Jamie Oliver's recipes for inspiration many times over the last decade because I like his rustic, honest style but I have never followed any of his recipes to the letter. Mostly I admire his efforts for social change such as his fight to improve school dinners and help our nations obese children, his projects to train unemployed youth in his restaurants to give them a chance for a better life and now he is going to be working on something close to my heart. I hear he is declaring war on sugar! Let's see what happens.

Today I followed his recipe and in time honoured bake-off style, I spent many moments kneeling before the oven alter, praying it wasn't burning or under-cooked as visibility into this ancient, much abused oven was minimal. The sexy bread crack that was evident in the rise was most reassuring . 

In the taste test I was delighted, but my husband who loves white sliced bread the best, turned his nose up and proclaimed it too chewy. Whatever. The texture from the crunch of the seeds is more-ish. Just think smoked salmon and cucumbers or poached eggs and avocados as toppings for this bread this weekend. And as this has no sugar or butter in it - eat as much as you want.

So here is Jamie's recipe and my pictures..

Ingredients:

1 x 7g sachet of yeast

375ml of luke warm water

4 table spoons of water

250g of Gram flour

100g of mixed seeds

50g of linseeds [I used brown linseeds]

100g of ground almonds

Sea salt

4 large free range eggs

1 spring of rosemary - leaves finely chopped

3 teaspoons of marmite [optional]

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C [170 degrees C fan] and line a loaf tin with grease proof paper

2. Put the yeast and oil in the water and set aside for 5 minutes while you mix the batter

3. Mix the flour, seeds and almonds with a pinch of sea salt

4. Add the rosemary and the 4 eggs

5. Mix well with a fork and then add the yeast water

6. Mix again and pour the batter into the tin

7. Place into the middle shelf for 45 min then pop onto a cooling rack

Jamie says to wait 20min before eating - I couldn't. In fact I may go and have another slice now. Be warned it's a hefty snack - all those seeds make it quite filling and not like any other bread. I think I may re-name it a savoury seed cake. Just add cream cheese and toppings. Delicious.

Femi's Jollof Rice

I had a craving for Jollof rice the other day and trawled through the internet and magazines trying to find a simple recipe. Seems everyone from West Africa has a different version that their mama makes! In the end I asked my friend Femi for his recipe. I remember eating this dish at his wedding and loving it. This is his own recipe and I have his blessing to tell you all how to make this classic Nigerian party rice! So called as everyone takes a batch to parties apparently. This quantity makes quite a large batch [perhaps for 6/8 people] - halve the quantities if you want to make less but it will keep and I intend to freeze a batch for the next time I fancy it!

Ingredients:

500g Basmati rice [washed thoroughly in cold water, drained and set aside]

500ml of good quality chicken stock [homemade preferably or 4 stock cubes in hot water]

2 red scotch bonnet peppers [carefully scrape the seeds and white pith from within using the edge of a knife, without touching it with your fingers]

1 large red bell pepper [seeds and pith removed and roughly diced]

1 can of plum tomatoes

1 medium onion [peeled and diced]

Rapeseed/Vegetable oil [about 3 tablespoons]

Tomato puree

Soy sauce [!]

Salt [as needed]

Oregano [dried]

Thyme [optional]

Parsley [optional]

Equipment:

Large sauce/frying pan with tight fitting lid

Blender or food processor

 

Method:

1. Prepare the rice and other ingredients

2. Blend the red pepper and scotch peppers and tomatoes in a blender into a thick sauce

3. Fry the onion slowly in the oil until soft

4. Add the tomato puree and stir

5. After a few minutes pour in the red pepper sauce

6. Crank up the heat and bring to the boil

7. Turn down to a simmer and add salt, dried oregano and thyme [dried or fresh - but this is optional]

8. Add a dash of soy sauce

9. Reduce for 10 min and then add the rice and mix well

10. Add 250ml of stock and bring to the boil. Then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer until the stock is absorbed.

11. Add the rest of the stock, stir and continue to cook until the rice is done. If it's still nutty add hot boiled water and continue to steam on very low heat. Check the seasoning - add more salt if needed. Once the rice is done [squeeze a grain between your fingers - it should be soft] take off the heat and allow to rest with lid on for 15min before serving. Garnish with parsley if you want.

I could eat this dish hot or cold by the bucket load. I think I could go hotter with 3 scotch bonnet peppers next time! The fragrance from these lethal beauties is addictive and gives the rice this background heat that is most warming! Thanks Femi - for sharing the Jollof love!

Chipotle Venison

It's been so long since I posted a blog or a recipe that I have almost forgotten how to do so! Life has just been a roller coaster ride with never enough hours in the day! Time spirals out of control as you get older and my home cooked dinners have become a series of tried and tested old favourites with no dramas. This recipe however was an invention inspired by a recipe seen in Delicious magazine [my monthly treat] and it hit all the right notes. I decided that it was time to add this to the dieting dentist list of recipes as an easy but slightly more interesting version of a bog standard stew.

The recipe in the magazine was venison with port and prunes. I wanted to off set the sweet and sour elements of the dish with heat, so I decided to marinade the venison in garlic, rosemary and half as tub of chipotle paste. 

I marinaded it for as long as I could [a couple of hours but overnight would probably have been better] and then I fried the meat with onions and carrots. A glug of port to stop it all sticking to the bottom of the pan and then bubbled away most of the liquid before adding a pint of beef stock. Then with a tightly fitted lid, the pot was shoved into a preheated oven at 160 degrees for an hour and a half, then forgotten about till the next night. As with all stews, it tasted better the next day as all the ingredients had plenty of time to get to know each other well! The deep smoky chilli flavour was warming and mellow after the night of rest. The stew got served on top of some steaming hot fluffy Basmati rice and washed down with a Kiwi Pinot Noir. I think it would work well to bulk up the stew with pearl barley or maybe some tinned beans next time. But it's the tender venison and chipotle chilli that needs to be the star of the show!

 
Ingredients:
2 onions peeled and sliced
2 carrots peeled and cut into discs
Salt, Pepper, Rosemary springs, crushed garlic and chipotle paste for the marinade
1 pint of beef stock
1/2 a glass or good glug of port
Diced Venison

A couple of hours in the oven...
Et Voila!

Dinard

I've just returned from my first holiday abroad since 2012 and felt inspired enough to revive this blog. The hiatus in detailing my food obsession can only be blamed on life changing events... you know - having a baby, moving house, going back to work, and so on and so forth.

Now onto my recent holiday. France but not as I have known it - it was a visit to the north, staying with dear friends in a country house, eating and drinking local stuff and cooking in every night! Blissful.

Dinard in Brittany is well known not only for it's coastal beauty but also it's seafood and fish. A local speciality is Galettes - a light, thin buckwheat crepe served with cheese or other toppings. I had one and I hope to try and replicate this at home one day. It was a savoury delight and the fact that buckwheat is a gluten free treat, was a bonus.

There was an inevitable excess of cheese and bread and saucisson consumption upon arrival and throughout the week, which just could not be helped. I succumbed to all the Comte and Roquefort I could get my hands on! And there really is nothing as good as the freshly baked daily bread - best consumed upon purchase first thing in the morning as the baguettes tend to become solid weapons by the next day! All the little villages here are neat and tidy replicas of each other with a boulangerie being an essential feature in every one.

The huge range of different saucisson found in any supermarket or farmer's market here made me feel like a kid in a sweet shop! However my main source of gluttony came in the form of fresh fish and seafood, salads and veg which is never a bad thing - think of all the lean protein and omega 3s and vitamins. I actually managed a trip to the local market and bought fresh ingredients to cook with.. my first french market and it was everything I had hoped for.. the produce was incredible and very very cheap in comparison to our London markets!

These mackerel were line caught that morning according to the lady selling them in the market. 8 of these bad boys came to about 21 euros. I smothered them in olive oil, parsley, salt, garlic and lemon juice before sealing them tightly in foil parcels and then placed the parcels directly on the bbq for 15 minutes - I then served them up with rice and salads. The freshness of the fish was quite evident as the taste was out of this world!

On one very special occasion and in true French style, we went for a 3 hour 4 course lunch. Our host with all his local knowledge guided us to the back of what looked like a sports bar but actually housed Madame Picard's seafood restaurant. It was packed out at lunch time, mainly by elderly French locals - so we knew we were on to a winner! I started with an assortment of seafood [oysters, crab, langoustines, prawns, shrimps, cockles, snails and winkles!] straight out of the sea that day and served with nothing but a segment of lemon and a pot of mayonnaise! Simple and delicious and very messy. The mains were more fish and seafood dishes mostly dressed with butter sauces to die for! Not really sure how I managed the cheese course that followed all this food but I had to draw the line at dessert!

No French foodie holiday would ever be complete without Moule Frites. This Moule Mariniere dish was served up to me by the seaside from a little outdoor shack for about 12 euros. It was a very generous portion and I gorged myself on these plump little mussels until I could eat no more!

Finally I leave you with a picture of a perfect fig. Ripe and straight off the tree outside our country cottage. It made a rather good fig and blue cheese salad and will be a reminder to me that French food need not always be fattening as long as you use your own produce off the back garden [or indeed your neighbour's well tended garden!] or visit the markets and use local seasonal produce. There will always be the temptation of cheese and saucisson here but they can be balanced out with home cooked simple fish, colourful veg and salads straight from the market. I look forward to more holidays in France but never ever again in a city hotel. 

Clementine cake [no flour no butter recipe]

I made quite a lot of cakes in 2013! This particular one was possibly my best and we had it on New Years Eve. So I had to start 2014 with this cake blog as it's so good! I know January is dieting month for most and the time to rein in the treats, especially when it comes to sugar. However this long bleak month [even longer for those of you brave souls who are having a dry one] may require a treat or two to keep you going. So think on this recipe as a relatively guilt free option, as the only fat in the cake comes from eggs and the ground almonds.

There is no flour in it, so it's great for coeliacs and those on low fat, low carb diets [Atkins/Dukan]. Most of you are probably trying out the 4:3 or 5:2 fasting diet which is the new trend I believe. In which case on non fasting days this makes for a great treat with tea/coffee bearing in mind each slice [out of 12 in total] is about 350 calories. If you are on a no sugar diet then look away now and don't even go there! Clementines are quite sweet already and the recipe calls for quite a lot of sugar! I swiped the recipe from Lizzie Kamenetzky in the January edition of Delicious and my version had a small grating of 70% dark chocolate as a garnish on top of the sticky cake.

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 Clementines - simmered in boiling water for 2 hours
250g of caster sugar
300g of ground almonds
Seeds from 8 cardamom pods crushed into a powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp of vanilla extract
6 large eggs lightly beaten

Syrup:
Juice of 2 clementines
Juice of 1 lemon
50g of caster sugar
1 stick of cinnamon

Garnish [optional] - small amount of grated 70% chocolate

Equipment:
Springform tin with loose bottom - greased with oil and lined with baking paper
Pre heated oven to 160 degrees fan / 180 degrees normal
Food processor
Juicer [optional] for lemon
Grater [optional]


Method:
1. Bring 3 whole clementines in water to the boil and then turn down the heat & simmer for 2 hours until they are very soft. Add more boiling water over time if needed. Drain and set aside to cool enough to handle.

2. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix [250g sugar, 300g almonds, baking powder & the crushed cardamom seeds]. Make a well in the middle.

3. Cut the clementines in half and check for seeds. Then blitz them into a pulp in a food processor.

4. Put the pulped fruit, vanilla extract and eggs in the well of the dry ingredients and gently mix everything together.

5. Pour the mix into your springform tin and bake at 160 degrees fan / 180 normal for 55 minutes

6. Make the syrup in a pan by dissolving 50 g of caster sugar in the juice of the clementines and lemon. Allow to gently simmer with the cinnamon stick in for about 5 minutes. Sieve and set aside.

7. When the cake comes out it should have an even rise and a golden brown colour. Make some holes in it with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cake and leave it in the tin for an hour.

8. Release the tin and turn out the cake and serve with the grated chocolate garnish on top.

I absolutely must stop making cakes now. This was the final one on my list. I think I have enough in my repertoire to be proud of and can safely say 2013 was the year of the baking! I need to now go back on a diet and kick this sugar habit that I've picked up, as that's the only way to lose weight! 2014 - the year of the diet..Now which diet should I go for ... hmmm.. the no more cake diet I guess...