Blondies (white chocolate and cranberries brownies)
Posted: June 3, 2013 Filed under: Chocolate, Dessert, Vegetarian | Tags: Cake, cranberries, Gordon Ramsay, Sugar, White chocolate 15 Comments
You might like the man or not, but the truth is Gordon Ramsay’s dishes are always unpretentious, non-fuss and are always – but always – delicious. If you follow the instructions, you will get what is promised. All you normally need is a few simple ingredients, utensils everyone has in the kitchen and a couple of cooking techniques. And voilà!, dinner is sorted… His last series – Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course – is meant to be a return to cooking basics. I was about to yawn and change channels, when I realised what how simple, easy and very tasty the dishes were. While it still might be basic, these are definitely calories worthwhile taking. A few minutes into the episode, I had decided to a)buy the book; b) bake this cake.
Very conveniently, I had something to celebrate at the office a few days after. Shortly after lunch time, it was gone… It was a really-really-really good cake. Very sugary, but packed with flavours. You cannot go wrong with white chocolate, vanilla and cranberries, can you?
Blondies (white chocolate and cranberries brownie, adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course)
Ingredients
- 150g dried cranberries
- 2* 100g white chocolate bars
- 225g flour
- 200g unsalted butter
- 1 pinch of salt
- 300g sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 oC. Butter and flour a baking dish (or use a non stick baking spray). Cover the bottom of the dish with parchment paper.
Put the sugar in a large bowl. Melt the butter, without letting it boil. Stir it in the sugar and whisk until it is smooth.
Meanwhile, in another medium bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and the salt together.
Beat the eggs and vanilla into the sugar mixture, one by one. Fold in half the flour mixture until all the lumps are gone. Add the rest of the flour and carry on mixing until is well incorporated. Finally, drop in the white chocolate and cranberries and mix until they are evenly distributed.
Spoon the batter into the baking dish, and put in the stove for about 20-25min. Bake until the blondies are light brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
Roasted carrot hummus with orange
Posted: May 25, 2013 Filed under: Snacks, Tapas, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: carrot, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hummus, Orange, Spread, Vegetarian Leave a comment
I know I am partial to all things carroty… I had to try this one, mobile calorie intake units or no mobile calorie intake units to entertain. While it might be a departure from the original carrot hummus recipe (no chickpeas in sight), it was certainly delicious. The kind of food I need to hide from myself to make sure I don’t eat it all in one go. Sweet and spicy, aromatic and smooth, shiny and happy…
PS – Lingue di suocera [mother in law’s tongue] courtesy of Coop Fine Food
Roasted carrot hummus with orange (adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s column in The Guardian)
Ingredients
- 500g carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5cm chunks
- 4 large garlic cloves, bashed
- 2 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil
- 1 small orange, juiced, zest finely grated
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 3 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat the oven to 200 oC
Put the carrots, garlic and oil in a roasting tin, season and roast for 30-35 minutes, giving the carrots a good stir halfway through, until tender and starting to caramelise at the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
Tip the carrots into a food processor. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and put these in, too, along with any oil from the tin. Add the orange zest and juice, lemon juice, tahini and some salt and pepper, and process to a coarse purée. Add more lemon juice and seasoning as necessary. Serve the hummus warm or at room temperature.
Roasted radicchio with red onion
Posted: May 21, 2013 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Bill Granger, Radicchio, Red onions, Roast Leave a comment
The book is called Easy, and indeed cooking cannot get much easier than this. Just chop, sprinkle and put it in the over. Forty-five minutes after you have the perfect dish to go with your roast… Once again, happy mobile calorie intake units friends going for seconds (and thirds).
Roasted radicchio with red onion (adapted from Bill Granger‘s Easy)
Ingredients
- 4 radicchio heads, quartered lengthways
- 3 red onions cut into wedges
- 3 tablespoons of soft brown sugar
- 1/2 dried chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- Salt and black pepper
Method
Put the radicchio and onions in a baking dish and sprinkle with the sugar and chili flakes
Drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste
Place in the oven and cook for 35-45min, until golden and caramelised.
Serve warm.
Beetroot soup with hazelnuts, spring onions and goat cheese
Posted: May 17, 2013 Filed under: Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Beetroot, Goat cheese, Nuts, Spices 1 Comment
“So, Burntsugar…”, said B. “How do you make this soup?”. “Well, it is not too difficult.”, I answered. “You pick a spread recipe from last Ottolenghi’s book, then decide to use boiled beetroot instead of roasted and finally get a watery yoghurt instead of a drained one.” B. looked a bit worried, but proceeded to eat its portion and lick the bowl as this had been a perfectly executed dish. Truth to be said, what could have been a really bad day in the kitchen, ended up with a delicate and colourful dish much to the delight of my mobile calorie intake units guests. On the next episode of beetrootgate…
Beetroot soup with hazelnuts, spring onions and goat cheese (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s Jerusalem)
- 500g cooked beetroot (pay attention not to pull the vinegary ones from the shelf)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 small red chilli
- 250g yoghurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon maple sirup
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon za’atar
- salt to taste
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
- 15g toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed
- 60g of soft goats cheese, crumbled
Method
Peel the beetroot and cut it in chunks
Place the beetroot, garlic, chill and yoghurt in a food processor. Blend it until you obtain a smooth paste.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in in the maple sirup, olive oil and za’atar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
Transfer into small serving bowls (or glasses) and scatter the spring onion, hazelnut and cheese.
Serve at room temperature.
Beetroot tarte tatin with goat cheese
Posted: May 4, 2013 Filed under: Pastry and Baking, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Beetroot, Goat cheese, Pastry Leave a comment
… And we are back to a quasi-Winter weather. While it was meant to brighten any Winter table, it ended up being yet another post of protest against this atrocious Spring.
In any case, after Christmas #beetrootgate , I actually didn’t gave up on cooking them… It sort of become an unavoidable ingredient. It is colourful and sweet and packed with earthy flavours… how could you not want to cook it? Specially when you bump into its 10 best recipes, one of them by the latest foodie TV stars, The Fabulous Baker Brothers? It was worthwhile taking the risk of tarte tatin – the dish was delicious.
Beetroot tarte tatin with goat cheese (adapted from a Fabulous Baker Brother’s recipes found in The Guardian’s The 10 best beetroot recipes)
Ingredients
- 75g golden caster sugar
- 40g butter
- A splash of sherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 7 thyme sprigs
- 4 fresh beetroot, cooked
- 250g puff pastry
- 4 slices of goat’s cheese
- Salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Place a smallish, heavy, oven-safe frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sugar to the pan and stir until it dissolves, then add a big pinch of salt, all the butter and a splash of sherry vinegar. Keep stirring until it has turned mahogany brown. It’s a good idea to use oven gloves to protect your hands. Take care not to let the sugar burn.
Add 1 tbsp honey to the pan. Pick the thyme leaves from 6 stalks and add them too. Remove from the heat and stir. Place a long sprig of thyme on top of the caramel for decoration.
Cut the cooked beetroot into nice fat slices and carefully (so you don’t burn your fingers) arrange all the slices on top of the caramel, working from the edge to the centre in a spiral pattern. Season with salt and pepper.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the puff pastry so it’s big enough to cover the beetroot, then place it on top, tucking the edges down into the pan. Put the whole lot into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
Wearing oven gloves, place an upturned plate over the frying pan (it should be bigger than the pan) and, holding the two together, flip the lot over. Leave it for 30 seconds to let the caramel mostly fall from the pan on to the plate, then slowly lift the pan.
Serve by the wedge while still warm, with a disk of goat’s cheese on top and, if you fancy, a drizzle of honey.
Grapefruit and sumac salad
Posted: April 25, 2013 Filed under: Salad, Vegetarian | Tags: Grapefruit, Salad, Yotam Ottolenghi 2 Comments
My iPhone Samsung Galaxy Note, whom never lies, tells me today is going to be a nice sunny day. The tepid 24oC it promised, seems as good as an excuse as any other to together this lovely salad. It almost feels a bit too summery for the end of April, even. But when the sun is out you have to enjoy it while it is there. If it goes again, God only knows when it will be back. And, apparently, grapefruits are in season…
Pink grapefruit and sumac salad (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s column in The Guardian)
Ingredients
- 5 pink or red grapefruits for the salad
- 300mL of grapefruit juice (a big one is suffice).
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 small dried red chilli
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1½ tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon sumac
- ½ red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced
- 2-3 small red chicory, separated, and large leaves cut in half on an angle
- 80g lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta)
- Salt
Method
Top and tail five grapefruits so they’ll stand on a board. Cut down the side of each grapefruit, following its natural lines, to remove the skin and white pith. Over a bowl to catch the juices, cut in between the membranes to separate the individual segments. Dry the segments on kitchen paper and squeeze any juice from the skin and membranes into a saucepan.
Squeeze enough juice from the last grapefruit to make the juice in the pan up to 300ml. Add the sugar and chilli, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens and you have about five tablespoons-worth of juice left – this could take up to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool down, then whisk in the oil, lemon juice, sumac and a quarter-teaspoon of salt.
In a large bowl, put the grapefruit segments, onion, chicory, watercress and basil. Pour over three-quarters of the dressing and toss gently. (If it seems dry, add all the dressing; otherwise, save it in the fridge for another leafy salad.) Serve at once.
Three root mash
Posted: March 21, 2013 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: carrot, England, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Mash, Parsnips, Potato Leave a comment
Perfect for a winter meal or a Sunday roast….
Three root mash (adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s River Cottage Every Day)
Ingredients
- 500g carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 500g parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
- 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 100ml milk
- 50g butter
- bay leaf
- nutmeg to taste
- salt & pepper
Method
Put the carrots and parsnips together in a pan with salted cold water and bring to boil. Cook until tender.
Put the potatoes in another pan with salted water, bring to boil and cook until tender.
Drain the vegetables leave to steam off for a couple of minutes.
Put the carrots and the parsnips on a food processor with half the butter and blend to a creamy purée. Alternatively, you can use a hand held mixer.
In the same pan you used to cook the potatoes, warm the milk and what is left of the butter. Then add the potatoes and mash until they are smooth.
Combine both mashed vegetables adding plenty of seasoning and the nutmerg. Mix until you have a creamy golden mash.
Blitz the carrots & parsnips in a food processor with a knob of butter and enough milk to give a smooth finish.
Warm the milk and remaining butter in a large saucepan and mash the potatoes using a mouli or potato ricer into the pan. Stir the potatoes into the milky butter and add the carrot and parsnip puree, season well with salt and pepper and mix well to incorporate.
Kohlrabi salad
Posted: March 18, 2013 Filed under: Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Kohlrabi, Middle East, Salad, Spices, Yotam Ottolenghi Leave a comment
To my great dismay, I realized too late I have no Irish specialty to post on St Patrick’s day… After pondering for a few seconds, I decided to go for something green instead. All I had on the store was this Middle Eastern dish, found in Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s Jerusalem. A very unlikely combination, but nevertheless green enough. Happy St Patrick’s day!
Kohlrabi salad (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s Jerusalem)
- 3 medium kohlrabies (about 750g)
- 80g Greek yoghurt
- 70g sour cream
- 5og thick double cream
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed
- 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon of finely shredded fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1/2 teaspoon sumac
- 20g Nüssli (Valerianella locusta)
Method
Peel the kohlrabis, cut into 1.5cm dice and put in a large mixing bowl. Set aside and start making the dressing.
Put the yoghurt, sour cream, double cream, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil in a medium bowl. Add salt to taste and a generous portion of freshly ground black pepper. Whisk well.
Add the dressing to the kohlrabi, followed by the fresh and dried mint, and halt nüssli, Gently stir and place on a serving bowl.
Drop what is left of the nüssli and sprinkle with sumac.
Chocolate chunk meringue cake
Posted: March 2, 2013 Filed under: Chocolate, Dessert, Pastry and Baking, Vegetarian | Tags: Bill Granger, Chocolate, Dessert, pistachio, Sugar Leave a comment
Believe it or not, this was a last minute dessert. It looks spectacular, it tastes scrumptious and is a fool proof recipe. Home cooking doesn’t get much better than this…
Chocolate chunk meringue cake (adapted from Bill Granger‘s Easy)
Ingredients
- 6 egg whites
- 220g golden caster sugar
- 200g dark chocolate roughly chopped
- 100g pistachio nuts,roughly chopped plus extra to decorate
- 3oo mL double cream (or whipped cream)
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 160C.
In a sheet large enough to cover a baking tray draw a circle with 26cm diameter
Turn the paper around and put it on the tray
Whist the egg whites with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar, one spoon of a time, whisking between every addition until all the sugar is well incorporated.
Fold in the chocolate and the sugar.
Transfer to the baking tray and spread out, keeping the mixture roughly inside the circle.
Put in the oven for about 1h or until cooked through.
Beat the cream to soft peaks, spread over the meringue once it is evenly cool. Scatter with extra pistachios.
Cooking classes with the Laughing Lemon: fennel and carrot salad
Posted: February 9, 2013 Filed under: Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Carrots, Cooking class, Fennel, Laughing Lemon, Middle East, Salad 3 Comments
You may have noticed a lot of Middle Eastern flavors in this blog as of late. Jerusalem – the latest Yotam Ottolenghi‘s book – is partly to be blamed, but… this was how everything really started: The Laughinglemon‘s Moroccan Feast. I knew I would like it when I saw it, and registered without further ado. What I was not expecting was Jack’s pulling his mother’s old family recipes and throw at us a family meal cooked from the heart with all love and care. The kind of thing I will cherish for a very long time. * grab kleenex to wipe a stubborn tear *
As most mothers, Jack’s mother didn’t write her recipes down – why bother if they are normally passed down from generation to generation? And, when she explained the dishes to her sons, she did it as every mother would do. An essential ingredient was forgotten, directions would range from “let a cook for little while, but be careful not to overcook” to a whole time mother classic “add a little bit just like that” or failing to mention the little detail which would have avoided to set the kitchen on fire. Jack and his brother are trying to recover the recipes slowly but surely. and this Moroccan feast is the result of it. The most curious of all was the sudden realization that Jack and I might actually be related. Both our families are of Jewish extraction. Mine became Roman Catholic to escape the Spanish Inquisition. His, most likely fled to Morocco around the same time…
Religion and familiar disputes apart, this spicy carrot and fennel salad was one of the heroes of the day. It is not so straightforward as it might seem and it has a long list of spices, herbs and condiments. The result is totally worthwhile the effort – a fresh and crunchy dish with bold flavors. The type of thing which made K. lose her normal calm-cool-collected state to fight for the last bit (She won. I still have a black eye…).
Lucie Loves Food 