champagne tasting

We put our palates to the test over Christmas blind tasting an expensive (to us) champagne (Ruinart £55) with a cheaper champagne (£30) and a prosecco. It was not a clear outcome. First of all we nearly confused each other with what we were actually testing - 'which one did we prefer?' or 'which did we think was the most expensive?'. Settling on the answer that what we prefered would be the most expensive obviously. Of the three of us, we each chose a different one as our preference. I chose the cheaper champagne but have no idea why. The strange french sommelier who sold us the Ruinart swooned and almost fell to the ground in an overwhelming rhapsody of praise for this gloriously fat bottle and I was so impatient to see if it really was special. Maybe our palates need to be trained (mine has let me down on every taste testing so far even choosing cheap orange juice and cheap UHT milk). Does the average person really examine the taste or does the cost influence the taste? If you were at a beautiful party would you feel let down to be served Prosecco, or if the bottle was covered would you really know the difference? My local wine shop man adviced to me keep on tasting! I will I will! So henceforth I go to glug champagne, and to develop my taste buds along with strong opinions one way or another.

The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”― David Orr, Ecological Literacy

pomegranate seeds

Oh these beautiful things! I find a way to put them in everything. In rustic salads, adorning green beans, madeleines, flung over a savoury mousse or simply floating up and bubbling over in a glass of sparkling wine. And sometimes it feels I spend hours just slicing up the fruit and extracting the pomegranate seeds.  A friend once said every time he sees me in the kitchen I'm slicing up a pomegranate. Another said the secret of quickly getting all those beautiful jewels to tumble out is to cut it in half and tap the bottom of one half with a spoon and they should all fall out nice and easy. Which hasn't really worked. So today as I walked along the Portobello Road I thought I might ask the 'Pomegranate Man'. What is the quickest way to get all of those seeds out? I passed him by and turned back remembering my question. He was engrossed in his task, with gloves, carefully taking out each seed one by one. Then I wondered, well after all what is the rush?  Why can't we just take our time?

That pleasure which is at once the most intense, the most elevating, and the most pure, is, I believe, found in the contemplation of the beautiful. Edgar Allan Poe

hollowed out baked potatoes with butter, mushroom and garlic, soft scrambled eggs and crispy pancetta

There is a surreal mist hovering over London tonight. A conversation with a gentleman who loves white wine in a teacup and has recently been on a souffle making course... and his wife who adores conversation. Don't you just love foodies? A feast incorporating the said baked potato skins, chestnut mushrooms cooked forever in butter to soften delicously packed down deep in the crispy potato skin with garlic and seasoning, covered with barely scrambled eggs in butter and crispy pancetta crumbled on top. Jeruslalem artichoke dauphinose with finely sliced leeks and chopped onion in garlic cream. Rack of lamb with Raspberry Jus cooked for 20 minutes at room temperature 170C fan oven. Podded baby broad beans with sliced broad beans and Raspberry, Pomegranate salad on the side.

bread sauce

Full cream milk
Onion
Cloves
Bay leaf
White breadcrumbs
Butter
Cream

Peel and cut the onion in half. Stud the cut side of the onion with the cloves. Put into a saucepan cut side down, pour on the milk to almost cover the onion, add the bay leaf, bring slowly up to simmer and remove from heat, set aside until required.  You can leave this for a few hours just for all the flavours from the onion and cloves to infuse the milk. When ready to serve remove the onion and bay leaf, add the breadcrumbs (a white loaf blitzed without crusts in the food processor until finely crumbed), stir well, reheat slowly stirring and add a knob of butter and a little cream.  If too stiff add more cream if too runny add some more breadcrumbs.  Season with salt and white pepper.  Perfect accompaniment for a beautiful roast chicken!

Chrismas salad

Baby spinich leaves
Pea shoots
Boursin balls
Walnuts roasted in sugar and cinnamon
Pomegranates
Raspberries
Dried cranberries
Walnut oil
White wine reduction

Trifles make the sum of life! Charles Dickens

orange blossom risotto with duck liver pate

A little ray of sunshine on a Sunday evening. Finely chop a shallot and grate 1-2 cloves of garlic into a non stick frying pan with a cup of carnaroli risotto rice. Half cover with olive oil and turn onto a moderate heat allowing everything to cook for 2-3 minutes and the olive oil to coat each grain of rice. It will glisten in the loveliest way when cooked. Then add half a cup of prosecco or another sparkling white wine and let this cook slowly for the next few minutes.  Add 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water. Keep watching... when the rice has absorbed all of this liquid top up with some boiling water and crumble a stock cube over. Cook slowly over a gentle to moderate heat, it will take about 20 minutes top up with a little more boiling water or stock if necessary. Finely chop one red chilli and zest one orange and add this at the end.  If you have a little mint or chives could finely chop and throw this in too. Serve a little mound of risotto on a warm plate with a slice of the best duck liver pate you can find, mine had some roast shallots in it ymmm!

After all the dreaming I found life was only what I made of it. Hunter Thompson 'The Rum Diaries'.

perfect potted shrimps

Buttery and salty slathered on crispy brown soda bread. It might just be a glorious little starter for another feast. I have been wondering about the value we place on food. Are we driven by cost or availablity or emotion? If every item available to us from a lambs lettuce to a quail or a pint of caviar cost the same what would we cook?

POTTED SHRIMPS
250g unsalted butter
1/4 lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 tsp anchovy paste
200g cooked peeled brown shrimps
Clarify the butter by melting in a pan over gentle heat, then allowing to simmer until all the milk solids have puffed their way to the surface. This will take about 10-15 minutes but it is imperative that you keep your eye on it so that it does not burn and turn into brown butter or 'beurre noisette' which is a separate thing entirely. Some milk solids will remain on the bottom but these will be removed when you sieve the butter. Watch until you see the first dark flecks and then remove quickly.  Strain through some muslin or sheets of kitchen roll into a jug.
Wipe out the pan and pour in half of the butter.  Add the lemon juice, mace, pepper, anchovy paste and a pinch of salt and simmer for 5 minutes then take off the heat and cool.
Divide the shrimps between 4 ramekins pressing in tightly.
When just warm but still liquid divide the spiced butter between the ramekins and put in the fridge to set.  Once solid, pour over the remainder of the clarified butter and return to the fridge to set.  When ready to eat sprinkle with some cayenne pepper and serve with crispy toasted bread.

la soufflerie

A restaurant in Angers, France devoted to the cause of the souffle.

roast tomato, red pepper and chilli soup

Autumn leaves are falling red on the ground and the nights are cooler, but this will warm your cockles. All you need is a roasting tray full of tomatoes, maybe 10-12, cut into quarters. A red pepper or two quartered and deseeded, 2 red chillis depending on your taste buds, a few cloves of garlic peeled and left whole and 2 onions roughly chopped and thrown in together with the tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste, a good drizzle of honey or maple syrup, olive oil, cumin and thyme.  Roast on 100C for approximately 3 hours stirring occasionally to coat with oil and juices to ensure they don't dry out. When juicy and roasted blitz in a food processer, then strain through a seive and serve with a good dollop of creme fraiche. Ymmmm.

Words of advice from a friend. Definitely not.... means maybe. Maybe... means yes!

the secret of creme brulee

I was starting to look like a creme brulee amid the taunting of my collegues. So you call yourself a cook and you can't even make a brulee? And all those recipes that tell you that it's so simple well pffffff! In the process of this exercise I may have invented a new dish, a self saucing flourless sponge which was strangely addictive but clearly not right. My repertoire now includes onion, orange zest and cardamom, vanilla, vanilla, vanilla until finally a recipe from Lorraine Pascale that worked. It set. The secret (for me) was to whisk the eggs and sugar by hand until just starting to turn pale, several times I overwhisked, and also to take the cream off the heat just before it boils.

Ginger and Marscapone Creme Brulee
Ingredients:
450mls double cream
100g marscapone
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10cm root ginger peeled and finely grated
6 free range egg yolks
60g caster sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 150C. Put six small ramekins into a roasting tin and pour boiling water until half way up on the ramekins.
Put cream, marscapone and vanilla into a saucepan and heat until almost boiling.  Remove from heat and stir in the ginger.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar until just starting to turn pale.
Gradually add ginger cream whisking all the time until fully incorporated.Remove any bubbles lurking on the surface.
Divide between the ramekins then place in the oven for about 30-35 minutes until just starting to set.  Should be wobbly in the middle.
Remove from oven, allow to cool and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably a few or overnight.
Before serving sprinkle each ramekin with one tablespoon of caster sugar evenly over entire surface. Place under grill until sugar starts to turn a deep amber or alternatively use a blow torch.
Wait a few minutes for allowing devourment!

Becoming Human

Once a man came to me and spoke for hours about

"His great visions of God" he felt he was having.

He asked me for confirmation, saying,

"Are these wondrous dreams true?"

I replied, "How many goats do you have?"

He looked surprised and said,

"I am speaking of sublime visions

And you ask

About goats!"

And I spoke again saying,

"Yes, brother - how many do you have?"

"Well, Hafiz, I have sixty-two."

"And how many wives?"

Again he looked surprised, then said,

"Four."

"How many rose bushes in your garden,

How many children,

Are your parents still alive,

Do you feed the birds in winter?"

And to all he answered.

Then I said,

"You asked me if I thought your visions were true,

I would say that they were if they make you become

More human,

More kind to every creature and plant

That you know."

HAFIZ

cheese souffle

Today I entertained myself in the quest for the perfect souffle. My first batch turned out lumpy and inconsistant and I felt confused about the mixing of the egg whites into the batter - should they be well mixed with no lumps or bumps at all? Or just quickly mixed and poured into the ramekin? Anyway to my delight I found a Julia Child video on You Tube with the perfect instructions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytp96F00nhs. She constantly threw out little nuggets of wisdom and gave ratios for bechamel sauce to eggs enabling  you to inprovise. I can feel an addiction coming on. The mystery of egg whites being folded in was also solved, they must not be whipped to the crumbly stage, they must be only whipped to perfect velvety peaks, then they will fold into the bechamel sauce like a dream!

Basic cheese souffle
50g unsalted butter plus extra for buttering the ramekins
40g plain flour
1/2 tsp english mustard powder
pinch of cayenne
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
300mls milk
100g gryere, compte or chedder
6 medium free range eggs separated plus 2 extra egg whites.
Preheat oven to 200C.  Place baking sheet to heat up.  
Brush 6 ramekins with melted butter and breadcrumbs. I made breadcrumbs by blitzing some toasted brioche in the food processor.
Melt the butter, add flour and spices.  Cook for a couple of minutes, gradually add milk stirring until comes to the boil.  Boil for two minutes or until thick.
Off heat stir in cheese and egg yolks (Julia said to stir in cheese at the end along with egg whites but I found the compte cheese went all clumpy and I had to over stir it)
Whisk 8 egg whites with a few drops of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt until they reach the velvety stage. Should form gentle peaks, if you over-whip to the fragmented crumbly egg white stage simply add another egg white and keep your eye on the last stages of whipping.
Add a spoonful of egg white into bechamel sauce mixture to loosen it, stirring it in well.  Then gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the mixture by folding in and turning the bowl around with your left hand. When incorporated into a smooth mixture although may be a few lumps of fluffy egg white left, spoon into ramekins. Level the top and run your thumb around the edge to give a groove which should help it rise.  Julia then put a piece of tinfoil - buttered around the top of the ramekin so the souffle didn't fall out into the oven.
Put on baking sheet and bake for 8-10mins for small ramekins or 25-30 for large.  
They are ready when they're still a little wobbly but golden on top.

“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.” 
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

chez jojo - saint saturnin sur loire

Tucked into the banks of the Loire is a magical little place called Chez Jojo. It started life in 1959 grilling fish and serving wine, was taken over by a girl called Jocelyn who christened it Jojo which has stuck although hands have changed again. This is according to the waiter anyway. So off we trundled in our limousine, ala clapped out Renault 5 with dents and permanent air conditioning thanks to broken windows, we do like to travel in style. Into the evening sunshine, passing through tiny stone villages. I love the fact Chez Jojo has signs everywhere, so once you're in the vicinity of Saint Saturnin sur Loire it's a breeze. Sweeping up to the restaurant down a rickety old dirt track, I don't think anyone could fail to be enchanted. The premise is simple, an array of plastic and wooden picnic tables, chequered cloths and traditional french fare underneath a canopy of trees and coloured lights overlooking the Loire. It is so beautiful people keep leaping up to take pictures with fancy cameras trying to record the beauty of the moment and the fading sunset. Staff are friendly and exuberent and happy to translate the menu. And if you're lucky a little fat man might wander from table to table playing requests on his accordian (only on weekends) and singing with gusto whenever the spirit overwhelms which seems to be quite eratic. "Reminds me of something out of Chocolat" muses my friend. So we ate with abandon. Best to come here with an empty stomach. Twenty two euros for a three course set menu. I started with a white fish terrine, cheese tartare and simple salad followed by duck drenched in pepper sauce and the best chips, crunchy and creamy. Berry clafoutis for dessert topped with homemade ice cream sigh it was one of the dinners where you're so full you might explode but you want it all to start over from the beginning anyway. We ate every drop. And apart from being humiliated by said accordianist who swayed beside my ear and treated me to a full rendition of 'la vie en rose' whilst coaxing me to join in and causing seeming hilarity to the rest of the diners, I loved every second! Closed from September 9th for winter... I know where I'm heading next summer.

polish potato pancakes

These are pretty versatile things, and luckily my colleague Alicia who is from Poland instinctively makes the best ones I have EVER tasted.  So I watched her in the kitchen throwing a few ingredients together and this is what she did. You can either finely grate the potatoes or put them through a juicer.  So to feed about 6 people comfortably put 25 medium sized potatoes (can use old ones or new it seems to be inconseqential to the final result our ones were old and rubbery) and 3 large white onions through the juicer. Retain the flesh and transfer to a large bowl, adding the juice extracted until you are left with a mixture the consistancy of porridge.  Add salt and pepper to taste, needs rather alot!  Then 2 eggs, half a teacup of flour and herbs of your choice. We added cumin and herbs de provence. Mix well until everything is incorporated. Heat up a large heavy frying pan with a good coating of oil and fry well on each side.  Best eaten immediately whilst crispy on the outside.  A traditional polish accompaniment might be a hearty beef stew piled on top of a large pancake which is delicious, but this time she made smaller ones and we trickled them with mushrooms cooked simply in garlic, butter and cream. There are so many things you could do with this recipe. Serve for breakfast with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, make miniature hors d'oeuvres with a delicate topping of smoked salmon, creme fraiche and caviar. Wow!

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the most of everything they have.

coco chanel cocktail

Recently I drove to Saumer - a beautiful town on the banks of the Loire - for a meal in a lively little square where I was seduced into having a Coco Chanel Cocktail.  Coco was apparently born in Saumer.  It was however one of the most disappointing cocktails of my life,  I can't specifically remember what it consisted of apart from the fact that it tasted very much like watery flat orangeade.  I thought this does not befit Coco at ALL, this thing.  Anyway... here is a recipe I found that sounds a little more more decadent maybe than watery orange juice and seems to be the one most attributed to Coco! 
1 oz kahlua

1 oz double cream

1 oz gin

Mix all ingredients in with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass.  It sounds like it might taste catastrophic,  and as I surveyed the ingredients on the table I said to a friend 'this could be terrible, what's the worst that can happen?'.  He said helpfully ' that we all become violently ill?'.  But I can assure you, in addition to being extremely healthy, it is triumphantly glorious. Hiccup. Salute!

“Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?' The second was, 'Did you find joy?” 

dinner for two

Ripe cantaloupe melon with Muscat
The Worlds Best Lasagne
Lemon and Strawberry tart.

What the boy wants the boy gets! I find myself helping a friend concoct a romantic candlelit feast tonight, and the favourite dish of a certain someone happens to be lasagne. I haven't cooked lasagne for years, and might have found the whole idea a trifle boring if I hadn't discovered this! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna/. We played around and substitued chilli and herbs de provence for the basil and fennel as well as a good old walloping of marscapone onto the top layer of pasta. And it looks so pretty piled high with all the layers and sprigs of parsley! If only I could have found some fresh basil would have propelled it through the roof.
Meandering around the market in Le Lion d'Angers yesterday (every friday morning ) produced the lovely cantaloupe - everywhere stalls were piled high and spilling over with melons. Chilled muscat poured into the hollowed out centre at the last minute makes a simple beginning.
And as for dessert. It has been on my mind to conquer 'fear of pastry' making.  The bought pate sucre in France just never has the sweet crumbliness of home-made. So henceforth to 'Strawberry and Lemon Curd Tart'.  This pastry was so simple it took my breath away, straight from the Rose Bakery cookbook 'breakfast, lunch, tea'.

Ingredients
500g plain flour
120g caster sugar
320 g cold unsalted butter
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
Put the flour, sugar, butter and salt into a food processor to blitz until incorporated and resembles fine breadcrumbs or alternatively work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.
Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla extract.  Stir with a fork to cincorporate the flour evenly until you have to begin using your hand.
Using one hand only, bring the dry and wet ingredients together.
Dust your work surface with flour, then remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on the floured surface for a few minutes until it is smooth and homogenous.
Roll out the dough to 5mm thickness and carefully ease into your tart tins. I found that half of this amount of pastry made 4 small tarts. You can freeze whatever you don't need to use immediately.
Chill the tart cases for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Bake blind (I used tinfoil with uncooked rice to hold it down) for 20 minutes until lightly golden brown.
Take out and leave to cool in the tart tins.
Meanwhile make the lemon curd. Put the zest and juice of 4 lemons, 100g butter and 200g sugar into a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water.  When the butter has melted, add 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk (stir them with a fork quickly before adding to the bowl) and whisk enthusiastically for the next 20 minutes or so until the mixture is thick and custardy.  Take off the heat and whisk occasionally as it cools. 
When completely cool put a large dollop of lemon curd onto the bottom of each tart case. Cover with fresh whole baby strawberries and sprinkle with demerara sugar.

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.
Paulo Coelho

amuse bouche

One of my favourite words in french meaning literally an 'amusement for the mouth'.  Little glorious tasters, tinier than hors d'oeuvres, sent from heaven to tingle your tastebuds. A few I've played with recently... but you could go wild!

Melon sorbet with honey and palma ham.

Fresh figs with blue cheese crumbled, walnuts and balsamic glaze.

Avocado drenched in lemon juice piled with small strips of smoked salmon, creme fraiche and dill.

Miniature onion creme brulee.
Chunk of cucumber with a splash of tuna and yoghurt/creme fraiche topped by wasabi cavier and a sprig of parsley.

"There is not an ounce of excitement, not a whisper of a thrill.  This relationship has all the passion of a pair of titmice.  I want you to get swept away out there.  I want you to levitate.  I want you to sing with rapture and dance like a dervish"  Meet Joe Black.

velvet salted caramel chocolate torte

My contribution to a BBQ - looking pretty gorgeous if I do say so myself! Recipe from Green & Black's ORGANIC ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE RECIPES THE NEW COLLECTION

Ingredients
For the salted caramel
175g caster sugar
3 tablespoons water
120ml double cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
120g unsalted butter
For the torte
250g dark 70-85% cocoa solids chocolate broken into pieces
160g unsalted butter cubed
175g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120g ground almonds
5 medium free-range egg yolks
6 large free-range egg whites
Cream or good vanilla ice cream, to serve
Begin by making the salted caramel. Pour the sugar into a heavy based pan and add the water. Heat gently, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat to medium high and allow the syrup to come to the boil undisturbed. Simmer briskly and watch like a hawk until the caramel turns a rich amber colour. Swirl the pan to prevent 'hot spots' but don't stir (stirring causes the caramel to clump and crystallize). Remove the pan from the heat and carefully stir in the cream and salt:  there's sure to be a hiss and a goood splutter. Now stir in the butter cubes until a smooth caramel forms and set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 23cm cake tin with baking parchment.
Melt the chocolate, butter and sugar together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't towch the water (or you can melt everything in a saucepan set over a very low heat, but don't allow it to burn). Remove from the heat and stir until smooth then mix in the vanilla and almonds, followed by the egg yolks, one by one.
Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they form stiff peaks. Fold 1 large tablespoon into the choclate mixture with a metal spoon or a spatula to loosen it, then fold in the rest, being careful to retain as much air as possible.  Scrape about two-thirds of this batter into the tin. Make a slight dip in the centre and spoon the salted caramel into the dip and over the surface. Top with the remaining choclate mixture, smoothing it right to the edges. Bake for about 40 minutes, unitl puffed and barely firm. There might be some caramel bubbling up at the edges but that's absolutely fine - resist the temptation to touch it because it will be scalding hot. 
Leave to cool completely in the tin, the cake will gently crumple in the middle.  Slice and serve each velvety piece at room temperature with chilled whipped cream, or some really good vanilla ice cream.

"The cucumbers are pretty this year" Driving Miss Daisy.

scallops ala risotto

A simple summer feast which made my heart swell. You know... sometimes when you cook something that is beautiful as well as drop dead delicious. Just make a risotto by finely chopping one or two onions with a few cloves of garlic sliced finely into shreds. Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with about one centimetre of oil and fry these for a minute or so. Then add enough arborio or carnaroli rice to feed all the people you want to feed, I always estimate half a teacup per person. Let the hot oil coat the rice for another minute then add a cupful of chicken or vegetable stock and let the rice slowly cook on a low to moderate heat until it has soaked up the liquid. Add some wine if you've got some handy, I tried a sweet wine from the Loire - Coteaux du Layon - strangely that worked... or maybe champagne! Cook for approximately twenty minutes or until the rice is cooked to al dente perfection adding more liquid as necessary. Throw in some herbs of your choice, I had chives and parsley and grated some parmesan in at the end. For the scallops... due to fortune smiling upon me, I found a bag of frozen scallops in the freezer fancy! The secret I've been told, is to thaw them in fresh milk for a few hours which worked well. Cook quickly on a high heat maybe one minute each side with melted butter and garlic, adding cream and spring onions at the last minute.  Serve piled high with garlic cream drizzled and spilling over onto a bed of risotto. And that is all you need.

sometimes it happens that some stories have a strange opening

'this is the place where dreams are made'

I love summer evenings.  Sitting outside until night falls with a glass of wine, talking with friends, pondering life.  One said a few nights ago as we surveyed the trees, listened to hysterical bird and heard little mice scrabbling around in the hedge 'this is the place where dreams are made'. I pondered writing this above my door... until we decided it might sound like a brothel?

"It’s impossible” said pride. “It’s risky” said experience. “It’s pointless” said reason. “Give it a try” whispered the heart - Anonymous 

looks like she made it

Well after a few weeks of madness, cooking, tears and adventure, here I am in France cooking in a Chateau.  I love it here, although do wonder what the hell I think I'm doing.  My new boss often says 'it's a game, life's a game, do you think I know what I'M doing?' and... 'in fact everything I've been successful at doing I started out not having a clue'. And as for me... I'm coming to realize this slowly about life. Maybe I'm a slow learner, that we can never really approach a situation with our previous experience, it's all brand new today.  We just have to run with it and FIND the pleasure and the energy and the laughter!
So I have a quirky little apartment in an old abandoned school house, my cookbooks are all lined up and looking pretty on shelves in the kitchen and last night I whipped up a tray of the most delicious little mushrooms appetizers.  Think they're a winner, as suggested by the gardener and so simple!  This is the food I feel excited by, not fussy just yummy. Mushrooms - of any shape or description with the stalk removed and the centre hollowed out, filled with Boursin and drizzled with chilli oil, roasted in a hot oven for approximately 25 mins and voila!  Consumed with gusto. The only concern really is have you made enough?

everything will be ok in the end...

After a fairly optimistic start hurtling down the motorway to Dover, reveling in how organized I was and how easy the car was to drive how effortless. Posted a letter, got petrol, bought the ferry ticket through passport control when I noticed with horror that my temperature light was flashing on danger levels. So gingerly crawling to my allotted queue I leapt out and asked a boy wearing a fluorescent jacket where is the nearest place to get water & can I use Evian? He didn't know but pointed to WH smith. I told him that my car was about to blow up, he observed 'well there's no smoke it just smells hot'.I was still feeling optimistic at the point - optimistic but horrified. On the way back I accumulated a few men & kept glancing in the general vicinity of my car for tendrils of smoke or a fireball - to come and peer in my bonnet who all came up with varying hypothesis. Leaky radiator loose bolts. A mechanic who was parked next to me sniffed at the diagnosis of a 'ferryman'. What does he know? I'm a mechanic. Anyway through the general confusion it dawned on me that I'd have to use my breakdown Barclays cover. So I parked in a safe place and waited. First for an RAC man to establish it had nothing to do with the thermostat or radiator but my car needed the equivalent of major heart surgery. My own heart plummeted I seriously contemplated how I could afford to fix it & whether I still had a job! So first breakdown ever - in bosses car. First use of breakdown cover & first trip in a tow truck back up north. The ferrymen who had seen me wandering around all day said 'so you're having a good day then ?' My friends could hardly control their mirth. My brother asked 'so can you blow a head gasket with terrible driving?'.

daphne's restaurant

The last night in England for a while and I have reservations at 'Daphne's restaurant'.  She said she'd have to check availability but all going well she may be able to squeeze me in. There are three of us including her husband. She specializes in curries, in fact we have chilli eating competitions so fitting that my last supper might be pilau rice with sultanas, chicken curry, salad with green chillis with 100% PAIN drizzled everywhere. All my endorphins will be fired! So the car is ready. Petrol, tyres, oil, water present and correct after a few minor shenanigans, and packed to the brim.  My new boss who seems a little eccentric, but loveable, put in an order today for cheese and marmalade.  Not booking anything, just going to wing it and have a delicious little adventure.  Many people have pointed out the perils. Several are going to keep an eye out on crimewatch in case I'm busted for drugs or they find a dead body in the glove compartment. 'For goodness sake make sure they know it isn't your car and it's not your stuff'. 'Don't break down in France whatever you do, it'll be days before you get any help'. Have got two days to get there. Can hardly wait to hit the road Jack...

Tibetan saying 'If you want to know your past, look at your present conditions.  If you want to know your future, look at your present actions'.

baked camembert

Perfect starter. Preheat oven to 220C. Take a whole camembert in it's box, remove the plastic wrapping and carefully slice the rind off the top and place snugly back in the box. Sprinkle a few chopped thyme leaves on top with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and bake for 10-15 mins until bubbling and gooey.
Quand on naime on me compte pas. When we love we don't count.

grand marnier bread and butter pudding

Recently, whilst under the influence of pork pies, wine and too much rain, I decided the time had come to do something else with my life. And today was the last day of work in this beautiful cafe - these last weeks have flown by. Felt so inspired here, food and surroundings thrown together haphazardly and magically. Loved cake baking days and endless conversations about how moist a slither of cake might be and what would be the most perfect thing to eat for lunch. Getting caught up in conversation with random people and understanding the regulars and all their little quirks.
Will wander back to France for the summer to cook, keep house... and eat! Learn some different things. Lately I seem to have become obsessed with brioche.  Made french toast with brioche this morning, had a steak grilled on top of brioche slathered with pate and nutmeg spinich, ate a brioche muffin I found in a cafe with a raspberry buried in the middle... and finally got round to making Nigella's Grand Marnier Bread and Butter Pudding! It is quite irresistable and oh so simple!

GRAND MARNIER BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING
butter for greasing
75g sultanas
3 tbsps Grand Marnier
16 slices slightly stale brioche
8 tsps fine cut marmalade
2 tbsps caster sugar
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
500mls double cream
250mls milk
2 tsps demerara sugar
Preheat oven to 170C. Butter a 2 litre pudding dish.
Put the sultanas and Grand Marnier into a small saucepan, bring to the boil, simmer for a minute or so, turn off the heat and leave the fruit to plump up in the orange scented liquor.
Make marmalade sandwiches with the brioche, using about a tsp in each. Because the brioche is so greasy you don't need to butter otherwise it will be greasy. Cut each sandwich into a triangle and put these triangles, one point side up, the next one pointy bit down and so on, in the buttered dish. Squish all the sandwiches in. Sprinkle the sultanas along with any remaining liquor in the pan.
In a bowl whisk together the sugar, whole eggs, yolks, cream and milk.  Pour over the brioche sandwiches and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
Before the pudding goes in the oven, sprinkle with demerara sugar, then bake for 45 minutes, by which time the custard should be setting.

salad inspiration

A simple salad bought from Amelie & Friends in Chichester - a slice of lettuce (cross section really of the whole lettuce approximately 1 cm wide) with a dollop of creme fraiche and chives on top, with roasted tomato halves and a carefully perched crispy piece of pancetta. A perfect summer starter.  I always find myself inspired at this counter. Whether it be a few roasted butternut squash slices placed in a pile with creme fraiche, a slice of green chilli, segment of lime and coriander leaf garnish or roasted beetroot with goats cheese and walnuts.  Lemon couscous with flaked almonds, parsley, crispy fried red onions, sultanas and apricots! Just a few lovely ingredients and a splash of creativity. Pity about the photography, compliments of my hipstamatic iphone... doesn't do it justice!

'It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love' John Lennon.

"If you don't become the ocean you'll be seasick every day" Leonard Cohen

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. M Proust

100% PAIN

This sauce EXCEEDETH expectation. It was so potent that out of five of us tasting it, four declared it inedible after tasting a pin drop.  I had a headache before consuming a slather on a tortilla and can tell you, that after my eyes had cleared, and I learned how to breathe again voila my headache was gone! Someone commented that they would rather have ANY pain than the pain of chilli exploding in the brain, but I have to disagree. This sauce will bring you rip-roaring back to life. http://www.originaljuan.com/

breakfast at bills

A little sparkle on a Sunday morning. Wandered down to Brighton this morning with my sister for breakfast at Bills. French champagne with a plump strawberry perched on the rim, vegetarian all day breakfast with a twist - toast slathered with guacamole and hummus, eggs benedict and french toast with walnut yoghurt and fresh fruit. Ymmmm is all I can say. And perfectly poached eggs! I was almost tempted to poke my head into the kitchen for a masterclass on poached eggs.

'Do not chase people. Be you and do your own thing and work hard. The right people who belong in your life will come to you, and stay' Wu Tang

salade de lentilles du puy

A strange day for salad considering the current climate. Rain, rain and more rain, but this salad might just be the cure...

SALADE DE LENTILLES DU PUY
Puy Lentil Salad by Rachel Khoo
puy lentils
sprig of thyme
bay leaf
tsp salt
roasted beetroot
mild crumbly goats cheese
VINAIGRETTE
a bunch of dill/parsley/basil
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps white wine vinegar
pinch of sugar and salt
Cover the lentils with at least double their volume of water (make sure cold water as allows even cooking of the lentil). Flavour the water with sprig of thyme, bay leaf and a tsp of salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Check at 12 minutes. When cooked but still with a crunch, drain under cold water to stop the lentils cooking further.
For the vinaigrette, put the dill or another herb you choose into a food processor with the olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and sugar. Blend and taste to check the seasoning adding more salt or sugar as necessary.
Peel the roasted beetroot and ensure all the hard outer skin removed. Slice thinly, preferably with a mandolin but otherwise with a knife paper-thin.
To serve, spread the lentils on a plate, scatter the beetroot over with the torn, crumbled goats cheese. Drizzle vinaigrette evenly over. Bon apetite!


Life begins at the end of your comfort zone!

orange cardamom sour cream cake

Have been dying to try this recipe from the new Malouf cookbook. Ticked all my boxes, spices, zest and cream, and here it is in the kitchen still warm from the oven, moist with syrup and served with a dollop of creme fraiche ooh la la!

ORANGE CARDAMOM SOUR CREAM CAKE
CAKE
130g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
225g plain flour
1 tsp cardamom seeds, finely ground and sieved
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200mls sour cream
SYRUP
juice of 1 orange and 1/2 lemon
3 tbsps Cointreau
3 tbsps caster sugar
6 cardamom pods, cracked
1 cinnamon stick
Preheat oven to 170C.  Butter and line a 23cm springform cake tin.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale, then add zest and vanilla extract.
Beat in eggs one at a time until well incorporated.
Sift flour, cardamom, baking powder and salt and add to the batter, alternating with the sour cream, mixing well after each addition.
Pour into baking tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
While the cake is cooking make the syrup. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissoves and then simmer for a few minutes. Strain and discard the cardamom and cinnamon.
As soon as the cake is out of the oven, pierce the top all over with the skewer and pour over the syrup. Try to ensure it is soaked up evenly. Place the tin on a wire rack and leave it to cool completely before releasing from the tin.

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all. Harriet van Horn.

malouf:new middle eastern food

A new discovery to indulge my love of middle eastern food. And on the website of Greg Malouf things such as orange cardamom sour cream cake, pomegranate and vodka sorbet, rose flavoured berry fool with marscapone, tabouleh with roasted walnuts sigh so many things to keep me dreaming! http://www.gregmalouf.com.au/

Try. Believe. Love

aesop's fables

A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by it's side a countryman passed them and said "you fools, what is a donkey but to ride on?"
So the man put the boy on the donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said "see that lazy youngster, he let's his father walk while he rides".
So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women one of whom said to the other "shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along".
Well the man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his boy up before him on the donkey.  By this time they had come to town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?".
The man and boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and thought, until at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them until they came to the market bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.
"That will teach you" said an old man who had followed them "please all and you will please none".

chocolate salt caramel brownies

Goodness, my friend Daffy Duck (she may be biased) has just pronounced these brownies the best she has ever tasted!  A recipe from The Guardian which I fell in love with during a chocolate brownie frenzy a while ago, this time with a river of salt caramel running through... http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/09/how-to-make-perfect-brownies

CHOCOLATE SALT CARAMEL BROWNIES
250g dark chocolate 70%
250g unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
3 large eggs plus one extra yolk, lightly beaten
60g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
60g cocoa powder
SALT CARAMEL
150g caster sugar
150mls double cream
1 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 23cmX23cm baking tray with parchment.
Set a bowl over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water and add 200g of the chocolate, broken into pieces. Allow to melt, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat immediately.
Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and break the rest of the chocolate into chips.
With the mixer still running gradually add the eggs, beating well in between each addition to ensure thoroughly incorporated before adding another. Leave mixing on a high speed for five minutes until the batter has a silky sheen and has increased in volume.
Remove the bowl from the mixer, and gently fold in the melted chocolate, chocolate chips, sifted flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.
Make the salt caramel by heating the sugar in a large heavy bottomed pan at a moderate to high temperature swirling occasionally until turns to liquid gold.  Add the cream and stand back! Swirl the pan to incorporate the sugar and cream together and add a tsp salt.  Pour into a bowl to cool.
Spoon half the brownie mixture into the baking tray, followed by a layer of all the salt caramel topped again by brownie mixture and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Test with a skewer, should come out sticky but not with raw mixture.  If it does, put it back in for 3 minutes and test again.
Prepare a roasting tin of iced water.  When the brownies are ready, move the tray from the oven and place in the tray of iced water.
Leave to cool an hour before cutting into squares. Store in an air-tight container: they're even better the next day!


There is neither this world nor the world beyond nor happiness for the one who doubts. Bhagavad Gita.

red velvet cupcakes

Ever since engorging on these delectable fancies on a saturday morning along Portobello Road in London I have desired to make them. Here is the Hummingbird Bakery recipe...

RED VELVET CUPCAKES
Makes 12
60g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
1 egg
10g cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food colouring
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
120ml buttermilk
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsps white wine vinegar
Preheat oven to 170C.
Whisk the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed.
Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
Mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract (I initially used Dr Oetker Natural Red Food Colour from Waitrose but it didn't give a beautiful red colour so I sprinkled 1/4 tsp 'Intense Rouge Powder to give the desired effect)
Add this mixture to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured.
Turn the mixture to slow and pour in half the buttermilk slowly. Beat well. Then add flour, and beat until well incorporated repeating the process until all buttermilk and flour have been added, scraping the sides of the bowl.
Turn on high speed again, beat until you have a smooth even mixture.
Turn to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed then turn to high and beat for a couple more minutes.
Spoon the mixture into paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when touched and a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool in tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the cream chees frosting on top.
FROSTING
Mix 50g softened butter with 300g sifted icing sugar until well incorporated.  Add 125g cream cheese and whisk until soft and fluffy! 


If the definition of success was happiness... are you successful?

armenian nutmeg cake

Another baking day which started off with magnificent success.  In fact a miracle.  My raspberry madeleines, after many trials and tribulations have developed their signature peaks. I followed Rachel Khoo's recipe and left the mixture in the fridge for two days, and this time baked the madeleines in a fan oven at 20C lower, and voila the magic occurred! Elsewhere on the baking front I baked a tray of Rose Bakery's hazelnut brownies, almond and rhubarb cake, chocolate bourbon cake and the armenian nutmeg cake.  This simple cake with simple ingredients from my friend Daphne, who has been baking it for most of her 45 years of married life, is surprisingly popular and lovely (her friend gave it to her in the early years of her marriage as she had no idea how to cook, and it is apparently foulproof).  We were debating whether to rename it to sell in the shop maybe 'Daffy's Nutty Cake' or 'Upside Down Crumble Cake'?  The jury is still out on the name but here is the recipe. You can use any nuts which are floating around in your cupboard... today I used walnuts and hazelnuts:

ARMENIAN NUTMEG CAKE

Courtesy of the Australian Women's Weekly 'sweet old fashioned favourites'. Armenian cooking is noted for it's use of spices.  In this recipe nutmeg adds fragrance to a not too sweet cake that cooks in two layers. 

1 cup SR flour

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp ground nutmeg

125g butter

1 1/2 cups of lightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 cup milk

1 egg lightly beaten

1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or any nuts you fancy

Grease and line a 20X30cm tray about 2 inches deep.

Sift flours and nutmeg into a large bowl.  Rub in butter and mix in sugar. Press 1 1/2 cups of the mixture into the prepared tray.

Stir combined soda and milk into remaining dry ingredients with the egg and nuts.  Mix well and pour into the tray on top of the first layer.

Bake at 160C for 35-40 minutes.  Stand for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and cool.

Cut into squares when cool.


Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that don't change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just about like trying to milk a dead cow.
Woody Guthrie