Potato & Nutmeg Ice Creams

I’ve never really had much appreciation for ice creams. I’ve always tended to favour more substantial desserts if I had the choice. One reason for this is my sensitive teeth situation: biting into cold solid ice-creams leaves my mouth feeling numb, my fingers feeling sticky and my teeth zinging with pain. But all this was put behind me when I had my first ever Italian Galati. A creamy, silky, rich scoop of melon and passion fruit galatia saw the beginning of my love affair with ice creams. It opened up my world to the many different possible flavours out there and even more exciting, the combinations! I started replacing my shopping break coffees with galatias, picking a different flavour each time. This even continued back in England. Despite an erratic summer and the lack of sun, I was spending money which would otherwise have be spent on alcohol, on ice-creams and lolly pops. I rediscovered childhood favourites like Mr Whippy, Mint Choc Chip, Solaro, and even Milk Ice Creams. When I felt like being adventurous I’d pick the most colourful or most bizarre looking ice cream; discovering the more unusual flavours like Pistachio, Chilli, Saffron, Blue Diamond, Macaroon, and Oreo Cheesecake. Yep, there are so many possibilities when I come to ice creams, you could be well spoilt for choice.

So one day, after having a very unusual conversation with a friend about how surprisingly nice cold mash potato is, and then coincidentally coming across a recipe for purple yam ice-cream that very same day, I decided to embark on making potato ice-cream. I could have well used sweet potato, yam, or cassava, but I happened to have left over boiled potatoes in the fridge from lunch so I used them


It was rather late at night when I decided to make this, so had to work with what I had in the fridge. I decided just potato wouldn’t hack it, so needed something suitable to work with the texture and ordinary taste of your standard potato. I decided to play it safe and use nutmeg. So in a bowl I popping in boiled, skinned and chopped up potatoes; single cream; unsalted butter; caster sugar; and a pinch of nutmeg. As it was rather late and my mum was asleep upstairs, I thought it rude to wake her up by using the food processer. So the considerate person that I am, I took the hard route and mashed up all the ingredients together with a fork. This was very very hard work. So I got out a sieve and pressed it through so the mixture had no lumps and was smooth, but not too runny. I wanted to keep the texture of the potato so added enough cream to make it silky, but not too smooth so it resembled the consistency of clotted cream. I put it in a tub and let it set, mixing it every 30 min. But as it was rather late, I only managed to mix it twice before hitting the sack.


The next morning I woke up in much excitement. I ran down stairs, went into the kitchen, opened the freezer, opened the freezer drawer, took out my ice-cream tub… and it looked normal! Thank heavens! I got a spoon scrapped at the top layer… normal again. Then I put a bit in my mouth. Interesting… tasted like cold mash potato, but sweeter. The nutmeg came through and worked well with the creamy potato texture. It did feel more dense then normal ice-creams, but the smoothness counteracted this buy melting evenly on the tongue. Overall it was a pretty good breakfast. The more I ate, the more I enjoyed the complexity of the simple flavours. Next time, I’d probably improve it by adding another layer of flavour to it instead of nutmeg. I'd keep the smooth texture of the potato though as it made the ice cream rich and creamy. So maybe to replace the nutmeg I'd add ground up cashew nuts or even almonds. Maybe even using cashew nut/almond milk instead of cream. Till then I think my potato and nutmeg ice cream was probably the most unexpectedly rewarding ice cream I’ve eaten this summer and I really do recommend it. Happy Eatings!

Suini Sudato (Sweaty Pigs)

Don’t be put off by the name. Basically posh pigs in blankets or for the more common person, like me and you, posh sausage rolls. I chose the name as sausage rolls, or pigs in blankets, tend to be associated with colder periods of the year. Heavy and baked, they are best eaten warm, and preferably in large portions. This is where my sweaty pigs differ… my love for sausage rolls is a round the year affair, and preferring The Cornish Pasty Shop’s warm, flaky and butter recipe. I have sampled a fair few sausage rolls in my time, but haven’t found a single one that’s more adventurous with their filling. I recently came across a recipe for pork and brambly apple rolls, and this gave me some confidence to come up with my very own pork mixture. I wanted a filling that would compliment good quality pork, but also be light on the palate.



I wanted to use puff pastry instead of flaky pastry, so it would be lighter but still buttery. I chose a filling of red onion, balsamic, parsley and mozzarella. An Italian filling, hence the Italian name. I heard an Italian friend say this recently and thought it the perfect name for my new recipe. It was important to chop up the red onion as fine as possible, and sweat them down properly. I them added the balsamic and made a thick reduction. I added this to lean pork mince mixed with bread crumbs, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. I was in a bit of a dilemma as how to add the mozzarella: if served warm, it would have been better to have added a strip of mozzarella on top of the pork mixture before rolling in the pastry. But as they were being served cold out doors, I decided to break it up and add it to the pork mixture. Which was a good in a way, as it was a beautiful ball of mozzarella, not the stringy type typically found on commercial pizza, but soft and moist.



So all mixed up and allowed to rest in the fridge for an hour, I got the pastry ready (ready made off course). I wanted the rolls to be two bits sized, so it was easier to manage. The small size meant that each bit had a crispy end where the pasty went extra crusty and the meat went nice and brown. I brushed on some melted butter on the top, then placed in the oven for 15 mins at 170 °C. They acted as more of a snack and went down really well along side my mum’s chilli chutney and a glass of bubbly. I defiantly recommend making your own sausage rolls. It really is easy, and even if you don’t want to make your own filling, use your favorite sausage, remove the skin and place in bought pastry, roll, brush with butter/egg wash and put in the oven. It’s so simple, and better then any bought sausage roll. You’ll never go back. Trust me. Happy eatings : )

KADHI KACHORI

Kadhi is a north Indian soup dish typically eaten with a meal. It’s made from yogurt and gram flour and has a variety of spices in it to give it a distinct flavour. Every house hold has a different way of making kadhi, and a different concoction of spices that goes into the soup. When back home, we have kadhi a couple of times a week. Said to be good for your insides due to the yogurt, turmeric and spices, warm kadhi is also supposed to be a good way of cooling down in the hot Indian sun. Classic complements include dhal and pigeon peas. Kachori is a popular Indian fried snack; in my case only eaten on special occasions. A fried dough ball, with a range of different fillings including peas, dhal, or even meat. I decided I should learn how to make kachori, because I’ve found it rather hard to find a good enough ready made kachori. So I did some research and asked my mum how she makes her kachori. Her filling of peas, onions and mustard seeds are really nice eaten simply straight from the fryer. This is mainly because of the thin layer of pastry she manages to create, with a generous filling. But most frozen varieties have more dough to filling ratio resulting in a doughy, not crunchy surrounding, and therefore requiring ketchup or chilly sauce to dip in to making it less dry and easier to swallow.

So why combine the two? Well, it has never been done before, and when the flavour combinations are an Indian classic why the hell not? It could almost be like an Indian dumpling soup. I chose to fill the kachori with both dhal, peas and a variety of spices. Having just dhal or just peas as the filling would make it far too dense, so the combination would keep things more interesting and lighter on the palate.

So to begin, I had to make kadhi. I started of by adding:
8 Cups water
4 Cups of natural Yogurt
1 Cup Gram Flour
Generous Pinch of salt
1 Chillie chopped finely
½ inch of Ginger grated
2 teaspoons of turmeric



This has to be stirred or whisked thoroughly over a medium heat to prevent the yogurt from splitting and till the gram flour is cooked through. At this point the mixture will begin to boil. The kadhi will have thickened and taken on the consistency of double cream. The kadhi should be left to simmer whilst the spices are prepared.



So the list of spices to flavour our kadhi can be changed to suit individual preference. The spices are fried in ghee (clarified butter) in a separate pan. This is then added to the kadhi to give it it’s distinctive flavour. In my mum’s kadhi, she puts in order: broken cinnamon sticks and cloves; she then adds the cumin and mustard seeds till they start to pop; the garlic is added next till it turns a golden brown; then the asafetida; then the nim leaves and then the coriander. The kitchen will fill up with the most aromatic smell and just before the coriander starts to discolour, add it to the kadhi. The kadhi is then ready to be consumed. Add a little bit more salt if needed.



So whilst the kadhi sat, I got on with making the kachori. I started by making a simple dough of; 4 Cups Plain flour; 4 Tablespoons Sun Flower Oil; pinch of salt; and mixed together with warm water till a soft dough was formed. I left this for 30 mins with a cloth over the top.



So whilst the dough was left to sit, I got on with the kachori filling. I let a cup full of split dhal soak in enough water to cover for 10 minuets. I then added a cup full of frozen peas, aniseed, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and a pinch of salt to the dhal. I added ¼ of a cup of water and put in a pressure cooker to let cook for around 20 minuets. After the whistle blew, I let the mixture cool down then added some fresh coriander, mustard seeds and a little bit of chili powder.



So once the mixture was cooled down, I began making the kachori. It is vital to wait till the filling is cooled, so the dough doesn’t become soggy. It also prevents holes when frying. Also remember to have a well floured surface to work on, so the dough doesn’t stick.



They don’t take very long to fry, approximately 6minuets, just till the dough goes crispy golden. The choice of shape is purely aesthetic. Traditional kachori is normally round but, you can be a little creative with this. Try and keep the pastry around it as thin as possible, so you don’t have uncooked dough after frying. It can be eaten just as it is, but in this case I rather enjoyed having it with the kadhi. Not only did they compliment each other will, but it was a more interesting way of eating two of my most favorite Indian comfort foods. Happy Eatings!

Salmon, Fennel, Orange and Olive Salad...

Eating out is all well and good, but even better is trying out dishes tasted and enjoyed in restaurants. Not only is it a chance to change things to ones preference; but it also gets the brain and taste buds working. So inspired by a recent trip to Milan, and after a whole week of eating pizza and pasta, I decided to make a salad I tried and was pleasantly surprised by in a wonderful little restaurant near Milano Corso Genova. I find that when on holiday; one gets a little bit adventurous and daring; especially when ordering from a menu written in a foreign language. I find a good way of trying something new, and something you would never make at home is to abide by a rather childish method of making a decision – ip dip do. Yep, this is a great way of “living on the edge”... that is if the decision is stuck by. Granted, it can be problematic for unadventurous types, but in most cases I have found myself being rather impressed. So, as our lovely Italian waitress was trying her hardest to explain what every single dish on the menu was in broken English, and as my cousins were trying their best to remember what she was saying, I had my heart dead set on the “pink fish and citrus salad.” I couldn’t wait. I had been so disappointed with previous meals for not living up to Italian expectations. Bland Bolognese and sloppy pizzas: I’d had enough! The restaurant was packed and the service was slow, so I picked on the soft, warm bread and sipped on my sparkling wine, careful not to fill myself up or damage my taste buds with the alcohol before my gastronomic experience. A whole day of shopping, walking and poor eating had left a gapping big hole in my stomach and I knew after my four course meal, my little black dress would not look as good as it did when I first walked into the restaurant. This better be worth it...

And it was! When the dish was placed in front of me, I knew instantly from the aniseedy, salmon fresh smell that I was in for a treat. I’m not normally a salad kinda girl, but when good ingredients are used and the salad is more about the celebration of good favours rather than a slimming way to fill one’s self up, I approve. So this wonderful piece of art; at 6 o’clock sat 4 small, but perfectly sized chunks of cured salmon, rolled in dill. At 12 o’clock, a salad of wild leaves with thin slices of fennel, dotted with dark black, firm and plump olives. On top, sat skinned, juicy orange segments, so flavoursome, a dressing of only olive oil was needed to dress the salad along with the juices from the orange. I took my time and enjoyed every mouthful, knowing too well, that this dish could never be recreated back in England the same way. It had a distinctive Italian taste to it, be it the fruity olive oil or even the crisp wild leaves. But it didn’t stop me.

I had the taste in my mouth, and a few days after getting back, I decided to make it as best I could. Late night shopping in Sainsburys is always disappointing, as stocks are low and the most ugliest vegetables tends to be left lonely in the crates. Even worse, there was no salmon, only trout. If it wasn’t for Shakespeare and Shopping (a week of evening shopping combined with immersive theatre in Sainsburys New Cross ), I would have left very angry, cooked very angry and eaten very angry. And if one thing should be remembered it’s - “Food eaten in anger turns to poison in the stomach”- we don’t want this. So I had to work with what I had. Surely a good cook works with what they’ve got and makes it taste good. Maybe this salad will have a distinctive “London” taste to it? So I set to work; Prepped my salad; sliced fennel very thinly and placed over leaves, sliced the trout and layered on top; skinned orange segments (very messy, and rather fruitless due to the poor quality of oranges, but I used as much juice as possible to dress the salad); I added a few olives over the top and sprinkled with dill. To finish off, instead to olive oil, I used Balsamic vinegar with a hint of orange. Done. It did smell and look good, but the proof was in the tasting. And no word of a lie, i was impressed with myself. It didn’t have the distinctive Italian taste like the salad in the restaurant, but it did have something. Something uniquely special. Maybe it was holiday nostalgia. Maybe it was the perfect balance of sweet and sour from the orange, smooth from the trout, the bite from the olives, the fresh crunch from the fennel and the aftertaste of the balsamic. It all worked in harmony, just like the salad in Milan, but this time distinctively different to anything I had ever tasted. I would defiantly make it again. I think it’s a beautifully summery dish.

Next time, I may substitute the orange for a blood orange, maybe even try some grated and dried beetroot, and leave the dill out, as the fennel adds enough flavour. I will also get better ingredients, maybe even go further afield then Sainsburys, just because a salad this good deserves equally good ingredients. Happy Eatings : )

THE CHERRY BOMB!

I like Bloody Marys, I can’t really see why so many people disapprove. Bloody Marys are not drunk enough in my opinion. I suppose the Bloody Mary is more then often the choice of drink for most middle-aged women or alcoholics concerned with their nutritional intake. It’s not very trendy, and requires a taste for raw tomatoes. It is disputed as to where the cocktail’s name actually came from; either Queen Mary I, infamous for her bloody killings; or Mary Pickford an early Hollywood actress famed for her red locks. I prefer the first, but highly doubt it, as cocktails were invented in America during the Prohibition, also around the same time as the beginning of Hollywood. I think a bit of history helps in gaining appreciation.

What goes into a Bloody Mary can vary. The best Bloody Mary I’ve tasted had: Tomato Juice, Vodka, Tobasco, pepper, wasabi, Worcestershire Sauce, lime, a salt rimmed glass and lots and lots of ice. I don’t understand why and where the celery stick comes into the Bloody Mary equation. I really don’t like raw celery, it’s rabbit food and should be left out. In my opinion it does nothing for the drink apart from getting in the way and tickling my nose with it’s spawning futile leaves. Why leave the leaves on? Is it so hard to chop them off? It’s impractical and a nuisance… in fact the whole stick is. Get rid of it. Leave it for making stock. Rant over…


I want to show people Bloody Mary’s are actually great. But I need to serve it in a way people wouldn’t normally associate with a typical Bloody Mary, as the tomato juice and celery stick can be very off putting. So I’ve had this idea in my head for a while, but never really thought it actually possible to execute well. You never know till you try I suppose. I wanted to create an eatable Bloody Mary shot using cherry tomatoes as my self containing shot. To get the alcohol inside the tomato, I used a needle and a syringe. I bought this online, as it’s not possible to buy over the counter from the pharmacist.

So in my mixture went:



I had a few problems with the pepper, and had to result in grinding it up in a coffee grinder. I kept it in the freezer so it was really cold and an extra surprise when bitten into. It also makes the vodka easier to stomach and makes the spicier ingredients less intense. I was debating whether to heat the mixture up, but think it may be too strong, and could leave a nasty taste in the mouth.


I injected the tomatoes, but had to be really careful not to over fill them. My syringe allowed for the maximum of 50ml. I put around 5ml in each cherry tomato depending on its size. I put a third of the tomatoes in the freezer, a third in the fridge and the other third served straight away. I wanted to see which batch tasted the best.


So I had my cherry tomatoes all set, but they didn’t seem special enough. I thought about how best to serve them and concluded, that, if they’re a bomb they need a shot glass in keeping with the theme in which to serve them. I thought some more and came up with the idea of a cannon shot mug. So I went about designing and making a “cannon shot mug”, big enough to contain an average sized cherry tomato. Okay… so I know cannons don’t shoot out bombs, but cannon bearings, but in this case my cannon shot mug contains a cherry bomb. Cannons and bombs are both instruments of distraction, and this is what I want to get across with my presentation. Lets say a bloody presentation for a bloody concept. After all, the Bloody Mary could have been named after the Queen of bloody acts, Queen Mary I.


So I served it up to some friends, who found the whole think ridiculous… until they tried it. I don’t think any of my food has ever created such excitement. The first batch of Cherry Bombs were cold, and even after a while of sitting out retained its cold temperature. The fridge batch was the best, cold in the mouth and colder when bitten into. The freezer batch was way too cold for my sensitive teeth although the inside was brilliantly cold. There wasn’t quite enough to get drunk on, but it was fun and even more fun to see people’s reactions when biting into the Cherry Bomb! Happy Eatings : )

VIETNAMESE BONE MARROW SPRING ROLLS

Bone marrow. Are we actually meant to eat it? Does it actually taste good? How does one cook it? Well this is all dependant on the individual. I love bone marrow. I love sucking the marrow out of the bone (especially if it’s been cooked for a while in a stew or curry), and I believe, if you enjoy this, you have the acquired taste for marrow. The texture is a little bit like kidneys, and this can put some people off. The marrow is where all the goodness is, nutrients and favour. When a stock is made with a carcase, the marrow in the bone is where the essence of the beast is and this is what gives the stock it’s flavour. I can understand that some people may find it a rather gross concept, and that’s fine. But allow me to try and convince you marrow is worth trying. I have decided to do a Vietnamese Spring Roll recipe, but using calf’s leg bone marrow to add a subtle taste of beef within a fresh crunchy oriental salad filling.

Firstly I headed down to Deptford to visit the oriental supermarket and the butchers. I asked the butchers for a calf’s leg bone. This is something most butchers keep as scraps. He showed me the whole bone, but the sight of it scared me a little. It was huge! So I asked for him to cut it in two. He did. It still looked daunting. I asked if he could cut it so it’d be easier to remove the bone marrow. He cut each half down the middle, resulting in four cross sections. The best part was the cost, a whole £1.50. Lovely!





It is recommended the bones go in the oven on a high heat for 20 minuets, but as I had more surface area exposed, I decided to keep them in for 15 instead, allowing the marrow to really crisp up on the top. The bone is done when it has turned golden. Whilst the bone sat in the oven, I stated on the salad:

I cut the following ingredients into long thin strips (it’s nice to keep things consistent):

• Salted, drained Cucumber (leave the cucumber in a collider with salt to drain off moister
• Unripe mango
• Bean sprouts
• Mushrooms
• The whites of spring onions

For the dressing:

• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• Corriander
• Thai Basil
• Green Chillies (according to taste)
• Salt
• Pepper


Bone marrow:
• Scrapped out of the bone
• Chopped up as fine as possible



So I combined everything together, mixed it up really well, then set to work on the rice papers. These can be tricky buggers if not done right. Some people suggest letting the papers sit in warm water till they soften up, and use as appropriate. I don’t like this technique, I find it rather fiddly. So I got a plate and a cup of warm water; I place the dried rice paper on the plate and using my hand “massaged” 2 tbsp of the water into the paper till malleable. I then take my rice paper and start to roll. After many tried and tested methods of rolling, this is my preferred choice:



After rolled, they can be fried in a tiny bit of oil, to allow the skin to crisp up a little, but I decided to serve them as they were. I do advise leaving them to sit in the fridge for a bit, so they dry out and also have a clean, fresh crunch when bitten into. I toughly enjoyed my spring rolls, and so did my friends. I think it’s a good way of introducing the taste of bone marrow. I dare anyone to tell me they don’t like marrow done this way…. Happy eatings : )

WONDER-LAMB

Like most people, I like a good roast. My meat of preference has to be lamb. Nothing beats a lovely cut of lamb, slowly cooked. Essential enhancements include the obvious rosemary or thyme; the sweet flavours of roasted garlic; the necessary aid of olive oil and maybe butter; salt and the debatable pepper…. and anchovies. Yep, anchovies. Fish and lamb is a bizarre combination, but anchovies are no ordinary fish. How does this work? Well, anchovies are in so many recipes, people sometimes don’t even realise. For example, it’s in Worcestershire Sauce; it’s also in most Caesar salad dressings. It appears (or doesn’t cause it’s hard to tell in some cases) in a lot of food. It acts as a flavour enhancer due to its salty quality, and because it’s so small, it tends to melt right down and leave no trace of fishiness. It’s defiantly one to try in spaghetti, or as I’ve done here, in a roast lamb.

I invested in a lovely cut of boneless shoulder of lamb. Around 950grams. The shoulder is not that expensive. As it comes rolled and tied in string, there is a good amount of fat going through the meat but still needs to be oiled/buttered well. There is the option of unrolling the meat, stuffing it and rolling it up again. This is great as shoulder can be quite tough, so stuffing can soften the meat and also help it take on some more flavour.





I started off by peeling 8 cloves of garlic and wrapping them in anchovies. I cut eight slots, four down each side of the piece of meat, being careful to cut only halfway deep. I stuffed each slot with my anchovies and garlic. This was satisfying. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I think it might have something to do with the oily anchovies and the plump meat. Even more satisfying was rubbing the meat with a concoction of olive oil, rosemary, salt, pepper, and butter which I grinded together in a pestle and mortar. I like getting my hands messy, and massaging the meat and smelling the beautiful oils of the rosemary brought back memories…. Memories of the rosemary bush that sat outside my high school’s English department. The same bush I pushed a good friend into as a “friendly” joke. My poor friend smelt of rosemary all day, and when asked why she smelt of rosemary had to explain her unfortunate incident. For this I am very sorry.



So… anywho, I placed the lamb on two thickly sliced onions to help even cooking and flavour. My rule for cooking lamb is as follows; 15 minuets for every 450g, and an initial 20 minuets at the beginning in a pre heated oven at 230°c. The oven should be turned down to 180°c for the remaining cooking time. So in my case it went in for around an hour. I let it rest for a good 20 minuets. I cannot tell you how good the lamb was. The butter and the initial 20 minuets cooking time at a high temperature encouraged the fat on top of the meat to really crisp up. The anchovies disappeared, leaving a subtle and delicate salty flavour. The lamb was medium rare and was easy on the palette. Nothing’s worse then tough lamb that requires more energy to chew then gained when digested. A nicely cooked piece of meat deserves equally nice trimmings; honey mustard roasted carrots, parsnips; sweet red onions; crunchy trimmed beans; and my brother’s amazing roasted potatoes. From the meat came lovely juices to make a red wine jus. To help everything along was of course some mint sauce. Delightful. What more is there to say? TRY IT!!! Forget about anchovies on your dominos pizza, put them in your lamb. Happy eatings guys : )

MY TRIBUTE TO THE KRABBY PATTY

I’m a big Sponge Bob fan. This is no secret. I know there are many out there who, like me, are a fans of the show. This is for you guys, and a tribute to the pure genius that is Sponge Bob Square Pants and it’s nautical nonsense.

So after watching so many Sponge Bob Square Pants episodes, one starts to wonder what a Krabby Patty actually tastes like. Every time a Krabby Patty gets served up, I wonder, what really is in those brown beauties? The idea of cartoon food is appetizing and one hungry afternoon whilst watching SBSP, I thought I should try make one. I thought about it, and thought, and thought some more, and couldn’t stop thinking about how I was going to make this patty. I had to do it justice. I had to make something that would actually make me feel like I was having a Krabby Patty at the Krusty Krabbs. For those who don’t know, Sponge Bob works in an underwater Fast Food resturant called the Krusty Krabb, owned by a crab called Mr Krabbs. The Krusty Krab’s most popular selling burger (aquivilant to a McDonald’s Big Mac) is the Krabby Pattie. Sponge Bob is the dedicated fry chef who gets to make them.

After having watched so many episodes of SBSP I have subconsciously memorized the contents of the burger. Lame? No. So here it is:


Burger Bun with sesame seeds, ketchup, mustard, mayo seahorse horseradish sauce, cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato and the all important patty.

Okay, so I decided to go all out. I needed to find a recipe for a crab cakes suitable to put in this burger. I found a really simple and uncomplicated recipe for MaryLand Crab Cakes on http://www.crabcakeguy.com/crab-cake-recipes/. It looked simple enough, and that’s what I needed because there’s quite a lot going on in the burger, including cheese. From experience crab/fish cakes can have a few issues with holding together and keeping firm during the cooking process. It’s not pleasant to have a weak crumbly burger patty. It’s annoying and creates a mess. So I looked for a way to over come this. I have been told by my dad, putting raw onions into meatballs/kebabs/fish cakes etc weakens its structure due to the moisture released during cooking. A good way to get around this is by sweating the moister ingredients before adding them to the mixture. Another good tip is adding extra egg whites as it acts as a glue Delia suggests frying them for 3 minuets on each side (depending on the thickness of the patty) and to avoid disturbing them until the 3 minuets are up.

I made few changes by using white crab meat instead of imitation, adding coriander to make it less dense. I also wanted a golden bread crumb coating, so the usual threesome of flour, egg and bread crumbs were used. It’s important to point out that I also put bread crumbs in the mixture. I shallow fried the patties in a mixture of oil, butter and garlic.



My Version of Krabby Patties:
White Crab meat
Seasoned bread crumbs
Frying breadcrumbs
Plain Flour
1 large egg
Cup mayo
Worcestershire sauce
Dijon mustard
Corriander
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Frying oil

So the secret ingredient? Well, this is debatable. Many people believe there is no actual secret formula. It is said the missing secret ingredient is actually just love. This, I think should be the case for most food, and it’d be a huge copout to accept love. One of my “secret” ingredients was lemon juice. It cut through the bulk of the crab patty, and lift the flavors of the crab, which may be drowned in the sauce. Not so much an ingredient as a some times forgotten part of the burger ceremony had to be toasted buns. Toasting only the cut side insures the bun doesn’t dry out and fall apart. It also means it gets less soggy form seeping sauces. I am also going to sear the sliced onions a little as raw onions can be over powering.





Also on the Krusty Krab’s “Krab Land” menu is Krabby Fries and Kelp Shake. This makes the Krabby Combo. I’m going to make normal deep fried fries but with a seaweed dusting. I always have problems with frying chips. Everyone has different methods. I am reading The Man Who Ate Everything, Steingarth, and he suggests the process of hardening. Like any strong iron, or steel frying pans would know, being heated, then suddenly cooled down and repeating this process a few times, results in a stronger material. This as it turns out, works the same for potatoes. So I peeled and sliced some waxy potatoes up into thin strips, washed and rinsed them under cold tap water for a good ten minuets. I fried them in sunflower oil in small batches on a medium high heat. I stained and de-greased them, then put them in the fridge for 30 mins. This was done three times. I crumbled up some nori seaweed and sprinkled it over the chips after the last fry. This acted as a substitute to both salt and pepper.



My Version of Krabby Fries:
Maris Pipers
Nori Seaweed
Sunflower oil

To drink? Kelp shake just wouldn’t have tasted very nice, so instead, I made a Kreamy Koconut Shake. I did this by blitzing together Swedish Glaze smooth vanilla ice cream with grated coconut and some full fat milk.

So the food’s sorted, but I wanted to go a little bit further. So I made some Krusty Krab Burger paper and a Krabby Fries Cup. The only thing that would have put me in a happier mood, would have been to watch an episode of Sponge Bob whilst eating my Krabby Combo, but instead, my house mate and my self ate our Krabby Combos whilst watching Eastenders. Happy eating!

The Water House

A recent visit to The Water House on Regent's Canal, proved to be a gastronomical, educational and environmental experience. I had a essay to write about how I would turn a local eatery into a more ethical and sustainable environment. I did some research and found that London has a great collection of restaurants concerned with providing great food in comfortable surroundings, whilst lowering theirs and our CO2 footprints. Restaurants create a lot of waste, and this is a problem, not only for the environment, but also for the restaurant's efficiency. The Water House has won awards for coming up with smart ways to get around this. Every little detail has been carefully thought out to be as ethical as possible. How? Well, lets begin with the unique location. Situated right by Regents canal, and in a the middle of a newly built council block in Hackney, The Water House was part of a regeneration scheme started by The Shorditch Trust. The restaurant serves as a place for local people to come and enjoy a fine-dining experience, for a reasonable price. It also serves as a place for trainee eco-chefs to gain experience. Started by chefs from Jamie Oliver's 15, the strain is on making the chefs think more like gardeners as well as thinking like chefs. This hyper-breed, makes chefs more in tune with the seasonality of food and to think more locally. Food is sourced as local as possible. Most food, beer and wine is sourced within the London area. I got talking to our waitress and she told me even the rice is shipped over to cut down on CO2 emissions. Impressive? I think so. Especially as there was a good selection of food on the menu and everything ordered was a delight to my senses. Not only this, but i felt i was actually doing some good for once by eating out. The menu was laid out well, separating daily specials from monthly specials. For my first course, I order sour dough brochette with a selection of toppings. Once finished with my first course, the left over toppings were left on our table to be consumed at our own leisurely pace. This although, small would make all the difference to a restaurant.

Granted, The Water House aren't trying to win any Michelin stars, they want to create a relaxed environment, where people can come and enjoy good food. This couldn't be more different to a recent visit to The Princess of Shorditch, where although the food was sub-standered fine dinning, the atmosphere in there upstairs restaurant, was stiff, dingy and pretentious. I found i just couldn't let my self relax. I was even more disappointed when I had to fork out money for food i didn't really even enjoy and even more so for feeling unsatisfied. The Water House on the other hand is value for money. The bill did come out to £60, but this was for three courses, a glass of wine, and grappa (yes a shot of grappa after dinner, said to help digestion, but really not worth it) for two people. Not bad at all. I left feeling full and content, and better about life. Even the rain on the walk back to the station wasn't all that bad, knowing it was going to be collected by The Water House to be used in flushing their toilets.

Sneakers ‘BUNDT’ cake

I recently bought a Bundt cake tin online. I’m not much of a pastry cook. I’m far too impatient, always get measurements wrong and I find the whole process too slow and laborious. So why did I buy a Bundt tin? Because they are beautiful bits of kitchen ware. They come in so many different shapes and sixes and the shiny metallic moulds are so attractive. Bundt cakes are originally German and were called ‘Bundt’ because in German Bundt comes from the word Bundtkuchen which means to bundle/wrap around. Bundt cakes have a central hole which the batter is poured around. I don’t know why this is exactly, but it does means you get a nice hard coating around the cake, and the hole means more external surface area for more of this nice hard coating.

Bundt cakes were originally eaten during the German harvest, and were cooked in heavy cast iron pans or delicate ceramic which meant it was rather difficult to handle and the cake often came out unevenly cooked. Then a Mr H. David Dalquist (an American) decided to take this nice ‘bunt cake’ idea and improve it. So he started a company called Nordic Ware, which made bundt cake tins from aluminium, which meant they were easier to make and the cake also cooked more evenly. The aluminium also means more interesting shapes can be tried out. Like my Holiday Tree Tin. This is a very different design to the Bundt tins available before Nordic Ware.


So, I can’t have a beautiful cake tin and not use it really can i? So I looked in my cupboards and found crunchy peanut butter and sneakers…. Oh yes! A Sneakers cake! Made the recipe up from the top of my head baring in mind what I had available in the house… and for someone who doesn’t like making cakes, I think I did rather well.

1 cup Self raising flour
1 cup Caster Sugar
1 cup Milk
½ cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 vanilla pod
6 tablespoons peanut butter
1 sneakers bar

Greased the tin…. Put everything in together into a mixer…. put half the mixture in my tin....cut up my sneakers bar and placed it around the tin...


poured the rest of the mixture over the top....and cooked at 175c for 35 mins in a fan assisted oven….Took out of oven to cool in mould for 10 mins…. Took out of mould and placed on cooling rack… had a sneaky taste whilst still warm… dusted cocoa powder over the top… : )

THE WILD SIDE OF TV DINNERS

I’ve been getting really bored of TV cooking programmes recently. Nothing seems to tickle my taste buds any more. Gordon’s eccentric behaviour is starting to wear thin, and Ainsley is a tad bit annoying. Everyone’s doing the same thing too. Home grown, eco friendly, healthy living…. Blah blah fucking blah. It’s boring already! Okay, so in our student house, we don’t have UKTV Food, otherwise I’d happily be watching re-runs of Rick Stein.

Not all food programmes are bad. Hugh Fearnley’s River cottage is good, or should I say used to be good. When he first moved to Devon and lived in his little cottage… and actually made mistakes. When his home grown veg didn’t grow as expected, when fishing trips were fruitless, when his chickens were broody, and when the camera shots weren’t so choreographed. This is the human Hugh I miss.

So you can imagine my delight when I found A Cook on The Wild Side and TV Dinners on channel 4OD! I was so very happy. For those who don’t know, these were Hugh’s first ever TV programmes. Made in the 90s, A Cook on The Wild Side, was when Hugh left his life as a successful London chef and hit the road to discover the foraged goods of the UK in the most ingenious automobile ever. His ‘van’ contained a compact kitchen, come living space. For hot summer days it opened up to the outdoors. On the back of the van (and I think this is the piece de resistance) he had a bicycle, which when placed stationary and the paddles were rotated, it generated a fire on which he could cook his found foraged goods. Genius. So on his show he travelled the length and breath of the great British Isles. He picked heather in Scotland, made termite patties on his canal boat (another fantastic mode of transport employed by Hugh), he even went bin diving in London. I can not tell you how good this programme is. It’s a shame there is nothing similar to this especially when we all seem to be short on money. We seem to forget nature is our local super market…. And it’s free. Even London has places to forage.

Another gem on 4OD is TV Dinners. A great idea, where Hugh helps out at different people’s dinner parties. Real people, and some wacky dinner ideas. Again, made in the 90s, but not at all dated. A futurist’s dinner part, a hippy wedding, a Chinese New Year dinner, cooking a trout in the sink (and it actually works!), he even cooks human placenta! I can’t stress how great this show actually is. It’s so entertaining, I watched 5 hours straight. The best thing is, we rarely get to see into other people’s kitchen, and their secrets of cooking. There are some great tips and some really interesting recipes. The problem with TV chefs, it’s the same people/chefs, same ideas and they seem to follow the same trends. But when TV cooking programmes go into people’s homes, you see the many different ways of cooking, most of them passed down through their families. The best part of the programme is when the food is shared with their dinner guests. This is what food is about, sharing. Even if it’s with one other person, it’s what all those hours in the kitchen were spent labouring over. Good food, made with passion and love : )

Chilli Garlic Jumbo Prawns

My boyfriend has had two large, still with the shell on, jumbo prawns sat in his fridge for a while. We have been unsure what to do with them. Because they were so big, we wanted to make the most of them. But last night i we were hungry and very poor. Being a Sunday, most places had shut, and for some reason the house refused to give BP another penny. So i looked in the fridge. I found some garlic, some butter, and some parmesan cheese. I knew i'd left some chilli flakes in his cupboard. Perfect, some buttery, garlicky and chilli, jumbo prawns.

Now i'm not normally that squeamish, but those prawns had huge beady eyes ad their heads where massive. Each prawn must have been bigger then an average sized banana. I don't mind peeling prawns when they've been cooked, but when they're raw, they have this still life quality about them. like they could come alive any minuet and strangle me with their large spindly antennas. so being a girl, i got rob to do them for me. at one point the shell came off the head, but the brains and facial muscles were left hanging off the limp body.

Once everything was removed and cleaned, i butterflied the prawns. I fried some garlic and chilli in some butter and oil. I cooked the for around 2 mins on each side then removed and placed to one side. i then put in some cooked slightly undercooked spaghetti and a little bit of the salty water it was cooked in. Not only does this give you more sauce when you're not really working with much, but it is also a really good way of thickening up sauces due to the starch released from boiling the pasta. I coated the pasta with the sauce and then let the spaghetti cook till a little bit hard. i grated loads of parmesan cheese over the top and served up. i placed the prawns on top of the paste and oh my days did we enjoy it!

Chicken Biryani & Crunchy Coconut and Corriander Raita

I've been missing my mum's cooking recently. I've eaten all her frozen dhal. No where near me does good enough Indian. So i decided after yet another dream about food to make biryani. I have attempted it before, but never properly with saffron rice. From the moment i got up that day, i couldn't stop thinking about this biryani. the whole day i was planning my masterpiece. I know what makes a good biryani for me personally. i was adamant to make the best biryani ever! so, a good biryani to me? Chicken in a medium dry sauce, mushrooms, cashew nut, loads of strips of ginger, garlic and chillies (strips are vital), saffron and cardamon rice, crispy onions and coriander to garnish. but most importantly spice. All the biryanis i've had as a child have always been immensely hot. i think it's a good way to introduce people to the indian way of 'hot hot... cool'. basically this is when you eat something spicy, then eat something else that's spicy but is in a milk product. example, spicy bombay mix, then drink some spicy chai. bombay mix is spicy, the tea you drink is spicy and your mouth gets really hot, but the milk cuts the heat almost immediately after and you get this tiny little sense of relief. so you do it again. so with the biryani, i decided to serve a coriander, coconut, and chilli raita.

Chicken marinade;
yogurt,
mixed with the paste of turmeric, chilli powder, grated ginger, crushed galic, tomato puree, chillies.
marinade for 2 hours

Saffron rice;
1/2 cup milk,
1/2 cup water,
saffron,
cardamon
i cooked this earlier on an let cool. this meant the rice wasn't too wet before going in the oven, so it'd properly crisp up.

Chicken curry:
Thinly sliced onion,
thin strips of garlic,
ginger
chilli
cumin powder
coriander powder
garam masala
cream
fry thinly sliced onions in butter and oil till nearly golden. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook with onions till golden. add the cumin and coriander powder. Add the chicken and let cook. then add the garam masala, cook off then add one cup of water and let it simmer for 30 mins on a low heat. Stir in the cream.

i let the chicken sit for another hour till heating it up again then placing into a deep oven prof dish.i removed to cardamon pods from the rice and spread it on top of the chicken. i placed it in the oven for 20 mins at 200c.

whilst that was in the oven i made my raita.
Yogurt,
small dices of cucumber
small dices of shallots,
finely chopped chilli
finely chopped coriander,
grated coconut
the cucumber, shallots and the coconut give it a crunch, the chilli and shallot give it some heat, and the cucumber, yogurt and coriander cool it down. Perfect combination with a spicy biryani : )

i fried some thinly sliced shallots and some coriander(carful cause it really spits)and let dry on some kitchen towel, then sprinkled over the biryani.

i fried some poppadoms and had some cold cobras in the fridge. i plated up and was ready to take a pic for the blog... but my camera ran out of battery. Used a house mate's phone to take a pic... but cause i was so hungry and the food looked so good. so i apologise cause the photo is pretty bad. But i really recommend trying it.

CAKE IN A MUG

So I've been at the pub tonight. It's ladies's night and all ladies get 7 drinks for £5. Pretty good eh? Even better, my friend behind the bar gave me a few extra drinks. Nice... : ) So all i've had is a BLT (a very nice BLT as well from my uni canteen) today, and i'm very very hungry and so ver smashed. i want food, something simple and yummy. So me and the boyf decide to cook a stew, come hot pot, come cottage pie kind thing. We eat dinner at 12.30, worth the wait really. It was delicious. Really surprising, contrary to the belief that stews only taste good if cooked for a long time... it's not necessarily always true. Anywho... so i needed something nice and sweet to finish off with, and the first thing that came to mind was Cake in a Mug. Attempted once, but a little bit of a disaster... not eatable basically.... too chewy. Looked up the recipe to remind my self and it was so simple. decided to make a few adjustments with measurements. Poped over to BP petrol station and bought eggs and self raising. put it all together in minuets.... topped with strawberry cheese cake ice cream... OH MY DAYS!!!!! so good! Here's the reciepe... please try it, it's so simple. Really worth the few minuets.

2 Tablespoons Self Raising flour
2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil

Get a big mug.... mix the flour, sugar and cocoa together... mix the egg in....then add the milk and oil into the mixture and mix well... put in the microwave for 4 minuets on full power... Take out, leave to stand for 1 minuet... add ice-cream... eat... enjoy....

INAMO

I had heard a lot about this new Pan Asian restaurant in Soho, which is supposedly the first ever, and maybe the only, interactive restaurant in the world. I looked up the menu online and liked what I saw, so decided to take my friend who was down in London for the weekend to Inamo. There wasn’t anyone at the doors to greet us, and it took a while for someone to show us how it all worked, but after a short demonstration, we didn’t have to call for a waiter until paying for the bill. Surprisingly there seemed to be as many waiters as there were customers.

The interactive menu was a little hard to navigate, and it was hard to compare dishes and prices. But the projection of your selected dish on your place mat was rather nice. Ordering food was really simple and reduces the time for indecisiveness. Whilst waiting for your food there were games to play, designs to pick for your table ambience, and even a chef cam. We were having so much fun with our interactive touchpad, we were surprised at how fast the food came out.

I ordered the Cinnamon Chicken with rice, my friend ordered the Black Faced Lamb which and rice, and we had the Crunchy Salad to share. The food was delicious. Like a lot of pan asian food, it was experimental and had some really interesting combinations like moromi miso and lamb.

Over all, it was reasonably priced (£50) between the two of us. We didn’t have space for dessert, but this was probably a good thing as all they had were ice-creams. I thought they would have some desserts which were equally as impressive as the rest of their menu.

souffle time!

i had a horrible nightmare the other day... i stood in my kitchen with all the ingredients to make a souffle. my egg yolks and whites were separated, and as i began to whisk my whites, i realised all i had to whisk them was a bent fork! Horror! I stood over my whites trying to beat them to stiff peaks, but i was getting no where. Nightmare. My souffle was a disaster! Baack to real life and the following day i was watching ready steady cook, and a french chef was making souffle. Right! i thought, this is too wired a coincidence, i have to make souffle just to prove to myself i can. I'd never made it before, but knew roughly what went in and how to make it. I had goats cheese in the fridge, eegs, milk, flour, butter and some cranberry sauce! perfect. so i set about making my souffle... came to whisk my egg whites and i broke out into a sweat... shit! no whisk... this is gonna be a failure! "look in the middle drawer," suggested my house mate. There in the middle drawer lye a sorry looking electrical whisk, with one half of the whisks missing. this won't work. but i had no other choice. I fiddled around with it for a bit and made the lone whisk rotate at a very slow rate. i stood over my egg whites a whisked and whisked.... nothing happened at first, and i felt a da ja vu coming on. "give it a while" my house mate encouraged.so i did, and slowly but surely my whites started to double in size... Beautiful! great stuff, so i made my goats cheese sauce, added the yolk and slowly added it to my white. This is meant to be the crucial stage.. but it was a breeze. i filled my butter and parmesan coated ramekins and put it in the oven for 20 mins. 20 mins later, i had 6 lovely, fluffy and well risen souffles. Put some cranberry sauce on it and voila! They were very yummy. So ever since, i can't stop! i've been making camembert souffle, which is my personal favourite. Next i want to try to make a lactose free souffle with cauliflower and broccoli souffle using rice milk for lactose free friend who would otherwise never get to try souffle in her life. this is not acceptable.

Tater Mits

I've seen these "Tater Mits" on a few cookware websites. They're gloves which wash and peel your potatoes and other root veg, at the same time. This is due to the abrasive material on the palm side of the gloves. i find peelers can be fiddly and they take of too much flesh. A lot of the nutrients are also in the skin, which we tend to discard of. The Tater Mits leave just enough skin on to be nutritious but still removes the dirt on the potato. Obviously, if you want to get rid of all the skin, then just rub for longer. the only down side is you have to par boil the potatoes for a bit, and the skin should come off in 3 seconds. You can peel them straight away, and it'd take you 12 seconds...still not bad. The invention is Japanese, and has now become a big Teleshopping product. it may be kitch, and a little tacky, but it is a fresh look at how we handle and prepare vegetables. I like them and think they'd give a nice rough surface for roasted potatoes/parsnips so they're skins crisp up nicely. i'll defiantly be buying a pair pair for myself... not really for retail in any stores, but available to order online.

FOOD FIGHT @ BUCKINGHAM PALACE!

On the 5th of December, i held a food fight at Buckingham Palace. I called it the Cultural Food Fight, and the idea was to bring food from a cultural background of ones liking. We flash mobbed the area for a minuet, a minuet of messy madness. It went so well and was so much fun, i'm gonna hold another one early next year in another location. The theme will be the Cooperate Food Fight. Bring food from a large chain takeaway (McDonald's, Itsu, Pret, PFC, Starbucks... etc). Get into groups with people who have food from the same cooperation as yourself and fight!

watch this space....

till then, here is a video of the fight.

Jelly Bento

I've been making a lot of jelly and been experimenting with suspending interesting ingredients in them. I paid a visit to a Japanese supermarket of Finchley Road where i found some really strange ingredients. I get my bento box out, and decided to make a medley of pretty jelly. I made lychee jelly, champagne jelly, Rum and ginger jelly, Melon Jelly and my favourite, Passion Fruit jelly. I then layered the jelly adding my found ingredients as i layered. Even though they wouldn't taste so good, i got some lovely patterns and beautiful pictures...(Still to be put up). In my blue lychee jelly, i put japanese mushrooms and silver balls, in my champagne jelly i put burst cardamon seeds, in my passion fruit jelly i put staranese and ginger, and finally in my melon jelly i put little fish and seaweed. Looks lovely, but i'm gonna work on making a jelly that's pretty and edible.