What to eat?

This is the question that I guess occupies most of us.  I look for inspiration from books,  TV and sometimes the supermarket.  I walk through the stores looking for ideas and often that doesn't work.   Have you ever tried asking your family what they want to eat....... and what do they say?  We don't mind!!!!

Small food shops and the markets are the best because here we can laugh and joke and pass the time of day with everyone.  People are less rushed and stressed and take time to discuss recipes and ideas.
This is one of my favorite shops, they sell food from all over the world.  Bristol is a melting pot of many different cultures which is reflected in the wide variety of both its restaurants and markets.

We also have a local shop in Chipping Sodbury that have done a series of cooking programs on the TV.  The Fabulous Baker Brothers is the name of the show, I know it sounds a bit like the movie doesn't it?  One has the artisan bread shop and the other is a butcher.  With all this going on around me I shouldn't be stuck for ideas.

I also spend time reading cook books and food magazines.  One of my favorite cook books is 'the kitchen diaries' by Nigel Slater.  I bought it as a birthday gift for a friend but it never reached her, I kept it and bought her another one.  This book gives me so many food ideas I just have to share it with someone.  I made this cake last night

Blueberry and Pear Cake




130g butter
130g sugar
130g plain flour
a teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
2 pears - I used 3
250g blueberries - I only used 150g as I didn't feel like going out again to get more




Set oven at 180C and line the base of a square 21-22cm cake tin with baking parchment.
Beat together butter and sugar
Add beaten eggs gradually
Add sifted flour and baking powder
Peel and core pears and wash bluberries
Scrape mixture into the cake tin, add pears and blueberrys on top of the cake mixture.  Scatter some brown sugar over the top of the fruit.
Bake for about 55 minuets and test with skewer to see if its done.
Cool for about 10 minutes and turn onto a cooling tray.

The texture is very soft and could almost be served as a desert with ice cream or yoghourt

Orange and Caraway Seed Cake

Thank you Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall for this amazing recipe.  I just can't stop eating it.

Quite a fitting recipe to break the long silence since my last blog.  It was never my intention for it to be so long between posts, and the assumption that I have not been cooking at all would be wrong.  I made some wonderful cordials during the Summer months last year, starting with the elderflower one and ending with rose hip. As usual I left it late to gather the berries and Autumn saw me off on my bike complete with gloves for the thorns, a bag and a pair of scissors.  Making cordials can be very rewarding especially as you drink them through the winter months reminding yourself of the sunshine of the previous year (or not as the case may be)

So here we are almost at the beginning of a new year with some exciting months ahead for cooking, traveling and having fun.

Orange and Caraway Seed Cake. This is great and easy to make. It keeps well for a few days in an airtight tin if it lasts that long.

• 250g butter, softened,
• 350g self-raising flour
• 
½ tsp mixed spice
• 
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg,
Pinch of salt
• 
250g caster sugar
• 
4 eggs
• 
30g caraway seeds
• 
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 
4 tbsp orange juice
• 4 tbsp brandy
or Grand Marnier if you have it
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.  Lightly grease a 22cm spring-form cake tin, and line  Sift the flour,mixed spice, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. 

Cream the butter and  sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well

Beat in the caraway and orange zest. 

Fold in the flour until just combined, then stir in the orange juice and brandy. Spoon into the tin, smooth the top and sprinkle with demerara sugar

 Bake for about 45 minutes and test with a skewer to see it the cake is cooked

 Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out on to a rack to cool and enjoy.

Elderflower cordial time

Well I almost missed it.  I was desperately searching the hedgerows for elderflowers that have started their season early and have now almost gone.  Every year I like to make elderflower cordial, I know you can buy it but like most food it tastes much better when it is home made.

The elderflower has been well known through out the centuries for its high vitamin C content and its healing properties.  The cordial is very refreshing served with sparkling water some ice and lemon.  Its also very simple and easy to make.

20 heads of elderflowers
1.5 kg of white sugar
1.2 litres water
2 unwaxed lemons
50 g citric acid

 Shake the elderflowers to get rid of any lingering insects, and then place in a large bowl.

 Put the sugar into a pan with the water and heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved.

While the sugar syrup is heating, prepare the lemons by taking off the zest and slicing, add to the bowl.

Pour over the boiling sugar syrup and stir in the citric acid.  Cover with a cloth and leave for 24 hours

Next day, strain the cordial through a sieve lined with muslin and pour into clean plastic or glass bottles.  You can store in the freezer if you wish to keep through the winter.

You can also add it to ice cream  or desserts and its great with gin.  If you are not storing in the fridge, then loosen the tops of the bottles from time to time as they can ferment and burst.  Enjoy.

Traditional Arabic dessert - Knafeh bil Jiben

Why does time seem to speed up the older you get.  When we were young, birthdays never seemed to come and we were always waiting for them with excitement, now they come around far too fast.  Its a month since I updated my blog, where did the time go? Tempus fugit (time flies).
I was armed with pictures and recipes from Germany where I spent a fantastic Easter, and now its the middle of May and its too late for Easter recipes,
In the meantime someone gave me the recipe for the most fantastic Lebanese desert I have ever tasted, made from cheese and shredded filo pastry topped with sugar syrup

My husband almost grew up with this dessert and he claims its also great for a hangover cure, when eaten for breakfast, but I have only his word for it. I only know that once I make it I can't stop eating it, I keep going back for more.  There are many different versions of this recipe but this one is tried and tested and I haven't had any complaints yet.

Knafeh bil Jiben

1 pack of Kaitafi, shredded filo pastry (bought from most Middle Eastern Grocers)
250 grams of Mascarpone
250 grams mozzarella
120 grams of unsalted butter or ghee
yellow food colour (optional, I don't use it)
this will fit a dish about 20 cm x 20 cm

Sugar syrup
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
Rose water or orange flower water

First prepare the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and heat slowly until the sugar is dissolved.  Add lemon juice and bring to the boil.  Turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes and then add 2  teaspoons of rose water.

Melt the butter and place the shredded filo in a bowl, (use about 300 grams ) and break down by hand, add melted butter and mix again by hand.

Cut mozzarella into small pieces and mix with the mascarpone until smooth, work with the fingers.  This is the filling.

Put half the filo into the dish, add cheese and add the rest of the filo and spread on top of the cheese.

Bake in a hot oven 200, for about 20 mins or until brown.  Cut into slices and add the syrup.

Serve with chopped pistachios and clotted cream, your choice.  Its full of calories and it certainly blew a hole in my diet, but it so delicious.

Tea and Shortbread

I was browsing in my local library the other day and I came across this book called 'bake' by Tina Bester with some amazing cake recipes in.  I often look at cook books but never follow any of the recipes, I like looking at the pictures and the presentations, but anyway I came across a recipe for shortbread.  This really brought back memories of my cooking lessons at school when we had a list of ingredients to take.  I always left it to the last minute and my mother would be running around the kitchen looking for everything I had on my list.  I remember one day we made shortbread and we did mixing and kneading and rolling and it seemed to take a long time.  So when I saw this super fast recipe that was so different I just had to try it.

Shortbread

200g flour
200g butter
50g castor sugar, plus extra for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180 C
Mix the flour and butter together in a food processor and add the sugar
Process again until the mixture is crumbly
Press into a greased fluted 22 cm round tart tin with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown (Be careful not to over cook it)
While still warm cut into wedges, prick with a fork and dust with castor sugar.

It tasted so good and took such a short time to prepare I have made it many times.  I much prefer homemade cakes and cookies but don't always have the time to make them, but this one is so easy.  Try it in the afternoon when a friend visits for tea.

The sweetness of doing nothing but eating cake

Following on from my last blog about doing nothing and feeling guilty, I came across this movie called Eat Pray Love which was a real coincidence as it seemed to legitimize the act of doing nothing.  In fact the Italians even have a name for it, 'la' dolce far niente' the sweetness of doing nothing, how fantastic is that and trust the Italians to get it right.

And how much better is it to enjoy that sweetness with some cake.  The one I am thinking about has a wonderful sugar syrup tasting of rose water.  To be accompanied with a cup of expresso coffee or arabic coffee with cardamon and good book or movie.

This is a cake called Namura

335g semolina flour

1g baking powder

200g white sugar

75g sweetened flaked coconut

55g melted butter

235 ml plain yogurt

60 ml milk or as needed

35g whole almonds

syrup

235 ml water

200g sugar

15 ml lemon juice

a few drops of rose water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). grease an 8 inch square baking dish

In a large bowl, mix together the semolina, baking powder, sugar, coconut and butter.

Add the yogurt and milk and mix until moistened but not liquid.  If it is too dry add more milk.

  Spread into the baking dish, score with a knife so you have the diamond shape and add the almonds.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden.

While the Namura is baking, combine the water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.  heat slowly to make sure the sugar is dissolved, bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the drops of rose water to taste.

When cooked, pour over the syrup and leave to rest for about half an hour. Cut into pieces and serve

What are you doing today

I am feeling incredibly lazy today.  My cooking plans have gone out of the window because I am sitting here doing nothing.  I wonder really why we always expect to be doing something with our time as if we have to justify each minute that passes with something productive to show at the end of it.  O'h look I baked a cake, or I cleaned the house or I went to work and fought my way home in the traffic and now I have to feed the family.  Are we really so far away from that caveman mentality of hunting and foraging as we think we are, or is it just translated into different events like going for a drive, meeting friends and shopping.

Why aren't we happy to just 'be' you know like all the books say 'live in the moment'.  Where am I going with this I ask myself as I realise I have just succumbed to the very thing I was writing about, I am doing something...blogging.  Well I don't have the answers but its good to be aware of it and think of these things.

I was thinking of a meal I had for the first time when I lived in the Middle East called Makloubeh which means upside down.  Quite literally all the ingredients are pre cooked except the rice, it is layered in a pan and then turned upside down to serve.  It was so delicious that of course I wanted the recipe.  It is a palestinian dish and I think the recipe varies from family to family.  This is the one my mother in law used to cook.

Makloubeh

You can use chicken, lamb or beef for this dish, whatever is your preference.

1 chicken or about 1 kilo of lamb or beef
The meat should be cut into large pieces sautéed in oil to brown and then add water and seasoning to just cover the meat.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 40 minutes until cooked.  Drain and save the stock for later.

1 small cauliflower and 3 carrots, blanched and fried
1 aubergine grilled
3 onions sauteed
about 250 grams of washed rice
pine nuts to garnish

For the seasoning it is important to use plenty of salt and black pepper and allspice

When all the ingredients are prepared, take a large pan and start layering.

Onions first then the meat, season well with salt, pepper and allspice.
then add the rest of the vegetables seasoning each layer
Add the rice last and then the stock to just cover the rice.
Bring to the boil and simmer until all the water has gone, about 30 minutes.  Test the rice to make sure it is cooked.
Take a large plate put it over the pan and turn the pan upside down. Garnish with pine nuts and serve with yogurt and salad
It does take time to prepare all the ingredients but it is a great dish to serve for friends on a special occasion.  It looks so good when presented at the table.  My photo does not do it credit but I'm working on this.