I’m finding myself with a lot of tinned goods recently, not unlike many people in our little shaky isles in the wake of our 7.8 earthquake. It pays to be prepared. I’ve heard the comment more than once that tinned pears are the least exciting …
Toddlers and sugar, a match made in heaven? Probably not for their parents, but when it’s your niece’s third birthday party and you said you’d make biscuits, it’s hardly time to skimp on the sugar. I was inspired to make these little numbers by one …
Catching up is an excellent excuse for eating.
I’ve been away having numerous catch-ups and visiting some favourite old haunts. London is a favourite old haunt and feels a little like a second home, in no small part because of the many fabulous people living there who I am lucky enough to call my friends.
Some of my happiest London memories involve long afternoons with our friends Patricia and Omer, eating delicious home-cooked Mediterranean food and perfecting cidra-pouring as afternoon slipped into evening. So of course I jumped at the chance for a catch-up over a home-cooked meal at theirs.
Patricia, Omer and their gorgeous children live in Bromley, South London. I have a special little spot in my heart for this part of London as my grandparents lived there with my Mum when she was small. There is a treasured 1950’s clock from Locksbottom which still hangs on their wall, albeit in their rest home unit. So you will understand I couldn’t resist taking this photo of a Locksbottom bus as we walked back to Bromley station.
This post is inspired by the delicious couscous salad Patricia and Omer served with lamb and slices of avocado. I’ve based it on a Turkish kisir but I can’t promise it’s as good as Omer’s. It’s a pretty good lunch though, and a recommend serving it with sliced avocado.
Ingredients:
Place your couscous in a large salad bowl. Pour over the olive oil and mix thoroughly; some kisir recipes even recommend mixing with your hands. Next, add the red pepper paste, again mixing in very thoroughly.
I made my own paste by whizzing up a jar of roasted peppers. For the more dedicated, there are some amazing-sounding recipes for making red pepper paste, or biber salçası, from scratch. I loved reading this one with its beautiful, mouth-watering photography.
The vegetables, lemon juice, herbs and seasonings go in last. Keep mixing until everything is evenly spread and combined. I recommend popping this in the fridge for an hour or two before serving to let the flavours mingle.
I was greatly assisted in making my own kisir by this and this recipe.
Steamed pudding is like a sweet, jammy hug in a bowl. I love it. It’s a special favourite in our little country. I was recently introduced to a New Zealand specialty steamed pudding which is the queen of both steamed puddings and now of my heart…burnt …
Oh, my mouth waters at the merest mention of potstickers! Delicious, plump little morsels, steaming hot and so satisfying. Their real name is Jiaozi, particularly popular during Chinese New Year. In my house, we don’t wait for New Year. They are popular year-round. I’ve been …
I was the happy competitor in a baking competition recently. I say ‘happy’ because how could you ever not be happy when you have a genuine excuse to make sweet delicious treats several times over? And the competition was for a great cause too…Good Bitches Baking and their inaugural Mystery Box Challenge.
I was delighted to find coffee and dark chocolate in the mystery box. I would be delighted to happen upon this combination anywhere, granted, but having the opportunity to make two of my favourite things into something even better? Yippee is all I can say.
When in need of something sweet and decadent, shortbread is never too far from my thoughts. I’m a self-confessed butter-lover (yes, I did eat it in slabs straight from the block as a child). Shortbread may as well be a slab of butter that has been baked in an oven.
You might think shortbread couldn’t be any better and perhaps, even, should not be messed with. I’m sympathetic to this. There are few pleasures in life as scrumptious as a some buttery sweet shortbread and a hot drink, or during Christmas, a nip of single malt.
But do give this a go if you enjoy dark chocolate and coffee as much as I do…shortbread provides the perfect backdrop, and this can be whipped up without much bother. The ground coffee beans add a lovely coffee punch, but leave out or reduce if you want a hint of coffee rather than a cup.
For 10-15 pieces, you will need:
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees celsius.
Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and cornflour together into the bowl with the butter and icing sugar mix. Stir lightly until just combined.
Add the coffee, chocolate and coffee grounds. Use a spoon to combine into the other ingredients until the mixture starts to form a dough.
Turn out onto a floured baking tray and knead lightly. Spread out into a circle or rectangle (up to you!) – it should be a lovely tan colour, like below. Cut into bars and prick with a fork.
Bake until slightly golden – about twenty minutes.
Savoury cheesy beery sauce on toast, that is my delicious experience with Welsh Rarebit to date. And my, this lovely little cheese-on-toast treat is scrumptious.
Hurrah, apples are in season again! This means I can continue my alphabetical journey through New Zealand’s kitchen bible, the Edmonds Cook Book, where I am still languishing somewhat in the apple section of the A recipes. I’m not going to lie, the idea …
I know, I know, vegetables and chocolate. My reflex reaction is ‘blurgh’ too. But bear with me, these brownies are good, contain lots of dark chocolate and are a handy way to use up beetroot if you find yourself needing to do so.
Not that I often have spare beetroot about the place. I love the stuff, in line with my enthusiasm for pretty much all vegetables. The humble beetroot is a member of the Amaranthaceae family and related, would you believe, to chard. Our modern-day beets descend from the sea beet of the Mediterranean. Our little beet has an ancient and distinguished history. Remains of beets have been discovered in illustrious and ancient places, including the third dynasty pyramid Saqqara and the Neolithic site Aartswoud in the Netherlands.
So naturally we people of the 21st century have found that mashing up beetroot and baking it with chocolate is a delicious, modern usage. The best tip I can give you about this recipe, as warned in the excellent original from BBC, is to wear gloves and ideally an apron when peeling the beets. Beetroot has a brilliant red juice, which is a stunning, attractive colour, but will make it look as though you killed someone and it takes some time to scrub off.
You will need:
Set the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Butter then line a 20 x 30cm tin.
Cover up with rubber gloves and an apron then peel the beetroot and cut it into chunks. I find it helps to do this bit in the sink, so that you are not left with a pink kitchen.
Place the beetroot in a large microwave-proof bowl and cover with water. Cover the top of the bowl with cling film, pierce the cling film with a few holes and microwave on high for 12 minutes.
Drain the beetroot then place back in the bowl with the butter, chocolate and vanilla extract. Use a hand-held, bladed blender to mulch into as liquid-y a mix as you can manage. You can also do this bit in an electric mixer, although I find my hand-held one works fine as the beetroot is soft and its warmth melts the chocolate.
Crack the eggs into another large bowl and add the caster sugar. Beat until foamy and pale, about two minutes with an electric beater. Gently fold in the beetroot mix, then sift in the flour and cocoa. Mix in the flour and cocoa gently with a metal spoon. It will be quite pink!
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes, until the top is all risen. Cool completely in the tin and once cooled, dust with icing sugar.
This is sweet and chocolatey and honestly, not a hint of beetroot. It has a very pretty pinkish tinge, not unlike a red velvet cake.
What to do with sage? Make buttery, cheesy sage and cheddar biscuits? Yes please. I’ve found myself with a reasonably plentiful supply of fresh sage, which is a new thing. I have always managed to grow parsley and been left perplexed at how to use the …