What I've been up to...

Right... 2 months since I've opened the blog, yes, not lying, i swear i haven't signed into it that long and today i open to find loads of comments, something I've not seen in a while :). I feel people have stopped reading blogs, like properly reading them and enjoying them, me included. I still do scout around for recipes and the majority of recipes i follow are from blogs, so there is still some hope in this world.

I don't have any recipe for you today. But thought I'd fill you in on what I've been up to.

Sucre Sale by Bobo Macarons

 

We have been extremely busy in the Bobo kitchen with the launch of our new collection of savoury macarons, Sucre Sale- sweet and savoury all in one bite. You'd be surprised at how nice they taste, and I'm not saying this because i work there, but from someone who was sceptical about how they'd turn out, you just have to take my word for it. They are yummm. Dora, the chief taste developer, has come up with flavours like English old mustard with salmon mousse and dill, beetroot, coriander and goats cheese, oregano mushrooms filled with avocado cream and so on. They are perfect for parties and seriously, canapés never looked this pretty! We are currently running an exclusive Christmas offer, so if you are wondering what to gift your loved ones, then head on over to our website and place an order. 

Christmas menu at Tentazioni restaurant

From top left: Swordfish cubes with aubergine ratatouille and red pepper coulis, beef fillet carpaccio with fois gras ice cream, pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage sauce, Scottish lobster and beef fillet, tagliatelle with black truffle sauce, tiramisu.

I was invited to Tentazioni Italian restaurant for a preview of their Christmas menu. It was back in September and walking into a cosy restaurant in Bermondsey with carols playing in the background, Christmas crackers on tables and decorations made me wish for Christmas to approach faster. Now that we are a little over 2 weeks away from Christmas, I want time to stand still so i can hold on to 2014 a little longer. We were treated to 7 different dishes from their tasting menu and i loved all of it, fav being the tagliatelle with black truffle oil. They use fresh seasonal food and the menu is designed by head chef Alberto Modena. The restaurant is conveniently located and has a great private dining area that can host parties of up to 20. I am definitely going back to try their a la carte menu.

Dream non-dairy ice cream

On a cold Nov evening i scurried along the back alleys of Soho to get to the gorgeous Good Housekeeping cooking institute to check out the Dream ice cream pop up. Ice cream in winter is not really my thing but i had to find out what the deal with this gluten free, dairy free, low fat ice cream made with almonds (I know!), was all about. All decked in pink, with an ice cream trolley in a corner, i put together my ice cream sundae of praline crunch and velvety vanilla, full on with sprinkles and wafers. The ice cream is nice, i mean you wouldn't know its gluten free or low fat or anything except its a wee less sweeter than usual, which i think is a good thing, if you plan on dousing it with sauces and such. Right now they have 4 flavours- salted caramel, praline crunch, mint choc chip and velvety vanilla and are retailed at Waitrose at £4.99 per tub. Snuggle up next to a roaring fire with a tub of the praline crunch and I'm sorted. Its never too cold for ice cream, i learnt ;)

L'eto Caffe

L'eto caffe, a high end cafe and restaurant had a press launch of their new location on Brompton street, opposite the V & A museum last month. It was a fun night where bloggers and members of the press attended a champagne and canapé reception and then a feast of pastries from their elaborate collection. We got to take home a goody bag filled to the gills with all sorts of pastries and tarts and cakes. I must add that the tres leche cake i had there was the best, closely followed by the honey cake which apparently is one of their best sellers. L'eto has 6 London locations, so make sure you pop by one of them when you have the chance.

The Great British Chefs Dinner

I had the privilege of attending a gala dinner hosted by Great British Chefs in aid of NSPCC at the grand Banqueting Hall. It was a black tie event, and my first time at a fund raising gala, one I'd never forget too. Michelin star chefs- Nathan Outlaw, Martin Wishart, Frances Atkins and Mark Dodson- put together a gorgeous menu and needless to say, the food was fabulous. The dinner gala raised more than £175,000 and I'm so glad i could be part of this worthy cause. If you would like to donate, please do so on the link provided.

Eat First

One of the problems I face at work is lunch. I don't have many options around and carrying lunch every day is not feasible for me. Same goes with the husband. So I was pretty thrilled to know about this new service called Eat First, delivering fresh and healthy meals to your office. Every day you get to choose from a veg or non veg option (no confusion there) and its delivered within 15 minutes of placing the order, which i think is definitely a plus point. I got to taste some of their food at the launch event and its really good. At the moment they cover only the city and Canary wharf but I'm hoping they'd expand west and I'd be able to avail of their services soon.

Mushroom cobbler

Clearly summer is over, like seriously over! Its been raining non-stop since yesterday and I've thoroughly enjoyed staying indoors, snuggling up on the sofa watching brainless sitcoms back to back. We are off to Devon day after and i have so much to do, so I'm not quite enjoying the wet and windy day today. 

Chilly days like these call for warm bakes and crusty bread. So i got around to making this tasty mushroom cobbler by Marcus Wareing, a first for me actually. I have never tried making a cobbler before- a fruit one especially- and was pleasantly surprised at how nice this tasted. The scone was so flavourful and the perfect topping for the creamy mushroom mix. It does take a bit of time, but hey nothing tasty comes easy right? I had the privilege of meeting Marcus Wareing in person and visiting his signature brasserie Gilbert Scott last year. The place is fab and I'm glad i picked this recipe which is straight off his menu at Gilbert Scott.

Great British Chefs has this amazing array of summer recipes, contributed by the experts in the field and i had a tough time choosing one. My first choice was the hokey pokey ice cream, but the husband definitely thought it wasn't ice cream weather. Second choice was the cobbler, closely followed by the new potato salad with bacon and broad beans (which I'm sooo making soon). I'm entering this post for the GBC Summertime Bloggers challenge and even though summer may be over, there is no harm in embracing the summer bounty that's still in abundance. Crossing my fingers. Wish me luck.

Recipe halved (serves 2)

 

Scone topping
Plain flour- 87 gms
Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp
Cheddar cheese- 15 gms, grated
Dill- 1/2 tsp, finely chopped
Salt & pepper- to taste
Butter- 50gms, at room temperature
Ice cold water- approx. 1 tbsp
Egg white- for egg wash

Cheese sauce
Milk- 300ml
Bay leaf- 1
Cloves- 2
Thyme leaves- a small sprig

Shallot- 1 small, finely chopped

Butter- 20gms
Flour- 20 gms
Cheddar cheese- 25 gms, grated
Ground nutmeg- a pinch
Salt & pepper- to taste

Mushroom filling
Oil- 1 tbsp
Chestnut mushrooms- 250 gms, quartered
Flat mushrooms- 250 gms, chopped into chunks (same size as that of the chopped chestnut mushrooms)

Paprika- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Baby spinach- 100 gms
Garlic- 5 pods, crushed
Bacon bits- 5 rashers (optional)
Salt & pepper- to taste

 

First get the scones ready.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, cheese, dill, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.
Grate in the butter (i thought this was a really cool idea, to grate in the butter, especially if you have forgotten to take it out to bring to room temperature) and mix gently with your hands to resemble coarse breadcrumbs.
Pour in the water, a bit at a time, if you are doubtful, and bring the whole mix together to form a dough.
Don't over work this mix, or else the scone becomes tough.
Keep covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

While the dough is resting get the cheese sauce going.
Mix together the milk, bay leaf, cloves, thyme leaves and shallot shallot in a saucepan, infuse over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
At this point remove from heat and leave aside to infuse for about 20 to 30 minutes (or however long you'd take to prepare the mushroom filling)

Fry the bacon in a saucepan till crisp.
Drain on paper towels and chop into small pieces.

 

Heat oil in a large frying pan and throw in all the mushrooms.
Season with paprika (if using), salt and pepper and stir fry on medium heat till it changes colour.
Throw in the spinach followed by garlic and continue frying till the spinach has wilted, the mushroom is cooked and all the water is absorbed.
Transfer to a baking dish.
Also stir in the bacon bits into the mushroom-spinach mix.

Preheat the oven to 180C at this point and get back to the cheese sauce.
Strain the infused milk into a cup and use the same saucepan to complete the sauce.
Melt the butter and add the flour.
Stir with a wooden ladle and cook the roux for about 5 minutes on low heat.
Add the infused milk, bit by bit, into the roux and whisk well to avoid lumps.
Increase the heat to medium-high and simmer for about 10 minutes, to cook the roux.
Add the cheese, season with salt and pepper and nutmeg. Stir it all in.
Pour over the spinach mix. Keep warm.

Take the scone dough out of the fridge and give a nice knead.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to 1 cm thickness.
Cut into 7 disks using a 3cm diameter ring and place on top of the mushroom mix .
Brush the scones with egg wash and bake the cobbler in the middle shelf of the oven for about 25 minutes or till the scones turn golden brown and the mixture bubbles.
serve with some crusty bread.

 

Notes: You can roll out and cut the scones a day or so ahead and freeze them till ready to use.
Original recipe called for oyster mushrooms, i didn't have any, but certainly use them if you can.
I had to desperately use up some bacon and hence added that. Of course you can add chicken, beef or pancetta to the mix to make it a more heavy meal.
If you are using self raising flour for the scones, then reduce the baking powder to 1/2 tsp.
I did add/ omit some ingredients from the original recipe, just to suit our taste.

Christmas pudding ice cream

 

Last week, a bunch of us had a cook-along session on Google+ Hangout hosted by Great British Chefs and Tesco Real Food. We were cooking along with award winning Chef Galton Blackiston who runs Morston Hall, up at the Norfolk coast, and making Christmas pudding ice cream was on the agenda. It was my first time doing a hangout session like this and so was a wee bit nervous as to how it would churn out (pun intended).

We were asked to do a few preps before hand and jot down any relevant questions we wanted to ask Chef Galton during the session. It all went on extremely well and I'm completely amazed at how technology can just make things so much more convenient. I mean we were all in different parts of UK, in the comfort of our own kitchen and cooking along with so much ease. Except for a few glitches with the audio at times, it was an absolutely well thought out session. Thanks to GBC for this fantastic opportunity and to Chef Galston for the demo. You can watch it here.

Now, I know its not the perfect weather for ice cream, but really this one needs to be made this Christmas y'all. We are all going to od on Christmas pudding and even worse, have tonnes of it left over. Chucking them into a custard base and churning them to make fabulous ice cream is THE way to go about using whats left over. I am not a big pudding fan or for that matter an ice cream fan, meaning I can just about have a slice or scoop of each, but when the two come together it just makes it so much better.

I had to try hard to not keep eating spoonfuls of custard while it was cooling down. So the ice cream base is a really good one, to experiment with. You can use it as it is with a kick ass sauce, chuck in some candied fruits, or add some nuts and such to make it appealing. Its pretty basic and except for the whisking bit, doesn't really take too much time. Those in India, remember the rum and raisin ice creams we get..well this ones sort of like that.. but a whole lot boozier..who's complaining about that now? :)

Recipe adapted from Great British Chefs (serves 5 to 6)

Single cream- 300ml

Milk- 150ml

Vanilla pod- 1/2, split length ways

Egg yolks- 3

Caster sugar- 62 gms

Christmas pudding- 125 gms, crumbled into pieces

Add the cream and milk to a sauce pan and scrape in the vanilla seeds along with the pod.

Place the pan over medium high heat and bring to a gentle simmer.

Remove from heat and set aside to infuse for about 30 minutes or so.

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar till pale and smooth.

Bring the cream and milk mix back to a simmer.

While whisking the egg, slowly pour  in the cream.

Pour the mix back into a saucepan and place over low heat.

Keep stirring continuously till you have a thin layer of custard that coats the back of the spoon.

At this point, take the saucepan off heat and pass the custard through a sieve into a bowl.

Allow to cool completely. Lay cling film on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.

If you want to speed up this process, place the bowl over an ice bath and keep stirring till it turns cool. I actually chucked it into the refrigerator for a while.

Once cool, you can either churn it in an ice cream maker, stirring in the Christmas pudding once the mixture begins to thicken and then freeze till ready to use.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, then pour the custard into an air tight container and freeze for about 30 to 45 minutes or till just about set.

Take it out, whisk well and then fold in the Christmas pudding gently, to not break it up too much. 

Notes: This is a halved recipe

My air tight container was really good and so i only had to whisk the custard twice, at 1hr intervals and it was perfect. I also added the pud into the custard the first time and kept whisking gently each time.
I may not infuse the cream for 30 mins next time. Couldn't really find much difference.

I was paid for the ingredients and the time. Thanks GBC

Potato and chickpea cakes

Are you all enjoying the weather wherever you are? Too hot? Too cold? Too much rain?? or is it just perfect? Too many questions??? :) :)

We have had gorgeous sunny weather for the past few weeks and its been good. Well most of the time that is. I have been out galavanting with friends, attending events and generally being busy which sometimes drains me out in the heat. But I'm not complaining.. Work has taken a back seat for the time being and I'm glad it is so, because I really do need to figure out how to handle the backlog of work that has accumulated over this past few months..yes, you read it right, months. I'm slowly finishing it off and hopefully will learn how to manage time more efficiently. My husband would be very glad I've even declared this in public because he has the biggest issue with me not managing time responsibly and planning well.

Coming to the recipe. No offence to all the vegetarian, but I have the toughest time cooking for them. Its not because there are no recipes available, but because I suck at it. My vegetarian dishes don't really come out nice and paneer, potatoes and spinach are the only options I usually play around with. Its become boring and I've run out of ideas. This combination of potatoes and chickpeas however was a welcome change. The recipe is by Alfred Prasad from Great British Chef's Vegetarian Recipes and a very easy one at that. Few ingredients needed, can be put together in no time and you get a decent vegetarian starter.

I had a bit of trouble with cooking the patties, since there was nothing to really hold them together like egg white or bread crumbs. So after two failed attempts at getting perfect shaped cakes, I decided to try the method mentioned in the recipe (I know, I should have just stuck to it the first time) and then it worked. I happily ate the first two that didn't turn out well without any complaint though. The recipe is apt for kids, but I don't have kids and so chucked in a green chilli which was such a fab idea. Serve it with just ketchup and you have a perfect snack to please your guests

Recipe halved from Great British Chefs

Potatoes- 2 large

Cooked chickpeas- 100 gms (I used canned)

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tbsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Green chilli- 1, finely chopped

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup, finely chopped

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Slice the potatoes into quarters and steam in a dumpling steamer for about 15 minutes or so. I find steaming much easier than boiling. But feel free to boil till tender and a fork goes through easily.

Cool for a while and then peel. Break the potatoes with a fork, but don't mash it completely.

Into a big bowl add all the remaining ingredients except oil and mix well using a masher or even better, your hands.

Again, they need not be completely smooth, a few chunks here and there is fine,

Heat the oil in a frying pan.

While that's heating, shape the potato mix into small discs.

Cook each cake in the pan, making sure you press it down so it gets cooked evenly.

Drain on paper towels and serve hot with ketchup.

Notes: Don't add a lot of oil, the cakes will only fall apart and make life difficult. The 1 tbsp oil was enough for all the potato cakes, but if you feel you need more oil, add bit by bit and fry.

The recipe calls for refrigerating the cakes after shaping them, which i didn't. I'm thinking this would sort the falling-apart issue.