I always try to cook healthy and nutritious food for my brother and I while we’re at uni. I think we eat pretty well for students! We’re both trying to follow a paleo diet, which involves no wheat, sugar, grains, dairy, legumes, alcohol or potatoes. I did follow this diet strictly for 30 days, and felt no difference to my energy levels, but I think that was because I didn’t eat much wheat or sugar to begin with! I did eat grains, dairy, potatoes and legumes, however I personally feel as though these don’t damage your health if they’re eaten occasionally, and they certainly don’t seem to affect my energy levels.

It is incredibly difficult to stick to strict paleo, because there isn’t a restaurant out there with a perfectly paleo dish! Even if you could find a dish without a grain, legume or potato, it would probably be cooked in some sort of vegetable or sunflower oil. I think the closest I’ve found is Nando’s, because they do grilled chicken with sweet potato side dishes; perhaps that’s why all the Crossfit lot eat there often! So we do use paleo as a diet guideline, although we’re not 100% strict; we do like peanut butter every so often, and I have milk in my tea. Occasionally we have regular white potatoes or rice, but always limit sugar and wheat (the biggest culprits, in my opinion, of inflammation and disease these days!). However, if I was to go to a restaurant, a friend’s house, or my parent’s place, and found that my mum had made one of her famous carrot cakes or a lasagne or spaghetti carbonara was on the menu, I certainly wouldn’t turn it down!

Most people we speak to think it’s quite a radical diet, but to be honest, it really isn’t. I was surprised when my dad said to us “don’t you guys find it boring?” On the contrary! There are so many different recipes and ingredients to try! We use a lot of coconut, butter, olive oils, almonds, etc. More than we used to. Sometimes it can be a little more pricier than eating a large plate of pasta or rice (as they’re quite cheap), but fresh veg isn’t that expensive, and neither are various meats if you buy them in bulk. Remember: the freezer is your friend! Not only that, but how often do you expect to each in a day? One large and a smaller meal would be enough if you really were that tight on money!

Also, a lot of people seem to think that paleo is for weight loss. Sure, it’s great for weight loss, but if you’re on paleo JUST to lose weight, I suggest you reevaluate what you want to get from it. Weight loss is a great side-product of the diet, but the ultimate aim of eating paleo is for optimal health. This is why various paleo advocate sites suggest being strict for at least 30 days to clean your system out, and then slowly introduce various things, such as dairy, back into your diet to determine if it makes you feel sluggish or affects your adversely. I like to think that I know why I stick to paleo. I’ve read several books on the subject and feel fairly well-versed in the area. I like to know why I’m not eating wheat and sugar, and what effect that has on the body, rather than just following guidelines in a book because an expert said so.

For example, eating refined wheat and sugar causes a spike in blood-glucose levels, and as most people, especially in the Western world, eat mostly these things at every meal; bread, desserts, pasta, biscuits as snacks, and this causes elevated blood-sugar levels, which causes chronic inflammation. Sure, our body is pretty good at dealing with inflammation, but when it’s chronic, that’s when disease rears its ugly head. Of course, it’s all a lot more complicated than that, but if you’re interested in finding out more, I suggest you read the following fantastic and highly informative books:

• The Paleo Solution
• The Primal Blueprint: Reprogramme your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health and boundless energy
• It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways
• Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
• The Paleo Answer: 7 Days to Lose Weight, Feel Great, Stay Young
• Wheat Belly
• The Paleo Diet for Athletes (Revised Edition)

Carrot Timbales
Adapted from: Paleo Comfort Foods, pages 210 & 211
Serves 4

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (or butter)
• 450g carrots, finely sliced
• 2 x large cloves of garlic
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 80ml (1/3 cup) coconut or almond milk
• 2 x eggs, beaten

Preparation
Heat the oil in a saucepan until hot. Add the carrots and garlic, toss to coat, lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until tender for about half an hour or so.

Scrape the carrots into a food processor, and purée until smooth. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until homogeneous.

Spoon the purée into ramekins until they are nearly full, then cover with tin foil. If you want a crispy top, don’t cover.

When you want to cook them, preheat the oven to 165°C. Put the ramekins in a roasting dish, and pour in boiling hot water until it comes ½ way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Remove (carefully!) from the roasting tins, and serve either in the ramekin, or without. To remove, run a knife around the ramekin to help loosen the timbale.

Eaten: 03.11.2012 with my lovely family

Well today has been a lovely day! First off, training at CFP! We have a great team at the DWF competition in Wales this weekend; really wish I decided to go! But at the same time, I’m quite glad to have spent this lovely day training and cooking for my lovely family

Tim and I have been having busier and busier weeks as time goes by! By the weekend I specifically make no plans other than to spend time with my family and pursuing hobbies. I’m so lucky to be living where I live, doing what I do and knowing the people I know. Almost every other Saturday, when dad’s home from work, our parents come over to our place for a nice, gourmet (well, as gourmet as I can make it) meal. I really love being able to share something that I’ve created, something that’s a product of my time, energy and enthusiasm, with the people I love. I miss them all the time and just want to attempt to give back things I’ve taken from them over my twenty-three years. Although that’s an impossible task, I’ll do what I can to show them how much they mean to me, and that not once, have I ever taken them for granted. As I’ve grown older, I’ve been able to count my blessings more, and relish in the beauty of life. I’ve definitely found myself “high” on life quite regularly these past few of years!

Anyway! This afternoon, we had a lovely three course meal (if I do say so myself!). For starters, we had a colourful salad with mixed leaves, grated carrot, pecans, dried fruit, pomegranate, various seeds, plum, strawberries, tomatoes, olives, raspberries, onion, toasted coconut, Parma ham… you name it! And the best thing, was that these scallops were so simple to rustle up!

Scallops are one of those things you absolutely can’t walk away from. You have to be watching over it constantly. Do not attempt to do what I do, and just take a couple of seconds to do something else, assuring yourself that you will remember to check back in literally one minute’s time… because trust me, you won’t. You’ll forget, and find yourself munching on chewy, over-cooked scallops. What a waste!

Scallops can indeed be eaten raw, but are definitely tasty hot and toasty! However, it is far better to have a slightly undercooked scallop than an overcooked, overly-firm one.

Also, if you’re lucky enough to get them with the pink sack of goodness (the “roe” or “coral”), eat it! I hear it’s packed with omega-3′s and they are so tasty! I believe in America that it’s extremelt difficult to buy them with the coral still attached. But in Europe, they’re rather a delicacy. I omitted them from my plate for taking the photos, but added them back when I sat down at the table to scoff them with my family. A lovely dish I wanted to try and to share my efforts with some of my most treasured and beautiful people on the planet. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!

Seared Scallops with Plum and Dill Sauce
Adapted from: Fou de Food
Serves 4

Ingredients
• 1-2 tablespoons (clarified) butter
• 12 x scallops (with or without the coral/roe)
• 4 x plums
• a couple of strawberries and raspberries
• ½ tablespoon dried dill
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Splash of lemon juice
• Salad (as a side)
• Lemon zest (to garnish)

Preparation
For the sauce:
Cut plums and strawberries, and pop, along with the raspberries, into a saucepan. Heat on medium until all fruit sweats and becomes tender. Do not crisp or blacken. Add the dried dill, lemon juice and cayenne pepper (only a pinch though!). Leave to cool for a bit and then blend everything.

For the scallop dish:
Firstly, prepare the salad on the plates.

Rinse the scallops under cold water and remove the coral and gut. Keep the coral and cook as well if preferred, it’s really tasty, but they don’t take a long to cook as the scallop itself.

Heat the butter in the large non-stick frying pan until hot and almost smoking. Pop the scallops into the pan and sear for 1 minute and 30-45 seconds on each side, depending on the side. Don’t move the scallops, otherwise you’ll hinder the lovely browning process. But if you need to take a peek at one, hey ho, go ahead.

If you’re not sure whether they’re cooked or not, you can perhaps cut your own scallop open to see whether they’ve turned from translucent to opaque throughout. Ideally, you want them to have a slightly translucent centre.

In the meantime, heat up the sauce!

When the scallops are done, pop them on kitchen towel for a moment to drain any excess butter, if any. Arrange the scallops on the plate, top with a little sauce, spoon some on the side and sprinkle zest over the plate. Serve immediately.

Eaten: 03.11.2012 with my lovely family

Today was so bright and beautiful I decided I would take some pictures of dinner while the sun was out Since I’ve moved in to my new place (a few months over a year now), I’ve been neglecting food photography. Obviously, time is a factor, but also something that put me off was the lack of light. My flat gets plenty of light, but only from one angle. At my parents’ house, I don’t feel limited as their house is so light-filled and it comes from all angles I’m spoilt for choice! Very recently, I’ve bought myself a little tripod! I can never plan when to take photos because the weather ehre is so unpredictable. So now, even in low light situations, I hope I can try playing around with lighting effects.

This dish is so quick to make and extremely easy. It’s packed full of health and flavour and is perfect for after harsh training!!!!!!!!

Right, I’m going to stop babbling and head to bed… so tired… Zzzz…

Pan-Fried Salmon with Satuéed Savoy Cabbage
Serves 2

Ingredients
For the salmon:
• 2 x salmon fillets
• Coconut oil (for frying)
• Many heirloom, cherry, baby, regular, whatever tomatoes, halved (I like the smaller and colourful ones because they’re cute!)
• Many olives, halved
• A few mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated/crushed/finely sliced
• Dried parsley or dill
• Olive oil (for drizzling)
• Toasted coconut (for garnishing)

For the cabbage:
• ~½ head of cabbage (or as much as you’d like!)
• Dried sage
• ~1-2 tablespoons of butter
• ~4 tablespoons water

Preparation
For the salmon:
Melt the coconut oil in a large frying pan on high, then put in the salmon, skin side down to sear it. Leave on high for a couple of minutes. Flip the salmon over and sear on the other side for a couple of minutes, also.

Turn the heat down, add the tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and garlic, add the parsley, and cook until the salmon is cooked, occasionally turning. You’ll have to judge when to add the tomatoes, mushrooms, olives and garlic, because it depends if you want them slightly cooked, well done, burnt, etc. About 5-7 minutes on medium is enough to make the tomatoes soften, which is what I like. So if you have a thick salmon fillet, you may want to leave those ingredients out until several minutes towards the end of the salmon’s cooking time.

For the cabbage:
Melt the butter in a saucepan on high, then add the cabbage. Fry for a couple of minutes, lower the heat, and add the water. Cover with the lid, and leave for about 10 minutes, tossing the cabbage every couple of minutes.

Serve the salmon on top of a bed of cabbage, and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with toasted coconut, and add salt and pepper if desired.

Nom nom

Devoured: 27.10.2012 with my bro

Chocolate macarons are my most favourite macaron. They’re so beautifully rich, and the osmotic-like absorption of the ganache’s flavour from the shell makes them so much more delectable. But they’re also incredibly simple to make… once you’ve got the technique. After I made the macarons for the second time, I knew the recipe and what to do off by heart. It’s not the recipe itself that’s difficult; it’s just keeping an eye on the consistency of the batter (i.e. knowing what to look for), and getting to know your oven!

Perhaps I’ve finally mastered the recipe and got to grips with my oven?! Or perhaps not… just because I’ve made decent looking macarons a couple of times doesn’t mean a thing! Especially as on a more recent attempt, they failed completely.

I ran out of icing sugar, and used desiccated coconut in place of the almonds. When I baked the cookies, they developed no foot at all, and had a completely different texture to regular macaron shells. However, I still sandwiched them with the chocolate ganache and put them forward in the badminton league buffet. I did get compliments though, as they were quite tasty, although nothing like the macaron I was hoping for!

There are many variations of making macarons posted all over the internet; some people try it and have great success, while others try and have little. Sometimes it’s just that the instructions can be quite ambiguous. When a recipe states something along the lines of “now, incorporate the almonds and icing sugar with the egg whites, being sure not to over mix. You know that you’ve over mixed when the batter is dull,” it can mean anything! But for me, the most important part of making macarons was the “macaronage,” which some people use to refer to the part where the almonds and icing sugar are incorporated into the egg whites, and the right amount of air is knocked out of the whites. If the batter is over mixed it will become very runny, and won’t be able to hold its shape when piped. However, if it’s under mixed, you won’t get a perfectly smooth shell and too many air bubbles inside. The piped macaron shells are then left on the worktop for about an hour to air-dry. This helps to create a hard shell, so that when the air inside of the macaron shell expands in the oven, the shell is forced upwards thus creating the “foot” at the bottom. If the shell isn’t tough enough, then it’ll crack and no foot will develop. I have read on a few other blogs that leaving them out to “air-dry” wasn’t a necessity for them, but in my experience, is it a necessity for me!

The following video is a great instructional video on how to make macarons. The part about knocking the air out of the egg whites was what I found the most helpful: if you plop some of your batter onto a plate before baking, and the peak slowly disappears, then you’ve got the perfect batter. It should have a “magma” like consistency. I found that to be a top tip!

I use a roasting tin with parchment paper to bake my macarons, because it doesn’t distort with the heat of the oven, therefore giving lopsided shells. Also, I place the roasting pan on top of a broiler pan in the lower part of my oven. This stops the heat from the bottom of the oven being too harsh on the shells, and also keeps the macarons perfectly at mid/lower-level in my oven! However, I can only bake about a maximum of 12 shells at a time. So macaron baking requires patience!

The temperature at which people bake their macarons is also a hot topic. Too low or too high temperatures result in undesirable consequences, which is why it’s important to “get-to-know” your oven. A further note is that the size of the macaron shell I believe is entirely of your choice, as I’ve seen and bought macarons of varying sizes. Some like them rather large but other prefer them bite-size. Personally, I prefer slightly larger maracons, that require two or three minute bites. But that’s just me.

And finally, macarons do taste better with time, which probably goes against almost all rules of French pâtisserie! But I suppose that as macarons aren’t pastry, the rules of pastry don’t apply. It takes time for the shells to absorb the flavour of the ganache, which gives them a very soft and flavourful interior. Some people recommend eating them after 2 days, but the ones that I bought from Zürich airport (along with other sources) suggested up to 5 days for maximum flavour. In fact, the blog Not So Humble Pie suggests that if you’re leaning towards either over or under-baking your macarons, go towards over-baking them, because if they’re a little too dry, the moistness from the ganache can help to rectify the issue after a few days of mingling!

A great trouble-shooting guide, as well as other tips and discussions, can be found here.

Macarons au Chocolat
Adapted from: Not So Humble Pie and Kokken 69
Makes 8-10 shells (4-5 macarons)

Ingredients
For the shells:
• lemon juice
• 40g ground almonds
• 57g icing sugar
• 10g cocoa powder (or replace with icing sugar and add some vanilla essence instead)
• 35g egg whites
• 11g granulated sugar

For the ganache: (enough for about 15-20 macarons!)
• 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 200g double cream
• 70g butter, at room temperature

Preparation
For the shells:
Add a splash of lemon juice to a very clean bowl together with the egg whites. Whisk for about 30-60 seconds until very frothy. Sprinkle in the granulated sugar, and continue to whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form (the kind where you can hold the bowl upside down over your head!).

Then sieve in the icing sugar, cocoa powder and ground almonds together over the egg white peaks. Now, this is the part some people refer to as “macaronage” (i.e. macaron-ing). Use a wooden spoon or pastry scraper to knock the air out of the batter. Use the spoon to scoop the batter around the outer edges of the interior of the bowl and then almost scrape the batter down the middle of the bowl in a zig-zag pattern until the final consistency is similar to that of magma. A useful video to watch can be found here.

A test to see if the batter is of the appropriate magma-like consistency is to take a clean plate, and dollop a spoonful in the middle. If the peak slowly disappears into itself, then the batter is ready. If it’s still visible after about 30 seconds or so, then it needs some more air knocking out! If the batter is too runny, then you’ve over mixed!

Prepare a heavy-duty baking sheet with baking parchment. Spoon the batter into your piping bag (or icing syringe, etc.), and dollop macarons onto the parchment paper, leaving at least an inch worth of space between each shell. This depends entirely on how large you want your macarons.

Bash the tray on the surface of the worktop 4 times, rotating each time. This forces air bubbles in the macaron batter to rise to the top. Use a toothpick to pop any large ones. Leave the macarons on the side for an hour to air dry, so that they’re not sticky or tacky to a light touch.

Preheat the oven to 155◦C, ensuring that you do not use fan assist. Pop the tray into the lower half of the oven for 16-18 minutes.

Leave to cool completely before peeling the shells off the parchment.

For the ganache:
Melt the chocolate and cream over a low heat in a saucepan; allow to cool to around 50^◦C. Cut up the butter in a bowl, pour over the chocolate sauce, and whip until smooth. Pop into the fridge until thick enough to pipe. Before piping, leave the bowl out of the fridge for a while to bring the ganache up to room temperature.

Assembling the macaron:
Fill an icing syringe or piping bag with the ganache, and dollop a splodge into the centre of a macaron shell; not too much or too little. It takes a little practice to get the right amount, so that when the two shells are sandwiched together, the ganache spreads to the edges of the shell but no father, and so that there’s a smooth, unblemished edge around the ganache. Pop in the fridge for anywhere between 2-5 days before taking out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature before devouring.

Bon appétit!!

Shells baked: 19.12.2011, shells filled: 20.12.2011.

I’ve been dying to try and make some macarons for a long long time now. But before I attempted, I would like to try them first. A few weeks ago, my PhD led me to Switzerland to visit my sponsor company for a couple of days. I was certain that Zurich airport would have macarons… and indeed they did! I ended up purchasing a box of 6 of these fairly expensive Lindt macarons from their “Délice” selection,” while my supervisor bought some Swiss chocolate for his family/friends. So finally, I get to taste Swiss macarons! I’m sure they’re the same as the French ones.

And as a side note, Zurich airport is the best airport I’ve ever been to. The security is such a pleasure to go through. That’s probably because they had security stations for groups of gates, rather than one large security area for loads of people. It made everything to much quicker and relaxed. Also, every time I see the recent Lindt advert on TV with Roger Federer, I think to myself “woo, Switzerland!” I much prefer the normal-TV version to the extended one:

However, I just found it quite funny though when, about two weeks later, my mum went to a supermarket and found mini macarons on sale for a fraction of the price of the Lindt ones… I’ll have to decide if they rival those of Lindt when I get home this weekend!

Now that I have finally tried macarons, I had no excuse to attempt to bake my own. I have to admit, I was terrified that something would go horribly wrong after hearing how difficult they are to get perfect, how you have to become accustomed to your own oven and all of these Swiss and French meringue methods. But I think that my macarons are ok! Sure, they look a little homemade (I think it’s partly to do with using too small a nozzle on my piping bag – so it’s difficult to pipe smooth circle – but then again I still think my batter is too under mixed, after reading this post by Brave Tart).

Light in new place difficult for photography as it only comes from one angle and is so depepdent on the day.

My first attempt at macarons this week were lavender shells. However I think that the batter I used was severely under mixed (due to my fear of over mixing the batter, after hearing dreaded things about that!), as the shells were so thin and crumbly. Although when they were in the oven, I did get excited when I started to see the “feet” developing and even thought to myself “perhaps I’ve got this macaron stuff down!” Of course, I hadn’t. The only good thing about these ones was that they had fairly bump-free tops (most probably as a result of under mixing and the batter being too runny).

The second attempt weren’t too bad. I think that the feet were good! I did get a little impatient though and sandwiched the white chocolate ganache between the banana flavoured shells before it had completely cooled. But they tasted ok and weren’t too bad!

I was quite pleased with the coffee and Nutella macarons I made on my third attempt, but was very disappointed that there seemed to be no feet.

I’m going to attempt one more time this week using a slightly different method I’ve found during my readings of macaron baking. And seeing as it’s nearly 4pm on a Friday afternoon, I only have a few hours of the day left to get cracking…

Chocolate mousse is one of my favourite desserts. Well, anything with copious amounts of chocolate is very high on my “most wanted dessert list.” These are quite nice; not the richest I’ve had, but for a quick and easy dessert, pretty good. Mum really enjoyed her white chocolate one, and a friend who came over for dinner enjoyed the milk chocolate one, too. I didn’t fild the cream well enough into the milk chocolate mixture, so there were lumps of cream in the mousee, which I wasn’t keen on, but Dan said it was a really nice effect and he seemed to think it was done intentionally!

What made this even nicer, was that we ate is straight from the fridge after eating a really spicy chicken dish! It was the perfect way to cool down our tongues (and our noses!).

Nutella “Mug” Cake
Adapted from: BBC Good Food
Serves 4 (makes 2 x white and 2 x milk/dark chocolate mousses)

Ingredients
• 100g white chocolate, broken into pieces
• 100g milk/dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 3 x large egg whites
• 50g golden caster sugar
• 100ml double cream
• 2 tbsp brandy
• icing sugar, to dust
• chocolate curls, to decorate
• amaretto biscuits, to serve

Preparation
Put the eggs whites and sugar in a bowl, and whip until shiny and stiff. Melt the white chocolate and milk chocolate in separate bowls (I did mine in the microwave for simplicity).

Use different wooden spoons to fold in half the egg white mixture into each melted chocolate bowl. Fold until fully combined.

Whip the cream in the same bowl as the egg whites, and as before, fold half of the cream mixture into each of the chocolate bowls.

Pour into four individual ramekins, and chill for at least 2 hours. Dust with icing sugar, sprinkle with chocolate curls/shavings, and serve with biscuits.

Enjoy

Enjoyed: 24.06.2011

These little desserts are really easy to make! They’re quite rich though, and difficult to tell when they’re done as the cake was so dark I couldn’t tell if it was cooked or not! I think I overcooked mine a little, but they still tasted ok! If you use a milky and smooth cocoa powder you’ll get a lighter coloured dessert. I used Green & Black’s cocoa powder and it was incredibly rich and black! If all of the ingredients were in one large mug I think it would have come out better and a little softer in the middle rather than putting it all in individual ramekins. But nevertheless, still a nice little treat.

Nutella “Mug” Cake
Adapted from: Babble
Serves 4

Ingredients
• 4 tbsp/75g self-raising flour
• 4 tbsp/75g sugar
• 1 x egg
• 3 tbsp/40g cocoa powder (I used Green & Black’s)
• 3 tbsp Nutella
• 3 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a large coffee mug or a small bowl. Whisk well with a fork until smooth. Divide into 4 ramekins. Microwave on high for 1½ – 3 minutes. (Time depends on microwave wattage. Mine took 2 minutes on 700W). Top with whipped cream and a little chocolate sauce if desired.

Enjoy

Enjoyed: 18.06.2011

For Father’s Day, I asked dad what I could cook for him as a ‘gift.’ He asked for Thai Green Curry and Spotted Dick.

This recipe I found called for a strawberry and rhubarb rather than cherries. I was going for blueberries, but there weren’t any in the fridge, even though I swear that there were! So I opted for cherries! It would have been nice to have had more (so I doubled the amount that I used in the recipe below), as mine only just managed to cover the top.

Ours was with a vanilla bean custard, which was extremely good! But I made mine ahead and reheated it later, but unfortunately it was a little lumpy and not too attractive to the eye. However it still tasted delicious.

Here’s a nice image of dad and his mum on Mother’s Day in 2008. And a handsome image of Tim, just thrown into the mix

Spotted Dick with Cherry Compote
Adapted from: There’s A Newf in My Soup
Serves 16

Ingredients
For the cherry compote:
• 300g cherries, pitted
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 x sachet gelatine
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

For the spotted dick:
• butter and flour, for greasing
• 10 tbsp/170g butter or suet
• 1¼ cups/300g sugar
• 4 x eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2¾ cups/340g self-raising flour
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup/150g dried fruit

Preparation
For the cherry compote:
Mix the sugar and gelatine in a bowl. Then add the cherries, lemon juice and brandy, and simmer over low heat until thick and syrupy – about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, butter a cake tin, then dust with flour (knocking the excess out).

Pour the syrup in the bottom of the tin, arranging the cherries (without burning yourself!) in a pretty fashion. Leave to cool at room temp. until set.

For the spotted dick:
Trace a circle on parchment paper slightly larger than the cake tin, and cut out.

Melt the butter in a large bowl, add the sugar, and cream with a wooden spoon until pale and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Sift the flour into the mixture, and beat until well combined. Then add the milk and beat, also. Dollop the mixture on top of the cherry compote, and flatten out.

Fill a large, shallow pan with water, and put some metal cookie cutters or something in the bottom to create a platform on which to place the cake tin, about 1” above the water. Bring the water to a boil, and then turn the heat down so it simmers.

Put the cake tin on top of the platform, cover the tin with the parchment paper, and put the lod on the pan. Steam for about 1 ¼ – 1 ½ hours. If using little ramekins, it will be about 1 hour.

The spotted dick will puff up a lot. I used a bread knife to even the bottom of mine before I inverted it onto a plate, and sliced it, and served it with homemade vanilla custard.

Vanilla Bean Custard
Adapted from: Bite My Thumb
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
• 3 x egg yolks
• 1 cup/250ml double cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out (1 tsp vanilla essence)
• 3 tbsp sugar

Preparation
Boil water in a small saucepan.

Whisk the cream and egg yolks in a Pyrex bowl until smooth throughout. Then add the vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla essence) and sugar, and whisk until homogeneous.

Place the bowl over the simmering water (this is known as a bain-marie), and whisk continuously so no lumps form. The mixture should be whisked for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and forms a custard like colour and consistency.

Remove the bowl from the pan and pour over your dessert, and enjoy

Enjoy

Enjoyed: 19.06.2011

For Father’s Day, I asked dad what I could cook for him as a ‘gift.’ He asked for Thai Green Curry and Spotted Dick.

I found this recipe from the internet and it looked quite tasty (I have to admit, it’s always the pictures that draw me to the recipes!), and the ingredients seemed plentiful, but easy to find. I have had this curry in curry houses before, but I made one myself from one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks using shop-bought curry paste, and it didn’t come out very well. I think it was because I used long beans and asparagus spears, which were quite hefty to manage without getting curry everywhere! This, on the other hand, was extremely creamy and soft in flavour. It would have been easy to spice it up a little more using more chillies (and including their seeds, perhaps) for the curry paste. But having my grandmother and people who don’t appreciate too much spice, I thought it’d be best to tone it down as one can always add chilli to their dish.

Happy Father’s Day, dad

Chicken & Prawn Thai Green Curry
Adapted from: It Must’ve Been Something I Ate
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
For the green curry paste:
• 3 tbsp walnut/peanut oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 x stalk lemon grass
• 1 x tsp ground cumin
• 1 x tsp coriander leaf
• ½ green chilli, deseeded
• 3cm ginger, roughly chopped
• 2 x garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 x spring onions, roughly chopped
• 2 x fist full fresh coriander

For the green curry:
• 2 tbsp walnut/peanut oil
• butter and flour, for greasing
• 812g boneless chicken breast
• 360g cooked prawns
• 3 x spring onions, chopped
• 1 x garlic clove, crushed
• 2 x red and green bell peppers, chopped
• 155g mangetout
• 200g pack of “cabbage medley”
• 1 x 400ml can coconut milk
• green curry paste (as above)
• 3cm carrot, grated
• ½ cup water
• 2 x tbsp cornflour
• fresh coriander leaves for garnish

• enough rice for your guests

Preparation
For the green curry paste:
Put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until a smooth paste is formed.

For the green curry:
Heat 2 tbsp of walnut oil in a large pot. Add the chicken and prawns, and whiten the chicken all over. Throw in the chopped onions and crushed garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped peppers and mange tout., and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the coconut milk, green curry pasta, water, cabbage and grated carrot. Bring all to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until ready.

Don’t forget to cook the rice! Serve and enjoy!

ทานให้อร่อยนะ

Enjoyed: 19.06.2011

This is now my new favourite breakfast.

A few weeks ago, it was a massive bowl of grilled fruit. Although that is beautiful, I’ve now got a new breakfast addiction: baked oats.

When these are cooked, they’re very sticky and don’t have much milk left with them. But you can choose to either bake them 5 minutes over or under to get your desired consistency. Yesterday, mum had a little extra hot milk with hers, and it was so tasty!

This recipe is also very free in terms on ingredients. You can add whatever dried things and fruits to it that you like. Another idea is to have them in individual ramekins. Too much honey can make it quite sweet, and combined with the cinnamon actually makes it reminiscent of a dessert! That’s a little too sweet for me, especially for breakfast; about 1tbsp of honey works well. No honey isn’t sweet at all (but full of natural sweetness!), but I know that some prefer sweet things! The choice is yours!

Sticky Baked Breakfast Oats
Adapted from: Baked Bree
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
• 2 cups/205g oats
• 75-100g mixed dried fruits
• 75g/2 tbsp honey
• 130g blueberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 x bananas
• 100g cherries, pitted
• 2 cups/500ml milk
• 1 x egg
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Preparation
Beat the egg and milk in a bowl. Mix in the vanilla essence. Set aside.

Mix the other ingredients in a large baking dish. Pour over the milk mixture and mix a little more.

Pop into a preheated oven at 190◦C for 25-30 minutes. Baking time depends on how sticky you like the oats; a longer time means less milk and stickier, but too long (about 35 minutes) starts to dry the oats out. But you can always add extra milk afterwards (hot or cold).

Enjoy

Enjoyed: 18.06.2011