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

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

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

This soufflé recipe is certainly for the “keen cook;” it’s not too difficult, it just requires a lot of prep and organisation, not to mention the large number of ingredients called for! These turned out really well, and surprised me as to how nice they actually were (when in fact I majorly UNDERCOOKED the first batch)!

As a result, the flavours were really pungent and awful because I hadn’t cooked it properly. Tim took one mouthful, put it down, and said he didn’t like it. When I first read the recipe, I was a little dubious as it had so many different varieties of cheese in it, I was really intrigued to see what the flavour would be like. But the BBC Good Food website had two reviews giving it 5 stars, and one giving it 4 stars, so I thought that it must be pretty good if these people cooked it well (although I must admit, I usually go for recipes with a lot more reviews).

I have to say that as a result of my unknown under-cooking of the soufflés, they still looked quite cute and neat, but they didn’t live up to my expectations and had completely quashed my dream idea of cheese soufflé. The original recipe called for baking these for 15-20 minutes. I baked these in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, yet the insides were extremely gooey. So gooey in fact, mum and I couldn’t finish ours (it was like eating raw cake batter; ok for a couple of spoonfuls, but then after that you feel sick of eating raw mixture). Dad got back mega-late from tennis, so I baked his supper for an extra 10 minutes (so 25 minutes overall), and he said that the whole thing had pretty much set. He ate it all, and said it was nice, but did comment on the strength of flavour and the unusual taste it had (an acquired taste, I’d like to think!).

But it turned out that they had to be baked for 10 minutes at a slightly higher temperature, before baking them for a further 15-20 minutes!

The remaining two I stored in the fridge. Yesterday, I took one out, let the temperature rise to room temp., and baked it again, this time actually following the recipe! And you know what…it turned out beautifully! The taste was still strong but the flavours were a lot more subtle, and the texture of the soufflé was completely different! It wasn’t a massive mess of gunge and goo like it was last time. It had all cooked well, and the brie in the middle was soft and stringy. It was delicious! And the soufflé rose a lot more than I expected it to, and deflated very slowly, which gave it quiet an appealing and slightly crunchy bit on top!

Also, this was the first time I had the courage and daring to open and use the first of the spices from the spice set that I won! And I used a single star anise (which you can see in one of the pictures below)! I’m looking forward to taking my pristine spices to the new flat.

Souffle au Fromage
Adapted from: BBC Good Food
Serves 6 (using 6 x 2″ deep, 4″ diameter ramekins)

Ingredients
For the beurre manié:
• 50g unsalted butter, softened
• 50g floured, sieved

For the soufflé mixture:
• 500ml milk
• 1 x small onion, finely diced
• 1 x star anise
• 3 tbsp ground cloves
• 1 x bay leaf
• 6 x egg yolks
• 100g mature cheddar, grated
• 100g Gruyère, grated
• 55g parmesan, grated
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste

For preparing the ramekins:
• ~25g butter, softened
• coarsely ground black pepper
• 30g parmesan, grated

For assembling and finishing:
• lemon juice
• 6 x egg yolks
• 100g brie, cut into chunks

Preparation
For the beurre manié:
Melt the butter and mix it with the flour until a paste is formed (known as beurre manié). This can be made in bulk, rolled into a sausage and chilled or frozen. Then you can cut chunks to use for other soufflés.

Chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes until firm.

For the souffé mixture:
Heat the milk to boiling point in a large pan, then add the onion, star ansie, cloves and bay leaf. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Strain the milk into a large bowl, pressing down on the onion and spices to extract as much juice and flavour as possible.

Pour the strained mixture back into the pan and put on a low heat. Gradually whisk in the beurre manié, adding in small pieces until a thick sauce is achieved.

Season with a little salt and pepper, then leave to cool for 1-2 minutes before whisking in the egg yolks, grated Gruyère, grated cheddar and grated parmigiana. Then add the mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

Leave the mixture to cool. This can be made 2 days ahead.

For preparing the ramekins:
Brush the insides of the ramekins with butter, ensuring the inside is completely covered with butter using even upward brush strokes (from the bottom of the ramekin to the top). This will help the mixture to rise. You can chill to set the butter, then repeat again. Then coat the insides of the ramekins with the remaining grated parmesan and coarsely ground black pepper.

Assembling and finishing:
Heat the oven to 190◦C (it is essential to heat the oven before baking). Coat the inside of the bowl of your mixer with lemon juice (this helps to clean the bowl of grease entirely, as the slightest amount prevents egg whites from firming).

Whisk the egg whites in the bowl to form stiff (but not dry) peaks, then whisk a third of them into the cheese mixture, to loosen the base. Carefully fold the remaining egg whites into the cheese mixture until well mixed, but still light and airy. Adding the egg whites in two stages prevents the mixture from splitting.

Spoon half of the mixture into the ramekins, and dot with chunks of brie. Top with the remaining mixture. Bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 170◦C, and make for 15-20 minutes. The soufflé should be evenly risen and slightly wobbly.

Serve immediately, before it deflates! The centre should be soft, but thicken slightly when served.

Bon appétit!!

Baked 07.06.2011

Spanish omelette…where do I start? The first time I had a proper Spanish omelette was in Morocco last year (I think I had one in Spain when I was younger, but I don’t remember the taste too well), and it was absolutely beautiful. The potatoes were soft, fluffy and perfectly cooked. And that was just a plain one! You could easily jam it up a little more with the addition of ham, bacon, chorizo, cheese, herbs, etc. However, the Spanish omelette is infamous for:
1) the insane amount of olive oil used, and
2) the difficulty of flipping the omelette without it breaking.

I tried to make one of these at the beginning of my final year at university, and it was an absolute disaster! I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it in a perfectly round shape (because of the shape of my pan and the fact that I HATE cooking in dirty kitchens, and I always get quite conscious cooking in front of others), but I didn’t realise that it wouldn’t taste that great, either. But to be honest, I didn’t know how to cook. It’s only in the last 9 months that my cooking (and photography, I like to think!) has really started to take.

Anyway, this Spanish omelette came out perfectly, and I used as little olive oil as possible! I think, however, that I slightly overcooked one side of it…oops. I’d love to do this again when I’ve learnt more about photography…watch this space!

Tortilla Española (Spanish Omelette)
Adapted from: Trissalicious
Serves 4 as a main meal, or 8 as a side/snack.

Ingredients
• 750g potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 x onions, finely diced
• 8 x eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp dried thyme or parsley
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 13 tbsp olive oil

Preparation
Peel and slice the potatoes very thinly. Dice the onions. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet, then lower the heat to the lowest setting. Layer some potatoes over the bottom, a sprinkle of onion and a dash of salt and pepper (and thyme is desired). The add 2 tbsp olive oil. Continue until all of the potatoes and onions have been used.

Turn the heat up a little and cook the potatoes, using a spatula to turn everything over. Cook them for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft (not browned), so that there’s no resistance when pricked with a fork.

Once the potatoes are cooked, either leave them in the pan until cooled (about 30 minutes).

Crack the eggs into a large bowl, and use a fork to whisk. Season with a little salt and pepper. Then add the potato mixture into the eggs, mixing together, and leave the mixture to rest for 10 minutes.

In the skillet, heat 2 more tbsp olive oil until very hot, and add the potato and egg mixture, using a spatula to even out the top. Reduce the heat to low-medium, and use the spatula to unstuck the mixture from the edges, and continually shake the omelette so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom. I shook it so that the mixture actually rotated around the pan in a perfect circle!

Continue to cook for 10 minutes or so, remembering to make sure the mixture doesn’t stick! Then, when the top isn’t too runny, place a large plate over the top of the pan and tip it over. The omelette should be perfectly round and browned.

Heat 2 more tbsp olive oil on high heat in the pan, and slide the omelette, being extremely careful not to break it, back into the pan. Reduce the heat to low-medium, and brown the other side for about 5 minutes.

Flipping the omelette 2 or 3 more times allows you to help keep the omelette’s shape and to make sure it doesn’t brown too much.

Again, put a plate over the top and invert the skillet. And voila! You have a beautiful Spanish omelette!

Buen provecho!

Baked 01.06.2011

I’m ashamed to say that I made this twice: the first time it failed. But I’m so glad that I persevered, because this was B-E-A-utiful! Even dad asked for a large portion, and then went back for seconds…which is very unusual of him…

My first attempt involved halving the recipe, because I really didn’t want to have too much dessert. But because I didn’t have a small enough square pan, the roll was too thin to peel off of the baking sheet, and therefore cracked and broke with ease. I thought this would happen, but like an idiot I did it anyway. So the second time I made it I stuck to the original quantity. I think this recipe doubled would make a thicker and more stable roll, as mine completely fell apart. I used a pyrex baking dish lined with a baking paper that was about 7.5″ x 10″. Mum and dad commented that it looked really sloppyy, but I assured them it tasted great!

This recipe originally called for amaretto, but I replaced it with Tia Maria to give a sweet (not not too sweet) coffee taste to the cream. And today was Tim’s last AS level exam: Government and Politics. He thinks he did quite well, so I’m pleased for him. At least now he can go back to school before summer knowing that his exams are behind him… and now he’s excited for driving lessons! God help us all!

Roulade de Chocolat avec Tia Maria
Adapted from: BBC Good Food
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
For the sponge:
• butter, for greasing
• 100g caster sugar
• 5 x eggs
• 25g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 40g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence

For the coffee cream:
• 250g mascarpone
• 100g plain choccolate
• 100g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp Tia Maria
• icing sugar, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, etc. to decorate

Preparation
Heat the oven to 180◦C. Line a tin (mine was about 7.5″ x 10″) with butter and dust with a little caster sugar.

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a mixer until pale, light and fluffy. Carefully transfer the mixture into a large bowl and sieve in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Add the vanilla essence, and fold together ensuring that it’s mixed well but still light and airy.

Spread the mixture across the tin and bake for 10 minutes, so that it’s firm to touch. The flip it out, peel off the baking paper and roll up lengthways whilst warm. Leave to cool.

For the cream filling, break the chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave. The beat (by hand) in with the mascarpone. Sieve in the icing sugar and add the tia maria, and mix well. Pop into the fridge for about half an hour to firm up.

When the roll is cool, carefully open it, and spread the cream across it and re-roll. If it cracks a bit, that’s ok; it just adds to the beauty. Dust with cocoa powder and/or icing sugar. I reserved some cream to use as glue for whole, fresh cherries.

Bon appétit!!

Constructed 07.06.2011

I don’t think this is technically a soufflé, but it still tasted pretty damn good.

I left this soufflé in the oven for about 5 minutes longer than I should have. I was going to take it out of the oven, but something made me leave it for 5 more minute. I wish I’d taken it out when I first thought, as the inside would have been a lot gooier. But either way, the texture was really smooth and light, and was still slightly gooey in the middle! This is definitely something I can see myself making again for dessert in the future. And what’s best is that you can make them ahead, and still impress people! And, better still, they only deflated a little once taken out of the oven! Result!

Soufflé au Chocolat
Adapted from: BBC Good Food
For 5 x 2” deep, 4” diameter ramekins.

Ingredients
• 135g dark chocolate (I used a Galaxy bar, but the good quality Green and Black’s dark chocolate would be perfect for this!)
• 100g butter (plus a little extra for greasing)
• 4 x eggs
• 60g brown sugar
• 120g sugar
• 85g plain or self-raising flour

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180◦C. Use a pastry brush to grease the ramekins. Cut the butter into small cubes, and melt it, along with the chocolate, over a bain-marie or in the microwave.

In the meantime, use a food processor to whizz the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy. Sieve the flour and fold it into the egg mixture, before folding that into the chocolate mixture.

Divide the mixture between the ramekins. These can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours if not baking at the moment. Bake for 10 minutes (a little longer if just out of the fridge); the soufflés should rise, but the insides should still be slightly runny and gooey.

Serve with a sprinkling of icing sugar and lashings of double cream.

Bon Appétit!!

Baked 03.06.2011

I’ve always wanted to try and make a cherry clafoutis. Well, any clafoutis, to be honest, but our fridge was stock-piled with cherries, so why not a cherry clafoutis. It has a really lovely eggy-flavour to it, and tastes delicious served hot, cold, or at room temperature, especially with generous helpings of double cream. However, it is possible to enjoy it without cream, as it’s a very moist dessert. Icing sugar (or any old sugar!) would add some sweetness to those who have a little more of a sweet-tooth, but for those who don’t crave desserts that are overly sweet, then this is the one for you! It’s kind of like the dessert-version of a Yorkshire pudding (a popover)!

This didn’t take very long to whip up at all. I’ve been dying to make something in individual ramekins! I bought these cute little green ones a few months ago but was trying not to use them until we have moved everything into the new flat in Plymouth… but I just couldn’t resist! The most time consuming aspect of making this dessert was removing the stones from those cherries! But it was worth it thought; it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable having to bit into a stone and spit it out with every bite. We had ours at room temperature with cream; I made them beforehand.

I also made some Moroccan flat bread, which they have everywhere in Morocco, and it turned out to be just like it (which I was surprised about, because the last time I made bread it was a hard rock of something completely inedible)! I was pretty pleased, and I love fresh bread from the oven, when it’s warm and smells of yeast.

Cherry Clafoutis
Adapted from: Dalmatia Gourmande
For 4 x 2” deep, 4” diameter ramekins.

Ingredients
• ~20g unsalted butter
• 400g cherries, stoned
• 3 x eggs
• 60g brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 3 tbsp self-raising flour
• 90ml double cream
• 100ml milk

Preparation
Remove the stalks from the cherries, wash them, and remove the stones.

Preheat the oven to 180◦C.

Beat the eggs in a bowl with a fork/whisk with the sugar and vanilla essence. Add the milk and cream. Sieve in the flour and mix well until homogenous.

Divide some of the cherries in the bottom of each ramekin, and pour the batter equally into each ramekin. Top off with the rest of the cherries.

Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes. If you don’t want them to rise, use all-purpose flour and bake at a lower temperature for a longer time. But personally, I quite like it when they rise. Either way, they sink quite a bit once cooled.

Serve hot, lukewarm, or cold with lashings of double cream.

Bon Appétit!!