Chocolate Fondant
Did I say we were starting our new year diet on Monday? In the spirit of going crazy we decided to make something chocolatey for dessert and opted for these chocolate fondants from the James Tanner book that I received when I did the Cook The Books show for Channel Five.
Serves Two:
65g chocolate
65g butter
2 eggs
37g sugar
25g flour
1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
Melt chocolate and butter and leave to cool.
Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and doubled in volume.
Fold eggs into chocolate then add the flour and cocoa.
Spoon into buttered moulds and cook for seven minutes until risen.
Eat!
Tartiflette!
I’ve been really excited about this all day, it’s been on our “Things To Cook Soon” list since last year but the amount of cheese and cream has always given us an excuse not to cook it. However, our new year diet starts on Monday so we decided to go crazy this evening and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Our version was based on this Waitrose recipe which we followed almost exactly; we didn’t sprinkle thyme on the top and we cooked the dish for an extra 15 minutes but otherwise it was the same.
And wow. It was amazing. But then, it was always going to be amazing….potatoes, cream, garlic, cheese and bacon. It’s a classic combination and it certainly didn’t let us down.
While researching recipes we came across this link from Wikipedia which explained that the dish was created in the eighties by the Reblochon trading union as a way to increase sales.
Stuffed Mushrooms
Stephen bought some enormo-mushrooms yesterday for the stew but they looked too good to slice up so instead we stuffed them and had them for lunch today.
I part cooked them in the oven before stuffing them with a mixture of cheese, garlic, breadcrumbs and pancetta. We served them with some lighly toasted brown bread. They were tasty (if a little too garlicky) and made a good lunch.
Beef and Stout Casserole
Neither Stephen nor I were at work yesterday so we took the opportunity to cook something slow. We chose a beef dish from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Meat book which used stewing beef and Guinness. Recipe below serves 8-10 which we obviously scaled back.
1.5kg stewing beef
250g bacon
50g butter
500g onions
50g seasoned flour
1 litre stout
2 bay leaves
Thyme
Parsley stalks
250g button mushrooms
250g flat mushrooms
Salt and pepper
Brown the bacon and onions and remove from the pan.
Brown the beef and add the bacon and onions back to the pan.
Add the stout to deglaze.
Add the herbs and salt and pepper, bring to the boil.
Cook for 2.5 hours adding the cooked mushrooms an hour before the end.
Serve with mashed potatoes.
We both enjoyed the dish and appreciated the amount of flavour that came from such few ingredients and such a simple cooking process.
Scallops and Pancetta with Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Rosti
Does that win the prize for longest-ever-blog-post-title?
We had some Jerusalem artichokes languishing in the fridge, Stephen had picked them up to go with the lamb on Sunday but we forgot them. We weren’t sure what to do with them but a quick search threw up lots of options for pairing them with scallops, never a bad thing because we both love scallops.
We both think of them as being similar to parsnips and potatoes in texture so it seemed sensible to make rosti out of them; scallops and pancetta is a classic combination so that’s what we did.
I overcooked the artichokes in the beginning so grating them proved quite tricky, I got there in the end though (and managed to keep my nails intact) and produced two reasonably sized rosti cakes. Stephen fried them off when he got home, along with the scallops and pancetta and we served them with some buttery Savoy cabbage.
The flavours all worked well together and we both enjoyed it, I think my comment about it making a good starter was telling though as there wasn’t nearly enough food and I’ve just caught Stephen at the pinenuts again.
Marinated Cucumber and Wild Boar Chops with Noodles
On Saturday, while searching for lamb shanks, I also discovered some wild boar chops and of course had to buy them. My memory told me that the sign had said that they were marinated in sesame and ginger, so we planned some Oriental side dishes. On opening the chops, we found bits of thyme in them so I started to doubt my memory. On cooking them though, they did taste like they may well have had sesame and ginger on them, along with a dose of sweetness.
Side dishes we served with them were noodles drizzled with sesame oil and black and white sesame seeds, cucumber slices marinated in vinegar, mirin, sake, soy and sugar and also some roasted peppers with sesame. Sesame-tastic tonight.
The wild boar chops turned out rather well, slowly pan fried to cook them through while keeping them moist and giving them a nicely caramelised exterior. The chops were good and went well with the various side dishes. Definitely something to try again, although next time I think we’ll get plain chops rather than marinated ones and treat them differently. The marinated cucumbers were good too and I’d like to try them or something similar again soon.
Lamb Shanks with Dauphinoise Potatoes
While browsing some of my favourite food blogs last week, I came across Pixie’s post about lamb shanks. I really wanted to make them there and then as they looked so good but it was a school night and I knew Stephen and I would want to eat as soon as we got home and not have to wait so, we decided to make them over the weekend instead.
We struggled to find lamb shanks locally, our normal butcher didn’t have any and neither did the new butcher that had just opened. Stephen was determined though and took a walk to a different butcher and come home proudly carrying his bag of goodies (there were other things too, more on that tomorrow).
We’d intended to follow Pixie’s recipe exactly but since we wanted to eat early today we had to start just after breakfast. Neither of us fancied whizzing up herb butter at 9am so we got out the books and decided to do a version of our own.
We browned the lamb shanks and removed them from the pan, next we sauteed off some onions, celery and garlic before adding the carrots and leek, some stock, some red wine and some tomato puree. After this had simmered for a while we added the lamb shanks, seasoned and added a bay leaf, some rosemary, thyme and sage before putting the whole lot in the oven for 3 hours.
An hour before it was ready we made up some dauphinoise potatoes and put those in the oven to cook.
300ml double cream
75ml milk
1 garlic clove, crushed
1lb potatoes, sliced
S&P
Nutmeg
Gently heat cream, milk and garlic. Pour over seasoned potatoes. Put into a dish and bake at 150 for an hour.
We served the lamb with the potatoes and some savoy cabbage. The lamb was cooked perfectly and was really tasty, the potatoes were creamy and garlicky and the cabbage provided a good contrast. A brilliant Sunday lunch.
Sea Bass with Savoy Cabbage, Bacon and Beer
While watching Saturday Kitchen this morning we saw Rick Stein cook this dish with cod. It looked good so we thought we’d do it this evening with sea bass.
We fried off some bacon, onions and garlic before adding some beer and cabbage. This was simmered for about 10 minutes before adding some butter. Meanwhile we fried the fish and then added it to the cabbage.
I think this has a lot of potential and should have been good but it was actually quite bitter which must have been the beer. Perhaps we used too much but how were we to know since Rick never gives any indication of the amounts he uses and doesn’t allow the BBC website to publish his recipes.
Almost Pizza
Last night we decided to make pizza. We’ve done it quite successfully a few times before, so had no reason to believe that this time would be any different. But it was different. The dough just didn’t work out very well. We guessed at many reasons for this, ranging from the yeast being old to the planets not being in correct alignment.
Luckily, we had a ciabatta loaf available, so we sliced this in half horizontally and made each half into an almost-pizza. We had a variety of toppings: salami, paleta iberico, mozzarella, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, manchego cheese, red onions, chopped olives and basil. We decided to make one “Italian” pizza with the salami, mozzarella, artichoke hearts and basil leaves and one “Spanish” pizza with the paleta, manchego, olives, red onions and a token amount of mozzarella. The mozzarella was buffalo mozzarella from M&S, which is really good and I ate rather a lot of it before it made it anywhere near the pizza.
Kerri had made a tomato “sauce” by roasting some tomatoes and onions with a little chilli and other seasoning. We squashed the tomatoes down a bit and then spread this over the bases before putting the toppings onto them. They turned out quite well, although obviously not the same as a proper pizza would have. The ciabatta went crispy on the outside and stayed soft on the inside, which gave a nice contrast. I preferred the “Spanish” one and Kerri preferred the “Italian” one.
Chilli and Tacos
The start of a new year inevitably means a new healthy eating plan, particularly after the indulgence of Christmas. I spent most of today wondering what to cook for dinner this evening but nothing seemed particularly inspiring. It wasn’t helped by the fact that it was absolutely freezing and the heating at work seemed to be broken, again.
Stephen suggested fajitas with taco shells but it didn’t get me all that excited, I was tempted by the idea of the taco shells though and decided chilli would be both warming and relatively low-fat.
I used our normal recipe from the Waitrose site but amended it slightly as I went along. It was brilliant (if I do say so myself!) and just what we needed after a hard, cold day at work.
Below are the quantities I used for two servings (the original recipe serves 8-10 and every time I make it I mean to amend the quantities so I know exactly what I’m doing and don’t have to work it out as I go):
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
0.25kg lean minced beef
0.5 tbsp tomato purée (I left this out because I didn’t have any)
1/2 red chilli, chopped (this could/should be increased to 1 whole chilli)
1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
150ml fresh vegetable stock
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 squares G&B dark chocolate
S&P
1/2 tin red kidney beans
Worcester sauce
Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently until soft. Add the mince and fry until browned. Add the chilli and spices and fry for a further five minutes.
Add the stock, tomatoes and chocolate and season. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour until the meat is tender.
Add the beans, bring to the boil again and serve.
