Monthly Archives: January 2021

Good Food

Roasted goods and some pasta too.

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January is coming to an end, not fast enough for me. We’re still in lockdown, schools are still closed, we’re stuck at home, so one thing we can do is cook and bake and eat well. Yesterday a roasted cauliflower soup for lunch.

A small cauli, 2 shallots, a couple of garlic cloves, some cumin seeds, olive oil and salt and in the oven for 35-40 minutes, partially covered. I ended up adding more ground cumin later.

Roasted veggies were added into hot chicken stock, cooked for a few minutes, blitzed into a creamy goodness, seasoned and finished with a touch of double cream. On top some toasted sunflower seeds. Lovely, nutritious, wintery soup.

Today, fresh pasta. I wanted to have a go at making agnolotti, youtube videos made it look easy enough, mine were nowhere near as pretty. More practice is needed, the flavour however was there and we ended up with lovely dinner. The stuffing- roasted butternut squash, red onions, pine nuts, walnuts, parmesan. Fresh thyme. Florek made pasta, the sauce was a simple fresh tomato reduction, lots of olive oil and some more of that beautiful fresh thyme. Next time the pasta will be thinner and better looking.

Good Food

Steak tartare.

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From Rick Stein’s “French Odyssey”.

It was only the second time I attempted a steak tartare at home. Done it a few years ago to Mum’s instructions, but was seriously underwhelmed,then had a few good ones in Brasserie Blanc and in Cote, not to mention that sensational one Florek had in Paris a year ago, but now, in lockdown, with great butcher around the corner there was no excuse but to try again. Especially with a recipe.

So I bought 300 g of fillet steak, which Toby kindly minced for me. To go with it I used 1 tbsp of chopped capers, a finely chopped echalion shallot, ended up adding a bit more, 2 tbsps of chopped parsley, 1 tbsp of olive oil, a large chopped cornichon, some tabasco, a generous seasoning of sea salt and black pepper. What the recipe lacked and I added 2 tsps of was Dijon mustard, a must, in my opinion. Worked it all well, formed 2 portions and placed a fresh egg yolk on top. Seasoning was checked and double checked and still salt and pepper mills, as well as tabasco ended up on the table. With the tartare we had some delicious matchstick fries and polished a bottle of Spanish garnacha. Very good indeed.

Baking

Chocolate loaf cake.

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Nigella’s again. Her recipe says” Dense chocolate loaf cake”, but mine’s not dense at all, in fact it is fairly light and delightful, easy to make and I’m surprised how much I like it- as I’m not known to love chocolate cakes. This one was picked this morning, at breakfast. I couldn’t sleep last night, I never can when the wind blows as if someone hung themselves and the wheelie bins get overturned. It’s still lockdown, it’s cold and grey outside and I’m finding it difficult to find positive things when I wake up in the morning. So today I thought – baking!!!!

Half a portion, small loaf, in order to reduce waste as well as not to fatten us up too much. 112 g of soft unsalted butter, creamed with 165g of brown sugar. 1 whole egg. Some vanilla paste. 50 g of good, dark chocolate, melted and slightly cooled. 100 g of plain flour plus half a tsp of bicarb of soda. 125 ml of boiling water. These ingredients made quite a runny batter, which baked in the lined tin initially for 25 minutes in 190 degrees, then for another 15 minutes in 170. left in the tin to cool completely before turned out.

Lovely recipe. I doubt it will last beyond tomorrow though. 🙂

Baking

Birthday cheesecake.

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Santa’s brought me one of Nigella’s books,”How to be a domestic goddess”, a nice new addition to my collection of cook books. This cheesecake looked appealing enough to be made first. I had a table booked at Rick Stein’s in Marlborough for my birthday, but once again Covid made sure the plans were wrecked, so I’m glad at least I had a nice cake, thanks Nige! 🙂

For the base I used 150 g of digestive biscuits, blitzed, then mixed with 75 g of melted butter, pressed into the lined, round tray and quickly baked for a few minutes.

Then 600 g of cream cheese got nicely whipped up in the kitchen aid, 150 g of caster and vanilla sugar added. 3 eggs, 3 yolks, vanilla paste, a good squeeze of lemon juice. Poured onto the biscuit base and into the oven in the water bath, I did secure the tray with alu foil twice, to be sure no water leaked in. It baked for 50 minutes in 180 degrees, then the final layer of soured cream( 150 ml + 1 tbsp of caster sugar and some vanilla paste) poured on the top and 10 more minutes in the oven. Once cooled, it spent a night in the fridge and before serving I finished the rough edges with some flaked almonds. It’s a lovely, moist, indulgent cake. And it was enjoyed!

The photo not exactly amazing, as this was the very last piece left.