All posts by Ola

I love eating. Even more than I love cooking. My Mum got this thing into me, being a working woman with two kids and still managing to put a two course dinner on the table for us every day. My meals are a lot simpler, I cook for two, with Florian being my most devoted fan and audience. There is nothing more rewarding than a nicely turned out meal. There is nothing more enjoyable that a great plate of food in a decent restaurant with a glass of great red in a nice company. Hence this blog, to share ideas and joy of good food. Bon Appetit.
Good Food

Glazed gammon.

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I’m amazed I’ve never done this before. I’ve been buying mediocre ham from the shops and butcher’s for years. The best I’ve ever had had to be the stuff Dad used to smoke before Christmas years ago. Yesterday a new Good Food mag came through the door, with a festive, glazed ham on the cover. I showed it to Florek and said- this is a sign from God. 🙂

I looked up a few simple recipes, added a small, unsmoked gammon joint to my Sainsbury’s load due to arrive this morning and I thought, the worst that could happen I would have wasted 4 quid. But I didn’t waste it. The house still smells of cloves, but I think for Christmas I’ll make another one, festive, maybe with orange glaze or something, I’ll research the subject and do more of these, now that I know I can!!!

So the small, 750 g gammon went into the pot of cold water, enough of it to submerge the whole thing, alongside the whole onion, a carrot, 3 bay leaves, some peppercorns, a small rosemary sprig, celery stick and some cloves. When it came to the boil, I covered it and simmered for about 40 minutes. Took it out, glazed with half of the combination of honey( 70g), Dijon mustard, about 1,1/2 tsp and 2 tbsps of dark sugar. Roasted it in 200 degrees for 15 minutes, before reglazing it with the remaining mixture and then 15 minutes again.

What I ended up with is a succulent piece of ham, salty, with sweet glaze, juicy and wonderful. I’m looking forward to making some lunch with it tomorrow. Also, reviews say that the stock from poaching the ham will make a fantastic base for a soup. Mine’s saved and waiting. Good stuff!!

Baking

Short hazelnut cookies.

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I should avoid cookies. Any cookies, especially those made with 200 g of butter, but making them was such a pleasure on a grey, cold December afternoon! And I know Florek will be at them even before he tastes his dinner. And so will Izzie. So cookies have been made, 4 of them were eaten with a good cup of tea and there are a few packed away for Charlie too.

Recipe is from mojewypieki.com, it works a treat and will be used again. 200 g of soft, unsalted butter was creamed with 0,5 tall glass of muscovado sugar( with a little vanilla sugar too), then 1,5 glass of plain flour added bit by bit. 0,5 glass of ground, toasted hazelnuts. 1 tsp of baking powder. 0,5 tsp of salt. A splash of vanilla paste. Then 3/4 glass of chopped, roasted hazelnuts alongside 2 handfuls of chopped dark and milk chocolate. A thick dough was formed, from which I made little balls, tea spoon sized ones and placed them on a lined tray, slightly flattened. They baked for 15-16 minutes in 160 degrees and filled the kitchen with the most fantastic smell. And even if they give me another centimeter in the waist area, so be it. 🙂

Good Food

Thai duck curry and super quick naan bread.

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The curry recipe is from December edition of Waitrose magazine, from which I also picked up a dessert I will make for Christmas. I actually already made some to try it out, I’m glad I did, as there will be some corrections made.

Now, the duck curry I simply had to try, especially as there were 2 duck legs sitting in the freezer. Florek promised he would give it a go, although he’s not a duck fan at all. For me the whole dinner tonight was excellent, Florek had it, but was not blown away by the duck, by the naan they both were. My lovely kiddo was finishing her picture after dinner and still chewing on the remaining bread, as it was”the best ever”.

Now, the duck legs, once defrosted received a nice sprinkling of curry powder, salt and turmeric and once we came back from school, got browned off on a little oil. 2 large onions chopped went into the pan, once the thighs were set aside, I cooked these down for nearly 15 minutes. Then a garlic and ginger paste went in, about 5 garlic cloves and a significant chunk of fresh ginger. Cooked for a few minutes with the onions. 1 tsp of chili flakes. 300 ml of chicken stock. Some salt- will leave out next time, the whole thing was salted plenty. The thighs back in, about 45 minutes later I was supposed to uncover them and continue cooking for another 40 minutes, but the meat needed longer, so I kept the lid on. In the meantime I got the rice ready, the fried shallots and the apple salad- that was lovely with a rich curry. 2 dessert apples very thinly sliced, some fresh chili, the dressing on juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp of fish sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil.

The naan! I don’t often make it from scratch, but this recipe I’m keeping. Found it on youtube, by some guy who loves curry. It was quick to make and when taken off the pan and smeared with some butter- I had to keep the child away after letting her try some. I used about 210g of self raising flour, 1tsp each of sugar and baking powder, a pinch of salt, then some Greek yoghurt, a splash of milk and some olive oil and all this quickly became a nice, soft dough. Once kneaded for a few minutes, it was rolled out, some garlic slices and fresh coriander were pressed in with the rolling pin and onto the pan on a medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side. Finished with butter and a tiny sprinkling of sea salt. Delicious!

Link to the naan;

Baking

Custard Slice, take 2.

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Having watched GBBO final the night before, where custard slice was the first challenge the contestants faced, I felt like having another go at it, but I went with Paul Hollywood’s recipe this time- proper custard, none of the powdered nonsense. Also, I wanted to see how I liked the rough puff pastry, which meant making the entire thing from scratch, non buying French pastry from Polish deli for instance. The pastry worked, wasn’t too difficult and time consuming, I would maybe add just a touch of icing sugar to it next time, to make it less savoury.

225g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, 200g of cold, unsalted butter, less than 140 ml of water made it all possible, for the butter I used the coarse grater and did the folding method 3 times, like with puff pastry, only the butter all went in in one go. Once folded and rested 3 times for about 15 minutes, I then divided it into 2 and baked under extra trays to keep them flat for roughly 20-25 minutes in 200 degrees, all the time checking and making sure they don’t overbake.

In the meantime the custard got done. 500ml of full fat milk, 100g of caster sugar( some of it vanilla sugar), vanilla paste, 4 egg yolks, 40g of cornflour. Yolks beaten up with sugar, cornflour added towards the end, while the milk was getting heated up with the vanilla. The custard got finished with 40 g of unsalted butter, covered and chilled until needed.

The homemade rough puff seems to be easier to cut with a serrated knife than the shop bought one. The nicer looking sheet of pastry went on top, finished with a little icing- lemon juice and icing sugar and then some feathered pattern of chocolate. Nice cake, much better attempt than the last one. And the next day tastes even better. 🙂

Baking

Chocolate almond cake.

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I accidentally made a gluten free cake yesterday. I had some good quality cooking chocolate and decided to have a go at Paul Hollywood’s recipe and while I stirred the melting chocolate I found myself looking at the recipe and realizing there is no flour there. 🙂

Chocolate cakes in our house are produced mainly for Florek. Izzie and I prefer milk chocolate, so I’ve made a small one, half a portion to make it manageable and not to waste too much.

So, to start, 130 g of dark chocolate got melted and slightly cooled. 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg whipped into thick goodness with 105 g caster sugar. 2 egg whites whipped separately. 125 g of ground almonds. All of those gently combined baked in my smallest, round tin, lined with baking paper for about 30-35 minutes in 180 degrees.

Once cooled, some raspberry jam was smeared all over the cake before the ganache( 60 g of the same chocolate and 60 ml of double cream) was generously applied all over the cake.

It was tasted shortly after Florek’s favourite carbonara. The sounds he was making convinced me it was a good use of time and ingredients. As for me, I’m not blown away, might have a piece later while watching GBBO semifinals.

Dessert

Blueberry and lime semifreddo.

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The recipe for this thing has been sitting in my recipe book for a couple of years. Back in the days when Jedrek and Aska could be bothered to keep in touch, when we used to socialize and enjoy long weekends. Aska brought an ice cream machine once and made it for everyone, left me the recipe and only now I used it. I’m tempted to do it again, but to make a proper custard base, instead of whipped cream.

I used juice from 2 limes and a zest from one, slowly cooked it down with 140 g of caster sugar, before adding about 140 g of blueberries and a handful of raspberries, that were sitting there looking miserable. Cooked all this down too, till the fruit broke down, then passed it through the sieve and cooled down. Then 290 ml of double cream whipped till soft peaks formed, puree folded in, wrapped in cling film lined dish and frozen till the evening. Really nice, refreshing little number. It makes me think though, how much better still it could be if based on a nice, thick, creamy custard. Hmmm. ….

Good Food

Goat’s cheese ravioli.

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Last time in Cote Florek had a similar dish and was surprised at how much he liked it. So we took our pasta machine out this afternoon and collectively made ourselves an absolutely delicious dinner. Florek, as usual produced a silky smooth, wonderful pasta and rolled it out for me ready to fill. Which I did with a mixture of toasted, blitzed walnuts, a generous handful of them, roughly half and half ricotta and a goat’s cheese, some grated parmesan, salt and pepper. That’s all.

Once ravioli were cooked, I chucked them onto the pan with lots of salted butter, some pre cooked and peeled broad beans ans peas. I finished them on the plates with toasted walnuts, parmesan, black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Shockingly good! 🙂 Looking forward to having it again.

Dessert

Tiramisu, extra special.

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I should be packing us for a week in Rome, leaving tomorrow, was the plan. But thanks to raging Covid the plans had to be postponed until mid February, the earliest. To wipe the tears, I decided to invite Keava and Simon and throw a small Italian feast next Saturday, which happens to be Halloween. The food will be Italian, wine will be Italian, dessert will be Italian. I didn’t have a reliable tiramisu recipe until now, this one is from goodfood.com and it was absolutely delicious. Will be made again for Saturday. And yes, the photo really could be better, but wine was going in really well last night with pizza, so, apologies for the photo quality. 🙂

I used 2 small egg yolks, which I whipped with 50 g of sugar and vanilla sugar, vanilla paste and some nutmeg in a bowl above a pan of simmering water. Took my time there, slowly adding about 20 ml of Disaronno, until the sugar nicely dissolved and the eggs were pale and fluffy. Left to cool in the fridge. The remaining Disaronno, about 50 ml I added to 100 ml of espresso, cooled.

Half of the 250 g container of mascarpone got whipped with 150 ml of double cream. Cooled. Egg mixture folded in, nice and gently.

Then, the usual stuff, savoyardi biscuits were gently soaked in the coffee/liquer mixture, arranged tightly on the bottom of the dish, half of the cream on top, biscuits, cream, then a thick coat of grated dark chocolate and a dusting of cocoa on top. A minimum of 3 hours in the fridge, the next day even better. Yum.

A link to the original recipe;

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/next-level-tiramisu-0
Good Food

Pepper beef.

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Marion’s. One, that Miky Drago said last week is much better than any take away. I don’t have take aways, so I can’t argue, but one thing for sure, this was a very tasty stir fry. And simple too.

I used a large, thinly sliced piece of rib eye, which sat in a quick marinade, while the rest of the stuff was getting ready. A good splash of soy sauce, Chinese vinegar, a tsp of bicarb soda and a tsp of cornflour made the marinade. Then the sauce; oyster sauce, soy sauce, some vinegar, some sugar and lots of black pepper, freshly ground. Into the wok I chucked some sliced garlic, roughly chopped shallot, then after a minute or 2 the beef. Seared it quickly, then the peppers, mixed colours, the sauce, the spring onions. Served with rice. Very good indeed, will be looking at more stuff from that lovely lady.

Baking

Danish Pastries, debut.

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From Paul Hollywood’s book “How to bake”. A piece of posh, expensive French butter was purchased on Friday specifically for this recipe and I started yesterday after lunch.

Dough nr 1 was made out of 500g of strong bread flour, 10 g of salt, 80 g of caster sugar, 10 g instant yeast ( I even had some!!!!), 2 eggs, 90 ml of water and 125 ml of warm milk. Kitchen aid worked it for about 7 minutes, then it rested in the fridge for an hour.

Posh French butter will be handled more carefully next time- straight from the fridge, otherwise it gets warm too quickly and is messy to handle; also next time I’ll roll in out on the baking paper and save myself some swearing. 🙂

The rolling out and folding the butter stuff is all nicely illustrated in the book, it was fun to make and I enjoyed learning new stuff. Last night there was a lovely block of Danish pastry resting in the fridge, 4 times rolled and folded, loosely wrapped in cling film- loosely, as it did rise quite a lot!

This morning I took it out, rolled out, shaped 3 ways and left to prove once more, while the nicest creme pat ever was cooling in the fridge. Creme from the same book, particularly delicious and creamy. Will be using this method from now onwards. 2 egg yolks, 50 g caster sugar, 20 g cornflour nicely whipped together, while 250 ml of milk and vanilla paste were heating up. Hot milk slowly added to the eggs, then returned to the heat and when thick and beautiful, 20 g of butter added. Yum!!!!!

Pastries, when doubled in size were topped with creme pat and some bluberries, the other ones were rolled with cinnamon, sugar and sultanas and baked in 200 degrees for less than 14 minutes, they did brown quickly.

I waited the whole 2 minutes after taking them out, before stuffing one down my gob with a sigh of pleasure. Butter. Butter makes everything tastes good.

We gave Simon and Keava a plate of pastries, the other ones sit on the island and are pinched every now and then by whoever passes by.

10 out of 10, worth every minute and every effort.