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

Mussels at home? Why not.

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Jose Pizzaro was a guest in the recent Saturday Kitchen and made a plate of food that made me squeak just looking at it. I played it back on iPlayer, took notes, ordered stuff from Ocado and tried to recreate it this evening. I used a different fish, Jose’ s was rainbow trout, I went for seabass.

First, a simple tomato sauce was made, a clove of garlic, a shallot, canned tomatoes, seasoning, all this bubbled away while I made some parsley oil ( yummy invention!), stuck a bag of Scottish mussels in the microwave, fried up some cooking chorizo slices and finally pan fried my seabass.

The mussels are really quite delicious, especially at Brasserie Blanc, with French fries or crusty bread. I’ve never cooked them at home before, but those were the simple ones and tasted surprisingly well. I have one more bag left, need to do them justice tomorrow.

So, the chorizo went into the tomato sauce, alongside peeled mussels and a touch of their juices. Seabass on top, parsley oil. Crusty bread. Nice, different, but not mind blowing.

Baking

Pear & ginger muffins.

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Excellent. One of the best so far. I’ve just had one and might have another, but maybe after dinner. 🙂

I’ve searched mojewypieki.com for something nice, midweek and not too expensive, as I happened to have some decent pears in the fruit bowl, that’s what I picked. I’ve managed to make the batter and put them in the oven while chatting with Mum- about cakes, of all things! Izzie got a birthday party invitation, which made her think of her own birthday in 2 months and a possible GREEN cake that I will be required to make for her. ( Spinach??????) 🙂

The batter for muffins took 250 g of plain flour, 2 tsps of baking powder, 100 g of caster sugar ( original recipe called for 150), 50 g of brown sugar( 75 in Dorota’s). 1 tsp of ground ginger, I added a tsp of ground fresh ginger too, that paid off with a nice zing of ginger instead of some traces of it. Then 140 ml of soured cream, 125 ml of oil, 1 tbp of honey and 2 whole eggs. When all the ingredients combined nicely in kitchen aid, I added 2 peeled and chopped pears, filled the muffin cases and sprinkled them with brown sugar. they baked in 190 degrees for about 25 minutes. Excellent!

Baking

Tiramisu swiss roll.

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Something for the coffee this weekend. Easy, quick, delicious, even more so the next day.  Copied all the way from mojewypieki.com.

3 eggs, separated, whites whipped with a touch of salt and 50 g of sugar. Yolks added. 3,5 tbsps of plain flour, 2 tbsps of potato starch, 1/4 tsp of baking powder. 1 tsps of instant coffee.  All this poured onto a  very flat baking tray, 190 degrees, 8 minutes. Rolled when hot with the help of a cloth.

The cream could not be easier to make. 250g of mascarpone, 120 ml of double cream, 3 tbsps of Baileys, 1 tsps of instatnt coffee again, 2 tbsps of icing sugar all kitchen aided together till nice and thick. My personal touch were the raspberries left from breakfast right onto the middle,they cut through the sweetness really nicely.  And after a couple of hours in the fridge it was ready to eat. 🙂

Good Food

Scallops with chorizo crust.

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Last night we had some pork belly, marinated char siu style, rested, roasted, all as it should be, served with coleslaw and brioche buns. Although the flavours were lovely,  I was pouring mint tea into myself afterwards thinking how heavy and fatty that meal was. And I’m pretty sure it will be a while before I cook it again. So this evening my frozen scallops came out and it couldn’t be more different  to last night. They sat on pea puree, just seasoned and pan fried, topped with chorizo crust and some mash with spring onions on the side. A cold glass of chenin blanc.  Doesn’t get much better than that!

Good Food

Salmon sashimi, driven by nostalgia.

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I get the best food ideas when I can’t sleep. That was the case last night, Florian has a nasty cold and snores like crazy.  I knew that Ocado was coming in the morning, bringing a piece of prime salmon loin, the intention  was to wrap it into sushi.  But I thought I could try and bring back a bit of magic of the old days; one of the most awesome plates in Dinings is seabass carpaccio with truffles. I served my salmon quite thickly sliced. Made ponzu ( equal quantities of soy sauce, lemon juice and rice vinegar). Spooned out some of my remaining truffle salsa bought in Lucca. Had no chives, so a little spring onions had to do. A drizzle of truffle oil at the end. I attempted ponzu jelly too,  but added too little gelatine and it didn’t work out. Next time I’ll double it. Might even open the jar with my 2 Lucca truffles, still hidden in the pantry.  It will certainly be done again.

Good Food

Risotto with chorizo and green peas.

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A while ago, while having a glass ( or 2) of wine with Lisa, I munched on some delicious chorizo she quickly panfried and served with bread and cheese.  So when I saw a recipe from GF for a risotto that featured cooking chorizo, I had to try it.  The one I bought at Food Fanatics this afternoon was fairly spicy, but along with  the rice and sweet peas, washed down by French sav blanc and good chicken stock – made us a delicious supper.  Went well with Argentinian Malbec too.  A 4 star bowl of risotto. 🙂

Dessert

Mango moussecake.

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I was looking for something good to take with us to Jimbo and Louise’s this weekend, found this on mojewypieki.com, made it and made everyone, including the kids, very happy indeed. What a great dessert, light, very fruity, not difficult to make.

Usual sponge, 2 eggs, whites whipped, 4-5 tbsps of sugar, yolks in. 2 tbsps of plain flour, 1 tbsps of potato flour, a touch of baking powder. 180 degrees, 20 minutes.

A can of mango pulp was purchased, what a great product, no hassle with fresh mango, which in the UK is hardly ever amazing, even when ripe.  An 850 g can went a long way. 600g was heated up and mixed with 6  pre-soaked gelatine leaves.  A splash of lemon juice.  All cooled a bit, then 100 g of greek yoghurt in.  300 ml of double cream whipped with 2 tbsps of icing sugar, all well combined, onto the sponge, soaked with Grand Marnier ( why not indeed?).  A small mango chopped up and bits added in for the texture. Into the fridge to set. Finally a glaze of the remaining 250 g of mango pulp, alongside 2 gelatine leaves.  I was trying to be a bit arty and added a few dots of raspberry coulis to that glaze, it wasn’t exactly a million dollar idea, I don’t think I’ll bother next time. The next time will happen soon though, it was a greatly enjoyed sweet little number. Five stars. 🙂

Eaten out

Food heaven.

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Florek took us out last night to Brasserie Blanc for my birthday dinner.  We eat there every few weeks, it’a  a place consistently good in terms of food and service, not cheap, but always delivers. Last night was truly excellent.  Steak tartare to start to share, burger for Florek, confit duck leg for me. Super soft meat on that leg, beautifully crispy skin. Cherry sauce. The most delicious dauphinoise I’ve eaten in my life- perfect! Soft, not too creamy, perfectly seasoned. Some roasted veg on the side.  My only regret was that I was too full to finish it or to have a scoop of sorbet at the end.

Excellent service too, which Florek rewarded with a nice tip. And- I now know how to make a bellini as good as the ones they sell in BB- Amazon sells the fruit puree they use.

Truly lovely birthday dinner.

Baking

Napoleonka. My way.

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Every now and then I manage to produce something that makes me really chuffed and puts a smile on my face for a long time. I attempted this lovely calorific bomb yesterday and initially decided it’s as good as the one at Maslanka’s. Shortly followed by a conclusion that it’s actually better. Florian agreed, which is always nice.

For the base and the” roof” I used the ready made French puff pastry brought from Polish Biedronka. Baked it in 180 degrees, initially under another tray to keep it nice and flat, removed the tray after 12 minutes and continued without for another 13 minutes.

Made the cream no. 1 by whisking 2 whole eggs with 2 tbsps of plain flour and 2,5 tbpsp of potato flour with about half a glass of milk, while the other full glass of milk with 4 tbsps of sugar, vanilla sugar and vanilla paste were being brought to a boiling point. Egg mixture added, then onwards like with custard. The recipe for that is from mojewypieki and only that. The slightly cooled cream went onto the bottom layer of the baked pastry, then whipped cream, top layer of the pastry, icing sugar, fridge for 2-3 hours.

Absolutely love it. 🙂

Made in Poland

Goods from Jan Maslanka.

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We came back from a winter break in Poland a couple of days ago. The trip lacked in snow, but was rich in lots of great food. My Mum is a very accomplished home cook, she always feeds us well, if maybe a tad too much. I had an enormous appetite there, back to normal now, otherwise my arse will double in size.

There is a patisserie in Klodzko, called Maslanka, from the name of its founder, a famous place in the city. When they’re open, you walk down Koscielna street and all you smell is pure cake heaven. We visited twice. Once, Mum got some baked cheesecake (in Poland a cheesecake must be baked, the cold version is a dessert, not a cake by any means), described by the shop assistant in every detail- I loved that! So much passion and pride about the product they sell. What blew me away was Napoleonka. A rich, creamy cake on puff pastry that was so good I’m considering treating myself for my birthday tomorrow. Having one piece is a laugh, it’s incredibly moreish.

Also, I tried a kapusniaczek, a small piece of puff pastry filled with a mixture of soured cabbage and mushrooms, the kind of stuffing you’d find in good, homemade pierogi in Poland in winter. We made them at home later, lovely and light.

Their doughnuts were light and made with great dough, a little shy on jam though, no photo, not good enough.

Will be returning to Maslanka’s and will be baking Napoleonka. Very soon. 🙂