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

In the mood for duck.

Leave a comment

Hard to believe, but this was the first ever duck I cooked myself. I often order duck when eating out, whenever available, but I always thought it was difficult to get right. And not cheap, either.  Ocado had it on offer though, so I bought 2 breasts and decided to see, what I can make of it.  I’ve eaten by myself, as certain people get home around 9pm these days, so certain people will have his duck well rested.

I scored the breasts and seasoned them well with pepper and salt, then fried, skin side down for about 10 minutes, meat side down for about 5, then to the oven for another 10 in 170 degrees. I wanted it medium well and achieved it nicely. The duck rested under the foil for about 10 minutes. I served it on the bed of sauteed potatoes, white cabbage and crispy bacon and the dressing ripped off some duck recipe from GF; just some fat from under the duck, 2 tbsps of olive oil and a tbsp of balsamic vinegar.

I destroyed the lot with a glass of cab sav, will definitely be making duck again, but with some nice greens.

Baking

Mary Berry’s Apple & Cinnamon Loaf.

Leave a comment

I saw it on tv last night, there was nothing in it that I don’t like- apples,cinnamon, had to try. Lovely recipe, easy and quick, made it and whacked it in the oven in no time, while Izzlett was napping.

I used about 40 g of soft butter which I whizzed with 100 g of self raising flour and 50 g of brown sugar. Added a generous tsp of cinnamon, then 1,5 chopped apples ( I had pink lady in the fruit bowl, worked nicely) and 2 eggs, lightly beaten. All this went into a loaf tin, topped with thinly sliced apples and some brown sugar sprinkled on them. Baked in 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Mary suggested warmed apricot jam glaze after it cooled a bit, I used maple syrup. Yum!

 

Dessert

Tiramisu.

Leave a comment

Four years plus of writing the blog and no traditional tiramisu, how is it even possible?

Jana sent me a photo of the meal she recently had in Spain and said she had tiramisu for dessert; I thought it’s been too long since I last made it.

I used vanilla flavoured instant coffee to soak the biscuits in and in terms of booze, my favourite Hazelnut Soplica.  So much of it, in fact, that driving after having this dessert would not be a good idea. 😉

I whisked 2 egg yolks with about 3 tbsp of sugar, then whisked in 250 g tub mascarpone and I guess around 2 tbsps of the hazelnut vodka.  One whipped egg white loosened it up a notch. I made 2 layers, sprinkled it with cocoa and topped with some fresh blueberries.

Lovely flavour, my only complaint- maybe a touch too wet, I must have soaked the biscuits too long.  Yum.

Dessert

Buttermilk panna cotta.

Leave a comment

John Torode mentioned another good use for buttermilk would be using it in panna cotta.  We happened to make the American pancakes on Sunday, the leftover buttermilk was sitting in the fridge, so it was time to see, if Torode knew what he was talking about. Panna cotta is delicious and takes no time at all to make, so I googled buttermilk panna cotta and went for Paul Hollywood’s recipe. I also googled how to lose baby fat from the stomach, but wasn’t as successful in executing some excercise, as I was in making the dessert.

For 2 dessert dishes and 2 small silicone ones I used 150 ml of both buttermilk and double cream, 35 g of sugar and 1, 1/4 leaf of gelatine, plus a touch of vanilla paste. Paul Hollywood suggested blueberries, I used strawberries, chopped inside the dessert.  Instead of a regular coulis I glazed it with maple syrup, worked a treat!

To be repeated. 😉

We found it lighter than the regular panna cotta, tasty and delicious.

Good Food

Breakfast by Florek.

1 Comment

The current series of Masterchef, like I mentioned before is full of so called celebrities, famous for starring in soaps and for being famous. But I still watch it and get ideas and so does Florek- occasionally.  It was his idea to make the American style pancakes and he did, all by himself- I put the bacon in the oven, made us coffee and fed Izzie while watching him work.  I felt really happy this morning, with our awesome kiddo, showering us with smiles, with the smell of coffee and bacon in the oven. 😉

For the pancakes Florek used ROUGH guidance from iPlayer, then adjusted the flour, as the batter was not thick enough. He used about 175 g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of bicarb soda, 35 g of sugar, 2 eggs, 125 ml buttermilk and 25 g of melted butter. The amount of milk we found is difficult to measure, the batter must be as thick as a good double cream. He fried the pancakes  quite large, so we didn’t manage all of them, but they tasted great with Canadian maple syrup and crispy bacon. I had some strawberries on mine, without which the whole thing would be a touch too sweet for me. Will be done again.

Baking

Strawberry and frangipan tart.

Leave a comment

Inspired by Masterchef last night, starring so called celebrities. Some bint, who’s famous for socializing, made a frangipan tart. I felt like making  some kind of frangipan tart, found Paul Hollywood’s recipe with apricots and pears. I had neither, but I had strawberries.

Izzie was asleep upstairs, like a good child that she is, so I managed to do the whole thing in one go. Sweet shortcrust pastry( 250 g of plain flour, 125 g of butter, 2 egg yolks, some sugar and a drop of water to bind it), blind baked it in 200 degrees for 15 minutes with baking beans and then about 8 minutes without. Then, on the bottom went some strawberry jam followed by the said frangipan. Easy, Kitchen Aid did the job-for my small round tin I used 62 g of butter and sugar, nicely creamed together, 75 g of ground almonds, 25 g of plain flour, 1,5 egg and a generous tsp of vanilla paste. It smelled great. Onto the frangipan went sliced strawberries and chopped hazelnuts( ran out of almonds). And all that baked in 160 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Very pleased with the pastry and the whole thing, strawberries were a good choice with the sweet tart, they balanced the taste nicely. Will be playing with frangipan again.

 

Good Food, Room for improvement

Brazilian prawn stew.

Leave a comment

…Or, as the GF website advertises it- Bahia style Moqueca prawn stew. I had a craving for prawns, since last night on Masterchef some so called celebrities ( sic!) were making prawn cocktail. Or attempting it, let’s be honest.  So I went to Whole Foods today and for the first time ever found no fresh prawns in the fish counter.  In the freezer however there were  1 kg bags of Indian tiger shrimps, at the eye watering price of £16.99. That’s what maternity allowance is for, buying prawns at  £16.99. Yeah. So I did.  And there’s still half a bag left in the freezer for another time.

Erm, it was a pleasure cooking it; the baby was asleep in her basket, I was sipping lovely chilled Pinot Gris and making something new.

I started from marinating the prawns in lime juice, garlic and salt mixture.  I then  fried a shallot and 2 spring onions, half a chopped red pepper afterwards along with some chilli flakes and hot paprika. Next time there will be more chilli, fresh one, more lime, more kick. 3 chopped plum tomatoes  and a can of coconut milk in, all this reduced slightly, but not thick enough to my liking, so I used good old corn flour to make the consistency right. And at the end the prawns, with all the marinade, a touch more seasoning, lots of fresh coriander and onto the table. Served with steamed rice and great wine. Enjoyed with Florek. 🙂

 

 

Dessert

Lime & coconut cheesecake.

1 Comment

I had some  leftover limes from the mojitos and no dessert for tonight, a can of coconut cream in the pantry and about an hour, while the baby slept in the garden. All this resulted in 4 little cheesecakes.

Usual base of crushed biscuits with melted butter, plus some desiccated coconut this time, flash baked and cooled. Half a box of Philadelphia cheese whipped with coconut cream and a juice of 2 limes, which I sweetened and heated up in order to dissolve 1,5 leaves of gelatine in. I also added a splash of baccardi rum, but can’t really taste it, to be frank.  I topped the cheesecakes with toasted desiccated coconut and some lime rind and left to set for about 4 hours.

Nice, could be a touch sweeter, but what would make it great I’m thinking would be Malibu rum.  Maybe after one day we decide to have a pina colada party. 🙂

Beverage, Good Food

Pulled pork & mojito weekend.

Leave a comment

For that weekend I was waiting for months, since February, I think, when Jana booked her plane tickets.  I might have even asked Jedrus to put 14th June in his calendar, as I really wanted my 2 awesome friends to finally meet. Plus, I had no mojitos for over a year, now was the time to make up it- Jedrek makes them like nobody else, sweet and lovely.

I became a fan of pulled pork when working in The Oak. When the latest GF magazine came through the door, with a pulled pork roll on the cover I knew what I’d be making for the weekend. The roll on the cover is a brioche bun, which I skipped and pre ordered 15  lovely white rolls from the local bakery, 2,5 kg of pork shoulder from my butcher and a condiment from Amazon, which added some excellent smoky flavour to my meat, a liquid smoke. Next weekend I’m going to try with prawns or chicken, I think it will be great.

So, the pork shoulder was nicely browned on all sides on the pan, then placed on a wire rack and lovingly rubbed with a marinade of 2 tsp of smoked paprika, 2 tsp of mustard powder, 1 tsp of onion salt and garlic salt and that liquid smoke. It sat in the oven for 5 hours in 150 degrees, well covered with foil and with a cup of water added to the toasting tin, to help the temperature and juice circulation.

After 5 hours I shredded the meat with a  couple of forks, it was beautifully soft. I mixed the juices from the tin with a shop bought bbq sauce and a touch more of the liquid smoke.

To serve, we had those lovely soft rolls and I also made fresh coleslaw- white cabbage, carrot, a shallot, mayo and lots of seasoning. Extra bbq sauce was served as well, the meat had to  be moist and flavoursome.

That was my contribution. Mojitos were made exclusively by Jedrus Bialowas.  Sheer quality and awesomeness. 🙂

f0317504

f0376512

 

 

Baking, Dessert

Strawberry and hazelnut torte.

Leave a comment

Very much looking forward to next weekend, which we have been planning for months, ever since Jana booked her tickets to Bristol. Jedrus and Aska are coming too, there will be mojitos and pulled pork( if I can pull it off) and for dessert perhaps this one.

Very nice nutty pastry- 140 g of plain flour, 50 g of ground hazelnuts, 100 g butter, all blitzed to the texture of breadcrumbs, then 50 g of sugar and an egg yolk. Kneaded into a nice pastry, slightly chilled and baked under the beans for about 15 minutes in 190 degrees, then another 5-7 minus the beans. When cooled, I filled it with a mixture of whipped cream and Philadelphia, flavoured with icing sugar and lemon juice. Chopped strawberries into the mix, more strawberries on top, as well as chopped and toasted hazelnuts. And just a drizzle of chocolate. Nice. 🙂