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, Room for improvement

Brazilian prawn stew.

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…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.

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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.

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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. 🙂

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Baking, Dessert

Strawberry and hazelnut torte.

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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. 🙂

Uncategorized

Another good use for pesto.

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The recent GF magazine had some ideas for bbq pizzas. I have no bbq, I have an old, shitty oven, that’s not even mine and can’t be scrubbed properly inside no matter how much Mr Muscle Oven I spray at it. But I liked the idea of pizza topped with grilled veggies and fresh, homemade( the only way!)- pesto.  So while my dough was proving, I made pesto and griddled  some courgette, aubergine and red onion. Additional topping- mozzarella, chilli, cheddar, cherry tomatoes. Next time it will be blue cheese, it needed a lift of some sorts. We pigged the whole one regardless.  It’s been raining all day, so we now have a fire burning and thinking of some dessert.

 

Good Food

Monkfish curry.

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Ocado brought me 2 small monkfish fillets and I decided to cook them in a curry. It was the first time ever I cooked monkfish and I must say, it wasn’t a bad attempt. Good fish is never bad!

It’s been a while since I made curry last time, due to being pregnant, but when I make it, I still use Kamal’s recipe, plus a few of my personal touches. I like to finely chop a sweet potato and throw it in, I had none today, also, I had to do without coriander ( abomination!!!!!) .But I made the paste with 2 shallots, 3 garlic cloves and some fresh ginger, fried it quickly, added equal amounts of curry powder, ground cumin, ground cardamon, some chilli. Threw a few chopped tomatoes, a can of coconut milk, some mange tout and green peas. And monkfish, at the end. Served with basmati rice topped with fried shallots. Shame about the lack of coriander. ;-/

Dessert

The ultimate creme brulee.

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Dare I say, I finally mastered it. Took lots of attempts, dozens of eggs, litres of cream and plenty of- however cholesterol is measured- but the ones I made today are perfect. I made 6, 4 for tomorrow( Ewa’s bringing her new chap over for dinner) and 2 for us for today, to make sure they’re ok to serve to people.

The recipe’s Michel Roux’s. For 6 of my small ramekins I used 5 egg yolks, creamed with 4 tbsps of sugar. 300 ml of double cream heated up with 90 ml of milk and generous tsp of vanilla paste.  The flavoured, hot cream gently poured into the eggs, the froth discarded, then into the bain marie for 35 minutes in 140 degrees. After 35 minutes I switched off the heat and left them inside the oven for another 10 minutes.  Finally, finally pleased with the texture. Yeah!! 🙂

The photo rather unconventional today, those are the 4 ones in the fridge awaiting Ewa and the chap tomorrow.

Oh, and a smile from Izzie, who is yet to discover lovely things like creme brulee.

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Baking

Cinnamon & strawberry cake.

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We visited Over Farm Market outside Gloucester yesterday, I was hoping for some lovely strawberries and asparagus, they had both. We had Eton mess last night, today I baked the cake and there’s still lots left, I need to use them in something good, not just strawberry/banana smoothies, lovely as they are.

The cake, recipe from GF, simple and very decent indeed( there’s a quarter of that cake left). 90 g each of ground almonds, self raising flour, sugar and soft butter, 2 eggs and a touch of cream all mixed together with an electric whisk that struggled, as the mixture was quite thick. The recipe asked for a tsp of cinnamon, I added 2, big cinnamon fan that I am. Half of that thick mixture went on the bottom of my small round baking tin, on it cleaned and sliced strawberries, around 250 g. The rest of the cake mix on top and into the oven for about 50 minutes, in  180 degrees. Finished off with icing sugar, served with cream. The remaining slice will be enjoyed after spaghetti bolognese this evening, but with vanilla ice cream. 🙂

 

Good Food

Kluski drozdzowe na parze.

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One of my favourite things to eat at Mum’s. She’s here this week, babysitting, so she made these on my request.

250 ml of warm milk mixed with 4 g of fresh yeast and 3 tbsps sugar, 35-40 g of plain flour, a pinch of salt, 50 g of butter.  Yeast, 1 tbps of sugar, 2 tbsp of flour and some milk make the base to look like double cream. Leave to prove.

Cream 2 egg yolks with the remaining sugar. Add to the proven dough, add the remaining milk, ad the flour, the salt, knead well in the glass bowl for about 15 minutes, if by hand. Add the melted, NOT HOT butter and continue kneading for another 5 minutes. Leave to prove again, for about 20-30 minutes.

Shape into small buns, steam for about 7 minutes. Serve with fresh fruit, strawberries, raspberries or blueberries and lightly whipped cream.

Rich, filling, delicious comfort food.

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Dessert

Pear and white chocolate cheesecake.

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A spontaneous creation to finish off the cottage pie dinner. It took me quite a long time to make it, as little Miss Banks was in constant need of attention this afternoon.  Got there in the end.

Simple base, as usual, biscuits and butter, flash baked in the oven. Left to cool. One nice, soft, ripe pear was enough to flavour 4 small cheesecakes, not to overpower them. I cooked it quickly with a splash of water and a gelatine leaf, then blitzed half a container of Philadelphia cheese, some double cream, icing sugar, lemon juice and the pear together.  I should have used a bit more gelatine, maybe another half a leaf, they were not perfectly set.  For the top a strawberry dipped in white chocolate, the remains of which I poured on top of the desserts.  Very pleasant, not too heavy( small amount of cheese). Yum.