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

Mac’n’cheese.

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I consider myself a decent cook, yet today I was looking at recipes of macaroni cheese, because I have never made it before (!!) . I wanted a budget meal and Jamie Oliver’s recipe sounded like a nice one.  I managed to put a nice meal on the table this evening in spite of having a really bad day, when everything was falling out of my hands, I was kicking pans in the cupboard and nearly cried, when a ball of nutmeg fell into my sauce whole, off the grater. I suppose I could just blame it all on the hormones, right?

So, macaroni; while the pasta was in the pan, boiling away, I made the white sauce, starting off like bechamel, plus a few thinly sliced bits of garlic and 3 bay leaves all in before the milk. The cooked pasta went in alongside some grated cheese, Jamie said cheddar, I used what I had in the fridge and needed to be used, a combo of comte and jarlsbeg, plus, to make it healthier and more tasty- some crispy fried bacon. Seasoned with the said nutmeg, which I finally fished out, a few drops of worcestershire sauce and salt/pepper. And into the oven for about 30 mins, to crisp up and turn nice and golden on top.

Served with a nice, green salad, it was a very pleasant meal indeed.

For dessert I made skubaniec, inspired by my mum, who sent me a parcel full of goodies for Izzie, plus 13 jars full of jams, preserves and stuff.  Gotta get cracking with those jars, I thought. Hence skubaniec. Recipe somewhere around, in 2010 I believe.

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Good Food

Pea, basil and pancetta tart.

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From GF online.  I thought pancetta and green peas can’t go wrong together. I made it the way I’d normally do  a quiche, plus a tiny improvement of infusing the cream with basil leaves and stalks. Not that it made an astonishing difference to the flavour, I needn’t have bothered.

The shortcrust pastry I’m particularly pleased with. 125 g of plain flour, 63 g of butter, an egg yolk and a splash of water to bind it.  Cooled briefly, pre- baked and then filled with fried pancetta, blanched peas, a couple of cherry tomatoes just for colour and extra chopped basil. Finished  with a mixture of 2 beaten eggs,  pseudo-infused cream, grated mozzarella, lots of grated nutmeg and seasoning.  Baked in 180 degrees until set and slightly browned on top.  Accompanied by a simple green salad.

 

Dessert

Mango mousse cake.

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A spontaneous idea I had this afternoon, while bolognese sauce was bubbling away on the stove and I was wondering what should we have for dessert after lasagne.  I had a small bottle of a delicious mango juice in the pantry, which I warmed up just to be able to melt 2 gelatine leaves and left it to cool. Quickly magicked  up a sponge base with usual recipe and when it was cool and ready, I whipped some double cream with lemon juice and sugar. I was slowly adding the mango and gelatine mixture to it, then a touch more lemon juice to taste. On the sponge base I scattered some chopped peaches- I had no canned mango, which is a shame, onto the peaches went the cream and mango mixture.  4 hours in the fridge was enough for it to set nicely, sadly, having pigged nearly whole lasagne, we had no space for the cake last night, so it was only tasted today. Well pleased with it, I took some to Rob as a peace offering- more work is needed with our wall in the attic room, which he will have to sort out.  More cake will be enjoyed tonight with season 2 of “House of Cards”.

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Baking

Sunday Apple Pie with Custard.

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I have just come to a conclusion, that the best cooking and baking I do is spontaneous. I was planning on cooking the breast of lamb, as Tom Kerridge showed in Food & Drink, was thinking about it for the whole week, how I’d do it, discussed with the butcher and stuff and then I made it and it was ok, not good enough to blog it, I decided. Today at midday I thought- I want an apple pie, now. I made it using the recipe from “The Art of Pastry” book, half a portion, for 2 people to pig it, not 6 and I love it.

For the sweet shortcrust pastry I used 175 g of plain flour, 90 g of butter, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of cold water to bind it and, after a moment of consideration sexed it up with a tbsp of ground almonds and some sugar. Chilled it for 30 mins, while I peeled and thinly sliced 2 large bramley apples, sweetened and spiced them with cinnamon and lots of my mom’s fried orange peel and dusted with some flour, as the recipe suggested. I also folded through the remaining apple puree I made for souffles last night, it oozed out and on the photo looks like caramel on the edge of the pie.

My small 15″ tin was great again, this pie will be finished this evening, no doubt, enjoyed fresh and nothing wasted. The amount of filling was perfect and I even cut out some leaves to make it look nice on the top. Finished with egg white and a sprinkle of brown sugar it baked in 200 degrees for 30 mins, then in 180 for another 15 mins.

Custard- simplicity and no recipe. 2 egg yolks whipped with a random amount of sugar and a good tsp of corn flour, while double cream and milk with a vanilla pod were heating up on the stove. I whisked it through the egg mixture and returned to the pan, till slightly thickened.

Love the pie, that orange rind is sensational.

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Dessert

Bramley apple souffle with berry coulis.

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Skinny Roux’s recipe from the latest “Food & Drink”. Proper souffle, I thought, when I was watching him making it, with creme patissiere and stuff, I had to have a go at it.

Hours earlier I made a simple bramley apple puree, just 1 chopped apple with some sugar, cinnamon and a splash of lemon juice, cooled and blitzed into smoothness. Then the coulis, simple again, frozen berries cooked off, sweetened to taste  and passed through a fine sieve.

From there I could warm the oven to 200 degrees with a baking tray as well, to give the beauties a kick of heat from the start.

For the creme pat I used 100 ml of milk, which I heated up with some sugar and vanilla paste. I whipped 2 egg yolks with 2 tsp of sugar, then stirred in about 12 g of flour, added the hot milk, whisked and returned onto the heat. It all thickened nicely and went outside onto the cold to cool quickly. I then folded in a fat spoon of apple puree. Next, 2 egg whites beaten up with 2 more tsps of sugar, a third of it briskly mixed into the creme pat, then the rest of it, gently, in order to keep as much air as possible.

This lovingly prepared mixture went into 3 ramekins, buttered  upwards, to encourage the souffles rising and dusted with sugar. And into the oven for 8-10 minutes.

The sink full of dishes was worth it. When they rose nicely in the oven I was jumping up and down, mistake, when 7 months pregnant, heheh, but hey. Good, goooooood dessert. 🙂

Baking

Coconut & mango slice.

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From the latest GF. I’ve made half a portion this afternoon, on the thought that Sunday without a home baked cake is just a tiny little bit shit. 🙂

For my small tin, which I greased and lined with parchment, while the oven was warming up to 180 degrees I used 100 g of soft butter, 110 g of soft brown sugar, creamed nicely together, 2 eggs added one by one, , 100 g of self raising flour, 25 g of desiccated coconut and about 70 g of Greek style yoghurt, coconut flavoured, ideally- mine was not, Co-Op is not that advanced. If I were to stick with the half a portion, I’d have used half a can of sliced mango, but I used it all, some on the bottom of the tin, the rest folded in. It was a good idea, made the cake moist and lovely, I need to work out some more coconut flavour in it next time. That yoghurt maybe, or some coconut cream, we’ll see.

I sprinkled a bit of desiccated coconut on top and whacked it in the oven for 30 minutes. Nice.

Dessert

Excellent rice pudding.

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Considering seconds, while writing. So pleased with it! And no work at all. I shoved in the oven 100 g of short grain rice, about 40 g of sugar, 700 ml of milk, lots of vanilla paste and left it in there for 1,5 hour in 150 degrees.

Cooked off some frozen berries with lots of sugar to make a nice and simple compote. Delicious!!!! 🙂

Good Food

Chicken croquettas with 2 chutneys.

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“Food & Drink” is back for a new season, with skinny Roux Jr and a bint, who suggests great wines with meals, to me, who can only have a small glass once a week. I’m craving a nice, cold Pinot Gris, but with the new financial discipline and the mentioned alcohol abstinence for a few more months to come, the answer is NO.

Roux boy was talking about doing a better job with leftovers, like with remains of the roast chicken from a Sunday. He suggested croquettes, which I’ve been thinking about making for quite a long time. Today I did. But not with the leftovers, I bought 5 roasted chicken drumsticks, warmed them up while I was waiting for the potatoes to cool. In the meantime Dustin has helped himself to one of the drumsticks, little shit, must have smelled good, as he’s normally not walking on the kitchen tops.

So, I riced the spuds, peeled off all the meat and chucked the bones, added some lemon zest- came through really nicely-chopped spring onion, a touch of basil( Roux used tarragon, I hate tarragon), an egg, a handful of grated cheddar and seasoned well. Tossed in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and had them ready to deep fry.

The Frenchie made a chutney too, apparently of leftover tomatoes, which he chopped and threw to some sweated shallots and garlic, cooked off with sugar, red wine vinegar, chilli flakes and seasoning. I’m not amazed at mine, but then I’m not a massive chutney maker and expert. I had a jar of green tomato chutney from Louise though, so served it alongside mine. Both Florek and I preferred Louise’s. It tasted like it was made with a  recipe and love and time.

Will be made again, will be seasoned more bravely, might use a thick bechamel like the Spanish, to make them a bit more creamy. Florek said what would rock would be some cheese oozing out. So, must make again.

 

Dessert

Vanilla cheesecake with mixed berries.

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A dessert so simple that it’s embarrassing. And yet here’s Florek licking off the rest of the compote from his plate. 🙂 Something nice and sweet was needed after the afternoon of filling up forms for maternity allowance.

I measured nothing, but managed to get 4 small cheesecakes into 4 rings, I’m that good, haha! Whipped some cream with icing sugar and lots of vanilla paste( seen on tv how vanilla paste is made, I think I’ll switch to pods as soon as I finish this jar), added about half of 300g container of Philadelphia cheese. Made sure not to overwhip, didn’t fancy the consistency of butter. When I was happy with the taste, I filled my 4 rings with bases made of blitzed biscuits with melted butter, which were flash-baked for about 10 minutes. And then all set in the fridge.

The compote- frozen mixed berries, cooked off with a splash of water and sugar, cooled. No need for blitzing, rough texture of the whole fruit is quite nice on a creamy, smooth cheesecake.

Good Food

Chicken chow mein.

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One of the best stir fries I’ve ever done. The photo is not really astounding, but I found it hard to take a good one of the noodles in a bowl. The taste made up for it.

I googled he recipe first, lots of different takes and ideas, I decided to go with someone called Ching He Huang, a bit more credible than John Smith maybe. 🙂

Thinly sliced chicken breast got a nice coating of a Chinese five spice, chilli garlic paste( the bird called for chilli sauce ) and soy sauce, after 20 minutes I tossed some corn flour into it as well. What a smashing idea altogether. The chicken was moist and succulent and full of flavour, which went through the rest of the dish. I threw in chopped red pepper, mange tout, some cup mushrooms, bean sprouts, seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil, then the noodles,cooked to packet instructions,  good toss to all if it and chopped spring onions to finish. Florek had seconds.

A link to that bird’s recipes, I’m going back to what she has to say:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/search?programmes[]=b00cjxzp