Simples. And so tasty. And filling. The pork sausages came from Colin, the butcher. I first fried them quickly, then chucked some chopped shallots and poured a bit of red wine onto it, some water, bay leaf and left under cover for a few minutes. When the sausages were cooked through, I removed them and finished off the gravy with some flour mixed with water and lots of seasoning. The mash was today flavoured with mustard and some runner beans served as daily veg allowance. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Far away from the class and the bestestness of Dinings, we found a place where we’ll be eating at often. Although it’s in Cirencester, 30 mins drive from us, but the drive is a stunning one, so we don’t mind.
Soushi serves lovely fresh sashimi, I was looking forward to it for the whole day today and then I had it, with some warm sake. The taste of raw salmon dipped in soy sauce is one of my most favourite ones ever. I had it to start with and then instead of a dessert. Loved the unagi as well, it tasted as if the chef put it on the grill for just a second, it had this lovely char-grilled taste. And our second salmon avo roll had an extra of a chopped shiso, that we asked for and we got, therefore the chef had an Asahi on his way from us promptly. Lovely place.
The idea came from Jana, whose colleague brought one of those to work and then revealed the recipe. Which very recipe was then forwarded to me by Jana, but I found it a bit too unnecessarily complicated and calling for margarine, a very Polish thing, my Mum tends to abuse it as well. I’m with the French on that, I’m all for butter.
I googled the Raffaello cake and found a nice, simple, BUTTERY recipe, which I tried and I’m very pleased with it. It is even better the day after, when the biscuits soaked up the cream and the coconut flavour.
For the cream I used one vanilla budyn, 250 ml of milk, half of which I brought to the boil, in the other half I mixed in the budyn with 3 tbsp of sugar and cooked together until nice and thick.Left it to cool and then, with the help of my lovely Kitchen Aid, I whizzed it with half a 125 g of soft butter and 100g of desiccated coconut. Then I used the same technique like with the trifle, I lined a narrow baking tray with a cling film, generously spread some coconut on the bottom, some cream and then the biscuits. I used Swedish Anna’s cappucino ones. And layer the whole thing up a couple of times. Then cuddled it tightly with the cling film and left in the fridge until the evening. Like I mentioned, even better the next day.
It used to be my least favourite cheese. Every time Moka comes from Paris, she always brings along a little packet full of goods from her local cheese shop, normally one of them is a small goat’s cheese. Never been keen on it. Last Sunday, while visiting Roman Villa in Chedworth, I came across a local cheese maker, a goat’s cheese maker, to be specific. I never pass by these people without interest. The woman asked me, “Do you like goat’s cheese?” “No, I don’t”, I said. “Why won’t you try some of mine then?” she said. “Ok”, I replied. And it was actually surprisingly nice, not too strong, coated in mixed pepper. The woman said the younger the cheese is, the milder the flavour.
This evening I used what was left of it and stuffed some chicken breasts with it, alongside fresh thyme, wrapped the breasts in bacon and roasted them off on a bed of tomatoes and shallots. Served with a nice little idea from GF, roasted potatoes coated in a mixture of flour, grated parmesan and nutmeg. And a pleasant green salad.
Every time I make pizza I use a different recipe for the base. That’s in search for a perfect one. The search continues, as this evening I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe, taking into account some comments of the readers.
For the dough I used 500 g of strong bread flour, sieved with 0,5 tbsp of sugar and a good pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of olive oil and then mixed with 325 ml of warm water with 7g of dry yeast dissolved. I worked my dough for a few minutes, then , as suggested by one of the readers, I chopped and mixed in some red chilli. I then left it wrapped in the blanket and left it for an hour, while I’ve done my ironing.
Once doubled in size, I’ve spread some tomato ketchup on top on a rolled out base, topped with lovely Oxford Blue cheese( I am going back for more tomorrow, it was so good!), fresh shallot, olives, tomatoes and oregano from the garden. Having baked it, I further topped it with parma ham, rocket, fresh basil and shaved parmesan.
We’ve managed to have pigged most of it, accompanied by some Chilean Cab-Sav.
Very, very good.
We’re still enjoying discovering different places around Winchcombe. Today we set off to Broadway, been on the Tower, been to a nuclear bunker and drove down to Gretton, to The Royal Oak pub, recommended to Florek by someone at work. Behind the bar there was Ian, one of Lion’s customers and among guests Martin, Lion’s new head chef. It felt nearly cosy!
We both had roast, mine was lovely soft, succulent pork, with perfectly cooked parsnips and carrots and crispy spuds. Gravy not as sensational as in Prestbury, but on the whole, with a nice half pint of Peroni, very, very nice.
The original idea was broad beans on a toasted bread, but broad beans are not yet in season, so I’ll wait, in the meantime though widely accessible garden peas quickly cooked, then a touch of garden mint, blitzed, but not into a paste, I like it a bit chunky, well seasoned and placed on a pan fried French bread. Finished with shaved parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Filling, yummy, will be done again.
The recipe comes from “Crumbs”, a free cool magazine delivered to the Lion once a month. I made it yesterday and took half to work, mainly for Matt, who said it was his favourite. And it was a good thing to do, as it sweetened the day at work a little, after another fit of a certain arse of a manager.
Now, the recipe recommended baking 3 flat cakes, I made one and sliced it in half, worked just fine. I used 140 g of soft unsalted butter, 100 g of caster sugar, 40 g of brown sugar all into the silver bowl of the kitchen aid. 3 small eggs lightly beaten, which I added slowly into the mix, then about 40 ml of strong espresso coffee, spiked with a dash of kahlua, 140 g of self raising flour, 0,5 tsp of baking powder and finally 50 g of toasted, chopped walnuts. This baked nicely in 180 degrees for about 30 mins.
When done and cooled, I sliced it in half and drizzled over a mixture of more espresso coffee, sugar and water. Finally I made the butter cream. 100 g of unsalted butter, about 100 g of icing sugar, less than recommended and still I thought it was too much. I added yet more coffee and then some more, tasting all the time. I didn’t want to end up with a sickly cake.
Tops, the chopped, toasted walnuts.
In every place I work there is at least one dish that I take with me. Even in shitty ones, like Francesco’s, where I learned to make meatballs with fresh mint and make them this way ever since. Current place lacks a bit in terms of excitement, but profiteroles are on the menu and today Oluta has made profiteroles. I used the recipe from GF website, I found it easy and enjoyable.
For the choux pastry I used 50 g of butter, 2 tsp of sugar, which I melted with 150 ml of water and then took off the heat and added 75 g of strong flour, mixing vigorously. When it was getting off the sides of the pan easily, I transferred it to the kitchen aid and made it do the further work, slowly adding 2 beaten eggs. And when ready, with the help of a piping bag I got them ready to bake in 220 degrees for about 18-20 minutes.
When cooled, I filled them with whipped cream, done in my usual way, with some vanilla paste, icing sugar and a touch of lemon juice.
The chocolate sauce- 35 g of cocoa powder sifted into a bowl, about 100 ml of water with 100 g of sugar, when melted and boiling I added it to the cocoa and returned to the pan, mixing until smooth. I added a bit of butter, just to balance the cholesterol with the cream( ha!) and a touch of Kahlua, for coffee flavour.
Very pleased with the result. Tasty, not sickly sweet. Will be done again.
Took me ages to do this, I’ve been moving around the GF magazine all over the place, open on this recipe, yesterday, finally, I made it. I made two, one went to Ewa’s and in spite of having suffered a small incident in the car, it got there in one piece and was enjoyed.
Lots of work, lots of patience, lots of chilling in between the layers. I started by making the thin sponge, the recipe said to use the shop bought madeira, I thought I’d make my own. From the same recipe as always. When it was out of the fridge and cooling, I prepared the tins, lined them with cling film, generously, as smooth as I could, it later makes the whole thing look pretty and makes it easy to release from the tin holding its shape.
The cream layer: 200 ml of double cream heated up with 3tbsp of icing sugar and 3 tbsp of sherry or cherry liquer, in my case. When hot, 2 gelatine leaves go in and 100g of mascarpone, all this whipped together and poured into the tin to chill in the fridge.
The custard layer took 3 tbsp of custard powder, 2 tbsp of icing sugar and 400 ml of milk, with 2 gelatine leaves added at the end. Onto the set cream layer. In the meantime the one that takes the longest to set- the raspberry jelly was prepared according to packet instructions and left to cool.
On the custard layer I placed some defrosted raspberries and jelly on that. Long time later, the sponge went on top and I tightened the whole thing with overflowing cling film on both sides. And left to cool overnight.
Before serving, I whipped yet more cream with some lemon juice and icing sugar, used a piping bag to finish the dessert off, after flipping it upside down and releasing from the cling film. The very final touch is some popping candy.
It’s sweet, rich and yummy. Looked like that…
