The only culinary success on the day, when I cocked up a cake ( spiced date and coffee cake that worked out so nicely last time and today I managed to under bake it and it went to the bin). For dinner I had those lovely scallops from Whole Foods and some shrimps, which I served with rice and lovely broccoli, but I felt I haven’t done the scallops justice, for the first time ever I have not finished them and left 4 on the plate. I felt really bad about it!

But, as Christmas is fast approaching, I have found horseradish roots in Whole Foods, bought one and having asked my Mum how to make it as awesome as hers, I got cracking. Peeled the root first and then painstakingly grated it on the fine grater, with Florek’s help. Had to open the door to have fresh air, the smell is so strong. And so the grated horseradish, wet with our tears was sprinkled with some salt and then a mixture of boiling water, wine vinegar, sugar and more salt was prepared. Mum said it’s to be sweet- sour like, mixed into the radish. It’s ready to eat when cooled. We enjoyed it with some nice ham.

Masterchef The Professionals is back.  The show that inspires me to get into the kitchen and do stuff. And makes me scream at the tv, when a bint, that calls herself a chef can’t make a choux pastry, “cause she didn’t really work with the pastry that much yet”. And entertains me, when the boy faces Food Critics for the first time ever and serves them duck with squid and chantilly cream with…black olives. William Sitwell said it was revolting. :-))))

Last week Michel Roux asked them to make choux buns with mornay sauce and a beer and onion soup. As for the soup I wasn’t excited, so I made one of my favourites, carrot and coriander, but the buns I had to try and they worked great. I used the same recipe like for profiteroles, minus the sugar, so 50 g of butter with 150ml of water heated up, 75 g of strong white flour added and worked until it came of the side of the pan, then transferred to Kitchen Aid to fininsh the job, with 2 whole eggs added slowly. Baked in 220 degrees for about 22 minutes.

Mornay sauce, just like bechamel, but with added grated cheese, Michel says gruyere, I had grated cheddar, so in it went, lots of nutmeg and seasoning plus chopped serrano ham. Next time will chop it more finely, as it was getting stuck in a pipping bag exit and it took me 10 minutes to fill the buns.

All in all, very good, very filling, very tasty with sweet soup. Yum.

It was time for a home made pasta again, so we opted for the dish, that I so loved in Florence 2 years ago. The problem was I didn’t quite know in details what went into the filling. I asked Michele, my fellow foodie friend born in Sicilly, therefore a bit of an expert. Miky suggested adding some ricotta to the potatoes, as not to overpower the flavour of truffles. He also mentioned gorgonzola, as a nice combination in a potato filling, minus he truffles then, but as I can’t have blue cheeses at the moment, this idea will be returned to.

Florian made fresh pasta, as always, I made the filling and all the labour. To the potatoes I added some ricotta, a handful of parmesan, finely grated, a pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper and a bit of truffle oil.

Having shaped the pasta I boiled it for about 3 minutes, then served with some melted butter, parmesan shavings, more truffle oil and some chopped parsley. Not a single one was left, we pigged it all. It was a lovely dish, not as mind blowing as the one in Florence, but nevertheless we’re pleased with it. Yuzu possets awaiting in the fridge for dessert.

There’s one thing that my favourite food store in Cheltenham could improve on, that’s fresh mushrooms. Restaurants can obtain UK grown girolles, chanterrelles or hedgehogs, the most exotic I could find in Whole Foods this afternoon were shiitake and chestnuts. Had to make do with dried porcinis from Mum, which I cooked for the stock as well. I fried all my ‘shrooms with a shallot, then added the arborio and got on with the usual procedure of wine, stock ( I sexed it up with extra chicken bulionette) and stirred until the rice cooked. Finished with some butter, grated parmesan, fresh thyme and truffle oil. Excellent with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

For dessert some grapes and a couple of excellent cheeses. Comte has been on out Top List ever since Moka introduced  it to us years ago, the other one we couldn’t remember the name of, but we knew we liked it last time and that it was great with the beer. Even without it it’s got deep, buttery flavour that makes one go mmmmmmmm. No wine to accompany it, as one is allowed a small glass a week due to a baby in one’s belly. 🙂

“Breaking Bad” is our current number 1 series, it’s a common sight in the evening- us having dinner accompanied by Walt White The Meth Man.

For the pizza today I made the dough by Gordon R. 250 g of strong flour, 2 tbsp of olive oil, a touch of salt, all this mixed in with 7 g of yeast mixed in like warm water with a bit of sugar and worked nicely, left to rise and when doubled in size made into a base.

The tomato sauce- a clove of garlic gently fried, passata, oregano, a touch of sugar.

My half this evening- fresh pineapple from Whole Foods, so good that I normally stick my fingers in it as soon as we leave the store, plus ham. And shallots, cheese, mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and oregano. Florek opted for simplicity and had peppers, chilli and cheese. Basil on top.

Very enjoyable.

A truly historic event. I have made my first ever curry from scratch. Bought my spices, made my paste, made it all. The inspiration came from the curry I had the opportunity to taste last week, at my now former work ( I am Lion Free, yessss!!). Kamal, a chef from Sri Lanka has made a curry that made me speechless. I was standing there, licking the spoon and thinking I’ve never eaten curry that good. It took some persuasion to get the recipe out of Kamal, as he claimed there is no recipe, there is throwing stuff together and it’s done. I’m sure in Sri Lanka that’s how it’s done.

I did follow Kamal’s recipe, as it was my first time. The amount of onion and garlic for the paste ( 2 onions, the whole bulb of garlic and a small ginger root) seemed like an insane amount, but I went along with it. He also said- 5 curry leaves, but that was the only thing I wasn’t able to obtain either in Whole Foods or in Sainsbury’s. For the next time I will. So, the paste that I blitzed went onto the oil to fry alongside a selection of spices, the amount was roughly 50 of each – curry powder, cumin powder, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, all fresh and fragrant from The Whole Foods. When all that fried a little making the kitchen smell like a curry house, I added some chopped tomatoes, 3 cloves, a pinch of cardamom, coconut cream and a tbsp of Greek yoghurt. That cooked slowly, while I was tasting and adjusting the taste with salt, pepper and sugar.  When I was relatively pleased with it ( but it wasn’t mind blowing like Kamal’s), I added the prawns and finished the whole thing with fresh coriander.

Kamal’s rice was outstanding too. It was flavoured with curry leaves again, cumin and, which I found surprising and lovely and will be copying from now on- thinly chopped fried shallot.

I don’t think I will ever buy a ready made paste again, but I will definitely be experimenting with curry. Very rewarding. 🙂

Inspiration- Masterchef.  I bought my wabbit from Colin’s, of course, as advertised. I bought it on Friday afternoon and was thinking for 2 days what to do with it, I was thinking ravioli, I was thinking roulade, but ended up cooking it like my Mom. Plus I’m feeling kinda sickish today, my morning sickness normally kicks in around after lunch time, so I decided to keep it simple. I had 2 legs and some other parts of the wabbit, all the messy and boney bits went to the bin. I seasoned it and dusted with flour, lightly browned on butter, threw in a chopped shallot, carrot, a bay leaf, a handful of mushrooms, some peppercorns, some stock and let it cook slowly. When the meat was tender I took it out, took everything off the bone ( otherwise Florian would hardly touch it) and finished the sauce with flour and a touch of seasoning.

Served with kluseczki slaskie made with help from Florek and, as a side, an absolute height of sophistication- picked cucumbers bought today in Polish shop. I couldn’t get enough of them and told Bozena about it, which made her jump to the conclusion, ze Izunia might turn out to be Adam. 🙂 Anticipation…..