What am I up to when I am not here

Well... many things. Baking cheesecakes is one of them. The other is throwing myself around Europe as if I collected air-miles. If I did I would get myself some nice holidays by now, but the airlines I use would probably rather ask for air-miles from me than give me anything. What? You want to take this jumper with you on board? You realise that that's 100g over your luggage allowance! Pay us TWICE the price of your ticket and then board!! Luckily the alternative is to put the jumper on you. And to wear your camera as a novelty necklace. It is all worth it though, because it means you can go home where there is cheesecake to be baked and good conversation awaits.

Coffee Cheesecake (in collaboration with Limonka)

250g mascarpone

700g full-fat cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

3 Tbs plain flour

1 Tbs vanilla extract

1 Tbs coffee liqueur (e.g. Tia Maria or Kahlua)

2 Tbs espresso

base:

250g digestive biscuits

100g melted butter

ganache:

100g dark chocolate                 and                      30g white chocolate

1/3 cup double cream                                             3 Tbs double cream

Zap the biscuits in a blender until they are just fine crumbs and then add melted butter to them. Mix the two well together and then press the mixture onto the bottom of a pre-greased cake tin. Cover the tin with cling film and put in the fridge until the rest of the cake is ready. Pre-heat the oven to 170C.

The cheesecake will be happier if all of the ingredients are of the same temperature, it is therefore good to take them out of the fridge a bit before you commence the baking. Once they are the same temperature it is very easy to make the cake. Simply mix together the cheeses with sugar until smooth. Then crack in the eggs, one by one and mix well on medium speed if you have a stand-alone mixer. Once the eggs are stirred in and smooth add sour cream, coffee, liqueur and vanilla extract. Mix until the ingredients are just combined and smooth. Then sift in the flour and mix until just combined. If you do it for too long the cheese will be all runny. 

Pour the cheese mixture onto the biscuit base and bake in a steam bath (the link will explain how to do it). Steam bathing the cheesecake will mean that it bakes but remains moist and wobbly instead of cracked and dry. Bake for about an hour until the cheesecake is hardened on the outside but still wobbly in the middle. Switch the oven off and let it stand in an open oven to cool.

When the cheesecake is cooling down make the ganache: heat up 1/3 cup of double cream and melt dark chocolate in it. Whisk it so it is smooth and even. In a separate pan melt the white chocolate in double cream. Once melted take them off the heat and wait until they are cooled down. Take the cooled cheesecake out of the oven (make sure it is room temperature! otherwise the ganache will melt on it!) and spoon the dark chocolate on top of it. Even the surface out and using a toothpick add spots of white chocolate ganache on top. Swirl the spots with the toothpick to make a pretty pattern. And ... voilà! Cheesecake done. Refrigerate it over night and serve on the next day to make the most of its creamy texture!

Spring in London

 

Virginia Water

Warming food

It has been embarrassingly long since I have posted anything here. I did eat in the meantime (surprise there!) and have tried a lot of new recipes. It's just that darkness is not too inspiring and I can't really carry the food to work to catch some sunshine for photos. Setting up lights is hard work (however much Charlie claims differently).

Winter is a lazy time and the coldness in the last few days requires food that warms you all over. Well, here is a curry that most certainly warms me all over. I generally choose curry when looking for simple, warming comfort food. China Town in London is a weird and wonderful place. I bet you it has more products you have never heard of than you have had warm meals in your life. I buy the curry pastes they sell there at random. The standard "green", "red" and "yellow" I am bored of, but why not try panang curry for a change? It is still a Thai curry but sweeter and creamier than the red and green varieties. Perfect when it's freezing outside.

Panang vegetable curry

You will need:
1 onion (chopped)
1 potato
3 carrots (sliced)
1 red pepper (chopped into long pieces)
some bok choy

2 tablespoons of Panang curry paste
1 tin of coconut milk
splash of fish sauce
1/4 lime

some vegetable oil, salt and pepper
(and rice to serve).

Parboil the potato and once it is ready cut it into small cubes. In the meantime fry the onion in a large wok. Add the red pepper and bok-choy (chopped into strings) and stir occasionally, so that it does not burn. Then add the carrots and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the curry paste and stir it in well. Then add the coconut milk and the potatoes and allow the mixture to simmer until the carrots are semi-soft (it should take about 10 minutes, depending on how thick the slices are). I don't like my carrots to be too soft, but it is up to you. When the vegetables are ready add a splash of fish sauce and the lime juice. Stir in well and serve immediately with some rice.

If you find that the dish is not flavoursome enough add some more curry paste - they vary a lot, so sometimes the suggested amount may be too little. Or, too much in which case make sure you serve the curry with some yoghurt on the side.

Voila!

I will make this for my mum

Sometimes it is good to have a flick through supermarket magazines. I refuse to pay for them but I will happily steal recipes. Luckily Charlie is the same and with his uber-phone stealing of recipes is almost too easy. I stick to the old fashioned methods (i.e. try to remember and write it down the moment there is some paper around you!) but sometimes being modern can be useful.

This is a not so modern pie - it has things that you all know and if you don't like any of the ingredients alreay this recipe won't covert you. It is as much about leek as it is about stilton. And when you get cooking make sure you do bake it for 40 minutes. Trust the pastry and don't get paranoid after 20 minutes when it looks vaguely ready. If you want a crispy bottom let it wait. 
 

Leek and Stilton pie

about 500g potatoes
1 onion, chopped
3 leeks, chopped
200g stilton
~350g puff pastry
butter
salt, papper and thyme

1 egg yolk or some milk for glazing

 

Preheat the over to 200C.

Start with making mash potatoes. Chop the potatoes into cubes and boil until soft. When they are ready drain them add a bit of salt and, if you wish, milk. Mash them until smooth and set aside.

Put a knob of butter with a touch of oil in a frying pan and add the onion. Fry it on medium heat for a couple of minutes and add leeks. Fry for further 10 minutes until leeks become soft. Add thyme to taste and season with salt and pepper.

Roll out the pastry into a greased pie dish. Make sure you have some pastry hanging around the edges, so you can make the pie look cool by covering it with the excess pastry. Spoon the mash on the bottom of your pie dish (onto the pastry!). Crumble the stilton on the mash and then add the cooked leek on top of the cheese. Fold the remaining pastry on top and glaze with an egg yolk or some milk.
Bake for about 40 minutes until the pie is all crispy and golden brown. The cheese will melt beautifully and it will all go really well with a glass of red wine and some simple salad. Enjoy!

(plus it makes great lunch next day as it can also be eaten cold)

Children, don't drink too much coffee and ... mocha cupcakes

I have had a cake decorating set for a while but never felt brave enough to use it. I have also started work recently and very quickly got addicted to coffee (which I am now trying to cut down on), so one of the first baking cravings I've had since starting work was ... coffee flavour cupcakes. My favourite Hummingbird bakery has a recipe for some but this time I opted for a general internet search. I made them, shared them with lots of people at work who all drink way too much coffee and then ... lost the recipe. Below is my attempt at remembering it, so if it is not perfect I do apologise. I think it should be though - it sounds about right. They are very nice - I don't really like muffin like baking, but these ones I could happily have with my co... tea. Tea is what I meant to say.

Mocha Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk

For the frosting:
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 double shot freshly brewed espresso

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease about 18 cupcake cases.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl, sifting them through. In a separate bowl beat the butter with both sugars for about 5 minues until light and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk one at a time into the butter mixture each time whisking well. Once well mixed add milk and espresso to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are well combined. Add the flour mixture into the other one mixing well but not too thoroughly - neither cupcakes nor muffins require that much attention when being stirred. Scoop the mix into the cupcake cases (they should be 2/3 full, but if your oven is as overly keen as mine you can fill fill them until half full, so they don't rise too much). Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a stick inserted into them comes out clean.

As they are baking make the frosting.
Make sure your double shot of espresso is cool before you start. Beat the butter and sugar together again until light and fluffy. Add vanilla essence and espresso and mix well. Voila! Frosting ready - I was surprised how easy it was.

Before you can frost the cupcakes you need to let them cool down. Otherwise the frosting will melt on them and it won't look nice. Trust me - I was so excited about my cupcakes that the first two were ruined like that. So, once they are cooler frost them as you wish - using a fancy frosting kit or just a pallette knife. Either way - they will be tasty!

 Enjoy!
(also, my cake decorating set is messy and so much fun!)

Leek risotto

Autumn is the season of leeks - plenty of them arrive with my veg box. You may not think them a particularly exciting vegetable and if so ... you are wrong. I didn't use to think they were anything special and I only really liked them in one salad that y mum makes every now and again. And even then I was not the greatest fan. But then there was no getting away from them as they kept coming in the boxes in the autumn, which made them similar to cabbage. 

Cabbage does give you some room for culinary manoeuvre but will never compare to leeks, which when cooked become creamy and almost nutty in taste - perfect to warm you up and very very exciting in risottos. So... of you go - get yourself some leeks and make a Leek Risotto!

 

Leek Risotto

You will need:

200g risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)

500 ml vegetable stock

1/2 glass of white wine

1 small onion, chopped into cubes (I used a red one just for a change)

1 leek, sliced into semi circles

olive oil

a knob of cold butter

salt, pepper

 

In a non-stick pan (or any other sauce pan you like) fry the chopped onion for a few minutes with some oil, salt and pepper. Add the leeks and fry for about 5 minutes until the leek softens up. It will also start to smell really nicely - nutty and creamy at the same time. When it's softened a bit add the rice to the pan and stir well. Make sure every single rice grain is coated in the oil and fry for a minute or so. Add the wine and let it boil off stirring the rice constantly. It is best to have the heat on very high when you do that - the wine should boil off quickly for the best taste. Then add a ladle of stock and stir over reduced heat. Keep adding the stock until the rice is ready. You can tell it's done by biting through one piece - it should be all soft except the middle - a harder, small, white core should remain. If you're not sure consult the packet of your rice, but it shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes. Turn the heat off and add a knob of cold butter to the risotto. Stir well and cover with a lid. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

 

Serve with parmesan and enjoy with a glass of white wine! Perfect comfort food!