Boozy kahlua truffles

These truffles are really easy to make and taste delicious. You can use any liquor or whisky that takes your fancy, but I used Kahlua because it's lush and I had some lying around the house. It feels like a Christmassy liquor to me, because it's chocolatey and rich and goes great with coffee. 

Ingredients: 

80g unsalted butter

200ml double cream

280g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 

3 tbsp kahlua (or any liquor of your choice)

For the coating: 220g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Method:

1. Make a burnt butter by melting the butter for 2 minutes over a high-heat until it achieves a dark golden colour. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.

2. Make a ganache by heating the double cream until it's warm enough to melt the chocolate. When the cream is bubbling at the edges of the pan, take it off the heat and stir in the pieces of chocolate and the burnt butter. Stir everything together until you have a thick chocolatey mixture, which will have a glossy finish. 
3. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of kahlua, or your favourite liquor.
4. Pour the mixture into a lines baking tray of about 2.5cm depth. 
5. Refrigerate for 30-60 mins until the mixture begins to set, but is still malleable.
6. Using a teaspoon and your fingers, scrape balls of the mixture from the tray onto a lined plate. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes.
7. Melt the chocolate for the coating. 
8. Drop the truffles into the melted chocolate until they are coated and place on a lined baking tray.
9. Leave to cool and set at room temperature.
10. Scoff the lot share with your friends, or make new ones by feeding them boozy truffles at Christmas time.

Yule log!

What could be more festive than a yule log? It's the only treat you need at this time of the year, the main reason being that it's the most chocolatey! Forget mince pies, xmas pud, and that most offensive of desserts, Christmas cake, and get on with making this scrummy chocolatey log, which (if you don't share it) will last from now until Christmas day! Merry Chrimbles...

Ingredients:

• Butter , for greasing
• 5 eggs
• 140g sugar
• 100g self-raising flour
• 25g good quality cocoa powder such as Green & Black's 

For the frosting:

• caster sugar , for dusting
• 285ml/9½fl oz carton double cream
• 450g chocolate, 
• icing sugar , for dusting
• Edible glitter-if you're really excessive like me!

Method:

1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Butter and line the base and sides of a 30 x 35cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment.2. Separate the eggs, putting them into two large mixing bowls. Add the sugar and 2 tbsp water to the egg yolks. Using an electric whisk, whisk the sugar and yolks for about 5 mins until the mixture is light in colour and thick enough to leave a trail when the whisk blades are lifted. Sift in the flour and cocoa, then fold in lightly, using the whisk blades or a large metal spoon.3. Using a clean whisk, beat the egg whites until they are stiff, then fold into the cake mixture in three batches, again using the blades to preserve as much air as possible.4. Pour the mixture evenly over the prepared tin, then carefully spread to the edges. Bake for 10-12 mins, or until the cake feels firm to the touch. 
5. Put a large sheet of baking parchment on the work surface and sprinkle lightly with caster sugar. Turn the cake out onto the parchment and peel off the lining paper. Cover with a clean tea towel, then leave to cool completely. 
6. Trim a little cake from all the edges, then score along the edge of one of the long sides of the cake and roll up from there, using the paper to help you, rolling the paper inside the cake.
For the icing & filling:
7. Bring the cream to the boil in a small pan, remove from the heat, then break in 400g of the chocolate. Stir until it is melted and smooth. Leave to cool, then chill until it is spreadable, about 1 hr. 
8. Carefully unroll the cake, then spread all the filling over to within 2cm of the edges. Roll up the cake again using the paper to help you, then set on a board.9.  Spread remaining icing over the cake, then dust with icing sugar to serve.

Strada-new menu review

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited to review the new menu at Strada. Now, before you really start to hate me let me just say that it was REALLY GOOD! What could be a better way to start a meal than with a massive platter of fresh antipasti? Succulent buffalo mozzarella interleaved with ripe tomatoes, bruschetta pomodoro, parma ham, salami, speck and a tasty olive tapenade made for a great first course. We were also treated to some large green olives, succulent and juicy, and a basket of hand stretched garlic and rosemary flat bread, which was gorgeous, and made us want to keep going back for more.

Mains came in two batches (just as well really!) starting with a four seasons pizza, topped with delicious artichokes, mushrooms, ground beef and parma ham. A pasta dish with Luganica sausage, pancetta, and broccoli, with red chilli was eye-wateringly spicy, but a creamy risotto with butternut squash offset that, so you should have both dishes at the same time... Second mains were a whole fish, cooked to perfection so it melted in the mouth, served with rosemary potatoes. Ahh. I love a rosemary potato, and this dish was a real taste of the mediterranean. Veal saltimboca was equally good, wrapped in parma ham (there's a theme here) and sitting atop creamy mash potato - real comfort food and perfect for this time of year.

Luckily, I have a second stomach for dessert-and it really came in to play here! Over the 3 dishes the jury was out as to which one we preferred. Luckily, I'm not an indecisive woman, so with intense concentration and numerous tastes tests I gave my casting vote to the Bunet Piemontese. (I know, I didn't try and pronounce it either!) The dessert was a new one on me, but the combination of chocolate and amaretto is a winning one in my book, and this boozy dessert was just the sort of thing I like at the end of a meal. The chocolate was somewhat like a firm mousse in texture, with crumbled amaretti biscuits and amaretto splashed over the top, delicious and boozy. What more could you want? 

The other desserts in the running for what is really the crown-of-all-crowns (I'm obviously a chocolate girl-chuck me some over?) were Affogato, a classic Italian dish of nougat iced semi-freddo, with a shot of expresso (or sometimes dessert wine-yum!) on the side which you can pour over. Strada's take on this was great to, and I really had trouble choosing. But in the end, chocolate will always beat ice cream for me. Pistachio ice cream was a delicate addition to a noisy dessert menu, and felt like the virtuous option-hence we didn't eat much! (If you're going to eat dessert, make it worth your while) It was nice enough, but had a slightly glazed look, a little bit too shiny for ice cream. Maybe the chef had polished it? Anyway, it was a great meal, and the service at Royal Festival Hall was excellent, even though the tables are very close together. Go and try the new menu, or have the Christmas one, and make sure you get some antipasti and finish with the Bunet Piemontese-if I haven't eaten it all already...


Here's the full run-down of what we had, to make you jealous, and for glimpse of bits of the new Strada menu:

OLIVES (V)

Large green Castelvetrano olives, fresh from Sicily

SCHIACCIATE LLA AGLIO FLAT BREAD (V)

great to share and the perfect start to your Italian experience

ANTIPASTO

A platter of Italian flavours: Parma ham, Napoli salami, speck

ham from Trentino, buffalo mozzarella from Campania, vineripened

tomatoes, olive tapenade and bruschetta pomodoro

STROZZAPRETI PUGLIESE

A classic dish from Puglia. Traditional hand twisted Strozzapreti

pasta, Luganica sausage, pancetta, and broccoli, with red chilli

butter & Grana Padano cheese

RISOTTO ZUCCA

Pumpkin, butternut squash, pancetta, spinach and pine nuts

QUATTRO STAGIONI

Four fabulous pizzas in one: Luganica sausage; Italian cotto

ham; roasted artichoke and chestnut mushrooms

SALTIMBOCCA MAIALE

Pork fillet with crispy Parma ham, mashed potato, green beans

and a sage butter sauce

ORATA AL FORNO

A whole sea bream, pan roasted with lemon & thyme,

served with a green salad and roasted new potatoes

Affogato (v)

Iced nougat semi-freddo ice cream with a shot of hot,

fresh espresso to pour over the top

BUNET PIEMONTESE (v)

Similar in style to a Pannacotta. A soft rich custard made with

Italian chocolate, hazelnuts, crushed Amaretti biscuits and a

generous splash of amaretto liqueur

PISTACHIO GELATO (v)

Especially made for us to a traditional artisan recipe

from Marche in central Italy

Sugar Doughnut Muffins

Are you in the mood for some seriously naughty comfort-food? Yes? Well, I was, and I found happiness at the bottom of a muffin tin. So much happiness, covered in sugar and butter... These sugar-coated doughnut muffins are so delicious and easy to make, you'll want to make them every weekend-barring the need to run marathons to work them off, obviously. Or you could make them for friends, as I did, because baking is a great way to win friends and influence people. Muhahaha. Anyway, I've said it before, I'll no-doubt say it again, it's Christmas, so treat yourselves and get baking! 


Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup/170g sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups/187g all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking power
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup/60ml vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup/180ml milk (low fat is fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 cup/100g sugar, for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture and stir to combine. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
4. Divide batter evenly into 10 muffin cups or ~24 mini-muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes for standard-sized muffins or 11-12 minutes for mini-muffins, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. While muffins are baking, melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl.
7. When muffins are done, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in sugar. Cool on a wire rack.

Loch Fyne Christmas Menu

I went up to Nottingham to review the brand-spanking new Christmas menu at Loch Fyne, and it didn't disappoint! It's one of a very small number of decent restaurants in Nottingham city centre, and the only place around where you can get an oyster-so it already gets my vote. I don't usually mention service, but this time it really was terrific. Gaz was a perfect host, so if you're going do give him a shout-out from me (he even gave me free ice cream, but don't worry-it didn't sway this review AT ALL...)

Fisherman's Platter

So, "What about the food?!" I hear you cry? Sorry, I got rather distracted by the free glass of prosecco (with all xmas meal booking before 9 December-so get in quick!) Well, for just £19.95 you get 3 whole courses of deliciousness. I started with the Fisherman’s Platter, a tasty selection of treats including smoked salmon, bradan Rost (kiln roasted salmon fillet), smoked prawns, potted peppered mackerel, marinated herring, marinated mixed olives, shallot marmalade all served with a slab of brown bloomer bread. Everything was fresh and tasty, and the little jars and granite serving slab were lovely touches. The smoked prawn (just the one) was absolutely delicious, and you should get some in for Christmas. Weirdly Loch Fyne don't appear to sell them (you can buy other fishy treats from their website here) but Inverawe do.

Pan-fried fillet of bream on braised fennel

Next up I chose Pan-fried Fillet of bream, braised fennel in a lemon beurre sauce, sesame carrots, buttered new potatoes & tenderstem broccoli (although the tempura of salmon and squid gave it a run for it's money). The fish was lightly pan-fried so the skin was nicely crispy, the flesh melt-in-the-mouth soft, and not a bone in sight! I love a bed of fennel, and this one didn't disappoint either, tender and mild and bathed in butter-fennel heaven. The new potatoes were good too, but the carrots seemed an unnecessary distraction on an otherwise busy plate. So I left those, for you.

Warm Chocolate Fondant

With little room to spare I wasn't relishing hitting dessert. Thankfully when this turned up my second stomach appeared as if from nowhere and there was a fight on with my dining companion for the last crumb. Well, if you will put a salted caramel sauce in your Warm Chocolate Fondant, what do you expect? To book in for  one of Loch Fyne's delicious Christmas menus yourself you need to contact your local restaurant. You can find their details, and the regular menu here. Treat yourself-it's Christmas!

Oh! A cheeky salted caramel filling? Yes please. 

Raw Coconut Macaroons

As Lynn mentioned in her post (below) I sent her some of these but was naughty and didn't include the recipe-so here it is! It's in cups as it's another American one, and I have bought myself the mini cup-measurers so I never need to translate into grams before starting a recipe again. Nice for me, but I've tried to work it out anyway so you can make these yourselves. Very coconutty and sweet, but raw, so presumably that makes them healthy-right? Either way, they are very quick to make and easy to grab as a snack when you need a "healthy" hit of sweet.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup pecan flour (or almond flour)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup raw organic honey
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Method:

1. Combine your coconut, pecan flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and mix well
2. Add in your pumpkin, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla and stir well until all ingredients have been evenly incorporated
3. Use a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon and scoop rounded balls onto a plate or cookie sheet
4. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to solidify
5. Store in the freezer or refrigerator and serve cold

Foodie Penpals-guest blog by Lynn

This month my foodie penpal was Lynn from Glasgow. Lynn doesn't have a blog, so here's her post on what I sent (let's hope she liked it..!)

"My Foodie Penpal parcel this month was from Helen, a Northern lass who makes her home in London and writes a most impressive blog--sharing her recipes and reviewing restaurants in London and beyond. Helen not only sent me some of her lovely home baking, but she also gently encouraged me to step ever-so-slightly out of my comfort zone and write a guest post for her.
The first thing I saw when I opened Helen’s parcel, was a container with some of her raw coconut macaroons. Sadly, I have no picture of these to share as they were devoured faster than flash photography can capture! Luckily she was kind enough to include the recipe so I can have a go at making my own version. The second batch of goodies she’d made for me (the recipe for this is on her blog, along with some pictures) were the gorgeous, bouncy wee almond friands which I’d never heard of, but also really enjoyed. Very light and almondy and perfect with a cup of your favourite warm beverage. I’d told Helen that I was a big fan of almonds and her friands delivered just the right almond punch.

Helen had been travelling in Canada this month and was kind enough to share some of her treats from the Land of Mounted Police and grizzly bears with me. These include the tooth-achingly sweet maple fudge and some maple crunch candy made of hard toffee with chocolate drizzled over it and crushed pecans on top.Helen balanced all these sweet treats with some dried mango and a banana bread flavoured nakd bar (which I’m very much looking forward to trying!). She also sent an adorable wee jar of Marion Blackberry Jam---one of my favourites, made all the more special by being just enough for a lip-smacking taste.

Thanks Helen for being a brilliant Foodie Penpal this month and for giving me some space on your blog to share my views!

And thank you Lynn, for writing a brilliant post and being a friendly, chatty penpal too!
If you'd like to join the UK scheme, click on the link on the right of this page and get in touch with the lovely Carol Anne. In the US, the scheme is run by Lindsay, who writes at the Lean Green Bean and is busy being an Elf for Health... Whilst I eat mince pies!

Flakey Almond Friands

You know the exact moment when something good comes into your life and changes it completely? That happened with friands. You know you're a true foodie when you become rapturous over a new cake-find, but these little gems are so almondy, dense and unusual that I am head over apron.

A couple of weeks ago I popped for afternoon tea and along with the usual scones, sandwiches (give me smoked salmon, only smoked salmon!) weirdly coloured mouse-cake et al came some jaunty little almondy treats in the shape of friands. Well, I was hooked, so I figured I'd made my own to send to this month's Foodie Penpal who is Lynn in Glasgow. The recipe I used was from Lily Vanilli's Sweet Tooth, a glorious pistachio ice-cream-coloured tome with her usual kooky cakes in. Fab.

Ingredients: 
90g plain flour, sifted
200g icing sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
180g ground almonds
6 egg whites
200g unsalted butter, melted & cooled
20g flaked almonds

Method: 
1. Grease a 12-hole cupcake tray & preheat over to 180C
2. Whisk together the flour & icing sugar in a bowl, then whisk in the salt and ground almonds
3. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients
4. Lightly stir in the melted butter until everything comes together like a batter
5. Spoon the mixture into your cupcake tray then scatter the flakey almonds over the top of each friand
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a cocktail stick comes out clean
7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring the friands to a wire cooling rack

Pop them into an airtight container and send to your foodie penpal, or scoff the lot yourself!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

These are my seasonal treat to make your Hallowe'en happy. They have quite a subtle flavour, with a dash of pumpkin, a hint of warming cinnamon, and a lovely texture. You could easily eat them as small individual cakes, or you could sandwich them together to make the whoopie pies like I did. I used a basic buttercream filling because the usual marshmallow one used in whoopie pies isn't veggie (unless you can get vegan mallows, which are pretty hard to come by in the UK). The buttercream made the cakes a bit birthday-cake-ish, which I liked, but it could overwhelm the gentle autumnal flavours. Still, buttercream is delicious, so who cares?!

Makes: A lot of cakes! You will probably need to bake in 2 batches.

Ingredients:

120ml vegetable oil
200g brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
200g pumpkin puree (I used Libby's canned)
250g plain flour - sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon

For the buttercream:

150g icing sugar

150g butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment
2. Whisk together the oil, sugar and vanilla until combined
3. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until creamy then add the egg and combine
4. Sift the flour, raising agents and spices in to the pumpkin mixture and fold until fully combined
5. Spoon mixture onto the trays in small spoonfuls, leaving room for them to spread slightly
6. Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until the mounds spring back when lightly pressed
7. Remove the whoopies from the oven and leave to cool

8. Beat the butter and sugar together until you have a thick cream

9. Sandwich 2 cakes together with the buttercream

Pecan Peanut Butter Cups

I stole the recipe for these vegan peanut butter cups from this lovely website but substituted pecans for the walnuts used in the original. I love pecan nuts, and this recipe was really easy and quick to make. I am pretty obsessed with peanut butter-maybe I was American in a past life? - and have been known to appreciate the finer points of a Reece's cup in my time. However, feelings of guilt usually set in along with the sugar overload, so I figured I'd make these with agave. Don't let that fool you into thinking these are healthy-the calorie content is pretty high. But, they taste amazing. I tend to be pretty honest when things are ok, or recipes don't go so well (don't ask about tonight's Rolo cookie fiasco) but these really were so good, we were fighting over them in my house. 
If you have 10 minutes, try them. If you can wait the other 10-15 minutes for them to set in the freezer you'll be pleased you did. 

Pecan PB Cups
vegan, makes about 5 cups

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp  virgin coconut oil, melted
50g dark chocolate chips or chunks, vegan
75g pecan nuts
3 Tbsp agave
1/2 tsp salt
 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon 
Also:
Whole Earth Peanut butter (half a teaspoon per cup)
Cupcake liners-sprayed with Frylight to stop the cups sticking

Method:
1. Process the pecan nuts in a food processor and blitz until a fine meal.

2. Combine the pecans with the agave syrup and salt in a small bowl. Add in the vanilla and cinnamon too.

3. Put the coconut oil and chocolate to another small bowl and microwave for a few seconds (about 30) and then stir briskly to melt the chocolate with the oil. 

4. Combine the chocolate mixture with the walnut mixture.5. Add 1 Tbsp chocolate mixture, then add 1/2 tsp peanut  butter, then add another layer of the chocolate mixture to cover the nut butter.

7. Continue until you make all your cups.

8. Place in the freezer until firm enough to eat, usually about 10-15 minutes, but longer if your cups are extra large.

Foodie Pen Pals-October

This was my first Foodie Pen Pals box and I was excited to see what I would receive. It's a bit like Christmas for foodies, only it happens every month. The idea started in the US by Lindsay who writes the Lean Green Bean and now the UK scheme is run by Carol Anne, aka This is Rock Salt. She manages to match up foodies and co-ordinate us all so that everyone gets a box and sends one to someone else. My favourite bit was actually the sourcing and buying of things for my own box to send to Joan, who is Carol Anne's sister, so I was under a lot of pressure to perform! You can read Joan's blogpost about my parcel here.

Sallie was sending to me and here is what I received:

• The rather exciting sounding peppermint and licorice tea
• Stuffed vine leaves
• Poppping corn
• Cheese & pumpkin seed crackers
• Hazelnut cream wafers

And a cute card with a recipe for making popcorn!

The crackers have gone down very well with my OH, and I had a a little taste (I don't eat cheese unfortunately) and can testify to their superior crunch and seedy goodness. I love stuffed vine leaves, and these ones look excellent so that's Hallowe'en dinner sorted. I think we will put on a scary movie and pop the pop corn, and maybe jazz it up with some ghoulish spices, salt and butter-yum.

Thanks Sallie!

Foodie Pen Pals is a great idea and I'm already looking forward to next month when I can send another unsuspecting foodie some of my home-made treats *cackles*. Ok, enough of the Hallowe'en references, I'm off to make brownies with pumpkin puree!

Giraffe Islington Tweatup

Cocktails and starters

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a Tweatup at Giraffe restaurant in Islington. I've been to the restaurant a few times before, so I knew it would be good, but I wasn't expecting quite the amount of free food and drink we got. I met some cool people, who had also been chosen from Twitter.
The PR company running the tweatup must really like chicken, because there were at least 3 dishes which contained it, great for us non-meat eaters. The area manager from Giraffe was lovely though, and took pity on me, getting me a delicious salmon sushi rice salad. This was definitely the best savoury dish of the night, and I was confident it would take the crown as we worked our way through the new menu. Edamame beans were tasty and halloumi skewers a great idea, although I'd have liked a bit more halloumi and maybe some hummous dip for all the flatbread.

Salmon sushi rice salad-yum

The others partook in some chicken wings and duck tostadas, whilst we sipped delicious Skinny Ginny (gin with apple juice) and Louisiana Jam (strong SOCO & cherry jam) cocktails. Before I got too tipsy, the salad arrived to jealous looks from the others. Mango pieces mixed with avocado, spinach leaves, bamboo shoots and a healthy dose of smoked salmon were a great combination and the dressing was very tasty and tangy. I was getting very full by this point, but pushed myself to eat a few of the delicious sweet potato fries, which are reason enough to go to Giraffe in my opinion.

Just when we all feeling the strain, out came dessert, and what can I say but WOW. I'm not even a massive fan of dessert (actually, who am I kidding?) but the chocolate mouse crunch slipped down a bit too easily. Jude's fruit sorbet with fruit salad and strawberry coulis was a great, refreshing alternative for the dairy-free and health conscious, but I figured I'd already blown the diet so made head-long for the crumble, not expecting much. Man, was I ever wrong. That crumble (apple, almond and red cherry, served with vanilla ice cream) was the best I have ever eaten (sorry granny). Indeed, I haven't eaten a crumble since my grandmother passed away nearly 15 years ago, but she would be getting right back up to eat this one I am sure. Get yourself down to Giraffe pronto to try the new menu yourself, but save some sushi salad and crumble for me!

Trio of desserts-omg

Comptoir Libanais

I wanted to do a quick post about our tasty in-between-buying-shoes lunch yesterday at Westfield in Shepherd's Bush. I've eaten at Comptoir Libanais before, but yesterday's offering was extra tasty, and the photos came out really well. I'd not tried their tagine before, but fancied something warming now the winter chill has set in. Aubergine is my favourite veg (don't tell me it's a fruit-the whole fruit or veg conundrum is confusing enough!) so when I spotted a nice veggie aubergine tagine I had to plump for that. The OH went overboard as usual and bought a dip plate as well as a wrap for himself (not quite as visually appealing as the other 2 dishes, hence not shown here) with delicious baba ganoush and hoummus and labneh. The warm pitta and dips were really good, so I wasn't complaining too much about the extra kcals, and anyway, it's Winter so we're a long way off bikini-time.

I love Lebanese food and am really hoping I'll make it to Beirut soon to try the real deal. Until then, I'll keep making my own baba ganoush-which reminds me that I need to do a blog post about how successful my first attempt at the dip was! I'll be heading back to Westfield soon to hopefully try CL's breakfast efforts, the sumac fried egss have got my name on them!

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

This is Nigella's recipe, and it is totally delicious! It's from her new book, Nigellisima and is available on her website. It doesn't look particularly special, but the texture is so light and fudgy, I was really impressed and will definitely be making it again soon. This recipe uses ground almonds and is perfect for a gluten-free friend, although you can replace the ground almonds for 125g plain flour if you like. I'll try it that way next time to compare, but the almonds did work really well and the taste was divine. Serve it with some ice cream and berries, or a coulis and plain yoghurt to offset the chocolatey-ness (or just dive in if you're a chocoholic like me!)

Ingredients:

• 150 ml regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
• 50 gram(s) cocoa powder (good quality, sifted)
• 125 ml boiling water
• 2 teaspoon(s) best vanilla extract
• 150 gram(s) ground almonds (or 125g plain flour)
• ½ teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
• 200 gram(s) caster sugar
• 3 eggs

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Grease a 22" springform cake tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
• Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
• In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.
• Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.
• Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.
• Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.
• Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

Chocolate, apricot & hazlenut biscotti

I've never made biscotti before, but this was a really easy recipe, from the BBC Good Food website, my go-to place for ideas and tasty dishes that turn out well. You bake the biscotti in two stages, so you get a lovely loaf-style bake (right). Cutting this was the hard bit, even with a serrated-edge knife some on the loaf was breaking off (so I has to eat those bits) as I sliced into it, but I got there in the end. It makes between 20-24 slices so you need a big baking tray! If you like your biscotti really hard and crisp then do bake them for longer, mine were a little softer, but we liked them like that. The best thing about biscotti is they keep for ages-about 3 weeks in an airtight jar, so snack time is sorted for ages! 


Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 250g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 25g chopped apricots
• 25g toasted hazelnuts , roughly chopped
• 25g chocolate chips

• Method:

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl, then add the orange zest, hazelnuts and chocolate chips. Fold into the egg mix to make a soft dough. Tip onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a 25cm sausage shape with lightly floured hands, then transfer to baking sheet. Flatten to a 3cm thickness, then bake for 30 mins until lightly browned on top.

Remove and slide onto a chopping board, then reduce the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Cut the log into 1cm thick slices and return to the baking sheet, cut-sides up. Bake for 10-15 mins until crisp, then cool on a wire rack. Will keep in a tin for 3 weeks.

Nutrition:
84 kcalories, protein 2g, carbohydrate 16g, fat 2 g, saturated fat 0g, fibre 0g, sugar 6g, salt 0.09 g

Gluten-free pecan-crusted coffee cakes

These little coffee cake bites (without any coffee-don't ask!) are super easy to make and healthy! They are from an American website called Damy health which has lots of great allergen-free recipes to go with a diet and fitness plan you (presumably) have to pay quite a lot to take part in. So I focus on the free recipes, and I loved how these turned out, really gooey and sweet-the perfect treat to go with a cuppa (tea or coffee) I think. 

I made them for my Foodie Penpal this month, who was Joan, who requested healthy treats which is really what I am after too. They have kept well (we are still eating them at home) so I hope they reached her ok - it's hard to know what to send through the post!

So, here's how you do it:

Prep time: 7 Minutes, Cook time: 12-14 Minutes. Makes 12 large or 24 small Cakes (depending on size of the muffin tray)

 Ingredients:

225g Cooked Quinoa

180g Soft Pitted Dates, finely chopped

2 Tsp Cinnamon

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil

2 Egg Whites

30g Ground almonds

2 Tbsp Agave Nectar

Topping Ingredients:

50g Pecans (Crushed)

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Agave Nectar

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil  

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 220c

  2. Place your topping ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

  3. Place all coffee cake ingredients into afood processor and blend until smooth stopping to scrape down the  sides.

  4. Spray your mini muffin tin with a non-stick healthy cooking spray e.g. fry-light.

  5. Scoop batter into each muffin tin filling to just above half-way.

  6. Top batter evenly with mixed topping ingredients.

  7. Place in the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes.

  8. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack.

  9. Remove from tin and try and restrain yourself to one at a time enjoy!

     Nutritional Content: (based on 12 cakes)

Kcals: 139 Carbs: 20g Fat: 6g Protein: 3g

Shrimpy's

Shrimpy's retro wall, replete with glimpse of palm tree

Shrimpy's is a serious amount of delicious fun. It's kind of my new local, having literally "popped up" in what used to be a petrol station in a pretty obscure location at the back of King's Cross station. We used to run past it en route to Regent's Park, and it was such a bleak location, the last place you would expect to find a foodie haven. The re-vamp of the King's Cross area has been planned for a long time, and the area is fast gaining it's foodie credentials, with Eat St (now Kerb) providing excellent street food to hungry King's Place staff and customers, and Caravan catering to a weekend brunch crowd. Shrimpy's is the icing on an increasingly-delicious cake, taking up around half the space of what is now The Filling Station, where you can get pizza and drinks and sit overlooking Regent's Canal.

Seabass ceviche with plantains

With a curved, corrugated-cardboard style exterior, I wasn't expecting Shrimpy's to look as inviting as it did. Dimly lit, with an abundance of pineapple-shaped paraphernalia adorning the sills and counter, retro phrases and images have been painted onto the walls. The cocktails are retro-glam too, with a spicy margarita and a "blue-rinse" (a tequila and blue bols mix) amongst others. The food is south american-style. The seabass cevice starter we chose had a lovely tiger's milk marinade, tangy and delicious, but featured a lot of corn which seemed to be doing the rounds as it was on the table when we arrived. The seabass slivers were tasty, but there weren't enough of them in the dish, which had a lot of soft plantain chunks, sweet and tasty, to balance out the lime.

The piece-de-resistance on the menu is clearly the soft-shell crab burger, although lobster did feature and looked pretty good too. The crab burger was crispy and light, with good skinny chips accompanying it, but it wasn't amazing. My monkfish with quinoa, almonds and courgettes, however, was scrummy, and seemingly the healthiest options available. It didn't look that big at first glance, but monkfish is so meaty and filling that I was struggling by the end.

Soft shell crab burger

Since we shared a starter we had room for some dessert and were really hankering after the grilled black figs with almonds, honey and mascarpone, but they had run out. We went instead for what I'd describe as a pineapple eaton mess, or as they call it "meringue, hibiscus syrup, chantilly, pinapple". I'm not a fan of creamy desserts but this was gorgeous, and I'd have stolen it if it hadn't been my OH's birthday dinner! A crisp pineapple slice stood proudly in the top of crunchy meringue, whilst chunks of tangy pineapple cut through the cream. The hibiscus syrup was delicious, and the whole dish reminded me of my childhood, when Tony the ice cream man would serve me plastic cones full of soft serve ice cream with raspberry ripple sauce all over it. I only with Shrimpy's has been so generous with the sauce-I'd bottle it and sell it it was so good.

I'd read reviews that Shrimpy's was "sceney" so I was feeling a bit trepidatious when we first arrived, but the waiting staff were very friendly and relaxed, making us feel at home. I was really impressed just before we left when I overheared the maitre d' helping some walk-in customers, one of whom was in a wheelchair. She was quick to set up a table for them with easier access, and really went out of her way to help. I'll definitely go back to Shrimpy's - perhaps when I've saved up a little as it is fairly pricey - but for a treat it's a lovely place, with great decor, tasty food and super-friendly staff.