Friday 30 November 2012

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!

Monday 19 November 2012

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!

Monday 5 November 2012

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.