Perfect brownies

Posted on Monday 11th April, 2011 by headchef

Thanks to Jackie Leonard for pointing me in the direction of this recipe – it’s a Nigella one from How to be a Domestic Goddess, which I adapted a bit. For one thing: the quantity. I halved it, which was enough to fill a 19cm x 19cm tray. And I could measure it all out precisely using my shiny new digital scales. Did I mention that I have digital kitchen scales now? I know! I’ll be getting one of those new-fangled freezers next.

  • 187g unsalted butter
  • 187g best dark chocolate – I used Green & Blacks
  • 3 large eggs
  • half tablespoon vanilla extract (a snip at £5.30 a tiny bottle!)
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 112g sifted plain flour (Basics – I know where to cut corners. On this, not the chocolate.)
  • half tsp salt
  • 150g of chopped walnuts – except I didn’t use walnuts, I used 150g of my home-made granola. I had the walnuts ready to go in, but I just chucked the cereal in at the last minute instead, on a whim. This was a very happy decision.

Heat oven to 180˚C. Line the tray with baking parchment.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a heavy-bottomed pan.

Beat the eggs in a bowl with the sugar and vanilla.

Measure the flour in a separate bowl and add the salt.

Let the melted chocolate and butter mix cool a little, beat in the eggs & sugar. Then add the flour and the nuts or cereal, beat until smooth and pour in your lined tray.

Bake for about 25 minutes – it needs to be mottled on top but still a bit gooey in the middle, so keep an eye on it. Nobody likes a dry brownie, everyone loves a moist one. The fruit and oats in the granola provide a perfect counterpoint to the soft brownies. They turned out even better than these.

Nom, nom, nom.

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Best burgers yet

Posted on Friday 8th April, 2011 by headchef

I’ve never made it to the Meatwagon, and I’m highly unlikely to make it to the Meateasy either – so inspired by this blog post, I thought I’d have a crack at making my own gourmet burger. And you can too.

Best burger yet

Serves 4.

  • 500g best quality minced beef
  • salt & pepper
  • 4 good quality buns – I used Sainsbury’s Pain Rustique rolls.
  • 2 large green chillis
  • butter
  • Heinz tomato ketchup
  • French’s mild American mustard
  • cheese – I used Gruyère
  • shredded lettuce
  • some dill pickles – preferably home-made.
  • chips, if you like

Finely chop the deseeded green chillis, and fry in butter. Set aside.

To make the burgers, simply combine the minced beef with salt and freshly ground pepper. Shape into patties. Fry on the hot, flat frying pan you cooked the chillis on. Try to ensure there’s some pinkness left inside. Melt the cheese on the burger as it cooks.

Split the buns and lightly toast on a hot griddle. Butter the halves with ketchup and mustard, add the burger, the cooked green chillis, lettuce and dill pickle.

This was better than BK. It was better than GBK. It was better than my Buzz Burger. I have no idea if it was better than Meateasy, but it was the best beef burger I have ever had, bar none. It’s a revelation that a burger made with 100% beef can taste so good – all down to the alchemy of the ketchup, American mustard and those fried chillis.

(C doesn’t eat meat, so I made her these veggie burgers instead).

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Crêpes en Fête

Posted on Wednesday 23rd March, 2011 by headchef

This was contributed by the lovely Jon Henley of The Guardian. One day he’s interviewing Henning Mankell in Antibes, then he finds himself in our kitchen in Hither Green, SE London watching our family chow-down. Tant pis! (It was for a thing. More on that another time.)

Anyway, it turns out that they make a lot of pancakes in the Henley household, his wife being French, and here is their preferred recipe. Makes about 10-12 crêpes.

  • 200g plain flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 eggs
  • half litre of milk

Make a hollow in the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt too. Start pouring the milk in SLOWLY, beating the mixture from the middle as you go. Mix until there are no more lumps.

If you’ve got time (which you never will have, obviously), put the bowl in the fridge for an hour: not essential, but somehow makes the crepes taste even better.

Heat a TINY bit of oil in a frying pan (best put some on a bit of kitchen roll and just wipe it round the pan) and when it’s good and hot use a ladle to pour a small amount — usually half/three-quarters of a ladle-full — of mixture into the pan. Twiddle so the mixture covers the base of the pan.

When it’s cooked on one side (you can see from the surface; it kind of dries out) flip it over with a spatula or if you’re feeling daring, toss it. The secret: don’t use too much mixture in for each crepe: it should just barely cover the bottom of the pan, and make sure the pan is really hot. A too-thick crepe is no good at all.)

Suggested toppings: lemon juice and sugar, maple syrup, Nutella, strawberry jam. Yum.

I’m cracking open the Nutella, Jon!

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Perfect crab sandwich

Posted on Friday 4th March, 2011 by headchef

I was going to take a photo of this, I swear. Then I ate it. You will need:

  • crusty white bread
  • 1 lime
  • some wasabi paste or powder made up with warm water
  • fresh crab meat
  • mayonnaise

Butter the bread with mayonnaise – if that’s not a contradiction in terms. Spead the crab meat over one slice. Squeeze lime juice aplenty over. Then spread a very thin layer of wasabi paste over the other slice. Bring together, right now, over me.

I discovered Waitrose sell fab little pots of Cornish crab from Seefood & Eat It in Newlyn (see what they did there?). They do pricey pots of 100% white meat, cheaper ones that are 50/50 white and dark (that’s what I went for) and cheaper-still pots of 100% dark meat.

Nom nom nom. I love crab and prawns and lobster so much, I always forget I’m a bit allergic – until my lips go numb and my throat gets a bit prickly. But it’s worth it!

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Sophie’s Simperingly Simple Onion Soup

Posted on Monday 28th February, 2011 by headchef

This is easy and delicious and has almost no ingredients. Serves 4. You will need:

  • A large thick-bottomed saucepan – Le Creuset would be ideal
  • 3 very large yellow onions
  • 1 litre of chicken stock, 1 litre of veg stock (or a bit less – I used about 1.5 litres)
  • splash of olive oil, knob of butter, heart of gold – thank you don’t call us
  • tablespoon of balsamic vingear
  • Gruyere cheese
  • salt & pepper

Roughly chop the onion, and fry very gently in the oil and butter for about 40 mins. Turn up the heat towards the end to caramalise (but not burn) the onions. Add the stock & balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer and season with salt & pepper to taste. Serve with shards of gruyere (which our local Sainsbury’s doesn’t seem to stock. Grrr.)

Bless you, Sophie. Now, what’s Jamie Cullum got that I haven’t?

Sophie's Simpering French Onion Soup & Soda Bread

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The way to a man’s heart is through a deep-fat fryer

Posted on Monday 14th February, 2011 by headchef

I’ve wanted to get a deep-fat fryer for ages. Vegetable tempura. Onion rings. PROPER chips. I finally treated myself to one today – for the princely sum of £15 in Tesco.

There are about 23,000 different best ways of cooking chips on t’internet, but I especially enjoyed the article on the Observer Food Monthly blog, which is a wonderful paean to the deep-fat fryer, and the discussions at PistonHeads.

Today I cooked a 3 course Valentine’s supper for @gwithiansunset. This was the menu:

On arrival
Filthy large Plymouth Gin & Tonic
ice, lime, Angostura bitters

Starter
Spicy prawn cocktail

Taittinger Champagne

Main course
Grilled sardines and real chips

Pudding
Chocolate mousse with brandy, grated white chocolate & whipped cream


Here’s the thinking. First up, the prawn cocktail. I really had a hankering for a prawn cocktail the other day, so I decided to satisfy the yearning. I shredded iceberg lettuce in a large glass, soused in lime juice. I then tossed the prawns in the dressing Nigella uses on crab in the Valentine’s Day chapter of Feast – fresh ginger, lime juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wasabi, a few drops of sesame oil. I didn’t use enough ginger or wasabi – will put that right next time. I then dusted the prawns with cayenne pepper. I used tail-on prawns – so she had to get her fingers all sticky. More sensuous, see?

The main course of sardines & chips doesn’t sound that romantic, but it’s one of her favourite meals, a throwback to summers in Portugal before the kids were born. I par-boiled the chips for about 5 minutes, and deep-fried them at 180c for about another 5. They were certainly cooked but could have been crisper. I think I should have fried them for longer at a higher temperature. The kids, however, loved them and said they tasted like “real chips” – unlike the home-made oven chips we usually do.

The chocolate mousse pudding was from the BBC web site – it was lovely. I used brandy – not enough as it turned out, and I grated Green & Blacks white organic chocolate over the mousse and under the whipped cream. Couldn’t taste the brandy. Something else to put right next time. More wasabi, crispier chips – and more brandy. They did taste like proper chips, though.
You Don't Bring Me Flowers

bouquet from You Don’t Bring Me Flowers

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Brownies

Posted on Saturday 4th December, 2010 by headchef

A twist on Nigella’s brownies from How to be a Domestic Goddess.

brownie making

  • 190g unsalted butter
  • 190g good quality dark chocolate
  • 3 large eggs
  • teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 110g plain flour, sifted
  • half tsp salt
  • some chunks of white chocolate – preferably Green & Black’s White Organic.

Heat oven to 180 C.

Melt butter & chocolate slowly in a saucepan.

Beat the eggs, sugar & vanilla together in a large bowl. Let the melted choc mixture cool a bit before combining with the eggs & sugar. Whisk together. Then add the flour & salt and whisk into a smooth mixture. Stir in the white chocolate chunks.

Pour into a lined or well-greased tray – I used a rubber Tefal/Jamie Oliver thing that worked a treat. Bake for about 25 mins – checking carefully. You want it a bit gooey in the middle. Leave in baking tray to cool, then cut into slices. Perfect with a splodge of cream on a snowy day, or on their own with coffee.
How to be a domestic god

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Random vegetable soup

Posted on Friday 3rd December, 2010 by headchef

My sons described this as ‘the best soup’ they had ever tasted – and it was just made with stuff I had lying around.
Best Soup Ever...

  • Half a dozen small potatoes, chopped
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 carrots, thinly sliced
  • 1 leaf of curly kale
  • small wedge of pumpkin, chopped
  • 600ml chicken stock (or veg if you must)
  • stick of celery, sliced

Fry the onion in a bit of olive oil, then add the veg and fry until starting to go soft. Add the stock, some salt and plenty of black pepper. Simmer for about 40 minutes and blitz with a hand-blender or in a Magimix. Serve with freshly-baked soda bread.

It all went. William had thirds – though I may have been a bit economical with the truth when it came to the ingredients…

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One pot chicken casserole

Posted on Friday 3rd December, 2010 by headchef

I needed a supper I could bung in the oven and forget tonight. This is what I made, inspired by about 3 different one pot chicken recipes.

  • Small whole chicken – small enough to fit in a casserole with a lid
  • Enough new potatoes, carrots and parsnips to feed your family
  • 1 or 2 onions
  • stick of celery
  • glass of white vermouth or wine (Noilly Prat for preference. The French must be on to something. The smell of Noilly Prat and the sound of Fauré’s Requiem are by far the best arguments I’ve ever found for the existence of God.)
  • clove of garlic
  • sprig of thyme
  • bay leaf

Heat a small amount of olive oil in the casserole and brown the chicken whole on all sides. Remove the chicken and rest on a plate.

Then slice the onions finely and fry in the casserole. Add the garlic, sliced celery, thyme and roughly chopped carrots and parsnips and halved new potatoes. When they’ve fried for a bit and started to stick, chuck in the vermouth or wine. Inhale deeply. Put the bay leaf and chicken back in the pot and top up with some water. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil on the hob then put in a coolish oven for up to a couple of hours – I think I started at 180C and turned it down to 140C after about half an hour.

The chicken should just fall apart – I put all the veg in a warmed serving dish with a slotted spoon, and sat the chicken on top.

Skim as much fat off the juices as you can, and simmer to reduce and serve the gravy with the veg and chicken. Delicious!

Post script: I had the left-over dark meat the following day on some soda bread with a bit of mayonnaise and pepper – the best chicken sandwich ever! The meat was suffused with the divine taste of the herbs from the Noilly Prat.

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Creamy mushroom stroganoff

Posted on Friday 3rd December, 2010 by headchef

This recipe is from Tamzin Outhwaite. No, she’s not a personal showbiz friend, I just found it by accident.

It’s an easy, delicious sauce for tagliatelle. I just used chestnut mushrooms.

http://www.secretsauce.co.uk/pasta-rice/tagliatelle-recipes/creamy-mushroom-stroganoff/

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