Quick Bailey's cheesecake

A trip back home meant that my sister wanted a quick pud to follow her tuna pasta bake. thus a rapid cheesecake was put together. 

Crushed up plain chocolate digestives, covered with a mix of whipped cram, mascapone and Bailey's, topped with a massive Yorkie man-button. Assembling rather than cooking. Lovely nonetheless! Just goes to show things don't have to be complex to be satisfying.

PS Yorkie man buttons are amazing: 4cm discs of Yorkie. Genius!

Lamb breast

Lamb breast (or belly; I've never been able to get my head around the fact that the same bit of an animal is called different things depending on the beast so you get lamb breast, pork belly and beef brisket. Anyhoo, moving on.) is something I've been wanting to try for ages. A pre-Alpine leaving feast, was the perfect excuse to go to the butchers in Banners and get my hands on a big old breast of lamb. (Well over a kilo of lamby goodness for a little over £3: bargain!)

(Sorry for the terrible photos, I got a bit in to the swing of hosting and only remembered to take any photos at the last moment.)

I stuffed and rolled the lamb and slow roasted it. As my friends arrived they both commented that they could smell the lamb way out in the landing outside me flat. The lamb skin was incredibly crispy, quite like pork cracking. The meat was meltingly tender with the fat having rendered away leaving a strong flavour of lamb. The sides of broccoli, courgettes and carrots were suitably light and fresh (despite the appalling weather outside).

For pudding, I put together a little trio of puds. I made Heston's passion fruit and chocolate tart, which is quite possibly the silkiest, smoothest thing I have ever made. Simple chocolate deliciousness. To go with the tart I made a berry sorbet and finished off with a piece of my favourite brownie. All in all a pretty damn good pud plate: complimentary flavours, different textures and contrasting temperatures.

On to the recipes.

Stuffed lamb breast

Ingredients:

Lamb breast

For the stuffing: (use quantities as you see fit and to reflect your palette)

1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Rosemary
~80g best sausage meat (lamb sausages or mince would be great)
Nutmeg
Parsley
Mint
Zest of 1/2 a lemon

Method:
1. Sweat the onion until transparent and soft. Leave to cool.
2. Mix all the stuffing ingredients together.
3. Trim any excess skin or fat from the lamb. Rub a cut clove of garlic over the meat. Spread the stuffing all over the lamb. Roll the belly tightly and tie.
4. Brown the meat all over in a pan then roast at 150°C for 3hours. Once tender (a skewer should pass in to the meat with no resistance). Leave to rest for about 15mins.

5. Carve in to thick slices and serve.

Roast courgettes with lemon (a recipe from Sainsbury's)

Ingredients:

6 courgettes, trimmed and cut into thirds, then each third cut into thick strips

1tsp lemon juice
1tbsp olive oil

1tbsp mint leaves, chopped

Method:

1. Put the courgettes in a roasting dish in a single layer.

2. Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil, then drizzle over the courgettes. Turn to coat.

3. Roast at 160°C (fan oven) for 30 minutes. Spoon into a warm serving dish and sprinkle with the chopped mint.

Steamed broccoli with toasted sesame seeds (a recipe from Sainsbury's)

Ingredients:

900g broccoli, cut into small florets

1tbsp olive oil

1½ tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Method:

1. Steam the broccoli over a pan of boiling water for 7-10 minutes until tender.

2. Fry the sesame seeds in the oil until lightly browned. Add the broccoli and stir-fry briefly. 

Lemon and parsley carrots (taken from New British Classics, Rhodes, G, 1999, BBC Worldwide)

Ingredients:
1lb carrots, sliced thinly
1tsp caster sugar
1oz butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Parsley, chopped

Method:
1. Put the carrots in a medium pan and barely cover with water. Add the sugar, half the butter and a pinch of salt. Cover with a butter paper and bring to the simmer. Cook until tender.
2. Remove the carrots and reserve.
3. Bring the cooking liquor to the boil and reduce by three-quarters. It should be nearly a syrup.
4. Add the lemon juice and simmer for 1min.
5. Season to taste. Add the carrots and re-heat. Stir in the parsley before serving.

Exploding chocolate gateau recipe (Heston's recipe with some steps slightly simplified)

Ingredients:

For the base:

150g all butter shortbread biscuits

30g butter, melted

2 tbsp white caster sugar

25g orange popping candy

For the chocolate ganache

• 175g whipping cream

• Pinch of salt

• Pulp from 6 passion fruits

• 50g fresh custard

• 110g dark chocolate (minimum of 60% cocoa solids), broken into pieces

• 50g milk chocolate, broken into pieces

Method:

1. Place the biscuits in a food processor and add the melted butter and sugar. Blitz until the mixture resembles fine sand in texture.

2. Gently stir in the popping candy. Place the mixture inside a 20cm cake ring placed on a tray lined with baking paper. Flatten using the back of a spoon then put to one side to set.
NOTE: Heston uses a smaller 15cm cake ring which gives a very satisfying deep slice

3. Add the cream, salt and passion fruit to a small saucepan and place over a medium heat until it almost comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes, then stir in the fresh custard.

4. Put the dark and milk chocolate in a bowl. Place over a bain marie (a pan of gently simmering water) and allow to melt completely. Remove from the heat.

5. Strain the infused cream and add to the bowl of melted chocolate a third at a time, making sure to incorporate the cream thoroughly after each addition. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature.

6. Pour the ganache into the ring and place the tart in the fridge to set for 2 hours. Place the tart in the freeze.
7. Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving.

Creamy berry sorbet (a recipe from Sainsbury's)

Ingredients:

500g frozen summer fruits, slightly defrosted

60g caster sugar

125ml pomegranate juice drink

30ml double cream

Method:

1. In a food processor, whizz the berries, sugar and pomegranate juice drink together until smooth. With the motor still running, gradually add the cream and continue to whizz until well blended. Transfer the mixture to a stainless steel bowl, cover with clingfilm and put in the freezer.

2. Freeze the sorbet for between 1 hour and 1 hour 20 minutes or until set. Take the bowl out of the freezer at 15 minute intervals to whip the mixture with a spatula - by doing this, you'll break up any ice crystals that might have formed, resulting in a smoother, creamier sorbet.

3. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

Red rice salad with mackerel

I've been wanting try red rice for ages and I finally managed to get my hands on some. It was a bit like wild rice; firm but a bit nutty in flavour. It went really well with red peppers and mackerel.

Red rice and roasted red pepper salad with mackerel (taken from Rice Ingram. C, 2001, Hermes House)

Ingredients (for 1):

2 mackerel, fillets

2oz Camargue red rice

Vegetable/chicken stock

Red pepper, de-seeded and sliced thinly

2-3 sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 onion, chopped

1-2 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled

1tbsp parsley, chopped

1tsp vinegar, red wine or balsamic (lemon juice would work too)

Method:

1. Cook the rice, following the instructions on the packet.

2. Fry the pepper slices in olive oil until softened, approx. 4 mins.

3. Add the tomatoes, whole garlic cloves and onion. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 8-10mins, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove the lid and fry for a further 3 mins.

5. Meanwhile fry the mackerel in olive oil, skin side down for 3-4mins, then turn and fry on the other side for 1 min. Remove form the pan and leave to rest.

6. Take the rice off the heat and add the parsley, vinegar and season to taste.

7. Peel the garlic and cut into thin slices.

8. To serve, spread the rice on a plate, put the peppers on top, scatter the garlic slices and top with the mackerel.

Burger and Lobster

Much has been written about Burger and Lobster since the first branch opened in late 2011. There are now four restaurants in the chain and I finally got to experience the phenomenon at the newest branch at 1 Bread Street tonight.

The menu choice is simple:

• Burger
• Lobster (steamed or grilled)
• Lobster roll

That's it. Just three things on the menu. £20 each. All come with fries and a salad. In the interests of foodie investigation I had a steamed lobster and a burger. 

The lobster was pretty damn good: tender sweet lumps of crustacean goodness anointed in a bath of garlic butter. Only picking from the shell slowed us down. The fries were good, although saltless and the salad was perfect accompaniment. Well worth £20.

The burger was OK. Not the best burger I've ever had, but definitely the most expensive and not really worth it. The patty was medium-rare and packed a meaty punch, the salad and pickles added a refreshing zing and the bacon and cheese rounded off with an umami hit. Unfortunately the roll wasn't really up tot eh job and had disintegrated by the end. A good burger but not £20 good.

At this newest city outpost there is limited booking. Fortunately for us at 1800 we managed to just walk in and secure a table for four. The place filled up pretty quickly and was buzzing by the time we left. The service was pretty good although once the silver platters are delivered there's not a great deal to be done. Although we did seem to be the only table not to be offered a plastic bib to protect from the lobster juices. I'm not sure if this was simply and over-sight or a conscious snub. I hope the former. Also it's worth mentioning the cocktails. They were good. Definitely worth getting there early and hanging out at the bar for.

I'd go again but just stick to the lobster.

Cantina Laredo

It was my sister's birthday today so in celebration we had dinner at Cantina Laredo on Upper St Martin's Lane.

Now I am a sucker for Mexican food. I love the mix and match appeal of Mexican, you can configure the food anyway you like it. As for nachos, as simple as they are, they are a divine trinity of taste for me. Now I'll hold my hands up and say that just because I like what passes for Mexican in the UK it doesn't mean I know a great deal about authenticity. Although it's not difficult to spot that Wahaca is a great deal better than Chiquito. (I would love to go to Mexico one day but there's part of me that thinks it would be inevitable that I'd never enjoy a "Mexican" in the UK again having had the real deal.)

Now Cantina offers "modern mexican" and it's certainly a world away from anything I've had before. When I got there I was already a margarita down and there were only the scraps of tortilla chips and salsa left. (Quite why they didn't have the nachos is beyond me).

For main I had the "camaron poblano asada":

Grilled carne asada steak wrapped around a fresh poblano pepper filled with sautéed tiger prawns, mushrooms, onions and monterey jack cheese. Served on a bed of chimichurri sauce and Mexican rice 

A steak wrapped around a stuffed pepper: mental. It was a pretty good steak and the pepper was stuffed full of prawns and cheese. Although it was sad waste of prawns as the cheese dominated everything. However, it was good enough for me to happily polish off and temporarily put my aversion to green peppers to one side.

Dessert, however, was something else. I had the biggest, fattest churros I've ever seen. Liberally doused in sugar and cinnamon, they came with orange cream and spiced chocolate sauce which were a perfect compliment. Since I've never been a fan of the orange-chocolate combo, that's really saying something. I don't think my family were quite so enamoured with their mexican apple pie or tequila lime cheesecake with avocado ice-cream. Mind you they were quite a few more margaritas to the good so the plates were sent back spotless anyway.

The service was faultless. The prices for the mains were in the £15-£30 bracket and were bit steep for what we got. I'd gladly go back to try out some other interesting things on the menu but I'd need a "wow" experience to go back again. A slightly reserved thumbs-up.

Paternity cake: A challenge

Assume your best Mel (or Sue) voice and read on.

"Get ready bakers … "
"It’s time for the Show Stopper Challenge …"
"And today’s theme is  … "
"Paternity cake."

"It should not look like this …. "

"You’ve got between now and next week to wow us [without including dried fruit]"

"Do your worst."




And thus the gauntlet was thrown down. Seven days to produce a paternity cake that both tasted good and looked the part.

This cake was always going to be about a funky decoration (as well as taste; it's always about taste). I had an idea for the design that meant I needed an oblong cake. The size of the cake would be constrained by the size of my baking tin and the boxes I have to transport the cake to Banners.

Now, I'm not the best with fondant icing (or piping for that matter), so I had to find a way of getting the planned design on to the cake. Fortunately The Cake Shop in Banners has a machine that prints onto icing. Happy days!

All that was left was to make the cake. The father in question had already hinted that a lemon cake would go down well so that's what I went for. I made a typical 4888 sponge flavoured with lemon and baked three cakes in my 8.5"x10.5" tin. Turns out that's not quite enough cake batter. There were a couple of crispy edges and missing corners, but with some judicious rotation during the layering, I just about got away with it (well, nobody complained anyway).

The sponges were sandwiched with some home-made lemon curd and a mascapone-cream mix. I topped the lot off with lemon butter icing. Then managed to use white fondant to give a reasonable finish. Turns out kneading the fondant is the key; it makes it much more pliable and easier to roll out. Who knew?

I picked up the print this morning and it better than I could ever have hoped for. Every detail had come out. Amazing.

 

The cake went down exceedingly well. Notable comments included "Oh, I thought you bought it" and "why aren't you married?". I do wonder, sometimes, if my cakes are preferred to the efforts I put into my actual day-job...

The original design:

Three cakes in eight days, that's not too shabby.

Mexican chocolate birthday cake

Today was the day of the Mexican Six Nations Fiesta. Some friends needed an excuse to cook a massive batch of pork pibil and apparently England vs. France in the Six Nations and a 5-day early birthday bash was a good enough reason.

It was amazing. Nachos with great guacamole and fresh chilli con carne followed by delicious pork pibil with great rice and some orange marinated red onion - DELICIOUS!

My role in the event was to provide a birthday cake. Taking my cue from the mexican theme rather than the rugby I made a chocolate cake with ancho whipped cream taken from Mexican (Tausend. M and Williams, C., Simon & Schuster Source, pp100-101)

I've very mixed opinions about this cake. It's supposed to be made with Mexican chocolate which is very different to European chocolate in that it is flavoured with cinnamon (and sometimes almond). The cake also had vast quantities of almond and some ancho chillies.

The cake itself was dense and yet light. Although the flavour of the cinnamon and chilli didn't really come through. You could tell it was not a "pure" chocolate cake as there was a depth of flavour that seemed much longer than simply chocolate. (Although one of my friend picked up the cinnamon, so maybe it's just my cursed palette). Consequently I may have over-egged (or over-chillied) the cream icing (hence the slightly odd colour). The chilli in the cream did add a definite kick, but I'm not sure if I liked it or not.

Someone commented that a chocolate cake should just be left as a chocolate cake and I'm inclined to agree. I think the whole delight is to revel in the decadence and luxury of chocolate cake.

Anyhoo, it was all eaten with a good level of "mmmmmmmmmmmm" all round, so I can't complain too much. Here's the recipe if you want to give ti a go.

NB. I found the poblano chillies really difficult to get hold of and was forced to shop in evil Tesco.

Chocolate cake with Ancho whipped cream

Ingredients:

3oz dark chocolate, grated

5.5oz ground almonds, toasted

1.5oz plain flour

3/4oz cocoa

2 ancho/poblano chillies, ground

4oz butter

8oz caster sugar

6 large eggs, separated

1tbsp Kahlua

1/4tsp almond extract

Pinch salt

For the whipped cream:

3floz double cream

1tsp chilli powder

10floz double cream

1tsp vanilla essence

3tbsp icing sugar

Method:

1. In a bowl mix together the chocolate, ground almonds, flour, cocoa and 1tbsp of the chilli.

2. In another bowl, cream the butter and 4oz of the sugar together. 

3. Add the egg yolks one at a time beating until smooth.

4. Add the Kahlua, almond extract and chocolate mix and beat until smooth.

5. In a clean bowl add the salt to the egg whites and whisk until frothy. Add the remaining sugar gradually and whisk until stiff.

6. Vigorously beat a third of the egg whites into the chocolate mix until combined. Then gently fold in the remaing egg whites.

7. Fill a greased 9" spring-form cake tin and bake at 180°C for 40mins (or until a skewer comes out clean from the middle).

8. Once baked allow to cool completely.

9. While the cake is cooling, make the ancho cream. Whisk 3floz of the cream and the chilli powder until combined. Add the remining cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar and whisk to soft peaks.

10. Once cold coat the cream with a thick layer of the cream. Top with grated chocolate.