recipe

Red onion jam

by Amber on November 12, 2012

When life gives you 5kg of onions on a chilly Sunday afternoon, what do you do? Make red onion jam, of course!

Take 8 red onions, peel and dice them. Put onion into a large, thick-bottomed pot (the thick bottom distributes heat more evenly – I use my £8 Le Crueset saucepan). Add two fistfuls of juicy golden sultanas, and a few slugs of balsamic vinegar. Add two cups of sugar, then pour 2/3 of a bottle of cheap red wine over the mixture. Season with rock salt and freshly cracked pepper, for luck.

Heat the pot on a high heat until the mixture is boiling, then turn down to a simmer. Then you wait. It might take up to two hours, but aside from the occasional stir, leave the mixture to reduce. The sultanas will be plump with wine; the onion will become a sticky sweet mess. You’ll have a thick, syrupy jam – which goes well with almost everything, but is particularly good slathered on a slab of blue cheese, and eaten between two pieces of toasted bread.

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Cranberry + orange

by Amber on October 9, 2012

Cranberry and orange biscotti

I’m becoming a lot more domesticated in my advanced years! Biscotti, drizzled with milk chocolate, that I made last week for a charity bake off. While my chocolate drizzle was all over the show, and I didn’t win the Olly Murs tickets up for grabs (insert sarcastic sniff here), I was very happy with the flavour. The pairing of orange and cranberry is definitely my new jam. It’s very elegant, and feels quite right for autumn.

One day after making these, with leftover ingredients, I freestyled on a banana bread recipe – adding two handful of cranberries, orange zest, and using ricotta to replace the butter component. This twist was totally delish, as they say.

Orange and cranberry biscotti

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
3/4 cup toasted and chopped almonds
Chocolate for melting (I always use buttons)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees °C

2. Cream together butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat in eggs. Stir in the orange zest and juice. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, stir into the creamed mixture; then add in the almonds and dried cranberries, making sure every piece is swamped with the cake mix.

3. On a generously floured surface, divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a log about 1 1/2 inches wide and 10 inches long. Set the rolls lengthwise on a baking sheet at least 3 inches apart, and shape.

4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the oven, until firm to the touch and slightly brown on the top.

5. Take out and cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then slice each log crosswise, at a diagonal, into 1/2 inch wide slices. Lay them cut side down on the baking tray and return to the oven for ten minutes, then turn them over and bake until golden.

6. If you are feeling fancy, wait for your biscotti to cool, then melt chocolate, and drizzle generously over the top. Put slices in the fridge to set for an hour.

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Plum-cake

by Amber on September 26, 2012

I love plums. The smell of them takes me back to being a kid running loose in my aunt and uncle’s orchard. My tribe of cousins and I were forever in trouble for climbing the trees and attempting to scoff all the fruit before it was ripe (hello tummy aches). We’d tear strips of fluffy lichen off the plum trees, and fashion them as beards, and attempt to feed plums to the ponies in the next paddock. These delicious, juicy little fruits are in season now and what better way to make the most of their abundance than by making plum-cake? This recipe/video by Thomas Blanchard is particularly tasty – I love the floating typography.

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Biscotti

by Amber on May 26, 2012

biscotti

This weekend’s baking adventure: chocolate and almond biscotti. It’s one of my favourite nibbles, but always seems too expensive to justify buying in cafes… so I decided to give it a go. To my surprise, it was really easy to make, even the part where I had to blanch a cup of almonds and pluck the skins off by hand.

The secret to biscotti’s crispness is double baking. Round one, you bake it in log form for 25 minutes, then take it out, rest it and slice it. The sliced biscotti are then put back in the oven for another 20 minutes to get nice and crunchy. The results were delicious – and even better the next day. I’m definitely going to make some more and experiment – pistachio and white chocolate sound good to me!

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Recipe: Chickpeas, Spinach & Cauliflower Couscous

by Amber on February 12, 2012

Every winter my body seems to go crazy – trying to hoard ALL of the sugary carbs. So this year I have made a concerted effort to eat more vegetables. This chickpeas, spinach, cauliflower, and couscous dish was just the ticket (and has no animal products too).  The original recipe called for raisins, which I detest, so I threw in a handful of dried cranberries instead. Yum.

Chickpeas, Spinach & Cauliflower Couscous

{Adapted from a Cinnamon Girl recipe}

A handful of almonds, preferably sliced
2 cups of cooked cauliflower florets
A can of chickpeas
1 cup of spinach
4 cloves of garlic
A handful of dried cranberries
1 small onion, diced
2 spring onions, diced
3 tablespoons of garam masala
Olive oil
3 cups of couscous

1. In a large skillet sauté onion in a glug of olive oil over medium-low heat until tender. Add garlic, sauté until fragrant. Add more olive oil and mix in garam masala. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add cranberries, cauliflower, chickpeas, and spinach. Cook on a low heat stirring often until heated through and spinach wilts, and the cranberries are plump.  Season well with salt and pepper.

chickpea

3. Prepare couscous as you normally would. Fluff up cooked couscous and mix into the chickpeas mixture along with the spring onion and almonds. Serve and enjoy! It’s just as good the next day, when the flavours have time to really soak into the couscous.

dinner

 

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Christmas Time, Mistletoe, Wine, Russian Fudge

by Amber on December 30, 2011

making fudge

This Christmas I was feeling rather lonely and discombobulated, without my favourite people. It’s all a bit strange to me, you see, the cold weather, the piping hot fruit mince pies, the grey skies and the duck boots. Plus Thom and I moved into a big empty flat on December 21st, and I was busy finishing up at work. So no tinsel or trees for us. I was almost sniffling when I thought about what I’d be missing out on. Summer. Crickets and cicadas. A cool strawberry daiquiri or five. Sandy beach towels. Endless sunshine. Fudge.

You see, every year in late December, I team up with my siblings or my mum to spend a day making fudge. It’s one of my family’s holiday traditions to make mountains of sugary treats, and distribute them to call our friends and whanau. Sometimes there’s pink and white coconut ice, and sometimes there’s chocolate slices, but there is always Russian Fudge, delicious and golden.

But here I was, stuck on the other-side of the planet. What I wouldn’t I have given to sit in the kitchen at Omaha, listening to it on repeat and argue with my sister?  I would have happily listened to the awful Christmas CD my mum has been thrashing since 1992. Usually the cloying renditions of Feliz Navidad! et al makes my right eye twitch, but even the thought of it was making me dreadfully homesick.

On Christmas Eve Eve, on a last-minute trip to a department store to pick up more presents, we stopped by the kitchen-department. After extensive consultation and comparison, Thom decided to buy me a hand mixer. And after he left for work that night, I found myself on a mission.

Despite never making it alone, nor having my family was not here to gorge on the results, I decided to give myself a pep talk and make some Russian Fudge. For tradition’s sake. In our tiny local Tesco, I spent half an hour scanning the aisles for Golden Syrup and wondering if England even had it. Eventually I found it, and rushed home, gleefully. Soon enough, I had toffee boiling on stove and was sneaking a spoonful of sickly condensed milk. Then I started beating the fudge into reluctant submission, and the smell of a straining motor filled the kitchen… and  it finally felt like Christmas!

Russian Fudge

{from the Edmonds Cookery Book}

3 1/2 cups sugar
125g butter
3 Tbsp Golden Syrup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
200g sweetened condensed milk (half a standard tin)
2 tsp vanilla essence 

Put all ingredients, apart from vanilla essence, in a pot and bring to the boil stirring all the time. Boil for roughly 20 minutes, still stirring all the time. In a bowl of cold water drop a little of the fudge mixture (test throughout the 20 mins of boiling), when it is at the soft ball stage (your drop forms a small ball on contact with water) remove from heat. Add vanilla essence and beat with an electric beater for about 10 minutes until you can see it starting to set. Pour into greased tin and place in fridge to cool and set.

—

It’s funny how scent triggers the heart of our memory system. I found the “Christmas Spirit”, courtesy of burning sugar and electrics. I also realised that while I may not have all my loved ones around me, I certainly am not alone (buying your girlfriend a beater = A+++), and that while I may not have sun, sand and warm temperatures, I can still bring a bit of my tradition to the Northern Hemisphere.

I hope you had a lovely holiday, and will enjoy a fantastic New Year, wherever you are.

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Fondue Time

by Amber on November 14, 2011

Thank you for your birthday wishes earlier. Hello 26!  I woke up last Tuesday and gasped dramatically “My youth!” and Thom filled in the obvious gap, adding “…is fleeting!” He’s clearly a keeper. I had a little celebration with my new London friends – nothing too crazy, but it did involve over a kilogram of cheese, so you could describe it as fancy.

Cheese - pre fondue

Here is a photo of the cheese before it got turned into a big bubbling pot of fondue. It was the size of a baby! I picked it up at Borough Market (yes, I have been back already) and it’s a nice local Sussex Farmhouse cheese. Inspired by Les Refuge des Fondues in Paris, here is the recipe:

Cheesy-No-Fail-Awesome-Times Fondue

Adjust quantities to suit your audience

1 clove of garlic, halved & peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
3 parts melty cheese
1 part other cheese
1 cup of white wine – I used  el cheapo Sainsbury’s Sauvignon Blanc
1 loaf of bread 

For the fondue:

Take garlic and rub it around the inside of your fondue pot. Grate or roughly chop all of your cheeses into small pieces. Add the wine and lemon juice to the pot, and bring to a gentle simmer. Bit by bit, slowly stir the cheese into the wine, stirring constantly. If your cheese is particularly runny, add a pinch of cornflour. But don’t worry too much because it will thicken with time (as the fondue cools).

It’s easier to do this bit in a saucepan on a stove if you just have a ceramic fondue pot. (I am assuming you have a fondue pot and warmer on hand.)

However, it works just as well if you have a cast iron pot (high roller!). Just make the fondue directly in the pot on the stove then eat fast.

For dippers:

Chop your bread into small cubes. Bread that is a few days old holds its shape better, but if yours is still fresh and springy to touch, put it in the oven for about 8 minutes to dry it out. Roasted vegetables also work a treat, as well as cocktail onions and pickles (how 70′s European). 101 Cookbooks has lots of other great suggestions!

Warning: excessive consumption may induce cheese dreams. Enjoy!

Fondue Finale

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Spooky Wooky Bats

by Amber on October 31, 2011

This year’s Halloween weekend went like this: I sloppily carved a moustache into my mini pumpkin, I ripped my tights in anticipation, I pondered skullifying my face with a black eyebrow pencil, and then I just stayed home and wrote until the small hours. Oops! I will have to protest to my friends that I was there at those parties, just as a spectre.

Good news however. The calendar has only just flipped to Monday the 31st of October and there’s still time for me yet to get into the spirit. I just found this recipe for those cute little chocolate bats to make later this evening. Happy Halloween!

Halloween Bats

Donna Hay’s Marshmallow Vampire Bats
{From the NZ Herald}

To make twenty of the sugar bloodsuckers:

20 white marshmallows
200g dark chocolate, melted
20 small chocolate-coated biscuits, halved
40 small white chocolate melts

Dip the marshmallows into the melted chocolate and place each on 2 halves of the chocolate biscuits to create the bat bodies. Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Place 2 white chocolate melts on each bat to make eyes. Refrigerate until set.

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Sunday nights & cinnamon scrolls

by Amber on September 28, 2011

Sunday nights are still the weekend, and my new Bethnal Green family certainly knows how to make the most of them. As per mini-tradition, we invited our all friends round, cooked dinner and settled in for a night of wine, X-Factor and Downton Abbey. It sounds nerdy, but when there are 10 of you in a living room hooting and hollering at the TV, it’s really raucous and fun.

cinnamon bun

I contributed to the evening by making cinnamon scrolls. They received rave reviews, if I say so myself – so here’s the recipe should you ever want to win friends and influence people. They take a bit of work to make, but boy is a plate full of homemade cinnamon scrolls delicious, and impressive!

Cinnamon Swirl Buns with Cream Cheese Glaze
{Lazily adapted from Molly Wizenberg’s recipe in Bon Appetit, March 2008}

Dough:
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

 

Filling:
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Glaze:
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Making the dough:

Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed. Pour into bowl, adding 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. The lucky among you may have a beater with a paddle attachment, otherwise it’s time to get out a wooden spoon and start stirring.

When the mixture starts resembling a shaggy mess, add 2 1/2 cups flour. Keep beating until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Put dough on to a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 minutes. Form into ball.

Lightly oil large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. If you are in a hurry, like I was, put your dough to bed in the hot water cupboard, which speeds things up.

Shaping your scrolls:

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl. Punch down dough. Transfer to a floured work surface – I used the kitchen table. Roll out to 15×11-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over butter. Starting at 1 long side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up. With seam side down, slice dough crosswise into 18 equal slices. The easiest way to do this is halve the log, then halve the half and so on.

Spray two baking trays with nonstick spray, then divide rolls between trays. Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, 40 to 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C, then bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Making the glaze:

Combine cream cheese, icing sugar, butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Enjoy served warm or at room temperature. Microwaving the leftover scrolls for breakfast the next day is also advisable!

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Sugar fiesta: Fried Cinnamon Tortillas

by Amber on July 28, 2011

Fried Cinnamon Tortilla Chips - photo from Chow

The other night we enjoyed another edition of the Wine Cellar’s dinner club. It’s where all the people who work there and the groupies like myself come together and cook to a theme. (Duh, it’s called a pot luck, Amber.)

Anyway, Bastille Day was a huge hit, so this time we all went out  for another country – Mexico! While the others offered amazing salsa, chili and quesadillas, I rustled up a desert of sorts: fried cinnamon tortillas.  They are so easy to make, and delicious like Little Orbit donuts – you must try them for yourself.

Fried cinnamon tortillas

Cooking oil
Cinnamon
Sugar
Tortillas (pre-made is easiest)

Cut up tortillas into small strips, or if you are feeling fancy, get out the cookie cutter. Fry the tortilla strips in oil till golden, then set aside on a paper towel to cool. Mix 1 part cinnamon to 3 parts sugar in a brown paper bag (or a container, but a bag means no mess). Put the now cooled strips into the paper bag and shake-shake-shake until everything is coated evenly. Serve with chocolate sauce, a fruit salsa, or just alone.

Oh and while you’re cooking, put on some tunes. May I recommend Down in Mexico by The Coasters? Made famous by that honky-tonk bar scene in Death Proof, and sure to get you dancing.

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