Recently in Eating Category

I've had this odd hungry feeling recently, like I can't quite get what I want. Or there's some hollow space that needs filling or something. If I knew what it was I'd sort it out. I know it's an eating disorder thing, but I've been looking in cupboards for things to eat, trying out all kinds of things and not being actually happy with anything I've put in my mouth. Yesterday I had cereal for lunch and seriously considered oatmeal porridge for dinner. At 9 pm I had bread and jam with no real excuse.

I've worked it out though: what I really want is my mom. I have really vivid memories of some of my mom's comfort eating things, mostly after waking up from a nap in the afternoon. One of her favourites was a tomato ketchup sandwich on white bread with a thick layer of margarine. She also liked leftover roast potatoes straight from the fridge, but she really really liked leftover bread and butter pudding.

So because I can't have my mom here today I'm going to try to ring her instead, and while I do that I'll share my favourite recipes for her favourite pudding.

Bread and Butter Pudding (for microwave/combination)

75g butter
6 thick slices bread (I like using Fries suikerbrood)
100g raisins
45 ml sugar
grated zest of 1 orange
2 ml cinnamon
2 large eggs
300 ml milk

1. Preheat oven to 230C.
   
2. Butter the bread and cut into fingers. Layer in an ovenproof buttered dish with the raisins.
   
3. Sprinkle each layer with cinnamon, sugar and orange zest. Don't be stingy with the sprinkling, you can't have too much of these things.
4. Beat the eggs and milk together, then pour over the bread. Leave to soak for about 15 minutes but longer if you have the patience.
   
5. Bake on combination 6 (this is in a panasonic combi oven, if you have a different kind just wing it) for about 20 - 25 minutes until golden.
6. Serve hot with cream.

This recipe is nice because the combi cooking keeps the inside of the pudding moist. If you don't have a combi function here's a classic recipe from Robert Carrier, and from my mom's favourite book: Cooking for Friends. This is the one I used to have when I was growing up.

Robert Carrier's Bread and Butter Pudding

175g softened butter
12 slices thick cut white bread
4 tablespoons marmalade
juice and finely grated rind of 2 large oranges
juice and finely grated rind of 1 lemon
75g castor sugar
Custard:
400 ml milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons castor sugar
4 tablespoons lightly whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Grease or spray a shallow 1 3/4 litre baking dish.
3. Spread slices with butter and marmalade and cut into triangles.
4. Combine juice and rinds in a bowl, add castor sugar and combine until dissolved.
5. Line bottom and sides of dish completely with triangles of bread dipping them into the orange syrup as you use them and arranging them buttered side up. Filled the lined dish with the remainder of the bread triangles, reserving a few for the top of the pudding.
6. Make the custard by heating the milk to just below boiling point then beat the eggs lightly and pour the hot milk onto them gradually, beating constantly. Return the mixture to the pan, add sugar and stir over a low heat until the custard thickens to the point where it will coat the back of the spoon.
7. Remove from the heat, cool slightly and stir in the cream.
8. Pour the custard over the bread in the baking dish, cut the remaining triangles in half and soak in the rest of the syrup and arrange on the top of the pudding. Pour the leftover syrup over the top.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp and golden on the outside with a soft creamy centre.

On January 26, 2007 I must have missed my mom too, because I just found this post, which has my own bread and butter pudding recipe in it.

So now you have three possible recipes, and I still miss my mom.

(Comments actually work again now, choose comment anonymously and fill in the fields.)

This cake is a heartbreaker, literally.

It's the May challenge for the Daring Bakers. I'm not posting the recipe, as everyone else has already done it and all you have to do is google Opera Cake and Daring Bakers and you'll come up with lots of luscious cakes.

So did I enjoy making this cake?

Well, no. Not really. It was a challenge (mostly following the steps right), it is a pretty cake, but it's incredibly rich and you need a second mortgage for the ingredients. My cake decorating skills lack, mostly because I am impatient, but hey, I made the cake!

Things I liked:

• the almond meal sponge. I'll make this again.
• assembling the cake in a ring. I really like this for presentation.

Things I didn't like:

• the white chocolate glaze/ganache - chocolate ganache should be dark and bitter.
• the buttercream. Buttercream is so sickly. I can feel my waist swelling and my arteries clogging.

Things I really really liked:

• the strawberry liqueur, Dolfi Fraise des Bois, which I used in the syrup. I went into the booze shop and the little man who works there and who has seen me come in once in a blue moon, mostly to buy brandy for my christmas cake, was very enthusiastic about finding me something suitable. I originally wanted raspberry liqueur but there was none so I took this. I'm so glad I did  - it complemented the lemon flavour in the buttercream perfectly.

So, that was my Opera Cake for this month's Daring Baker challenge.

'The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago.' - REM, Nightswimming

This month's Daring Baker challenge was hosted by Morven in New Zealand and she chose Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake. Dorie Greenspan's recipes popped up all over the internet last year when this book was first published and it's been on my cook book wishlist ever since. So I was pretty happy to get a chance to make one of her recipes as part of something where I absolutely had to get in the kitchen and do something.

It's funny actually, thinking about life in retrospect, I always associate it with food. Growing up we had a cook at home who did all the 'boring' cooking, so anything my mom or I made was more complicated or a dessert or a cake. I got to mess about in the kitchen and someone else got to clean up. Perfect huh?

When I started dating Nick, my first love, I was a little less than enthusiastic about him. He wasn't my type. I thought he was all wrong for me and that he would break my heart (which he did). He was rather persistent about getting me to go on a date with him though. He called me one evening while I was baking a cake, which needed taking out of the oven. After a few minutes talking, I said 'I'm sorry, I really need to go now, I'm baking a cake', to which he replied 'and I'm flossing the cat' and hung up! I don't know if that was the moment that I stopped being resistant to being pursued but it was pretty funny. He never believed that I was really baking a cake, even after we'd been together a while. Obviously I have no doubt at all that he really was flossing the cat.

Back to Dorie's cake. I enjoyed making this recipe, but I think the differences in ingredients here in Europe vs. the USA really came to the fore in this recipe. First off, I used English baking powder and the cake barely rose, which is why it's two layers instead of four.  The flour was also a problem I think. Even though I used patisserie flour the texture was somewhat grainy instead of the superlight texture the cake should have had.

The buttercream split when I was beating it, and it separated a little on standing, but I think that was because I didn't cook the egg white/sugar mixture long enough over the double boiler. I've made swiss meringue based icing before, but this one was a little more difficult to achieve a very smooth result with. I'll be trying it again though to see if I can improve on it.

Those things aside, this cake actually improved with standing. The buttercream was much lighter than I expected it to be and the texture of the cake was no different on the Friday after baking than on the Monday when it came out of the oven. I especially appreciated the opportunity to use up half a jar of raspberry jam that had been standing in the fridge for ages.

My only complaint is that I ate almost the entire cake on my own! Definitely a thing to make for a group of people or to take to work. I just don't want my colleagues to get too spoiled, especially after the hot cross buns of the week before. And let's be honest, I liked eating the majority of the cake on my own. Not sure about my hips and thighs though ...

You can read other daring bakers' adventures in cake baking over here. See my last challenge here. You can find the recipe here.

'This little universe between our backs is so beautiful, and colorful, I lean on that.' - KT Tunstall, Little Favours

So last year I made some hot cross buns.  As buns go, they were perfect.

This year I'm making them again. I'll be tripling the recipe to make as many buns as I possibly can.

Some will go with me to work, some will stay home for the kids and some will come with me for the weekend.

Want one?

'But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say I've changed, well something's lost, but something's gained in living every day' - Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now

I'm going to stay with someone this weekend and I was thinking today about what to take with me and all I could think of was food.

'Why don't I stop and get that fab strawberry cake from the bakery up the road' and then,

'Prosecco is wonderful, let me get a bottle' and it didn't stop there.

Soon I'd bought most of the inside of Parti. Then I started thinking of what I could make to take with me. Like I can actually plan to make food to take to someone else when I have a family to cook for as well and a new job starting on Tuesday? Hello?

What actually happened, subsequent to buying all the snack supplies in Amstelveen, was that I started to think about the way I perceive the relationship between food and affection and how inextricably intertwined they are for me.

I grew up with my grandmother for a lot of my childhood and she only ever expressed her affection via food. She baked, she cooked, she made you clear your plate to show that you loved her back. As a result I was a hefty kid.  It also made me into one of those very same sorts of people. A 'let's feed you to death and you'll know that I care' kind of person.

'Try this chocolate covered nougat.'

'Have some of this, it tastes fabulous.'

'Try this - you'll love it.'

And the disappointed look when the other person doesn't love the thing you love, and the way they backtrack when they see your crestfallen expression and they say 'well, it was nice really. I quite liked that. I promise.'  .

I cooked spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight after I haven't really been cooking for a long time. Well, I haven't been cooking as in haven't been cooking all of the really intricate stuff I used to make. It's not surprising that they're called 'labours of love'.

Tonight's meatballs were bought instead of laboriously home-made. The sauce was my own, tomatoes, red wine, basil etc. It wasn't complicated as food goes, but I'd taken my head out of my ass long enough to cook so I was pretty pleased with myself. Then we're at the table and one of the boys takes a bite of one of the meatballs and says 'well, I don't really like this that much but I'll eat it because it makes you happy, Mama.'

I had to contain my sudden knee-jerk horrified reaction. Horrified once because he said it wasn't nice and I made it, dammit! and horrified twice because he said he was going to eat it all because it would make me happy.

He was going to eat it anyway because it would make me happy!

How sad is that and what am I doing to my kids? Setting them up for a lifetime of food being the way to express their emotions? Isn't this how you get eating disorders? (That was a rhetorical question.)

So, just how did you enjoy that cupcake? Please, have another. No, I insist! What do you mean you don't want one? What do you mean you're full? Oh my god, you don't love me. I'll just curl up and die. Right NOW!

'Another runs away' - Audioslave, Be Yourself

Oh my god, I died and went to heaven. I had the best coffee I've had in a million years and the most absolutely fucking amazing sandwiches I think I've ever eaten.

Spicy salami, grilled courgette and taleggio on ciabatta. D had turkey breast, bacon and mayo on focaccia and we shared half each.

The staff there are fabulous, it's like walking into someone's house and chatting with a very old friend. The carrot cake and muffins looked amazingly attractive. Good thing I have such steadfast willpower.

Absolutely brilliant. Do yourself a favour. GO!

Small World is at Binnen Oranjestraat 14, off the Harlemmemerstraat.

'You make me make me make me hungry again.' - The Cure, Why Can't I Be You?

Guess who found Jezebel.com. Guess who has subsequently been feeding herself a steady diet of celebrity gossip? (I'll give you a hint here.. it's not you.)

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Glad I'm not alone with the unwashed hair. Yes, really. It's once every few days here, and I get the best results washing with very little of my John Frieda stuff for curls, slicking it full of a Garnier wash-out masque, which you don't wash out (very important, that) and then taking myself into the sauna where it dries into beautiful curls. Otherwise it's just limp and flat and blah. Especially if I wash it too often. Often I skip the shampoo and just put the other stuff in, then I relaaaaaax and the heat does all the work.

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Went out last night to somewhere new: Bazar. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Had a huge table upstairs and ordered plates to share.  Download the menu and take a look. The ambience was great and so was the company.

(Interruption to address a reader directly: Yes yes, I know you read this blog so there are no hidden meanings in that specific sentence! Thanks for inviting me!)

The food was good and the bill was even better (23 euros each).  Afterwards we wandered around a bit. First to an Irish pub, on the godknowswhere, then a brown cafe also on the godknowswhere, (hey, great sense of direction I have) and finally a taxi home at 1.30 am. This Friday night thing is becoming a habit.

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No, I am not back in the gym, yet. This is making me bitchy, bitchy bitchy. Also I want to sleep all the time, unsure of the connection there?

I did a training on Tuesday with one of the trainers who is much stronger and fitter than me (and a man). Old style condition training it's called. You use the other person as your resistance and then you do all kinds of funky things like lift a bench while the other person walks up it. And do pull-ups with the other person applying counter-weight. Oh my. Up until today I couldn't move my shoulders without squealing. I'm just a little bit recovered now. Enough to go and do it all over again. All those little muscle fibres just re-knitted and I'm about to go un-knit them again. My right ankle (with the shinsplints) is so swollen, I have a cankle!

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Did you know that you can buy things from Zara Home here in the Netherlands? Neither did I. Now we both do. I have a jones for this bedlinen. Maybe one day when I grow up.

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Chloe did six things. I think I need to do six things too, 'cos I'm such a follower of fashion.

So here are my six:

1. I put things in my mouth all the time. Coffee spoons, my hair, my fingers, your fingers... uh. I'll stop now.
   
   
2. If there are Marie biscuits in my house I shouldn't drink tea. The two go together far too well, then before I know it I've eaten a whole packet. Dipped of course. Then I think of my hips and I mourn.
   
   
3. I'm funny when I have an audience. Cynical funny. To the 'ouch' degree, but only with native English speakers. Sorry native Dutch speakers, you lose. I should do improv.
   
   
4. I worked as a waitress in a vegan restaurant. Our only salary was the tips we made. My girlfriend (who was it again who worked with me, my memory is terrible?) and I used to wear hotpants under our frilly strawberry printed aprons and bend over suggestively to get more tips. She had bigger boobs so she'd lean forward and I had the better bum so I'd sidle in from the side to put the plates in front of the customers. The restaurant was tiny, with an open kitchen.
   
   We'd walk out of it in pairs, one plate in each hand, held just high enough to push our tits out and really make a statement. We found that working the tables with a two-sided approach worked perfectly. Eventually we had tables of businessmen completely captivated and the 100 dollar tips were rolling in. I'm pretty sure the entire business district of Harare was in our restaurant at one point or another.
   
   The middle-aged man can be a wonderful thing, when you're a hot teenager. Actually, almost being middle-aged myself, I have to say that the almost middle-aged man is a wonderful thing at any time.
   
   
5. Chloe mentioned her pistachio and pink phases. I had a red winter and I'm having a black and white summer. Where is the grey? Why is everything always so delineated? Grey is in this spring. The shops are full of it.
   
   
6. I have been married twice. Failure is a noun, but also an emotion.
   

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It's spring break. Crocus vakantie. What will we do? Lie around a lot I suspect. Drive all over I suspect. Today we're starting off well with a party.

Next Friday the kids have daycare for the day and I'm off for the day. Millais is waiting. Who wants to come with?

'It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes.' - Peter Gabriel, The Book of Love

If every book ever written is a love letter, even cookery books, then ...

The Daring Bakers are at it again. This month's challenge, hosted by The Canadian Baker was a Lemon Meringue Pie.

So, over two weekends, (yes it took me that long), I baked pie. Last weekend I made the pastry crust and then put it in the freezer til this weekend. Saturday night I made the lemon filling and then Sunday I made the meringue.

Verdict: nice pie, but uh, hmm.

What's with all the sugar? I'm used to the sharper taste of a classic tarte au citron, and this was too sweet. It was pretty though and the taste test team liked it. The cornflour/sugar mix for the lemon base was also kind of peculiar. The cornflour taste came through quite strongly in the final product, and the lemon mixture didn't set thoroughly.

I favour a good lemon curd mixture which you can make ahead, keep in the fridge and convert into lemon meringue pies whenever you want.

So instead of giving you the recipe for this pie, I'm giving you the recipe for lemon curd, which means you can go make lemon meringue pie every time life gives you lemons. (Sorry! Had to!)

Lemon Curd

200g butter
700g granulated sugar
grated zest of 4 -5 lemons
300 ml lemon juice (about 4 - 5 lemons)
300 ml beaten eggs (about 4 - 5 lemons)

1. Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest, juice and sugar in a large bowl and microwave on full for about 2 minutes or until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. (or use the top of a double boiler on the stove top).
2. Add the beaten eggs and continue cooking in 1 minute bursts and stirring each time, reducing to 30 seconds for each burst as the mixture thickens until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. On the stovetop just keep going, stirring constantly until it reaches the consistency you like. I prefer mine more solid than runny so I cook it a while longer.
3. Strain through a sieve into a wide necked jug, to remove bits of zest and any cooked egg bits, and then pour into sterilised jars and keep in the fridge.
   

This recipe takes about ten minutes in the microwave and about forty minutes in a double boiler. You can also make orange curd, passionfruit curd, grapefruit, blood orange etc. You can use this to serve with ice cream, in meringue for pavlovas and of course, in your lemon meringue pie.

Visit the Daring Bakers to see everyone else's interpretations of this month's recipe.

 

'Please me, tease me, go ahead and leave me.' - Garbage, I Think I'm Paranoid

Look, it's a recipe. Wow, who would have thought?

Actually, this is a really nice recipe.

It's yeast based so no weird baking powdery aftertaste and it makes a thin base. It's also super fast. Almost as fast as a bought one. Faster than ordering in. Fun to make with the kids.

The kind of pizza that makes you look good in your flour-dusted denim apron all flushed and rosy-cheeked from the heat of the oven while you roll the dough.

Hey, they say sex sells.. Nigella can't be wrong, right?

The recipe comes from one of those 1970s style books that call themselves 'The Bible of ...' which is why the title of the recipe is:

Make & Bake Pizza

15 ml (1 tbsp) dry yeast (or one sachet instant easy blend yeast)
1/4 cup warm water
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup lukewarm water.

1. If you're using dry yeast, sprinkle it over the 1/4 cup water and leave to stand until it makes a nice head of foam (think beer). If you're using the instant easy blend yeast skip this step and move on.
2. Process the flour sugar and salt in the food processor for a few seconds. Add the yeast mixture (or add the sachet of yeast and the 1/4 cup water).
3. Combine the oil and water and drizzle through the feed tube while the processor runs and process until the dough forms a mass around the blades. Process for about 30 - 40 seconds longer. The dough will be slightly sticky.
4. Divide the dough in half. Knead it on a floured surface into two smooth balls, (think boobs). Flatten and press out into two 12 inch circles. Spray baking sheets, place dough on sheets. Crimp the edges to make a little edge so the toppings don't fall off. Allow to rise for 10 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 200C and brush dough with oil. Use toppings and sauce that you like and bake for 20 minutes on lowest rack of the oven.

If you don't have a food processor then, uh, just do it by hand? You know, where you actually mix the stuff in with your hands? Like Jamie Oliver?

You can freeze the pizzas unbaked and then bake from frozen for five minutes extra. You can also freeze them after baking and then give them 10 minutes in the oven at 200C.

Jane, this recipe is for you. Have fun pizza making and don't forget the sexy apron and the pose, Nigella-stylee.

'Take a chance, 'cause you might grow.' - Gwen Stefani, What you waiting for?

... Beef in a bit of pastry with a bit of stuff in the inside to make it taste nice.

We had this for Christmas lunch. It was tasty.

If I were an eloquent food writer I would start off by saying something like 'The British think they invented Beef Wellington, but so do the French, who call it Boeuf en Croute' (which is just what wikipedia or some other online fount of wisdom says).

And then I'd blah blah blah on and on about it and it's origin and it's background and you'd all either be asleep or saying 'wow, Ash knows an awful lot about Beef Wellington/Boeuf en croute/Beef in a bit of pastry'.

Instead, being ineloquent (which actually seems to be a word, thanks spell checker) and neither British nor French, nor apparently a food writer seeing as I used the word 'tasty' above to describe this dish, I will simply give you the recipe.

First of all make the pastry. It uses puff pastry which is both fun to make (yes really) and infinitely rewarding. Do you see my tongue pressed firmly into my cheek there?

This recipe makes 450g and comes from the venerable Good Housekeeping Institute. Which means it's been triple tested. Which is another way of saying 'if it goes wrong it's YOUR fault!'.

How to make Puff Pastry

450g plain white flour
pinch of salt
450g butter (yes, you have to use butter here), chilled
15 ml lemon juice
300 ml chilled water

1. Sift the flour and salt together. Cut off 50g of the buter and flatten the remaining butter between two sheets of clingfilm into a long flat slab about 2 cm thick. Put it in the fridge.
2. Put the flour and the 50g butter into the food processor and whizz until it resembles very fine crumbs. Add the lemon juice and enough of the water in a steady stream through the processor funnel to make a soft elastic dough. Turn it out onto a floured board and then shape it into a round ball. Using a knife cut a cross half way through the dough ball and then open them out to form a star shape (this makes sense when you do it but I should have taken a picture for you). Roll out and make the star points about four times thinner than the centre bit. Put the cold slab of butter (from the fridge) in the centre of the star.
3. Fold the flaps over like an envelope to cover the butter. Press gently with the rolling pin. Flour liberally and then roll out to a rectangle about 16 x 8 inches. Fold the bottom third of the rectangle up to the centre and the top third down and keep the edges straight. Press with the rolling pin, wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Take it out the fridge and with the folded edges to the sides repeat the process. Do this sequence five times in total.
5. Shape the pastry as required, then rest it in the fridge for about another 30 minutes before baking.
6. Bake at 220C unless otherwise specified in the recipe. If you want to freeze it roll it out to the size required, then cover it with wax paper and roll it up, then put it into a polythene bag and freeze.

Darlings, that was just the pastry!

Now for the beef.

Beef Wellington/Boeuf en croute/Beef in a bit of pastry

50g butter
1.6 kg piece of fillet of beef. I used a 900g entrecote which was nicely rolled and tied by the butcher. A fillet of beef would be different because you wouldn't have to untie it after browning and cooking it for the first bit before you do the pastry shell. If you use an entrecote or other rolled up beef thing, remember that you don't want the strings in your finished dish!

For the filling:

250g button mushrooms, chopped
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped.
1 red pepper
2 tablespoons or so of tomato concentrate
splash of red wine
bit of red thai curry paste, or chilli paste or whatever else you want to put in for zing
2 tablespoons dried thyme or fresh thyme to taste

1. Heat some of the butter in a frying pan and when it foams add the beef (which you previously dried off with a paper towel after bringing to room temperature), and brown it all over. Put the lid on the pan and allow it to cook at a lower heat for about 25 minutes or put the oven on 220 and roast for 20 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.
2. Using the same pan melt the rest of the butter, add the shallots and garlic, fry for about 2 minutes, then add the mushrooms and red pepper. Add the rest of the ingredients and then cook until you have a thick mixture, it shouldn't be watery. Let it cool down in the pan.
3. Roll 1/4 of your pastry out into a rectangle about 1 inch larger than the beef and prick with a fork. Bake it at 220C for 10 - 12 minutes until crisp and golden. Allow to cool then trim to the size of the beef and place on a baking sheet.
4. Roll out the remaining pastry to a rectangle about 12 x 16 inches. Cut a small square out of each corner. Keep all the trimmings.
5. Place the meat on the cooked pastry square. Season the beef with salt and pepper (take off the strings if you used a rolled cut of beef). Spread the filling all over. It's easiest to use your hands.
6. Wrap the uncooked pastry all around the beef, tucking it under the cooked pastry base. If you're doing this ahead then put it in the fridge until you're ready to cook it.*
7. Make a slit in the top of the pastry and brush with beaten egg. Decorate with shapes cut from leftover bits of pastry. I made little hearts, aren't I sweet? Brush the little hearts with egg.
8. Bake at 220C for about 35 minutes for medium rare, 40 - 45 minutes for medium. Leave to stand for 10 minutes  before serving.

I served mine with roasted butternut and tomato.

*If you want to freeze yours then do it at this stage. Open freeze until solid then wrap in freezer film and then in foil. Thaw overnight and cook as above.