Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge – a delicious mistake !

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We all make mistakes. Hopefully, most of the time we learn from the experience, and we try not to make the same error again. However, sometimes a mistake is worth repeating.

I was aiming for smooth creamy fudge. Instead, I got crumbly Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge. In my book, ‘crumbly’ is not proper fudge. However, one of my taste testers - my lovely sister, Dee - sniffed out the jar of failed fudge I was saving to mix with ice cream and her reaction was: “Ommmfff! Mmmmmffffffff!  Ggggggggggnomnomnom.” – or words to that effect.

I think it must have been positive feedback because she agreed to taste-test the cheaty ice cream I made by mixing morsels of the fudge with softened vanilla ice cream and returning it to the freezer for days when I need a blood-sugar spike

For approximately 800g of slightly crumbly fudge you will need...

... a sugar thermometer  

500g caster sugar

150g condensed milk

150mls cold water

100g butter

½ teaspoon salt

100g smooth peanut butter

90g dark chocolate, broken into squares

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

 

I think I have a temperature...

 

1.      Place the first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat (I use a 2.5L pan for this amount). Melt together without stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Then turn up the heat to medium. The mixture needs to reach 238°F (soft ball) on the sugar thermometer, stirring occasionally to prevent the mixture ‘catching’ on the bottom of the pan and burning.  (Conventional fudge wisdom warns “DON’T STIR” ... as this can cause crystallisation... which leads to crumbly fudge. However, today I want crumbly fudge! )

2.      Once the soft ball stage has been reached, remove the pan from the heat. Without mixing them in, add the vanilla extract, peanut butter and chocolate. Leave the pan to cool for about 10 minutes and then beat (with a wooden spoon if you have lots of energy and elbow grease, or with electric beaters) until the mixture is very thick and loses its gloss.

4.      Transfer to a 20cm x 20cm tin, lined with cling film or parchment paper. Transfer to the fridge and leave to cool before cutting into squares.

Stored in an airtight container, or in the freezer, it will keep for up to 3 months and is outrageously good chopped into small pieces and stirred into good vanilla ice cream.

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Buttermilk Muffins (the English sort) – it’d be a crime not to make them!

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Muffins (the English sort) incite criminal behaviour, apparently. Last week in Northport, NY, a homeowner called the police to report a burglary. According to the alleged victim, the backdoor lock had been tampered with and two packets of Thomas’s English Muffins had been stolen.

Here’s what I think happened: The female ‘victim’ had come home from the gym... Ravenous after a vigorous workout, the muffins were so tempting that she sat down and scoffed the whole dozen by herself... She then concocted the story to save face because she knew the muffins she’d promised the family for supper had been the last in the local foodstore...



Hey! The thief has been here too!

Samuel Bath Thomas first started producing these popular little breads at his bakery in New York in 1880, giving rise (no pun intended) to the idea that they were an American invention. However, he used his mother’s recipe – which he had brought from England five years earlier – so he was standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak.

In 1747, Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy featured similar yeasted griddle breads. In her recipe, she warns “don't touch them with a knife, either to spread or cut them open, if you do they will be as heavy as lead”. She suggests tearing them open with your hands. If you don’t have asbestos fingers, you could open them up with a fork. This preserves the very delicate structure of the bread creating a fantastic butter-trap for those who are fearless in the face of the odd calorie or 5,000. It also creates a rough surface for incredible toast and a base for Eggs Benedict to die for.

If the ‘thief’ happens to be reading, below is my recipe for Buttermilk Muffins. They are so easy and use store cupboard ingredients. Perhaps it will save such desperate measures in future...

For a dozen or so irresistible muffins (of the English sort) you will need...

500g strong white flour

1 x 7g sachet of fast-acting dried yeast

1 teaspoon fine table salt

250mls buttermilk, tepid (you may need slightly buttermilk more if the flour is very absorbent)

1 teaspoon runny honey

A little corn meal or plain flour for dusting

A little sunflower oil to grease the frying pan 

In a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), mix together the flour, yeast and salt. In a separate container, mix the tepid buttermilk and honey before adding to the flour mixture. Mix until the dough comes together in a smooth ball that leaves the bowl clean. If any dry flour remains, add a little more buttermilk. If using a stand mixer, mix for about 2 minutes with the dough hook. If making this by hand, turn the ball of dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 2 minutes. (To knead, fold the dough in half, then holding it in place with one hand, use the heel of the other hand to stretch the dough away from you, along the floured surface. Again fold it, rotate it about 1/8th of a turn and again press it away from you with the heel of your hand. Repeat for about 2 minutes knowing you are giving your arms a great workout which will enable you to have second helpings...) Return the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm, draught-free place to rise until doubled in size (about an hour and a half). You can leave this to rise overnight in the fridge if you prefer, where it will rise much slower. The key is that the dough doubles in size.

Roll the risen dough out to a thickness of about 1.5cm. Sprinkle a tray or baking sheet with corn meal or a little flour to prevent the muffins from sticking. Using a 6cm (3 inch) circular cutter, cut out as rounds of dough. You can knead together any scraps if necessary, re-roll and cut. However, try and cut your dough so that you get most of the muffins from the virgin dough as re-rolled scraps tend to form slightly misshapen, rustic-looking muffins.  Cover loosely with cling film. Leave to rise again in a warm, draught-free place for about 30 minutes, or until puffed up and doubled in height.

Now, heat a large frying pan (with a lid) over a medium heat. Rub it with a little sunflower oil and gently transfer a batch of muffins to the pan, leaving about 3cms between them. Cover with the lid.

After about 3 or 4 minutes gently slide a spatula under the muffins to see if they have browned. If not, continue cooking and check again after a minute or so. When the bases have browned, gently turn the muffins over and continue cooking on the other side for about 3 or 4 minutes, or until they too have browned. Transfer to a cooling rack, or, more likely, to waiting plates.

As Hannah Glasse warns, don’t cut them with a knife. It makes them ‘claggy’ as the steam condenses on the cold metal. Tear them open with your hands or ease apart with a fork.

Taste tester verdict: “Best I’ve ever tasted”. This comment was backed up by him taking second helpings, twice! 

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Cottage Pie with Potato Slates - low-brow but lovely!

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I love, love, love pretty, primped, posh food - the sort that Neven Maguire does in his restaurant. You know, trio of this, ballotine of that. And while I’m not crazy about foams, I'll happily mop up every last atom of a jus or a reduction - with a suitably high-brow crust of bread, obviously! If a foodstuff is creamed, candied or caramelised, I’m there. A bisque, a carpaccio, an assiette? You bet!

However, sometimes you just need no-nonsense rib-sticking comfort food. The second-coldest winter on record has given me plenty of opportunity to make Cottage Pie. There is nothing like it to chase the Winter blues away. 

While I love this pie topped with rich buttery mash, it can pile on the pounds so this is my low(er) calorie, low brow version with potato slates. As it is stuffed full of vegetables, it needs no accompaniment (except perhaps a low-brow blob of HP or Chef Brown Sauce). In an ironic nod to posh food you could make it in individual portions.

For 4 – 6 portions of no-nonsense rib-sticking Cottage Pie you will need...
... to pre-heat the oven to 180°C when ready to bake the pie

Filling

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions (about the size of a tennis ball), finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 stick of celery, peeled of stringy fibres, finely chopped

1 fat clove of garlic, crushed

½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

500g of the best minced beef you can afford (make friends with your butcher and get him to mince some round steak while you wait.)

200mls good beef stock

100mls red wine

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons oxtail soup-mix (the low brow ingredient)

75mls cold water 

Topping
500g smallish evenly-sized potatoes (prepared weight) peeled and cut into ½ cm slices

2 large handfuls of fresh spinach, shredded (optional)

100g cheddar cheese, grated

50g parmesan cheese, finely grated 



Low-brow but lovely!

In a medium frying pan over a medium heat, heat half the olive oil. Add the chopped onion, carrot, and celery and cook gently without colouring, until the onions are soft and translucent –6 – 8 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and thyme and cook for a further minute. Transfer to a bowl and return the pan to the heat.

Add the rest of the olive oil and the minced beef and fry until the mince has browned.

Return the cooked vegetables to the pot, along with the beef stock, wine and chopped parsley. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes while you prepare the potato slate.

For the potato slates, place the potato slices in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until easily pierced with a knife but not falling apart. Drain and allow to cool sufficiently to be handled.

While the potatoes are cooling, thicken the meat filling by blending the oxtail soup-mix with the water until smooth and stirring into the simmering meat. Cook for a further 5 minutes then remove from the heat. Transfer to a large pie dish or divide between 4 – 6 individual pie dishes. Pre-heat the oven now, while you finish preparing the pie.

Cover the meat filling with the shredded spinach (optional) and arrange the slices of potato on top in overlapping rows, like the slates of a roof – it is Cottage Pie, after all. Sprinkle with the grated cheeses. Place the dish(es) on a baking tray to catch any juices that may bubble over, and bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and the filling bubbling hot.

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Hummus – and the search for the holy grail...

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Over the years, I’ve been a bit of a culinary Indiana Jones in my pursuit of the holy grail of hummus. With experimentation, I’ve discovered that the earth won’t stop rotating on its axis if you don’t add tahini; that cumin (my most hated spice) if toasted and added in small amounts, adds a deep subtle earthiness that I can’t live without in this dip/mezze; that adding a little lemon zest lifts it out of the ordinary; and that dried chickpeas yield better results than tinned. The only downside to using dried chickpeas is that you have to plan a little ahead – no spontaneous hummus fests I'm afraid. However, you can speed up the cooking process with a pressure cooker.

In some countries parsley is served on the side. I’ve gone ahead and put some into the recipe.

Is this the the best hummus ever? Who knows! For me, it's the best yet ... but I’m not going to stop experimenting. If I come up with a version that tickles my taste buds even more, I’ll let you know.

For approximately 500g of earthy, lemony hummus you will need...

200g dried chickpeas (soaked overnight in a large bowl of cold water)

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted in a dry frying pan and ground to a powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

10g fresh flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped
a little warm water from the kettle (up to 6 tablespoons) 

a little extra good olive oil for drizzling over the finished dish

Transform the humble chickpea into food of the gods with a few simple ingredients 

 

1.      Place the soaked chickpeas in the pressure cooker and cover with about 2cm cold water. (Don’t add salt as this effects the texture.) Bring to pressure and cook for 14 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to depressurise naturally. Once the pot has depressurised, drain the chickpeas and leave to cool. (If you don’t have a pressure cooker, cover the chickpeas with about 4cm water, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for an hour or so, or until soft enough to squash easily between your fingers).

2.      Place the cooked and cooled chickpeas in a food processer, along with the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, ground cumin, and salt. Process until you have a fairly smooth mixture. Add the chopped parsley and process once more until the parsley has been dispersed throughout the mixture.

3.      At this stage the mixture will be quite stiff. Add a little warm water from the kettle – a tablespoon at a time – pulsing the mixture between additions – until you achieve a looser texture that still holds its shape. You don’t want it to be runny.

4.      Taste and add more salt if required. This is ready to eat now, but the flavours deepen and meld if covered and left to develop for a few hours. Alchemy at work!

Drizzle with olive oil and serve with this easy homemade pita bread or sticks of crunchy fresh vegetables.

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Broccoli, Blue Cheese and Walnut Pesto – You don’t know what you’re missing George!

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This dish was inspired by former President of the United States, George W Bush, who had this to say about a much maligned vegetable: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.” So there!

Well, George, I didn’t like broccoli either. I didn’t like it when I was a little kid and my mother grew it and made me eat it. While we could coax the cat to eat most things our finicky palates rejected, it could not be persuaded to hoover up our unwanted broccoli and so we had to suffer it. Now I’m a grown up, I actually love broccoli.

It takes mere minutes to turn what could be a so-so side dish into the main attraction. George, you don’t know what you are missing!

A delicious meal in minutes - hey pesto!

For 4 – 6 servings of pesto you will need...

125g broccoli, broken into florets

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

50g walnuts, toasted in a dry frying pan over a low heat

50g mild blue cheese such as Cashel Blue, or Bleu d'Auvergne

5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

¼ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 

1                    Cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for about 6 minutes until just tender. A knife should easily pierce the stems when cooked. Remove from the heat, drain and stir in the crushed garlic. Leave to cool.

2                    When the broccoli has cooled, place it in a food processor along with all the other ingredients. Process until you have a smooth, slightly grainy paste. And that’s it – hey pesto! (I haven't specified salt in the ingredient list as the cheese can be quite salty so taste the mixture and only add salt if necessary.) This will keep, covered, in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

To serve, simply prepare tagliatelle or other pasta according to the instructions on the packet. When cooked, drain and return to the cooking pot along with 2 – 3 tablespoons of the pesto per person. Toss the pasta so that it is coated with the pesto. Serve immediately.

The End!

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‘Just because...’ cookies - and Valentine's Day rebooted !

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If you listen hard you will hear the unromantic din of cash registers chi-chinging all over the world. That’s the sound of big business cashing in on the scurry to live up to romantic expectations - your own, or someone else’s - on February 14th.

Valentine’s Day is quite possibly the least romantic day of the year. If you are someone’s special someone, hopefully you’ll already know it - and show it - in a thousand tiny ways throughout the year. You will be least in need of a day of ersatz romance.

Love is bigger than just romantic love. It’s in the everyday things: in the sticky pre-licked sweet my tiniest niece presses into my hand when I know she really, really, really wants it for herself; it’s in the email/card/text/call that says between the lines “Hey, I was thinking of you”. It’s in making the dinner/walking the dog/cleaning the bathroom/rescuing the laundry from a sudden rain shower without having to be asked. It’s in accepting the irritating imperfections right along with the good qualities that are so much easier to love, whether you are family, friend, or lover.

Since 2011, there has been a move to ‘reboot’ Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day; to make it less ‘cosy couples’ and more egalitarian. At first glance, this smacks of an ‘everyone-gets-a-medal’ race, but why not!  Generosity Day is an opportunity to practice random acts of, well, generosity. It is a day for giving rather than taking.

I’m celebrating February 14th (whatever you want to call it) with my fully customisable ‘Just because...’ cookies. I don’t need any excuse to make them. They can be ... Just because... I wanted to say thanks. Just because... you make me smile... Just because... sometimes you can read my mind. Just because... well... just because!

For 40 - 50  ‘Just because...’ cookies (depending on size) you will need...
... to pre-heat the oven to 160°C

200g butter (at room temperature)

100g icing sugar

1 tablespoon orange zest

250g plain flour

50g cocoa powder, sifted to remove any lumps

a small pinch of fine table salt

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 teaspoon of boiling water 

To decorate you will need chocolate and sprinkles. I’m not going to be too prescriptive about this bit of the recipe – this is the ‘pimp my cookie’ bit, where you get to customise these cookies for those lucky people who are loved by you, but I’ll tell you what I did. 

1.                  First make the cookies - Place the butter, icing sugar and orange zest in a mixing bowl or stand mixer and beat together until fluffy and lighter in colour.

2.                  Mix together the flour, cocoa powder and salt and add to the butter mixture about a third at a time, beating until well combined. Finally, add the egg yolk and dissolved coffee and mix until the ingredients come together in a ball.

3.                  Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a thickness of about 3mm. Using cookie cutters, cut into shapes – I’ve chosen hearts in a variety of sizes. Any leftovers can be squashed into a ball and re-rolled.

4.                  Place on a baking tray and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. When the cooking time has elapsed, remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for about 3 minutes before transferring carefully to a cooling rack. When completely cold, decorate as desired.

Here’s what I did: 

5.                  I melted 100g of good quality white chocolate in a small Ziploc freezer bag by removing all the air, sealing it and putting it in a bowl of hot water. In another Ziploc bag, I placed 50g good quality dark chocolate together with 50g good quality milk chocolate and melted it in the bowl of hot water. This gives a subtle two-tone, two-flavour effect.

6.                  While the chocolate was melting, I prepared a variety of sprinkles: chopped dried sour cherries, chopped dried apricots, chopped toasted hazelnuts, Maldon sea salt crystals. Use your imagination - the world is your sprinkle :)

7.                 When the chocolate had melted, I snipped a tiny corner off each bag, drizzling chocolate directly onto the cookies.

8.                  While the chocolate was still melted I sprinkled my chosen toppings onto the cookies.  

Just because... you deserve a treat!

When the cookies have completely set, make yourself a cuppa and taste-test a couple of these treats before packaging them prettily and distributing them to your loved ones, just because... 

Just because... you are salt of the earth!

Just because... xxx

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Cider and Cinnamon Crêpes - Time to practice your pancake-flipping skills!

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Pancake Day nearly slid by unnoticed in the shadow of the fast-approaching Valentine’s Day chocolate fest. Eeek!

Although I nearly always go for fluffy American pancakes, Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday) calls for more traditional crêpe-style pancakes - the last hurrah before the lean Lenten days ahead...

I like my pancake accompaniments fairly simple - a drizzle of honey, a squeeze of lemon – so I’ve put the flavour in the batter by adding cider, vanilla and cinnamon. The kitchen smells like a Yankee Candle store while these are cooking.

For 8 – 10 pancakes you will need...
... a crêpe pan (a non-stick frying pan will do but a lightweight crêpe pan makes life easier)

125g plain flour
a pinch of fine table salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs
125mls milk
100mls natural cider, unsweetened, non-sparkling (or unsweetened natural apple juice)
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

To serve: a juicy lemon, cut into generous wedges, and honey or icing sugar

1                    In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and ground cinnamon. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs. Whisk the eggs, gradually incorporating the flour from the edges. When the eggs are combined with the flour, gradually whisk in the milk, followed by the cider (or apple juice), sunflower oil and vanilla extract continuing to whisk until you have a smooth batter. This can rest in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

2                    When you are ready to make the pancakes, heat a non-stick over a medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, rub it with piece of kitchen paper dipped in oil.

3                    Pour approximately 60-70mls of batter into the pan to form a pancake approximately 8 – 10cm in diameter. As the batter hits the hot surface, tilt the pan slightly in a circular motion so that the batter spreads out evenly.

4                    Cook for about a minute or until the pancake loosens when the pan is shaken back and forth. Slide an egg-slice or spatula under the pancake and carefully turn it to continue cooking for another minute. (Now could be the time to test your pancake-flipping skills...)

5                    Serve immediately with wedges of lemon and sugar or honey.

Happy Pancake Day!

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