I tend to be a fairly organised cook (which is odd given the complete lack of organisation in other aspects of my life!) I like to have a well-stocked pantry and freezer (so that I can be smug in the knowledge that I can always whip up some sort of emergency meal if the need arises...it seldom does, but I could if I had to!), and I always make a super comprehensive list before going to the grocery store - in large part because I'm terribly absent minded and will always forget important things if I don't have a list to guide me. But before I make my grocery list for the week, I also plan the meals we are going to have each day. This means that I actually make sure I always buy the necessary things when I do the shopping, but I also prefer to try and plan ahead so that I'm not tormented every day trying to think of what to cook that night (instead I just have one intense session of frustration whilst creating the Plan). Now this might all sound terribly geeky and boring, but never fear. My normal ditziness is about to come flying through! Because, despite my great efforts at organisation and planning, I'm also wildly susceptible to whims and cravings and tend to deviate from the list at least once a week (sometimes more often).
After a rather boozy, pub-meal weekend in London last weekend, I came home this week hankering for salads and vege and lean proteins and generally just healthy food. As such, following on from last night's delicious Thai salad meal, tonight's dinner was meant to be homemade felafel in homemade pita with various salad and hummus and tzatziki - healthy but also delicious and one of my favourite meals. Yesterday, however, I was watching an episode of my favourite TV show (Gilmore Girls - a dreadful show to watch if you are ever attempting to eat in a vaguely health-conscious way, as the Girls are constantly eating pizza, crisps, candy, Chinese takeout, burgers, more candy, fries, more burgers and more pizza) and I got a sudden, irrepressible urge for pizza. Despite the fact that pizza isn't quite the health-food that felafel and salad are, it's actually quite a good idea for today because I'm desperately trying to finish a lengthy job application and won't have time to make pita and the host of other things that would normally go with that meal.
So, tonight I will be deviating from the pita/felafel plan, and will make pizzas instead (using the recipe I listed earlier for pizza bases). But I can't decide what to have on my pizza. Typically my favourite is field mushrooms that I've sliced and sauteed with some garlic and thyme before throwing them carelessly onto the awaiting base (sometimes with a scattering of spicy pepperoni as well), and while that does sound good, today I'm open to suggestion. Give me a little inspiration...what's your favourite pizza topping???
Thursday 28 May 2009
Wednesday 27 May 2009
Amazing Thai Salad
Of all the foods I love (and there are many) the Thai cuisine definitely ranks at the top. Many of my most memorable meals were had in tiny restaurants in Bangkok, including this amazing barbecue place, and the most wonderful Penang curry (yes I know, penang is technically in Malaysia, but you'll find it on menus in Thai restaurants the world over, including Thailand). I also love Thai salads: the combination of flavours and textures - spicy, crunchy, sweet and soft - just make them some of the most satisfying dishes ever. Because I currently live in the back-arse of nowhere and there's no decent Thai food around, I have to make Thai curries and salads at home when I crave them. For the curry, kaffir lime leaves are absolutely indispensable (seriously the difference between home-made tasting curry, and vaguely authentic tasting curry), and for the salad, this recipe is a must. I tend to make it as a Thai beef salad, and I also usually add cold rice noodles to make it a bit more substantial, but it's equally good just as a plain 'ol vegetarian salad (actually it's also great if you happen to have some of those mini vegetarian spring rolls in the freezer - cook a few, chop them into pieces and serve them on top for more crunch and substance).
If you're using beef, marinate it in some soy and oil first, then fry or bbq until medium, rest for 5 mins, then slice. Toss it in some of the dressing before draping the pieces all over your salad and pouring the rest of the dressing over.
For the salad base and dressing, here's the recipe...
Salad Ingredients:
Lettuce leaves (a mixture - I like baby spinach but you also must have iceberg for a good crunch)
chopped spring onions
chopped cucumber
mung bean sprouts (optional)
cherry tomatoes (optional)
perfectly ripe avocado, chopped
handful of cashew nuts for some crunch (esp. good/impt if this is being served vegetarian)
fresh coriander
fresh chillies (optional)
Dressing Ingredients:
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
about 3 cm lemon grass stalk, sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
fresh chillies, sliced (to taste)
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 spring onion, chopped
Put garlic and lemon grass in blender/food processor and chop very finely. Add next 6 ingredients and process again. Add herbs and process until they are roughly chopped. Taste and see if you like the balance of flavours - add more salt if you like.
Arrange salad on individual plates and drizzle dressing over. As I said above, it's great with cold rice noodles, or even with steamed jasmine rice on the side, or just as it is. You will love it, I promise!
And that's what's for dinner here tonight!
If you're using beef, marinate it in some soy and oil first, then fry or bbq until medium, rest for 5 mins, then slice. Toss it in some of the dressing before draping the pieces all over your salad and pouring the rest of the dressing over.
For the salad base and dressing, here's the recipe...
Salad Ingredients:
Lettuce leaves (a mixture - I like baby spinach but you also must have iceberg for a good crunch)
chopped spring onions
chopped cucumber
mung bean sprouts (optional)
cherry tomatoes (optional)
perfectly ripe avocado, chopped
handful of cashew nuts for some crunch (esp. good/impt if this is being served vegetarian)
fresh coriander
fresh chillies (optional)
Dressing Ingredients:
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
about 3 cm lemon grass stalk, sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
fresh chillies, sliced (to taste)
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 spring onion, chopped
Put garlic and lemon grass in blender/food processor and chop very finely. Add next 6 ingredients and process again. Add herbs and process until they are roughly chopped. Taste and see if you like the balance of flavours - add more salt if you like.
Arrange salad on individual plates and drizzle dressing over. As I said above, it's great with cold rice noodles, or even with steamed jasmine rice on the side, or just as it is. You will love it, I promise!
And that's what's for dinner here tonight!
Sunday 17 May 2009
A Kidnapped Kitchen
Sunday is usually the day that I bake and do various other food preparations for the forthcoming week, but today my kitchen has been taken over by engines and gear-boxes and various oil-stained rags, so I'm steering well clear. My partner and I are currently living in a one-bedroom flat which is lovely, though slightly small and it lacks one key thing - a garage. The lad likes to restore classic vehicles in his spare time (well, I say enjoy - and I suppose he must because surely he wouldn't persist if he didn't - but the number of profanities and general mutterings and aggressive crashes of metal on metal would seem to anyone else to be a sign that he didn't really enjoy it. I've learnt to just ignore it and consider it all par for the course - if he was really as miserable as he often sounds to me then he wouldn't keep at it. And it all tends to turn out ok in the end. But I digress...) and as we currently don't have a garage, and it isn't warm enough outdoors to work out there, we are sort of sharing the kitchen. I'm vaguely used to this, since on more than one occasion (in flats where we did have a garage) I've come home to find bearings in my freezer and engine or gear box casings in my oven...some would find that odd, I'm sure, but I'm a fairly flexible sort. Anyway, today seems to be a big day of gear-box reconstruction, so, as I said, I'm not spending any time in the kitchen. But I thought I'd post a recipe that I'm using for dinner tonight. It's a super handy recipe that the original* calls a 'cobbler' topping. To me a cobbler is sweet and often made with peaches, and this is its savoury counterpart I suppose. It's a bit of a cross between pastry and bread that you can use to put on top of any stew/casserole you like. Tonight I'm putting it on top of the left-over beef and ale casserole that is in the fridge, but it goes wonderfully on chicken casserole, chilli mixtures and I'm sure it would be great on any sort of tomatoey, vege stew too (if you're vegetarian). You can change the herbs to suit the filling, or leave it completely plain if you prefer. It's infinitely simpler than pastry, more filling, lower in fat and will (oddly, I think, given its simplicity) bring you the same praise that making home-made pastry tends to. Give it a go next time you have left-overs you're not sure what to do with.
Cobblerish Topping
1 1/4 cups flour
1 rounded tsp baking powder
75g butter
pinch of herbs or 1/2 cup grated cheese
cold water, to mix
Sift dry ingredients together. Rub in butter (you could grate it in if you didn't fancy rubbing it). Add herbs/cheese and enough cold water to form a soft dough (rather like scone dough). Roll it out to fit the dish your casserole mixture is in. Place over filling and score a couple of times in the top. Bake at 200deg (C) for 15-20 mins or until topping is risen and lightly golden, and the filling is piping hot.
NB. The raw dough freezes well, if you're super organised and fancy having pre-made pies in the freezer.
*thanks to Destitute Gourmet from whom I have appropriated the recipe.
Cobblerish Topping
1 1/4 cups flour
1 rounded tsp baking powder
75g butter
pinch of herbs or 1/2 cup grated cheese
cold water, to mix
Sift dry ingredients together. Rub in butter (you could grate it in if you didn't fancy rubbing it). Add herbs/cheese and enough cold water to form a soft dough (rather like scone dough). Roll it out to fit the dish your casserole mixture is in. Place over filling and score a couple of times in the top. Bake at 200deg (C) for 15-20 mins or until topping is risen and lightly golden, and the filling is piping hot.
NB. The raw dough freezes well, if you're super organised and fancy having pre-made pies in the freezer.
*thanks to Destitute Gourmet from whom I have appropriated the recipe.
Friday 15 May 2009
Cookie Monster Delights...
Today is a cold, rainy day and just perfect for hunkering down in the kitchen and making delicious treats like cookies. I'm a fickle creature - I don't actually like baked goods all that much...I'm not someone who generally craves biscuits and cakes and I can certainly resist them if they are in the house. But I am someone who is highly suggestible and I tend to be easily influenced by what I see on TV - the pretzel situation probably hinted as much. So, the cookie obsession that I have also derives from American TV shows. In NZ - and the UK for that matter - we don't really have cookies so much as biscuits. Biscuits are quite a different creature - they tend to be crispy and dry whereas cookies are often chewy, dense and much softer. In our house, cookies meet with much higher approval than biscuits tend to, and to be honest I love the idea of chewy chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven (as seen on TV, if you will).
I have one recipe which I tend to make when trying to achieve such a cookie, but it's not quite perfect - they are chewy-ish, but rather thin and often quite crispy. Yesterday I spent several hours searching through the seemingly infinite number of chocolate chip cookie recipes that are on the internet, and those which described themselves as chewy cookies all had one thing in common - they start with melted butter rather than creaming softened butter with sugar. This seems to be the key to the dense texture that I was after - think of brownies...they start with melted butter too and they're always chewy and delish. Anyway, there were several similar variations on this recipe, which I'm told derives from the American Test Kitchen (must acknowledge their efforts - it's a great recipe!) and it's so yummy that I just had to share it! They're certainly not a health-food with all that butter, sugar and chocolate, but frankly who cares?! You have to have indulgences in life...
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups plus 2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 tsp salt (actually the recipe calls for added salt and the use of unsalted butter...I only ever buy salted butter, so I just left out the salt and used my normal butter...you can choose whatever method you prefer!)
170g butter, melted and set aside to cool (see above for the salted/unsalted debate)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips/chunks
- Line baking sheets with baking paper and preheat oven to 165deg (C).
- Beat butter and sugars together thoroughly. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Sift in mixed flour and bicarb and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate.
- Here several of the original recipes called for a bizarre shaping ritual of scooping balls of dough, splitting them in half then inverting them back onto each other. That all seems insanely complicated, so I just scooped very large dessert-spoonfuls onto the trays. Eye-ball about 1/4 cup of dough per cookie, and don't flatten them out. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie as they flatten/spread in the oven.
- Bake 15-17 mins or until the edges are lightly browned. To get the soft, chewy quality, you can't overcook these - the centres should still be soft when they are removed from the oven.
- Leave to cool on the trays not on a rack - this is the final step which ensures the soft texture.
These are large, gorgeous and completely irresistible. They're best eaten slightly warm, although they do keep a day or two...if they last that long!
The Finished Product...
You can almost sense how good they smelt fresh out of the oven...
I have one recipe which I tend to make when trying to achieve such a cookie, but it's not quite perfect - they are chewy-ish, but rather thin and often quite crispy. Yesterday I spent several hours searching through the seemingly infinite number of chocolate chip cookie recipes that are on the internet, and those which described themselves as chewy cookies all had one thing in common - they start with melted butter rather than creaming softened butter with sugar. This seems to be the key to the dense texture that I was after - think of brownies...they start with melted butter too and they're always chewy and delish. Anyway, there were several similar variations on this recipe, which I'm told derives from the American Test Kitchen (must acknowledge their efforts - it's a great recipe!) and it's so yummy that I just had to share it! They're certainly not a health-food with all that butter, sugar and chocolate, but frankly who cares?! You have to have indulgences in life...
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups plus 2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 tsp salt (actually the recipe calls for added salt and the use of unsalted butter...I only ever buy salted butter, so I just left out the salt and used my normal butter...you can choose whatever method you prefer!)
170g butter, melted and set aside to cool (see above for the salted/unsalted debate)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips/chunks
- Line baking sheets with baking paper and preheat oven to 165deg (C).
- Beat butter and sugars together thoroughly. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Sift in mixed flour and bicarb and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate.
- Here several of the original recipes called for a bizarre shaping ritual of scooping balls of dough, splitting them in half then inverting them back onto each other. That all seems insanely complicated, so I just scooped very large dessert-spoonfuls onto the trays. Eye-ball about 1/4 cup of dough per cookie, and don't flatten them out. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie as they flatten/spread in the oven.
- Bake 15-17 mins or until the edges are lightly browned. To get the soft, chewy quality, you can't overcook these - the centres should still be soft when they are removed from the oven.
- Leave to cool on the trays not on a rack - this is the final step which ensures the soft texture.
These are large, gorgeous and completely irresistible. They're best eaten slightly warm, although they do keep a day or two...if they last that long!
The Finished Product...
You can almost sense how good they smelt fresh out of the oven...
Thursday 14 May 2009
Great intentions
I meant to bake cookies today, but didn't quite get there (I ate too many peanut M&Ms instead!) But I have been surfing the net trying to find the best possible recipe for chocolate chip cookies - I've found a couple which look promising and will make 'em tomorrow...
Wednesday 13 May 2009
Rant #2
Bloody substandard products!!! Seriously, nothing bugs me more than when you inadvertantly buy produce or food products which turn out to be utter crap. Tonight's dinner was meant to be braised oriental chicken legs served with stirfry vege and noodles. Said noodles were Sharwood's 'fresh' (ie. vacuum packed) egg noodles and the fucking things were shite. 'Scuse the language, but honestly!?! The damned things were just a giant solid squished up square of 'fresh' noodles and no amount of soaking in water or gently trying to pry them apart would result in anything other than tiny schmooched up pieces of noodle. They were ridiculous and inedible and caused me to have to cook emergency rice instead...which meant dinner was much later than I wanted and I was fair starved by the time it was ready. Grrrr! Why would anyone want to buy noodles that turn to schmooch when you try to eat them???
Bah humbug. Here endeth Rant No. 2.
Bah humbug. Here endeth Rant No. 2.
Monday 11 May 2009
The first rant, mostly just because I'm cranky!
I'm in a bad mood this morning, because I've been training for this 5km charity run (the first run I've ever decided to do...) I don't traditionally run, ever. Never, in fact, so it's been an effort, although it's an effort I've actually been enjoying. Unfortunately I've pushed myself too hard and am now on 2 days rest, dammit. I strained my ankles and can barely walk, let alone run. Very damned annoying given how much work I've been putting in...and no one to blame but myself. Grrrr! Anyway, all of this has put me in a cranky and irritated mood this fine Monday morning, and I fancied having a rant!! Maybe it'll be cathartic!
So, I have any number of pet peeves when it comes to food and food-related things, and I tend to get on my high-horse pretty easily, I must say. But one thing that really pisses me off is the total lack of ownership people take for their food choices. What in the name of hell is the deal with all this premade, ready-meal bollocks?? Have you seen the rows and rows of ready-made food in the chiller sections of the supermarket?? It terrifies me. I remember reading somewhere that people in 'Western' societies (basically America, the UK and similar) spend the least amount of time and money on food than any other generation. Why do people place so little value on good food??? And why the hell are they so lazy?? I'm sorry, I know people are busy and whatever, but it's just laziness not to at least occasionally make your own food!!! The excuses tend to be that people don't have the time to prepare food themselves (bollocks) and that making food from scratch is harder and more expensive than pre-made stuff(also bollocks). Let's take the example of pre-made frozen pizzas. Actually, the hell with that, let's take the example of frozen pizza bases. You know the kind - pre-made, sometimes pre-sauced bases that presumably people then put their own cheese and toppings on. You're practically cooking already here people, why not just go one tiny step further and make the base yourself?? For god-knows what reason, people think it's some sort of voodoo to be able to make something like a pizza base. In actual fact, with the right recipe and a little bit of practice, you can make 2 homemade family pizzas and have them ready to eat within about half an hour of starting. And if you happened to be super organised, you could even make a couple of bases ahead of time and put them in the freezer so that you have your own 'ready-made' pizzas for next time. The benefit of making them yourself is that for starters, you actually know exactly what is in your food and I think this is just so important!! In pre-bought pizza bases, you've got no idea what the hell kinds of crazy preservatives and additives the manufacturers have thrown into what should be a simple food. But more importantly - especially in these current times of financial challenge - making food yourself is just so much cheaper. Seriously - the recipe below makes 2 large pizza bases for less than a pound (or less than a couple of dollars). I know that I'm pretty time rich at the moment (which could be fortunate, or unfortunate, depending on how much you value having a job!!) but even when I was working full time I still made things like this all the time. In fact, I once went through a phase when I was making not only the pizza bases and tomato sauce from scratch but even the mozzarella (!) I do realise that making fresh cheese will sound entirely like voodoo to most people (it's not at all, but I can recognise it might sound scary), and I'm definitely not advocating that most people do this, but how can people care so little about their own health, financial well-being and frankly their own food enjoyment that they won't even give making home made pizzas a go???? Grrr! The very best thing about the below recipe though, aside from price and the ownership it gives you over such a basic food, is the fact that it tastes infinitely better than any premade cardboardy crap that you'll get from a supermarket freezer section. And eating good food has to surely count for a lot?? Isn't good food worth investing a little bit of time and effort for?? I think so. Hopefully you will too!
Quick Homemade Pizzas
3-3 1/2 cups flour (strong or plain are both fine)
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
In a small bowl, mix water and sugar together. Then sprinkle over yeast, drizzle oil and leave to stand for 5 mins. In a large bowl, mix flour, b.powder and salt together. Make a well in the middle, pour in the yeast mixture, stir to combine then turn the dough onto a lightly floured bench and knead quickly for 2-3 mins. The dough is now ready to be used, although you can leave it for 5-10 mins if you have time. I tend to make it then leave it to rest/prove briefly while I prepare the toppings.
Divide dough into 2 pieces (or more if you want smaller mini pizzas. I think you'll feed 3 adults quite happily with this amount of dough) shape into a pizza circle as large or thick as you like. Place on a greased or baking-paper lined baking tray, top with tomato sauce/puree, cheese and toppings and then bake in a hot oven (preheat to 230deg) for about 15 mins or until cooked.
(you can freeze the bases uncooked and then just take them out of the freezer while your oven is preheating next time you want them).
So, I have any number of pet peeves when it comes to food and food-related things, and I tend to get on my high-horse pretty easily, I must say. But one thing that really pisses me off is the total lack of ownership people take for their food choices. What in the name of hell is the deal with all this premade, ready-meal bollocks?? Have you seen the rows and rows of ready-made food in the chiller sections of the supermarket?? It terrifies me. I remember reading somewhere that people in 'Western' societies (basically America, the UK and similar) spend the least amount of time and money on food than any other generation. Why do people place so little value on good food??? And why the hell are they so lazy?? I'm sorry, I know people are busy and whatever, but it's just laziness not to at least occasionally make your own food!!! The excuses tend to be that people don't have the time to prepare food themselves (bollocks) and that making food from scratch is harder and more expensive than pre-made stuff(also bollocks). Let's take the example of pre-made frozen pizzas. Actually, the hell with that, let's take the example of frozen pizza bases. You know the kind - pre-made, sometimes pre-sauced bases that presumably people then put their own cheese and toppings on. You're practically cooking already here people, why not just go one tiny step further and make the base yourself?? For god-knows what reason, people think it's some sort of voodoo to be able to make something like a pizza base. In actual fact, with the right recipe and a little bit of practice, you can make 2 homemade family pizzas and have them ready to eat within about half an hour of starting. And if you happened to be super organised, you could even make a couple of bases ahead of time and put them in the freezer so that you have your own 'ready-made' pizzas for next time. The benefit of making them yourself is that for starters, you actually know exactly what is in your food and I think this is just so important!! In pre-bought pizza bases, you've got no idea what the hell kinds of crazy preservatives and additives the manufacturers have thrown into what should be a simple food. But more importantly - especially in these current times of financial challenge - making food yourself is just so much cheaper. Seriously - the recipe below makes 2 large pizza bases for less than a pound (or less than a couple of dollars). I know that I'm pretty time rich at the moment (which could be fortunate, or unfortunate, depending on how much you value having a job!!) but even when I was working full time I still made things like this all the time. In fact, I once went through a phase when I was making not only the pizza bases and tomato sauce from scratch but even the mozzarella (!) I do realise that making fresh cheese will sound entirely like voodoo to most people (it's not at all, but I can recognise it might sound scary), and I'm definitely not advocating that most people do this, but how can people care so little about their own health, financial well-being and frankly their own food enjoyment that they won't even give making home made pizzas a go???? Grrr! The very best thing about the below recipe though, aside from price and the ownership it gives you over such a basic food, is the fact that it tastes infinitely better than any premade cardboardy crap that you'll get from a supermarket freezer section. And eating good food has to surely count for a lot?? Isn't good food worth investing a little bit of time and effort for?? I think so. Hopefully you will too!
Quick Homemade Pizzas
3-3 1/2 cups flour (strong or plain are both fine)
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
In a small bowl, mix water and sugar together. Then sprinkle over yeast, drizzle oil and leave to stand for 5 mins. In a large bowl, mix flour, b.powder and salt together. Make a well in the middle, pour in the yeast mixture, stir to combine then turn the dough onto a lightly floured bench and knead quickly for 2-3 mins. The dough is now ready to be used, although you can leave it for 5-10 mins if you have time. I tend to make it then leave it to rest/prove briefly while I prepare the toppings.
Divide dough into 2 pieces (or more if you want smaller mini pizzas. I think you'll feed 3 adults quite happily with this amount of dough) shape into a pizza circle as large or thick as you like. Place on a greased or baking-paper lined baking tray, top with tomato sauce/puree, cheese and toppings and then bake in a hot oven (preheat to 230deg) for about 15 mins or until cooked.
(you can freeze the bases uncooked and then just take them out of the freezer while your oven is preheating next time you want them).
Saturday 9 May 2009
A penchant for pretzels
I love pretzels. New York style, soft, chewy pretzels. It's a rather strange love, since I've never been to New York, and nor have I ever had a proper American soft pretzel, bought from a street vendor. I think the obsession derives from my equally strong obsession with American TV shows set in NYC...Friends and Sex and the City being two of my favs. In New Zealand, I've never seen anyone selling soft pretzels, and so to satisfy the obsession I was forced to make them myself. The same seems to hold in the UK (well, I'm sure somewhere in London you can buy a pretzel, but up here in grand 'ol Darlington, there's not a pretzel to be seen). I tried several different recipes before deciding that I liked this one the best - the pretzels are chewy, slightly sweet and have that great salty pretzel shell that I assume (from the looks of the ones on TV!!) pretzels are meant to have. They are wonderful straight out of the oven, get chewier over the next couple of days (actually, to be honest, they are really best eaten within a day of making. After that the salt on them tends to liquefy and the dough really requires a considerable chewing effort to get through...not that this has stopped me from munching through them of course!) and they are also great with mustard to dip them in and a cold beer alongside! This time I topped some of them with sesame seeds and poppy seeds as well as the mandatory sea salt, but this is mostly decorative - they don't need it for flavour. Anyway, here's the recipe - I hope you think about trying them one lazy weekend!
What-I-Imagine-Are-New-York-Style-Soft-Pretzels
3-3 1/2 cups strong flour
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp yeast
1 cup warm water
+ bicarb of soda, egg (beaten for egg wash), and plenty of rock or sea salt
In a large bowl, mix water and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Add salt and then yeast and stir gently. Add flour - enough to make a fairly stiff dough. Knead as best you can (I've found the dough to be fairly tough and difficult to knead sometimes - just bash it about as much as you can. The key thing here is really to make sure all the flour is thoroughly combined and it resembles bread dough as much as possible). Return to bowl, cover and leave to rise. (I've found this dough is actually pretty slow to rise - probably because it's so dense. This time I mixed the dough and then left it to rise overnight in the fridge which worked out pretty well. You don't have to do this, of course, but just bear in mind that the dough will take at least 2 hours in a warm place to rise otherwise).
Knock dough back, then divide dough into as many pieces as you want pretzels. I got 15 small pretzels out of this bunch, but the smaller the number you have, the larger the pretzels...you get the picture.
Roll each piece of dough out into a long thin snake-like shape (about 30 cm I guess, but I didn't measure), then twist into the pretzel shape. I can't really think how to describe this, so I've taken some pics to help out (below). Set each shaped pretzel to rest on a floured bench. (don't use too much flour while you are rolling out the pretzels because then you won't get them to stick to themselves when you shape them).
Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, add the bicarb of soda and then gently put a pretzel in and allow it to simmer for about 2 mins on each side. This is what gives pretzels their distinct taste (or so I've read!) and it helps make them chewy, like bagels.
Place pretzels on baking tray, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with salt.
Bake at 225deg (C) for about 10-15 mins or until golden brown.
Enjoy!!
Rolled out snake of pretzel dough...
Starting to shape them
Twisting...
Et voila...
Simmering the raw pretzels...
Shaped, boiled, egg-washed, salted and ready for baking
Golden and delicous! Just try to resist them!
What-I-Imagine-Are-New-York-Style-Soft-Pretzels
3-3 1/2 cups strong flour
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp yeast
1 cup warm water
+ bicarb of soda, egg (beaten for egg wash), and plenty of rock or sea salt
In a large bowl, mix water and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Add salt and then yeast and stir gently. Add flour - enough to make a fairly stiff dough. Knead as best you can (I've found the dough to be fairly tough and difficult to knead sometimes - just bash it about as much as you can. The key thing here is really to make sure all the flour is thoroughly combined and it resembles bread dough as much as possible). Return to bowl, cover and leave to rise. (I've found this dough is actually pretty slow to rise - probably because it's so dense. This time I mixed the dough and then left it to rise overnight in the fridge which worked out pretty well. You don't have to do this, of course, but just bear in mind that the dough will take at least 2 hours in a warm place to rise otherwise).
Knock dough back, then divide dough into as many pieces as you want pretzels. I got 15 small pretzels out of this bunch, but the smaller the number you have, the larger the pretzels...you get the picture.
Roll each piece of dough out into a long thin snake-like shape (about 30 cm I guess, but I didn't measure), then twist into the pretzel shape. I can't really think how to describe this, so I've taken some pics to help out (below). Set each shaped pretzel to rest on a floured bench. (don't use too much flour while you are rolling out the pretzels because then you won't get them to stick to themselves when you shape them).
Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, add the bicarb of soda and then gently put a pretzel in and allow it to simmer for about 2 mins on each side. This is what gives pretzels their distinct taste (or so I've read!) and it helps make them chewy, like bagels.
Place pretzels on baking tray, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with salt.
Bake at 225deg (C) for about 10-15 mins or until golden brown.
Enjoy!!
Rolled out snake of pretzel dough...
Starting to shape them
Twisting...
Et voila...
Simmering the raw pretzels...
Shaped, boiled, egg-washed, salted and ready for baking
Golden and delicous! Just try to resist them!
Friday 8 May 2009
Lazy noodley perfection
Today's lunch is my favourite midday feast of the moment and it's a real temple food (in the tradition of Nigella Lawson's 'my body is a temple' food). This lunch is nourishing and sustaining and leaves me with a distinct glow of warmth and health! It's also delicious, so how can you lose?!
It's basically a bastardised tom yum soup, I suppose. I start by gently frying some garlic, spring onion and ginger in oil, then adding a teaspoon or more of red curry paste (I've not tried it with other pastes but I'm pretty sure they would work too) I then add some chicken or vege stock, bring it to a boil, chuck in some rice noodles (or egg or soba even if you didn't have rice) and various vege. The beauty of this dish is that you can add whatever you have in the fridge. Mushrooms are great; baby corn and mangetout and courgette are what I had today, but broccoli and frozen vege also work. If you have beansprouts, they are grand thrown in at the end, and nuts (especially cashews) are also fab. Anything really! Then add a splash of fish sauce and some brown sugar and you're good. Coriander on top completes it, but it's still excellent without. This whole business takes about 5-10 mins (5 if you're like me and too lazy to be bothered cutting the vege and instead just sort of rip it up as you throw it into the spicy simmering broth!).
The soup is beautiful with this gorgeous oily chilly haze floating on top and noodles swirling around under that and it smells irresistable. More importantly, it's delicious and makes you feel incredibly virtuous - like you've eaten something truly healthy, but it's also just so comforting. Basically it's perfection in a large noodle bowl, at least as far as I'm concerned!
(Not really a recipe, I know, and it's also not exactly revolutionary, but it's just so damn good that it had to be shared!)
It's basically a bastardised tom yum soup, I suppose. I start by gently frying some garlic, spring onion and ginger in oil, then adding a teaspoon or more of red curry paste (I've not tried it with other pastes but I'm pretty sure they would work too) I then add some chicken or vege stock, bring it to a boil, chuck in some rice noodles (or egg or soba even if you didn't have rice) and various vege. The beauty of this dish is that you can add whatever you have in the fridge. Mushrooms are great; baby corn and mangetout and courgette are what I had today, but broccoli and frozen vege also work. If you have beansprouts, they are grand thrown in at the end, and nuts (especially cashews) are also fab. Anything really! Then add a splash of fish sauce and some brown sugar and you're good. Coriander on top completes it, but it's still excellent without. This whole business takes about 5-10 mins (5 if you're like me and too lazy to be bothered cutting the vege and instead just sort of rip it up as you throw it into the spicy simmering broth!).
The soup is beautiful with this gorgeous oily chilly haze floating on top and noodles swirling around under that and it smells irresistable. More importantly, it's delicious and makes you feel incredibly virtuous - like you've eaten something truly healthy, but it's also just so comforting. Basically it's perfection in a large noodle bowl, at least as far as I'm concerned!
(Not really a recipe, I know, and it's also not exactly revolutionary, but it's just so damn good that it had to be shared!)
Thursday 7 May 2009
Jumping on the elderflower bandwagon
Naturally the day I decide to start my blog is a really boring food day here (I'm only making dull old stir-fry for dinner, and there's really not much to be said about that sorry!) but I wanted to just mention my newest favourite thing...elderflower cordial! Now, I realise most people have probably tried this and that I'm likely very belated in jumping on this bandwagon (no doubt it was the 'it' foodie beverage a while back or something) but who cares? I tried it for the first time at this local food festival last weekend and wow! It's so good! How have I lived this long without knowing about it?! It's fruity and flowery and light and refreshing - great stuff really. My mum is now at me to go foraging in the local countryside for wild elderflowers so that I can make my own cordial. Now, I'm not much for the foraging, it has to be said, but a drink this good might just convince me!
Also, if anyone from NZ reads this blog (assuming that anyone reads this blog full stop that is!), I'd be interested to know if they've tried elderflower cordial, and whether or not they think it bears a resemblance that world-famous-in-NZ bevvie, L&P?? I reckon it could be the secret ingredient - there is just something very L&P-ish about it.
Step 1: Create blog...
...and Step 2 presumably requires me to actually start writing (or blogging as I guess it's called)! Right then, here goes! Welcome to my blog, and thanks for visiting! I've noticed lately that I have been swapping recipes and kitchen tips with friends pretty frequently, so I thought it would be a good idea to perhaps create a place where we could share these things more easily. I feel like I can quite happily talk or write about food and recipes and meals for hours and frankly I love doing that! I hope this blog will bring together other people who like rambling endlessly about the delicious pasta they made for dinner last night, or their perfect loaf of bread that seemed almost too pretty to cut into (and yet smelled too good not to!) Also, I'm basically home all the damn time at the moment (but more about that another time!) and so needed an outlet for all my usual ranting and mindless chattering (I would get a cat to vent to, but fear that leads me down the path of becoming crazy cat lady, and while I'm ok with the crazy part, I think I'm still too young to really embrace the cats-are-people-too path!!).
So there you are! I'm going try to put up either a recipe or food thought or some-such most days (although I should warn you that follow-through and procrastination do tend to be my downfalls, so no yelling if I miss a day!), and let's just see how it goes from there!
So there you are! I'm going try to put up either a recipe or food thought or some-such most days (although I should warn you that follow-through and procrastination do tend to be my downfalls, so no yelling if I miss a day!), and let's just see how it goes from there!
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