BROWNIES 20 AND A REVIEW.

I have mentioned Lilly Higgins new book Make Bake Love on a recent post and promised to do a review - over at her blog Stuff I Make, Bake, Love Lilly was saying that her book is sold out on Amazon, I'm not at all surprised!  It is an excellent book, packed full of doable (is that a word??) delicious recipes - with a few aspirational ones in there for good measure. I was absolutely delighted to recieve a review copy.  The photography is wonderful, you just want to reach in and grab a bite, there is an excellent balance of  unusual flavours (Plum and Cardamom Cupcakes -delicious!)  and old favourites.  The recipes seem to be well tested (I'm pretty sure I read that Lilly worked as an instructor at Ballymaloe Cookery School) and thought out. 

I think that you can often judge a baking book by it's bread section and having made most of the breads from this book (I left out a couple of the yeast ones!!) I have to say that it really stands up - the Health Loaf being a particular favourite here.  If I have any criticism of the book, and it is very slight, it is that there are a couple of recipes in there that are just variations of a previous recipe - the Blueberry muffins are very like the Red Berry and White Chocolate Muffins, but that really is nitpicking.  All in all, I loved this book (I really enjoy when fellow bloggers make the step over to writing cookery books successfully) and I can't wait for her next one!


I've been having a great time over the past couple of weeks baking up a storm trying out loads of the recipes, one has already become a firm family favourite and I've made it several times!

These are the Rum and Raisin Cupcakes - totally addictive!  I have a confession to make here - the deliciousness of these cupcakes might be helped by the fact that I used raisins that have been soaking in rum for 2 years - yes, you did read that correctly!!!  I bought a bottle of dark rum especially to make Rum Raisin ice cream, left the raisins to soak in the rum in a big jar, and promptly forgot all about them - for two years!  I recommend you do the same!

Even as a non-lover of dried fruit, I'm a huge fan of these cupcakes - I very generously give my raisins away (!) but the sponge retains the sweet, mellow flavour from the fruit.

Health Loaf - it's great to feel virtuous eating bread this delicious!

The Spiced Sultana Bread was a doddle to throw together, and scored really high on the taste to effort ratio!

I played around with Lilly's Honey Oat Bread, and used bicarbonate of soda as a raising agent instead of yeast (how lazy am I??).  Tasted great though!

I'm going to have to try the Seed Loaf again, as I don't think I did the recipe justice - the yeast thing is still my problem area!!!

I have blogged about the Blueberry (Blackberry) Muffins here. 

Rocky Road Brownies - oh my!!!  Scrumptious stuff!!

Plum and Cardamom Cupcakes had to be at the top of the "to try" list - I just love anything containing cardamom!  I tried making these as Lilly did with the plums just halved, but found them to have a better texture when I chopped up the fruit.

I added some chocolate chips to Lilly's Hazelnut Shortbread and they were devoured in no time!

From all the recipes I have tried I most want to share the Rocky Road Brownie one - I have been neglecting my brownie section of late, and these belong well up on the list!  Lilly says that you have to have both pink and white marshmallows in a Rocky Road - I beg to disagree!!!!!

Rocky Road Brownies

adapted from Lilly Higgins, Make Bake Love

For the Brownies

200g           dark chocolate (I used 50%)

250g           icing sugar, sieved*

200g           softened butter

3                 eggs

110g           plain flour

For the Topping

200g            chocolate, chopped - just use your favourite

100g            toasted nuts - I used hazelnuts and almonds

70g              digestive biscuits**, broken up

80g              marshmallows

Preheat oven to 170 C

Line a 23cm x 33cm baking pan with parchment paper.

For the Brownies

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a bowl over simmering water.

Beat the icing sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. (* I think that the icing sugar is too messy to work with - flies all over the place if you are not very careful, so I would use caster sugar in future)

Add the eggs one by one, mixing well between each addition.

Beat in the flour until just combined.

Slowly pour the melted chocolate into this mixture and combine well, without over mixing.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes, but start checking at 20 - over cooked brownies are so disappointing!

For the Topping

Mix the nuts, biscuit rubble(**I used less than Lilly recommended) and marshmallows together, next time I'll add some broken up Maltesers or Chrunchie Bars to the mix.  Keep the chopped chocolate to one side.

When about 5 minutes away from being cooked, remove the brownies from the oven. 

Scatter the biscuit mixture over the brownies, and then scatter the chocolate over this.

Return the brownies to the oven for 3 - 5 minutes, until the chocolate has melted sligthly and melded into the topping ingredients.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Best enjoyed while still slightly warm.....mmmmmmm!

Pop over to The Sporadic Cook, Julie's wonderful blog - you might find it interesting!

MASTERCLASS WITH A MASTER

This year I recieved one of the best and most thoughtful birthday gifts ever from my boys - I have to admit that I might not be the easiest person in the world to buy for!  But this year they excelled themselves - they bought me four masterclasses in Bon Appetit Restaurant with the talented Michelin starred chef Oliver Dunne.   The first of these was titled "Dinner Party Dazzlers", and it was a fantastic evening - full of doable tips and ideas, Oliver's main aim was to teach us that entertaining at home need not be stressful - just about everything can be prepared in advance, he didn't want us slaving away in the kitchen while our guests were enjoying drinks without us!!!

Probably the best part of the evening were the tips and the foodie gossip - I don't think he could be described as his ex-boss Gordon Ramsey's biggest fan!!!!! 

A few of the pointers:

For really excellent balsamic vinegar without the huge price - buy a cheap bottle, reduce it by 3/4 in a large saucepan, and you have deep, sweet, delicious stuff, which makes a perfect dressing combined with olive oil, dijon mustard and salt.  The reduced balsamic vinegar is great for presentation, a few dots on a plate really dresses it up.

Always cut chicken to check if it is done - pressing it will never give a difinitive answer and you are far better off having a little nick in the bird than having poisoned guests!!

Always have your pan good and hot before you add butter/oil.

When melting butter, chop it into small cubes - otherwise the outside will have burned before the center is melted.

Speaking of butter - use about four times more than you usually do to have proper restaurant tasting food!

Use icing sugar when making chantilli cream - much better texture.

Oliver seasons with salt at every step - he said that he rarely uses pepper.

Roasted Quail with Chorizo, Red Onion and Balsamic Dressing







Warm Goats Cheese and Caramelised Shallot Tart

Breast of Chicken, Tart Fine of Onions and Creamed Wild Mushrooms

Smoked Haddock, New Potato, Soft Poached Egg & Mustard Beurre Blanc

Apple Tart Fine with Chantilly Cream & Butterscotch



Hot Chocolate Fondant with Vanilla Cream



The kitchen prepared samples of most of the dishes Oliver showed us and they tasted just as good as they look!!  I'm really looking forward to the next lesson.

A BIT OF WHAT YOU FANCY!

OK that's enough of all that healthy eating!  Anyway my grandfather always said that "a little of what you fancy does you good"!!

Brownieville Boy #1, had some friends coming over to spend the night and taste the delights of the local night-life, so I reckoned that the food should be good just in case the nightlife wasn't!  What's the first thing you think to bake for four (male) burly college students ...... cupcakes of course!!!!

As you know I have been doing some baking from the gorgeous Eric Lanlard's Home Bake (why do I feel compelled to mention how handsome he is every time I write his name??????), having been lucky enough to have been sent a review copy by the publishers.  I followed his recipe for vanilla cupcakes, with a cream cheese vanilla icing - and they didn't offend any macho sensibilities!!!!!

I also made the chocolate cheesecake - changing some of the cheeses (using up all those  pre-Christmas purchases!), this was truly a revelation - probably one of the best desserts that have come out of my kitchen!  It would have been perfection served with  a raspberry coulis and some Barbados Cream or ice-cream.

Here is a rundown of some of the other delights from the book!

This is the Apple Crumble Sponge - perfect when you don't want something too elaborate.  I served this with three other desserts - perfect for the non-chocoholics amongst us. (not me obviously!!)

The vanilla cupcakes were well received, although I didn't think they were quite as good as the Hummingbird ones.

These Blondies with Peanut Butter were delicious, this is all that was left after I left them out to cool and then popped out to the shops for some milk!

Wholemeal courgette and seed muffins - despite overcooking these dreadfully (it's your fault - I lost track of time reading everyone's blogs!!) these were tasty, and would be perfect for a virtuous lunch time treat.

These are the Double Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins (I can't find any photos of the finished article - sorry) - bit too sweet for my taste, but this didn't bother Brownieville Boy #2!

Eric's Roasted Banana Muffins were out of this world - so intensely Bananay (!)  Roasting the bananas added a real depth of flavour.



The Chocolate and Orange Chocolate Cake was well received, although didn't reach the dizzy heights of praise that Nigella's did!!

I have blogged about these addictive Malteser Squares before - I'm just glad that there are none of these beauties in the house now as they would spell the death knell for any healthy eating aspirations!!!

The cheesecake was delicious rich and chocolaty without being excessively sweet.  I have to 'fess up I only had a small portion - honestly!

Chocolate Cheesecake

adapted from Eirc Lanlard's Home Bake

Base

125g/4.5oz         melted butter

250g/9oz            chocolate bourbon biscuits (chocolate digestives will work too)

Filling

100g                  medium fat cream cheese

250g                  mascarpone cheese

250g                  ricotta cheese

75g                    golden caster sugar

3                        large eggs

40g                    coco powder, sifted

100g                  good quality dark chocolate melted

Preheat oven to 180 C

Prepare a 20cm/8" springform cake tin by greasing with butter and lining the bottom with parchment paper.

Prepare the base by crushing the biscuits and adding the melted butter.

Press evenly into the prepared tin.

Refrigerate for a half an hour.

Prepare the filling by placing the cheeses and sugar into a food processor, blend until smooth.

Add the eggs and give mixture a whizz.

Next add the cocoa and blend again.

Finally add the melted chocolate (which you have allowed to cool a bit) and whizz until fully combined.

Pour the mixture onto the base in the tin.

Smooth the surface and place in the preheated oven - it's really important to place the tin on a baking sheet as there will be leakage!!

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the centre has a slight wobble.

Cool in the turned off oven for 1 hour.

Take out of the oven and cool, then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Enjoy!

HAM FOR THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Jain over at Food For Thought has a wonderful blog with three elements that I love - Food (of course), Books (nearly as good) and Great Photography (and I mean great).  She reviews a book, picking out any foodie vignettes, then she cooks/bakes these dishes and photographs them (often in her magnificent Californian garden).  She has asked her readers to review their favourite Christmas books, and throw a bit of cooking in there too - no better woman!

There are two reasons I am delighted to write this post, firstly just love Alice Taylor's "The Night Before Christmas" and secondly I wanted to introduce any non-Nigella disciples (?!) to her Ham in Cola, which is the nicest way to cook ham ... ever.  I would even be so bold as to recommend it as a way to cook your Christmas Ham.

The Night Before Christmas is a quaint book about a child's Christmas in a backwater* in the south of Ireland in the 1940s.  Alice Taylor remembers with incredible clarity all the details of her childhood Christmases; heading off with her siblings to cut holly to decorate the house, helping her mother pluck the geese for Christmas dinner, hilariously helping a neighbour clean her chimney, waiting for Santy to arrive and the excitement of finding a school bag and a doll on Christmas morning.

Food (obviously) plays a huge part in Alice's Christmas memories - buying muscatel raisins for the Christmas cakes, the excitement of receiving a box of fancy chocolates from a cousin who had returned from abroad for the holidays, goose cooked on the bastable over the fire and of course the ham (which they started eating at breakfast time on Christmas morning)

"When we had the kitchen to ourselves, our first priority was to settle down to attack the big ham in the centre of the table.  This was the ham that had matured up the chimney and hung off the meat hook from the ceiling;  my mother had boiled and baked it in a shroud of breadcrumbs and honey, and now all her loving care paid dividends because it was beautifully moist and tender" 

Moist and tender but not huge!

  I was introduced to this book through my book-club a few years ago, and I now read it every Christmas - it is the most wonderful "get in the Christmas mood" aid ever (along with a carol service or a kiddies Nativity play, tearing up at the thought!!).  When you have spent the day queueing for parking spaces, queueing at shopping tills, queueing, queueing queueing, it is wonderful to come home and escape to a Christmas filled with simple pleasures and NO shopping!!!

*My only issue with the book is that it is set in the 1940s when there was electricity here in Ireland (I have asked someone I know who was a child then about their childhood Christmases, their memories would be of a far more modern type experience, none the less magical for that though!) Alice's memories seem to be of of an older time (there were some far flung pockets around the country that took an age to get "the electric") and are (for the reader anyway) more magical and nostalgic for that.

Now onto the ham, this is a wonderful way to cook it, it has been my method of choice since I bought How To Eat 100 years ago!  I have toyed with other methods over the years but like a faithful Labrador I always return!!!

Ham in Cola

2kg              mild-cure gammon*
2 litre           Coke (minus 2 tbsp for glaze)**
1                  onion
1 or 2           bayleaves (my addition)

100g            fresh breadcrumbs
100g            dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp          mustard powder
2 tbsp          Dijon mustard
2 tbsp          Coke


* You can alter the recipe for smaller joints, less Coke and cooking time.
**The Coke must be full sugar, but can be any cheap brand.

Place the gammon (raw ham), chopped onion, and bay leaves in an appropriately sized pot, cover with the Coke.
Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer.  A 2kg joint needs to be simmered like this for 2 1/2 hours, smaller joints will need less time, but I would err on the side of over rather than undercooking a ham.
Before the ham is finished boiling preheat the oven to 210 C.
Prepare a roasting tin for the ham by lining it with tinfoil (very important if you don't want to spend 3 hours cleaning it afterwards!!)
When ready remove the ham from the pot to the prepared tin and allow to cool slightly (or completely if you want to preprepare the dish to this stage*)
Remove the skin, leaving a layer of fat.
Mix the breadcrumbs, sugar (I used honey this time), and the mustards to a paste, add the Coke a little at a time to bring the paste to a spreadable consistency (you don't want it runny).
Cover the fat side of the ham with the paste (and of course cook it fat side up).
Cook in the hot oven for 10-15 minutes. (I often roast mine at a slightly lower temperature for longer as we like our ham quite dry)
*If you are cooking the ham from cold it will need 30/40 minutes at 180 C.

Enjoy!

ITSA WONDERFUL!

My favourite newspaper of the week is The Irish Times on a Saturday.  I immediately turn to Roisin Ingle's article which is usually amusing and always thought provoking.  Second comes Domini Kemp's "Taste" - excellent recipes with an always interesting introduction, then the book reviews and finally the actual news section!

I read about The Cookbook Club in the Irish Times and filed it away for a time when I was available to go to Dublin on a first Monday of the month - the idea is that you go to a restaurant where the meal has been cooked from a particular cookbook (choices of 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts) and the author will circulate for a chat - fantastic idea (and as it turned out a fantastic evening).

After a couple of months when I would have loved to have attended but couldn't I was able to go this month - Yahoo!!  All the planets were in configuration for this visit (!) as a couple of days after I had booked for the club a review copy of the featured cookbook arrived from the publishers - Yahoo x 100!!

Domini Kemp's (yeah!) Itsa Cookbook, is a well written (very relaxed) book, with fantastic photos by Joanne Murphy (I wish I had 1/80th of her talent!!), the recipes are easy to follow (although tin sizes are left out of some of the baked recipes, which could make timings a bit difficult) and tasty, plenty of everyday ideas with some special occasion ones too.

Now if I were a totally together blogger (person even) I would have taken beautiful photos of the dishes served at the cookbook club - and actually in my imagination I did so, but in reality I forgot to turn the flash on (in a basement restaurant!!!) so the photos leave alot to be desired, and it was such a good idea!  But I can tell you that the food was excellent, the company was fantastic too.  I met an old (obviously not in age Ruth!) school pal, whom I haven't seen in about ten years!, and some new friends too (fellow bloggers from Texas, now living in Dublin), along with the wonderful Amo who came with me, which all added up to one of the best evenings of the year.

I have (of course) also cooked a number of dishes from the book, and they all turned out well, the flourless chocolate cake being a particular favourite.

The crab cakes were delicious and light, they are made with Carr's Water Biscuits (crackers) and tasted light and intensely crabby (if that's a word!).

The Granola Goodness Bars went down well, Brownieville Boy #1, has been taking them to college with him (excellent breakfast on the run!)

Grandmother McGrath's Soda Bread - I was afraid that this bread would be too sweet (there is both honey and brown sugar in the recipe) but it turned out very well - another for the repertoire!

The Rich Flourless Chocolate Cake - need I say more!!

Actually this one deserves a post on it's own, will put it up very soon.

Pea, Mint and Roast Garlic Soup - sent my poor son outside to get this photo!!  But it really was what was needed on that cold, snowy day.  (I left out the cream from this soup, and I think it was excellent without - the roast garlic adds alot to the flavour)

Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Lemon and Hazelnuts - I used tenderstem broccoli for this recipe and it is already a firm favourite.

Irish Rarebit -I haven't had Welsh Rarebit but I think the difference (other than using Irish cheddar) is the brown soda toast!!

Tastes good though.

Coriander Chicken - I marinaded four chicken breasts, then cooked two and put the other two (still in their marinade) in the freezer.  The frozen ones were even better than the fresh when I used them!!









NOW PLEASE SQUINT AND YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO MAKE OUT THE DISHES!!!!

The Crabcakes with lemon and caper salsa were delicious.

The kind gentleman sitting opposite took a photo of his  soup for me, and what's more gave me a taste - excellent.

Even with my low standards the photo of Amo's Buffalo mozzarella, black olive and grape salad isn't worth showing - but it tasted wonderful.

  Sharon who writes Gunternation kindly took a photo of her Blackened  Salmon - she said it was excellent.

My Duck Dal Supper served with moong dal, was probably the dish of the evening - looking forward to trying this soon.

The Pasta Salad with Sage, Sweet Potato and Hulloumi was much appreciated by my veggie friend.

At long last I realized my mistake!!  This is the Ginger and Blackberry Pudding - what an excellent combination.  When I make this (looking forward to blackberry season already!) I will use less sugar and more blackberries

Sharon was again called upon to photograph her meal!!!!

She enjoyed the Fig Tart with Apricot Jam.

These Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes (served with a caramel ice-cream) were very popular.

This Broad Bean Hummus is an excellent standby to have in the fridge at this (or any) time of year - it is good and healthy, with a good flavour kick and a hint of summer!!

I made a half quantity, as follows:

Broad Bean Hummus

250g    Broad Beans (I used frozen)

5          garlic cloves

100ml  water

good dash olive oil

1 tbsp  lemon juice

1 tbsp  chopped mint

salt and pepper

Simmer the garlic in the water for a few minutes, add the frozen beans and simmer until warmed through.

Discard half of the water.

Add the lemon juice, mint and olive oil.
Blend with a stick blender, adding a small amount of water if necessary.
Season and chill.
Delicious served with sourdough toast.

This will last for a few days in the fridge.

Enjoy.

Domini's book is available here at a reduced price!

LEON - LOVELY RECIPES.

The last time we were in London, we went to The River Cafe (I would highly recommend it).  The boys were beyond excited that Ronnie (Rolling Stones) Wood was sitting a few tables away from us. (they met him outside afterwards and he was really nice and talkative) - their excitement was nothing to their mothers!!!  Allegra McEvedy was at the next table!!!! I was so tempted to spy on what she was eating - but didn't, I would hate to spoil anyone's meal by gawking over all the time!!

Being an Allegra fan I was delighted to be offered the chance to review the new Leon Book 2 Cookbook.

I have to say that I was disappointed to realize that Allegra was not involved in writing this book - but actually that is the only bad thing I have to say about it.

The layout is fun, scrapbook style in places, with loads of pictures of the different dishes.  Brownieville Boy #2 was very taken with it, and said that he would love to try it out.  It would be very good for advanced beginner cooks as it has plenty of easy recipes (omelets, the grill up), but plenty more for more adventurous and accomplished types.

  

The first recipe that jumped out at me was for these savoury muffins - George Pickard's Cheese and Ham Muffins (I know I said that I had only one negative thing to say about the book, but here's another - alot of the recipes have these types of titles - why??)

They went down a storm here, and were perfect served with a bowl of soup.  I brought some to a friend who was working awful hours, she was delighted and demolished them with more cheese.

We then had a Leon inspired Sunday Lunch.

The Butterflied Leg of Lamb (which I didn't bother to butterfly!!) with mint sauce, was delicious.  The mint sauce had just the right balance between sweetness and astringency.

Potatoes Leon-Aise, were very popular and I will definitely cook them again, although next time with less oil.

Probably my favourite recipe from the book these Carrots and Beetroots with toasted almonds were fantastic and well worth the little bit extra bother of roasting separately (carrots with honey and beetroot with balsamic vinegar), I have cooked them several times already.

 

Another winner these Hoppy's Leeks Vinaigrette were loved by all (well not the veg phobic one!!), great for preparing in advance too.

John's Broccoli with garlic, cashew (I used hazelnuts) and chili was lovely too.

These are Sally Dolton's Muesli Bars - moist and fat free (well other than the nuts and seeds), the dried fruit lovers enjoyed these.  Quick to throw together and really healthy.

Sea Bass with Thai spices - I loved this recipe, it raised the farmed fish (which I normally avoid because it is so tasteless) to yummyhood!!!

My mother rang me the other night to ask if I had a cake in the house!!!  A couple of her friends had invited themselves out for morning coffee (at least that's the story she told me!!!).  I threw this Glasgow Banana Bread together in no time (although it took way longer to cook than specified in the recipe).  When I dropped it over to her, she said that she would keep me some to taste it ..... I'm still wondering!!!!!

Turkey Bolognese, a nice healthy alternative to the usual.

Leon's Chicken Nuggets with roasted gnocchi (thanks Nigella!) - boy was I popular when Brownieville Boy #2 came home from school!!!

"Sun Dried" Tomatoes - taste as good as they look!!!

My walking buddies demanded (yes they are like that!!!!) that I post up the recipe for these Jossy's Casablanca Cakes (and yes we do go walking and then undo all the hard work by munching into whatever temptations come our way!!!!).  These little biscuits have a lovely chewy texture and a light lemony taste - just right.

Jossy's Casablanca Cakes

50g           almonds with skins - blitzed as finely as possible in the food processor. (I used ready ground almonds!)
1               lemon - zested
1               large egg
100g         icing sugar
1/2 tsp      baking powder
100g         semolina
extra icing sugar for dipping

Preheat oven to 170 C
Line 2 baking trays with baking paper/parchment.

Whisk the egg and icing sugar until pale (easy by hand).
Add the almonds, lemon rind, semolina and baking powder.
I added a little bit of lemon juice here - not in the recipe.
Sieve some icing sugar into a bowl.
With your hands (dampened helps) form small (walnut sized) balls of dough.
Dip each biscuit into the sugar on top side only
Place on the prepared baking sheets - leave some room for them to spread.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until a very pale brown.
Using a palette knife remove them to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy.