LOVE IS...

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Spread the Marmite, spread the love.

YOGURT COVERED RAISINS: Dressed to impress.

I'm back - feeling relaxed and rejuvenated - and ready to commence the final stage.

The raisins
250g raisins
50g whole hazelnuts
Place raisins in a steamer over boiling water, without touching the water. Steam with lid on for 5 minutes.

Stir in raisins and hazelnuts to the yogurt mixture gently. Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper or a greaseproof sheet. Let them dry, uncovered for 4 hours or overnight.


A rather glorified way of frosting a few raisins, but an fun experiment none the less. And if it weans me off cakes, then the toil will have been worth the trouble.

YOGURT COVERED RAISINS: PART TWO

YOGURT CREAM CHEESE STAGE TWO:

The drained yogurt (no way of making it sound better, really) is now ready for the mixing stage.

Yogurt Cream Cheese
20g butter
500 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine Yogurt Cream Cheese and butter in heavy bottom saucepan. Stir over low heat until butter is melted, cheese is soft and the mixture is well combined. Transfer to mixing large bowl Add the icing sugar, 100g at a time, until frosting is thick and creamy but not dry. Add vanilla extract.

DIPPING POSTPONED UNTIL SUNDAY. MEANWHILE I'M OFF FOR A MINI WEEKEND SCAMPER. THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF BACTERIA. IT CAN WAIT...

LET THEM not EAT CAKE.

Ironic that the last blog is about cakes, isn't it? When, just two days ago, I gave up everything to do with them.

Usually I don’t go near tying myself to such a binding promise for 40 whole days and 40 whole nights, but this year I have. And the pain has begun.

No cakes. No flapjacks. No biscuits. Nothing that looks like something that you might eat when you aren’t hungry, but do because it just looks SO GOOD.

So this week, I thought I’d help myself out. My rumbling pudding stomach, for the fourth time today, made me think...What alternatives are there to cake that can still satisfy my greed?

I've searched high and low and found a recipe that I could make at home, and eat out.

Yogurt covered nuts and raisins.

YUM! The perfect little morsels to take to the library, discretely nibble, and ease the void...

This recipe is slightly long-winded - a massive 2 day affair. So, I'm going to split the blog in two.

Today I am making the

Yogurt Cream Cheese

500g natural yogurt

1 muslin cloth

1 piece strong string (to reach the cabinet from the kitchen side)

1 bowl

Pour the yogurt into the muslin cloth/cheesecloth and tie at top with string. Hang the string from a cabinet over a bowl.

Now sleep on it.

Let the yogurt drain overnight so that all of the liquid has dripped into the bowl. Whey!!

12 hours later.

After drainage, hold the cheesecloth and very gently squeeze any remaining moisture out of the cheese. Empty the whey from the bowl and let stand another 8 hours. Place the cheese in a clean container. The Yogurt Cream Cheese is now ready to use.

See you tomorrow for some damn good yogurt dipping!

This is not just any chocolate cake...

One always wonders whether it is the husky female voice on the Marks & Spencer advert that makes us want to reach out and demolish the gooey, steaming fondant on the television screen, or whether it is the longing for chocolate that is so irresistible, making us flash back to the last time we indulged in such a dreamy dessert...

It seems that everyone likes chocolate - some once in a while, some very often and many of us, A LOT. That is why I have chosen a pudding of the chocolate variety to round off my Last Supper, that hopefully will suit all creatures: great and small.

Oui. C'est un fondant au chocolat. Or chocolate fondant. Or hot chocolate sponge pudding with unbearably mouth-watering molten centre.

I had never made one of these before this blog - having heard how wrong they can go nerved me a little - but, as practice makes perfect, I thought it was time to dip my toe into the frozen lake.

Like all the most reputable chefs say, make a spare one - and good thing I did:


This recipe is adapted from Waitrose Chocolate Fondant Pudding Recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
SERVES 4.
125g butter, plus extra for greasing
25g plain flour , plus extra for dusting (or use cocoa powder)
200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
2 eggs, plus 2 yolks
100g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Evenly brush individual metal pudding moulds (175ml) (I actually use the silicon non-stick ones which worked well) with butter. Evenly coat the buttered moulds with flour or cocoa powder, tapping off any excess. Transfer the prepared moulds to a baking sheet.

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water - do not let the bowl touch the surface of the water. Once melted, stir until smooth. Then, take the bowl off the pan and allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

Crack the eggs with the sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric whisk, beat on high for a few minutes or until very thick, pale and fluffy. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar. Sift in the flour and gently fold it in.

Divide the mixture equally between the prepared pudding moulds. Place in the oven for 14-16 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside for 2 minutes. Using a tea towel, invert onto plates and carefully remove the moulds.

Serve immediately with yogurt or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Head straight for the centre and take in the ooze - try not to faint.

As it is coming up to Valentine's day, why not split the recipe for two people - or perhaps just one to share? Although I don't know why you would...

What a load of Bol.

Flicking through the Times newspaper today, I came across an article dedicated to the well-loved Italian dish SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE. It is known to most that what we consider to be a good Bolognese is very different from the thoughts of native Italian eaters. It is seen as the dish 'cooked worst than most', which I half agree with - I've had some shockers. But the other half of me says: everyone cooks in their own way so why should that change with Spag Bol? I occasionally cook mine with added sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, lots of red wine and Bay leaves, and I am certain that's not how the Italians do it.


Living in Bologna last year, I ate 'Bol' - what they call tagliatelli al ragu - often. It was served with very little tomato, hints of crumbly liver, and fresh, yellow tagliatelli. You really can't get more authentic than that...

Or so I thought...

The article, on p. 35 of Monday's paper, is now telling me that

'They don't even make it properly in Bologna any more'.

Now I am craving to know what the original recipe is! If they can't make it, who can?

GIVE OR TAKE? SECONDO PIATTO.

New Year's Resolution Time.

I usually work my way around this one very well. My annual motto is TAKE UP, don't give up. It's much easier this way and has a rather virtuous ring to it I think.
My favourite one this year is verging on experimental, and may force me to give up more than I take up... I want to step outside the box, I want to explore the new, I want to make my tastebuds tingle. For 52 weeks, I aim to buy something new to fill the kitchen store cupboard, so that when it's just a few grains of rice and some shriveled peas left, there will always be something to make it interesting.

This week, I have bought something for my Last Supper's second course.

Again, taking inspiration from the comment board, I drove three treacherous miles through melted snow and cold rain to buy two small, dark, succulent pigeon breasts from the local farm shop. These delicate morsels had never found their way into my stomach so it was about time that they did.
Mrs Beeton, who has a wonderful selection of pigeon sketches and recipes in her book 'Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management', says good things about these wee feathered creatures, and after last night's supper, I have to agree with her:

'Their flesh is accounted savoury, delicate, and stimulating, and the dark-coloured birds are considered to have the highest flavour'.

So I'd like to introduce, without further ado,
THE MAIN


pigeon breast wrapped in bacon served with dauphinoise potatoes and 2 1/2 hour red cabbage.

Taking example from Islamack's suggestion, I think this one is a corker. Lots of rich colours and deep flavours. The sweetness of the cabbage complements the gamey pigeon, and the creamy potatoes are mouthwateringly good.

I love this ensemble: You can prepare the veg, stick them in the oven, leave them for a couple of hours and then come back last minute, perhaps at the end of the starter, to finish the pigeon.

SERVES 8

THE CABBAGE

1kg red cabbage
2 red onions,finely chopped
2 apples, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
heaped teaspoon of Quatre Espice
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoons white wine/red wine vinegar 15g butter
salt and pepper.

This is so hassle free - just prepare all the ingredients and throw them in a casserole and leave to sweat for 2 to 2 1/2 hours at 150˚C so that the cabbage is soft and the flavours have all infused. It becomes the most beautiful bright purple colour and the aroma is fantastic.

WHEN THESE ARE IN YOU CAN START ON THE DAUPHINOISE.

THE POTATOES

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
30g butter
1.5kg potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
300ml creme fraiche
600ml double cream
salt and pepper

Gently melt the butter and garlic in a saucepan on a very low heat. You don't want the garlic to brown but just release its flavour into the butter. Grease a large oven proof dish. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes and layer them into the dish. Mix the cream and creme fraiche together and stir in the cream mixture, adding salt and pepper, and perhaps nutmeg if desired. Pour over the layered potatoes and put into the overn at 200˚C for 1 1/2 hours. When done the potatoes should be soft and the top crispy and brown.

HERE YOU CAN RELAX FOR AN HOUR OR SO.

THE PIGEON

8 fresh pigeon breasts (or 16 if you want to serve two each)
8-16 rashers of bacon
tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper
tin foil

Twenty minutes before the potatoes and cabbage are due to come out, put a frying pan with olive oil on to a high heat. When the oil is very hot, place the breasts in around the edge of the pan so they all cook equally, making a note of the one you put in first. Flash fry for a minute on each side, then remove from the pan. Now, wrap each breast in bacon, before putting it onto tin foil. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap the breast in tin foil. Place in the oven with the potatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes. Check them to see how fast they are cooking. The end result should be pink and tender, so that it almost melts in the mouth, and the bacon cooked through.

NOW SERVE.

We put a little of The Garlic Farm's Rhubarb and Pear Chutney which went very well with everything on the plate.

A delicious meal - and an ingredient I will definitely take up again in the future.

Bon appetit!

...I'm heading to Somerset for the weekend, where I shall be mulling over my Pudding choice so, while you digest, prepare yourselves for a fabulous third course!