Chai and pistachio cupcakes

I think I have previously mentioned my poor record with baked goods. Cakes are the one exception to this, but I recently discovered that I can add biscuits to the list of things that I find quite stressful to make and that generally come out a bit meh. I was trying out this pistachio biscuit recipe by genius baker and former Masterchef finalist Hannah Miles. She describes it as 'quick and easy' (which I'm sure it was for her), whereas I ended up red in the face, with half the kitchen covered in flour and a sink full of washing up. Luckily the final product was quite nice (if a little too sweet for my liking), but I'm not sure it was worth all the stress. But as I still had lots of nuts leftover I thought I'd try and make something else with them.
For me pistachios are always associated with Indian flavours, although of course they appear in a variety of cuisines. But with that in mind, what could be more more Indian than a nice cup of masala chai? Well mine comes out of a tub, rather than the traditional saucepan method, but that makes it the perfect ingredient for baking with. The only downside was that I forgot that chai powder (or at least the Drink Me brand) already contains quite a bit of sugar, so I probably should have reduced the amount in the cake mix. Or perhaps added a plain cream cheese icing.

Recipe (enough for around a dozen)

110g butter
110g caster sugar (this is the maximum I would use if you have a sweet tooth, otherwise reduce to around 90g)
110g self-raising flour
0.5 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 heaped tblsp chai powder (e.g. Drink me brand)
1 heaped tblsp finely chopped pistachio nuts

Cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the dry ingredients and eggs and beat well to combine. Or else just put everything in a food mixer and leave it to do its work for a few minutes. Spoon into cases in a tray and bake in the middle of an oven for around 20minutes at gas mark 4.
Cardamon is the strongest flavour in the chai powder, but you could easily just use this as a base and add other ground spices of your choice. The little green flecks of pistachio add a mild nutty taste, and the whole thing makes for a nice cake that doesn't actually need any further adornment.

Aubergine raita

So I thought I'd blog about one of things that I made for my MasterChef meal. This aubergine raita is a really nice variation on the traditional cucumber number. It requires a little more effort as you need to cook the aubergine first, but it's definitely worth it. There's not much of a recipe as this is something you'll need to judge by eye and taste, but here are the basic ingredients which will make enough as a side dish for about four people:

1 medium aubergine
Around 250g (half a large pot) Greek yoghurt
Around 2.5tsp ground cumin
Around 1tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough vegetable oil to fry aubergine

Firstly slice the aubergine quite thinly. Put a couple of tablespoons of oil in a (non-stick, ideally) frying pan, heat until pretty hot and then drop in some of the aubergine slices. Unless you have a mahoosive pan you will probably need to cook these in at least a couple of batches. The aubergine will suck up most of the oil before it's cooked through properly, but rather than adding more oil, turn the heat down a little, add a few splashes of water and put a lid over the pan. This allows them to effectively steam and finish cooking. Once you're sure that the slices are all thoroughly cooked through, drain on kitchen roll (if required), and put to one side to cool completely.
In the meantime, roast the ground cumin in a dry pan. I would really recommend grinding your own cumin seeds too, as it makes a big difference to the flavour. Roast over a lowish heat for a few minutes, and you should be able to tell when it's done by the nice smell of....well, roast cumin.
Beat the yoghurt a bit with a fork to lighten it, and then add the cooled aubergine, cumin, sugar, and salt and pepper. You could also use plain natural yoghurt instead, or a mix of that and the Greek version. Mix well and ideally leave to sit for a while for the flavours to mingle.
This raita is perfect with other Indian dishes. I eat it with dry, spicy fish but I imagine it would work well with meat too if you are so inclined.
And finally props to my mother for the recipe, and whichever 'auntie' it was that originally passed it on to her.

Piedmont stuffed peppers

I'm pretty neutral about Delia Smith, but it has to be said that she has come up trumps with various recipes that have featured on this blog such as the rhubarb crumble ice cream and profiteroles. There was a sort of retrospective of her 'work' on television a while ago, and it reminded me of a recipe from her Summer Collection book that I always meant to try but never got round to making. As Delia herself says this is not an original recipe but one that was popularised by Elizabeth David. Delia's recipe uses regular bell peppers but I'd really recommend using those sweet, pointy peppers instead. Having tried it with both, the regular peppers were a bit watery and lacking in flavour compared to their pointy brethren.
So to make these Piedmont peppers, just cut them in half length-ways and scoop out any seeds or white pith. Place on a baking tray and put a couple of chopped anchovy fillets, a few slices of garlic, and some halved cherry tomatoes inside each pepper. Season with a little pepper, and drizzle a couple of teaspoons of olive oil (I use the oil the anchovies came in) over each piece of pepper.
Bake in a moderate oven (gas mark 5) for around 45mins or until the peppers are soft and collapsing. These peppers are so quick to prepare they make a great side dish, and could probably be made entirely vegetarian with the substitution of the anchovy with a suitable salty cheese. I served these with some roasted sweet potato and grilled tuna, and it made a great summer dinner. Ideally eaten while pretending to be a Piedmontese peasant.

Waitrose mushroom and mascarpone pizza

So a while ago top blogger and general genius woman Ms MarmiteLover commented that I'd not written about any quick and interesting convenience products (or rather in her words 'junk food') for a while. Of course not even MasterChefs can be bothered with creating delicious and flavoursome food everyday, so here's a ready-made alternative- namely this mushroom and mascarpone pizza from Waitrose. I previously thought that this number from Tesco's Finest range was my favourite supermarket pizza, but it has been easily usurped by this offering from Waitrose. It has a really thin but chewy base, heaps of mushrooms which taste fresh and are packed full of flavour, and the mascarpone adds a little extra richness to the whole thing. It doesn't even need anything else adding to it (as I would normally do with other ready-made pizzas).
So until someone builds a proper wood-burning pizza oven for me, or an establishment with such an item starts delivering to my house, this is going to be my pizza of choice.

Waitrose mushroom and mascarpone pizza
I rate it 9/10

Cost: £3.99 (for enough to feed two)

Adventures in Masterchef-land

So a couple of weeks ago I received a very nice email from the people at Miele inviting me to a Masterchef event at their showroom in London. A number of food bloggers would have an hour to cook two courses for John Torode and Gregg Wallace and be judged on our efforts. I don't normally go in for competitive cooking, but in the spirit of 'what the hell' I said yes, and then forgot about it for a while.

But as MC-day neared I settled on a menu of Indian spiced salmon, vegetable pilau rice, and aubergine raita, with a nectarine 'crumble' for pudding. I'd cooked all those things before and they took around an hour or so to make, didn't they? Then, feeling fully prepared, I got on with doing some other stuff. I did think that perhaps I should write up a plan of the order in which I needed to do things to make sure my one hour cooking time was used appropriately but kept putting this off. I had everything fully set out in my head though, and thought I could just put this mental plan to paper while on the train to London. Unfortunately I fell asleep on the train. Oh well. So on arrival at the Miele London Gallery what had initially seemed to be a bit of fun became something that was actually quite scary.

However my mind was taken off the task ahead by spotting my fellow competitors and the people behind some top food blogs-Meemalee's Kitchen, Food Urchin, Maison Cupcake and Fuss Free Flavours. I was also pleasantly distracted by the contents of the Miele showroom, with their swanky appliances and sleek surfaces. And then MC judges John and Gregg, men known for their love of cardigans and puddings respectively, arrived.....and we were off and cooking!

At this point the mental plan went out of the window and I began chopping the first thing in sight with a slightly trembling hand. I did compose myself after a while though and started being a bit more logical about things. I don't really like cooking under pressure in any circumstances and having John and Gregg suddenly appear behind my shoulder didn't help my stress levels much. I also missed having my usual spices at hand, as though I'd brought what I thought I'd need with me, it was a little frustrating not being able to add a few extra bits of this and that as I normally would at home. However the major bonus of being in the Miele kitchens was the presence of their exceedingly lovely home economists who ensured I had the oven at the right setting, discretely whisked away used pans, appeared with any extra equipment I needed and provided a few calming words. Anyway, it all came together in the end, although I hadn't really thought about presentation so things were a bit plonked on the plate.



And then onto the judging. There were some impressive looking plates of food from my fellow bloggers with mackerel on a bed of spring onions and potatoes with calcot sauce and pea shoots, and a gooseberry pudding with soft meringue peaks from Danny; MiMi's Burmese coconut chicken noodles (ohn-no khao swe), and a blueberry and orange zest shortcake, with whipped cream and a blueberry and orange coulis; Helen's veal on a Mediterranean sauce of garlic, onion, raisins, capers & olives with a rocket and broad bean salad, and lime and elderflower posset with berries and an Irish Lace biscuit; and Nutella and mascarpone macarons and an apple, pecan and chocolate chip cake from Sarah. My salmon and rice got some quite nice comments, though Gregg and John weren't entirely convinced that it all went together with the raita. Gregg did seem rather keen on my incredibly simple nectarine crumble though, and even said he'd like to 'stick his face in it'. Though I do believe he is contractually obligated to say that at least once whenever he is within ten feet of any pudding. And the end result? Rather unexpectedly I won. Errr, huzzah!


So overall, stressful moments aside, this was a rather fun day. The off-screen John and Gregg seemed pretty similar to the on-screen John and Gregg which I guess is reassuring, and luckily neither of them made me talk about my passion for food or the life changing journey I'd been on. Winning was nice but an undoubted highlight was getting to meet MiMi, Sarah, Danny and Helen who were as nice in the flesh as in blog form.

Thanks very much indeed to all the lovely people at Miele for organising this event, (and for giving me serious kitchen-envy).

Indian style bread and butter pudding

So I have to credit my father for the evolution of this dish. As a child I remember him making a bread and butter pudding that involved gently frying slices of white bread in butter and reducing down pints of cream with cardamom and sugar, before the whole thing was sprinkled with raisins and put in the oven. What emerged was a dense, sweet mess, and and ever since then I have found regular bread and butter puddings too dry, bland or 'eggy'. I don't think he's cooked that dish for about fifteen years but the memory must remain strong as it's the first thing I thought of when a large amount of panettone was unexpectedly presented to me some months ago.
The richness of panettone makes it an excellent substitute for plain white bread, and it even comes with it's own complement of dried fruit in it so no need to add them either. The recipe below is slightly cobbled together from what I happened to have in the fridge, but the proportions of cream and milk can be increased if you want.

Recipe (enough for 6)

Around 500g panettone, sliced
250ml double cream
250ml milk (ideally whole but I used semi-skimmed)
3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed to release the seeds
1 bay leaf
Around 50g butter
Around 3 tblsp caster sugar
1 egg yolk

Gently heat the milk and cream with the cardamom, bay leaf and initially 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Have a taste and then add more sugar as required. Leave this mix on a low heat for around 15-20mins, until it's reduced by around a quarter and thickened a little. Take it off the heat and leave to cool for a while. In the meantime beat the egg yolk thoroughly, and once the cream mix is just warm rather than hot, pour a little onto the egg. Continue to whisk well and pour on the rest of the cream. Scoop out the cardamom pods and bay leaf, and set to one side.
Melt about half of the butter in a frying pan, and when it's lightly foaming put in the panettone slices and cooked until slightly browned on both sides. Add more butter as it's needed. As the panettone is quite rich already this step might not be necessary but thought I'd stick to family tradition.
To assemble the pudding, find a dish that will hold two layers of panettone. Place slices on the bottom, overlap them a bit, and repeat for another layer on top. Pour the cream mixture over the top and push the panettone into it so that gets to soak up some of the liquid. The panettone shouldn't be floating in cream but you should be able to see some when you push the pudding down a bit. Dot a few bits of butter over the top and bake in the middle of the oven at gas mark 5 for around 25mins. The top of the pudding should be golden so cover with foil if it looks like it's scorching.

Eat with a big spoon while still a warm.

NB Some Twitter discussion revealed that this pudding might well have been influenced by another desert from the Indian sub-continent, shahi turka, which very unusually for me I had never heard of before. Anyway, here's to fusion cooking in all its forms!

Spaghetti with broccoli, anchovy and walnuts

Broccoli dressed with anchovy is a pretty classic combination, as is pasta with garlic and anchovies- so I thought I'd combine the two into a very quick and simple dinner. The addition of the walnuts adds a slightly sweet and well, nutty, contrast to the saltiness of the fish and just seems to work very well. This is also quite a light pasta dish and so ideal for long, hot summer days (of which we've currently had two).

Recipe (enough for one)

3 large broccoli florets
4 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
6-8 walnuts, roughly chopped
Enough spaghetti for one, around 100g
Salt and pepper to season
Olive oil

Thinly slice the broccoli florets and gently cook in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for around five minutes. When it's almost tender, increase the heat and add the anchovies and garlic. As the anchovies break up, drop in the walnuts and continue to cook for a couple more minutes until the garlic and broccoli are fully cooked. Cook the pasta, and mix in with the broccoli with a spoonful or two of the pasta water to loosen it all up. Season with salt (although you may not need any so taste first) and pepper, and it's done.
Ideally eat al fresco, or else staring out of the window at the rain.