Tomato and mascarpone soup

With my workplace's limited catering arrangements, investing in a food flask was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And one of my favourite things to put in it has been this tomato and mascarpone soup. It's simple, cheap, quick, and keeps me in work lunches for the best part of a week. As with most of my cooking, this is a recipe that can be adjusted to include the flavours you like.

Recipe (enough for around 4-ish lunchtime portions):

400g tin of good quality chopped (or whole) tomatoes in juice
1 tinful of water
1 tblsp tomato puree
Small handful of roughly chopped fresh tomatoes (optional)
1 medium leek, finely sliced
1 large clove of garlic, chopped
A bay leaf
0.5 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp mixed dried herbs (or a larger amount of freshly chopped, soft herbs like basil)
Around 125g mascarpone cheese
Few tblsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Gently heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sized saucepan, and put in the leeks and bay leaf. Leave the leeks to soften for around 10 minutes or so. When they are cooked through, add the garlic, chilli, and herbs, stir for a few minutes and then put in the tomatoes. The fresh tomatoes really are optional, and I tend to chuck them in if I've got some that need to be used up. Fill the empty tin of tomatoes with water and pour this in too, along with the puree. Stir everything, add a bit of salt and pepper, and simmer for around 15 minutes or so. At this stage what you should have is basically a slightly thin tomato sauce. Turn the heat off and then add the mascarpone cheese. Stir this in, and leave the soup to cool for a bit. Once it's just warm, rather than piping hot, blend the soup with a stick blender (or equivalent) and check the seasoning again.

I then heat up portions of soup in the microwave and take it to work in my food flask for desk consumption. The mascarpone makes this surprisingly filling for a soup, and the whole thing is just very warming and tasty. This soup would also work well over the Christmas holidays, when you might want something you can make in bulk and re-heat as needed. And on that note, I'd like to say merry crimbo readers and see you in 2013!

Nigella Lawson's nutella cheesecake

So what can I say about this cheesecake- it took minutes to put together, didn't require cooking, was rich without being sickly, and was generally rather fab. Props to Nigella Lawson for the recipe, which I pretty much followed without any changes. The only thing I slightly adjusted when combining the cream cheese with nutella, was only adding the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, and stopping when it tasted sweet enough (I think I used less than 60g).

As there's no cooking involved, this was an ideal dessert for making during the week for post-work, (Christmas) social stuff. This is exactly what I did, and I have to say it met with universal approval. 

Ichiro, Cambridge, UK

I was really looking forward to visiting Ichiro the other week. I'd heard some good things about this restaurant serving both Japanese and Malaysian food, so was happy to schlep through the cold and rain to get to their recently opened site opposite the neon delights of the 'Leisure Park'.

We were given a warm welcome as we walked into the near empty restaurant, and I was therefore quite prepared to overlook the fact the tablecloth had some random staining on it, and our green tea arriving in a stripey Whittards teapot. The male companion person and I weren't sure whether to stick to the Malaysian or Japanese dishes, but eventually plumped for the latter apart from a starter of roti canai with chicken curry. The roti (or paratha as I would call them) were very good, light and flaky with a slight chew. I tasted a bit of the curry gravy, despite the risk of meat contamination, but was quite disappointed with its slightly acrid taste of insufficiently cooked ground spices.

I've never had takoyaki before, so thought I'd give them a try too. These balls of batter with an octopus filling were pretty tasty. I've nothing to compare them too, but I liked the mild taste of seafood surrounded by a crisp coating.

So a decent enough start before moving onto a bento box each for our main course. I had a mixed tempura bento, and though the prawns and vegetables were relatively oil-free, the batter was quite thick and not the light and airy coating I'd been hoping for. Also in the box were some pieces of omelette, a sort of mashed potato salad, a pineapple and cucumber salad, with quite a lot of rice. And a side of miso soup. Everything was perfectly acceptable, just not particularly remarkable or exciting.

It was at this point that things took a bit of a downturn. I would have considered some mochi for dessert or another drink, but unfortunately the two front of house staff were too busy cooing at each other to notice that we'd finished with our bento boxes. After about 20 minutes of sitting in a still near empty restaurant, hoping someone might take away the dishes, or ask if we wanted anything else, we gave up and the MCP went up to the counter to ask for the bill. This was an unexpectedly irritating end to the evening. So overall, Ichiro didn't turn out to be anything terribly special, and my initially high hopes were dashed. To be fair it wasn't a massively expensive dinner either, and our meal (with non-alcoholic drinks, and including service) came to around £45.

On the basis of their parathas, perhaps their Malaysian dishes are more enjoyable. And I would be prepared to go back to try some of these out. But probably not right away.


Ichiro
8 Homerton Street
Cambridge CB2 8NX

Speedy syrup sponge pudding

I used to love steamed syrup sponge pudding, and I remember the little pots from M&S that were a frequent indulgence when I was a grad student. But I've not had any for ages, as it's not a dessert you often see on menus, and it didn't occur to me to make it myself as things requiring steaming for hours always seem inherently complicated. Anyway, I was delighted when this feature appeared in the Guardian recently with a link to a microwaveable syrup sponge pudding recipe. Even though this cooking method wasn't wholeheartedly endorsed by Felicity Cloake, I decided to give it a go as the possibility of pudding in 7.5 minutes was just too good to ignore.

So this is the recipe- www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4062/gooey-school-treacle-sponge which I followed with one minor alteration; adding a little lemon juice to the golden syrup in the bottom of the bowl (as per Felicity's 'perfect' recipe). This just thins the syrup a bit, and allows it to run down and soak into the sponge. I'd also recommend setting the microwave at 5 minutes initially, rather the full 7.5, as my pudding was almost done at this point.

And the end result? A brilliant steamed syrup sponge pudding! The sponge was light and not too sweet, with a thick topping of unctuous golden syrup. And I served it with loads of cold double cream, which was perfect with the hot sponge and cut through the sweetness of the syrup too. This pudding is ridiculously easy to make, and I suspect it will be appearing on my table again rather soon.

Paneer korma

I cook a fair amount of Indian food, but have yet to find a way to photograph most of it in a way that makes it look terribly appetising. Thus the above picture, that shows something vaguely yellow in a gloopy sauce. But don't let that put you off, as this Shahi-style paneer korma is really rather delicious and quite quick to make.
Shahi-style Indian food usually uses ground nuts and cream, so is pretty indulgent, but as the nights draw in I feel that a little indulgence is no bad thing. So here's my version of some classic Indian comfort food.

Recipe (enough for 2 as a main course):

One block of paneer (c.250g)
1 small onion
A thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 dried bay leaf
0.5 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
0.5 tsp salt (or enough to season)
0.5 tblsp tomato purée
1-2 tblsp ground almonds
Around 50ml double cream
1-2 tblsp plain oil
A few tbslp of water, if needed

Firstly chop up the paneer into small-ish cubes, and sprinkle over the turmeric until the paneer is reasonably well coated. Heat the oil in a flat bottomed pan, and when it's hot carefully place the paneer and any extra turmeric in. Cook the paneer for a few minutes on each side until it's lightly browned and golden, with a bit of a 'crust'. When it's done, take the paneer out and set to one side. Make a paste from the onion, ginger and garlic (by mechanical means for convenience). The smoother it is the smoother your finished sauce will be, but as you can see from the photo above it's not essential. Fry the paste in the remaining oil in the pan for a few minutes, along with the bay leaf and chilli. If the pan is too dry, add a little extra oil. Put in all the ground spices, and carry on cooking for a few more minutes before adding the ground almonds. Once these are lightly toasted, put in the tomato purée  and if needed pour in a little water to create a thick paste. Once everything has been heated through for a few more minutes, add the cream and salt to season. Mix well to form a thick sauce, and then put the paneer cubes back in the pan to heat through. You can adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding more cream (or water) if you want too.

Serve with some plain boiled rice and steamed vegetables to balance out the richness of the cheese and cream.

Leek, mushroom, fake chicken and tarragon pie

I don't eat many pies, but suddenly had a hankering for one last weekend. I think it must be something to do with the clocks going back. I thought I'd stick to the classic combination of leek, mushroom and chicken, but as I don't eat meat, I used Quorn pieces instead. As the Quorn adds no flavour, I added a range of other things to make up for this. Though this could have made everything taste quite muddled, it was actually very good.

Recipe (enough for four hearty portions):

3 medium leeks, finely sliced
Around 8 chestnut mushrooms, quartered
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 heaped tblsp chopped tarragon leaves
300g Quorn pieces, or another vegetarian equivalent
Around 300ml double cream
1 tsp English mustard
1 tblsp pecorino cheese (or a vegetarian equivalent)
2-3 tblsp olive oil
1-2 tblsp butter
Salt and pepper to season
1 pack all butter, ready-rolled puff pastry (320g)
A little milk to glaze

To make the filling, melt around a tablespoon of butter and a little oil, and when it's warm put in the mushrooms. Cook over a high-ish heat until the mushrooms start to brown, and then add in the Quorn, garlic and tarragon. Turn the heat down a little, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the garlic is cooked through and the tarragon wilted. Once it's all done, tip it out onto a plate and allow to cool. Put the rest of the butter and oil in the same pan, and cook the leeks over a medium low heat. Add about 0.5tsp salt and leave the leeks until they are soft, giving them a stir every now and again. Once fully cooked through pour in the cream, grind in a bit of pepper, add the cheese and mustard and stir well. Take off the heat and allow the leeks to cool a bit, then mix the mushrooms and Quorn back in. If the filling is ridiculously thick, stir in a little milk to loosen it. Once the filling has completely cooled, you can assembly the pie.
Spoon the filling into a suitably deep, oven-proof dish and lay the pastry over the top. Trim the edges and make some fancy shapes with the extra pastry if you want to decorate the top. Make a small cross in the centre of the pastry to let any steam escape, and brush the top with milk. Bake at gas mark 6 until the pastry is a rich golden colour.

You should end up with a richly savoury, vegetarian pie, with a crisp topping. Serve piping hot with lots of vegetables.

Chingri malai curry or Bengali-style prawns with coconut

I don't cook masses of Bengali food, but with the traditional festival of Durga Puja looming, I thought I'd dig out this classic. Chingri malai curry (or indeed malaikari), is a very simple dish combining prawns, whole spices and the rather un-typical Bengali ingredient of coconut milk. Some reading tells me that the word 'malai' probably derives from Malay, and this explains the use of coconut milk too. Like many Indian recipes, there are lots of versions of this around, so this is my one.

Recipe (enough for two as a main dish):
Around 250g raw prawns (shell off, and de-veined)
1 small red onion
1 fat clove of garlic
A thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 tsp turmeric
4-5 green cardamon pods, split
1 large, dried bay leaf
1-2 pieces of cinnamon or cassia bark
1-2 green, Indian finger chillis, pierced a few times
1 tsp ground coriander
2-3 tblsp sunflower oil
Around 100g coconut cream
Around 100ml hot water
1-2 tsp salt for seasoning


Mix the prawns with the turmeric and a teaspoon of salt, and put in the fridge for an hour or so. If you're not going to cook the prawns until much later, leave out the salt. While the prawns are busy turning yellow, make a paste from the onions, garlic and ginger. It's definitely easiest to do this in a food processor, but a pestle and mortar would do the job too. Take the prawns out of the fridge 10 minutes or so before you want to start cooking, and add the salt (if you haven't earlier).
Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pan, and when it's hot (but not smoking) add the prawns. Cook for a couple of minutes, until they are lightly coloured but not fully cooked through. Take the prawns out of the pan, add another tablespoon of oil (if needed) and add all the whole spices. Turn the heat down, so that they are just gently sizzling. After a couple of minutes put the ground coriander, chillies and onion paste in. As they soften, add the water to the coconut cream to create coconut milk which is the thickness of single cream. You may need to adjust the amount of water or coconut cream to achieve this. When the spices and paste have cooked for a good 10 minutes or so, put the coconut in and simmer for around 5 minutes to create a sauce. Put the prawns back in, add a little salt, and simmer again for 5 minutes until the prawns are fully cooked.

You should have a rich, thick coconut gravy which is subtly spiced and still tender prawns. Serve with plain, boiled rice, and let out a small sigh of satisfaction once you've finished eating.