Pan de yuca! Ecuador!

I have had that incredible song by SASH! in my head all morning... ECUADOR!!! I'm pretty sure that song is from (cough) 17 years ago when I had by 13th birthday while in France on an activity holiday. I remember ringing my parents from a payphone (remember them?!) on the campsite reporting that I was having the time of my life and definitely was not homesick at all (the first part was true, the second a slight lie) with this playing in the background.

Right, back to floury things. I couldn't find pure tapoica / cassava flour. But I did find Dove's farm bread flour gluten free substitute type thingy, made with potato and tapioca flour. So I gave these little balls a try...

Ingredients:
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used cheddar. Pretty sure this is horrifically unauthentic.)
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups said flour
1/2 tsp salt.

Method: Stir together, then give a good blitz with a stick blender (or chuck all in a food processor if you like). Apparently at this stage it can be refrigerated for a couple of days.

I then sprayed a mini muffin tin with olive oil, then put a fat teaspoon of batter into each hole and baked at 220 degrees C for 15 minutes, and...

Little cheesy chewy balls of yum. I have no idea how the Ecuadorians eat these (although I found a lovely piece about these with frozen yogurt which I think could be ace) but being clueless and British I went for a salad. Then realised I had no balsamic vinegar. Naked salad is definitely not the most inspiring side, sorry Ecuador! But lovely cheesy balls :)

JB x

Pistachio and lemon streusel cake

Cake cake cake. I wanted to make a different cake and chose to do a combination of a couple of favourite flavours / techniques to create this bad boy:

Pistachio and lemon are good friends. Something about the buttery freshness of pistachio seems to get on well with lemon. Other nice combos could be maple and pecan, apple and oatmeal with ginger, coconut and lime, or if you're feeling decadent macadamia and vanilla?

Streusel cake is a cake made with a crunchy topping (and in some cases filling) made of something resembling crumble topping, or breadcrumb based if you're of a more traditional mindset. This gives a nice bit of textural contrast to a soft cake, and they're traditionally baked in a ring tin. I see no reason why this recipe couldn't be quite happy in a different shaped tin though :)

The base of this recipe is a Hummingbird bakery version, but I've (as usual) changed things about a bit... below is what I did. The streusel is layered through the cake batter, then a lemon syrup is poured over after baking, then finally a glacé icing is added with nuts (and I put crystallised lemon peel) for final prettification.

Streusel:
80g plain flour
50g marg or softened butter
50g demerera sugar
zest of 1 lemon
85g chopped pistachios

Rub butter into flour and sugar, then stir in the nuts and zest. Set aside. It should look kind of like this...

Cake:

170g softened butter or margarine

250g caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

300ml soured cream

420g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb

Pinch salt

Butter and flour a big (25-28cm diameter) ring tin (non stick is definitely best). Comme ça...

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in one egg at a time (use an electric mixer of sorts or prepare for a very sore arm...). Then stir in the sour cream and vanilla until all mixed completely together. Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb into the wet ingredients, then stir in the salt and give it a good beat until all combined. Now layer streusel and cake mix... Half of the streusel goes into the tin first (to form the crunchy topping), then half the cake batter, then rest of streusel, then rest of batter...

  Streusel, then cake... then streusel...

 then ready to bake! 

Bake at 170 degrees C (fan) for 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean.

Syrup:
juice of 1 lemon made up to 50ml with water, boiled up with 50g sugar for a minute until all dissolved. Once cake is out of the oven, pop lots of skewer holes in and pour syrup gently in, then leave the cake to cool in the tin.

Then turn it out...

Then ice with the juice of a lemon made up to icing consistency with icing sugar and sprinkle with pretty stuff. Yummy!!!






JB x

This week I am on the search for... Cassava flour

It's been a little while, but I'm now back on the journey around the world!
Next up is Ecuador. I've heard from a colleague about some cheese bread in Brazil which is amazing, but Ecuador seems to have its own variant (pan de yuca) which I'm very keen to make this week. Just gotta find some cassava flour!
JB x

Buche de Noel (Chocolate log!)

Well. Mr B was probably the most impressed by this cake than any other I've made. It takes about half an hour if you're quick, no more than an hour if you're a little slower around your kitchen.

This is a Christmas chocolate fest with many different adaptations: chestnuts are often referred to in recipes, as is chocolate buttercream. I chose to make the chocolate sponge roll filled with whipped cream and fresh raspberries (frozen would also be ace in this) and cover it with ganache. Below is a list of my recipe, and alternatives if you would so wish!

This size fed 10 people along with the giant profiteroles, but I have no doubt smaller numbers would see no problem in dealing with this cake...!

Sponge:

40g cocoa powder

65g Self raising flour

100g caster sugar

4 large eggs

Filling:

I used 300ml double cream, whipped, with a handful of raspberries scattered in

You could also use whipped cream with chestnut puree folded in, chantilly cream, or buttercream of any variety, and add anything you like (cherries, rum soaked raisins or orange zest spring to mind)

Icing:

300g dark chocolate ((NOT fancy chocolate - standard plain chocolate with a cocoa content of 45 - 50%)

300ml double cream (well it is Christmas!)

Method:

This is alarmingly simple.

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Line a swiss roll tin (30 x 20 cm or a little bigger) with non stick paper.

Plonk your eggs and sugar into a mixer and whisk until really pale, light and leaves a trail when you lift the whisk out (this will take a few minutes). Then fold in the sifted flour and cocoa very gently so you don't knock the air out - don't worry if there's the odd lump. I won't tell if you don't.

Pour and gentle spread the mixture into the tin - if it's a little bit of a struggle to get it even then err on the side of uneven as opposed to knocking the air out of your mix. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until risen and springy. When it's out of the oven, take the cake out still attached to the paper and roll it lengthways while still hot-ish into a sausage, then leave to cool still coiled up on it's paper like an odd christmas cracker.

Meanwhile, make the ganache - Break up or chop the chocolate into smallish bits, then heat the cream into a pan until it's slightly ouchy to keep your finger in it for longer than a few seconds (technical, I know). Remove the cream from the heat and plonk in the chocolate and stir until smooth, glossy and delicious in every way. Set aside somewhere cool-ish to thicken.

By now your cake should be pretty cool - whip the cream, then gently unroll the cake and peel it away from the paper. spread the cream and splodge a few raspberries into it, then re-roll (don't worry if it looks messy, it'll still look ace later!) and put onto a serving plate on it's seam so it stays rolled.

You can at this point do some lumberjack work if you like: I cut a piece off my log at an angle and put it next to the bigger piece to look like a branch, or you can leave your log just as it is. Up to you!

Then, when the ganache is a bit thickened but still reasonably workable, spread a layer using half to 2/3 over all sides of your log. As you work it will thicken, so once you've got a layer covering everywhere, the last 1/3 or so of the ganache will be nice and thick, so blob it on and use a fork to create bark. Use your creative licence (and maybe google images!) to create a neat or messy log, complete with icing sugar snow if you like. 70's holly optional.

Keep in the fridge until you eat it - I wouldn't make this in advance as the fatless sponge may dry a bit, but I've never resisted one long enough to find out :)

JB x

Game pie

Last night (see previous post!) we welcomed in the new year with pie. Not just any pie, a behemoth of a game meat pie served with honey mustard roast carrots and pickled red cabbage. Winter on a plate! (Convenient as I sit here typing in a reindeer jumper in 14 degrees C IN MY LIVING ROOM. Freeeeeezing! We're also too tight to actually put out heating on much though so probs my own fault)

Anyway. I didn't take a picture cos I was too excited, and also the leftovers today aren;t the most photogenic thing in the world. Trust me though, this one's deeee-lish. I made the recipe up: feel free to substitute whatever meat you would like. However, I would stipulate you need some type of fatty cured meat (bacon, sausage meat) mixed in or it will be a little dry and bland. This makes a hand raised pie similar to a pork pie in construction and application (eat at room temperature, pretty solid, ruddy amazing with chutneys and picks but also just as home on your dinner plate). It made enough to fill my 2 lb loaf tin and would serve 6 normal peeps or 4 hungry ones. Vegetarians look away now.

Filling:

• 6 rashers streaky bacon
• 350g venison (casserole type, not fancy steaks, mince would be fine)
• 2-3 tbsp port, madeira, sherry etc (just one, not all three!)
• 1 tbsp pokey mustard (english, dijon etc)
• salt and pepper
• 6 sage leaves, good sprig of rosemary and thyme
• 250-300g game of your choice (I used a mix of grouse, rabbit and pheasant) in chunks.

Pastry:

• 200ml water
• 70g butter (unsalted)
• 100g lard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 500g plain flour

Jelly (controversial but in my opinion essential, you can leave it out if you like)

• 2 leaves gelatine
• 1/3 pint stock (from a cube is fine, or homemade is also good but will need extra salt)
• slosh of port / sherry etc as before.

Method:

1. Make the filling. I don;t have a food processor so used a knife and a board to finely chop the bacon, venison and herbs together, and mixed in the mustard, booze and seasoning. This forms the kind of sausage meaty type of bit of your filling. The chunks of game will be squished into this as you go along to create a pie with a nice rustic meaty texture.
2. Make the pastry: Traditional hot water crust has only got lard and not butter; feel free to use that combo if you like. I personally think butter improves the pastry flavour and makes it a bit tastier. But it's up to you! Put the water, salt and fat(s) into a pan (bigger than you think you'll need as you need to fit the flour in too) and heat until the fat has melted. Plonk in the flour, and mix until it starts to make a ball. Then, turn it out onto a worktop or board (it'll be a bit hot, be careful!) and knead lightly for a minute or two until a silky ball of wonder has been achieved.
3. Next, place a piece of baking parchment into your 2lb loaf tin so it fits over the long sides and hangs out over the edge (this forms a handle so you can lift out your pie) and use about 3/4 of your pastry to squidge into the tin, making sure it comes right up the sides and there are no holes. 
4. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. Now squidge about 1/3 of your sausagey filling into the base of your pastry lined tin, then push a few chunks of meat in. repeat until it's full right up to the top, then squidge the last bit of pastry (hopefully it's still warm!) into a rectangle and put it on top, pinching to seal the edges. Make a big steam hole in the top (you can decorate it if you like with shapes form any extra pastry scraps and egg wash if you so desire).
5. Bake at 200 for 1/2 hour, then 170 for a further 1 to 1 1/2 hours until a meat thermometer reads 80 degrees C (or just an hour and a quarter if you don;t want to faff!). Remove from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes, then either jelly, or don't jelly. I recommend you jelly...!
1. if you don't want to jelly, just pop the pie out of the tin and onto a rack over a tray to catch any juice, then poke a couple of holes in the bottom of the pastry. This lets the meat juices out and as it cools will stop the pastry sogging. Don't be alarmed if you get a lot of juice!
2. If you do want to jelly, soak the gelatine in cold water for a couple of mins, meanwhile blitzing te stock and booze in the microwave for a minute so it's hot. Then add the gelatine (squeezed of excess water) into the hot stock, and pout carefully (a piping nozzle makes an excellent funnel!) into the steam hole in the pie. Go slowly and you ay not need the whole amount.
3. Cool before eating - if you add jelly it should really be left overnight before demolishing or you may get juice running out when you cut it.

Soufflé! Happy new year!

It's been a little while (soz, xmas and all that) and the baking has been happening but I've not been a blogging. So here goes with a few little catch ups, most recent first!

Last night Mr B and I stayed in at NY for the first time in about 7 years. It was actually a lovely evening, and I made a big old game pie (delicious, post to come) and passionfruit soufflé for pud.

Here the little blighters are in all their vertiginous glory...

I served them with a little scoop of ice cream and the seeds from the passionfruit spooned over. They were my first foray into soufflé and won't be my last, I loved their lightness after a gurt big old main course. Yum. The recipe is from Allegra McEvedy (I got her book for Chrimbo and it is a great go-to, reminds me a bit of Nigella's How To Eat). It's just 2 eggs, separated: into the yolks whisk 2 tbsp passionfruit juice and 2 tbsp sugar, then whisk the whites up with 1 tbsp sugar til stiff, fold gently together and bake in buttered sugared ramekins for 12 minutes at 160. I was tres excited when they had actually risen! I'm already thinking of different flavours; raspberry or lemon would work well, or maybe bergamot with an earl grey tuile?! Maybe if I'm feeling fancy!!

Today is a fasting day so this is a little painful to look through pics to post... got some Christmas calorie induced expansion to shift!

JB x