Trick or Treat?

This week London seemed to skip over fall (there was snow and freezing temperatures) and land flat on her ass into winter. Never one to get her favourite season shortened by crap weather – I baked up some Pumpkin Cookies with Penuche frosting.

These little gems were simple to make and easy on the palate (4 different people thinking they tasted like mini carrot cakes). Funny how something orange and smelling of cinnamon can do that for some people? All of this aside, they were - without a doubt - the ugliest looking baked good ever.

I reduced the amount of flour in the recipe which resulted in a super duper moist cake-like cookie. However, the Penuche frosting was so rich that while initially holding its own like a little cookie yarmulke, by the time I transported them on the tube to eagerly awaiting friends – they’d become little blobs of goo. Luckily the smell was so enticing that everyone dove right in and snatched them up anyway – even managing to eat 4 or 5 at a time. There were certainly a few jokey comments of what they looked like, and I won't deny it – they did. I'm just happy no one was turned off by their appearance because really there would only have been one thing left to do. Eat them myself of course.

With the recipe I used, I reduced the flour by ½ cup but would recommend only doing so by ¼ cup. Also, be careful with the frosting – I ended up adding a ridiculous amount of sugar trying to get the consistency right (which might be necessary in order to get it to spreading consistency). Luckily the cookies aren’t too sweet so they make a nice pairing with the frosting.

Girly Ultimate

White Sangria with fresh passionfruit and peaches.

Cupcakes with pink frosting.

SATC.

There are some things best done with your girlfriends.

The SATC premier has been on the lips of every woman I know this past week. One would think it was THE event of the summer. In one day alone I received texts and emails from 5 different friends checking in to see what my plan was for seeing it. I knew of 4 different groups having “SATC Premiere Parties," complete with cosmos as a starter, the last few episodes of the series as a main course, and saving the best for last - an excursion to the cinema to watch the movie for dessert. I'd decided on a slightly different route (late afternoon showing, followed by dinner and drinkies with 3 friends).

We weren't planning to make a fuss about it. Still, texts started flying in around noon that day...What shoes would I wear? Prada. What was I wearing? White trousers, black top, red accessories. Makeup? Not much because what’s the point when you're sitting in the dark.

I’ve come to think (realise) sometimes (most of the time) I’m a little crazy. The whole outfit planning experience made me realise it's not a Dana thing. It's just a female thing. At the theatre we found the following demographics:

1. Gaggles of women dressed up like they were going to some swank bar


2. Gay men


3. Straight men (in total - 3 of them - all looking suitably miserable)

The lead-up to the movie had me busily bee-ing with a new project at work. However, I was still excited and managed to start the girly theme off early in the week with homemade White Sangria and Cupcakes for JB’s 31st birthday. Festivities were held in the very unglamorous, but strangely exciting Horsham.

We even had our own SATC moment complete with that guy that you haven't seen in a year. JB, acting as my very own Miranda, made a comment that went something like: “Wow, you’ve had a rough year. You look like shit. Still as big a jerk as ever, right?” Pure Comedy.

White Sangria with Peaches and Passionfruit

• 1 bottle Cava or white wine, chilled


• ¼ cup peach juice (use orange if peach is too high-mai)


• ¼ - ½ cup lemonade (lemonade is actually Sprite/7-Up for you Yanks)


• ½ cup green grapes cut in half


• 2 peaches cut into small pieces


• The pulp from 2 passionfruits


• Lots of ice

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and add a bit more juice/lemonade to taste. Let sit for about 30 minutes in the fridge if possible (JB and I lasted about 3 minutes).

Vanilla Cupcakes with Pink and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temp


• 2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated sugar


• 2 large eggs


• 1½ tsp vanilla


• 2 tbsp strawberry jam


• 1 1/2 cups (210 grams) flour


• 1 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

Preheat oven to 350 F (176 C).
Line a muffin tin with paper/foil wrappers.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time
Add vanilla extract and strawberry jam.
In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
Add to egg/butter mixture along with milk until just combined.
Fill the muffin tin and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until lightly browned.
Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temp


• 1½ tsp vanilla


• 2 cups (230 grams) confectionary sugar


• 3 tbsp milk


• 3½ oz (100 grams) milk chocolate, melted and cooled to room temp


• 4-6 drops red food colouring

Cream butter until smooth – about 2 minutes.
Add vanilla.
Slowly add the confectionary sugar until well blended.
Add the milk and then beat on high for approximately 5 minutes or until it reaches a “fluffy” frosting consistency.
To make the chocolate buttercream take half of the frosting and slowly fold in the melted chocolate.
To make the pink buttercream, slowly fold in the food colouring to the other half of the frosting (adding it slowly until you get the colour you are looking for).
Frost on completely cooled cupcakes.

Mid-week revelry

Faster than a speeding bullet, the past few weeks have flown by. So much so that I truly can't believe we are welcoming in the last week of May. The weather the past few days hasn't helped much either. One would think it was March around these chilly parts.

I was long overdue for one of my Sunday night cooking extravaganzas – so this past weekend scheduled it in. On Saturday I'd done my rounds at the posh supermarket and bought my achingly expensive groceries. I’d even mapped out all the dishes I’d be making. There really wasn’t much to stop me....just the devil's brew. Saturday evening’s festivities had plenty of that and left me (put mildly) less than well prepared for Sunday’s domesticated activities (unless one considers sitting in your jammies lying on the couch until 3 as a “domesticated activity”). Needless to say, the feast creation plan didn’t turn out much. Instead I ended up out with a friend eating an undercooked pizza around 8:30 p.m. Truly pathetic.

Since my Sunday of cooking turned out to be a bust I had two options:

1. Try and freeze my wild salmon and cross my fingers that the dozen or so herbs and vegetables I’d bought would last until next weekend …OR…
2. Suck it up and create a mid-week feast

There really was only one option - there was no way I was risking all of my groceries. As a result it's been a delicious week, complete with:

1. Fresh Corn, Courgette, and Feta Fritters
2. Sesame Mirin Soy Salmon
3. Brown Sugar Brownies with Dried Cranberries and White Chocolate Chips
   

Fresh Corn, Courgette, and Feta Fritters

(Inspired by Bill Granger’s Bill’s Food – Corn Fritter and Zucchini Fritter recipes)

2 ears of corn – kemels removed
2 small courgettes - grated

¼ cup cilantro (coriander) chopped

¼ cup feta in small pieces

5 green onions diced (just white and pale green parts)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 eggs

½ cup flour

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup (approx) Olive oil for frying

- Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl

- Heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pans on medium-high heat

- Drop fritter batter by heaping tablespoons and cook for approximately 3-4 minutes on each side

Makes about 14

Sesame Mirin Soy Salmon

(Adapted from Bill Granger’s Bill’s Food – Glazed Salmon recipe)

80 ml (1/3 cup) mirin
80 ml (1/3 cup) soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 Tsp sugar
2 Tsp fresh lemon juice
2 salmon filets (wild if possible)

Dressing
125 ml (1/2 cup) mirin
62 ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce
2 Tsp sugar

1/8 cup sesame seeds

- Marinate the salmon in the first 6 ingredients for 1-2 hours
- To make dressing, bring 3 ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, reduce heat, and let it thicken – about 12-15 minutes. Set aside
- Heat the grill in your oven to about 275 Celsius
- Remove the salmon from the marinade and place it under the grill in a non-stick pan for about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on it!
- Serve the salmon by pouring the marinade over and sprinkling with sesame seeds

Brown Sugar Brownies with Dried Cranberries and White Chocolate Chips
(Another old-time family favourite…the original version skips the white chocolate and cranberries and uses semi-sweet chocolate chips instead).

½ cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup dried cranberries

- Preheat oven to 350 F° (176 C°)
- Cream the butter and sugar
- Add eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla
- Fold in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips
- Bake in an 8 inch square pan (or 7 by 11) for about 30 minutes until tester inserted in the middle of brownies comes out clean

Marathon Meals

As I’ve said on many an occasion to my sporty friends, my sport of choice is cake-baking. As such, when it came time for this past Sunday’s London Marathon I lent my support in the only way I knew how, by cooking. FM was running and for the past 6 months I’d been privy to hearing about her somewhat busted knee (which was fixed in time to run) and been woken up by the front door opening and closing as she headed out on her many early morning runs. I must say it was admirable. I’d snuggle deeper into my covers, role over and proceed to sleep for at least another hour before getting up for work.

I wasn’t entirely sure what a good post-marathon meal would be but I decided something with protein and carbohydrates would do quite well. Oh, and truffle oil. Every good marathon runner needs a bit of truffle at the end of a gruelling 26.2 miles.

Finished with triple chocolate cookies, it might not have been the meal a nutritionist would have prescribed, but it still managed to do the trick.

Herbed Chicken and Shitake Mushroom, Leeks, and Truffle Risotto

In typical fashion I’ve taken a recipe I’ve found and changed it to my specifications. As it read, it seemed much too heavy for a post-marathon runner, so off I went tweak, tweaking away.

In a nutshell, incorporate the following into the recipe hyperlinked above.
1. Replace the cream with semi-skim milk
2. Replace the butter with olive oil (if butter is a necessity, finish the risotto at the end with a bit – it’s not necessary with the mushrooms)
3. If you are not using freshly shaved truffles, triple the amount of truffle oil you use and finish the dish at the end with a little swirl on top
4. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock, just because it’s what I had available (and I was cooking chicken to serve with the risotto anyway)
5. Pass on the “chopped fresh parsley”. Seriously, it’s not going to add anything but a bit of greenery (of which I just served dinner with a green salad instead)

Herbed Chicken -This might be the easiest recipe ever…and it was FM's favourite part of the meal.

1. In a small bowl mix together bread crumbs (I used Japanese panko crumbs), chopped garlic, and fresh/dried herbs (I used thyme and oregano)
2. Take skinless/boneless chicken breast and coat with a thin layer of olive oil (I had a little bit of hummus left over so I used this as well). Once coated, dip in crumb mixture and cover chicken. Repeat if necessary.
3. Bake in an oven at 350° F or 175° C until cooked through – about 35 minutes
4. Serve with risotto

Triple Chocolate Cookies

I definitely had something in mind when I was making these cookies but because I couldn’t seem to find any of the ingredients I wanted or needed they ended up taking on a life of their own. Somewhat cake/brownie like instead – they still managed to be moist and quite flavourful. I brought the leftovers to my eager team at work. When I opened the container the smell that wafted out was so delicious and chocolaty that I was told to immediately close the lid or I should expect them to all be gone in the next few minutes.

I’ll definitely make these again – they were more popular than I would have imagined when I first took them out of the oven.

8-10 ounces (225-285 grams) semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons cocoa (I used Cadbury)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
8 oz (225 grams) white chocolate broken into chunks
½ cup milk chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Melt semisweet chocolate, set aside to cool
- Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt
- With electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another medium bowl until well combined
- Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition
- Continue to beat until 3-4 minutes more until light in colour
- Add melted chocolate and vanilla and beat together
- Fold in flour mixture, white chocolate chunks and chocolate chips
- Place a tablespoon full of batter onto cookie sheets, space at least 1 inch from each other
- Bake cookies, 1 tray at a time, for about 10-12 minutes per tray
- Cool cookies

Nuts for Islington (and pecans) PART 1

Last Sunday was just another example of why I am head over heels for North London. I know there's a very strong argument for the wide variety of other neighborhoods in the city. If I’d randomly ended up living in one of these places instead, like I did here - it would probably be the fixation of my appreciation too.

In the morning I headed out into the sunshine for Islington’s farmer’s market. In typical London form it started raining 10 minutes into my walk. Of course I was wearing sunnies and not thought to bring an umbrella. C'est la vie, I suppose.

The market is peanut-sized and open from 10-2 on Sundays. Whilst itsybitsy, it really has everything you need for the makings of the utmost Sunday supper. Combine that with the most quintessential and lovely British farmers and bakers who are passionate about the work they do and the food they sell, I spent nearly 2 hours tasting and chatting away about the current state of farming affairs (not so good) and Londoners love of farmer’s markets (quite good). This was all while hunched under their 2 inches of awning that covered their wares.

One thing (not surprisingly) I couldn’t get at the farmer’s market were pecans, which I needed for my Hidden Treasures (recipe below). Still, I certainly thought I’d find them at my local Tesco or Morrison’s. Nope. I had to go to three supermarkets to find pecans. Now, for anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis (hi mom) you’ll know I’ve a slight obsession with pecans in my baked goods. Cashews and pine nuts are great for savory, but when it comes to sweet, if a nut is waiting in the wings, I want to see that pecan centre stage. Apparently the walnut is the prima ballerina in the baking aisle of the supermarkets here in the UK. I don’t dislike the walnut, but have never really understood the big fuss.

Note: I’d just like to add that after all of this (chatting with the farmers and scavenger hunting for pecans), the rain did stop and the sun came back out...

...about 10 minutes after returning home. I was happy as a lark, but soaked and looking like a drowned rat.

For dinner that night I made a luscious roast chicken with some Maris Piper potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli, all purchased at the farmer’s market. The potatoes were of rock-star quality.

Roasted Maris Piper potatoes with garlic, truffle oil, and parmesan
1. Par-boil 4-5 small potatoes per person, drain water
2. Cut potatoes into small pieces and toss them with equal parts olive oil and truffle oil (I was making for 3 so used about 1 tbsp of each)
3. Finely chop 4 cloves of garlic (the more the merrier) and add to potatoes with ½ tsp sea salt
4. Cook potatoes in a pan under the roast chicken (so juices drips on top)
5. Stir frequently and cook until potatoes are of your crisp-level preference (even being par-broiled I had mine in the oven for nearly 1 ½ hours to get them perfectly browned)

Hidden Treasures
These cookies are very similar to a Mexican tea cookie. In fact, since I couldn't hunt down my grandmother's recipe I followed the one below from epicurious.com.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/105939

The main difference which provides the name "Hidden Treasure" is that inside the cookie you'll find a hidden luscious piece of chocolate. Historically this chocolate should be a Hershey's Kiss. Since these can't be found in the UK, I ended up using some Belgian praline chocolates that a friend had given me as a gift instead. Really, any chocolate will do. Next time, might give the cookies a go with some Buttons.

One word versus two

Coffeecake.

Coffee + Cake.

Last night I met LM for a special early screening of a popular chick flick that’s coming out in a few weeks time. In order to have a bit of time for the goss, we decided to meet earlier to catch up over some coffee and maybe cake. I’d told her I’d do one better…I would make some homemade coffeecake and bring it along.

This brings me to an interesting dichotomy (yet another) between food in the UK vs. food in the US. This time the difference is simple, Coffeecake versus Coffee + Cake.

In the UK, apparently only Coffee + Cake exists. Rummaging around the BBC food website I found no entries for Coffeecake and 5 for Coffee + Cake. The thing is, all of these recipes involved both cake and coffee in some way. Makes sense I guess, but for people who are familiar with Coffeecake (a lovely light cake often prepared with cinnamon and nuts but rarely with actual coffee as an ingredient), it was a complete 180 from what I'd been searching for (e.g. 10-minute cappuccino trifles was 1 of the 5 recipes that appeared).

Bringing the leftover cake into work today, I had this confirmed by at least half a dozen friends. Every single time someone asked what kind of cake it was I had to go into this drawn-out schpiel about how technically it was called Coffeecake, but please folks - don't expect a coffee taste...bladeeblahblah. Over and over again.

So, what I've learned is that Coffeecake, as it lives and breathes in the US doesn’t have an England stamp in it's passport. However, I'm proud to say that I'm educating the British public. There are now at least 6 British friends who can tell the 1 to 2 word difference.

Sour Cream and Apricot Coffee Cake (adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook)

2 sticks butter (225 grams)

2¾ granulated sugar

2 beaten eggs

2 cups flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

11/2 tsps vanilla extract

11/2 cups chopped pecans

2 tbs cinnamon

¾ cup apricot preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)

2. Grease a bundt or cake pan and dust with flour

3. Cream butter and 2 cups sugar. Add eggs and then sour cream and vanilla.

4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture.

5. In a separate bowl, combine remaining sugar, nuts, and cinnamon.

6. Pour half of batter into pan. Drop half of apricot preserves in spoonfuls around pan. Sprinkle half of sugar and pecan mixture on top.

7. Add remaining batter, remaining jam, and remaining sugar and nuts.

8. Place in middle of oven and bake for 60-70 minutes (check after 55). Tester should come out clean when inserted into middle.

Smooth landing

Having been in a holding pattern for the past few weeks due to both foreseeable and unforeseeable work-related reasons, I was able to come in for a smooth landing over the weekend. Friends forgave me for being completely MIA over the past month, the sun shone brightly and briskly over my London streets, I partook in some scrummy pink prosecco and pints of beer, caught up on my yoga, and was able to do some hard-core cooking.

I’d been on the fence about making either some gourmet mac 'n cheese or just some old-school spaghetti and meat sauce. Digging around my fridge I discovered I had nearly all the ingredients for both. Thinking that if I made one of them next week, some ingredients would protest at their misuse (or lack thereof) I squashed the imminent revolt and just made both.

So what if I currently have enough food in my kitchen to easily serve 15 people? That’s what my extraordinarily large freezer (for London) is for. Plus, ever the planner – having JB over for dinner tomorrow night and MBG over from NYC later in the week – I knew I needed to keep my friends well fed.

Now the chocolate toffee bars I made as a last minute addition are a different story. Why did I make them? I suppose the answer to that question is the very scientific 3rd grade response of, “well, why not?”

A side note about these brownies...
Growing up there was never a baked good far away and they often manifested themselves in a circular rotation. Chocolate brownies (the world famous ones mentioned in a previous entry), brown sugar brownies, dream bars, and toffee squares were the ones on repeat mode. This toffee square recipe comes from an old-school land-o-lakes butter recipe book that I think was purchased at Stop and Shop in the 80’s. They are still one of my all-time favourites.

I suppose having two older brothers scarf most of them up before I could even really get to them meant they didn’t do too much damage to my growth (unless you count the ridiculous amount of times I had to go to the dentist). I'll just chock that up to genetics.

Gourmet Mac and Cheese – Adapted from Foster’s Market Cookbook
Note: This is one of my all-time favourite cookbooks. Every recipe I've ever made from it has been absolutely delicious (and ridiculously fattening). There is a scientific correlation here.

1 lb (450 grams) orechiette, ziti or penne pasta (I used penne)
1 cup sour cream (I used crème fraiche)
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1 diced onion
1/3 cup flour
3 cups milk (I used semi-skim)
1 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
½ cup parmesan cheese
85 grams (3 oz) cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1 large bag spinach
½ cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 F or 176 C
2. Grease a 9 x 13 pan
3. Bake chicken on separate tray for 10 minutes until nearly cooked through, cut into pieces and set aside
4. While chicken is cooking, cook pasta and then toss with sour cream
5. Heat oil and butter in a large pot. Sauté onion for 2-4 minutes until translucent
6. Stir flour into onion, stirring constantly for approximately 3 minutes or until flour is brown
7. Slowly whisk milk and cook, stirring until it boils and thickens (about 5 mins)
8. Remove from heat and add cheddar, parmesan, cream cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice and chicken. Stir until spinach wilts
9. Add to pasta and sour cream with some salt and pepper to taste
10. Bake in dish (uncovered) for 40-45 minutes


Toffee Squares
http://www.landolakes.com/mealIdeas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=4368D

This is one of those rare recipes that I don’t switch up at all. Just be careful when making the toffee. One trick is to place a cold glass of water next to you. When you think it might be done use a fork and drop a tiny bit of the toffee into the cold water. If it solidifies into a ball it means it’s done. I've no idea when I was taught this, but for some strange reason it works.

Super Bowl Monday

Ex-Pat Pat’s Fan means Super Bowl Monday instead of Super Bowl Sunday

The fact of the matter is that if the New England Patriots hadn’t been playing in the Super Bowl then I probably wouldn’t have pushed ahead with this crazy idea of finding a friend to host a get-together which started at 11 p.m. As devastating, gut-wrenching and heart being ripped out (and stomped and spit on) the night turned out to be, one thing that managed a complete pass was my sweet and sticky wings.

The journey of making these wings really showcased some fundamental differences between what's "typical" and "normal" in grocery stores here versus in the US.

From previous experience of making wings in the States, the typical thing to do is buy a hefty bag of chicken wings (usually of the 5 lb bag variety) to start your recipe off right. I didn’t really expect to find this in my local supermarket, but at least I'd find the not unusual 8-10 piece package.

So off I go, sporting my Boston Red Sox hat to start getting me excited for some good American sports watching. When I arrive at the chicken section, low and behold chicken wings only come in the organic variety (which ok, probably is a good thing and worth the extra money) but they also only come 4 per package. 4 dinkily winkily organic chicken wings per package. Utterly ridiculous.

Since there were only 2 packages on the shelf I had to ask for more. “How many more?” the guy asked. “Um, maybe 8 in total, so 6 more.” He said "Oh wow, you must be hungry!" Hardy har har buddy. Was it so unbelievably strange to think people might bring chicken wings to a party? Apparently so since the only package they were offering catered to a yuppie organic-loving party of 1.

Anyway, I didn't really care. I took my 8 packages of chicken wings to the til, alongside my organic yogurt, granola, and beet greens and paid.

These wings were gone (to quote Chuck Woolery) "in 2 and 2".

NOTE: The second image above would be displaying the fine attempt by some friends to make nachos. No, that Doritos bag did not randomly end up in the photo - they are the foundation for the delightful dish. Brits really need to work on their Mexican food.

Sweet and Sticky Chicken Wings
5-8 lbs chicken wings
1 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup apricot preserves
3/4 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbl chopped ginger
5 scallions sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup sesame seeds

2 large roasting pans

Place chicken wings in a large plastic container or ziploc bag.
Purée all ingredients except sesame seeds and pour mixture over wings.
Marinate overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Divide wings between 2 large pans, in a single layer.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of wings.
Bake wings in upper and lower thirds of oven 45 minutes.
Turn wings over, sprinkle sesame seeds again and switch position of pans in oven.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour more. Wings should caramelise and almost look burnt.

Sour Cherry and White Chocolate Muffins

When it’s time for a good old-fashioned girly catch-up session over brunch at my flat, it also means it’s time to dust off my muffin tins…or to be more precise…vigorously dust them with butter and flour.

The following recipe was perfect for a lazy Saturday with KS, which included 2.5 hours of eating, a good dose of banter, a dash of career/life coaching, and a booked flight to Iceland for the first bank holiday in May (can we say Harðfiskur, anyone?).

I had plenty of time to sleep in, mosey on to the grocery store, and make the muffins – all with time to cram in an Economist article or two - before her 11:30 am arrival.

These sour cherry and white chocolate muffins are ridiculously easy – they don’t even require a hand mixer. It's a pretty basic muffin recipe - not complex at all. It's the perfect canvas to the tartness of the cherries and the sweetness of the chocolate.

Additional recommendations (please know that it goes without saying that the following are not additions to the cherries and white chocolate but in lieu of them)!

-Dill and cheddar folded in at the end

-Smashed banana and toffee bits folded in at the end

-Apricot and/or rhubarb preserve dollop in the middle of the batter (pour half of batter into prepared tin, place a big scoop of preserves and top with the rest of the batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F° or 190 C°
2. Butter and flour a 12 cup muffin tin
3. Mix 2 cups flower, ½ tsp salt, 1 ½ tsps baking powder, ¼ cup packed brown sugar – set aside 4. In a separate bowl, beat 2 eggs
5. Add ½ cup (113 g) melted butter and 1 cup whole milk to eggs
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter/egg mixture
7. Fold in ¾ cup dried sour cherries and ½ white chocolate chips
8. Pour into prepared muffin tin and bake for 24-26 minutes

Sugar, Spice, and a whole lot of butter

It’s nearly Christmas when:

1. I’m obsessing about every little gift I plan on giving.

2. I’m annoyingly humming Christmas Carols during 75% of my waking hours.

3. JT may have brought sexy back, but I'm bringing Rudolph back with a bloody cold that's 2 Legit 2 Quit.

4. I’ve a penchant for all things sparkly, and am magnetically drawn to clothes in red, green and gold. If it’s combined all in one gorgeous frock, cheers to that.

AND

5. I start breaking out sticks of butter with wanton abandon, far too many cups of sugar, and excessive amounts of chocolate that would even make Mr. Hershey blush. Then, I bake.

Dark Chocolate-Chunk Shortbread: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2007/12/12/chocolate_chunk_shortbread/
I followed the recipe I found in this week’s Boston Globe. I had some lovely Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate so used that in lieu of their recommendation. My taste buds are only at about 75% due to the cold, but danggit - it smells unbelievable in my kitchen at the moment. It's all about the butter.

Cranberry Coffee Cake - based on: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/107775

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt1 stick

(1/2 cup - 113 g) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup whole milk

I also added 1/2 cup pecan pieces and 1 tsp cinnamon.

- Pulse cranberries with 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a food processor until finely chopped (do not purée). Transfer to a sieve and let drain while making batter.

- Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

- Beat together butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes.

- Add eggs, then vanilla.

- Add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing until just incorporated. Add pecans.

- Spread one third of batter in well-buttered loaf pan, then spoon half of drained cranberries evenly over batter. Top with another third of batter and remaining cranberries.

- Bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a tester inserted in center comes out without crumbs, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

- Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes.

- Serve warm or at room temperature.

Apple Pie

There were some residual effects this week of not having hosted/attended a proper Thanksgiving meal and they manifested themselves in the form of an apple pie.

The reality was that I was looking for any excuse to make one, but with FM away and my weekend plans including nights and days out instead of in, I wasn’t exactly sure who I’d be making this pie for. All well in good to make it just for me, but we’re now in December - a month of way too much holiday cheer wrapped around martinis, night’s out, bottles of wine, Christmas cookies, and Pret a Manger’s Christmas Lunch seasonal sandwiches. I certainly didn't need a personal apple pie sitting in my flat. Luckily, I was able to get the apple pie out of my system (and flat) by heading over to RL’s parents for dinner Friday night.

To tell the truth, I'd not actually made an apple pie before. Shocking I know, but similar to the strawberry rhubarb pie I made a few months back, the apple pie was always something that I might help make, but never owned. I was always delegated the somewhat more random desserts like chocolate caramelised pecan pie or the double key lime coconut pie. Like many of my desserts I made a bit of it up as I went along, and I’ve noted them as optional in the recipe below:

Pie crust: See August’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe

Filling:
10 Granny smith apples, peeled and cut into small pieces
¾ Cup brown sugar
¾ Cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
¼ Cup lemon juice
½ Jar fruit preserves (I used orange, but apricot would work well)
½ Cup chopped dried apricots (optional)
¼ Cup dried cranberries (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 10 minutes. Taste, and add more sugar/cinnamon until it’s not too sweet or not too tart (unless of course, you prefer it more one way than the other). I err on the tart side so always start out using a bit less sugar.
2. Role out half of dough and place fruit inside
3. Cover with remaining dough and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar
4. Bake for 1 hour at 175 C or 350 F.
5. Let cool for at least 30 minutes

At RL's parent's house they served the pie with cream. Personally I opted to go without. The pie wasn't the most beautiful dessert I'd ever created, partly due to schlepping it on the tube and through the pouring rain for 45 minutes, but it was really delicious. The apple filling on it's own was amazing, and in an attempt to make this a bit healthier you could skip out on the crust and just cook the apples in a baking dish with a bit of granola on top for texture.

A British Thanksgiving (of sorts)

I made an effort, albeit a small one – to celebrate my favourite state-side holiday here in London. On the official Turkey Day I didn’t actually get home from work until 9 p.m. so my plan was to do something small over the weekend instead.

After a raucous weekend in Horsham, Sunday night found me stuffing a chicken (a turkey seemed a bit excessive for 3-4 people) mashing potatoes (a “lighter” recipe than my typical garlic cream and cheddar cheese ones), steaming broccoli and serving up a fresh batch of my world-famous brownies (yes they were once shipped to my brother in Finland where it was claimed that they were the “best brownies ever”).

Herein was a simple meal (perhaps one of my favourites) that I was making for some dear friends which yes, I am very thankful for. Like the brownies as well, the stuffing is an old family recipe. On paper it looks and sounds a bit strange. However, for one reason or another the stuffing is quite simply ridiculously good. It could arguably be the most revered and loved family recipe my clan posesses. I’ve even been jokingly accused of putting illegal substances in it which makes it addictive. While I can promise that I don’t – I do have to admit that technically I “smuggled” the main ingredient over from the States.

It’s important here to repeat – the recipe looks and sounds strange. You will wonder if I’ve left out half a dozen ingredients. You will think of jello molds, and dishes made in the 70s called tuna pea wiggle. I promise, if you approach with an open mind – you will love it. Everyone does (recent guests from Sunday night included).

C-B Family Stuffing
(This was enough for about 6 servings).

1 box of Ritz crackers (4 sachets)
1 large carrot
3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ large onion
2 Tbsp butter

Put the crackers through a food processor until fine meal forms. Or in the instance that you don’t have a proper food processor, but like me have a "mini chopper" that looks like it should be sitting in my niece's doll-house, put the crackers in the mini chopper in 8 (Yes, EIGHT!) rotations to get them all ground up. Remove and place in a large bowl.

Add onion, garlic, and carrot and finely grind. Add to crackers.

Melt butter and add to crackers/onion mixture. Stir and add a little water, a tbsp at a time, if it is still dry. Note: sometimes I grind a bit more carrots and onions and add to the mix if it seems too “crackery”.

If you are making a whole chicken or turkey, stuff inside the bird and underneath the skin of the breasts. An easier, week-night variation would be to buy boneless chicken breasts, with the skin on -and place the stuffing under the skin on the meat.

Note: Here in London they sell boneless chicken breast with the skin on. In the States you’ll have to ask for it special. If you take a package of chicken breasts with the bone/skin to the butcher’s counter they’ll typically take the bones out for you.

The brownies that I made that night are also a family recipe. Whenever people who don’t know me ask if I eat store bought baked goods, I always tell them no – I much prefer homemade and why buy the pre-packaged store bought stuff when it’s just so insanely easy to make simple things from scratch? The recipe, more than any other in my permanent repertoire, exemplifies this.

A funny thing about these brownies though...at present there is a bit of a family debate over who whips these brownies up in the best and tastiest fashion. Originally a race between my mother and myself, my brother recently followed the straight-up easy to follow recipe and declared that his batch was the “best batch ever”.

Note to brother: Highly unlikely, and may I remind you that you once rang me (from another country) and asked me how to make a baked potato. I won’t even get into the story of when you also called me for instructions on how to make mashed potatoes. An individual who makes these types of calls can not be the current family brownie-making champion.

Now, every good girl needs a few secrets...and as such will hold on to this brownie recipe for the time being...it might yet be an idea to still bring it to the mass market. :-)

Getting my fix

Like a ten year old who’s had his sweets taken away or the world champion food-eating winner Joey Chestnut being told he can’t have any more hot dogs, it’s been a painful few weeks of having one of my favourite treats taken away. The plain and simple truth was that while I’d been having a fabulous time travelling around and entertaining overseas friends, I was also starting to slowly go through a somewhat painful withdrawal of not being in my kitchen. I needed a fix and I needed it bad. With my creative juices flowing, my cupboards no longer empty; last Sunday I scheduled an evening of Dana cooking time. Like any junkie, I knew it wouldn’t necessarily take much, and by the end of the evening I was most definitely back on track.

Definitely not to be eaten together - I ended up making two things that night. The first was a homemade granola and the second the most random lasagne. I'd like to say the most random one over, but there was that one time I made one with polenta instead of pasta...not something I'd recommend!

The first item was in an attempt to have a healthy and somewhat sweet snack hanging around my flat and the second was to try and make something that I could both enjoy for a few days and then freeze for later consumption on those “school” nights when I get home too late to cook much more than a bowl of Kellogg's Special K.

Maple Pecan Granola with Dried Cranberries:

- Nonstick oil spray
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 165°C (325°F).
Coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Stir 1/2 cup sugar and maple syrup in small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves.
Pour into large bowl; cool to lukewarm.
Whisk in egg whites, vanilla, and spices.
Add oats, pcans, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar.
Spread mixture in even layer on prepared sheet.
Bake 35 minutes.
Turn granola over (bottom will be brown). Bake 10 more minutes.
Sprinkle cranberries over; bake until dry, about 15 minutes more.
Cool granola completely in pan.

Granola stores well in tupperware (it's been over a week so far and it's still D-lish)!

Butternut Squash, Mushroom, and Spinach Lasagne:

1 onion, diced
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
3 cups butternut squash, diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 bag washed spinach
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk (I used semi-skimmed-2% and you could not tell the difference)
10-14 non-cook lasagne pieces
1/2 cup mascarpone
parmesan

Filling:
Cook chopped onion in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and butternut squash, 3 cloves garlic, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is just tender, about 15 - 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

In a separate pan, sauté spinach with a bit of olive oil until cooked down. Set aside.

Béchamel:
Note: This might be a bit tastier made with whole milk and butter (instead of olive oil) and I'd recommend it if you don't have a love/hate relationship with dairy, like me. I was trying to be a bit healthier (for a change) and opted for the olive oil and semi-skim milk.

Cook remaining garlic in olive oil in a medium saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, 1 minute.
Whisk in flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes.
Add milk in a stream, whisking.
Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 10 minutes.
Whisk in salt and white pepper and remove from heat.

Assembly required:
Preheat oven to 220C (425 F)
Spread 1/2 cup sauce in an olive oil greased baking dish, cover with 2-4 pasta sheets, leaving spaces between sheets.
Spread with 2/3 cup sauce and one third of filling, then sprinkle with a 1/3 of the mascarpone and a bit of parmesan.
Repeat layering 2 more times, beginning with pasta sheets and ending with cheese.
Top with remaining 3 pasta sheets, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil and bake for about 25-35 minutes.
Remove foil and bake until golden-brown and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes more (I always take it out after the corners are crispy....my favourite bit)!
Let lasagne stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

Easy as Pie

“Easy as Pie” is a saying I’ve always attributed to meaning easy peasy or a cinch. Ironically, making a great pie isn’t really that easy. Unless of course your idea of good pastry crust is made from the frozen crap that’s found in your supermarket's local freezer section. If so, then yes, “easy as pie” makes complete sense. However, I think the phrase is referring to how easy it is to eat…now that’s something I can effortlessly understand.

The truth is - making a pastry crust that’s not too dry and getting the fruit so that both tart and sweet harmonize together, is both an art and science. Even more daunting than trying to be a culinary chemist however, was that I was making my mother’s pie recipe. I’ve made many a pie in my day and they’ve typically turned out quite well (key lime and coconut being the best). However, the only time I’d ever made my mother’s pie recipe when I was in close proximity to the recipe owner. It just never dawned on me to make her pie away from her kitchen. The psychologist in me could probably psycho-analyse this for a good while yet - but let's cut to the chase...

When referring to a pie here in the UK, typical thoughts centre on savory dishes. To my fellow Yanks – just imagine every time you ordered pie you were served Chicken Pot Pie, or something similar. On a few different occasions when I mentioned to some British friends that I was making a pie, the conversations all unfolded in the same exact manner:

Dana: "I’m making a pie."

British friends: "What kind of pie?"

Dana: "Strawberry rhubarb."

British friends: "Oh, you mean you are making a crumble?"

Dana: "No, I’m making a pie."

British friends: (With look of confusion on their faces) "I don’t get it."

Dana: Ever see the movie American Pie? Watch reruns of Bev Hills 90210 when they went to the Peach Pit? That kind of pie.

My pie baking, balcony doors open, and late summer breeze combined together to create the most wonderful smell which wafted beyond the borders of my flat. As it baked, I sat on my balcony doing a bit of work when I surprisingly heard a “Hey, you. You with the laptop! I’ve no idea what you are cooking but it smells amazing!”

Wow - I was surprised by that, and I seriously had no idea how it was going to turn out but it really did smell great. I was like the PIE-d Piper of Buckler Court luring my neighbors in with my baking scent. So much so that I think I've discovered a new money making scheme and hit for the women's fragrance industry. Eau de strawberry rhubarb pie - "one sniff and you'll have them eating out of your hands."

Interesting thought....

It could work. Really it could.

I'll keep you posted.

Pie Crust:
- 1 cup vegetable shortening (some people smuggle luxury goods in their luggage, Dana smuggles Crisco vegetable shortening from the States)
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 2 cups (about) flour
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- pinch of salt

1. Whisk shortening and boiling water together until it has the consistency of loose whipped cream (may need a bit more water)
2. Add flour and orange juice until mixed thoroughly
3. Chill dough for a few hours and then role between two pieces of parchment paper

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
4-6 stalks of rhubarb cut up
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange peel
Tapioca to thicken (I couldn't find tapioca in the markets here so used 1/4 cup of corn flour instead and it worked fine)
2 pints strawberries, washed and cut in half.

1. Cook rhubarb with everything but strawberries for about 15 minutes or until rhubarb is tender and has thickened
2. Mix with strawberries
3. Role out half of dough and place fruit inside
4. Cover with remaining dough and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (you can do the fandangled lattice top like in the photo, but you could just ongepotchket it together and slap it on top in one piece)

5. Bake for 45 minutes at 175 C or 350 F.

LPR Bars

Sometimes I think the concoctions that come out of my oven are a direct result of a weekly fridge cleanout. For nearly two weeks I have had a bunch of lemons sitting and waiting to be made into either some sort of baked good or to nobly get sliced and diced as an accoutrement to a vodka tonic. Sadly, neither has taken place recently so I figured the Bank Holiday Monday was a good opportunity to do both. In the process of making my lemon squares I came across some passionruit and raspberries that were also longingly asking to be put to some good use. As my Yoga teacher states at the end of my weekly sessions, “With all that hard work, now is the time to let the new fresh energy back into our systems.” I think I’d like to adapt that to my fridge, “With all that hard work (not that hard when drinking a V&T ), now is the time to let the new fresh food from my Bank Holiday trip to Whole Foods into my now empty fridge.”

The creation of these lemon bars made me realise just how desperate I am for a food processor.

I had promised myself that my first big purchase in London would be this culinary gift from above. It’s been 5 months and I still haven’t bought it. Why you might ask? Good question.

The fact that I have food stored behind our living room couch gives a sneak peak at the lack of kitchen space at 168 Buckler Court. Luxuries like food processors are going to have to wait unless I want my Choos set aside and plan to store my kitchen appliances in my bedroom.

Ironically, the sad story here is that for the past week 75% of my clothes have been cooling out in my lounge/kitchen area. The pathetic tale here involves a broken wardrobe, piles of hangers, a lot of cursing, and a fix-it man who refuses to fix anything (and even made me get up at 8:30 on Saturday morning to NOT show up).

Ok, so yeah – instead of the food processor I used this archaic tool known as hands…had to knead and work the butter until it resembled fine meal and started to stick together. The crust definitely could have benefited from one or two more on and off turns in the food processor. Alas, it was not meant to be.

LPR (Lemon, Passionfruit, and Raspberry) Bars

Crust

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup toasted coconut

85 grams (3/4 stick) chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Topping

1 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Juice and pulp from 2 Passionfruit
¼ cup muddled raspberries
1 tbsp (packed) finely grated lemon peel

¼ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

For crust:

- Preheat oven to 185°C (350°F).
- Butter a metal baking pan.
- Combine flour, sugar, and salt and then add coconut and butter – work through with hands until -dough begins to stick together.
- Press into pan and bake until golden about 20 minutes.

Topping:

- Combine sugar, eggs, lemon juice, Passionfruit, raspberries, lemon peel, flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl and whisk until smooth and mixed thoroughly.
- Pour filling evenly over hot crust.
- Return to oven and bake until filling begins to brown at edges and is cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Cool bars.
- Sift powdered sugar over if serving to guests or if you like your LPR Bars sweeter rather then tarter. Personally, I prefer a bit of apucker.

Dins Party - Take 1

My brief 2 week hiatus is a result of that thing called work. I’ve recently started a new project and low and behold it’s sunk its dysfunctional claws in quicker than I would have liked. This has resulted in many a night of scrummy sandwiches (not), glorious bowls of cereal (hardly), and on the off occasion, just a pint and/or a piece of cake for dins…pretty much the utmost in unhealthy.

That said, a week ago last Sunday I felt myself jonesing for a little old-school dinner party… or more accurately some really good home-cooked food. Seeing as this generally requires me to do the cooking, FM and I invited a few of her LBS friends over – I was just happy to have some people to cook for! Plus I was looking to do a bit of career questioning whilst seeing if I could get some good blackmail gossip on BRO1.

That Sunday morning found FM and I having a cosy roomie day of plant (we named her Louda), bin* and grocery shopping. It was another day of crap weather, but lovely in that it was nice to feel like I was ticking off a bit of the domesticated chores I’d been procrastinating doing – it was sparkling in 168 Buckler Court by mid-day!

Le menu:

1. The C-B family recipe for Grandpa Cook’s pork
When people ask if I’m very religious I like to explain that one of my grandpa’s favourite dishes, made by my grandma (both Jewish), was this pork filet dish. So, yeah – um not really when it comes to the whole kosher thing.

2. Courgette fritters with a home-made yogurt garlic dipping sauce

3. Salad – courtesy of FM (two thumbs up on the lettuce, cucumbers and feta)

Grandpa Cook’s Pork - Looks like (and is) a higgildy piggildy assortment of ingredients, but it tastes like a gem. Even better the next day.

1-2 Pork Filets (That’s Fill-its not Fill-ays and also known as Pork Tenderloin for you Yanks)
2 tsps minced ginger
2 tsps minced garlic
¼ cup ketchup
¾ cup red wine
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup water
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp cornstarch

- Mix all ingredients except for corn starch and marinate pork for a few hours.

- Preheat oven to 190 C or 375 F

- Pour marinade into a medium size sauce pan. Take a bit of the liquid and vigorously mix with the cornstarch and add to sauce pan to thicken and make a roux.

- Cook pork for about 30 minutes or until just a bit pink in the middle.

- Serve pork with sauce on top



Courgette Fritters with Yogurt Sauce - Adapted from Bill Granger’s cook book Bill's Food

500g (1 lb 2 oz) courgette (zucchini), grated
1/2 tsp sea salt
8 spring onions, chopped
125g (4.5 oz) feta, crumbled
35g (1/2 cup) chopped coriander (cilantro) - Note: Bill's recipe suggests parsley, but Dana suggests cilantro - your choice
15g (1/4 cup) chopped mint
2 eggs, beaten
60g (1/2 cup) flour
Sea salt and pepper to taste
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil for frying

- Put the courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 30 min (Didn’t read the recipe ahead and was a bit squeezed for time so only allowed about 15 minutes – it was fine). Squeeze out any excess liquid and pat dry with paper towel.

- Mix everything in a huge bowl, then heat the oil in a pan and add tablespoonfuls of the batter, flattening them with the back of the spoon. Fry for about 3 min on each side (or until golden).


Yogurt Sauce

1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
125g (1/2 cup) plain yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
Sea salt
Black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve with fritters.
(This yogurt sauce is also amazing with fish or chicken)


*Bin = Garbage can. At £50 ($100) I almost died, but hey nothing but the best in garbage cans for FM and me.

Greengage upside-down cake

Certainly someone could have come up with a better name than “greengage”!? Finicky to grow, the greengage fruit is of the plum family and rarely found in the US (select farmer’s markets have them in the summer) and available in some UK supermarkets for a few weeks as well. Originating in France, the greengage is a pale greenish and slightly tart plum. I first happened upon them last week when I opened my front door to a surprise package. A friend had left a whole bag from his parent’s back garden at my doorstep. Apparently the greengage is typically used to make jam and not much more, and as my friend mentioned - no one is his family has successfully baked anything wonderful with the greengage. My mission, if I chose to accept, was to make something "wonderful".

Firstly, I tasted them on their own to see what I was up against. Quite nice I must admit – tarter than the average plum – and a nice little summer shnack. I first looked around for greengage recipes online - um yeah, didn’t find too many of those. Alternatively, I decided to doctor-up a plum recipe, keep my fingers crossed, and hope for the best.

On epicurious.com I found a recipe for a plum upside-down cake. Whilst I used this recipe as a baseline there are a few alterations below which I’ve bolded.

Greengage upside down cake
2/3 cup brown sugar
140 grams (about 10 Tbsp) butter
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Honey
1 dozen greengages, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 wedges
1/4 cup blueberries (coolin’ out in my fridge so figured, why not)?
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).

- Stir 4 tablespoons butter, brown sugar and maple syrup in pan over low heat everything is melted and a smooth sauce forms.

- Transfer to 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides and arrange plums in overlapping circles atop sauce. (I started out making some fancy design and then realised is was going to be a disaster…stick with the circles)

- Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt

- Beat the rest of the butter in large bowl until light. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla extract.

- Combine sour cream and buttermilk.

- Add dry ingredients alternating with wet ingredients to butter/sugar/egg mixture, until combined. Spoon batter evenly over plums.

- Bake cake until golden and tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool in pan 30 minutes (don’t be tempted to skip this step – have patience)!

- Using knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Place platter atop cake pan. Invert cake; Voila!

Note: The epicurious recipe calls for serving it with whipped cream. I didn't think this was necessary, if you make it don't add much sugar as the cake is particularly sweet.

10 for £1

There are very few bargains to be had in the city of London. Mercer recently ranked London as the second most expensive city in the world to live (up from #5 last year). Consider such facts like not using an Oyster* card to travel on London’s underground; to simply go from one Zone 1 stop to another Zone 1 stop (even if they are right next to each other) it would cost a whopping £4 ($8).

As a result, I’ve had to somewhat curb my life’s motto of “good food is the one thing I will always spend money on.” When a pint of strawberries is often £3.99 (8 bucks) and an “inexpensive” meal out is £15-£20 ($30-$40) it’s no surprise I sometimes have to do a double take on the tiny piece of camembert with black truffles from piedmont (£7.99 -$15) and put it back on the shelf (tear).

Which is why I was somewhat surprised by the cheap-o bananas I bought just outside my flat last Saturday night. A man had set up a makeshift stand outside of his 24 hour off-license*. It was about midnight and amongst other things, he was also selling 10 bananas for £1. Not 8 and not 12. You had to purchase exactly 10. Seeing as I don’t have a family of monkeys living with me (usually), I knew some of the bananas would go bad. Hey, it was a risk I was willing to take – plus they were cheap!

Today (6 days after the banana purchase) I came back to London after my last week in Warrington. I had 7 bananas still sitting on my counter. Not rotten like I had half expected but perfectly ripe for baking. I couldn’t waste them.

Caramelised Banana Bread

I’ve only once caramelised bananas before - and they were for a chocolate tart, so this was a bit of an experiment for me. The main difference I noticed was that the banana bread seemed moister than usual, which to me is always a good thing!

6 ripe bananas
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp butter, broken into little pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
1 and 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 stick - 113 grams butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sour cream
Pecans

Grease a loaf pan with butter and flour
Preheat oven to 180 Celsius or 356 Fahrenheit

Make the caramelised bananas:
Slice bananas about ¼ inch thick and place in oven safe dish
Mix with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and cook in oven for about 20 minutes or until liquid forms around bananas and they are “puffy” looking
Set aside

Make the banana bread:
In a small bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a larger bowl beat butter and sugars together
Add eggs and vanilla to butter/sugar mixure
Mix in the sour cream and flour mixture alternating in two parts each.
Fold in caramelised bananas
Pour into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with pecans on top
Bake in the oven for about 35-45 minutes or until tester in middle comes out clean. Note: I didn’t think it was going to take this long and it may have been due to my oven. Keep an eye on the banana bread. If it starts to brown on top but isn’t quite done yet, simply place a piece of aluminium foil on top of it until it's cooked through


*Oyster Card - An electronic ticketing card for the London underground – supposedly it makes things easier for the people that run the underground. As a result, you get “discounted” fares if you use it. I read recently 80% of travellers have one. Considering the price without, I’m surprised it’s not even higher!

*Off-license – convenience store that sells booze

Coconut lemon shortcake with muddled balsamic berries

After Bubba's I treated RL to some delicious shortcake. Not to toot my own horn, but it turned out really well. While really yum, it was also quite heavy. Make sure you have a light meal before hand or better yet, just wait until much later in the day when you can whole heartedly pig out.

Coconut lemon shortcake with lemon whipped cream and muddled balsamic berries

To make the shortcake:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
115 grams (1/2 cup) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp lemon rind
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F).
Line baking sheet with parchment paper
Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl
Add butter and rub with fingertips until well blended
Add coconut milk, lemon peel and egg together in small bowl
Add wet mixture to dry until smooth dough forms
Put some flour on the parchment paper and flatten dough out
You want the biscuits about 2-3 inches wide so find a glass that has a similar diameter and use that to cut the dough in circles (it should make about 7-10 and they should be about 3/4 inch thick)
Space them out on the baking sheet and bake them for about 15 minutes or until they are lightly browned on the bottom
Cool. (You can reheat if you want when it's time to serve)


To make the lemon whipped cream:

1 cup double cream (heavy or whipping cream)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4-1/3 cup sugar
Dash vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients with an electric mixer until whipped cream consistency forms

To make muddled balsamic berries:

1 pint fresh blueberries
1 pint fresh strawberries
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsps sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Mix all 5 ingredients together.
Remove half of berry mixture to another bowl and muddle with the back of a spoon releasing the juices from the berries...don't release too much anger on them - keep them slightly intact!
Combine berries back into one bowl again and let sit for 20-30 minutes

Assemble!
Cut shortcake in half, cut side up
Add a big dollop of the lemon cream on top
Add a big scoop of berries and juice on top of cream
Top with top-half of shortcake

Hummus Pizza

Tonight I spent my second Thursday night ever here in Work-ington as I'm flying straight to Barcelona with a few of the WBQ crew tomorrow (yahoo to my first weekend away as a real Londoner)!

Since it's been a bit gloomy and raining, the plan was pizza and cards this evening. So while the others debated over Dominos vs. Papa John's (Papa John's winning out only to end up NOT getting delivered) - I made my favourite home-made pizza. Pizza as good as this (if I do say so myself) makes it ok to peer out of my corporate flat and see a highway, half a dozen smoke stacks, and some dodgy characters most likely doing unsavoury things near by. Viva la Work-ington!

Hummos Pizza

The thing with this pizza is that when you describe it to people they sort of pull a face and usually respond with something along the lines of “that sounds interesting”. Made best when assembled and cooked in the pizza ovens of the “Pizza Stand” in Weirs Beach, NH, it was still a success here in Work-ington, England.

1 pizza base
1 onion, sliced thinly
1tsp sugar
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
1/3 -2/3 cup hummus
1 courgette*
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ garlic powder
As much or as little feta cheese as you like (I think I used about ¼ cup)

1. Preheat oven to 220 Celsius or 428ish Fahrenheit

2. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium-low heat

3. Add sliced onion and 1 tsp of sugar and caramelise onions – you may be tempted to lose patience and turn the heat up on the onions, resulting in fried onions. While tasty in their own right – that’s not what we’re going for here! Relax, crack open a bottle of wine…and slowly cook the onions until they are lightly browned - make sure you stir frequently. (Personally I like them a bit well done, but that’s up to you – remember they will cook a bit more in the oven)

4. While the onions are cooking prepare the courgette. Note: I’ve also used broccoli on occasion and it’s equally tasty

5. Ok, so the chef in me would take you though the fancy shmancy way of preparing the veg – however, I’m going to instruct “straight-up” – exactly how I prepared….Slice the courgette thinly to start.

6. Place in microwavable bowl with 1 tsp olive oil, garlic clove, water, lemon juice and garlic powder. Cook in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes. Put aside

7. To prepare the pizza crust, take a dash of olive oil and spread on the base. On top spread the hummus as thickly or as thinly as you’d like – I usually spread about an 1/8 of an inch thick

8. Place onions on top, then courgette, and then sprinkle feta on the tipity-top of everything else

9. Cook in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes or until it’s to your crispiness preference

* Courgette = Zucchini (Why the American’s adopted the Italian word and not the French word I don’t understand?)