Heaven: Lat: 42.9982 / Lon: 11.0000

Heaven comes with views of rolling vineyards and a welcome glass of Prosecco

Tuscan antipasti - followed by home-made gnocchi with truffled duck 

Breakfast of champions.  Only thing missing from the photo? The homemade mozzarella they served us as well

3 litres of some kick-ass olive oil

Olive oil, yogurt, lime and eggs

Simple, super tasty, and (shock!) - HEALTHY!

This cake is sticking the bird up to butter

I truly believe everyone has a spot (or maybe even two) where they feel completely and utterly at peace...their own personal little 'heaven on earth.' Mine, very scientifically, can be found at Latitude: 42.9982, Longitude: 11.00000 (very useful information when you've no clue where you are going in your rented Citroen).

Also, known as the Conti di San Bonifacio Wine Resort, in a leap of utter spontaneity I booked a flight (air miles) to Pisa and 2 nights at the resort at 10:30 p.m a few Monday nights ago. Flight departure? 9:05 am the next day.  That gave me approximately 7 hours to pack/ prep/ sleep.  That pre-holiday grooming we all get up to? Yeah, that didn't happen until I got to Italy.

Landing in Pisa, AK and I picked up our car and drove south along the coast, heading in the direction of Rome to a wee place called Ribolla (side note: at one of our many points of being lost we were able to recall where we were located by remembering that our 'town' rhymed with Ebola - nice, right)?

While on a superficial level there didn't appear to be anything particularly extraordinary about the southern tuscany region of Maremma (rolling hills, vineyards, etc.), all I knew was how it made me feel - absolutely wonderful. Tranquil surroundings, stunning scenery, perfect weather, and an amazing place to stay, swim, drink and eat.

During the day, when we weren't by the sea, napping in the sun, or swimming in the pool overlooking the vineyards, we did some winery exploration.  In addition to the bottles of wine I smuggled back in my suitcase, AK and I also managed to find the most delicious olive oil (made and sold at one of the vineyards).  Only available in 3 or 10 litres, I knew this bad boy needed to come home with me - I was seriously tempted to ask the woman working there to turn her back so I could neck the sample bottle she'd taken out for us to try.  So full of flavour and with both a spicy and fruity edge, I was already brainstorming how I might be able to incorporate the olive oil into some baking.

What resulted from a bit of a think and a chat with Mama Cupcakes was the Lime, Olive Oil, Yogurt cake in the above photos.  Is it the most amazing cake I've ever made? nah, but it's not really meant to be.  Like my visit, the cake is simple and straightforward, the flavours are interesting and compliment each other extrememly well....and like I've mentioned, in terms of desserts / cakes etc...except for my addition of a wee bit of toasted coconut on top, it's pretty dang healthy too.  Which perhaps allows me to justify eating nearly half of it in nearly 24 hours?  Hmmm...

1. Mix together: 1/3 cup good olive oil, 3/4 cup greek yogurt (I used 2% fat), juice and peel of two limes, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs
2. Sift 1 and 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and add to 'wet' ingredients
3. Bake at 180 C for about 35 minutes or until lightly browned on top (I used a spring form pan, greased with a little olive oil) but imagine a loaf / muffin tin could work as well...just check on the timing
4. Once out of the oven I mixed a little confectionary sugar with a bit more lime juice and brushed the glaze on top
5. (Optional) I toasted some coconut and covered the top of the cake - a nice little addition

"Club Tropicana, cakes are free. Fun and sunshine, there's enough for everyone!"

So in my last blog entry I mentioned giving some tangy lemon bars a go. Using one of my favourite cookbook's out there: The Foster's Market Cookbook: Favorite Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night I pulled out Sara Foster's lemon bar recipe and proceeded to NOT read the recipe through in it's entirety. Read on.

The first thing that struck me when perusing the recipe was the butter quantity.  Calling for 4.5 sticks (approx. 500 grams) of butter, I knew immediately I was going to reduce this.  I mean seriously, how could there possibly be so much just in the crust? I had visions of eating one and having butter coming out of my pores.  Definitely not a good look! So, even though one of the reasons that I love this cookbook is because everything is done with butter and cream abandon, I had to draw the line. Remember, I'm still reeling from my cupcake a day fix. 

Now, what I had missed when skimming the recipe is that unlike 'normal' recipes that you'd throw into an 11x9 inch pan - this recipe called for a 17x12 inch one - which I don't even own (Note: Search Amazon Kitchen/Housewares for one later).  So, ever the improvisor - I filled my 11x9 inch pan and then created about 20 of these 'lemon bar cupcakes'.  I baked the crust and the lemon filling in exactly the same way as the bars (only for slightly less time) and then whipped up a quick mascarpone whipped cream for the top.  Falling into perfect order, I had planned on making some lemony or limey cupcakes for May's Guilty Pleasures, which was themed 'Club Tropicana'.  So while not a conventional 'cupcake', they still worked a treat - especially with some paper umbrellas added for good measure.

Adapted from Sara Foster's recipe for lemon bars with blueberries.

I'm back...Relaxed, Blond, and Breathing

It's been a while. A long long while.  Legitimate excuses in no particular order:

1. Surprise surgery. Thinking that I was destined to have the permanent nickname of 'snotty' (we should all have such wonderful friends, thanks KC) - at the end of March I realised that my permanent sinus infection / cold / allergies were actually the result of some not so nice 'stuff' in my sinuses and nose.  We'll leave it there...presumably you are reading this blog because you enjoy eating...not the drama of my nose growths.

2. My sense of smell, or lack thereof (see item 1 above).  Now typically I have a nose of a bloodhound - I can smell someone eating chocolate in the front of a plane when I'm sat in the back next to the stinky toilet.

I had no concept of how bad my non existent sense of smell was until three days after my surgery.  In the shower I had a "HOLY SH!T" moment. My unscented shampoo I'd been using for nearly 2 months - smelled like a tropical coconut explosion.  Who knew? Clearly this lack of smell made my cooking desire wane a bit as well.

3. Resignation. Right before I found out I had to have surgery I resigned (after nearly 7 years) with Accenture.  I had a month of happy days, however filled with wrapping up work, planning surgery, and entertaining visitors.

4. A travelling food coma.  Yes, that's right people - I've been in a coma - unable to write for the past month because I've literally been eating and eating my way across the northeastern US and southern california.  Who eats a cupcake every day as a 'snack'? Yes, that's right - I did. I kid you not, I think I ate close to 15 cupcakes in a 2 week period.  Add to that a number of delights such as the Fenway Frank (and corresponding Bud Lights) amongst numerous other 'treats'. I am only now starting to emerge.

During my month-long coma I managed to grow a massive food baby.  She goes everywhere with me at the moment.  I'm hoping some nice London R&R and gym time sorts her out.  I'm looking for someone to adopt.  Nothing personal - but she's not the cutest - and is really annoying my jeans at the moment.

So folks - With the new nose, sense of smell, and new job - I'll be back cooking and baking ASAP.  Today has me liaising with some puckery lemon bars and chicken with a rhubarb and cherry sauce.  Will be back in the next few days to let you know how they turn out. Hopefully I'll manage to lose the food baby.  Any takers?

Too busy baking to blog

Pre-proofed / pre-kneaded dough

Ah my baby's a beauty, isn't she?

You're thinking it so I'm going to say it,  yes - they are phallic looking.

Gooey lovely messy finished product 

I’ve fallen off of the blog bandwagon over the past few weeks.  Normally this is when I give some lame excuse about being “headless chicken busy” and travelling / working like a crazy woman.  While there’s been no travel, and only a moderately busy work schedule – there’s still been a fair bit of excitement...(stay tuned for updates).  


Ironically enough, a lot of the limited amount of free time I've had has been spent baking – but in a highly irregular way - creating loaves of bread, practicing eclair making, and baking copious scones.

One week alone I managed to make 5 loaves of bread – two lovely egg-y challahs (one coated in caraway, poppy and black onion seeds and the other with a wee bit of cinnamon and sugar). The other three loaves were an all-white “bloomer” bread, which was for my "confidential" audition (sorry folks, even signed the official waver). 


Regardless of the outcome of the audition, I learned that bread making is very much a science, much more than cake or pastry making.  Both challahas came out looking, smelling and tasting luverly.  However, the first 'bloomer' bread was cut into much too quickly.  It hadn't cooled properly so I thought it wasn't cooked all the way, so back into the oven it went only to then end up being overcooked.   Eh, they do say practice makes perfect though, the second and the third tries produced excellent results.


The third 'bloomer' was the one officially judged at my audition. It was weighed (apparently you can weigh the fat content of bread...god help if I ever get on one of those machines), was sniffed, poked, tasted and examined like a horse at auction. Official celebrity feedback? "Tasty, and great proofing."  Not too shabby for a novice.


My foray into choux pastry making was a slightly different experience.  I wasn't prepping for the audition, more just wanting to try something new and eclairs were a first for me. 


The thing is, I've always been a bit curious about eclairs - thinking they were quite difficult to make and not really worth the effort.  The eclair's dirty little secret? She's actually straightforward, simple, and a constant crowd pleaser.  Choux pastry can be made in the bat of an eye, pastry cream can be made 2-3 days ahead, and that chocolate glaze on top? Mine took about one minute in the microwave and about 1 minute out.  Not exactly rocket science eh?  Only now that the cat is out of the bag - I might be in serious trouble...instead of just grabbing for an apple I might just whip some up mid-week eclairs, just because I can.


The photos of the eclairs above aren't particularly pretty.  I started out by properly piping the pastry but since it was a random Tuesday night after work, and well...I didn't really give a fig what they looked like (nor did I imagine my eagerly awaiting co-workers would either) I went ahead and slapped the pastry cream in the middle and used a brush to slather on the chocolate ganache.  


I'd like to report that I ate 5 (yes FIVE) in two days.  Hence my comment above about not wanting to be anywhere near a machine that can weigh fat content.  Now onto profiteroles...

Bad Taste (never tasted so good)



Way better photo than I normally take, courtesy of GP resident photographer: Stephen Howse

UPDATED DIRECTIONS BELOW

Guilty Pleasure's party on Saturday night had the fabulously horrific theme "Bad Taste". I won't go into the details of our costumes, but in addition to a one-piece sparkly silver Abba-esque jumpsuit for our Waterloo performance (ah-mazing!), JW and I managed to take on the personas of ‘Tina’ and ‘Gloria’ for the first half of the night. For those of you who’ve seen this year’s Oscar nominated 'The Fighter’ – remember Micky and Dicky's seven sisters? We were equally foul-mouthed as that lot, but dressed in an even more inappropriate trailer-park ensemble. Deliciously bad taste for sure!

I used the opportunity to do a wee bit of practice on my piping and writing skills with a swiss meringue buttercream – hence the ornately, if not delicately designed cupcakes in the photo above. I wasn’t a fan of the frosting but the yellow buttermilk cakes were outstanding.  I've made them before and even wrote about them last year, commenting on their tastiness albeit being a bit too dense.  This time around - much fluffier - did a few recipe alterations, that might have made a difference.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/yellow-buttermilk-cupcakes

- 4 cups all-purpose flour instead of the 3 cups cake flour (which they stubbornly refuse to sell in my local Waitrose) and 1.5 cups all-purpose flour

UPDATE: I've been told the point above is confusing. To be fair, mama knows best - I agree.  What I meant was...recipe calls for BOTH 3 cups cake flour and 1.5 cups all-purpose flour (so 4.5 cups in total).  What I did INSTEAD was just use 4 cups of all-purpose flour.  Kapish?

- Reduced the butter and sugar just a smidgen (about ¼ of sugar and 1 Tbsp butter) – less by design and more because a standard UK butter pack is 250 grams, just nearly a Tb less and figured if I was doing that, then a wee bit of sugar could go as well

Up to you how you play it – but the option is there for the reductions if you so choose – all other measurements were kept the same.

S-W-O-O-N

I don't often swoon (the sort of head over heels heart palpitating joy that's known to turn my face two shades redder with excitement).


Last time I swooned was at a gorgeous pair of hot pink, sparkly, made in Italy Kate Spade heels. Never mind that when I wear them I need to take pain killers they hurt my toes so much.  I'm happy just looking at them.  It was love at first site. 


This time around, it was love at first bite.  Not quite as sexy as my shoes, this afternoon I fell, hard - for some beef brisket. But not just any beef brisket - beef brisket croquets with Asian slaw at Nopi.


Let me explain.


As many people know, one of my favourite restaurants in all of London is Ottolenghi in Islington.  By a stroke of good fortune, FM happened upon a new restaurant in Soho yesterday.  He went to investigate and found out it was the soft opening for Ottolenghi's new restaurant, Nopi. 


Nopi is similar to Ottolenghi in that the menu is quasi tapas style, but very different in it's elegant cream and bronze setting...and no take away items in site.  There's even a proper cocktails menu which has always eluded Ottolenghi.


FM filled me in on his find just as I was walking out the door to meet GT for lunch.  Most certainly serendipity.


Not only did we feast on:

• Beef brisket croquets, Asian slaw 

but also...

• Twice-cooked baby chicken, lemon myrtle salt
• Seared scallops, pickled daikon, green apple
• Prawn toasts, ginger and cucumber dipping sauce 
• Braised winter greens, tahini-yogurt
• Chocolate, peanut brittle, mace, crème fraiche
• Churros, fennel seed sugar, hot chocolate (my least favourite of the bunch)

Next best bit (after the brisket) ... because the restaurant isn't officially open until next Thursday ... our entire bill was 50% off.  Swoooooon. 

Dinner of Champions

An orgy of spiced pecans

Mexican chocolate tart filling

In the fridge, setting

Last Saturday night I was invited over to a friend's flat for 'Latin Tea'. When pressed for a definition for this event I was told, "basically just afternoon tea (tea, cake and drinks). We'll eat, hang out - and see where the night takes us. 5 pm start."

I'd interpreted "see where the night takes us" to incorporating some late night savoury food stuff, and possibly (likely) more drinkies. Instead, after an evening of excessive cake eating, very little tea drinking, and a moderate amount of champagne drinking, we closed out the evening with a midnight snack of muscat and rhubarb tart.  It's amazing I didn't walk out Diabetic.

My friend is a real lover of great food.  But more importantly, he has friends who can support this habit of his by being great cooks and bakers.  I was invited to this get-together with something along the lines of "no pressure to bake anything, but I've a friend who's amazing and he's bringing something.   Really though, no pressure. ;-)"

Right, just because you end your comment with a ';-)' doesn't mean I wasn't going to bring it.  Game face was on - didn't matter that I didn't have much time.  I needed to REP-RE-SENT.  Can you hear the theme song to Rocky?  I did.

Funny, you know generally speaking I don't classify myself as a competitive person.  I think maybe I'm a bit in LaLa land with that one though...considering every time I mention to friends that I'm not competitive a lot of them sort of roll their eyes at me.  Hmmm...

Anyway, I digress. All in all it was a lovely evening with both home-made and bakery bought delicacies.  G's friend made a tarte tartin which was fantastic, and I made a Mexican chocolate tart with 'to-die-for' caramelised spicy pecans on top.  Definitely a winner.

I followed a recipe on epicurious for the filling and pecans, but switched up the crust.  Instead of chocolate cookie crumbs I used shortbread (and then less butter than the recipe called for).  I could say that there was some strategic planning in this shortbread decision, but the truth was - since I was to busy (lazy) to go out and buy the chocolate cookies I took stock of my cupboards and found some lovely shortbread that someone had given me for a Christmas present and used that instead.  Worked a treat!