I don't know where the week has gone.
It must be down to this renewed burst of energy and motivation to get stuff done.
I've started going to Japanese classes at SOAS again, and have been much luckier with the teacher this time. She's super-chatty, has a sense of humour, and really wants to engage the class and get us talking. There are no exams but we have to turn out at least one project to 'pass' the year and be allowed into the Higher Advanced class, so she's got us practicing by writing short essays on different subjects. For my first one I've decided to tell my multicultural class about Mrs. Beeton in Japanese! Handily, it's a good reason to dip back into the book on the history of cookery writing that my dad gave me for Christmas last year, 'Culinary Pleasures' which kicks off with the mother of modern cookery writing herself. When I finally finish reading it I will treat the blog to a review...
Another beneficiary of this new-found lust for life is my writing. I have a small stack of DVDs waiting to be reviewed for Eyeforfilm, and I've got myself onto a list to contribute to an online lifestyle & travel magazine, so if that get's off the ground you'll be hearing about it...
And of course The Floating Kitchen will be getting its fair share of creative juice. Today's homework was reaquainting myself with the world of html and - and trying to transpose what I'd learnt before to a Mac OS - so hopefully the results will begin to show themselves soon.
Unfortunately, this flurry of activity is conducive to eating badly and not enough, and not having time for exciting culinary experiments :( Tonight's dinner was a compromise - cooking something tasty with maximum efficiency and minimum fuss. The result: roast chicken with lemon, with corn cobs bunged in the tray with it, which all basically cooked itself.
Speedy chilli and avocado salsa on the side and some steamed potatoes which only needed a bit of olive oil and salt. It was a bit summery for a late October day when the day clouds over early and the wind is beginning to nip, but perhaps I'm just in seasonal denial.
Saturday, 25 October 2008
The Days are Just Packed
Saturday, 18 October 2008
A Birthday Tart
Dad's birthday (age undisclosed) was back in September, and when I arrived I found they'd been busy picking apples, so decided to stick with the theme for a celebratory pudding.
Rifling through our collection of mostly very dated cookbooks, I found a recipe for a tart that had always looked intriguing thanks to it's rather delicate appearance. It's from an unassuming Sainsbury's desserts book, and goes by the name of '18th Century Tart'; an interesting combination of a rich egg-based filling and thin grated apple layer, encased in a pate sucree. With a bit of tweaking it turned out very well, and was declared delicious by the birthday boy. Even with just three of us in the house it didn't last very long.
18th Century Tart
Pate sucree
180g flour
110g butter
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 small egg yolk
few drops cold water
Filling
75g butter
75g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
grated rind of 1 orange
1 large cooking apple + the juice of the orange + 2tbsp caster sugar or
2 dessert apples
Rub together the butter ( straight from the fridge and cubed ) and flour in a large bowl, or pulse together in a food processor, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg yolk and if necessary a few drops of water by hand, until it holds together as a dough.
Wrap the dough with clingfilm and refrigerate.
If you're using cooking apples, soak in the orange juice and caster sugar whilst you make the filling. Just before using, squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands. If using dessert apples, wait until the last minute to grate them.
To make the filling, beat together the butter and caster sugar with an electric mixer, and add the egg yolks (beat them first separately) slowly, so the mixture doesn't curdle. Add the orange rind and set aside.
Roll the pastry out to about 4-5 mm thickness and use it to line a quiche/tart dish with a removable bottom, pre-greased and lined with a circle of baking parchment on the bottom.
Pour in the egg mixture, then top with the grated apple. If using cooking apples prepared as above, don't forget to squeeze out all their liquid!
Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and bake in the oven at 180∘ for 30 minutes.
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Credit Crunch Cooking
We seem to be entering some uncertain times. Everyone is muttering "recession, recession". The papers are screaming "fat cats" and "off with their heads" at the bankers, and after nearly a decade of telling us to buy more things so we can be more like famous people, they are suddenly proselytising: frugal is the new luxury, parsimonious is the new black. Although when the Times2 tries to tell me that there are countless ways to trim my beauty regime but I absolutely must not forgo a professional pedicure, I wonder if the journalist even managed to kid herself...
Shoo has some pretty admirable principles when it comes to shopping and making the best possible use of what you buy. Most of it comes down to never doing one big shop, but buying only what you need for one or two days, keeping track of leftovers, and thinking about meals in advance. That last one never a problem for me, as I spend 10 minutes of every given hour considering what to cook next! It also makes perfect sense if you don't have a car. Who wants to lug three full carriers, threatening to split, half a mile in the rain?
This week (again with Shoo's help, making extra for dinner and putting leftovers aside for me) I managed to take a packed lunch to work 4 days in a row. My record for some time, mainly due to being disorganised and getting up too late. So what did I do on Friday? Spent most of what I saved on lunch at Itsu, the pseudo-Japanese take-away with grandiose claims to healthiness. Bah, I'll do better this week.
Actually, today's theme was inspired not by consciously setting out to cook something on the cheap, but because a couple of supermarket 'value' packages found their way into my photos of breakfast: a dish of fluffiest-ever-yet american pancakes with butter and honey.
American-style Pancakes
Makes about 8 good-sized pancakes
150g self-raising flour
1 scant teaspoon baking powder
150ml milk
2 small eggs
50g butter, melted, plus about another 50 for frying
pinch salt
Tip, or if you can be bothered sift, the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. In a cup or a jug beat the eggs and the milk together. Whisk the eggs and milk gradually into the flour. Whisk in the melted butter and leave to stand for a few minutes, then whisk again briefly to make sure there are no lumps.
Melt a knob of butter in a heavy-based, non-stick pan on a med-high heat, when the butter foams drop a small ladleful of batter into the pan, turn down the heat slightly. When bubbles appear around the edges of the pancake, and begin to spread towards the centre, you should think about turning the pancake. With a spatula. No crepe-flipping heroics necessary or warranted for these New World babies.
Cook each pancake as above; I usually add more butter every other pancake, so that they don't get too greasy. Serve the pancakes quickly so that a little extra butter will actually melt on top, and drizzle on something sweet and syrupy; honey was all we had aroung, maple syrup would of course be the real deal (but not very thrifty).
A word on frying: It's tricky getting the heat just right, and for the temperature to be high enough for the pancake to brown satisfactorily, the butter will probably burn. I haven't yet found a way around this, and am happy to live with a smoky kitchen in return for tasty pancakes! Oil would just not be a substitute, and nor would pale and pasty cakes.
