A bit of red wine!

Thoughts from a grumpy old woman.

If there's one thing (actually there's more than one) that drives me crazy it's the constant misuse of the English language in particular when applied to the title above - a “bit” refers to a solid, i.e. a morsel of food, of “bite”. To the best of my knowledge red wine is not a solid ….. if you think the same way I apologise because from now on when either watching your favourite cooking show/magazine programme or listening to your radio – in my case crystal set since as I write I know I sound like the grumpiest old woman ever - I now realise I've turned you into a crazy person. I don't care, I've kept this to myself for so long there must be others out there who think as I do.

I appeal to the major culprits of said misuse who are, you may not be surprised to learn - the celebrity chefs – the word to use is “drop” i.e. a small quantity of liquid. You don't need to go to catering college or train as a chef to attain this earth shattering information!

Whilst I'm on the subject, of celebrity chefs that is, I might as well have another moan – in particular relating to kitchen hygiene or rather lack of. Will someone please let these chefs know that wearing a big fat designer wrist watch whilst you are cooking is not a good idea hygienically speaking – if you want to keep an eye on the time pin a fob watch to your whites or better still buy a large kitchen wall clock that can be wiped down and everyone gets the benefit.

I feel so much better having got that off my chest!

I shouldn't have bothered

… to get out of bed!

When I try any recipe for the first time, particularly one of the baking variety, I follow it to the absolute microgram – baking is a science and unless you have super powers you can't wing it!

So, stall set out for the latest trial – a “loaf cake” type of thing. My mise en place is done and I'm ready to rock and roll.

Everything seems to be going swimmingly – not a complicated recipe – it's in the oven and my trusted timer is set. Note to self – whatever timing is given in a recipe I always set mine to at least 5 minutes before that stated. In this case however it didn't help at all.

I don't know why – may be it's just a sight thing – it didn't look right – there's a lot of mixture for the tin bearing in mind it has to rise – or rather I hope it will.

In this case my misgivings proved to be entirely correct and despite the comfort of setting a timer something told me I needed to sneak a peek and look at progress way before the time was up. Thank goodness I did – horror of horrors there was a molten dripping mess oozing over the sides of the tin, on to the baking sheet the tin was on - over the oven shelf the baking sheet was on - over the next two oven shelves and onto its final resting place, the bottom of the oven where (thankfully) I have an oven liner. Note to self if you haven't got an oven liner can I suggest you invest in one!

If at this point you're thinking what's all the fuss is about can I put it another way – have you ever dropped and broken an egg and watched it spread at the speed of light – have you ever knocked over a mug of coffee or a container of milk – it's impossible to stop the spread of liquid and mop it up fast enough before the coffee/milk has accelerated and landed in your cutlery drawer.

The Bionic Man or Woman ain't go nothing on me – oh and don't forget the oven is hot - the faster I tried to stem the flow of the molten lava the messier it got.

The moral of this story, not surprisingly, is that not every recipe is as good as it should be.

Happy baking oh and spare a kind thought for any competitor on the Great British Bake Off when it looks as if they've made a complete hash of what we (obviously sat on our sofas at home) consider to be straight forward baking!

What to serve

… with the Orange Cake

A slice of cake is very nice but I'm serving it as an after supper treat for friends.

The Orange Cake is moist – moist is good but, to use the northern vernacular, it can be claggy. So, as I would make extra “drizzle” to serve with a lemon drizzle cake lets make an orange syrup (or drizzle if you prefer)

Orange Syrup

200g icing sugar

250ml orange juice (no bits)

Put the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes.

You'll then have a syrupy drizzle ready to dress your cake.

Here's a photo of the one that I made earlier :

and it works brilliantly. If you wanted to add another element then why not the white miso or plain vanilla ice cream (there are recipes for both of these, both no-churn, on the blog).

I suppose I should point out that this is what I would call a weekend pud – when you're in need of a treat or just good old fashioned comfort food!

A perfect combination

… the “old” meeting the “new”.

In Book alert! I wrote about Claudia Roden and her books.

In All around the book shelves I mentioned that the perfect combination in a cookery book would be history and recipes too - here's one that is definitely in the “desert island/burning building” category.

Claudia Roden's “The Book of Jewish Food” was first published in the UK in 1997 and is divided into The Ashkenazi World and style of cooking and The Sephardi World with its many styles of cooking.

By “old” in the above title I do not disrespect – I just mean that by modern standards it's probably considered to be so - it's 19 years is old. I have read one particular recipe in this book from The Sephardi World section so many times I could recite it without any prompt.

It is :

Gateau a l'Orange

(Orange Cake)

2 oranges

6 eggs

250g sugar

2 tbsp orange blossom water

1 tsp baking powder

250g ground almonds

Wash the oranges and boil them whole for 1 – 1 ½ hours or until they are very soft.

Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the orange blossom water, baking powder and almonds and mix well. *Cut open the oranges, remove the pips and purée in a food processor. Mix thoroughly with the egg and almond mixture and pour into a 23cm cake tin – lined with baking parchment, preferably non-stick and with a removable base. Bake in a pre-heated oven 190c/170fan/Gas 5 for an hour. Let it cool before turning out.

What put me off baking this cake was the boiling of the oranges.

Now for the “new” - it should really read “up to date” since I suppose it's not rocket science to use a microwave. Instead of boiling the oranges, microwave them for 8 minutes on high. I used 3 medium sized oranges (as a guide 67-74mm) and turned after 4 minutes. Make sure your fruits are in a covered vented microwave container. Continue with the recipe at *.

I'm not a cake eater generally but in the interests of being true to the art I tasted this and – I know I shouldn't say it of my own efforts – it was everything I like in a cake – moist and the depth of the orange flavour was really good. Everyone else who had a slice loved it too.

Here's what it looked like :

I rest my case!

Guilty pleasure

or, how sad am I!

When I acquire a new cookery book there's a certain protocol that needs to be observed in order to get the most of your latest acquisition.

Don't rush into this … anticipation is the key – I definitely need to get out more.

The first step is to sit comfortably – cuppa or tipple of your choice optional. Ensure you have a supply of coloured tabs (like the post it notes but smaller) so that any “notations” are done carefully since it would be sacrilegious to spoil pages by turning them.

Then go through your book cover to cover, take your time inwardly digesting (sorry for the pun). Any recipes that appeal get a tab – this way you don't miss anything and it doesn't matter if, later on, you decide to discard an original marker.

What is beyond irritating – it may be that it's a senior thing – if you don't “mark” recipes, or anything you want to refer to later for that matter – you can never find it second time around – hence the marker system.

When I'm trying to decide which books should be given away I'll keep the tomes with all the tabs showing – hey it's a start.

In the post A perfect combination coming shortly it illustrates why you should hold on to books that may be considered old or out of fashion.

Chutzpah!

All along the bookshelves

… decision time!

How many books do you have in your collection - how many of them have you had for years and never actually opened or may be you've flicked through once and then shelved, doomed to that cookery book box in the sky.

May be you need to make space for books that you'd like to add to your collection but how do you decide which are to stay and which are to go.

My collection falls into different categories – reference, history, classics, new discoveries, favourite cuisine. Sometimes if you're lucky the categories overlap and you'll have a fantastic history book crammed full of recipes too.

What's the definition of a great cookery book – for me that would be a book that I refer to over and over again.

Buying cookery books is an addiction, like buying shoes or handbags and we all know that sometimes we don't get it right so the “never opened” books are easier to pull off the shelves and dust before finally deciding on their fate.

May be it's time to do a spot of recycling and send a box or two to your favourite charity shop so that someone else can benefit.

I know this won't be easy - think of it as you do when clearing out your wardrobe and the golden rule … if you haven't worn it for six months then you don't need it – out it goes or rather into the recycling bag/box – alternatively ask yourself which books would you take to your desert island or rescue from a burning building.

Bonne chance!

The F Word - The art of disguise

… of fish, continued - Nasi Goreng, or not

Set down below is my standard recipe for this favourite.

 Nasi Goreng

3 eggs

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp oil

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed or garlic paste

half tsp chilli powder

8oz (225g) cooked rice

6oz (175g) cooked chicken or turkey meat, diced

6oz (175g) peeled prawns, defrosted if frozen

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp soft light brown sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

6oz (175g) cooked wafer ham, thinly sliced

black pepper

Serves 4-6

Beat the egg lightly with the 1 tbsp water.  Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan. Pour in the egg and cook until set underneath, turn and cook until set on other side.  Slide the omelette out of the pan, roll up into a cigar shape and slice into strips – set aside.

Add the vegetable oil to the wok and heat gently. Add the onions, garlic and chilli powder and fry until lightly browned.  Add the rice and cook for a few seconds then stir in the chicken and prawns.

Mix the soy sauce, sugar and lemon juice together, then stir into the rice mixture. Stir in the ham then season to taste with pepper.  Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with the omelette strips.  (serves 4-6)

Nasi Goreng literally means “fried rice” - in effect, leftovers i.e. everything in it, apart from the onion, garlic and chilli and the sauce is already cooked.

Here's a thought or two to “perfect” the disguise.  Omit the omelette element at the beginning of the recipe.

Substitute the cooked chicken with thin strips of smoked salmon and/or smoked salmon flakes.

Substitute the ham with 4-6 hard boiled eggs, chopped.

Garnish the completed dish with chopped coriander or chopped flat leaf parsley – whichever you prefer.

Serve wok to table as part of your sharing fish salad platter.

My final tip – why not serve with a bowl/basket of Little Gem lettuce “cups” then your guests can spoon the Nasi Goreng into the lettuce cups and enjoy.  A little extra – serve individual dishes of sweet chilli sauce to each person so they can dip their lettuce cup full of Nasi Goreng.

Healthy stuff and no batter in sight!