Time for a coffee

March 9, 2015

Olive Focaccia

This was the first time I have made Focaccia.

Taking 500gram strong white bread flour, I added a pack of quick acting years. I then added two spoons of olive oil and 350ml of water.

This was mixed into a dough which I then kneaded for ten minutes. I placed this in an bowl, greased with olive oil, this was covered in cling film and I placed it in a warm place for forty minutes.

After letting it rise I put it into a rectangular floured tin, pushed it into a square shape, and then poked it with holes, placed some olives in the bread, some slivers of garlic and a light scatter of dried Italian herbs. I would have liked to use some fresh rosemary, chopped, however I didn’t have any. If you want extra saltiness (or don’t use the olives) you can add some sea salt.

The bread was then left to prove for another thirty minutes. After that I brushed it with some olive oil and it was then baked in a hot oven 220ºC for twenty minutes or until browned.

Serve and tear apart on the table.

February 3, 2015

Grilled Halloumi

This is a quick and easy addition to any salad or as a starter.

Halloumi s a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk. I slice the cheese into 5mm slices and these are then placed under a hot grill, cooked on both sides until browned.

For speed though I have been taking a large frying pan, using some a little olive oil and then frying the slices until browned on each side. You need to take care, as it can be easy to overcook the slices.

January 15, 2015

Homemade Quiche

Quiche

I haven’t made quiche for a while now, but over the weekend decided to throw one together.

I made some shortcrust pastry and baked it blind in the oven in a flan tin. Everytime I do that I always think I should be using some baking beans, but I don’t have any, so I lined the top of the pastry with baking parchment and used another pan on top to keep the pastry flat. One tip I picked up from the television was to fold the pastry over the edge of the flan tin and once cooked this is carved off, and creates a level pie base.

I filled the base first with some fresh spinach and the cooked onions, peppers, mushrooms and pancetta. I then added some grated mature cheddar cheese. There are lots of choices when it comes to quiche fillings,

I placed the flan in the oven and then filled it, covering the rest of the filling with an egg and milk mixture.

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and the top of the quiche has started to brown.

Delicious warm, it can also be served cold with salad.

January 13, 2015

In the Birdcage

Walking up Corn Street in Bristol over the festive break and wanting a coffee, we decided to pop into the Birdcage. There are quite a few cafés and restaurants in this area of Bristol, so you have quite a bit of choice.

It looks like the building use to be a bank or similar, however once inside, the interior decor is very quirky, retro and quite refreshing if you are use to the decor you find in the main coffee chains such as Costa or Starbucks.

In the Birdcage

The lighting for example comprised a series of non-matching lampshades hanging together form the ceiling.

Shades

The furniture was mis-matched wooden chairs and tables, combined with leather sofas. Across the walls and in the windows were signs, old bicycles, even mannequins wearing old fashion.

In the Birdcage

This is very much a coffee shop, and though there were cakes available, the main attraction is the coffee. The coffee was certainly made well and quite nice.

In the Birdcage

I liked how after asking for coffee at the counter, we could sit down and they bought the coffee over. That is a much more relaxed experience than the busy somewhat hectic experience you can find, and I have certainly found in the chain coffee shops.

January 5, 2015

Christmas Four Bird Roast

I usually write a blog post about our Christmas lunch, in the main when it comes to the following year I can remember what worked well and what was less of a success.

A few years ago I spent over a hundred pounds on a four bird roast from Marks and Spencers. It was nice, but was very much a turkey with a little bit of goose, duck and chicken.

The Sainsbury’s version of the four bird roast is a goose stuffed with turkey, duck and guinea fowl. I will say that this is basically a stuffed goose; it’s 62% goose, 9% turkey and there is 8% duck and 8% guinea fowl. Like the Marks and Spencers’ roast it wasn’t cheap, but was half the price of the Marks and Spencers’ version.

This year I would have been tempted to get it again, however Sainsburys weren’t doing it this year. In the end I went with the Aldi Christmas Four Bird Roast again, which we had enjoyed last year.

Christmas Four Bird Roast

The Aldi four bird roast was a little skimpy on the goose and duck, but I did expect that for a ten pound roast. It was simple to cook, but I did let it rest for thirty minutes which seemed to help with carving and the meat was very tender and moist.

It was quite tasty, stuffing wasn’t anything to write home about, but I did supplement it with some homemade stuffing, as well as bacon wrapped sausages.

Overall a success and good value for a tenner.

December 27, 2014

Brussels with Chestnuts and Pancetta

I once again cooked this accompaniment to the Christmas roast we had this year. It is very simple to cook, has festive overtones and really adds something special to the humble sprout.

I peeled and halved the sprouts, now I know some people will think that what is he doing, sprouts are supposed to be whole! Well what I want in this dish is for the sprouts to be a similar size to the chestnuts. The sprouts were partially cooked in advance, by placing in simmering water for about five minutes, drained and plunged into cold water and left to one side. You can do this earlier in the day so freeing up hob space for other things.

When you are close to serving time, in a hot frying plan, add a splash of olive oil and add the pancetta. I went for smoked pancetta, as I much prefer the stronger flavour and it goes well with the similarly strong flavour of the sprouts. Cook the pancetta until is just going crispy. The add the partially cooked sprouts and the chestnuts. I used the cooked and vacuum packed chestnuts from Merchant Gourmet. These are already prepared and cooked and are quick and easy to use. Next year I might use fresh chestnuts and prepare them myself. You can season with some black pepper, but no need to add extra salt, as the pancetta bacon adds the saltiness to the dish.

Toss and saute the sprouts and chestnuts with the pancetta and serve with your favourite festive roast.

December 13, 2014November 1, 2020

Chicken Pitta

We went to Frankie and Benny’s for lunch. I wasn’t sure what I wanted so after looking over the menu I went with the chicken pitta. It came with fries, a hunk of sweetcorn and a (small) portion of coleslaw.

The chicken was grilled and then had some barbecue sauce added.

It was quite tasty all in.

December 6, 2014

French Sausage at the German Market

I have been to a few German markets in my time, but have to admit I rarely buy anything from them, usually it’s time, sometimes it’s price and other times what on earth are they selling!

Most German markets I have been too have had some beautiful Christmas decorations and bits, but there are also lots of food stalls.

On the odd occasion, though I make a purchase, this time I went with what was described as a French Hot Dog. They looked really quite nice cooking on the griddle.

The blackboard was chalked with £4 each or £6 for a double. What you actually got was a split sausage for £4 and the £6 was for a whole sausage.

It was served in a split section of baguette, along with grated cheese and french mustard mayonnaise.

So what was it like? Well to be honest it was a bit of a nightmare for street food. The sausage was fine, but the skin was really tough, making it very difficult to bite through. I also thought the sausage was rather too salty. The cheese was nice, strong flavoured, but the mustard was a little harsh. Overall a bit of a disappointment, and I thought for £4 was somewhat overpriced.

November 21, 2014

Lighter Flapjacks

I used the following recipe to make some lighter flapjacks.

150g unsalted butter
75g brown sugar
75g golden syrup
350g of oats
50g of rice krispies
50g of cashew nuts, or use peanuts

In a pan place the butter, sugar and syrup together. I find one way to measure the golden syrup is to put the pan on the scales, zero the scales and then add the syrup.

I put the pan on a low heat, better to take your time than burn the mixture. Once the sugar, butter and syrup are bubbling slightly take it off the heat and stir in the oats.

The stir in the rice crisps and nuts, now I should add at this point I actually used coco pops, but the principle is the same. The cereal provides a lighter crunchier texture to to the flapjacks. The nuts provide a harder crunch to the flapjacks.

This recipe uses more oats than my previous recipe, so these flapjacks are less rich and sticky. Place the oat mixture into a lined tin, press it into place with a fork or the back of a spoon.

The flapjacks are baked in a pre-heated 200ºC oven for about ten minutes or until the edges are browned.

Leave the flapjacks to cool in the tins, or they will fall apart. After they have cooled, cover in melted chocolate, let it set and then serve.

November 20, 2014

Crispy Chilli Squid

Over the last few years I have written various reviews of crispy squid from various restaurants. I find that how places cook and treat squid gives a comparative indication of the quality of the cooking.

I do cook squid myself, but most of the time I either stir fry or griddle the squid. This time though I decided to cook crispy chilli squid.

I took the squid and cut it up into what I can only describe as one inch squares and included the tentacles. These were then tossed in seasoned flour. The flour had black pepper and dried chilli flakes added. This is then left for about thirty minutes. The combination of flour and the wet squid results in a kind of tempura batter, without needing to add anything else to the flour.

Crispy Chilli Squid in flour

The squid was then quickly deep fried in hot oil. The squid was drained on kitchen paper.

Crispy Chilli Squid

It was served with a sweet chilli dip. For added heat add some freshly sliced red chilli to garnish.