Christmas Baking!!

I love Christmas and a big part of this is all the lovely Christmas baking. I can't go by a Christmas without making a Yule Log or lots of mince pies.
The Yule Log recipe I use is James Martin's and it is really good. It's a bit tricky to assemble but don't worry too much if it breaks up as you can cover it all in the chocolate coating. Also when making the chocolate coating make sure the melted chocolate has cooled well enough before adding the cream, as otherwise it will all drip off. I also think it tastes better two days later.
The recipe is:
175g dark chocolate
6 medium eggs
175g caster sugar
Filling:
85g dark chocolate
200ml double cream
Topping:
200ml double cream
100g dark chocolate

Melt the chocolate. Then separate the eggs. Add the caster sugar to the egg yolk and beat until light and fluffy. Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Then once the chocolate has cooled add this to the yolk and sugar combo and put over a heat until blended. Then fold in the egg whites. Pour into a swiss roll tin, which has been lined with greaseproof paper, and cooked on gas mark 4 for 20 minutes until light to touch. Once cooked put a dry towel on the tin and then a cold wet towel on top. Leave to cool.

Then tip it onto greaseproof paper and take off the other paper. Spread the melted chocolate for the filling onto this. Then the whipped double cream. Roll it up using the paper.

Then melt the topping chocolate and when it has cooled add the cream. Stir and then spread on top. A moreish chocolate dessert.

Another recipe I like doing is chocolate and chestnut biscuits.
The recipe is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/nov/28/chestnut-chocolate-cream-biscuits-recipe
I do find them tricky to make. Firstly finding chestnuts but this year there seemed to be an abundance of tinned chestnuts so it wasn't so bad. I used puree chestnuts. Then the rest is quite self explanatory. Although I would say make the biscuits quite thick.

The mince pie recipe I use is from an old cook book.
The ingredients are 200g self raising flour and 100g butter and cooled water. Rub the butter into the flour until like breadcrumbs. Then gradually add cold water and mix with a round end knife until it is like a dough. I think it is better to chill it but the other day I rolled it out straight away. This makes 12 mince pies. I always use Robinson's mince meat from a jar.

I also made these chocolate cupcakes, as a gift. I didn't try the cake but the icing was amazing! Very rich :)

The recipe is here: http://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/hummingbird-chocolate-cupcakes.html

A Taste of Christmas

I went to the Taste of Christmas last Sunday at the Excel Centre with Penny. It was a really good day, with lots of samples from Fudges cheese straws to Chat-en-Oeuf and Longue-Dog wine to Alex James' cheese (eurgh) to Propercorn. We were snacking all day. It was pretty busy but not too bad and I got a few presents sorted. Found an amazing energy drink called Pussy Drinks Ltd and also a great yoghurt called The Collective Yoghurt. The passion fruit one is great but even the Christmas pudding one was nice!

We also saw a food demo by Jean Christophe Novelli, who was really good. I can't believe he is in his 50s. His hair is so dark! He is a bit obsessed with getting rid of saturated fats so he told us that when he roasts a goose he steams it first and then the fat comes out in the water. He also makes a vegetable stock by chopping lots of veggies and putting them in a pan with loads of garlic. And then I lost him a little bit but he then takes them out of the water... and does something else with them! Handy.
We also caught a glimpse of the Fabulous Baker Brothers who are lovely!!
It was a good mix of samples and demos, but it wasn't all that Christmasy! I was expecting more Cranberry sauce.

Thumbs up to Pizza Express' new Calzone

I went to Pizza Express in High Wycombe before panto on Monday night. I went for the new Calzone on the menu and it was amazing.
It is served with pesto in a little pot and seasonal salad with red pepers with santos tomatoes, drizzled with a house dressing, which was really fresh. The Calzone Prosciutto Pesto was with Ham Hock, roasted red onion, baby spinach, roasted mushrooms, mozzarella and grana padano with a gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce. It was huge! See picture and was so full of flavour and bursting with filling. It was really satisfying and I was very impressed. I would recommend.

A winter warmer pudding

My pops is also a big Bread and Butter fan so I cooked this recipe from an old pudding book, which I have cooked many times before. Again it is an easy recipe and tastes really good and goes very well with a big dollop of cream.
The recipe:
Eight slices of white bread, crusts removed, and buttered and cut into triangles
100g currants
1 Vanilla pod
500ml milk
50g caster sugar
3 eggs
1tbsp demerara sugar
Layer the bread in a shallow dish and sprinkle currants inbetween the layers. Meanwhile put the vanilla pod in the milk and bring to the boil then leave to infuse for an hour.
Mix together the caster sugar and eggs then pour the milk over the eggs and mix together.
 Pour onto the bread and butter then leave to stand for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the demerara.
 Next cook for 35-45 minutes at 160 degrees celsius until it is crispy and golden.

The other pudding is a Christmas Pudding, which is a closely guarded family recipe!

An amazingly easy chocolate cake

It was my dad's birthday and he is a bit of a chocolate fan. So I went for a birthday cake of chocolate. This is so easy to make! There is no butter involved and you just throw everything into a bowl and stir.
It cooked well and then I decorated it the next day. I used Bournville dark chocolate which was fine. And then decorated with white and mike chocolate swirls, which worked a treat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_chocolate_cake_31070

The result was moist and chocolatey and very rich so you only need a slither.

From a rather "hairy" breakfast to the delights of Betty's in York

Betty's Rosti

THE delights of York were on offer over the weekend, but it was a bit of a mixed bag from a rather ‘hairy’ breakfast to the delights of Betty’s Tea Room.

With a weekend away with the uni girls we arrived late on the Friday night, so headed out for breakfast on the Saturday. We found a cafe called Rioco in Feasegate. We weren’t too picky as we were pretty hungry but the menu seemed ok.

We ordered breakfast items which seemed reasonable. The drinks arrived pretty promptly but then the food took ages to come. When Natasha’s omelette breakfast arrived , it was complete with a hair which was sent back.

I had a bacon and tomato sandwich which was fine. The bacon wasn’t as crispy as I liked but it was only £2.80. Then the second omelette breakfast arrived, complete with egg shell.
When we complained it was handled really badly and the manager was rude and did not apologise. He just stormed out and blurted out something about he can help an egg shell then back to the kitchen again.

Not a good start and I wouldn’t recommend this place.

For dinner we went to The Punch Bowl in Stonegate, York. Everywhere was really busy and this place was no different but the service was excellent.

I went for the Wild Boar Burger (£9.50), which was topped with chorizo sausage and served with skin on chips. It was delicious- the burger was thick but not too dry and had a distinct but not overly strong flavour. The chorizo added to the flavour perfectly and it was served in a fresh bun with fresh lettuce. The chips were also good.

The others had Scampi and King Prawns (£7.50), Fish and Chips (£10.50), Cottage Pie (£8.95) and Smoked Haddock Risotto (£9.95), which all went down well. Excellent pub with good atmosphere and good food.

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toasted muffins at Betty's

The next day we went to the famous Betty’s Tea Room. We were told Sundays were a better bet in terms of how long we had to wait. We did have to queue but it wasn’t too long in the end, although I had a rather keen middle aged woman stood closely behind me. I had my rucksack on and she tapped me on the shoulder and sneeringly said: “Excuse Madame, You appear to have a lethal weapon on your back.” I looked at her in confusion and then she pointed at my bag.  But besides that the rest of the experience was very pleasant.

The waitress was neatly dressed and polite. We ate downstairs in the wood panelled room. The cup of tea was lovely and I went for one the specials, which was a potato rosti served with bacon and chicken and cranberry. The cranberry’s were large and juicy and the rosti was cooked perfectly. It was a good start to the day. It was about £10.50, which wasn’t too bad. A pot of tea was £3.25, which is a bit absurd, but it is all served very nicely. The others went for more breakfast things like Poached Egg on Toasted Muffins and Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Eggs on Toasted Muffins, which were all equally good. Betty’s is a great place to go and I can see why it is so popular.

Feeling sleepy we all headed home on the train with snacks. In conclusion Betty’s  = good, Rioco= not so much.

From dim sum to sea bass to a lot of prawns

Panang

I had an amazing week last week of eating out and enjoying some really good grub. Although it did start with Pizza Hut it then went onto some good home cooking by my parents from a mixed grill to amazing Roast Pork with either better crackling and a good curry.

I had the week off with Tom and we then went to Chichester for two days.

Dim Sum

On the Tuesday night we went to St Pancras which has a row of restaurants to choose from. We went for the Lemongrass Thai Restaurant (http://www.lemongrasssussex.co.uk/thai/) which was packed, which we thought was a good sign.

I went for Kanom Jeep (Dim Sum) for starters (£5.25) which are steamed dumplings with water chesnuts, minced chicken and prawns. They were a light start to the meal and we really tasty. I then had Gaeng Panang, with beef (£7.95). I love this curry. It is a mild, coconuty curry but is full of flavour. Tom went for a Thai seabass dish, which also looked really good.

Prawny

The next day we went out for lunch in a cute cafe called Tudor Rose restaurant and tea rooms in Arundel. I had a prawn sandwich (my favourite kind). It's a nice cafe, which was again full, served on chintzy china and cute decor.
In the evening we went back to St Pancras and this time to Masala Gate (http://www.masalagate.co.uk/) which is an Indian restaurant. I went for Chicken and Lamb Shaslik with Garlic Naan. The place was full and the service was good. We really enjoyed it. Tom had Dohari, which is chicken Tikka cooked with minced meat, herbs and spices. I would definitely recommend this Indian if ever you are in Chichester.

The following day we were back in High Wycombe.

But on the Friday I went to The White Hart in Beaconsfield with Lara (http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thewhitehartbeaconsfieldoldtown/). I had heard lots about this pub but I had never been. It was so busy and had a really friendly, welcoming atmosphere and nice decor.
There was an offer on for Fish Friday, which was two courses with a glass of wine for £15. It was really good food and nice wine.
I went for the prawn cocktail for starters which was served in a large glass. The prawns were fresh and tasty and a good classic. Lara went for mushroom focaccia, which looked good although she was worried about tinned mushrooms! I don't think they were though.

Sea bass main

For the main course I had whole sea bass, with peppers and tomatoes and herb crusted potatos. It was delicious. The sea bass was perfectly cooked and left me satisfied. Lara went for the Tuna burger, which looked a bit hefty, but still good.

Prawn cocktail

The next day Daiz and Matt came to visit and we went to Noodle Nation in High Wycombe (http://www.noodlenation.com/restaurants/high-wycombe). I love this place. It is cheap, quick and tasty. I went for the Kung Po chicken with egg fried rice, while Matt went for a bit of duck yellow bean and Daiz for Thai Green Curry.

The next day for lunch we tried to go to The Crown in Penn but it was fully booked and when the Royal Standard at Knotty Green failed we went to the Mayflower at Hazlemere. (http://www.themayflower-hazlemere.co.uk/) It was the Sunday roast menu (£7.95). D and I had chicken, which was really good as it was a good hunk of chicken perfectly cooked with crispy, tasty skin, served with parships, creamed leeks, roast potatoes and Yorkshires. Matt had a bit of food envy as he went for pork, but still all good. Although a few more vegetables would have been welcome.

This week I will be eating at home I think!