My kitchen diary

To blog or not to blog...

2008-04-07T14:25:00.002+02:00

OMG, I can't believe my last post was exactly 3 months ago! What happened in between, as most of you know, is that hubby and I found it we're getting a family in September :D
To refer back to the title of the post, I must say that in the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy the question was rather "to eat or not to eat" :S, hence my absence in the blogging world. I don't think anyone would have been interested in my daily menus, which consisted of bread and butter, rolls and butter and (surprise!) bread and butter :) Everything else made me bloated or gave me severe heartburns and discomfort.
Although everyone comforted me with the assumption that all this would be history after week 12, I must say it isn't, although it has certainly improved a lot and I can aim towards a more balanced diet, even if it's not too perfect yet.
Losing an interest in eating coupled with losing an interest in cooking and even baking, and I have still not regained my food-obsession (not that it's bad news that cravings and obsessive eating have evaded me), though I am slowly venturing back in the kitchen to cook quick meals.
I'm still not sure when I can (or if I will) start blogging again, time will tell...

Bread, beautiful bread

2008-01-07T19:38:00.000+01:00

First of all, Happy New Year to all!

New year, new beginnings, they say. And while I didn't make any New Year's resolutions, which I would inevitably fail anyway, I just decided to change a thing or two in my eating habits. Nothing drastical, nothing unmanagable, just things like taking up bread baking again. On a regular basis, because I love baking bread but I have neglected it for a long time. But the appalling state of affairs at the bread front in this country has simply made it inevitable to look for ways which produce bread. BREAD, with capital letters, as the "things" they sell at supermarket cannot be called so with the greatest good intention. And my town is too little to have a quality bakery, I'm afraid.

I tried tons of recipes for bread in the last few years. Recipes for bread machine, recipes for bread baked in the oven, several of which turned out fine. Fine, but not perfect. And ever since I tasted a gorgeous sour dough baguette on Portobello Road, I've been craving that taste.

So a few weeks ago I decided to give another go to the oh-so-famous no-knead bread. I must admit, I did try this recipe when it hit foodie internet circles but it didn't convince me, it turned out too chewy and wet for my taste. It was so long ago that I don't even remember what could have gone wrong there but I was hoping for a better result this time. And that I got. Perfect loaf of bread, nice crust and all those lovely holes inside, mmmmm! I could eat a whole loaf at a sitting, with only butter.

So here's my adapted recipe:

No-knead bread

450g bread flour

about 350ml water

a pinch of fresh yeast

1 tsp salt

Mix everything with a wooden spoon so that you get a sticky dough. You might need less or more water so go carefully. Cover with foil and let it rest for at least 12 hours. I usually rest it for 14-15 hours.

Fold the half of the dough over the other half and transfer to a heavily floured workspace. Let it rest for half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 240C (or 220C fan) and put in a round or oval Pyrex dish with lid to preheat.

Carefully transfer the dough in the dish, sprinkle with some flour, cover, and bake in the lowest position in your oven for about 35 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

I have also tried replacing 100g bread flour with Graham flour and the loaf turned out just as beautiful, in fact higher than the previous one. No pic though, sorry.
For a change, I also made some health rolls this week, which have a different texture but are altogether very good.

Health rolls

200g bread flour
100g pastry flour
200g whole wheat, Graham or rye flour
4 tbsp rolled oats
125g yoghurt
about 300ml water
2 tsp butter
2 tsps of each: cumin seeds, sesam seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar or honey
16g fresh yeast

Put everything in a bowl and knead by hand or KA. You need to get a soft, but not sticky dough.

Let the dough rest for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Knead again quickly and divide into 10 portions and shape rolls, putting them on a big baking tray. You can cut an x with a knife on top. Brush the rolls with water and sprinkle over some seeds or rolled oats if you want.

Let the rolls rest for about 20-30 minutes, and in the meantime preheat the oven and put a small bowl of water on the bottom. Then put the tray in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the rolls are nice golden. You can brush them with water again at half-time.

Christmas bites

2007-12-28T12:01:00.000+01:00

My favourite Christmas decoration, not surprisingly an angel... I have lots of angels in the house around this time of the year.

Daddy's traditional Fisherman's soup with carp slices

Lebkuchen

Flower-shaped linzer cookies with meringue in the middle

Poppy-seed beigli (or bejgli), a traditional Christmas cake, which you can find in every household at this time.

My favourite foodie-present, a gorgeous cookbook holder from hubby

The engagement party

2007-12-28T11:21:00.000+01:00

I've never really understood the wide-spread tradition of having an engagement party exactly at or slightly before Christmas. Christmas is such a beautiful time of year, I want to enjoy it for its sake and not connect it with another event, however joyful that might be. I even told hubby, when he was only a boyfriend of mine, that if he'd want to propose to me at Christmas, he'd better prepare for an unfavourable answer LOL
So you can imagine my terror last year, when my aunt's daughter announced that she would have her engagement party on 23rd December. Oh why, oh why?? Isn't one busy enough getting ready, baking and shopping for Christmas, why should one waste a whole day for other things, which would be so much more fun at any other time of the year? Anyhow, I survived that party, unaware that this was only the beginning... About two months ago my aunt's son announced that he was having an engagement party... right, you guessed, just before Christmas, on the 22nd. I didn't even have the strength to be really appalled, I was so tired because of all the stress this year and even agreed to make a similar cake as last year, as my cousin's fiancée liked it so much.
So before you start thinking I'm a naughty bitch, I must say I'm really pleased about the happiness of both my cousins, and I happily started planning how to twist the cake to make it unique. But I must say I'm really glad my brother is too young to get engaged, I don't think I would survive another party this time next year LOL In a few years' time, perhaps...

So as for the cake, last year I made Nigella's sour cream chocolate cake from HTBADG and coated it in pink icing, which I made myself - damn the fact that royal icing is not available here - with golden syrup, icing sugar, butter and some food colouring.
This year I wanted something different, so I made a marshmallow fondant, which failed miserably, perhaps marshmallows here are different from the American version, but the icing turned out to be a big chunk of rubber...
Fortunately I had some marzipan and managed to coat the cake in an acceptable way, making it Christmassy at the same time, though I had quite something else in mind when I started LOL But it went down a treat and the fiancée was really pleased, so it made me happy, too.

Festive cake

For the cake:
Follow the sour cream chocolate cake recipe in the book but use 1.5x amount of ingredients and bake in two 22cm tins

For the filling:
250g mascarpone
500g frozen chestnut puree, defrosted
50g soft butter
icing sugar to taste (depends how sweet your puree is)
a few tbsp rum to taste

For the icing and decoration:
250g marzipan
cocoa powder

The filling is very easy to make, just whisk everything thoroughly together and fill and ice the cake.

For the decoration, I rolled the marzipan until I thought it was big enough to cover the whole cake. Actually, I think you could even use 500g marzipan to get a smoother and thicker finish but I only had that much at hand. I coated the cake carefully, cutting the edges off, which I then kneaded with some cocoa powder and rolled out to make the ribbon. I used a ruler to cut out the ribbon evenly and folded it so that it slightly resembles a real ribbon LOL For the Christmas theme, I sifted cocoa powder through a piece of paper in which I cut out some stars.

A festive birthday cake

2007-12-09T15:21:00.000+01:00

I don't think you can ever fail with a Black Forest Cake, no matter what the occasion is. Who doesn't like chocolate, cream and cherries in one cake? I certainly don't know many people who don't. And I certainly know my mum is mad about this cake, so it felt just right to make it for her birthday. And also because the cake is so festive and in the run-up for Christmas it's another advantage, isn't it?

So here's my recipe for Black Forest Cake:

for the sponge:
6 eggs, divided
180g fine caster sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
120g flour
50g cocoa powder

for the filling and decoration:
1l double cream
icing sugar to taste
cocoa powder (optional)
about 350ml pitted cherry preserve,
Kirsch or cherry preserving juice

Whisk the egg yolks with half of the sugar until the mixture turns pale and multiplies in volume. Then beat the egg whites until they start to stiffen, then add the rest of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Add the beaten egg whites to the yolks and mix very carefully but firmly. Mix the flour and cocoa and add to the mixture in 2 or 3 parts, again, stirring carefully but firmly. You should avoid crushing the beaten egg whites as much as possible. Pour the batter into a 22cm round tin (whose bottom you have lined with baking parchment) and bake in pre-heated oven at 180 C for about 20-25 min, or until a tester comes out clean. Don't open the door until 15 minutes though, or the sponge will collapse. Let it cool completely, remove from the tin then divide into three layers.

Whisk the double cream until it stiffens with as much icing sugar as you like. I usually use 3-4 tbsp for this amount of cream. I like a bit of chocolate in the filling, so I add 1-2 tsps of cocoa powder to 1/3 of the cream, but you don't need to do it. Sprinkle over a few tbsp of Kirsch or the cherry preserving juice on a sponge layer, then spread about 1/4 of the cream (alternatingly and including the chocolate cream if you made it). Scatter half of the cherries on top. Repeat with the other layer. Put the last layer on top and spread a thin layer of cream (only white) on the cake. Put the cake in the fridge for about half an hour and spread over half of the remaining cream generously. This way you will get a crumb-free frosting. Decorate the cake with the remaining cream and a piping bag, as you please, and sprinkle with grated chocolate or similar, adding a pitted cherry here and there.

With the Brownie Queen's recommendation...

2007-11-11T09:36:00.000+01:00

I may have mentioned already that I'm freaked out by recipes whose ingredient list contains items like 300-400g chocolate and 200-300g butter. I simply cannot justify putting so much of these ingredients in a smallish cake. It just doesn't seem right, neither from calory point of view, neither because of economic reasons. And since brownie recipes tend to begin with such items in these amounts, I have had to neglect them so far because I relate different ideas to weekend baking and for special occasions I surely wouldn't want to bake brownies.

But this weekend I wanted chocolate cake, an intense and moist chocolate cake but was not willing to sacrifice my principles. Julie came to the rescue with this recipe. If I didn't know she was a modest girl, I'd be surprised why she didn't start her new English blog under the heading "The Brownie Queen" :) The recipe seemed to include the perfect amounts of chocolate, butter and flour (I don't like chocolate cakes with too little flour, like the Easter egg nest cake was) for a smallish tray of brownies.

I left out the cheese swirls as I wanted pure chocolate and baked the brownies only for 40 minutes which resulted in the best texture and exactly the one I was looking for! Soooooo perfect!! It will be a wonderful basic recipe to add nuts, chopped white chocolate or indeed the cheese swirls to without feeling too guilty about eating half the tray myself LOL Thank you, Julie!

Favourite kitchen items

2007-10-28T10:51:00.000+01:00

I've been really uninspired foodwise lately so I thought I'd invite you to have a look around my kitchen until my mojo comes back.
I've chosen my favourite items in my tiny kitchen (non-electric gadgets only), all of which are special for me for different reasons.

The item I love most is this cheerful, striped pot I bought a couple of years ago. Morning grumpiness just doesn't have a chance to linger around too long when tea is served from such a colourful, freshening sight :) A pity I didn't buy the accompanying mugs and cereal bowls back then.

The second item is my mug pretty in pink. I have a thing for mugs and have a huge variety of them but this is the "one". I love pink, I love mugs and this is such a delicate piece.

I also have an obsession for storing tins and have got a great amount of them, small and large, square and cylinder shaped, for pasta, tea, coffee, sugar, cookies, you name it! I must admit I often buy food items just for the tin they get sold in LOL This design is my favourite and I've got a couple of other shapes with the same pattern but this cookie tin is the prettiest one.

The fourth item is this gorgeous tea towel I got from the lovely Anna. It's so pretty but I must admit I don't use it too often because I'm terrible at removing stains and I would hate to see it end up like most of my tea towels. So this a special occasion towel ;)

I love fridge magnets but I haven't got too many of them because hubby hates them and would be happy to remove all of them but hey, the kitchen is my "castle", hands off the fridge! My favourite item doesn't need much comment, does it? LOL

And last but not least, here's my gorgeous red Peugeot pepper grinder which is almost exactly the same shade as my KA, Beauty. I would not normally spend that much on a pepper grinder but this was irresistable. And Beauty surely deserves such an extravagant companion, doesn't she?

Now I wonder if any of my fellow bloggers would like to join in the game and show us their favourite kitchen items... I'd be more than happy to have a sneaky peek :)

One dough, two ways

2007-10-07T16:22:00.001+02:00

It is not too strange that one dough can be prepared in several ways to give you different results, but if I say that you get one savoury and one sweet snack from the exact same dough, that's not too usual, is it? However, it is the case with this potato dough, whose recipe comes from my Granny. The recipe yields either savoury potato cakes, or sweet dumplings (and "nudli"). I grew up with both of these dishes, they were real treats offered by her to her grandchildren and were quite frequent "visitors" on the kitchen table, especially the dumplings. My grandma's so good at making them, that neither of her two daughters learned how to make the dumplings, instead, they would just pick up the phone and order a big batch of these for the "kids" - all of them grown-up now, but willing to travel any time to Granny's place to have some of these :))

Although both my Mum and Aunt are great cooks, they're not too keen bakers, so just like with cakes, it was my - happily undertaken - job to learn the tricks of preparing dumplings. After all, Nana won't be here forever as much as we'd like her to, but traditions must go on. True, you can get it completely wrong and you need practice to get the right consistency if you don't want to end up with inedible and indigestible stone-hard "pebbles". But when made properly, you can hardly stop eating these.

Potato dumplings with jam (aka Bohemian dumplings)

1/2 kilo potato (never new, they don’t work here)
150-170g flour (or more if the potato is not too floury)
1 egg
20g margarine or a tablespoon oil
hard jam/jelly, best is plum, mixed red fruit or apricot (preferably baking-proof which cannot ooze out)
80g butter
100g dried breadcrumbs

Peel and cook the potatoes in lightly salted water. Let them cool a bit then push through a potato ricer (or mash very carefully so that there are no big pieces left).
Mix with the rest of the ingredients adding more flour if necessary or a little margarine/oil if it’s too hard. (You can cook a small piece of the dough in boiling water –if it’s not sticky, neither too hard, it’s OK. )

Roll out the dough on a surface dusted with flour until about ½ cm thick. Cut it into 5x5cm squares, put a scant teaspoon of jam on each, pinch the four corners of each square together and roll it between your palms to make a ball.

Cook the dumplings in lightly salted boiling water, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon once to avoid sticking together. When the dumplings come to the surface, cook them 2-3 minutes longer. Test one to see if they are cooked well and remove them with a strainer on a plate.

Fry the breadcrumbs in butter (my grandma adds a little water as well, it will be less dry) and roll the dumplings in it.

Serve with sifted icing sugar.

Variations:

If you’re lazy, make "nudli" (noodles) from half of the batch. Just cut the dough in 1x4 cm sticks then cook and roll in breadcrumbs as the dumplings. Serve with icing sugar. You can serve the noodles with ground poppy-seed and sifted icing sugar as well (my hubby's favourite).

In summer/autumn you can substitute jam with plum. For this you need as many smaller plums as many squares you’ve got. Remove the seeds and add a scant teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of cinnamon in the place of the seeds. Put one on each square and proceed as above.
It even gets better on the next day (if there's any left). If you make noodles, mix them with some oil after cooking, so that they don't stick together.
They freeze very well, but only cooked (without rolling them in breadcrumbs).

As for the savoury potato cakes, I cannot imagine a better comfort food on a rainy day, eaten right from the frying pan, as you go on frying the rest - there's never many left to go cold ;)

Savoury potato cakes

1 batch of potato dough

Roll the dough 1/2 cm thick and cut out 7-8cm circles. Roll these out very thinly (about 1-2 mm thick), prick with a fork a few times. Knead and roll out the leftover and cut out smaller (3cm) circles. Fill a big frying pan up to 1 cm with sunflower oil and fry the cakes on both sides until nice golden (1-2 minutes). Serve hot as it is, or with some sour cream.

The grown up cupcake

2007-10-07T16:20:00.000+02:00

Since we liked the cappuccino cupcakes from HTBADG so much, I decided to make a cappuccino cake along the same lines. I searched for appealing recipes in vain so decided to create my own version. I chose Nigella's buttermilk birthday cake for a base (also from HTBADG) but altered it by replacing the buttermilk by coffee, milk and joghurt. For the icing I used the white chocolate icing for the cappuccino cupcakes.

Cappucino cake

For the cake

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup strong coffee
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup soft butter -- unsalted
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs

For the icing
see recipe and instructions here

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Pour the yogurt, milk and coffee into a measuring cup and stir in the vanilla. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed if using the mixer and add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between additions. Add portions of the flour mixture and the vanilla-buttermilk alternately, blending well after each addition; this should take 3-5 minutes. Pour the mixture in a buttered and floured 20cm round tin, and bake for about 50 minutes until the cake is beginning to shrink away from the sides and a cake tester comes out clean.

After cooling you can decide whether you want to cut the cake in two layers, I chose not to, and iced it as it was (there was enough icing left to fill the cake, too!)

Much as I love coffee flavoured things and the cappuccino cupcakes, I found the icing two overwhelming on this cake. Or perhaps it has to do with my changed eating habits due to a new medicine I need to take to stabilize my insulin levels, but I didn't eat more than one slice of this, I felt so sick of all the butter and sugar. But hubby ate about a quarter of the cake himself, and declared it was a gorgeous cake, so I don't care :P My waistline will be grateful for the "flop", I'm sure :)

In need of something soul-warming

2007-09-22T13:48:00.000+02:00

Now that the weather has cooled down quite significantly, I find I need to cook something to warm me up all the time. I've made several quick soups and hot stews recently, but of course what really warms me up (literally, too!) is baking. And for that matter, baking with yeast, because yeasted cakes give you that feeling of cosyness and fill your home with a smell that says "You're home, you're safe and warm now" (even if in fact you are not, because the heating season has not yet begun).
I've been coquetting with the idea of making Tessa's cinnamon-cardamom buns ever since I got the book - or even earlier, sinceI've seen many a foodie make this and drooled over the pictures - , but somehow it always got put off.

I was almost put off this time, too, after reading the recipe, because the description of forming the spectacular shape of the buns was intimidating slightly. On second reading, however, it was all clear and I decided to proceed and was rewarded with that soul-warming effect I was longing for - no to mention the gorgeous smell that invaded the whole flat, mmmmmm!

Cinnamon cardamom buns

(makes about 35 buns)

For the dough
250 ml tepid milk

100 g caster sugar

25 g fresh yeast

1 egg, beaten

125 g butter, softened

2 tsp. ground cardamom

1 tsp. salt

650 g flour

For the cinnamon butter :
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

50g sugar

80 g butter, softened

for brushing and decorating

1 egg, beaten

sugar or sanding sugar

Put the milk and sugar in a bowl and crumble in the yeast. Leave for 10 minutes, or until the yeast begins to activate. Add the egg, butter, cardamom and salt and mix in. Add the flour, bit by bit, mixing it in with a wooden spoon until you need to use your hands, and then turn it out onto the work surface to knead. (I simply used my KA to do this). The dough turns out beautifully elastic. Cover it with a clean cloth, and leave in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Mix together the cinnamon and sugar (I prefer using brown sugar with cinnamon, I think it works better, it gives an extra depth to the cinnamon flavour). Divide the butter into four portions.

After the dough has risen, put it on a floured work surface and divide it into four portions. Begin with one portion, covering the others with a cloth so they don't dry out. Using a rolling pin, roll out a rectangle, roughly about 30 x 25 cm and 2-3 mm thick. Spread one portion of butter over it. Sprinkle it generously with about 3 tsp cinnamon mix (I'd actually use 1.5 x amount of cinnamon sugar next time to make it more comforting).

Roll up to make a long dough sausage. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Line up the dough sausages in front of you and cut them slightly on the diagonal, alternating up and down, so that the slices are fat 'v' shapes, with the point of the 'v' about 2 cm and the base about 5 cm. Turn them so they are all the right way up, sitting on their fatter bases. Press down on the top of each one with two fingers until you think you will almost go through to your work surface.

Put the buns on the baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving space for them to puff and rise while they bake. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle a little sugar over the top.
Leave the buns to rise for half an hour and preheat your oven to 180C. Bake them for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden.

Keep them in an airtight container so they don't harden. They freeze nicely.

Dobos torta

2007-09-04T13:51:00.000+02:00

I was a bit upset and at a loss recently when I read about a quest of Hungarian confectioners to create the "cake of the country" for the commemoration of the founding of our state (20 August). I was at a loss because I thought we had one already: surely Dobos torta is Hungarian enough!? They came up with a cake based on the traditional dessert all Hungarians like (and like to claim as Hungarian but I'm not so sure about that) which the French call ile flottante. I'm not saying it cannot be good but I find no reason for creating such a new cake when we have something to be proud of already. You can read about the history of Dobos cake here.

Perhaps I got upset only because it was at this time that my husband "placed his order" for a cake for his nameday, and it was Dobos torta :)
I'm far from claiming it is a cake you want to whip up for unexpected guests. In fact, this is one of the cakes that only people as crazy as me attempt, the rest walk to a good confectioner's and buy it. And I don't think you can find many people in Hungary who don't like it :)

The cake is usually round, though you can find it in roulade and triangle shape as well at better places - no way I'm attempting those! But hubby ordered a rectangular one, because his granny always made it that way (only he forgot to mention it was a long loaf shape, not like mine, and I almost threw it in his face when he came in as I was making the caramel topping and he said it did not look good...)

I've made this cake before, but I had no real problem because the recipe called for round springform tins, but now I had to fuss about adjusting the recipe to a rectangular tin. I failed quite miserably and the last layer turned out too thin and burnt almost completely and I had to whip up another batch and up the amounts - I don't want to confuse you with all this, I'll give the recipe with modified amounts. (Also, I only got 5 layers instead of six because I didn't have enough cream). However, the drawback turned out to be an advantage, as it is much less time consuming to make three rectangular layers and halve them (either horizontally or diagonally) than make six round layers.

Dobos cake

( for a roughly 25x20 cm cake)

For the sponge:
10 eggs, separated
50g butter, melted and cooled
200g icing sugar
200g flour

For the chocolate cream
8 eggs
200g icing sugar
130g dark chocolate, chopped
260g butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar

For the caramel topping:
1 tsp butter
150g sugar
a few drops of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 220 Celsius and line a 25x35 cm rectangular tin (or three if you have so many).

Whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form. Cream the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow and add the flour and egg whites alternately, adding the whites very carefully so as not to "break" them. Finally, add the butter.

Spread 1/3 of the batter in the tin as evenly as possible and bake in the hot oven until light golden. Repeat twice with the rest of the batter (or use a fan oven and three tins to do it at the same time). Leave to cool.

For the chocolate cream whisk the eggs with the icing sugar. Put the bowl over a pan with boiling water and add the chopped chocolate. Continue whisking until the cream starts to thicken. This takes some time, around 15 min. Let it cool completely. This is essential, because if it is just a tiny bit warm, you won't get a smooth cream! Leave it in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours after it has cooled.
Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla and add the cooled chocolate cream bit by bit, beating it in.

Halve each layers of sponge and choose the nicest one - you need the bottom side of it. For the caramel topping melt the butter in a heavy-based pan, add the sugar and drops of lemon juice and burn until it gets a nice goldenbrown colour. Spread it on the nicest layer of sponge with a buttered knife (a wide one) and make horizontal and diagonal cuts on the surface (you don't need to cut through the sponge but you might want to do it), buttering the knife before each cut. You should get around 16 slices.

Layer the sponges with the cream and place the caramel-topped one on top. Spread cream on the sides and scatter with ground nuts or ground sponge fingers and decorate the edges if you want.

Quick treats

2007-08-19T11:50:00.000+02:00

Time is of essence now that I'm in the finish of studying for exams, so there has been not much cooking or baking for me recently. However, one needs to have a little break sometimes, especially when you're feeling like your brain was starting to explode when squeezing in some new fact. Now that is definately a time when you need: treats!

I guess everyone has a few treats that they enjoy making and return to in times of need. So here are a few of mine, interestingly a breakfast, main course and dessert :) Not made on the same day, though.

Porridge is not something we have a tradition of eating in Hungary. Actually, it took me quite long to dare attempt making a porridge because it somehow seemed odd: rolled oats soaked in water and/or milk, what on earth could that taste like?? Well, I must say, they taste awesome! Real comfort food. And it's healthy! Now I only feel sorry that quick porridge is not available here, because with the original method it takes too long to prepare on a work day - at least I'm too lazy to get up earlier to make this, no matter how good, I'm simply not a morning type of person: I guess Bill would drive me crazy with his morning "chirping" as he calls it LOL

The first time I made porridge I used Bill's recipe in Open Kitchen, and since it turned out lovely, I use this again and again.

Five-grain porridge with brown sugar peaches
(Serves 4)

250g mixed grains
600ml boiling water
600ml milk
3 peaches, quartered
80g brown sugar

Caramelize the peaches in hot oven with the sugar (about 15 min). Since I usually prepare 1 portion, I do this in a pan, not in the oven. Not the same, I know, but I feel it'd be too extravagant to turn on the oven to caramelize 1 peach LOL
Mix the grains with the water in a pan and leave for 10 minutes. Then add the milk and slowly bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 min, stirring often.

Serve with the peach quarters and some brown sugar sprinkled over, and warm milk (is that compulsory for a porridge, I wonder, because I leave that out and it doesn't seem to be missing). A great way to start the day especially if you have some brain work to do ;)

For the quick main course I turned to Bill again. His Warm tomato and ricotta pasta salad is my favourite pasta dish ever. I have changed it a bit, the greatest difference is that I use balsamic vinegar instead of the red wine vinegar, because it complements and highlights the sweetness of the tomatoes much more nicely and I don't always use ricotta, I find the crumblier and coarser curd cheese or the sharp, salty feta a nicer complement to this. And I sometimes leave out the bread crumbles.
This time I used wholemeal penne, feta and cherry tomatoes from my Grandma's garden, mmm. Oh, and I added some green olives, because I had a jar open.

Here's the original recipe, though:

Warm tomato and ricotta pasta salad
Serves 4
500 g (2 baskets) cherry tomatoes, cut in half
80 ml (1/3 cup) extra virgin olive oil
60 ml (14 cup) red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 thick slices wholemeal or sourdough bread
1 garlic clove, sliced in half
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, extra
500 g (1 Ib 2 oz) rigatoni
60 g (1 cup) finely shredded basil leaves
250 g (9 oz) fresh ricotta cheese

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Place the tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and sugar in a large bowl and stir to combine.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cover and leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Rub the bread on both sides with the cut side of the garlic.
Brush with the extra olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Put the bread on a baking tray and place in the oven.
Cook for 20 minutes, or until crisp.
Remove from the oven and crumble into coarse breadcrumbs with your hands.
Set aside.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente.
Drain well, then add to the tomatoes.
Add the basil and toss to combine.

Divide the pasta between four serving plates, or put it on one large serving dish, crumble over the ricotta cheese and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.

So, after a breakfast and a main course, what else does a girl want? Chocolate of course. And if she's as mad about baking as me, she has to do "something" with it, not simply get a bar of good quality chocolate. Especially if the following cupcake is the favourite of her husband ;)
The recipe is a marriage of Nigella's Night and day cupcake recipe from HTBADG and
the icing recipe for her Chocolate fudge cake from NB. The idea for using this icing comes from a fellow foodie, Jane in France, the swirling is my addition. It's a really complex recipe, you see LOL

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate swirl icing

2 scant tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons boiling water
75g sugar
50g dark brown sugar
125g self-rising cake flour
2 large eggs
125g very soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat the oven to 200. Mix the cocoa to a paste with the boiling water and set aside while you make the cupcake mixture.2. This couldn't be easier: Just put the sugars, flour, eggs, and butter and vanilla in the processor and blitz to combine smoothly.3. Scrape the mixture from the sides and then pulse while you add the cocoa paste and milk down the funnel. You should have a batter with a soft dropping consistency: If not, add a little more milk.4. Dollop into the paper baking cups in the pan and bake for 20 minutes, until an inserted cake tester comes out clean.5. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove, in the paper baking cups, to a wire rack.

For the fudge icing:
90g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
125g unsalted butter, softened
120-140g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla extract

To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it -or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly. In another bowl, beat the butter until it's soft and creamy and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.

Sweet weekend

2007-07-29T10:18:00.000+02:00

I hadn't baked anything for weeks so I thought it was high time I took out my books to browse. I knew I wouldn't have too much time on Saturday morning and also, our friends invited over to their house in the afternoon, so that meant another batch of cakes to take over.
If time is of essence, the easiest to make are muffins or cupcakes. I chose the cappuccino cupcakes from How to be a Domestic Goddess. Even though I'm not a coffee drinkker, save the odd cafe latte once in a blue moon, I'm addicted to cakes, chocolates, sweets, etc. with a coffee flavour. I have once made these cupcakes for my mum's workplace party and got demands for the recipe but I didn't get round to tasting them.

Cappuccino cupcakes

125g self-raising flour
125g soft butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tbsp instant espresso
2-3 tbsp milk

for the icing:
160g white chocolate
60g butter
120g sour cream
260g icing sugar
cocoa powder for dusting

Nigella's instructions are to put everything in the processor (except milk) and blitz. I hate washing up the parts of the processor so I went with the traditional dry and wet ingredients method. The cupcakes needed 20 minutes in 200C pre-heated oven. While they were cooling, I made the icing. Last time I made a note that half the amount of icing is quite enough, so I halved these amounts. The white chocolate has to be melted together with the butter, then after a little cooling you need to add the rest of the ingredients. I don't usually add the amount of sugar stated in a recipe for icing, I added only 100g for the half batch this time. This of course means that the icing is runnier, but a quarter of an hour in the fridge remedies that problem, too.
When the cupcakes were topped with the icing I dusted some cocoa powder over them, which indeed made them look like cappuccino cups as Nigella said. As for the taste, the sponge came out crumblier and drier than I remember with the processor method, but it had a pronounced nut-flavour, which was lovely (nuts and coffee are such a perfect combination, mmmm). But this page got another note: "Don't be lazy to wash up the processor" LOL The result is much better using that nasty device.

Since one of our friends who invited us over doesn't like coffee at all, I couldn't make two batches of this cupcake, I had to come up with something else.
Risking my exclusion from certain foodie circles, I must admit something. I'm not such a great fan of brownies. I mean, the amounts of butter and chocolate a small tray of brownies contains has always made me turn to the next page in any cookbook. But I was craving some chocolate this weekend and suddenly I remembered the brownies in one of my Hungarian cookbooks. I made this quite some time ago and remembered I loved it. Also, the amount of chocolate and the substitution of butter to oil doesn't make this recipe so frightful for me. I'm not sure most people would call it brownies because of the latter but anyway, this was an appealing recipe.

Brownies (from Judit Stahl)

100g chocolate, chopped
100g flour
100g sugar
20g cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp instant espresso (only to emphasise the chocolate flavour, it's not noticable)
2 eggs
100 ml oil (with a neutral taste)
1 handful of chopped nuts

Combine chocolate, flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. Mix the coffee with one tbsp water in another bowl, add the eggs and oil and whisk. Combine the contents of the two bowl and spread the batter in a 24cm buttered tart tin.
The batter turned out pretty little, I could hardly even it out in the tin. Then I sprinkled it with chopped walnuts and put in the pre-heated 175C oven. The recipe suggested 18-20 minutes baking, but it was pretty soft after that time, so I left it in for another 5 minutes.

The result was a really moist cake but I should have chopped the chocolate more finely, at least it was a bit disturbing to me. Anyway, it was devoured by our friends in no time and all you could hear was "umm" and "oh" so I guess it wasn't so bad after all :)

Greek theme continued

2007-07-22T18:37:00.000+02:00

After last week's imaginary trip to Corfu, I decided to continue our travels at least in food and came up yet again with something related to Greek cuisine. I've had this recipe bookmarked in Falling Cloudberries from the moment I opened the book. Anything from Cyprus must be good as it is associated with the happiest week of my whole life, my honeymoon, which was spent there.

Tava is very easy to prepare and the result is a fantastic one-pot dish, full of flavour, excellent!

Ingredients:
1kg lamb, chopped
1.2kg potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 red onions, cut in chunks
4 tbsp chopped parsley
3 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 tomatoes, sliced
125 ml olive oil

Can you find a dish easier to prepare?? You just throw everything in a baking dish, mix it, add 125ml water and cook it in preheated oven at 180C for 2 hours, covered with foil. After uncovering, cook it at 200C until it is nice golden. Easy-peasy. Serve with a simple salad - mine was so simple Jamie Oliver would have screamed LOL. A kind of lettuce slaw with joghurt, which was perfect in the heat we have been having in the past week.

And you know what? A colleague of mine entered my office this morning, holding a box of dessert, saying: "I just came back from Cyprus." Oh, really? Me, too :))

In the mood for Greek

2007-07-20T18:02:00.000+02:00

There must be something in what Tessa says at the start of the Greek chapter of Falling Cloudberries: "Greece is magnetic, they say. Once you have stepped on Greek ground it's hard to shake yourself free. Myth has it that it's because your feet become stuck in the rich honey coating this country." I'm not sure it was the honey in my case but I can totally relate to this sentiment even though "technically" I have never stepped on Greek mainland, only on the ground of Corfu (and Cyprus). Interestingly, the Greek culture was the last on my holiday wish list. I've been to many parts of Europe before I reluctantly decided to "invade" this area. I was a fool to wait so long! I was enchanted the moment I saw the Greek hills from the plane. There truly is something in the air, besides the glorious smell of oregano, wild flowers, oranges and olive trees. A smell you will never be able to forget once you get a hint of. The smell of history, the presence of the Greek gods and the amazing peacefulness that lingers on the island (even despite extremely busy tourist-invaded areas).

I was not at all willing to cook anything last weekend, after the abundance of food at my friend's wedding on Saturday, but then I started leafing through Falling Cloudberries and felt an urge to use up the Greek feta and Greek olive oil I fetched at the supermarket the other day, the freshly picked cucumbers and the sweet tomatoes. I had some chicken breast thawing in the fridge, so it was evident I'd make gyros, pitta bread, tzatziki and a tomato salad.

Obviously, the gyros is just a quick version of that yummy dish, thin stripes of chicken breast marinated in olive oil and a spice mix, then fried in a pan. Not too authentic, I'm sure, but a perfect quick dinner.

For the pitta breads I used Tessa's recipe in FC, from the Cypriot chapter.
For 10-12 pittas you need

10g fresh yeast (instant works just fine, just use the conversion suggested by manufacturer)
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of sugar
500g strong bread flour (I added about 100g wholemeal in the name of healthy eating ;))
1 tsp salt

There's nothing new under the sun concerning the assembling of the dough. The messy part comes after the dough has risen for about 1 or 1 1/2 hours. Then, you need to punch it back and divide it into 10-12 portions, need 1/2 hour rest under a towel before proceeding with rolling the individual portions and baking them in preheated oven (220 C) on preheated baking trays. Although Tessa advises not to cook two batches at the same time, I used the fan function of my oven and cooked two trays, swapping them half-time. Worked fine for me.

Until the pittas were rising, I prepared the side dishes. For the tzatziki I grated a cucumber coarsely, then salted it and let it sit in a colander to get rid of the juices. When it was done, I pressed it down with a wooden spoon to make sure all the juices were gone. Then I mixed it with yoghurt and some sour cream (to get the right consistency because there's no Greek yoghurt available here to my greatest sorrow), and garlic oil.

For the tomato salad I just sliced some ripe tomatoes, crumbled in some feta, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with some oregano I brought from Corfu.

The dish was excellent, the tzatziki tasted just like the one I had and had been craving from Corfu, and the pittas were really delicious.
We played some Greek music during dinner and when we closed our eyes, we could almost hear the sea moaning in the distance. A perfect dinner, what more can you ask for??

Courgettes again

2007-07-09T13:02:00.000+02:00

I guess I'll be eating more courgettes this summer than during the whole year so far. My Granny's plant is abounding in these unnaturally yellow, longish veggies, so I will have to make a thorough research for courgette recipes to try.
When it's courgettes, though, one dish to make is a definite one: courgette fritters. The first time I saw Nigella make these in her Forever Summer show, I was lost and keep making them very often.
The best thing about these fritters is that they are easily alterable. I've tried many variations depending on what I had at home and I realised I'm not too keen on a pronounced mint flavour so either only add a tiny amount of those chopped leaves or only parsley. No sparing with that! Also, when I don't have feta, I love (perhaps actually prefer) using grated smoked cheese which gives another layer of rich flavour to the otherwise not too interesting courgette.

So even though it was Nigella who introduced this perfect light supper to me, I like trying new versions, too. This one comes from Bill's Food, and is basically the same as Nigella's but I needed an excuse to use my new Bill book, you see ;)

Courgette fritters

500g courgette, grated
1/2 tsp sea salt
8 spring onions, chopped (a small brown onion works just fine, too)
125g feta, crumbled
35g chopped parsley
15g chopped mint
2 eggs, beaten
60g flour
sea salt and pepper to taste
60ml olive oil for frying

Put the courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 30 min (When I'm in a hurry, I omit this stage and skip to the next. Works fine for me). Squeeze out any excess liquid and pat dry with paper towel.
Mix everything in a huge bowl, then heat the oil in a pan and add tablespoonfuls of the batter, flattening them with the back of the spoon. Fry for about 2 min on each side (or until golden).

Serve with mayo, yoghurt, sour cream or a combination of these.

A breakfast treat

2007-07-09T12:47:00.000+02:00

While I try to eat healthy breakfast including milk and cereal, yoghurt, fruit, etc. for breakfast on weekdays, I sometimes like to indulge in treats at the weekends. One of my favourite treats is American pancakes with maple syrup and fresh fruit if available. Or I should say it was. Because recently I found a waffle recipe which keeps climbing back in my mind, urging me to make them again. And again.

I'm a terrible waffle maker. I either have to take out my first waffles in pieces because I'm impatient and open the iron too early and I always put too much batter on the iron and it starts flowing everywhere, argh! Well, from the point of view of my waistlines, this is good news, because I hate cleaning the equipment so sometimes I'm too lazy to make waffles even if I'm craving them LOL

Anyway, these cornmeal waffles with a hint of lemon by Nicole from Baking bites are too good to resist and are worth the extra scrubbing ;)

This time I substituted 1/8 cup of plain flour for wholemeal, just to feel less guilty about my morning treat ;) It worked really well. I even tried cooking them in a pan as American pancakes and they were absolutely fine that way, too (bad news for my waistlines!)

An earlier attempt with strawberries, a hint of icing sugar and maple syrup...

And the most recent one with blueberries...

Back on the wagon!

2007-07-02T18:05:00.001+02:00

Well, it's been a long time... There are many reasons, the main being that life's been showing its ugliest face to me for a few months now and I didn't have time nor energy to deal with things other than self-pitying :)

But now, am trying to get my lost "mojo" back and a trip to London certainly helped to bring this about. Those four days were the best days this year so far. I'm not saying I acted like a real foodie and went to posh restaurants or things like that, but something was coming back. I didn't make it to Borough Market due to lack of time, but we did have a stroll on Portobello Road on a Saturday and the supply of the food section was thrilling enough for me, especially the baked goods and sourdough bread which you just can't buy anywhere here :(

We had the most amazing lunch on a bench at the Tower of London, which consisted of a fresh, rustic baguette, fresh feta cheese and amazingly sweet blueberries. The kind of perfect moment you'll remember for a long time.

And the goodies I brought back

Further inspiration came from the June issue of Delicious. I was hooked by the cover of the magazine and that awesome savoury tart including potatoes and courgette. As the first yellow courgette my Granny planted for me in her garden was grown enough, I didn't have to wait long to try this recipe.

I couldn't get any fresh thyme so I had to use dried but it was fine. The tart was really good and eating it made me feel I was on a good way to a healthy diet LOL Well, hubby was not so enthusiastic, his only comment was "and where's the meat?" so I guess I will have to add a few more layers of bacon (that's what I used) next time ;)

5 things you might not know about me

2007-05-11T14:08:00.000+02:00

Firstly, an explanation for my longish absence: tons of work and overtime, and my computer at home broke down, so I have no access to pictures I've made in the meantime. But I will soon have, so keep watching this space :)

I've been tagged by Anna so here are the five things you might not know about me:

1. I love learning languages. Besides English I speak German, have studied Spanish but never had the opportunity to speak it anywhere so it's a really passive knowledge. Also started learning Italian some time ago but am desperately in want of free time to finish anything I start (at least to some extent) LOL

2. My dream kitchen is something along these lines.

3. Much as I love cakes and chocolate, there aren't many chocolate cakes I really like (except for the chocolate loaf here)

4. I only have one book by Jamie Oliver, Jamie's Italy. Much as I love the man and his shows, I don't find his books useful enough for me. He uses too many ingredients I don't like and/or can't get here.

5. Green Card with Gerard Depardieau and Legal Eagles with Robert Redford are two films I adore and have seen a zillion times (but still haven't got hold of a DVD copy of either).

I'm afraid everyone whose blog I read have been tagged already but Ilana :) Go girl!

--List five random facts/habits about yourself
--Choose another five bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog
--Leave your five tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging along with directions.

Recycling

2007-04-29T09:59:00.000+02:00

I'm not very good at using up leftovers. The reason might be that I can't really think ahead. Furthermore, I don't have a proper pantry and my freezer's not too big so my stocks of food are very limited. And I usually don't like to eat the same thing for days on end - another reason why a man comes handy at one's house LOL He doesn't mind doing that ;)

I buy a lot of food magazines and usually they are stuck with recipes recycling leftovers but I usually forget them the moment I read them. Not this time.
I saw these rolls in one of these magazines, made with bacon, right before Easter. Since I had some ham left over after Easter, I decided to use them up.

Ham rolls

a packet of puff pastry
leftover cooked ham
spring onions
parsley
Dijon mustard
pepper
seeds of your choice

I'm not giving exact amounts as I added these from scratch. I had some spring onions which I wanted to get rid of, some parsley and chucked these together with the ham, mustard and some pepper (the ham was salty enough) into the food processor for a quick blitz, then spread this mixture on the puff pastry, rolled it up and cut 1cm thick slices. I put the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, brushed the top with a beaten egg and sprinkled over some sunflower seeds. They were baked at 200C until golden.

A quick and delicious weekday supper.

Despite my saying I can't really plan ahead I must admit I had hidden intentions when I made so much milk loaf for Easter. I sliced the leftover and tucked them in the freezer to use them up later. I had Nigella' s orange scented brioche pudding in mind...

I took out the slices in the morning and by the time I got home from work, they thawed. I stuck two slices with a teaspoon of home made marmelade, lined them up in a pudding bowl and poured over a mixture of milk, cream eggs and egg yolks and sultanas soaked in orange juice. After letting it stand for 15 minutes I cooked the brioche pudding in a hot oven for 45 minutes. We got a lovely, yellow, melting pudding which took considerable efforts on my side to stop eating LOL

One thing I didn't like though were the sultanas. The recipe instructed to scatter them over the top but they got burnt and had a bitter aftertaste. So I'll either cover the whole dish with foil before they burn or will try to hide them among the slices next time. Or subsitute them with dark chocolate chips ;) YUM!

Chocolate cake and nostalgia

2007-04-26T14:15:00.000+02:00

Ilana's recent post about pandiramerinos put me in a nostalgic mood. It reminded me how much I owe to a bunch of friends over on n.com. It made me think of the many occasions when someone would try a recipe and a random cookalong would result from it where everyone displayed their versions of the same recipe. I loved it. Pandiramerino was one of them but I could list quite a few more.

Anyway, from all these memories jumped out another recipe I've often made and which is from Maria, fellow-forummer, Queen of Cakes :) This is her mamma's recipe and even the name fills my heart with comfort and cosiness: Sjokoladeformkake. It is a very simple but seriously good chocolate loaf cake which I've made several times and it has slowly found its way in my steady repertoire. And it warms my heart that when I'm much older I'll have such fond memories attached to this recipe which I'll be able to relate to my children.

So here's the recipe, I hope Maria won't mind ;) I've made several variations of it, including ones with candied orange and orange juice and one with coffee and white chocolate chunks (I substituted 1/3 of the milk always). Either way, it is really good. And comforting.

Mamma's Sjokoladeformkake

4 tablespoons cocoa powder
150 ml full fat milk
150 ml sugar
110 grams (1 stick) butter
2 medium eggs
300 ml all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Loaf tin, approx. 23 x 13 cm, buttered and floured or with a paper insert.

Mix cocoa, milk and half of the sugar in a pan, bring to boil, leave to cool a bit.
Whisk butter and the rest of the sugar until it turns pale, add the eggs and vanilla and whisk again.
Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir.
Mix flour and baking powder, sieve it over the bowl and stir again.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin, and bake for about 45 minutes (or until cake tester comes out clean) in a 170C/350F oven.

Lamb and potatoes

2007-04-17T09:44:00.000+02:00

Sounds boring, huh? But if I tell you it's a rack of lamb with breadcrumbs, parsley and lemon á la Bill Granger (Open Kitchen) and the best potato dish I can imagine, it sounds different, doesn't it? :)

So, the lamb, true to Bill, is very easy to prepare. You need
slices of sourdough bread
parsley
1 garlic clove
zest of 1 lemon (I substituted lemon juice for this)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Toast the bread in the oven, then crumble it (easiest to do in the processor), add chopped parsley, sliced or grated garlic, lemon zest (or juice) and some olive oil to bind.
Then salt&pepper the rack of lamb and fry it for a few minutes in a pan, on some olive oil, then rub in 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard, and press on the breadcrumb mixture. Place it in a pre-heated 180C oven and cook for about 30-40 minutes for a pink meat.
Since I don't like pink meat, I cooked for almost an hour and the thicker part was still not completely done, which is a shame because there's nothing worse I can imagine than bloody (sorry, no cursing here LOL) meat.Otherwise, the combination of breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic and lemon is just great, and I will give it another try with a longer cooking time on another occasion.

As for the potatoes, I honestly believe this is the best that can happen to the first young potatoes of the season. This is always the first dish my mum prepares with them once they appear in the market and this is something the whole family looks forward to every year, me especially! So much so, that on Saturday, when we usually go round to my parents' house for dinner, my mum was sorry to inform me that she couldn't get any to make this dish with the Wiener Schnitzels she made. So I was even happier that I had found some young potatoes and huge bunches of parsley in the market that morning :)

My mum's parsley potatoes

1 kg young potatoes
olive oil and butter, 1-2 tbsp of each
a huge bunch of parsley, chopped
salt

Melt the olive oil and butter in a big pan, then add the chopped parsley and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the peeled and chopped potatoes, add so much water that it doesn't cover the potatoes completely, bring to the boil, add some salt and let it simmer until the potatoes absorb all the juices and become tender. (It is important not to add too much water or they will go too mushy).
The result is soft, fragrant, jade-coloured potatoes which are a perfect accompaniment to any breadcrumbed meat and should be followed by something sour (pickled gherkins) or something sweet and tart, like Bill's cucumber relish (Open Kitchen). Though I don't even mind eating them as they are, snuggled on the sofa. My idea of comfort food...

Cucumber relish

Heat 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 rice or white wine vinegar in a pan. Until it cools, quarter a short (Lebanese) cucumber and slice it thinly. Slice 2 shallots and a deseeded red chilli thinly, too. Put all these in a nice dish and pour over the sweet vinegar. I like to add 1/3 cup of water too, to make it less tart and this time I left out the chilli. Mmmmmmm.....

Easter medley

2007-04-10T09:04:00.000+02:00

Easter used to be so different when I was a child. In Hungary, there's a tradition of sprinkling girls and women on Easter Monday, so that they do not wither LOL No, actually this tradition can be traced back to fertility rituals. In my grandmother's days boys sprinkled the girls with buckets of cold water, there was no escaping them, no matter how hard they tried! In exchange of sprinkling the boys got Easter eggs painted by the girls themselves.
Later, buckets of water were substituted for eau de cologne, and the boys cited Easter rhymes (funny, coquetting little poems) and in exchange they got painted or chocolate eggs, or even some pocket money.

I grew up with this tradition. I was preparing painted eggs for the sprinklers, bought chocolate eggs and helped my mum with the preparations. On Easter Monday it was my father who sprinkled me first, later accompanied by my brother. The first guest to arrive was always my grandfather and then there was no stopping till late in the afternoon: relatives, neighbours, friends, old and young came along, spent a little time at our house chatting, eating and drinking. Even though we women all stank by the end of the day and couldn't wait to put our heads under the tap, these were lovely times, on looking back.

Unfortunately, in our modern world people don't seem to find time for traditions. Easter has become a bore, a chore and everyone's trying to get away from it. Some people take a mini-break, some just go on trips on Mondays.
It just doesn't feel right any more, it has ceased to be the cosy event it used to be, which is sad.

Foodwise, however, I try to keep up the tradition, even if I don't have many guests these days. Mornings are started with boiled ham and eggs, accompanied by various mayo salads: potato, sweetcorn, or "French". I made French salad this year, which is cooked peas, carrots, potatoes, parsnips and raw apples diced, covered in sauce tartare. Bread and/or milk loaf are also served along. In my family there is never a proper cooked meal on Easter Monday, we just have servings of this and that during the day. Honestly, I still cannot imagine anything better than ham and eggs all day at Easter!

29 years together

2007-04-10T08:39:00.000+02:00

Easter Sunday coincided with my parents' 29th wedding anniversary this year. So even though I never make a proper cake for Easter, this time there was an excuse to make one :) And again thanks to Kelly-Jane I had these cute Cadbury choc eggs to use up, so I decided to make Nigella's Easter egg nest cake from Feast. I checked the recipe twice and even read the choc cloud cake recipe, which is basically the same I was told, but still went on sceptically preparing this flourless(!) cake. It is very easy to make, you just melt the chocolate with the butter, then beat the egg whites with sugar. After beating the yolks with sugar,too, you add the melted chocolate and carefully fold in the whites. It took me longer to bake than the stated 35-40 minutes because I used a 22cm pan, that was what I had.

Since several people told me it was quite a rich cake, I only used some cocoa powder in the whipped cream for colour instead of another bar of chocolate.

The result? Hmmm, not bad, but I'm afraid it was too dense for me even without the chocolate in the topping. Everyone else loved it though, so no problem with that ;)

Easter preparations

2007-04-07T17:06:00.000+02:00

This Easter has arrived so quickly, I hardly noticed and hardly had the time to plan beforehand, so I was just going with the flow, not really having an idea what to bake (me, imagine!). But yesterday settled it and today I started my happy pottering in the kitchen.

Since the lovely Anna sent me a bottle of lemon oil, I have been searching for an occasion to try the lemon cupcakes from Forever Summer and I was craving something lemony this Easter! So cake No. 1 was quickly settled, as the muffins were a breeze to make in the processor. Since I can't get royal icing, which the recipe suggests using and my favourite frosting is cream cheese, I just whipped up a batch of those, using 125g cream cheese, 50g butter and about 4 tbsp icing sugar, and I added some of the lemon oil, a tbsp lemon juice and some zest as well. Mmmmm, so heavenly citrusy! Now I'm thinking of making it as "blondies" in a pan next time, with some lime juice and zest added and the same cream cheese topping. Drooling just at the thought of it...
(Cupcake cases courtesy of Kelly-Jane, aren't they cute? Thanks again!)

I was so desperate yesterday about not having ideas I turned to my hubby for help. Guess what his answer was at the question "What would you like to have?". If you read carefully so far, you'll know it by now: curd cheese. Actually he named this cake but I wasn't giving myself so easily (what about creativity?), so I chose his all time favourite cake, which I've only ever attempted once in our 10 years together: curd cheese squares Rákóczi style. The reason for my not making it is not because it's extremely difficult or fiddly to make. It is simply that I don't like it that much. Or much rather that I can't find a recipe which reminds me of my childhood memories of this cake: soft sponge divided by a thin layer of apricot jam, curd cheese and a huuuuge, sometimes over 7cm(!) layer of marshmallowy soft meringue, sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Mmmmmmmmmm! Whenever I went to the cake shop, I'd ask for this cake, it was made so brilliantly in my hometown.

This recipe doesn't come any close to the above mentioned taste memory either, it is the traditional and home-made version but it did turn out to be the best of the kind I've tasted so far.
I followed the recipe faithfully except that I made 1.5x amount of the dough because it seemed too little for me for my pan and I used 4 extra whites (from the freezer) and proportionately more sugar, because we like a thicker meringue on top. The result: a few hours after the cake has come out of the oven, half of it is missing already. And this time it's not me getting nearer to a broader waistline ;)

In fact, I'm still craving that familiar taste...

Nigella's fresh gingerbread with lemon icing

2007-04-03T07:47:00.000+02:00

I associate gingerbread with cold weather in general but somehow I tend to make it this time of the year, it seems, although this is only the second time I've made it LOL The first time was around March last year, simply because the black treacle I had bought months earlier was getting close to its expiry date. So far I know of only one single shop that stocks it, and that is almost 200km away so you can understand I was cherishing it :) Almost too long...

Anyway, I had to use it up and I didn't suspect what impact it would have on my life! If I was given the difficult task of choosing my favourite cake, this would be in the first three. Honestly, it is amazing. And you can imagine the odours filling your home when making this: treacle, golden syrup, fresh ginger and cinnamon... Mmmmmm! The lemon icing is really the icing on the cake: it counterbalances the chewy sweetness and velvety deep treacle aroma of the cake.

Since a friend of mine happened to visit the shop where treacle can be found and she bought me two tins(!) I had another long-awaited occasion to have a go at this recipe.

It is extremely easy to make as well. You just melt the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, treacle, cinnamon and fresh ginger in a pan, then taking it off the heat add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour and baking soda (dissolved in warm water), pour the mixture in a tray and bake for 3/4-1 hour.

The icing is made of icing sugar, lemon juice and hot water simply, though I find it always too little for the cake, you could easily double the amounts stated.

This is why I consider Nigella my baking queen: How to be a Domestic Goddess is full of these kinds of recipes which inevitably make you feel a Domestic Goddess yourself, with this little effort!

Liptauer

2007-03-27T08:01:00.000+02:00

Liptauer comes from Slovakia but I'm sure if asked, most Hungarian people would say it's a Hungarian speciality.The reason for this is because Liptau and the neighbourhood used to be a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
My mum makes excellent Liptauer so I've never looked for a recipe in my life, just try to imitate that - sometimes with more, sometimes with less success, just as it is the case with grandma's recipes. They always taste "better" ;)

Liptauer

100g ewe's cheese (Bryndza)
250g curd cheese
100g soft unsalted butter (or a bit more if your cheeses are too dry)
1 tsp grated brown onion
1 clove of garlic, grated
paprika, ground pepper to taste
a hint of ground cumin
and carefully added salt (the amount depends on how salty your ewe's cheese is, you must be very careful or it turns out inedible - it has been the case with me before!)

Just beat everything thoroughly either by hand or in a KA. Serve with fresh bread and veggies if you please.

In the mood for Irish!

2007-03-26T08:10:00.000+02:00

I blame it on Mannix. It all started with his newsletter for St.Patrick's day. I was drooling all over the keyboard by the time I'd finished reading it. So I knew that once hubby gets home, I must try something Irish.

It wasn't really difficult to justify trying any of these dishes. Even though I don't like any kind of beer, I've been toying with the idea of trying Nigella's choc-guiness cake for ages. However, Mannix's seemed equally tempting and simple and I couldn't resist - sorry Nigella :) I used a bigger tin (22cm) because I wanted a less formal-looking cake and it was fantastic! Super moist, oh-so-chocolatey, simply what many people would call moreish, I think ;) The whipping cream and the whiskey toffee sauce complemented it perfectly - to the greatest pleasure of my pregnant friend, who could justify having some booze at least in this form LOL

We love savoury bits now and then and as we had a few friends coming over for the evening, the beer and cheddar scones looked just perfect for the occasion. It was the first time I made scones so am not sure if the dough turned out too sticky and soft because I added too much beer or it was supposed to be like that. I didn't use cheddar because of its revolting price, only a similar one - I guess the taste would have been more characteristic with cheddar, but anyway, we could hardly stop eating these!

Passing Saturday in an Irish mood didn't satisfy me completely, so I planned some more Irish for Sunday as well. But this time, however inspired by Mannix's Guiness braised beef, I turned to an Irish stew recipe from the good food site, simply because I had some neck of lamb in the freezer to use up. Ok, confession time: I couldn't deny my Hungarian roots and seeing how pale the stew looked - at least for me it looked a bit sickly pale - I added some paprika paste LOL It ended up looking very-very similar to our goulash but the taste was different due to the lamb and the spices used, and refreshingly light compared to our hearty, fat stews. It felt right to eat for dinner which wouldn't be the case with our traditional stew - unless you are not concerned about your weight, of course.

I made some rye bread to go with the stew on Sunday morning. I had leftovers from different flours, so I added all and the recipe looked like this:

300g strong flour
100g rye flour
50g semolina
150g plain flour
360ml tepid water
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
20g fresh yeast or corresponding amount of instant

The dough got to be kneaded by the bread machine, then let to prove for 20 minutes, then kneaded again. I took over from here. I shaped the dough and cut it across and let it prove for about 20-30 minutes, then transferred to a hot oven (200 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Then I turned it down to 180 degrees and baked for another 20 minutes or so, brushing it with water once mid-baking time. Nice, not too crusty bread, lovely with the stew.

Nigel's kitchen diary

2007-03-22T10:29:00.000+01:00

Sorry for being absent so long, but my hubby was abroad for a while, and I didn't spend much time in the kitchen and he also took our camera with him. I did make a few things for myself, like Bill's pasta with ricotta and tomatoes, which is THE pasta dish for me, I've made it a thousand times and it's always a hit, and I made an Irish sodabread, which turned out gorgeous, so quick and tasty, I used the recipe from the good food website.

Anyway, I'm digressing, back to Nigel :) His diary arrived yesterday afternoon, kind of a late birthday present to myself LOL I leafed through it quickly and I was a tad disappointed. Not the usual layout I'm so much in love with and which inspire me, like Bill's, Tessa's, etc. It's more like a novel with pictures. So, I didn't give up hope and treated it as such: a bedtime story. The trick worked.
I really enjoyed reading about his thoughts on eating the right food at the right time. It has been on my mind for a few days, after a trip to the supermarket. I was literally horrified by what I saw: melons, grapes, plums, unappetizing, semi-green strawberries, transported from the other side of the world. What for?? Who cares about eating melons on a cold, grey day? It's something for the piping hot days, sitting in the garden, and eating up a quarter of it for quenching your thirst. Grapes are eaten while you are enjoying the last stroking rays of sunshine, watching the leaves of thousand colours falling off the trees. Has this world gone completely mad, suggesting you can have anything you want anytime you want because you "deserve" it?? Like there was nothing else to compensate for our problems.

After reading through a few weeks in the diary, I can now say that I'm glad to have this book. I'm glad I can turn to it for real seasonal food and good, cosy food without much fuss. Or just a good read at night. Or just learning. To use up what's at your disposal in the best way you can. 'Cos that's what it's all about.

The big 3-0!

2007-03-12T11:35:00.000+01:00

No, I didn't get 3 years older all of a sudden LOL It is my husband who did. So, as a good wife, I had to make him a cake - preferably one that he likes. And preferably one that I enjoy fiddling with as once in a while I start itching to try something "grand", something challenging. I had mentioned hubby's obsession with cakes and curd cheese it was obvious which direction I should be heading. Criterion No. 1 met. I must admit I cheated with No. 2, though. I used the recipe for raspberry spiral cake which I made for my brother's birthday a year or two ago, and since it was a success I thought of reworking it a bit and adding a twist here and there.
Firstly, I substituted raspberry jam for home-made apricot jam. Secondly, I added two layers of sponge to hold the spiral. And thirdly I fiddled around with the ratio of cream and curd cheese as experience showed the recipe was too generous with it and it had turned out to be overwhelming.

So here's the result of the playing around:

Apricot-curd cheese spiral cake

For the sponge, 2x:
4 eggs, divided
a pinch of salt
4 tbsp cold water
100 g sugar
100 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
70-80 g corn starch

Whisk the four egg whites with a pinch of salt and four tbsp cold water until peaks form. In the meantime add the sugar. Add the egg yolks one by one (use a wooden spoon only), then sift in the flour-baking powder-starch mixture.

Divide the batter in two 26cm springform tins (lined with baking parchment)and bake in preheated oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes (until golden).
Repeat the steps above and line a 35x35 cm baking tray with baking parchment, spread the batter on it and bake in preheated oven at 200C for 10-15 minutes. Turn out on a damp cloth and spread the jam over immediately. Leave to cool completely.

For the filling:

400 g apricot jam (and about 200g for decoration)
18 g gelatine powder (colourless)
500 g curd cheese/ricotta
zest of 1 lemon
120-150g sugar
800 ml double cream

Add the gelatine to cold water and leave to rest.
Mix the curd cheese with the zest the lemon and the sugar. Melt the gelatine, leave it to cool a bit, add 3 tbsp of ricotta mixture, then add it to the rest of the mixture. Beat 400 ml cream and add. Spread this mixture on the square sponge and put it in the fridge for an hour or so until the spread sets.

To assemble the cake spread jam on one of the round sponges thinly and place it on a nice tray. Divide the square sponge in five identical stripes, wind up one stripe and put it on the round sponge. Wind the rest of the stripes around it.

Spread jam on the bottom of the other round sponge and place it on top of the spiral with jammed side down. Put a rim around the cake so that it hold its shape better, and put it in the fridge for at least 7 hours (or overnight).

To decorate the cake beat the rest of the cream with a little icing sugar (to taste)and spread it on the top and side of the cake. Spread the cream in several layers (I did in 3), putting the cake in the fridge in the meantime, this will make sure you get a perfectly smooth, crumbless decoration. I went a bit mad and decorated the top of the cake with cream circles and jam (that is why I needed so much jam) but you can choose any decoration you like :)

The cake went down a treat and the birthday boy was contented. And so much for birthdays until summer!

The birthday girl's menu

2007-03-06T13:13:00.000+01:00

Oh well, so I turned 27. Not a tragedy - after all LOL
So, on my birthday I certainly need some spoiling, right? And that I got from this menu.
Birthday celebrations are tricky in my family. Our flat is too small to invite over family (even such a small one, as mine), so the celebration takes place at my parents' house. That's where I take the cake which I usually bake for myself - I don't mind ;). But hubby and I have our own celebration together for which I intended to make something I never made before: lamb! I'm not sure why I'm so hooked on lamb, I haven't tasted so many versions before because it's not too available here. It is kind of exotic for me - maybe that's why?
My dearest was attentive enough to get me a whole lamb - in pieces, of course - not too long ago, which had sat in the freezer waiting for me to find out which of the numerous lamb recipes I have I was going to try first. The choice is great - think of Nigella, Bill, Tessa and many more! - and I'm not too good at making decisions LOL But the evening before the dinner the great decision was made: Tessa's leg of lamb with lemon and oregano from Falling Cloudberries.
The recipe - if it can be called a recipe at all - is simplicity itself. Get a leg of lamb, rub in the juice of 2 lemons (since hubby's not too keen on lemon and meat and I'm a chicken, too, when it comes to citrus fruits with meat, I only used 1 lemon), salt and pepper, sprinkle with oregano generously(I used the one I brought from Corfu - after all this is a Greek dish), add dots of butter and some olive oil, and it can go in a hot oven, with some water. After browning both sides, you add some diced potato, cover the whole dish with foil and turn down the heat to moderate and forget about it for a good 2 and a half hours or so, except that you need to turn it over once or twice in the meantime. Remove the foil for the last half an hour and you get a melt-in-the-mouth meat with a crispy outside, mmmm! I found that I should have used 2 lemons as the recipe suggested and even more oregano. However, I must say that both the lemon and the oregano flavour were absorbed amazingly in the potato, which was the best I have ever tasted, I'm sure!
A dish highly recommended for all!

While I was hesitating so much over the main meal, the cake didn't require plenty to think about. I'd been looking forward to making Mannix's Diablo once again ever since I first tasted it, about one year ago - I'm still ashamed of waiting that long to have this cake again! To be honest, though, I came up with a tamed Diablo after all. The reason is very simple: my red food colouring was past its best before date and I couldn't be bothered to make a trip to Tesco's, the only place where it's available, on an early Sunday morning.
Somehow this birthday seemed to be about simplicity, for this cake doesn't require much effort either (not more than a cupcake) - however, the effort to stop eating it is not something most people can easily make! It is moist, chewy, extremely chocolatey, combined with the sweetness of the cream cheese frosting (note: I used cca 100g less icing sugar than the recipe suggested, so you'd better be careful if you don't like too sweet either) and the freshness (and appetizing sight) of the luscious red raspberries... It went down a treat, so much so, that my hubby, who mostly says "perhaps later" when it comes to dessert after a meal - which in his dictionary means "I don't want any at all" - asked for a second slice! Oh well, do I need to waste another word on how gorgeous this cake is? Perhaps two more: Mannix rules!!

The tamed beast in close-up:

And a not too well-composed flower and cake piece :) Tulips are my other weakness, you know...

So before giving you the link to this pure indulgence, let me give you a word of warning: I know many people who are victims of Mannix's delirious creations, so if you're not one of them yet, I beg you to click at your own risk only. And remember: I told you...
Diablo

Chocolate

2007-03-03T18:12:00.000+01:00

I don't think there are many people who don't like chocolate and I'm certainly not one of them. I adore chocolate. I didn't like bitter or dark chocolate as a child but through the recent years I've grown to like them. In fact, I hardly eat milk chocolate any more since I discovered what good quality dark chocolate can give you: real flavour which takes you back to the roots of chocolate, cocoa beans and the hard work of those who grow it.
So, I have become a "the more bitter the better" person. However, I don't find good chocolate with more than 70% cocoa solids bitter at all (unlike semi-sweet chocolate which I can only use for baking if ever), I only feel the depth and many layers of flavour hidden in a single bar.
Living in a small town in the not too modern part of Hungary, I don't have much opportunity to buy real good quality chocolate. So I've become a chocolate collector. There is a specialist chocolate shop I love to visit once in a while, not too far from where I live, which stocks some of the best chocolate available.
So let's take a look at some of my treasures, for indeed I treasure them, sometimes for months (or a whole year!) without opening them, fearing I don't get the chance to restock the collection LOL But when I do open them, I savour them slowly and keenly like it was the last thing I could taste.

There you go: chocolate with 85% cocoa solids (my ever-lasting love), chocolate with 71% cocoa solids (this particular bar rivals the 85% chocolates in smoothness and richness in flavour, I was quite surprised), 75% bar with passion fruit, and a sexy combination of chocolate with mango and chilli.

I don't think Lindt's chocolate needs any enthusiastic reviews in general, but let me tell you that the sour guave filling makes a perfect combination with this well-known quality of Swiss chocolate, and the other version filled with a gentle cream and cocoa bean pieces would convert a milk-chocolate-eater-only as well!

And here are my latest babies, Belgian chocolate with 88% cocoa solids, another version of the Grand'or, this time with lime flavour (I really should try either of them now LOL) and a dark chocolate bar with Rooibos tea filling (should be devoured soon, as winter's coming to a rapid end here LOL).

And this little gem from Café Tasse deserves a picture of its own: OH HOLY COW! Coffee beans hidden in the best white chocolate I've ever tasted. It reminds me so much of my childhood favourite chocolate, a cappuccino flavoured one. Enchanting...

Sunday lunch - a bit differently

2007-02-19T18:23:00.000+01:00

Falling Cloudberries is to me like love fulfilled after several hardships. I had wanted to buy this book for ages, I heard so many raving reviews, but after searching tons of bookshops personally, by phone and on-line, near and far, I had to give up my hope of getting it. Until a day came along when I discovered an option which would solve my problem without throwing myself in the hands of credit companies (I'm a credit-phobic, you know), and happily ordered it from amazon.
It arrived on a lovely winter day, just before Christmas (actually as a Christmas present from my parents) and I snuggled down on the sofa with a mug of hot chocolate and started reading. I was enchanted by the pictures and the promising recipes. They all sound so homely and cosy to me, and I could imagine the family dinners they were served at at Tessa's home quite clearly. The chapter about Cyprus is the fondest to my heart as my honeymoon was there and it was truly one of the best weeks of my life.
The moment I open the book fills my heart with peace, and the possibility of living life so peacefully and casually as the book suggests, seems to be within reach. And suddenly a day of pottering in the kitchen seems like the only possible way to spend a Sunday, without feeling guilty of neglecting other chores.
As I had quite lost my "mojo" recently, that was exactly what I needed last weekend. And since the prospect of having another roast meat with potatoes didn't quite appeal, I was looking for something simple, yet very tasty. And so I found this:

Veal loin with mustard, pancetta and cabbage

I had to improvise a "bit", because all I had was a beef loin (I guess, I'm not too familiar with the parts of beef, to be honest) in the freezer which needed using up, and since my local shops don't stock pancetta, I had to be content with bacon.
The meal is very simple to make: fry the piece of meat on some olive oil in a pan, salt and pepper, then smear over some Dijon mustard - again improvisation as I had only hot, not mild as the recipe suggested -, cover with bacon slices and leaves of savoy or Chines cabbage (I used the former) which had been blanched. Now, as I've never seen caul fat here, I elegantly left out this ingredient and just tied up the meat with a piece of string and placed it in the oven for 1.5 hours (could have been a bit longer as it was not veal but we were hungry), turning it over in the meantime and adding a glass of white wine as well.

The result was fantastic, the boring cabbage was lifted to a higher dimension by the marriage of mustard and bacon. In fact, I was sorry I didn't add more leaves, which I certainly will when I make it next time: for there will be a next time, I'm sure.
I served it with a simple salad of mixed leaves and cherry tomatoes and Bill's olive and rosemary bread. A wonderful combination.

The leftovers were devoured for lunch on Monday and if I may say that, the meat was even better then. Next time I'd make it the day before.

Of course I cannot go past this quickly by Bill's olive and rosemary bread from Every Day. It's a flat bread actually, might even be called a foccaccia, and it's simple and wonderful. The recipe calls for spelt flour which I forgot to buy (I only have wholemeal spelt at home regularly) so I made it from all plain flour.

half a kilo flour
1 tsp honey
300ml tepid water
7 g instant yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sea salt + more for sprinkling
rosemary sprigs and pitted olives

You start by combining half a cup of flour, honey, water and yeast, setting it aside for 10 minutes. Then combine it with all the other ingredients but the rosemary and olives (I did it in the KA) and knead until it is shiny and elastic. Cover and let it rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Knock the dough back and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Knead quickly then stretch it out on an oiled baking tray and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Poke holes in the dough, placing a rosemary sprig or olive in all of them, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Bake at 220C for 10 minutes, then at 190C for a further 12-25 minutes.
It's a soft, tasty bread and looks like it keeps very well.

Carnival time!

2007-02-17T20:42:00.000+01:00

Just like in many other countries, besides the religious connotations, carnival (farsang) in Hungary marks the weakening reign of winter and the coming of the glorious spring. Although feasts are not as numerous and widespread as they used to be, some regions still keep their traditions alive. One of the most interesting traditions is busójárás , about which you can read here http://www.vendegvaro.hu/en/35-20172.

However, the gastronomical mark of carnival has not been forgotten over the times and doughnuts are still happily made by grandmothers and mothers during this time of the year.

The most popular doughnut is the so-called "ribbon doughnut". The reason for the attribute "ribbon" is that when made properly, there is a lighter circle around the middle of the doughnut.

Although my aim is not to intimidate you from reading on, I cannot say that this is the easisest snack to make. There are many areas where you can go wrong, but with a little practice (and luck) you can get it right.

First of all, you need to get the dough perfect. It's an extremely sticky dough, difficult to manage. If it's not proven well, you'll end up with objects that can be used to kill LOL. So if you've never made yeasted dough before, I beg you not to start with this.

Secondly, the oil. It can be neither too hot nor too cold. If it's too hot, the doughnuts will burn quickly outside but remain raw inside - yuck! In the reverse case the doughnuts will absorb too much oil - not too pleasant either!

If you can escape these two pitfalls, you win - and what you win is worth all the effort! And to prove that I'm talking sense, I confess this is my first time of making doughnuts - as I'm so lucky as to have a grandmother around who has done it for me so far. But it was time I tried my luck with these!

Ribbon doughnuts

(makes about 20-25)

600 g plain flour

35 g baker's yeast

100 ml + 250 ml lukewarm milk

4 tbsp sugar

50 ml rum

4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp salt

zest of 1 lemon

70 g butter, melted and cooled slightly

oil for cooking

apricot jam for serving

Sift the flour (I know it's a bore, but you really need to do it for the dough being airy). Make a starter by crumbling the yeast in 100 ml milk, and adding 4 tbsp of the flour and 1 tsp of the sugar. Stir well, and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Heat the rum a bit and add the remaining sugar. Add it to the flour with the starter, egg yolks, salt, lemon zest. Add the milk step by step, using a wooden spoon or a dough hook. You need to add all the milk, it should be a very sticky dough, difficult to work. Add the butter gradually and work the dough for 5-6 minutes. My Beauty was a wonderful help with this!

Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size (I put mine in the cold oven and turn on the light: this gives enough warmth for the dough to rise nicely).

Knead the dough quickly again, and spread it with your fingers on an oiled surface until about 1.5 cm thick. Dip an 8 cm round cookie cutter in oil and cut out circles (you can re-knead the leftover dough until all is gone). Transfer to a dusted surface, cover with a tea towel and let it rise for 20-30 minutes.

Press the middle of each circle with your thumb. Pour oil in a big casserole until it comes about 2-3 cm high. Heat it, add three-four doughnuts with the upper side down (!) in the oil and cover with a lid. Cook for about 1.5 minutes, then turn them over (do not stick anything in the dough) and cook the other side for the same time without the lid. Transfer to a plate with a kitchen towel.

Serve with icing sugar and jam.

See, it wasn't that difficult after all :) I can now sit down and even my knees might stop shaking LOL

Cur(d)ious heritage

2007-02-10T16:50:00.000+01:00

We Hungarians love curd cheese – in cakes. I know it sounds strange to some foreigners, but believe me, it’s not more bizarre than cheesecakes are to us. Our curd cheese is quite dry and crumbly, with a tinge of sweetness.
Perhaps you’ll wonder no more if I show you the absolute favorite snack of all Hungarians, young or old: Túró Rudi, which is roll shaped curd cheese covered in dark chocolate (at least the original, now you can buy milk chocolate versions, and ones with fruit jellies in the middle, etc. )

As hubby is especially keen on curd cheese cakes, and I just got a lovely book from him which contains a recipe I’ve not heard of before, I thought I’d surprise him with this. The recipe can be found in a book called (roughly) The taste of Székely land. The Székely are a group of Hungarians living in Transylvania, Romania and since my husband’s grandfather comes from there, he’s very interested in everything related to this people.

So here goes the recipe, it is really easy and quick to make:

Curd cheese pie with meringue topping

Ingredients:
2 tbsp sugar
7 tbsp (sunflower) oil
2 eggs
2 tbsp cocoa powder
12g baking powder
1 ½ tsp white wine vinegar
15 tbsp milk
15 tbsp flour

For the filling:
500g curd cheese (or ricotta if that’s what you can find)
4 egg yolks
5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
3 tbsp semolina (more if your cheese is too wet)

For the meringue topping:
4 egg whites
200g sugar

Mix the first five ingredients and the milk in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Put the baking powder in a small bowl and pour over the vinegar and let it start foaming (do not stir but make sure the whole thing is foaming). Add it to the mixture, stir well and add the flour (add more if necessary, you want a muffin-thick batter).

Spread the batter in a 30x20x5 cm baking tray (lined with baking paper). Stir the ingredients for the filling and dollop it over the batter with a spoon.

Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes (or until tester comes out clean). Let cool.

Whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk until almost stiff and add the sugar while whisking further. Put the bowl over simmering water and continue whisking for about 4-5 minutes. Spread it over the cooled cake, make waves with a fork and replace in the oven and dry at 100C until the top is slightly set.

The result was very pleasing and what shows it more than the beloved husband taking several helpings, which is really unusual for him :)

Meet Bill!

2007-02-03T15:07:00.000+01:00

I have mentioned Nigella Lawson as being an inspiration for my baking. Bill Granger is my recently encountered inspiration for cooking. His dishes are simple, easy and quick to make, yet give quite an experience to someone trying them.
Oh, and what is more, even my above mentioned husband finds his food "edible" - which in his dictionary means that it is lovely. What more can a girl dream of?

Although I've mainly tried savoury dishes from my two BG books, now I chose to make a sweet pie from Open Kitchen. I'm trying to be a good girl, you see: fruit is healthy, isn't it? And this is a fruit pie with peaches and blackberries. The idea to bake this came to me when I realized that I haven't made anything from pears this season. And I had half a box of frozen blackberries to clear out from my freezer. So I thought I'd use this recipe and substitute pears for peaches.

Pear and blackberry pie

For the shortcrust pastry:
500g plain flour
60g icing sugar
a pinch of salt
360g butter
125g sour cream

For the filling:
1kg firm pears
150g blackberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
115g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornflour (or starch)
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp caster sugar (I used raw cane)

I threw everything but the sour cream in the food processor and blitzed until the mixture resembled coarse breadcrumbs. Added the sour cream (bit by bit) until the mixture came together in a ball. Divided in two, packed in plastic wrap and refridgerated for about 30 min.

By the time I put the pastry in the fridge the blackberries had thawn. I peeled and cut the pears in wedges and mixed with the berries in a colander on a bowl to reserve the juices (I added the juice from the blackberries as well). I spritzed them with lemon, vanilla extract and sprinkled them with sugar. Since the pears were hard there was no need to let them sit in the colander for more than 30 minutes, I thought. Then I transferred the juices from the bowl to a pan and boiled it until it thickened. I mixed the corn starch with 1 tbsp warm water and added. Then I poured all this in the bowl and mixed in the fruit.

On a lightly dusted surface I rolled out both pastry balls 5mm thick and transferred it to a 27cm pie tin (the recipe called for a 23cm but I only had this one) then I added the fruits. Isn't it a lovely colour?

Then I folded over the overhanging pieces, brushed with egg yolk and covered with the other pastry. Some cuts with a sharp knife on top and it was ready for the fridge for a 30 min chill.

In the meantime I heated the oven to 200C, put in a tray for 10 min, then transferred the pie (brushed with more egg yolk and sprinkled with raw cane sugar) to the tray and baked for 30 min. After lowering the temperature to 180C, it remained in the oven for 30 min (and some extra mins to get a more golden top).

So, the result was this lovely golden pie, with lots of fruit inside. Really yummy, but next time I'd serve it with vanilla ice cream as Bill suggested or with custard.

As I had two egg whites left and I hate wasting food even if it's only two insignificant egg whites, I whipped up some meringues.

Coffee meringues

2 egg whites
80-90 g superfine caster sugar
1 tsp ground coffee (not instant!)
few drops of red wine vinegar
a pinch of cardamom
1 tsp cocoa, sieved

Proceed as usual.

Welcome to my diary

2007-02-03T14:36:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my world! A world full of cakes, cakes and erm... cakes. I'm addicted to making cakes just for the sake of baking - alright, I love eating them, too. The people who started me on this dangerous -well, extending waistlines are dangerous - road includes Nigella Lawson and the lovely folks on her website, nigella.com. To them I owe the most heartfelt thanks for introducing me into the world of FOOD. With capitals. Before I met them, I liked cooking and baking. Now it is my passion. I have learned -and am still learning - so much from these people, that my world is extending. I use ingredients I didn't even hear of a couple of years ago and I am more adventurous than I've ever been - well, sometimes not to the satisfaction of my somewhat down-to-earth-palated husband, but anyway...
Also it is owing to these lovely people that my cookbook collection is increasing immensely - and my bank account is shrinking to the same extent, but I've not decided yet whether I should be grateful or reproachful for that LOL

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy taking a few trips in foodland with me, with occasional detours to some specimens of Hungarian cuisine.