Archive for the ‘Snack’ Category
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
Going back in time a bit, on the last day of the bread section of my course we had a flat bread day. We made pitta, pizza, lavash and naan breads. Knowing we were going to make them, I thought I’d give my course mates a little taste of ‘home’ by making some spiced fillings for a few of the naan. Well everyone knows how much us Brits love a curry.
The breads are made with a whole wheat biga, which is a (typically) Italian stiff pre-ferment, although I imagine the Indians would use hunks of ‘old dough’ to add flavour and a bit of leavening. As the biga is made of whole wheat and has a wee bit of yeast in it, you don’t need to make it the night before, just a few hours before you make your final dough, which has a 3 hour bulk ferment, so you’ll need to get a bit organised.
I made the meat (keema) filling for the carnivores and a vegetarian version for the herbivores and we baked the breads in the schools wood fired oven, which I’m guessing most of you out there don’t have. Don’t worry, you can cook them in your oven at home. Just make sure it’s as hot as Hades, and that you bake the naans on something solid and heat retaining like a pizza stone or heavy roasting tin.
Ready?
Ingredients (makes 4)
For The Bread
380g White Bread Flour
30g Whole Wheat Flour
170g Water (temp of around 26c)
16g Ghee or melted butter
12g Salt
1g Instant Yeast
160g Goat or regular low fat Yoghurt
225g Whole Wheat Biga (see below)
More Ghee / Butter for brushing the bread with
For The Keema
400g Minced Beef
(more…)
Tags: Biga, Bread, Butter, Coriander, Cumin, Garlic, Ghee, Keema, Naan, Onions, Oven, Tandoor, Turmeric, Whole Wheat Flour, Wood Oven
Posted in Recipes, Snack, Travel | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
For the un-initiated, Ray Mears is a legend. He’s a quietly authoritative survival and bush-craft expert, who’s brilliant TV shows have been running in the UK for years. He basically gets to live out every schoolboy’s fantasy of surviving in the great outdoors, whittling wood, foraging, and using a few of the hundred or so ways he knows how to start a fire in the wild.
Anyways, I remember seeing an episode of one of his shows a while ago (I think it was the one where he met up with another survival legend, Les Hiddins aka The Bush Tucker Man) where he cooked foil wrapped bananas with cocoa powder in the dieing embers of his camp fire.
Hardly haute cuisine I think you’ll agree, but they looked tasty, so the next time I had a barbie I thought I’d give it a go, and they’ve been a fixture ever since. So I figured if some guy from New Orleans called Foster can have a banana dish named after him, why can’t our Ray?
These ones are a posher remix of Ray’s iron rations, using dark chocolate and a bit of booze, but I’d like to think the man himself would approve.
Ingredients (per person)
1 ripe banana
2 squares of dark chocolate
(more…)
Tags: Banana, Barbecue, Bush Tucker, Bushcraft, Chocolate, Double Cream, Ray Mears, Survival, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whiskey
Posted in Dinner, Recipes, Snack, Sweet Stuff | No Comments »
Monday, June 6th, 2011
BIG day for me on Friday. I broke my S’Mores virginity. We don’t really have anything like this traditional US fireside treat in the UK, so I thought it warranted a little post.
For the uninitiated (as I was until a few days ago) s’mores are a kind of sweet sandwich of Graham Cracker (a bit like a digestive biscuit back home), marshmallow and chocolate. Traditionally enjoyed by girl guides and scouts round the camp fire, you toast a marshmallow over a fire and then sandwich it between two crackers containing a square of chocolate. The residual heat from the molten mallow melts the chocolate, and you’ve got yourself a sweet, chewy, crunchy, chocolatey treat.
We had some ‘posh’ s’mores at college this week as the wood fired oven had been stoked up by Mike, the SFBI’s resident pyromaniac. I was chatting to him about them, and he told me that the Graham cracker was invented by an eccentric minister from the same school of thought as Dr Kellogg, and believed that his crackers could cure all sorts of modern life’s ills from alcoholism to ’self abuse’.
So there you have it. Tasty AND good for you. Win win.
Oh, and I should add that the s’mores in question were created by Jen, one of the interns at SFBI, who has seriously wicked way with all things sweet.
Tags: America, Camp, Camping, Chocolate, Digestive, Fire, Graham Cracker, Marshmallow, S'More, Tradition
Posted in Snack, Sweet Stuff | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
Portuguese Custard Tarts, or pastel de nata, have got to be as good a reason as any to get on a plane and head over to Portugal. They seem to vary from place to place, but I think the best one I’ve ever had was after destroying a hog roast sandwich from these fellas at an event down the road from me. I can still taste it now. Insane.
In my (limited) experience, you can tell a good one by the spiral shape of the pastry on the base, and a slightly caramelised skin on top. As you’ll see from the ingredients list, they are pretty rich, but as they’re only small lets not worry too much about that. This recipe makes 12.
Ingredients
3 free-range eggs, yolk only
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
125g golden caster sugar
30g cornflour
225ml double cream
175ml full-fat milk
Pinch of salt, small
1/2 cinnamon stick
(more…)
Tags: Caster Sugar, Custard, Double Cream, Milk, Pastel De Nata, Portuguese, Puff Pastry, Roast Hog, Seeds, Tart, Vanilla Pod
Posted in Recipes, Snack, Sweet Stuff | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Apologies for the radio silence, but yet again the day job has been getting in the way of me putting finger to key. It’s been what can only be described as an unpleasantly busy start to the year, but at least I got to head out to Stockholm earlier in the week, if only for 24 hours.
Rewinding again to Christmas, if you can remember that far back, here’s a recipe for a classic lemon tart. It’s basically a piece of cake (or rather tart), particularly if you use shop bought pastry, which I’d recommend unless you’ve got the time to make your own.
I’ve not managed to work out how patisseries manage to get that glossy finish on their tarts, so I cheated and added a festive twist by glazing mine with a bit of raspberry jelly.
This recipe was made in a 30cm / 12″ tart case to serve around 8-10 people, if you’re making desert for less use a 20cm / 8″ case and half the quantities. Lets begin.
Ingredients
500g all butter shortcrust pastry
10 free range eggs
8 lemons, juiced
380g caster sugar
500 ml double cream
Zest of 4 lemons
4 tablespoons of raspberry jelly for the glaze, optional
(more…)
Tags: Bake, Clotted Cream, Cream, Eggs, Glaze, Jelly, Lemon, Pastry, Raspberry, Shortcrust, Sugar, Tart, Zest
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Snack, Sweet Stuff | No Comments »
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
It may make me less of a man, but when it gets a bit cold and festive like it is now, I’ve got to admit I’m pretty partial to a drop of Baileys.
So when the lovely people over at Baileys HQ offered to send me over a bottle of their new hazelnut flavour earlier this week, I couldn’t really say no. Like regular Baileys it’s sweet, creamy and warming, but with an added hint of nuts and caramel. It’s good stuff.
Unlike Old Gregg, I don’t drink my Baileys out of a shoe, I drink it out of a glass like decent folk, but I’ve also discovered you can use it make a really tasty accompaniment to mince pies.
Mix equal quantities of Crème fraiche and Baileys together (either hazelnut or regular), and then dollop a good teaspoon full of the mixture on top of warmed up pies.
Simple and delicious.
Tags: Baileys, Caramel, Christmas, Drink, Festive, hazelnut, Mince Pie, Nutty, Old Gregg, Sweet, The Mighty Boosh
Posted in Reviews, Snack, Sweet Stuff | No Comments »
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
While we were in France recently, we had a couple of croques, both monsieur and madame, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that there are few other things I’d rather have as a light lunch. I know you can’t really go wrong with whats essentially posh cheese on toast, but when you add an egg, something good becomes something special.
There are different shapes, sizes and methods, but the common ground is in the cheese which is usually either Emmental or Gruyère (a combination of the two might be rather good), and I prefer the sourdough bread version as opposed the the white processed one.
It’s not rocket science, but there are a couple of touches and flourishes to make your croque extra tasty, so lets crack on.
Ingredients (per serving)
1 large slice of good sourdough bread, sliced about half an inch thick
A handful of grated emmental cheese
2 slices of good quality smoked ham
Dijon mustard
1 egg
Salt & pepper to taste
(more…)
Tags: Bread, Croque Madame, Croque Monsieur, Dijon Mustard, Emmental, Fried Egg, gruyere, Ham, Salad
Posted in Lunch, Recipes, Snack, Travel | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 13th, 2010
The nice people over at Marmite sent me this lovely vintage inspired, limited edition jar of yeasty goodness last week, and as one good turn deserves another, I thought I’d give it a bit of a plug.
Created in honour of this year’s Goodwood Revival Festival in a limited run of 750 (I’m rather flattered), these retro jars will only be available at a 1960s style ‘convenience store experience’ at the event, which could be a welcome distraction when you’ve satisfied your inner petrol-head.
Goodwood Revival runs this weekend between 17th and 19th of September, so check it out if you’re in the ‘hood.
Tags: Festival, Goodwood, Jar, Limited Edition, Marmite, Revival, Vintage
Posted in Opinion, Snack | 2 Comments »
