on Venezuelan Black: hot chocolate

I drink hot chocolate on a regular basis. I always have. So today, it was definitely time to see how Tania and Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s choc shoc shapes up.

The hot chocolate starts off unpromisingly pale but as it heats up the chocolatey colour becomes more intense, as does the aroma that wafts up from the saucepan. It did become thicker as more steam started to rise but then I noticed the volume of liquid start to reduce. As you can see in the picture, there was nowhere near enough chocolate to fill the espresso cup. I suspect it was down to the giraffes. You see, in my experience giraffes can be rather cheeky, and I can only assume there was some secret slurping going on while I wasn’t looking.

on Venezuelan Black: chicken mole

In the weeks leading up to Easter, Channel 4 television aired the series Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory. During four hour-long episodes, we watched Willie Harcourt-Cooze set up his chocolate factory in the South West of England and cook some twenty recipes. The programme also included fascinating footage from his cacao plantation in Venzuela.

Willie’s enthusiasm for Venezuelan Black (made from 100% cacao) was infectious and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a few bars. I was particularly intrigued by the use of chocolate in savoury dishes. But what would I start with? In the programme, we’d seen Willie make:

• gaspacho with roasted red peppers
• black turtle beans with sweet peppers served with corn bread
• roast pork with fennel seeds and injected with ginger, apricots and white wine
• porcini risotto
• fish in coconut sauce
• venison in port gravy
• partridge wrapped in pancetta and sprinkled with thyme leaves
• chicken mole

back to soup: leek and potato

mrB had a wisdom tooth out this morning, bless him. He’s not feeling so good and looks a bit like Popeye. Despite the glorious weather, we’re back on soups because mrB is not allowed to eat solid food for a few days. Luckily, we’ve got plenty of vegetables in our veggie box. So it’s leek and potato for lunch and swede soup for dinner.

on weaknesses: sweet things

mrB and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford, a period drama set in rural England at the end of the 1800’s. One of the main characters, Miss Lane, the postmistress of Candleford, confesses in almost every episode about her one weakness, which usually involves eating something sweet that her housekeeper has baked especially for the occasion.

She’s not the only one to have developed a weakness for sweet things. I love to eat cake in the afternoons, washed down with a good cup of coffee or tea. Last week, my afternoons were fuelled by a delicious fat-free chocolate cake baked by our lovely neighbours. This week, it’s the turn of my very own white chocolate cake. I was proud to return the clean plate with a few slices hiding under some foil. Only this time, the cake was not quite so healthy on the fat front. But sshhh, don’t tell the neighbours!

cornish pasties: or are they?

There is much debate about how to make a traditional cornish pasty. Should the filling be raw or pre-cooked? Should the crimp be on the top or the side? And there is even debate about the origin of the pasty. A recipe from Devon found in a book dated 1510 pips Cornwall’s oldest pasty recipe by over 200 years, according to an article I came across in the Independent.

One thing is for sure though: if you don’t live anywhere near Devon or Cornwall, a homemade pasty beats a shop-bought pasty every time. The filling of a pasty I sampled recently consisted mainly of mashed potato, tiny traces of meat and the odd stripe of carrot. Not a bit like the real thing, which usually contains small pieces of steak, onion, potato and swede.

one pot dinner: sausage casserole

Last Saturday, mrB and I went to Bury Lane Farm Shop, near Royston in Hertfordshire. This farm shop has an excellent meat counter stocked with delights such as venison, rabbit and a great selection of sausages. The sausages include local ones such as Musk’s of Newmarket and sausages from further afield such as  Toulouse.

When you cook them, Toulouse sausages retain their deep pink colour and meaty texture, and ooze a rich garlic flavour that mingles with the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Perfect for cassoulets and casseroles.
 

clafoutis: come again?

Clafoutis, a batter-based dessert with cherries from the Limousin region in the heart of France. It’s a bit like an egg custard and happens to be the theme of Hay Hay it’s Donna Day #19, hosted by Bron Marshall.

This time round, I’ve stuck with the traditional cherry clafoutis but you can make this dessert with other fruits, fresh or preserved. I’m thinking of trying plums next time.

So, when you want a dessert that’s simple and quick to make, I recommend you try baking a clafoutis. mrB recommends it too!

comfort food: bake in the oven crinkle-cut chips

I woke up with a stinking cold this morning. And it’s been making me feel miserable I can tell you. There’s only one thing that’s going to make me feel better. Crinkle-cut chips.

Preparing chips using a crinkle cutter increases surface area, which means the chips will absorb more oil when they cook. Not very healthy, but then you do end up with crunchier chips which is good because that’s how I like them. Crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, served with a dash of cider vinegar and a sprinkle of sea salt.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can bake your chips with thin slices of garlic and fresh thyme leaves.

What do you eat when you’re feeling under the weather?

Devon cream tea: clotted cream or jam on top?

mrB and I were in Devon last week, land of the cream tea. Except we didn’t lay our sticky fingers on a single scone. We had some fine asparagus tart and rhubarb crumble, all cooked by mrB’s mum, but no scone, strawberry jam or clotted cream. And I’d been hankering after a cream tea for weeks. You see, you just can’t get a quality cream tea over here in East Anglia. Either you end up with a pot of whipped cream, or the scones are way too big.

So this morning, I set about making my own clotted cream and baking some scones. All is well with the world again. 

Now the question is, do you spread the jam or the clotted cream first? mrB insists on spreading the cream like butter and then placing a dollop of jam on the top…

yoghurt cake with lemon and poppy seeds

Now here’s a cake for those of you who don’t have weighing scales or a mixer in your kitchen. All the measuring is done with yoghurt pots and spoons; the mixing is done with a hand whisk.

I’d been thinking about making yoghurt cake for about a week now. Then, earlier this week, Deb of smitten kitchen posted a recipe for lemon yoghurt anything cake, a kind of lemon drizzle cake with blueberries that had my mouth watering. I particularly liked Deb’s suggestion of replacing the blueberries with poppy seeds, and so there you have it: yoghurt cake with lemon and poppy seeds.