I made Elizabeth David’s Chocolate Almond Cake for my sister’s birthday lunch. It is flourless so gluten-free. When I was Googling for the recipe I found it on this pretty cookery blog. I used their doubling-up method. Very delicious, I will make this again.
I gave my sister Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours
This weekend I made an effort to keep track of the various things that were cooked. I find the eco bulbs that we have around the house rather a yellow light to photograph under so pictures of meals don’t always happen in the winter, but I thought I would go ahead anyway to see what came out at the end.
I made these Walnut Shortbread stars for a friend’s birthday, a nice recipe and they are not too sweet. The paper bags are from Japan, I stocked up on quite a few food gift bags when I was there are they have much more interesting designs than the ones I see here.
A handful of dried cranberries and a small spoon of agave nectar are my current favourite porridge topping.
I made this Pounded Walnut Strozzapreti dish on Saturday night. Really really good. I made it again today, it seems nicer when you don’t roast the walnuts too long, just enough to get them warm and oily. I roasted them too long the second time and it was still nice but gave it more of a praline taste which was not as good as the first go when it tasted more like pine nuts. I also found that I didn’t need as much olive oil as the recipe mentions.
Since the new year we have been slowly slowly having a clearout of our freezer so that I could defrost it, finally all we had left were some frozen berries and mango from the summer. I whizzed these up with some soya milk with a hand blender, I was going for a smoothie but it looked pretty tasty when I was halfway there so I stopped and had it in a more sorbet form. Very refreshing and not as sinful as it looks, it only contained soya milk and fruit.
My sister sent me some wholewheat hot cross buns that she had made :) We have a bit of a parcel exchange going, often books or edible things. My last parcel to her contained some pieces of my Earl Grey Barm Brack. It is really nice coming home to unexpected treats! My sister is a really good and inventive knitter and she sometimes knits these cute little fruit people and also in the parcel was Mr Tomato Head which I was lucky enough to be given. You can see him below.
Mr Tomato Head has to be carefully guarded from the cats as they have taken a keen interest in him.
It was the Chinese New Year on Sunday as well as Valentine’s Day. We both love going out to eat but Valentine’s Day doesn’t always seem to be the best day to eat out, I don’t like those special Valentine’s menus. So this year we stayed in to cook a meal in celebration of the Chinese New Year. I made these Steamed Vegetable Dumplings (Zhēngjiǎo) from Andrea Nguyen’s book Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Pot Stickers and More I used her Basic Dumpling Dough recipe and it is so very much better than bought wrappers. I am never ever buying wrappers again! It is much easier to form the dumplings with homemade dough, and so easy to make – just flour and water. I am really enjoying reading this book, it is laid out very clearly, every step of the recipe is explained carefully so I think it would be suitable for even inexperienced cooks.
Simon cooked scallops and ginger, really tasty. Normally around here, because of interests and schedules, I cook and he washes up which suits us both very much, but he is a good cook when he gets a chance. I am pleased that I have influenced him into using the big Japanese cooking chopsticks to cook with :)
I’ve resolved to write my recipes in a notebook as I go along, this way I can keep track of things, make notes on what to change for next time, and take the book with me to the shops. My previous method was notes scrawled on pieces of paper and the backs of envelopes, stuck to the fridge until they slid down to the floor, the many layers too heavy for the magnets holding them up.
At the weekend I volunteered to make the cake for my aunt’s birthday, after all that Christmas richness I really fancied trying to make something lighter, more spring-like and feminine. As usual with my family it needed to be gluten free, remembering a pistachio macaron I had in Paris last year I had this idea for some kind of tower of pistachio meringue. However there seemed to be a need for pistachio AND something, so after consideration and a little bit of trial, I made pistachio and rosewater meringues.
I post the recipe below but word of warning on using this. I am not sure if this is for everyone. Like some people do not like cardamom I could see how the rose flavour might not be for everyone. Luckily the people I made it for liked it and ate up every last piece, having second helpings each. When I have my shower in the morning with RENs Moroccan Rose Otto wash I think of this cake :)
Pistachio and Rosewater Meringue
4 egg whites
240g caster sugar
3/4 tsp rosewater
large handful of shelled chopped unsalted pistachios
1/2 red natural food colouring (optional)
two baking trays lined with baking parchment and greased
Preheat oven to 150°C.
In a completely clean and dry bowl whisk the egg whites until they are firm and can stand in peaks. Then whisk in a tablespoon of the sugar at a time until the mixture shines. Whisk in the rosewater and red food colouring. Gently fold in the pistachios keeping a handful back. Spread out onto the baking parchment into the shapes you need. I wanted three circles so I could make a layered cake. I should think smaller individual meringues would be nice too.
Bake for 1 hour, check they are done by seeing if you can lift them up without breaking them. Then leave them in the oven until it is cooled.
I served mine sandwiched with slightly sweetended and vanilla-ed cream, and the scattering of green pictachios over the top.
The matcha latte is not common in British coffee shops, I don’t even think Starbucks sell their version of the matcha latte over here. Matcha is a finely powdered green tea. It can be expensive, particularly the higher grades, but a little goes a long way (and when compared to alcohol the costs of tea seem fairly reasonable). It is used in tea ceremonies and to flavour ice cream, cakes and sweets. I go for a mid range grade for something like a matcha latte. There is quite a bit of talk about how good matcha is for you but really that is an added bonus if you like the taste. Matcha loses its freshness quickly so now I have opened the cannister I will be having matcha every day (yay).
A matcha latte might seem rather an uncouth drink compared to the refinement of a tea ceremony but it is nice as a substitute for hot chocolate in this cold weather. To make matcha latte I use soy milk as it feels easier for me to digest when consumed as a drink, but dairy milk is happily substituted if that is what you would rather. Iced matcha latte is also very nice, there is a picture here of one I had in Kyoto recently, in the Kinokuniya bookshop cafe in New York they serve their iced matcha latte with a huge mound of cream on top.
Needed: Matcha, soy milk (or dairy milk), 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon, whisk, saucepan, cup. If you would like to sweeten it with agave, honey, sugar or sugar syrup then that is fine, I don’t bother.
Warm the soy milk in a saucepan, whisk it until frothy.
Measure 1/2 teaspoon of matcha into your cup. You can add more to your tastes, I am quite sparing as it is expensive.
Pour a little of the warm soy milk into your cup and whisk this until all the matcha is combined and there are no lumps. If you are adding a sweetner then do so now.
Pour the rest of the whisked soy milk into the cup. Give a little stir.
Enjoy.
I hope that everyone had a good Christmas! I LOVE Christmas :) This was a good one. For a great many years I have been cooking the Christmas dinner for my family, there were seven of us this year. I made turkey, gravy, bread sauce, carrots, mashed parsnips, potatoes, sprouts, and stuffing. It went well, the change this year was that I made gluten free stuffing. I thought it was fine but I probably won’t make it again. My mother brought me a very nice fish dish. With the Christmas pudding I made Zabaglione, a tradition I inherited from my Irish grandmother. My aunt made the Christmas cake (see above), it was gluten free and delicious.
