The lovely people at Warburtons sent me some of their new Thins range to try and I couldn't help but think what a great thing they would be for making bread and butter pudding - one of those childhood favourites that's enjoying a comeback, and rightly so.
They Thins are the perfect size for a bread and butter pud, they are nice and, er, thin (unsurprisingly) and they have no crusts, plus they cut into lovely triangles as they are properly square. And they only have 100 calories each so you can pretend you're making a really healthy January pud.
In fact, they do make a pretty healthy sandwich, which you can stuff with loads of interesting fillings, and stick to your new year healthy eating resolutions.
But I am afraid to say by the time I had finished, this pud was unapologetically indulgent and warming - because although I used the light and fluffy Thins instead of normal bread, I also used a tub of single cream and a plenty of sugar which kind of took it away from the lower calorie place it had been heading towards.
Warburtons sponsored the Paddington premiere, and kindly took me along to it, so with that in mind, I decided to pimp my pud with marmalade, of course, raisins, orange zest and almond extract, and topped it with demerara sugar. It literally took five minutes to make - and it tasted fantastic, though I say so myself. In fact, we managed to scoff the lot after supper. Well, it was so cold today. And it was soooo delicious...ooops
So here is the recipe. You don't have to use Warburtons Thins, of course - but they worked really well, absorbed the custard mix brilliantly, and tasted great.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Spread the thins with butter and marmalade, then make them into sandwiches and cut them in half, diagonally, into triangles.
Place the triangles into a baking dish, sprinkling with cinnamon, sultanas and orange zest as you go.
Beat the eggs with the cream, milk, vanilla extract and almond extract. Pour the mixture over the bread and sultanas. Sprinkle with the sugar.
Leave for ten minutes or so for the bread to absorb the milky mixture then bake for 45 minutes until browned on top.
Serve warm with more cream, if you wish.
Our Celebrity Cruises ship stopped in Ushuaia, pretty much the southernmost settlement on earth, and a place with a stark, life-affirming beauty - and (who knew?) incredible food!
Halfway through a pretty hairy, off-road, 4x4 trip, on the way back from canoeing in a stunning, glacial lake (I think I mentioned this was the trip of a lifetime...) our driver turned and passed us a packet of Alfajores. These are the ubiquitous Argentinian sandwich cookies, that knock the pants off a custard cream or bourbon, I can tell you.
They're basically made of two crumbly biscuits, sandwiched together with dulce de leche caramel (thank goodness this is now available in loads of UK supermarkets - M&S has the best in my view, in its international brands speciality food section) and sometimes dipped in chocolate, or rolled in shredded coconut.
If you fancy baking something new, try them. They are absolutely delicious and will wow any teatime guests, young or old.
Here's a recipe...
350g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
scant pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
220g dulce de leche
Icing sugar, dark chocolate, dessicated coconut, optional
Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
In another bowl, whisk together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Fold the flour in until you have a crumbly dough. Break the dough into walnut-sized pieces and roll into balls. Place a few inches apart on the baking sheets. Push gently on them with the palm of your hand until you have round biscuits about 1 cm thick.
Bake for around ten minutes until cooked but not browned. Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Sandwich pairs of the cookies together with dulce de leche. Dust with icing sugar, or roll the sides in dessicated coconut, or both. Alternatively, dip the whole cookie in dark melted chocolate and sprinkle with coconut if you wish.
And to the fish market in Puerto Mott, in Chile's stunning Lake District, where my Celebrity Cruise ship docked.
It turns out Chilean salmon is a really big deal - it's plentiful, delicious and cheap - which should come as no surprise seeing as this area is full of glacial lakes, fjords and rivers, but somehow I'd never considered.
Another thing I hadn't realised was that ceviche is as popular here as in Peru, though here it's spiked with Orange juice and garlic. At the fish market, amongst the stalls selling fish and seafood and the cafes cooking various fishy concoctions, were stalls with fresh fish empanadas and ceviche made with every fish imaginable, from halibut to sea urchin, selling at just £1 a pot. Alongside it, hot sauces made with the local, fruity ajo chilli, in various strengths, and salsa like that I described in my last post.
I tried salmon and halibut versions, but this recipe is equally good with bass or even tuna. You can slice the fish thinly but I prefer it in tiny dice. Try it with tortilla chips to serve with drinks, or in small bowls as a starter.
At this time of year, something this guilt-free and zingy will make everyone happy.
Serves 4 as a starter or 8 as a snack
450g salmon or halibut, skinned and cut into small dice
1 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 small bunch coriander, finely chopped
Juice of two lines
Juice of one orange
Juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Gently mix together the fish, onion, garlic, chilli and coriander. Mix together the citrus juice and pour over the fish mixture. Stir and season with the salt. Leave covered in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes or up to four hours before serving.
So...I'm on holiday for Christmas and New Year on a Celebrity Cruises trip around South America.
I'm on the Celebrity Infinity, with husband and kids, a beautiful ship with fantastic restaurants and - amongst the many drinking options - a MARTINI BAR!
Yup, it's all looking very good. Thank heavens I was sensible enough to marry someone obsessed with collecting air miles and the only ones we could get this year were into Chile and out of Argentina so by pure luck we get the trip of a lifetime.
Anyway, we started in Santiago and are now heading down towards Puerto Mott - in the Chilean Lake District - so I thought it would be a great time to learn a bit about Chilean food and share it with you.
First new bit of knowledge... There's a Chilean sauce, called pebre, that's a bit like the Argentian chimichurri, but spicier, that Chilean people put on everything. It's great with grilled fish, chicken or beef or stirred into soup or over warm boiled potatoes. It's also an essential past of the Chilean sandwich known as a churrasco (second new thing...) which consists of a white bread roll filled with strips of steak, mashed avocado, pebre and sometimes mayonnaise.
So... You want to make this stuff because, frankly, I reckon that's the best-sounding steak sandwich ever. Personally, I'd add a sliced tomato and possibly a sliced pickled cucumber because everything is better with a pickle, in my book.
And when I get home I'm going to try it with grilled chicken in it because I love a chicken sandwich. And I'm thinking up a Chilean - style slow-cooked lamb shoulder with pebre because I reckon that would be brilliant.
I'm hoping you're feeling equally inspired - but first you need a recipe for pebre.
Every region in Chile has a slight variant so I'm sure this one is authentic somewhere - and it means if you haven't got quite the right ingredients you can interchange elements. Some people use spring onions, for instance, and others white onion, but I'm using red. Some people mix the coriander with parsley, others just use coriander - I like the former (and I quite like to sneak in a few mint leaves). You need to add hot sauce and I particularly like sriracha in this - but Tabasco or Cholula are allowed too.
You're supposed to chop everything by hand but I pulse a few times in a blender to make a not-too-smooth salsa - then it's good to leave it covered in the fridge for a couple of hours to let everything become friendly and work together.
Pebre salsa
Makes a small bowlful
Ingredients
1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, quartered
3 garlic cloves, roughly smashed
1 large handful coriander, roughly torn
1 large handful parsley, roughly torn
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon hot chilli sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
50ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
50ml water
Method:
Place everything in a food processor and pulse to a coarse salsa. Alternatively, chop everything finely by hand, mix together the oil, vinegar and water, then stir the dressing into the other ingredients.
Every so often - though sadly not often enough - I come across a new dish that is SO GOOD it becomes part of my family suppers repertoire.
The latest came about because of my addiction to the Food Network show Chopped. If you haven't ever watched it, then you must. IT IS FANTASTIC.
Basically, four chefs are given a basket of ingredients and have to use them to create something delicious for the three judges. The ingredients might be something like beetroot, lime cordial, oysters, marshmallows. The contestants have to turn that bunch of gross stuff into a sophisticated starter, and if they get through, they get another bunch of grim ingredients for the main course and then dessert.
At the end of each round, the judges choose which person has made the worst dish and they are chopped, and don't go on to the next course. The winner at the end of the dessert round wins $10,000.
Here's a glimpse, just in case you are wondering what I am talking about...
Honestly, if I had one wish, it would be to be a contestant or a judge on Chopped. But anyway...
One of the judges is the beautiful and hugely talented Alex Guarnaschelli - executive chef of New York restaurants Butter and The Darby and a big name in American food. She is brilliant at saying 'Actually, I disagree...' when one of her fellow judges slates something that she thinks is delicious. Here she is, in the photograph above, in the middle, about to disagree. She is unpretentious, gutsy and super-cool so I looked her up and bought one of her cookery books, called Old School Comfort Food.
The first recipe I made from it was for Breaded Chicken with Mustard and Dry Sherry which sounded like something from a chopped basket. Dry sherry in breaded chicken? Still, I trust Alex so I made it for my kids. Yes, it contained Dijon mustard, Tabasco, sherry and Worcestershire - all of which they don't like. But Alex says in the introduction that when she was growing up it was the dish she would ask her mom to make all the time. And that was good enough for me. So, with baited breath, I waited to see what they would think. And when my older daughter said: 'Wow, can we have this EVERY DAY' and the littler one said: 'I actually really really really really like this, Mummy' I knew I was onto a good thing. My husband got home and gasped with happiness when he saw the tray of chicken next to Alex's book and promptly ate three pieces with a side of coleslaw and declared his undying love for Alex (he loves Chopped too, and already loved her anyway, so that was OK).
120ml soy sauce
120ml dry sherry (I used Tio Pepe)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Chipotle Tabasco if you have it, or ordinary Tabasco otherwise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon runny honey
2 garlic cloves, bashed so they are whole but split
60ml sunflower oil
1 whole chicken, cut into eight, skin removed
1 mug-full of matzo meal or plain breadcrumbs
1/2 a mug of panko breadcrumbs if you have some, otherwise use more of the matzo meal
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
80g butter or margarine, melted ( I used Pure sunflower margarine)
Mix together the soy sauce, dry sherry, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, Dijon mustard, runny honey, garlic cloves, and oil.
Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour over the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for as long as you can - overnight is cool, an hour is less cool but OK.
Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix together the breadcrumbs, panko, smoked paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and melted butter or margarine and place in a bowl.
Take each piece of chicken and roll it in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing gently so the crumbs adhere to the chicken.
Alex says to put the chicken piece on a rack in a roasting tin but I couldn't find my rack ( I later remembered it was in the cupboard above the oven that I never remember exists until it is too late) so I just put them in a roasting dish.
Bake the chicken for around 25 to 30 minutes, Alex says, though I did mine for 45 minutes until it had reached 80C in the middle (I did actually do that thermometer thing but trust me, 45 minutes is loads) and the outside was golden and crunchy.
Alex says to then grill the chicken for a few minutes until golden, but I didn't do that because it already was. So up to you whether you do that.
Serve with lemon wedges and coleslaw, in front of Chopped, natch.
So I got back from holiday at midnight last night, finally went to bed at 2am, and this morning, at 6am, I was up making muffins. I am not really quite sure why. True, there was nothing much in the fridge and the girls would have had to have had (gasp) porridge or (shock! horror!) granola with yoghurt for breakfast but I guess I wanted to make sure they would be going off to school sleep-deprived but feeling loved. Or perhaps I just needed to re-establish my nesting credentials after a week away.
ANYWAY. Whatever the reason, they only took five minutes to make and 20 minutes to bake, were greeted with delight, smeared with butter and homemade strawberry jam from the summer and declared scrummy. (Obviously I didn't actually eat one. I am not eating anything sweet or floury this week due to going back to working IN AN OFFICE next week and having to somehow look mildly glamorous in proper clothes rather than jeans and a pinny.)
So here is the recipe. Just in case you have a moment of madness too.
Makes ten
290g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
250ml natural yogurt
60ml milk
90ml vegetable oil
50g milled linseed cereal topping (I used one with chia and goji berries, but any variety works)
50g demerara sugar
strawberry jam and butter to serve, optional
Put paper liners in your muffin tin and preheat the oven to 175C fan, gas 5, 350C.
Take a bowl and a measuring jug. In the bowl, mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and caster sugar. In the jug, mix together the egg, yoghurt, milk and oil.
Pour the jug contents into the bowl and mix with the dry ingredients, as briefly and quickly as you can.
Distribute amongst the muffin cases - two thirds full is enough or they will explode over the top (mine did).
Spinkle a teaspoon of cereal topping and a teaspoon of demerara sugar on the top of each muffin.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden, well-risen, and springy to the touch.
Serve warm, with butter and jam if your kids are like mine. (i.e. greedy)
So the first thing is...don't chuck it away. I hate Halloween as much as the next mum who despairs at those bucketfuls of sweets and crappy costumes, but I don't like wasting a decent vegetable.
At the very least, cook it in stock, add a slosh of double cream and whiz it into soup.
But even better, get your kids (who presumably carved the pumpkins) to make it into muffins they can have for breakfast tomorrow morning, or any time.
These are super easy (as always with recipes here) and delicious (ditto) and (to really scare them) pretty healthy. Certainly healthier than all those sweets they've shamelessly begged from your neighbours, anyway.
Ingredients:
240g pumpkin flesh, roughly chopped
1 medium apple, grated, skin, core and all
80 ml vegetable oil
2 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
100ml plain yoghurt
275ml milk
4 tbsp honey
200g self raising flour
100g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon mixed spice
3 tablespoons demerara sugar
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
Line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper cases.
Toss the pumpkin in a tablespoon of the oil, place in a roasting tray, and cook for 20 minutes or until soft, then roughly mash it. Turn down the oven to 170C/350F.
Meanwhile, mix together the apple, remaining oil, eggs, yoghurt,milk and honey in a bowl.
In another bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine - don't over mix or the muffins will be tough, just make sure there are no dry lumps of mixture showing. Stir in the mashed pumpkin.
Distribute evenly amongst the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until well risen, golden and springy to the touch.
Now force feed them to your sugar-laden monsters. And burn all those revolting sweets when they're not looking.
I've just had a week in France with friends, indulging in lots of wine, cheese and ...frangipane tarts.
I've been testing a recipe for my first cookery book Sesame and Spice, which is out in February (hurrah!) and though I'm not sharing the exact recipe that's in the book, here's a delicious prune and Armagnac version that's equally as good and easy, to boot.
It makes a fantastic dinner party dessert, and you can adapt it with whatever fruit and alcohol you fancy.
Try apricot quarters and Amaretto or apple slices and Calvados, for instance.
Always serve with a large dollop of creme fraiche, ideally a glass of French dessert wine and good friends.
You will need
a 26cm tart tin
350g sweet, shortcrust pastry (shop bought is fine)
200g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Armagnac or any liqueur of your choice - Cointreau works well
20 prunes - get the semi soft ones, not the hard ones
1 tablespoon of those crunchy white sugar crystals, optional
Roll out the pastry into a circle about 3mm thick and use it to line the pastry tin. Gently push it into the corners and leave any overhang.
Chill, covered with cling film, for at least 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 4.
Scrumple up a piece of baking parchment and put it over the pastry. Part-fill the pastry case with baking beans - or you can used dried beans or lentils. You're just trying to keep the pastry from puffing up while you pre-bake it, which stops soggy bottom issues.
Bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes until the pastry looks pale and sandy, with no dry patches.
Leave to cool.
Turn the oven down by 20 degrees.
Meanwhile, make the frangipane filling. Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the almonds, mix together again, and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the Armagnac or other alcohol and mix in well.
Using a serrated knife, trim the excess pastry from the rim of the case.
Spoon the mixture into the cooled pastry case and level off. Arrange the prunes in the frangipane and sprinkle with sugar crystals, if using.
Bake for 40 minutes until puffy and golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with creme fraiche and a glass of Monbazillac dessert wine.
I REALLY do owe you an apology. It's all been totally hectic since I started being the Savvy Shopper and my blog has been highly neglected.
I wasn't sure anyone had noticed but then a few people kindly asked me to start blogging again so I decided I would come back with a great recipe to beg forgiveness.
This recipe was given to me by my sister-in-law Sarah Raanan, who as well as being a brilliant photographer, and a mum of four delicious kids, and a great cook, has about a zillion friends because she is literally the loveliest person I know. She is all the things I wish I was: non-judgmental, kind, a great listener, generous with her time even though she is really busy, she is calm while being great fun and girly, she exercises three times a week, eats really healthily and cooks great family dinners, helps her kids with their homework, makes them fancy dress costumes, reads important books, sends gorgeous photos of her adorable kids to all her friends and family on significant occasions, does loads of cool social media/techy stuff, does cute things for her husband that makes him happy, says her prayers etc etc etc. AND SHE HAS FOUR KIDS AND I HAVE ONLY TWO AND I AM NOT NEARLY AS NICE AND AM ALWAYS TOO BUSY FOR EVERYONE. HOW DOES THAT WORK?
Anyway. Because she has so many friends, people are always giving her recipes. And because she is so lovely, she shares the best ones with me.
And because she is even lovelier, she said I can share this one with you.
It comes from her friend thingy, who got it from her friend whatsername, who got it from her mother-in-law in South Africa. Or something. So I apologise if you are the originator of this recipe and I am not crediting you but as far as I am concerned this is Sarah's recipe.
It doesn't involve any baking - it is a fridge cake - and takes no time to make, particularly if you let your kids make it, which I do, because that makes me feel more like Sarah who lets her kids mess up the kitchen all the time because she is NOT A MAD CONTROL FREAK. And it makes everyone really happy if you serve it after lunch or even dinner when people want a little something sweet but not too much because we are all trying to be healthy, honest, and we have just had a MASSIVE meal. I put a plate on the table at the weekend with a load of sliced watermelon and some Turkish delight and sweets for the kids and everyone was really happy.
So here you go...make the whisky squares, and be a bit more like Sarah. Oh, and you can make them with margarine if you want them to be dairy free. I like Pure which is a really lovely product. But otherwise use butter.
Here we go:
Ingredients:
130g butter
4 tablespoons golden syrup
6 dessertspoons of cocoa
45ml whisky ( I double this because I am evil)
500g (two packets) Lotus biscuits (you know, the thin sweet ones they give you in the hairdresser with a bad coffee - I got mine in Morrisons)
200g dark chocolate
Method
Melt together the butter, syrup, cocoa and whisky over a low heat. Crush the biscuits in a sandwich bag with a rolling pin. Stir the biscuits into the buttery syrupy stuff.
Press into a brownie tin, that you have lined with greaseproof paper. Melt the chocolate and spread it over the top. Put in the fridge until rock hard. Cut into small squares with a sharp knife.
Say thanks to Sarah when everyone says how great you are for making something so fabulous.
This weekend is the Ascot Food and Wine Festival, so to publicise it they had the idea of asking some wine buff types at Bibendum, who are hosting the event, to demystify some wine myths. They are actually super-interesting and useful so I thought I'd share them with you.
Myth 1: The older a wine, the better it tastes
Reality: Most wines are made to be consumed within a year or two of their release, therefore if they are left to age they may go from fresh to stale over time.
Wines with concentrated fruits, solid acidity, and structured tannin can age well. High quality (and pricey) grand cru Bordeaux is one example. Depending on vintages and producers, they can age for 10-30 years, but these wines account for less than 10% of the total global production.
Myth 2: White wine goes with fish, red wine goes with meat
Reality: This is a guideline, not a rule. The best wine for a grilled salmon steak is probably a light red — like a Pinot Noir or a Bardolino — and not white at all. Veal and pork do equally well with red or white wines, depending on how the dish is prepared. And what can be better with sausages on the barbecue than a cold glass of rosé?
Myth 3: Red wine should be served at room temperature, white wine should be served straight from the fridge
Reality: The real idea behind ‘room temperature’ for red wine was getting it to around 60F or 15.5C, the typical temperature of a room when this idea was conceived. Many professionals agree, the best way to enjoy wine if you don’t have the luxury of a temperature controlled storage device, is to put your red wines in the fridge for about 5 – 15 minutes before consuming, white wines about 20 – 30 minutes and bubbly should be colder.
Myth 4 : Champagne and sparkling wines should be served in a flute
Reality: Try a white wine glass instead. The rim of the glass is narrower than the midpoint and therefore permits the drinker to get more of the aroma than a traditional flute, while still not having too much surface area to cause the Champagne to quickly lose carbonation.
Myth 5: Putting a spoon in a bottle of sparkling wine will preserve the bubbles
Reality: You're better off jamming a cork back in there and keeping it chilled in the fridge.
Myth 6: The legs of the wine is an indication of its quality
Reality: It's very common to see someone get a glass of wine tilt it, look at what's left on the glass and come up with some theory relating to the wine’s quality. The reality is seeing the legs can be affected by the thickness of the glass, the type of glass and how it was washed. They are not a sign of quality.
Myth 7: Red wine and cheese are made for each other
Reality: It very much depends on the cheese and wine! There are many cheeses that work superbly with wine, but some strong cheeses are way too overwhelming. There are also cheeses which will match excellently with a white wine, for instance you wouldn’t necessarily pair a red wine with a creamy brie, but a full-bodied Chardonnay might work perfectly.
Myth 8: ABC Anything but Chardonnay
Reality: It is a myth that Chardonnays are typically oak tasting and not crisp or fresh. Depending on the style of winemaking you can find Chardonnays that don't have any oak and offer a refreshing flavor. If you enjoy a crisp white wine, you can certainly find a Chardonnay to suit your tastes. It’s also worth noting that Chardonnay is one of the main grapes in many Champagnes.
Myth 9: Chianti is a ‘low class’ Italian wine
Reality: That Chianti is considered a downmarket Italian wine is a misconception that has been around for years. In truth, Chianti Classico is usually considered one of the top wines of Tuscany. It all depends on who makes it
Myth 10: A screw cap wine can be corked
Reality: Screw cap wines can be faulty, but not corked.
Bibendum is hosting the Festival of Food and Wine at Ascot Race course on Saturday 6th September – www.ascot.co.uk
