Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge – a delicious mistake !

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We all make mistakes. Hopefully, most of the time we learn from the experience, and we try not to make the same error again. However, sometimes a mistake is worth repeating.

I was aiming for smooth creamy fudge. Instead, I got crumbly Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge. In my book, ‘crumbly’ is not proper fudge. However, one of my taste testers - my lovely sister, Dee - sniffed out the jar of failed fudge I was saving to mix with ice cream and her reaction was: “Ommmfff! Mmmmmffffffff!  Ggggggggggnomnomnom.” – or words to that effect.

I think it must have been positive feedback because she agreed to taste-test the cheaty ice cream I made by mixing morsels of the fudge with softened vanilla ice cream and returning it to the freezer for days when I need a blood-sugar spike

For approximately 800g of slightly crumbly fudge you will need...

... a sugar thermometer  

500g caster sugar

150g condensed milk

150mls cold water

100g butter

½ teaspoon salt

100g smooth peanut butter

90g dark chocolate, broken into squares

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

 

I think I have a temperature...

 

1.      Place the first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat (I use a 2.5L pan for this amount). Melt together without stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Then turn up the heat to medium. The mixture needs to reach 238°F (soft ball) on the sugar thermometer, stirring occasionally to prevent the mixture ‘catching’ on the bottom of the pan and burning.  (Conventional fudge wisdom warns “DON’T STIR” ... as this can cause crystallisation... which leads to crumbly fudge. However, today I want crumbly fudge! )

2.      Once the soft ball stage has been reached, remove the pan from the heat. Without mixing them in, add the vanilla extract, peanut butter and chocolate. Leave the pan to cool for about 10 minutes and then beat (with a wooden spoon if you have lots of energy and elbow grease, or with electric beaters) until the mixture is very thick and loses its gloss.

4.      Transfer to a 20cm x 20cm tin, lined with cling film or parchment paper. Transfer to the fridge and leave to cool before cutting into squares.

Stored in an airtight container, or in the freezer, it will keep for up to 3 months and is outrageously good chopped into small pieces and stirred into good vanilla ice cream.

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Chicken Wings – Go on! You know you want to!

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Chicken Wings - every time I see them on a menu the naughty imp on my shoulder whispers "Order them... order them... go on... you know you want to!"

And I do want to... but the healthy imp - a paid-up member of the calorie police - on the other shoulder warns “Noooooooooo. They’ll be disguised with a varnish of BBQ paint and be flabby and disgusting underneath - definitely not WTC*."

I have been so abstemious of chicken wings that of course now I have the biggest craving for these savoury little morsels.

In order to sneak a chicken wing past the calorie police, it must:

·        have a tan worthy of Coco Chanel
·        be succulent, juicy and redolent of spice, with a little chilli kick
·        be simple to make
·        be *Worth The Calories

For simple, succulent, tanned chicken wings for 4 – 6 as a canapé or 2 greedy people as a starter you will need...

Approximately 850g chicken wings

400mls water

6 tablespoons dry white wine (or dry sherry)

4 tablespoons dark soy sauce

4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, or runny honey

4 fat cloves of garlic, crushed

4 teaspoons of grated fresh ginger

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 red chilli, roughly chopped (the ‘heat’ is up to you – I prefer medium-hot for this dish)

1 ½ teaspoons fine table salt

¼  teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼  teaspoon Chinese five spice

Sunflower oil for frying

1 thinly-sliced scallion (spring onion) to garnish
a little sea salt to taste

If you have never examined a chicken wing before, you might like to know that it is made up of three bits: the wing tip, the wing, and the drumette. The wing tip has hardly any meat, so, using a heavy knife or a poultry scissors, remove at the joint and discard (or freeze for stock-making later). Divide the rest of the wing into two pieces at the joint. Place in a medium saucepan, along with the remaining ingredients (except the oil, scallion and sea salt).

Bring to the boil, then simmer gently, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Immediately, remove the chicken pieces from the cooking liquid. Drain on kitchen paper to remove any moisture. When completely dry, transfer to the fridge until ready to finish cooking.

To finish, heat the sunflower oil in a wok or deep fat fryer to 180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, this is when a 1cm cube of bread dropped in the oil takes about 10 seconds to turn golden brown. I use my wok, filling it to about 1/4 of its capacity, as I use the least amount of oil this way. (Obviously, a wok of boiling oil should not be left unattended for one moment). You could use your deep-fat fryer if you prefer.

Carefully place the cooked wing pieces in the hot oil and fry until dark golden brown, turning once during cooking – this should take between 1½ -  2 minutes. Transfer to a dish lined with kitchen paper to remove any excess oil. Remove the paper and serve immediately, scattered with the sliced spring onion, and sprinkled with a little sea salt if necessary. 

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Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Gorgonzola – and flaming cheeks !

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Upon a time, I had a favourite little restaurant. It did decent coffee and good homely Italian food at a reasonable price. It was the sort of place where you could eavesdrop on the most interesting of conversations, or chat to a complete stranger on the table next to you.

Its main attraction was its star waiter, a crazy, red-haired Roman with a big heart and an eagle eye who kept the place more or less shipshape. He was deeply and irrevocably a fan of The Blues Brothers. From time to time, he would get a little carried away, douse the lights and subject his alarmed (and captive) audience to a rather startling mime of I Can’t Turn You Loose.

I once spent 8 hours there – breakfast with one friend, a chance meeting that turned into lunch with another, and then finally dinner with my beloved – although I did go for a walk in between times to make room for my favourite of their dishes - Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Gorgonzola.

Unfortunately I’m too embarrassed to go there anymore. The eagle-eyed Roman was off duty that evening. And I know I shouldn’t have... but rather stupidly... I left my beloved unattended for a whole five minutes. (The Roman would have kept an eye on him...) When I returned, the restaurant was filled with smoke, and feathery ashes were settling on the clientele. He had managed to accidentally set his napkin on fire. He had quickly extinguished the flames, but while he was busy checking if anyone had actually noticed, he failed to notice the napkin had reignited and set the tablecloth ablaze.

This is my attempt to recreate the gnocchi dish - Blues Brothers soundtrack and inferno optional.

For lunch for 2, you will need...

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

300g ready-prepared potato gnocchi (a lazy dish, this)

150g fresh mushrooms, sliced

a fat clove of garlic, crushed

5 tablespoons cream

40g Gorgonzola cheese

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
freshly ground black pepper

In a frying pan large enough to take the gnocchi in one layer, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the gnocchi and fry gently until a golden crust forms, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, place the remaining olive oil in another pan over a medium heat and add the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the crushed garlic. Cook for a further minute or so before adding the cream and the Gorgonzola, stirring as the cheese melts. When the Gorgonzola has completely melted, add the parsley and the now-golden gnocchi.

Serve immediately with a little freshly ground black pepper over the top. I find it doesn’t really need any salt - but maybe keep a fire extinguisher handy :)

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Broccoli, Blue Cheese and Walnut Pesto – You don’t know what you’re missing George!

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This dish was inspired by former President of the United States, George W Bush, who had this to say about a much maligned vegetable: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.” So there!

Well, George, I didn’t like broccoli either. I didn’t like it when I was a little kid and my mother grew it and made me eat it. While we could coax the cat to eat most things our finicky palates rejected, it could not be persuaded to hoover up our unwanted broccoli and so we had to suffer it. Now I’m a grown up, I actually love broccoli.

It takes mere minutes to turn what could be a so-so side dish into the main attraction. George, you don’t know what you are missing!

A delicious meal in minutes - hey pesto!

For 4 – 6 servings of pesto you will need...

125g broccoli, broken into florets

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

50g walnuts, toasted in a dry frying pan over a low heat

50g mild blue cheese such as Cashel Blue, or Bleu d'Auvergne

5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

¼ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 

1                    Cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for about 6 minutes until just tender. A knife should easily pierce the stems when cooked. Remove from the heat, drain and stir in the crushed garlic. Leave to cool.

2                    When the broccoli has cooled, place it in a food processor along with all the other ingredients. Process until you have a smooth, slightly grainy paste. And that’s it – hey pesto! (I haven't specified salt in the ingredient list as the cheese can be quite salty so taste the mixture and only add salt if necessary.) This will keep, covered, in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

To serve, simply prepare tagliatelle or other pasta according to the instructions on the packet. When cooked, drain and return to the cooking pot along with 2 – 3 tablespoons of the pesto per person. Toss the pasta so that it is coated with the pesto. Serve immediately.

The End!

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Boeuf en Daube - that's French for 'Boozy Beef Stew'!

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Daube ... French for 'boozy stew'

In a restaurant one lazy Sunday lunchtime, I witnessed a completely unguarded moment. At another table, a man speared a piece of meat and brought it absently to his mouth – a mouth that was more interested in the conversation it was having, than the food it was about to taste. As the forkful disappeared into that disinterested mouth, there was an instant of stunned stillness on the guy’s face, a tentative chewing, a look of disbelief. There followed in quick succession: a roll of the eyes, a deep sigh of satisfaction, and an ecstatic flinging back of his head. I could almost hear the man’s taste buds shout “Yes! Yes! Oh, Yes!”

Who could resist? So, of course I said to the waiter “I’ll have what he’s having.”  It turned out to be beef cheeks in red wine.  Errrr… yum… Actually, while it was good, it wasn’t (in my view) worthy of a food orgasm. Stew rarely is. It’s more of a platonic sort of dish that hits you with a big warm friendly hug - even more so, if it has been simmered in red wine.

While hugs should always be served up fresh the moment they are ready, stew is often even better the next day - the flavours melding in a delicious alchemy.

 

I'll have what he's having...

For 4 – 6 people, you will need…

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1.25kg braising/stewing beef cut into thick chunks (I had 10 pieces in total, serving one or two per person depending on appetite)

5 fat cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole

2 onions, peeled and cut into wedges – leave the root intact so that the pieces hold together

4 carrots, peeled and cut into sizeable chunks

2 sticks of celery, peeled to removed stringy bits, then finely chopped

250g smoked bacon lardons

750ml red wine

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

3 bay leaves

a small bundle of thyme

the zest of half a lemon (yellow layer only) cut into thick ribbons using a potato peeler (tie the bay leaves, thyme and lemon zest into a little bundle with food grade cotton string to make retrieval easier)

2 handfuls of black olives, stones removed (from Provence if you can get them)

a pinch of sugar

a little finely chopped parsley to scatter over the top of the finished dish

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large flame proof casserole dish or a large saucepan and brown the chunks of beef all over, being careful to give them enough space otherwise they will steam rather than fry and you’ll lose out on quite a bit of flavour. Do this in batches if necessary. When the beef is browned, remove from the pan and set aside. Reduce the heat and add the garlic, onions, carrots, celery and lardons. Fry gently for about 5 minutes.

Now, add the rest of the ingredients (except the parsley). Turn up the heat until the liquid begins to bubble. Immediately lower the heat, cover and cook at a very gentle simmer for 3-and-a-half hours (remove the lid for the last half hour so that the sauce reduces a little). The meat, when finished, should be almost tender enough to cut with a spoon.

Taste and add salt and black pepper only if necessary.

Serve piping hot with the parsley scattered over.

For me, this stew is hearty enough to serve on its own with nothing more than decent bread to mop up the sauce. It is also really good with celeriac mash.

Dig in!

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Light Mussel Chowder – thanks Neptune !

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When I was about sixteen, I was in a restaurant with my parents, politely doing battle with a bowl of mussels - and losing. A large party of foreign tourists (Dutch, I think) was just leaving, when one of the men stopped at our table. “Allow me,” he said, taking the fork from my surprised fingers. He replaced it with one of my discarded mussel shells, “This is a gift from Neptune,” he explained, and demonstrated that I should use it, tweezer-like, to tug the mussel from its shell. Much easier! Thank you, rather cheeky but kind stranger. It’s how I’ve tackled this shellfish ever after.

I love the briny flavour of mussels, so redolent of the seaside. They are at their best over the winter months and are usually relatively cheap as shellfish go. They are highly perishable so eat them as soon as you can after purchase, or within 24 hours.

I adore them a la Marinière with frites of course, and lots of French bread to mop up the precious juices. Lately though, this is how I’ve been cooking them:

For 4 servings redolent of the seaside you will need...

100mls dry cider (or dry white wine)

100mls water

1kg mussels, rinsed several times in cold water to remove excess grit and sand 

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of parsley stems, very finely chopped

1 stick of celery, peeled of stringy bits, and finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 fat clove of garlic, very finely chopped

2 medium potatoes, cut into 1cm dice

approximately 250mls chicken stock

a pinch of saffron* soaked in 2 tablespoons of hot water for at least 20 minutes

freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tablespoon corn flour dissolved in 1 tablespoon of cold water 

2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaf 

 

1                    First prepare the mussels: Discard any with broken shells and any open mussels that fail to close when rapped sharply. Mussels use a fibrous tangle of threads (or beard) to anchor themselves. Tug sharply on the beard in the direction of the hinge (the narrow part of the shell) to remove it. For this dish, I don’t bother removing any barnacles that cling to the shells as I’m going to discard them once the mussels are cooked.

2                    Pour the cider (or wine) and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. When the liquid is boiling, tip in the mussels and cover with a lid. Boil rapidly, occasionally shaking the pan back and forth over the heat so that the fragrant steam cooks the mussels evenly. It will take 3 or 4 minutes for the mussels to cook. The shells will open when they are done.

3                    Remove from the heat and tip into a colander over a bowl to catch the juices. Remove the mussels from their shells (using ‘Neptune’s tweezers’) and set aside. Strain the juices into a 1 litre measuring jug to remove any bits of sand or grit (I usually get about 500mls of liquid from this quantity of mussels). Add enough chicken stock to make the liquid up to 750mls.

4                    Rinse the saucepan clean and place it back on the hob over a medium heat. Heat the olive oil then add the parsley stems, celery, and onion and cook without colouring until the onion is soft and translucent (about 5 – 7 minutes).

5                    Add the garlic and cook for a further minute before adding the potato. Pour in the mussel juices, strain the golden liquid from the saffron into the pan, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 12 minutes or until you can easily crush a potato cube with the back of a fork. Stir in the corn flour and cook for a minute or so until the soup thickens slightly. (If you want a thicker chowder, lightly crush the potato cubes with a potato masher).

6                    Add the mussel meat and chopped parsley leaf to the chowder and allow to heat through for a minute or so. Taste and add a little black pepper. I don’t add salt. The chowder is usually salty enough from the mussels. Serve with this quick and easy fresh soda bread. 

Note: The saffron doesn’t make much difference to the flavour but improves the look of the dish no end, so put it in if you have it.

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Moros y Cristianos (in a hurry) – good luck to you !

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Simple ingredients, magical food !

I learned to tango in the basement of a Dublin pub some years ago. When I say “learned” I mean my head learned quite a bunch of fancy steps but failed to pass this new knowledge on to the rest of me.

However, I quickly came to understand that if you learn the general shape of the dance and can follow a lead AND you have the great fortune to be landed with a good dance partner, you’re laughing. If not, lean down and whisper this excellent piece of advice to your tender little toes: “Rrrrruuuuuunnnnnnnnnn!”

Some of the great partnerships that come to mind are: Fred ‘n’ Ginger, Travolta ‘n’ Newton-John, Swayze ‘n’ Grey, Bacon ‘n’ Eggs, Fish ‘n’ Chips, and - the non-pc - Moros y Cristianos, aka black beans and rice.

This dish has been around in some form or other for so long that its origins are hazy, but it widely agreed that it acquired the name sometime during the complicated history that saw Spain conquered by the Moors, then reconquered by the Christians. It is a popular Cuban dish and variations are enjoyed all over South America – as well as in the US.

It is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Day - for good luck (although probably more in the sense that “If you think you can find something else in the cupboard at this time of year other than black beans and rice, then good luck to you.”) 

This is my quick version. It is humble fare but a welcome break from all the recent feasting!

For approximately 6 servings as a main, or 10 as a side, you will need…

300g basmati rice
1 x 400g can of black beans (turtle beans)
approximately 700mls* chicken stock
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
200g pancetta or bacon, diced
I stick celery, peeled of stringy bits and finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely diced
I green pepper, finely diced
3 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves

a little salt to taste, if necessary

a little chopped coriander (optional)

First, rinse the rice in plenty of cold water and leave to soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Drain the water from the beans into a measuring jug and make up this muddy-looking liquid to 800mls in total with chicken stock. (You may need a little more or a little less depending on how much liquid you get from the beans.) Leave to one side while you prepare the vegetables.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the pancetta or bacon. Fry gently until cooked, then add the celery, onion and peppers. Continue to cook gently for about 5 minutes or until any excess liquid - released by the peppers - has evaporated.

Add the garlic, cumin and paprika and continue to cook for a further minute before adding the bean liquid and stock mixture. Bring to simmering and add the soaked, drained rice along with the beans and bay leaves.

Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until all the rice is cooked and the liquid has evaporated. Taste and add salt only if necessary. Turn off the heat. Cover with a clean teacloth and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving with a sprinkling of coriander if desired.

Wishing you a delicious 2014 !

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