Dark Night In

25/11 DARK NIGHT IN

When the darkness of winter creeps over the world, fleeting moments of sunlight pass all in the blink of an eye. The darkness does bring comfort. Turning on the twinkling kitchen lights as steam rises from bubbling pots and pans - that’s the idea at least. To spend a dark evening dancing around your kitchen like the goblins and spirits on bald mountain – taming the beast of the night before the witching hour.

This recipe came from one such evening, one such cauldron and one such night beast (yours truly). The starch from the potatoes emulsifies with the roasting oils and transforms this simple recipe of two ingredients into a decadent bowl of winter comfort. I have included the two versions that are regular suppers – both warm the soul. One uses rosemary to roast the cauliflower, creating a rich woody soup. The other uses curry powder for roasting, infusing a heady spiciness to the soup. Both are the right kind of kitchen warmth that will tame the darkness of winter and turn every kitchen into a place of nighttime concoctions.
1 Cauliflower

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

2 Potatoes

Olive oil/knob of butter

1 Rosemary Sprig OR 1 tbl curry powder

Salt + Pepper

Pumpkin seeds (entirely optional)

What I did - 

ROAST the living daylights out of the cauliflower. Break into white tufts and sprinkle with a blizzard of salt, pepper and rosemary leaves/curry. Blitz in a 200degree oven for an hour or more. until they have transformed into a charred forrest – about 45 minute.

As the oven roasts, boil the peeled potatoes (cut into small chunks) in about 500mls of water. Until they are softened – about 15 minutes. Turn the water off and leave until the cauliflower is ready. Scrape all the roasting tin; the oils, the spices, salt and of course cauliflower into the pot. Using a stick blender, blitz until it becomes a thick smooth creamy emulsion. Add a small know of butter or olive oil and blitz again, the fat will help the soup thicken and become creamy without the need for any dairy.

Season with any additional salt/pepper/rosemary/curry powder to taste – soup always fluctuates to each cook. Serve very hot in small bowls – there’s toning better then getting lots of small bowls of soup. Add some pumpkin seeds as a garnish and to add a nutty crunch.

JG

Peachy Hot Bed

21/11 HOT BED

We all want to dive under a blanket at the best of times, a hot warm blanket to melt under while the winter sets in. These are the times when energy is at an all time low, and you really want to cover yourself and forget about the rest of the world. 

Indeed this recipe is found hiding under its own crumbly blanket. A soft bed of fleshy, sweet and hot fruit robed in a dusting of glorious crumbs. The only thing this bed needs is a good spoon. And you have two choices - big spoon or little spoon. Also both benefit from cream.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

3 Old Peaches
75g Butter
75g Sugar
75g Flour


What I did - 

Arrange the slightly old soggy peaches around a small baking dish (this is a small recipe for three to four at most). They should all be standing on their backs, the thin gill of the meat upwards.

In another bowl rub the butter into the flour and sugar until you get a thick gloopy crumb. Sprinkle over the peaches as evenly as possible - don't press it down, the lighter it falls the more the preaches melt and the crumb stay loose in the oven.

Bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes or so - just before the crumbs start to catch. The more heat this is exposed to the more the fruit melts and crumb crisps.

Eat directly out of the dish if there's only two of you, or glooped in cream with friends. The best way to be.

JG

Confusion Cake

28/10 CONFUSION CAKE

Following the deceptive pixie, this is a grippingly dark recipe - in need on an uplifting force. I haven't felt the true do or die spirit when cooking for a while. Comfort zones are best left to those who can afford beige. The only absolute here was the need to produce a desert for a sunday lunch provided with love. What came next is hard to explain.

I did have apples. I didn't make milk. Or sugar. Or useful flour.  So with that the best course of action is to bake a cake. Obviously. Now baking is a thing of precision and science and Art which has elevated itself to a primetime BBC broadcast. This is no such thing, basically try to find things that resembled cake ingredients  - coconut milk, plain flour, molasses. And hope that if you throw caution and faith to the wind then a sweet aroma will come back. Somehow this miracle worked. Although it was dark, treacly and delicious - It does need cream to help it convert to delicious.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

1 Apple
200ml Coconut milk
2 Eggs
50g soft butter
1.5 cups Plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
150g Molasses (dark sugar, anything really)


What I did - Oven preheat into 180

Line a small baking dish with some butter smears and flour. Then coat the base in sugar/molasses. Slice the apple thinly and fan around the dish - ideally elegantly, but its going to be eaten so no stresses required. In another please don't stress.

Once lined and ready, prepare the batter by using the all in one method. Simply because there was no way of really telling if it was going to work so throwing caution to the wind seems the best idea. Beat it until it completely comes together (the qtys listed worked, however in finding this balance there was a bit of a guessing game - it should be a smooth light batter).

Pour over the apple lined tin and bake for 30 minutes in a 180degree oven. Check at this stage if it needs more, if the skewer is sticky give it another 5-10 minutes.

When it's ready take the dish out of the oven and let to cool for 15 minutes or so - until you feel comfortable enough to turn it out. Flip it quickly onto a plate. The foil will come out easy, then gently peel it off - don't rip it unless you want the mess that is photographed here.

Don't stand on ceremony, just cut it and eat it. Seeing a mess may make you feel less so.

JG

Pixie Jar

18/10 PIXIE JAR

In the flick of a wrist, in just a flash, you'll land a prince with a tonne of cash. Wishful thinking. As sweet and glistening as this faerie godmother of biscuits look, be warned they are prone to taking a dark turn. This was in a moment of transcendant hesitation. I had no idea what was going to come and something so perfect and pretty was always going to lead me astray.

This recipe is easy to let turn dark. Over working the crumb, too long in the oven, a heavy had in the jar… This is about being gently and calm. Let things happen and trust that they all do for a reason. This was what happened the first time I made these, spontaneous and camp biscuits. They were a treat which paved the way for darker versions. Be warned this pink faerie isn’t as wholesome as she looks. But she is very moorish and who doesn’t like twinkling in the dark.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

200g Flour

60g sugar

125g Butter

1/2 tsp vanilla paste (no extract, has to be viscous or dry – even use vanilla sugar if you need)

50g Waitrose Raspberry Sugar*

*Trust me on this, there is no substitute. Unless you can’t get to a Waitrose in which case just find a camp sugar

What I did - 

The thing with shortbread is that its short. Short means quick. Short means easy. Theoretically.

Begin by grating the butter into the sugar. This makes it easier to mix without melting and it would be a lumpy mess if the butter melted while mixing. This way the small shavings of butter are coated in the sugar evenly and when bakes will belt away creating the shortbread crumb. 

Add the flour to this mix and use your fingers to flutter into a humbly mess. It will not look anything like a biscuit dough. In face it amy look like a bowl of pale sand. This is all okay. When its all combined, no large butter lumps and no patches of flour floating around you can start wodging into something that resembles more of a dough. 

The problem is if you over work it the butter melts and you end up with a very dense crumb and end up with a kindergarten biscuit. Keep the mix dry and turn on to a bench. Here you can work it into a loose lump and then roll to about 1cm. It should not hold together, instead use a big knife to cut into fingers and then use to slide under and transfer to a baking parchment lined tray. Repeat until your suitably frustrated. Transfer to the fridge and chill for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Dust each biscuit gently with the pink magic sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Don’t let the pale colour fool you, it is cooked. 

Leave to cool for about 10-15, until you can slide them to a cooling rack to dry out completely. 

Ifa ll goes to plan you end up with a really delicious crumble shortbread. If it doesn’t like the other times I’ve tried this you end up with a dark, sweet biscuit best suited for drowning in coffee. Either way win/win.

JG

Overcast Light

26/09 OVERCAST LIGHT

Food for thought? Food for fuel? Food for fun. Because to be honest, when the going gets tough, the tough get seriously hungry. This is always the case when it comes to uprooting your life, and this meal is an all in one pre- and post-adventure comfort. It really is just a way to plate up nearly all my favourite ingredients at once (as is the case here, often ready in the fridge).

This particular one holds particularly fond memory in my mind. The blissful last week in Australia, where everything was perfect because it was coming to an end (for now). There was one day where I should have been preparing, but instead shared this and a bottle of grigio in the overcast warmth - my kind of heaven. This is always going to be a plate of overcast happiness.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

1 Salmon Fillet
3 Eggs
100ml Milk
1 Broccoli
1 Avocado
200g String Beans
70g Goats cheese
Lemon
Salt + Pepper


What I did - 

Really not a stressful cook, just one to do when you have some time at home to juggle the different ingredients. Start by throwing the salmon fillet under a hot grill for about 15 minutes with some lemon, salt and pepper. It doesn't need to cook through, just catch enough to colour on one side.

Whisk the eggs together until pale, add the milk and a chunk of the goats cheese and beat again. In a small baking dish, flake the salmon in the bottom. Pour over the eggs, sprinkle with salt and pepper again and throw into the oven for about 20 minutes at 200degrees. The heat needs to be high so that the eggs inflate around the fish.

While the bake is on, steam the broccoli and beans, or blanche them for 5 minutes. Really don't cook these through, keep them crunchy and hot. Drain/take them off the heat and add to a large salad bowl. Crumble the remaining goats cheese over, gouge out the avocado and squeeze the life out of the lemon. Quickly tumble through the bowl, the heat from the vegetables will melt the cheese with the soft avocado and lemon. It should end up a white-flecked bowl of sharp greenness.

Once the eggs have inflated appropriately, like a blimp, take the dish out of the oven. Serve direct from the dish at the table. Have your guest deal with the wine. Immediate perfection.

JG

Over or Under

06/09 OVER or UNDER

There is a strange moment before any journey where you need to stop and meditate on all the turns and paths ahead of you. The road isn't always going to be straightforward, or smooth - you face the decision to go over the mountain or under it. If the mountain defeats you, where then will you go? The rugged peats of these profiterole mountains are an untameable beauty, yet inside these small pastry mountains is a creamy heaven waiting to be found.

Together they collide in spectacular form, the clashing textures are unified with nutty cocoa creaminess - eloquent I know. They appear to involve much more work than there actually is - the most annoying part will be washing up just because you end up with a stack of used bowls. They are calming to make, and provide quick reassurance that even the most daunting adventure is always full of surprises. 

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

150g Plain Flour
50g Butter
3/4 Cup Water
1/2 Tsp salt
3 eggs
100ml Cream
50g Dark Chocolate
1tbls Nutella
Handful of chopped almonds


What I did - 

Don't panic! This isn't a recipe of pain, it is a thing of great beauty. Simply because it involves little to no skill and creates delicacies of awe.

Start by melting the butter into the water with the salt. Once dissolved add the flour and return to the heat for a brief moment while you mix it into a single paste - the water will evaporate and it will become a dough almost instantly. Transfer to a food processor (or a bowl and a strong, fast arm) and one by one add the eggs. The end result will be a sticky paste - less of a dough than before. Dollop tablespoon amounts onto a lined baking tray and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees. Easy.

Turnt he oven off and let them cool completely into puffed pastry shells. Whip the cream with the nutella until firm, then using a piping bag poke a hole in each pastry and  squeeze until they are fattened with the nutty cream.

Put in the fridge while the chocolate is attended to. Melt until black and glistening. Then bathe the top of each profiterole in the molten chocolate. Sit them upright on a tray and scatter the almonds on the top.

Leave in the fridge for half an hour before eating so that all the different components come to an agreeable temperature and the chocolate is wonderfully matted. Fiddly fun, and you've now got cream on your face.

JG

Magic Carpet-bowl

31/08 MAGIC CARPET-BOWL

Every turn's a surprise. A new horizon to soar, tumble, freewheel. Don't you dare close your eyes - cause you never know if you're going to miss something or crash and burn. This recipe is an adventure into the unknown and the exotic. It both works and doesn't work. It works in the sense that all the flavours match in and exotic quasi-middle eastern muddle - would transcend if pears were in season.

It also doesn't work because it can't be eaten on its own. The flavours overwhelm and need taming. Cream or yoghurt provide the right amount of cloudy lift to turn this into magic carpet - not one in need of a good steam clean. It can't show you the world, but it can open your eyes. Take you wonder by wonder. Over, sideways and under ;) 

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

2 Red Apples/Pears
75g Goats Cheese
1/2cup Almonds
1cup Dates
25ml Balsamic Vinegar
50ml Honey


What I did - 

Half apples/pears, remove the seeded core and cut into wafer thin slices - so thin that they flop disappointingly. Douse in the honey and vinegar and let steep for ten minutes.

Smash the almonds into a slivered mess. Cut (and pip) the dates. Crumble the chalky goats cheese. Combine with the apples and fold through the sticky mess. It will take a while to turn completely, when ready everything will be slicked with a honey enamel.

Transfer to an exotic bowl and serve with a small amount of yoghurt - with the vinegar it cuts through the incredible sweetness.

JG

Scatterbrained Tuna

18/08 SCATTERBRAINED TUNA

P.S. It's my birthday... 

Too much! At the moment there is too much of everything. Too much to handle. Too much to deal with. Too much left in the fridge. The only thing to do is make the most of the situation. In the case of my life, and indeed everyones life, you can't complain about what you don't have if you don't try to get it. Contrariwise you can't use what you don't have. So con fuddle your brain with a massive bowl of jumble.

This jumble was once a tuna salad which got lost, went in two directions at once and ended up somewhere between bonkers and delicious. There is a lot of ingredients I know, what was available in the kitchen - but divide them into their families and they can all be substituted. The crunch family, the soft family and the sloppy family (the dressing). My intuitive sense of the human creature tells me that we are all scatterbrained, so try this and see if anything makes sense - our at least it will all make no sense together.

Ingredients (all approximate) - Feeds ALOT or lasts for days*

1/2 Iceberg Lettuce
1/4 Red Cabbage
1 Onion
3 Tomato
3 Carrots
1/2 Celery
1 Avocado
6 Mushrooms
1 Tin Tuna (185g)
1 Tin mixed beans
Hummus
Apricot Chutney
Olive Oil
Vinegar
Salt + Pepper

*so I hope you like it


What I did - 

There is nothing more stressful then a complicated salad. So this tries to be the opposite. Despite the large variety of ingredients, there are three main factors - the crunchy, the soft and the dressing.

The crunchy ingredients up for the chop are lettuce, cabbage, onion, carrots, celery. The carrots are best shredded on a large gauge grater. The onion, cabbage and lettuce sliced into thin spindly strands. The celery diced into thin moon-shapes. The main thing is to make each ingredient thinner and easier to fork. Tumble into a large mixing bowl.

The soft ingredients are mushrooms, avocado, tomato, tuna and beans. Open and drain the tuna and beans, then turn into the bowl of crunch. Gouge out the pale green avocado with a spoon until all that remains is satisfying spoon scrape on the husk. Tear up the mushrooms and add to the top of the heaving mixing bowl.

The dressing is the easiest part, and most satisfying. In a glass jar add the hummus, chutney, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Shake violently until all the ingredients succumb to a emulsified thickness. Empty over the top of the mixing bowl.

With a grain of patience use two large serving spoons to mix the bowl together. The former pile up of ingredients will slowly come together. Once mixed let it sit for half an hour, allowing all the ingredients to soften slightly and become the one deliciously scatterbrained salad.

JG

Pressed for Time

05/08 PRESSED FOR TIME

Time goes by so slowly for those who wait. Those who run have all the fun - apparently. This also means that there is no time to slowly lounge around the kitchen so when the going gets tough you gotta get going. Nothing more instant than a grilled cheese sandwich and nothing more satisfying either. 

However I've always had a couple of niggles, namely the stodgy feel if there isn't anything to counter the oozy cheesy breadiness. Also they need a boost to make them the instant recharge you need. Problem solved! Instead of loading the sandwich up with tomato and other things, which end up getting weighed down in cheese an egg cracked into the middle cooks gloriously. A tomato on the side tricks your brain into health mode... sort of. Either way its delicious and immediate, when all hung up this is what to do.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

1 Egg
2 Slices ANY bread
50g(ish) cheese
Mustard
Butter
Tomato
Salt + Pepper


What I did - 

So long as you have a scalding iron grill there is no way to mess this recipe up. Separate the two pieces of bread and butter the top of the top slice. Add a thin smear of mustard to the bottom layer. Lay the cheese evenly over the yellow spread. Make sure the grill is ready to go the put the cheese base on.

With the Heat filtering through crack the egg carefully in the middle, salt & pepper it. If it tries to escape just hold it in place until you can squash the top of the sandwich on. The yolk should crack with the pressure of the grill lid applied - yellow goo will sizzle from the crusts. As this cooks the cheese and egg will amalgamate and become one oozing hot mess.

Can't really over cook this so keep it spluttering in the grip until it looks enticingly burnished. Serve with a tomato diced on the side, sprinkled with salt and pepper. (you can cook it together but it makes the sandwich soggy and tomato scalding and watery).

JG