Apparently today is the most depressing day of the year. Blue monday is the third monday in January and according to various scientists it’s when people feel blue the most. All that consumer spending, the weather, the economic situation…what better than good nourishing bowl of soup. Soup for the soul as they say. This soup is even better the day after, gives the flavours a chance to develop a bit.

Spicy Lentil Soup
serves 4

250g green lentils
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp of peri peri spice mix or chilli powder
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)
1 stock cube
1,5l boiling water
Bunch of coriander
salt & pepper to taste

Fry the onions and carrots with the olive oil until the onions have softened (but definetly not caramelised). Add the lentils and chopped tomatoes, stir while adding the boiling water. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Leave to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Season and serve with some chopped coriander.

Tags: Blue monday, january blues, winter warmer

I’ve been recovering from my 5 week stint here. I finally mustered up the courage to mettre la main à la pâte as the French say. It wasn’t easy to decide what to make but a cake was not definetly on the menu. Nothing better than a bit of kneading to think things over (a great bit of exercise if you do it by hand ). With every new year there’s always a mad rush to start new things or stop old things. It’s not an easy option to stick with the old and get through the difficulties much easier to give up, especially when you have so many  other “better looking” options. I guess it’s a bit like just putting an egg in one basket rather than spreading them about. A risk that 2009 is going to be for me and many others. I’ve finally decided to be a full time professional freelance food creative after several years of doing it part time. To get a better idea of what I’m getting myself into check out my professional website. It’s not quite finished yet, still having some teething problems.

I wish everyone a success, fun and delicious filled 2009!

Back to the food, I did this recipe twice. Once at home and the other at my parents. Second time round it turned out perfect, I must say myself. The bread had a beautiful texture. Crisp crust with a light airy dough inside topped off with a egg in the middle. A snack or breakfast all-in-one on the run. Yummy I’ve based my recipe on Andrew Whitley’s Bread matters book which I consider one of the best bread cookery books on the market. He uses a wetter dough technique which results in an airy bread. His recipe requires using a specific water temperature which I, being lazy just used warm water. I also tried my hand at air kneading (which involves kind of throwing/stretching the dough from one hand to another in the air) but my arms just ached too much after 10 minutes so I chose to knead the classic way, on the work surface. A little messier.
Just a note the dough will feel wet and sticky at the beginning of kneading. Don’t feel tempted to add loads of flour. Once you start kneading for a while the dough will start to come together.

Egg in a basket
Recipe adapted from “Bread matters” by Andrew Whitley
(makes 8 )

Overnight sponge

5g fresh yeast
130g Water, warm
150g Strong white flour

Mix the yeast with the water and then combine with the flour. Place in a large bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave in a room with an ambient temperature (if the room is warmer than 25°c than place somewhere cooler) for 12-18 hours. The sponge should triple in size: bubble and have a slight beery, vinegary taste.

Final dough

285g overnight sponge
350g strong white flour
100g stroneground strong wholemeal flour
5g Salt
270g water, warm
15g olive oil
8 eggs

Mix all the ingredients into a soft dough and knead until it becomes silky and stretchy. Leave to rise for an hour. Grease two trays with some olive oil. Divide into 8 parts. Then divide each part into 3. Make 3 long “worms” and plait/braid them and join the two ends to make a circle. Make sure to leave a big enough space in the middle to crack the egg in. Leave to prove (double in size). Set the oven to 230°c or the hottest setting. Bake for 5 minutes at the hottest setting and then turn down to 200°c. After 15 minutes take the buns out and crack one egg into each hole. Bake for another 5 minutes (altogether baking time 20 minutes). Leave to cool slightly before eating or eat them cold too.

Tags: egg in a basket

Here’s another christmassy biscuit…

This time last year my tiny studio turned into a mini biscuit factory. Like my aunts in Austria who bake tons of Christmas biscuits every year I like to carry on the tradition (maybe not as well and in smaller quantities). Unfortunately this year I just haven’t had the time to bake as much (slightly due to the fact that I’ve been baking about 500 biscuits a week at La Cocotte recently) so I came up with this easy but just as delicious recipe.

Keep reading…

Tags: Cantucci, Christmas, gifts

When I saw the recipe/photos for the sweet sushi in two books in the same week I thought they definetly must be worth making. We so happened to be launching the book “Humeur Gourmande” at La Cocotte two weeks ago which has this recipe. For the launch we served a La Cocotte adaptation of the recipe, made with dulce de leche. They went down a treat. I’m not much of a fan of dulce de leche since I bake all the biscuits at La Cocotte with it.

The other recipe appears in Sushi box which is very well illustrated by Hisayuki Takeuchi (founder of the nouvelle japanese cuisine in Paris) with photos showing every step. His recipe for sweet sushi is slightly more “haute cuisine/japanese” with the use of nori (dried seaweed) paper and plain sushi rice.

I’ve gone with the Humeur Gourmande recipe but used the traditional hand method of making the forms. I was also lazy and made the rice pudding with my rice cooker (I love my rice cooker, it’s so useful!). Once you have the rice pudding base which you could flavour with vanilla, almond essence, orange flower water, cinammon, cocoa powder…You can combine the rice base with any kind of fruit you fancy. Although mangoes, tinned peaches, apricots and pears look more “raw fish” like.

Sweet sushi

inspired by Bruno Viala from Humeur Gourmande – serves 6

250g sushi rice or short grain rice (risotto rice will work too)
500ml milk
100ml double cream
50g sugar
3 tsp almond essence (but you could whatever flavour you like)
selection of fruit – I used tinned apricots

Wash the rice well. Combine the rice, milk, cream, almond essence and sugar in a pot. Place on a medium heat and stir occasionally as the sugar may cause the rice to stick to the bottom and burn. This should take approx. 15 minutes. Leave the rice to cool slightly but keep it covered with a clean tea towel.

For the easier option:

Pour the rice into a rectangle dish/container which is 2/3cm deep and chill. When the rice has set solid, run a knife around the edge of the container and then turn it upside down onto a board. Cut into rectangles and place slices of fruit on top.

For the more traditional option:

Leave the rice until it’s cool enough to handle. Have a large bowl of cold water and a plate to place the sushi on next to you. Dip your hands into the water and take a small amount (a little less than the size of a golf ball) of rice and form into the sushi shape. It’s important that your hands are wet otherwise the rice will stick to them. Make sure you press the rice together well. Once you have all the sushi shapes made, add the fruit slices on top.

Tags: Rice, Sushi, Twist, Unusual

Oh so British teatime at La Cocotte on the 29th June 2008. Everyone had a hand on making their own scones, a demonstration on the Art of drinking tea (and how to drink it correctly) and of course a proper teatime with china cups, jam, clotted cream and scones fresh out of the oven.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Tags: Teatime