Reciplace

Drool-worthy Kitchenware (our new Bamix hand blender)

I think we might have found the holy-grail of kitchen accessories.  Yesterday we were on our way in to our favourite cafe, (the one on the top floor of Steamer Trading Cookshop in Brighton.)  We always have a quick look and a drool at all their beautiful kitchenware on the way upstairs, but recently we'd been talking about replacing our aging Braun handblender, as we use it every day, and it was starting to show it's age... so we took a look at the handblenders they had in stock.  Gordon, one of the guys who works at the Cookshop, showed us the hand blender of all hand blenders... the professional mixer with the professional price tag: the Gordon Ramsay edition Bamix Deluxe hand blender. 

At first I wasn't interested.  Only two speed settings?  Endorsed by a celebrity chef? A hundred quid?!?  Until Gord started telling us about the amazing things it can do, like crush ice and turn nutmeg into powder... and how it has a 10 year guarantee.  TEN years!   We said we'd think about it, and we went upstairs to sit in the cafe. 

The lovely husband and I decided we would spend our time in the cafe looking up reviews of this blender on our laptop.  Could it really be as good as he said it was?  Everywhere we looked, the reviews were incredible.  Even on Amazon, every single reviewer gave it 5 stars.   We use our feeble Braun hand blender every day, It would be a worth while investment, and something that would get a lot of use.  So we decided to get it.   (!!!)

We could barely control our excitement when we got home and read through the recipe book it came with, and watched the cheesy DVD of Gordon Ramsay in his kitchen.  The first thing we tried was the function we least believed:  the mixer can actually turn skimmed milk into thick cream.  

Forget turning water into wine... this is heaps better. 

We've spent all weekend whipping up skimmed milk and mixing it with things like pureed mango and stewed rhubarb.  It's unbelievable to eat skimmed milk with a spoon, and it you feel so guilty while you're eating it, it really tastes like double cream! 

We've done some other things with it, like make breadcrumbs, salad dressing, chop onions in 2 seconds flat - everything we've used the Bamix for so far has been impressive.  But I think I might be developing a serious cream addiction.  Which is okay - it's fat free!  Long live the Bamix hand blender!!!

Cha ca Hanoi

 
Today I was chatting with my American friend about food that we miss now we live over here in the UK.  For her it was American style diners with chocolate sauce milkshakes.  For me it was my favourite Canadian fast food joints - Tim Horton's, Harvey's, Taco Bell (not Canadian, but you can't get it over here!)   This made me think about the food I really *really* miss over here.... Vietnamese!!  I've tried a few Vietnamese restaurants in London, but they never seem to get it right.  I always feel like I'm eating MSG loaded Chinese food wrapped in rice paper?!?

So you just have to make it yourself at home.  Here's a lovely and healthy traditional recipe from Hanoi called Cha ca Hanoi. There are so many components to this dish... crispy fish on a bed of noodles with vegetables and a gorgeous salty sauce.  It uses fresh white fish: I think basa is best since it comes from Vietnam and tastes so mild.  This recipe is a little time consuming, and requires lots of ingredients, but is so worth it!  It's from Quick and Easy Vietnamese by Nancie McDermott.

For the dipping sauce (makes about 1/2 cup)

• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce (may substitute finely chopped hot red chili peppers or 1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes)
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 lime (juice only; about 2 tablespoons)

For the fish

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger root or galangal
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound firm-fleshed fish fillets, such as basa, tilapia, monkfish or catfish, cut into 2- to 3-inch chunks
• 8 ounces thin, dried rice noodles, softened in warm water for 15 minutes and drained (may substitute angel-hair pasta)
• 2 cups coarsely chopped dill
• 5 scallions, white and tender green parts, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 3 cups shredded lettuce leaves, such as Boston, Bibb or oak leaf
• 1 cup mint or cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped, roasted, salted peanuts

For the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, mash the garlic, sugar and chili-garlic sauce to form a coarse paste. Add the fish sauce, water and lime juice, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

For the fish: In a medium bowl, combine the fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of the oil, the ginger, turmeric and salt and mix well. Add the fish and toss to coat. Set aside.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Place the softened noodles in the boiling water and immediately remove the pot from the heat. Let stand for 10 minutes, then drain well. (If using angel-hair pasta, cook until tender but still firm and drain well.)

In a large, heavy skillet or wok over medium-high heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and heat until a bit of dill added to the pan sizzles at once. Add the fish and cook on one side for about 2 minutes. Gently turn and cook 1 minute. Add the remaining dill and the scallions and cook for 1 minute, tossing to wilt the herbs.

Divide the noodles among the serving bowls. Add the lettuce and a few leaves of mint or cilantro. Top each bowl with a piece or two of fish, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and drizzle with the dipping sauce. Serve hot, with additional sauce at the table.

Autumnal Pumpkin Sponge Cake

Blimey!  What a fun day today was at work!  The Food Team put on a cake baking competition for all the staff.  Of course I entered...someone had to represent our nerdy team of web developers. 

So I entered my favourite cake:  Autumnal Pumpkin Sponge Cake that I created for thanksgiving a few years ago.  I came up with it the first year that I moved here from Canada.  It's a combination of the classic Victoria Sponge, with a Canadian Thanksgiving twist!

Celebrity chef Sophie Grigson and our our own Roopa Gulati were the judges.  There were some absolutley amazing entries.  I reckoned I needed a bit of an edge - I knew my cake would taste great, but it needed to look a bit better!

So I commissioned my colleague and friend, the lovely Sammi Richardson, graphic designer extraordinare to art direct the topping of my cake!  She insisted on putting some of the cream on the top, in addition to the inside - a bold but successful move.  She also created lots of fancy swirly shapes with the Dulce de leche, and sprinkled walnuts with panache.   Thank you Sammi!!! 

Tension was high.... I could see the judges tasting the cakes from my desk, and it was hard to concentrate on work!  My mates who had been over for thanksgiving and tried this cake in the past were emailing me and cheering me on!  I had such butterflies!!!

I wasn't expecting a prize with the tight competition I was up against, but lo and behold!!!   I won a bottle of champagne and some truffles, and got to tell the whole company the story of Canadian Thanksgiving with a microphone.  (eeek!)    My other lovely friend Amanda won for her delectible Lemon and Raspberry Friands, which she actually thought weren't cooked in the middle!  She thought wrong:  they were lush.  There were also some winners for 'biggest disaster' (heartbreaking!) and 'most beautiful'.

After the winners were announced, the entire company descended on the cake judging room to devour the entries.  By the time I got in, my little pumpkin cake was nothing but a lonely little corner, which I shared with Amanda.   I comforted myself by taking 5 pieces of other peoples' cake to try.  (I ate tofu all weekend - surely it balances out?)    I fell in love with a lemon drizzle, which I'm going to try to recreate this weekend.   Watch this space for news on my ever expanding waistline.....

(Award Winning) Atumnal Pumpkin Sponge Cake 

Ingredients
170g soft margarine
170g caster sugar
170g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

For the filling:
300ml double cream, whipped
150g pureed pumpkin

For the topping:
Banoffee Toffee or toffee sauce
Crumbled Walnuts

Preheat oven to 170C. Mix all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix with an electric mixture until smooth. Divide the mixture between two equal 18cm round baking tins (lined with greaseproof paper if not nonstick) and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cakes from the tins and let cool on a wire rack.

Stir the pumpkin puree into the whipped cream.

When almost cool, spread the bottom (flat) side of one cake with the whipped cream mixture. Sandwich the two cakes together and drizzle toffee over the top. Sprinkle walnuts over the toffee to finish.

Cooking by Colour

When I was growing up, I always remember my mum cooking by colour.  If she was deciding what vegetables to go with what dish, she always wanted to make it look aesthetically pleasing.  (She did some amazing food styling for television!)  We'd never have cabbage AND broccoli with our meat - it had to look good on the plate, and have a variety of colours.  She'd always say things like "this needs more orange", and then rummage around in the fridge for some carrots or orange bell peppers so the meal looked better when presented.

I thought it was silly at the time, but it was something that stayed with me.  Not only does having a variety of colours offer you a wider range of vitamins, I also think it offers a nicer blend of flavours.  This is one of the reasons I love cooking stir fry so much....  just look at this rainbow of colours!!!  I just started chucking things in until it looked pretty:  carrots, fresh garden peas, red bell pepper, baby corn, and purple radish sprouts.  It almost looks too pretty to eat! 

I've ruined the visual experience already though - for the first time in my life I'm sitting here eating stir fry with a fork instead of chopsticks.  At least it looked good in the wok.