La Recette du Jour

I’ve been hoping for several months that I would be paired with Bellini Valli of More Than Burnt Toast for Taste & Create, and it finally happened! I was delighted, and looked forward to spending some time browsing her site. Unfortunately work and other stuff got in the way; and by last week I had a list of “only” a dozen or so recipes I wanted to try, and no time to try them.

Finally yesterday I had some free time,so I looked for something quick to do (in passing, I discovered that oddly enough Val — or at least her friend Lillian — was the originator of the crater banana bread I cooked for the last round of T&C). I hovered over the apple pancake, the apricot and ginger scones, the lamb sliders and half a dozen others … but finally, the pear upside-down cake looked irresistible for a chilly autumn day.

I used some of our local herb-flavoured garrigue honey, and Louise Bonne pears. Fresh thyme is hard to come by at this time of year, even here, so I sprinkled on some dried. Apart from that and my usual conversions, I followed the recipe exactly. It got the thumbs up from both of us, served still warm with a dollop of crème fraîche. OK, maybe it doesn’t quite reach the gingery, caramelised heights of my Best Dessert Ever, Springfield Pear Cake — the combination of pears and ginger can’t be beat in my opinion — but it is pretty darned close. The caramelised honey gave it a delicious spicy flavour, and the sponge was feather-light. I will definitely be making this again … and again … and again.

Thanks Val for an enjoyable browse and a delicious dessert — I’ve tucked several other recipes away for later!
Recipe for Honey and pear upside-down cake »

Domestic crises chez Nicky meant a hiatus for Taste & Create last month, and I’m pleased it’s back this month, thanks to Min, while Nicky takes a much-needed break.

My partner was a new one to me: Allison of Fridgg. First impression when I landed on her blog: “Wow, those photos are amazing!” Second impression: “Spam musubi?? Help! I don’t like spam and I don’t like sushi!” It’s all very well going out of your comfort zone, but this was a step too far

But undaunted, I continued searching, and my persistence was rewarded. Back in August, Allison had made a yummy-looking crater banana bread, and glancing at the fruit bowl I saw a ripe banana just waiting to be used. I’ve actually never made banana bread, so this was a first for me. I still felt at liberty to change it though. I’m not a fan of chocolate chips, in fact I don’t really go for chocolatey desserts unless they are made of large quantities of the best bitter chocolate. Or they are the milk chocolate soufflé at Lapérouse in Paris — I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I ate that. Bananas say “rum” to me, so I substituted some rum-soaked jumbo sultanas for the chocolate chips.

It smelled fabulous while it was cooking, and I could barely wait for it to cool down before I tried some. I had wondered why it was called “crater” banana bread, but the crackled top did look like solidifying lava when I took it out of the oven. As for the end result, well, now I know what to do with over-ripe bananas. The inside was quite moist and the sultana layer had sunk to the bottom, making a gorgeously gooey, caramelised mess, but the edges and top were crunchy and caramelised, making a lovely contrast with the crumb. It’s so rich, more like cake than bread, that it’s probably most appropriate as a dessert, slightly warm, with ice cream or yoghurt. “I don’t like banana bread,” said Steve, and then had second helpings.

My metric version follows: this time I did stick to the quantity of sugar specified, even though it looked a lot, and double-checked all my conversions. Mine is also for a smaller cake than Allison’s.

As for the photos, well, it just wasn’t a good day, but don’t let them put you off!
Recipe for Crater banana bread »

It took me two goes to get these right. The first time the dough was far too stiff, and the yeast didn’t act properly, so they didn’t rise well and were tough and dry. But they smelled so lovely when they were baking, and tasted nice too, so I decided to try again. Success — they rose beautifully and the crumb was soft and light.

The recipe is from my Taste & Create partner’s blog: Fun Foods on a Budget! I liked the title of this blog because one of my favourite standby books when I was an impoverished student was Good Food on a Budget, a fat — and soon food-stained — paperback organised by month in order to make the most of seasonal and hence cheap ingredients.

Like that book, Stephanie’s blog showcases simple, family-friendy recipes which are cheap, filling and generally easy to make. There were quite a few recipes I liked the look of: I hovered over the lemon sugar cookies, the pull-apart loaf, and the parmesan potatoes, but in the end I plumped for these cinnamon rolls because they sounded so good despite Stephanie’s problem with them not rising. It was worth persevering! Once you get the quantities right, they are easy to make.

Update: I stored the left-overs in the freezer, and later used them to make a nice cinnamon-flavoured bread and butter pudding; slice in half or thirds crossways, then cut diagonally in half to make triangles. Then proceed as usual.

My metric conversions follow. The second time, I pre-soaked the yeast in a little warm water to make sure it was actually working, and added only just enough flour to stop the dough being sticky.

Recipe for Sugar and Spice Rolls »

I wouldn’t say I was exactly an expert at cupcakes, but I found I enjoyed making these, so thank you Ivy, my Taste & Create partner this month. Some of Ivy’s cupcake creations are amazing; as a rank beginner in the field, I decided to be relatively unambitious, and went for the carrot cakes with mascarpone frosting — largely because I like carrot cake, and they involved apricot jam — I have lots of that.

I made the candied carrots a couple of days before, and left them on a windowsill by an open window for 24 hours before storing them. They look great and are easy to make.

As usual I battled with the American cup measurements; my cakes came out a bit moist yet again, and I wasn’t sure whether it was bad measuring or the fact that I baked them in muffin tins as I don’t have any cupcake cases. Ivy didn’t mention an oven temperature, so I guessed at 180 and baked them for 25 minutes. Anyway, even if they were a bit soggy in the middle, they tasted fab — I loved the subtle combination of maple syrup and orange, and the mascarpone frosting really is yummy. Read on for my metric version of the recipe.

Recipe for Carrot cupcakes with mascarpone frosting »

Taste & Create time, and I seem to be firmly stuck in the risotto groove. My partner this month is Cuisine Heart, and after browsing her blog I found several recipes to interest me. After the fabulous pear and gorgonzola risotto, I was tempted by her caramelized apple, onion and cheese risotto. Also I was running out of time, and it was easy and quick to do, using ingredients from the storecupboard. It’s basically a standard risotto method, except that you caramelize the apples and onions instead of just gently softening them in the oil, and use dry cider instead of white wine.

Verdict: OK, it is not up to pear and gorgonzola standards, but it was delicious and unusual. The only cheese I had was a stub of Comté and lots of parmesan, so I made do with those and didn’t add cream at the end. I loved the tart fruitiness of the cider and apple. We ate it on its own, but it would be nice as an accompaniment to roast pork. The photo is just further proof of how unphotogenic risotto is.

Thank you, Rossella of Ma che ti sei mangiato! I cooked Rossella’s leek risotto for Taste & Create, and she told me about this recipe. She said it was divine, and it is. Creamy, rich, with the perfect combination of pears and gorgonzola, and walnuts to add crunch. One of the best risotti I’ve ever had. Vegetarian too! No photo, because I already know risotto isn’t photogenic.

Even if you’ve never cooked risotto in your life, you owe it to yourself to try this. Don’t be scared — risotto is really easy. But you must use proper Italian risotto rice, otherwise it will be a travesty.

Recipe for Pear and gorgonzola risotto »

One of those things that seem so obvious you hardly need a recipe. But it’s handy to have one for reference. This is from Taste & Create partner Ginny’s blog, and even though I now have some cup measures I’ve converted it to metric weights because, well, how do you measure a cup of butter?

Scones aren’t as easy as you might think. The key is to mix/handle the dough as little as possible. Don’t roll it out; as soon as it holds together, tip it onto a floured work surface and pat it out with your hands. Not too thin; it should be about 2 cm thick. Then cut into triangles or squares with a sharp knife. They might not look as elegant as round ones made with a cutter, but they will be lighter. Sprinkle a little flour on top before putting in the oven. If you have any buttermilk or even milk that’s gone sour in the fridge, your scones will be even lighter.

You have to eat them the day they are made, preferably when they are still just warm. Ginny likes hers with honey, but being British I consider that you can only eat them spread with home-made strawberry jam, with a generous dollop of clotted cream on top. Or crème fraîche if you can’t get clotted cream. And a cup of tea of course!

Recipe for Scones »

Taste & Create IX already! I was lucky again, and was partnered with another person who likes pasta and vegetarian dishes: Ginny of Just Get Floury. Once again I could see several recipes that intrigued me. I started with Ginny’s mum’s recipe for Ceci ‘n Chard and I’m sorry to say I was a bit disappointed: cheap and very healthy, but it just didn’t taste very interesting even after I threw some sliced sausage and chilli flakes into it to liven it up a bit.

Never mind! I did a lot better with my next choice: goat’s cheese, caramelised onion and artichoke quiche. It was simple to make, and delicious. I didn’t have any marinated artichokes, so I used a can of artichoke hearts, diced, and added a sprinkling of fresh basil simply because I had some. I used a fresh goat’s cheese from a local farm. I cooked it at quite a low temperature (170C) for about 40 minutes, because I like my quiche to have a silky smooth texture. As Ginny says, this recipe could be adapted in all sorts of ways, depending on what you have in the fridge: I think it would be nice with spinach or tomatoes instead of the artichokes — or even the stalks left over from my chard experiment!

As for the balsamic caramelised onions … I’ll make more next time, because they are the sort of leftovers I like to have!

Another recipe from Rossella’s Ma che ti sei mangiato. I didn’t have any courgettes unfortunately, and I think it would have been better with. Next time I will roast and peel the pepper first for a more intense flavour. Quick to make, and vegetarian.

Recipe for Tagliatelle al buffone »

Taste & Create has come round again already, and I haven’t even posted anything since last time! This time it’s a different kind of challenge: Nicole emailed me to say my partner’s blog is entirely in Italian! I should have guessed from the title … Ma che ti sei mangiato.

Still, since I know French, Latin, and a smidgin of Spanish, and I’ve been to Italy a couple of times, how difficult could it be? I love Italian food, so I have a pretty good vocabulary of food items, and I can usually understand the gist of what Italians are saying to me once I’m fortified with a couple of glasses of wine. So I set forth to explore.

Honestly, with the aid of the photos there were loads of recipes that appealed to me enough to make the effort to understand them (a little Babelfish was required here and there). But I decided to start with a really simple one for which I fortuitously had all the ingredients: leek risotto. It was simplicity itself to make, and I liked the result, even if Steve wasn’t so keen (he thought it was too sweet, but I think I reduced the wine a bit too much). Sorry about the photos, risotto just isn’t photogenic, but it tasted good! Look for at least a couple more recipes from Rosella soon, and thank you Nicole for the introduction!

Recipe for Leek Risotto »