Growing pains

My love affair with food has not been without its hurdles. Though, majority of them are (as tends to be the case with self-obsessed, spoiled Westerners...) my own doing.

I grew up in a small town at the Arctic Circle and the culinary atmosphere during my formative years was almost as freezing as the climate itself. I, a difficult child grew up to be one difficult teenager and naturally went through the meat is murder- phase (I did go to art school so being a vegetarian was sort of mandatory way of showing the world just how conscious and intelligent were).

Later on I worked my way through an eating disorder. Food was categorically not something to be enjoyed - it was the necessary evil; the fuel my body against all my wishes required in order to get through the 3-hour workouts. My #1 culinary feast at the time? Steamed carrot strips which I convinced myself were as good as pasta (though I was shocked to learn they too contained, like, 4 carbs). That phase put a strain on my social life too; I'd refuse meeting my friends as I couldn't allow myself to eat anywhere outside my home as I could never be sure if food cooked by somebody else contained something off my endless list of forbidden ingredients.

Some of my friends though, after not seeing me in a while refused to go anywhere with me as I looked so horrid (the way I heard that? They envied my willpower). My sisters (subtlety clearly runs in our genes!) pointed out how I looked like a concentration camp escapee (my reaction? I congratulated myself. As sane people do...)

Later on I was hell-bent on keeping kosher. Oy vey. Not the most logical thing to do if your favourite foods are made of either pork or shellfish...

Yet some of my happiest childhood memories revolve around my Dad's cooking. I suppose that is what managed to plant the seed of my love of food that later on flourished to this. My first ever recipes are scribbled down round about the the same time; with round, childish hand-writing of a 9-year-old, i's dotted with heart-shapes. This bread is one of the first recipes on that notebook, though over time the amount of oat has steadily crept up as I've grown to think white flour as the enemy...

makes 2 breads

25 g fresh yeast
1/2 l milk or water (at 37º temperature)
1 tbsp honey/ syrup
1/2 dl oil
2.5 dl rolled oats
1/2 tbsp salt
2.5 dl oat flour (finely ground rolled oats)
5- 6 dl all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast into your chosen liquid and mix well. Cover and leave for 5 minutes until it bubbles a bit. Then add oil, rolled oats and salt. Start adding oat flour and all purpose flour 1 dl at a time until you've got yourself an elastic dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Cover and leave to rise in a draft-free place for an hour or until it has doubled. 

Divide the dough in two, punch the air out and roll into two round loaves. Place on parchment-lined trays and flatten the loaves a bit. Using a glass, cut a hole in the middle and with a fork prick lines into the loaves dividing the loaf into 6 segments. Cover and leave to rise for half and hour. 

Brush with milk (or combination of milk and honey/ syrup), sprinkle some rolled oats on top (optional) and bake at 225º until golden; 20-25 minutes.

Cut the still steaming hot bread in two, spread some butter on it and pour yourself a glass of cold milk. Ah, how the world instantly feels a better place!

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?



      

Best cookies in the world

Back when I lived in London I used to pop in Millie's cookies near Soho and get their wonderfully chewy cookies which I'd then sneak into cinemas. To wash down with a pint of milk. Yeah, my Soho doesn't sound terribly street cred, does it? The variety at Millie's was endless: popcorn, dried berries, nuts, ginger, white chocolate, dark chocolate...

Luckily I stumbled upon this recipe by a fellow blogger. The original recipe can be found here. In a no holds barred fashion the recipe was titled "best cookies in the world". Sucker that I am, I was sold. 

Her (already modified recipe) called for bread flour, which I substituted with oat flour (rolled oats blizzed into oblivion). In addition to that I used soft, dried cranberries left over from tropical chocolate. Instead of dark chocolate I used white one which I figured would compliment oat and cranberries better.

Having misplaced my kitchen scale at some point I converted the original instructions to desilitres. 

The original recipe instructed to bake these for 15-20 minutes, but mine were done is about 10. The aspects to take into consideration include the mood your oven's on, the consistency of the dough, the ingredients (oat lends the dough certain crispness) and the size of the cookies. Therefore I highly recommend you bake one test cookie to calculate the perfect time for your batch. The cookies are supposed to be soft when they come out of the oven - they will firm up as they cool. In the oven the surface billows, but as you take them out, it goes down resulting in that crater-like appearance which is a tell-tale sign of sublime chewiness waiting inside. 

That chewiness is the key to these American style cookies. This is a result of two things: short baking time and, apparently, long resting time for the dough. The latter allows the dry and wet ingredients marry each other in a way Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears couldn't even dream of. So, while the recipe itself is easy, it does put your patience to test. Then again, that does seem to be the price for recipes like this - much like with that infamous no knead bread.

The recipe yields 20 big cookies and 40 about the size of a golf ball

5 dl oat flour

2 3/4 dl all purpose flour

285 g butter

2 3/4 dl sugar

3 1/4 dl cane/ dark sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 dl dried cranberries

200 g white chocolate

Whisk sugars and butter into pale yellow foam. Then add the eggs, one at a time. Combine the dry ingredients and then pour slowly into the dough. Then add roughly chopped chocolate and cranberries. Cover tightly (press it into the dough-tightly) and let rest in the fridge for minimum of 24 hours. Preferably 48. But even 72 hours.

On the baking day pre-heat the oven to 175°. Roll the dough into balls the size of a golf ball and place on the parchment-lined tray. Leave space between them- these babies will spread. Bake as needed (see instructions above) and let cool. 

You can bake the the cookies in batches too. The rest of the dough can be wrapped in cling film and frozen. Or eaten directly from the bowl. Though the last option is only recommended when no-one's watching.

And with this post I'd like to thank all of you readers (a.k.a. my Dad and two middle aged cat owners) for the journey so far - it's been 9 months and I'm glad you've taken the time to share my baby!


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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?



        

Apple and frangipane tart

Apple is one of those things I've not had any shortage of in recent weeks - my colleagues' trees are brimming over. And the foodblogger can't get enough of that. Literally. Before burdening the blogosphere with yet another apple pie recipe I wanted to try something new, so I whipped up this frangipane filling. The making of which was another fine example of the ardour with which I cook and plan and and photograph and stage and curse the limited facilities of my miniature kitchen... while writing down stuff at the same time. Occasionally the last entry takes the back seat - multitasking (along with budget management and drinking in moderation) really doesn't seem to be one of my fortes. 

Now, I do remember writing the recipe down somewhere. I just can't remember where. But this is (just about) how it went...

Some of the flour in the base can be substituted with oat flour, but I wouldn't recommend more than 1 dl. Otherwise, owing to the different properties of oat,  you'll end with dry and crumbly base.

Base:

3,5 dl flour

125 g butter
1/2 tbsp cardamom

1 dl sugar

3-5 tbsp cold butter

2-4 apples (depending on the size)

Rub the ingredients (apart form the water) into a crumbly mixture. Then add water, little at a time until it starts sticking together. Wrap tightly in cling film and let rest in the fridge for half an hour. 

Then roll fairly thinly so it's a little bigger than your tin. Carefully wrap it around the rolling pin and transfer into the (loose bottom) pie dish. Or just press the dough on so it covers the tin evenly. Then place a sheet of foil on top of the base and fill the cavity with ceramic baking beans or dry beans or peas. Blind bake at 200° (180° fan) for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and continue baking for further 5 minutes. Let cool a bit and then spoon in the filling. Place the sliced apples on top and continue baking until done. If crust seems to be getting too much colour, cover the edges with foil.

Frangipane:

1,5 dl almond flour
3/4 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

1 egg

3 tbsp butter

Mix the ingredients to a smooth paste. Spoon into a slightly cooled shell. Place the apples on top and continue baking until the pie is done - 25-35 minutes. For an even nicer finish you can mix 1 tbsp apricot marmalade with 1 tbsp water. Glaze the apples and return to the oven for a couple of more minutes.

Can I just say I'm in love with that tin? And that you'll be seeing it in the blog a lot? Though the miniature proportions of my miniature kitchen caught me off guard. Again. See, that dish measures 36 cm long. Which conveniently enough is the exact width of my oven. Which means that while I could get in in the oven, I couldn't get it out. A couple of energetic (!)  blows (!!) against the wall (!!!) took care of that as I managed to bend a couple of strategic millimetres off the length. With my biceps I figured that was easier than trying to expand my oven. But please, do not try that at home. Instead try this clever little tip: MEASURE THE OVEN BEFORE YOU GO INTO THE SHOPS.


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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?



        

Shrove Tuesday! Pancake day!

It's Shrove Tuesday a.k.a. Pancake day so what are we having? Pancakes! And in the name of that oh, so special relationship between The Gentleman's country of origin Great Britain and the Great country of America, I looked to American pancakes for inspiration. 

In the blueberry pancakes I replaced half of the flour with finely ground oats. In the banana pancakes I used coconut flakes. And since we're being that healthy and calorie-conscious we can have a double helping, right?

The blueberry-oat-pancakes were served with creme Anglaise and the coconut-banana pancakes with syrup.

Both batches yield 12 pancakes each.

Coconut-banana pancakes:

     

1 egg

1 dl Greek yogurt

1/2 dl milk

1 1/4 dl all purpose flour

1 dl coconut flakes

1/2 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1 banana, thily sliced

Blueberry-oat pancakes:

1 egg

1 dl Greek yogurt

1/2 dl milk

1 dl finely ground oats
1 dl all purpose flour

1/2 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 dl blueberries

Butter for frying

Mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk the egg and add into it yoghurt, milk and meted butter. Add the mixture into the dry ingredients, constantly whisking. Let erst for about half an hour as the batter will thicken.

Heat butter in a pan. Drop into the pan batches of about 2 tbsp each. Sprinkle blueberries on top of the oat batter and 4 slices of banana on top of the coconut batter. Once the other side is beautifully golden brown, flip and fry the other side.

Serve the coconut pancakes with syrup (or toffee sauce for added decadence) and the blueberry pancakes with crème Anglaise or vanilla ice cream.