Spaghetti with mushrooms and cream.

I know that for many people January starts off with good intentions; thoughts of detoxing, exercise and the like. I have chosen to start with bacon fat, cream and cheese. Explains a lot.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

4 rashers of bacon
garlic, 1 clove (whole)
mushrooms, about 1 punnet
double cream
spaghetti
Parmesan cheese
parsley
one egg yolk per person (optional)

This sauce is very quick so have the boiling water ready for the pasta before you begin.  Start by cutting off the bacon rind and crisping it up in a little olive oil, then remove from the pan. This imparts great flavour to the sauce (you could cut it up and leave it in if you like that sort of thing).

                         Chop bacon rashers and add to the pan on a fairly high heat. After a couple of minutes put the pasta on to boil.

                                                  With the back of a knife press down on a fat clove of garlic (skin on is fine). 

 Add mushrooms to the pan and toss with the bacon on a high heat (if the heat isn't high enough the mushrooms will start to boil rather than fry). When the mushrooms have just started to colour, turn the heat down to medium and add the whole garlic clove. Cook for another few minutes.

At this point add about 5-6 tablespoons of the pasta water to the pan. Stir.

        Next add a generous amount of double cream (no measurements just whatever you think relative to the quantity of pasta). Let it start to bubble.

Put about 1 large cup of the pasta water aside (to loosen the sauce as necessary). When the pasta is still a couple of minutes away from being perfectly al dente, drain and add to the pan with the cream mixture. Toss to combine and add some finely chopped parsley. Season generously with salt and black pepper, and fish out the garlic. Taste and adjust as necessary.

You will probably need to add a few tablespoons of the water if the cream sauce gets too thick (it should not be a claggy mass!)

Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan....

and an optional raw egg yolk in the centre.

Risotto ai funghi con pomodorini

 I was the grateful recipient of some lovely Carluccio Carnaroli rice and dried porcini for Christmas and have since since been eager to cook with them. I do love risotto but never order it in a restaurant following  a catalogue of claggy disappointments (apart from Theo Randall at the Intercontinental who achieved perfection in consistency and perfection in pretty much everything else as well). This is how I do it.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups risotto rice
1.5 litres (approx.) chicken stock
dried porcini, a small handful
2-3 rashers of bacon / pancetta
chestnut mushrooms, about 1/2 a punnet, more if you prefer.
1/2 lemon
parsley, finely chopped
Parmesan cheese
cherry tomatoes, 13-20 ish
butter
olive oil
 

                                                  Dried porcini





  Carluccio carnaroli rice

                                        Start by pouring some hot water onto the porcini to re-hydrate, leave for about 20 mins or until softened.

 Fry onion in olive oil until slightly golden (ignore the bacon in this photo, I added it to the wrong pan accidentally and subsequently fished it out).

Meanwhile in a separate pan cook the bacon and chestnut mushrooms in olive oil on a high heat until the bacon is crispy and the mushrooms have a nice golden colour.

Add the rice to the onions, stirring to coat with the olive oil. Let it cook like this for 3-4 mins, stirring to make sure the rice doesn't stick.  Then add a splosh of stock and stir until absorbed. Repeat this process of stirring and adding a little stock each time until the rice is cooked to your liking (it is important that the rice is cooked through but not mushy and still retains some texture).

When the bacon and chestnut mushrooms are cooked, add the porcini to the pan (reserving the liquid) and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Season generously with salt and pepper then mix into the rice. 

 When the rice is almost cooked, stir in about this much grated Parmesan. Add the liquid the porcini have been soaking in (take care not to add the grit which will have sunk to the bottom of the bowl). Season.

                                                                     Add cherry tomatoes and let them cook for 3-4 mins.

You don't need to use all of the stock if you don't need it, but make sure the risotto is not claggy and dry. It should have enough moisture so that it is all'onda (like a wave).If necessary add more stock now. Then add some finely chopped parsley. Check seasoning.

Remove from the heat and add a good chunk of butter, stir vigorously until it has melted into the rice.

                                                                       Serve with a bit more Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Dulce de leche filled cupcakes.

Ingredients

150g Plain Flour

150g Caster Sugar

150g Softened Butter

1 397g can Carnation caramel

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

130ml milk (preferably whole milk)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt, ground (x2)

Frosting

1 pack Philadelphia cheese 200g

caramel (remainder of the can)

1/2 tsp ground sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chopped salted peanuts

Cupcakes can be dainty pretty things, and it is for precisely this reason that I usually avoid making them. But it's Christmas, so what the hell, cupcakes it is!

Preheat the oven to 170. Add sifted flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and butter to a mixing bowl. Mix with paddle attachment. Then pour in half of the milk and mix together (do not overbeat!)

       In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the remaining half of the milk. Add vanilla.

         Pour this into the flour mixture with the mixer on slow speed, mix until combined. The mixture should be lump free and all ingredients properly combined.

                    Use an ice-cream scoop to ensure all cupcakes are the same size, and add mixture to cases (I used silicone ones here).

                        Bake for approx. 25 mins (start checking them after 18-20 mins). A cake skewer should  come out clean.

 

                                                
                                                                          The cupcakes will be pleasingly golden on top.

                                                                            Remove from cases and place on a rack to cool.

                                         

Using a small knife, carefully cut a cone-shaped round from the top of the cupcakes.

                                 Beat the caramel with a spoon to make it less thick, then add a dash of vanilla extract and  approx. 1/2 tsp ground sea salt (I used a pestle and mortar to make the salt finer for even distribution). My intention here was not a salted caramel, but if that is your aim add more salt to taste.

Add around a teaspoon of mixture to the cavity. Then cut off the tip of the cone shaped cut-out and put the lid back on, lightly squashing it down.

             

To make the frosting whip the cream cheese and the remaining caramel together with vanilla and salt.

Top the cupcakes with frosting using a spoon or a pallet knife (or piping bag if you are so inclined). Decorate with edible glitter and any other decorations you like. The frosting is quite wet and may start to dribble down the sides (these are messy little things to eat, but no matter).
  

I serve these cupcakes on a platter with a bowl of chopped salted peanuts for people to sprinkle on top. The cupcakes are quite sweet and the salted nuts really cut through the sweetness whilst adding a crunchy element. Serve with a nice strong cup of tea.

Smooth Cranberry Sauce

'

Tis that time of year again when I can happily potter about the kitchen for hours experimenting with this and that (more on my Dulce de leche cupcakes later). Despite my efforts last year, I really wasn't happy with my cranberry sauce. I like it smooth and blended it well to achieve the desired consistency, however this resulted in a bitterness that no amount of sugar could cure. New method employed this year, and I am much happier with the result.

Ingredients

500g cranberries

500ml water

350g sugar



     Add cranberries and water to a pan. Heat until soft (they will pop in the pan).

Pass  through a sieve.

                                                                       You will be left with a smooth liquid.

Pour back in the pan and add the sugar, stirring to dissolve. This will look like a huge amount of sugar, but the cranberries do need it.  Bring to the boil. At this point pass it through a sieve again, and that's it.

Decant into serving bowls (this recipe made 3 small bowls). When cool, cling and refrigerate; it will set quite quickly.

This was sweet but not sickly and still retained a tartness from the cranberries. Bring on the turkey!



Heston's Triple Cooked Chips

As the name of this blog would suggest, I absolutely love chips. Everything from French Fries to soggy vinegar-doused chip shop chips, but none more so than thick, hand-cut, super crispy chips. I have attempted to create this sort of chip before, but never quite got past 'medium crisp' to 'super crisp'.

Ingredients

Maris Piper potatoes
Groundnut / Grapeseed oil
Sea Salt

  
In search of chip perfection, I turned (naturally) to Heston and his golden chip beauties. There is no getting away from the fact that this recipe is a bit of a palaver, but you can prepare up to a certain point in advance leaving the last fry until the last minute. 

Having peeled the potatoes the first challenge was to cut them to the right size and to keep this size consistent to ensure even cooking. My ideal size was as above, however due to annoyingly irregular shaped potatoes (and nothing at all to do with poor knife skills!) I ended up with a range of different sizes as follows:

 Bugger. Resolving to do better next time, I carry on. Rinse the potatoes under running water for around 5 minutes to get rid of the starch.
 

Next cover with cold water and simmer for around 20-30 minutes or until almost falling apart. At this stage I would normally add salt to the water but the recipe didn't say to do this, so I obediently left out the salt.

 Once cooked, carefully remove the chips and arrange on a rack. When cooled a bit place in the freezer for at least an hour.

Then heat groundnut or grapeseed oil (around 10cm deep) to 130° and fry the chips in batches (making sure not to overcrowd the pan) for around 5 minutes.

The chips will still be pale at this stage. Drain on kitchen paper then place on a rack and put back in the freezer for at least an hour. You can prepare up to this stage in advance leaving the last fry until you plan to serve.

                            Finally heat the oil to 180° and fry in batches until golden (about 7 minutes).

                                                    Sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Despite the irregular shapes, these were everything you could ever want from a chip. Fluffy in the centre, super crispy on outside and deliciously salty. Definitely my most successful chip cooking to date and well worth the effort. Let the gorging commence!

Penne al Mascarpone

There is nothing much that cannot be improved by the addition of cheese, in this case mascarpone. I love its rich and creamy texture, and have unashamedly used a shed load in this recipe. It's well worth the calorific content, I assure you.

Ingredients

olive oil
1 red onion
1-2 chillies
1 clove of garlic (small)
1 tin plum tomatoes
1 tub mascarpone 250g
Parmesan
penne
basil

Serves 2 (generously)

                                      Soften the chopped onion in olive oil with some salt

                                         Add 1-2 chillies...

and one small clove of grated garlic

  

Next add 1 tin of plum tomatoes, then fill the empty can about 1/4 full with hot water and add to the sauce. Season. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 mins on a low heat to reduce. Then taste and add a little sugar if the tomato flavour is too acidic.

 Once reduced, stir in the mascarpone and a small handful of grated Parmesan until combined. Blitz till smooth(ish) with a hand blender.  Mascarpone can be quite bland and it's really important to taste and adjust the seasoning at this point. 

 Add cooked penne to the sauce (when the pasta is still a little undercooked).

To serve: Grated Parmesan, black pepper, and some torn basil leaves.