Tea Time!

I'm not entirely certain why I found myself with such a craving for scones over the past few days. It may have something to do with the fact that ever since I came back to Chicago I've been on a massive baking rampage, or perhaps that I've been away from the UK for over two weeks and I was beginning to doubt my own english...ness. In any case, I made them and they're well, splendid. Perfect with a little clotted cream* and raspberry jam to make a perfect cream tea, or just a bit of butter. And a cup of tea. But that goes without mentioning, of course.

*for all yank readers who haven't a clue what clotted cream is, have a look here

Raisin Scones

2 cups/8 oz/225 g flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp/1 oz/25 g butter
2 tbsp/1 oz/25 g brown sugar
1/2 cup/2 1/2 oz/75 g raisins or sultanas
2/3 cup/1/4 pint/120 ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 425 ºF/220 ºC/Gas mark 7. Lightly flour a baking sheet. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the butter to the bowl and gently rub into the flour mix until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the brown sugar and the raisins. Then, stir in just enough milk to make a spongy, light dough (you may not use up all the milk).

3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to 1 inch thick. Stamp out small pieces with a floured cutter.

4. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with milk. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until the scones are well-risen and golden brown.

makes 16

A Taste of What's to Come

Everyone should have something that only they can make, or at least, out of all their friends and family, they can make it the best. All Americans know about red velvet cupcakes, they're an americana classic, but to English people they're still a novelty. That's why I'm in two minds about posting my recipe for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on this blog. The magic will be gone. They'll all start making them themselves. Then what will I be best at?!

 

Plus, I've promised to make a giant red velvet cake for a friend's 21st that's coming up. I'd better wait at least until after that to divulge any secrets.

Anyway, to keep you interested, here are a couple of pics of what may or may not be to come...

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Whenever I go to Starbucks (whether it be in the US, UK, France OR Spain) one of the tasty treats I always have is the blueberry muffin, with the delicious crumby bits on top. I recently found out how to make a cake version from the wonderful blog The English Kitchen. A perfect accompaniment to a coffee or tea.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

2 cups/7 oz/200g flour
1 1/2 cups/10 oz/290 g sugar
2/3 cup/5 1/2 oz/150 g butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup/8 fl oz/250 ml milk
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups/7 oz/200g blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC/Gas mark 4. Butter a large nonstick baking pan and set aside.

2. Mix together the flour and sugar. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine, dry, breadcrumbs. Remove and set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture to use later. To the remainder of the mixture add the salt and baking powder. Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and milk. Blend together well.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly all over the top of the cake. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture on top of the blueberries.

4. Bake for 40-50 mins, until the cake has risen and golden brown among the edges. Be sure that the cake is set in the middle and test with a toothpick or a skewer (if it's done, then it should come out clean). Remove from oven to a wire rack to cool.

Serves 8

Quickie Chocolate Mousse

A great recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Appropriate for those who don't want to/can't eat raw eggs, and a hell of a lot less effort as they take as little as a half hour in the fridge to set. This recipe can quite happily serve 4-6, and while it is, yes, AMAZINGLY tasty and chocolatey, and you might want more per person, it is also very very rich, and so perhaps a smaller amount between more people is a good idea.

Also, if you want to be a ponce like me and make them look fancy, you can put them in little tea or coffee cups. I think it looks cute. Although the main reason I did it is because we don't have any ramekins in our apartment. Anyway, enjoy!

Quickie Chocolate Mousse

3 cups/5 oz/150 g mini marshmallows
1/4 cup/2 oz/50 g butter, softened and cut into cubes
1 1/3 cups/9 oz/250g dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup/2 fl oz/60 ml recently-boiled water
1 cup/9 1/2 fl oz/284 ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a saucepan. Place over a low heat, and stir every now and again, waiting until everything is melted before taking it off of the heat.

2. In a large bowl, whip the cream and vanilla extract together until thick, then fold into the chocolate mixture until it is all smooth and completely mixed together.

3. Pour/scrape into ramekins. Chill in the fridge until you're ready to eat.

serves 4-6

"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."- Russell Baker

*Gasps for air*

It's so damn hot!!

Seriously, it's boiling over by 'yer. We're on our fifth day of 35ºC + weather (that's 95ºF + for all you fahrenheiters), and while you might be thinking: "I don't know what you're moaning about! That sounds swell!" consider that there is no beach, a VERY strong sun, very little wind, and that we try not to turn on our air conditioning for fear of the astronomic electricity bill.

In all this heat, there's very little one feels like doing. The heat coming from the computer adds to the discomfort, it's too hot to shop, it's too hot to eat, and it's certainly too hot to do any work for uni! ;) In all this heat, all I want to do is take a siesta, listen to a ridiculously assembled summer playlist and drink gazpacho.

Gazpacho (recipe to follow).

Hope that wherever you are, you're keeping cool.

Dorada a la sal

In my house in Chicago there are two framed watercolours hanging on our sitting room wall. One is of the house that my family stays in near a tiny fishing village in Almería– incidentally one of my most favourite places in the world– and the other is of a Dorada skeleton. This is something my dad painted on Christmas Day, 1999. We had decided to ring in the new millennium in Spain, and so spent Christmas there as well. Deciding to go the more untraditional route with regards to Christmas lunch, we had dorada, baked in salt.

Dorada. image from M Stevens and Son

Dorada literally translated into English (according to wordreference.com) is Gilt-head Bream. Sound familiar? I reckon even as a native Engish speaker you'd have to know a whole lot about fish to be able to identify one just from that title. Actually, dorada is very common in Spain, and in Portugal. It's a fresh-tasting, white fish similar to cod. Baking it in salt is probably one of the best ways to cook it (and I say baking it, you don't eat the salt with the fish, it all gets removed before serving). It creates a sort of kiln that allows it to be cooked almost perfectly. It also looks rather fancy so if making it for a dinner party or what have you you can make a show of removing the salt before you eat it.

The dorada in its salt shell

Dorada a la sal

2 Dorada, gutted, scales on, gills out
4 cups/2 lbs/1 kg rock salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp cold water
1 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to full heat. In a large bowl, mix together the salt, eggs, water, and grated lemon rind into a thick mixture. Place about a half of this mixture onto a baking tray and form a bed for your fish.

2. Place the fish on your salt bed, then cover with the remaining salt mixture. This should create a nice shell all around the dorada, about 1-2 cm thick. Make sure that the fish is completely covered by the salt. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

3. To check whether or not the fish is cooked, stick a knife into the fish and then gently press it against your lips. If the knife is hot, then the fish is cooked. Do not take off the salt until the fish is cooked. Leave to sit for 10-15 minutes.

4. Get ready– this is the fun part! With the back of a spoon, firmly tap the salt casing of the fish. If you do it right, the hardened salt casing should crack nicely and all the pieces will begin to fall off the fish. If not, gently remove them with the teaspoon, making sure not to let any salt touch the flesh of the fish. With a sharp knife, cut along the spine of the dorada, then remove off the head. The dorada should open up nicely, and you'll be able to remove all of the bones pretty easily. Serve with a big wedge of lemon.

serves 2-3.

Chorizo al vino

Sorry for my absence folks. Been a busy gal. But I'm back, with some good stuff.

Another 'I will learn to cook this in Spain' dish out of the way. Chorizo al vino is one of the easiest things in the world to prepare, it just takes time. And, because it lasts for quite a while, it's totally worth making a lot at a time, using one or two chorizos in each batch. Perrrfect for tapas.

Chorizo al vino

2 chorizos, as picante as you want them

1 bottle bog standard red wine (the wine's going to be bubbling away for ages, there's not much point splashing out on a nice one)

1. Using a fork, prick holes all over the two chorizos. This will allow them to absorb the wine more easily. Place them in a saucepan that has just enough room for both of them. Pour the entire bottle of wine over the chorizos. The wine should just cover both of them. Bring to a boil and let simmer gently for 20 minutes.

2. Remove the pan from the heat. Place a lid on the saucepan and set it aside overnight to allow the flavours to really blend together.

3. When you're ready to eat your chorizo, remove them from the pan, being sure to conserve the wine. Cut the chorizo into thick slices. Place into a pan with half of the wine mix that you marinated the chorizo in. Fry, turning frequently, until the slices are nice and crispy and the wine, mixed with the juices from the chorizo, have reduced to 2-3 tbsp. Serve immediately.