Food, Travel, Life

Freelance chef and traveller. Exploring seasonal recipes and new discoveries. Follow @gauterac

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Change of location

New site at http://ginnystravelandfood.wordpress.com

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What I am eating.....

The first week of January is complete, and with most people started and failed their new years resolution its back to the normal. However I am still keeping to mine (have time for a good breakfast). By doing this I find that I feel full for longer and have more energy for the morning activities. For the past week I have experiment with breakfast ideas with the most successful being scrambled egg and avocado on toast taking no more than 10 minutes to cook - and worth it.   

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Where I am.....

Every year I try to visit Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, but this year I thought I had missed it as it is now 2014! However this year it continued to the first weekend of January, so with a free weekend I had to go. it may be full of shops selling tacky Christmas nik naks, and this weekend it was raining and cold... So we did find ourselves staying mostly in the Bavarian village -the beer garden.

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Where I am....

With a Saturday off this week I took the chance to visit one of my favourite locations in London -Borough Market. It's been closed over the Christmas period and reopened this morning so couldn't wait to visit the stalls. But I believe there is no better way of talking about Borough Market then with photos....

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What I am eating....

With Christmas Day over and tummy all full the thought of more food isn't an initial thought. However the leftovers from Christmas lunch stashed in the fridge are slightly enticing. But after cooking all day yesterday rustling up another meal like that is unlikely. Using up leftovers is fun especially when it can be inventive rather than an all in one curry or pie. Obviously the first thing is a must with the leftover chicken bones to form a stock to store for the future. But besides that I quite often blitz any vegetables together. Brussels sprouts is often the main veg, but a quick purée with celeriac and some stock is yum, and to finish with some fried lardons. Start by sweating 1 onion then add 500g of diced celeriac and cover for about 10 minutes to soften. Add 700ml of stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the celeriac is tender. Finish by adding 200g sprouts and cook for 5 minutes more. Purée until smooth then reheat with 100ml of double cream and salt and pepper, garnish with cooked lardons. Another excess found on Boxing Day is the Christmas pudding. Every year we buy the biggest pudding however make the smallest dent in it. A great way to use it up is by making a Christmas strudel. Mix 250g of pudding, 250g mascarpone and 30ml of Baileys. Lay out a sheet of filo on a large flat baking tray, brush with some melted butter and lay another sheet on top. Repeat with more butter and filo until you have 4 layers. Place the filling in a log in the centre and brush the border with butter. Roll up to enclose the filling, then brush with the remaining butter. Bake for 20-25 mins at 180oC, dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

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Merry Christmas

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What I am eating....

I love making mince pies, as it is not only a sign of Christmas but they are incredibly easy to do and often nicer then shop brought. I admit I do make the pastry often adding into nuts or chocolate to the base, but I buy the basic mincemeat from the supermarket ( then adapt it, often adding dice fresh fruit or alcohol). To make it from scratch (a get the best flavour) you should start late September so come December it has matured. This year I have brought one to many jars of mince meat, expecting to make loads of mince pies but now have over done it. So with two jars left I have developed a few alternative recipes using the mincemeat. The first is a rather rich mincemeat cheesecake with the recipe starting with melting 65g of butter and adding 300g of crushed (to fine crumbs) shortbread biscuits and stir to coat. Then add to a lined cake tin and smooth flat and chill for about 30 mins. Meanwhile mix 600g cream cheese and 200g sugar in the bowl. Once smooth slowly add4 eggs and 1 egg yolk, grated zest of an orange, a dash of vanilla extract, 300g soured cream and finally fold in 250g of mincemeat to create a ripple effect. Pour this on top of the base and add to the oven at 140oC for 1 hr until set. The other recipe I have tried is mincemeat ice cream. Even though it's the wrong time of year for cold dessert, I happily ate most of this during the weekend. Simply involving on 3 ingredients ; whip 300 ml double cream until thick and gently fold in 500ml custard and 400g of mincemeat (if for adults a shot of Cointreau is nice) Add to freezer, but stir every hour of so until set.

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What I am eating.....

Canapé can be delicious, mini mouthfuls of sweet or savoury heaven. Ideally eaten at a drinks party, to soak up the champagne but to be honest, I don’t really get the idea of elaborate canapés on Christmas Day. Unless prepared the day before, someone has to spend a lot of time making often miniature version of Christmas meal for example roast beef in Yorkshire pudding or mash potato with mini sausages, just before eaten the main meal. Unless the canapés are simple, because no one person wants to spend their whole day cooking in the kitchen as well as make everyone full before the actual meal is served! Canapés can be brought, but common homemade ideas include smoked salmon bilinis, chicken liver on crostini’s, mini sausage rolls, devils on horseback…. However when ever making canapés I believe that quality counts, good meat and seasoned well as when food is simple there is nowhere to hide.

Christmas Stilton and Toasted Walnut “truffles” with Cranberry Relish Roughly mash 200g of Stilton and 50g butter together, then add 1T port and 1T green peppercorns, then chill in the fridge for at least three hours. Roll about a teaspoon of the mix into small balls and add to a lined tray and keep in the fridge to ready. Meanwhile toast 50g walnut in butter and cool before blending until fine, add 1T chopped flat leaf parsley, then roll the cheese ‘truffles’ in the nuts until it has been evenly coated. Serve with a cranberry relish.

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What I am drinking....

Christmas Day (for adults) often starts with the sound of corks popping, as it's one of the only days of the year acceptable to have champagne for breakfast! However the real match for Christmas dinner is a bottle of Chardonnay or if red is preferred a Rhône. A full bodied Chardonnay is full of fruity flavors and adds interest to the meatier flavor of the turkey. A low tannin , young and fruity Rhône can help compliment the traditional cranberry stances and accompaniments. Then to follow with mince pies and christmas pudding a glass of aged tawny port, due to its sweet dried fruit character. However pop it in the fridge to chill and it's great with cheese and chocolate! However along the previous post of Christmas flavoured food I decided to find some christmas flavoured alcohol to be drunk during this festive season. First seen is a Marmalade Vodka or Gingerbread Rum! However the ultimate Christmas drink is mulled wine, using a fruity flavoured red combined with 50g of soft brown sugar and 250ml of water, then add a small orange studded with 3-4 cloves, the thinly pared zest of 1/4 lemon, 1 cinnamon stick and 3 lightly crushed cardamom pods. Heat the mixture to just below boiling point, then leave it on the lowest possible heat for about 30 minutes. Then add 50ml of Cointreau and reheat gently....a comfortingly warming drink.

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What I am eating....

Since coming back from Switzerland in mid November I noticed the start of Christmas entering the supermarket and across the TV, with the traditional foods being sold such as mince pies, Christmas puddings as well as the Christmas sales in shops. However I did also see the rise of Christmas flavoured foods, reminding me of the Christmas pot noodle seen a couple of years ago! With some seen slightly grossing me, but other intriguing me I decided to put a few to the test. I began with the Christmas sandwiches and tried the M and S turkey feast, which was a good taste of Christmas filled with parts of a Christmas dinner with bacon, stuffing and cranberry sauce. However the cranberry sauce did overpower with a slightly sweet taste. Another sandwich I tasted, avoiding the usual turkey combo is the Brie and cranberry. Forget festive sandwiches, Papa John has gone one step further to make a Christmas pizza with topping of turkey, sage and onion meatballs, pork sausage, bacon and cranberry sauce! A few flavour favourites have been given a 'Christmas makeover'. Pringles have launched the sweet cinnamon and mint choc flavours-one to miss. However a winner is Paul A Young's Christmas pudding-flavoured brownie and truffles including Mulled wine, frankincense and Myrrh! Not to forget restaurant with Christmas dishes, but one not to miss is at Hawksmoor Spitalfields adding the christmas burger to their menu- buttermilk fried turkey topped with a sausage patty along with smoked bacon, sprout tops, spiced cranberry ketchup, a slice of cheese and turkey gravy for you to dip the whole thing in....yum!

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What I am eating.....

The headline of a recent article showed that a Brit spends 6.3 hours preparing the Christmas dinner from shelf to plate and spent an average of 75 minutes eating it! I can see now why many people buy a lot prepared from supermarkets! So this weekend I visited 3 of my local supermarkets (waitrose, asda and sainsbury) and sample a selection of ready to buy Christmas desserts to see which ones I liked the best. Winners Christmas cake: waitrose- slightly pricey at £16.99, however it looks rather good with a white iced snowflake design covering it. The moist fruit filling is packed full of flavour with a good kick of ginger. Mince pies : waitrose - Heston's brand of Spiced Shortcrust Mince Pies isn't the traditional mince pie but beautifully light and cinnamony with a lovely rich pastry, nice for a slight change. Christmas pudding: Asda- a more reasonable price at £3 the luxury pudding is rich in dried fruit and nutty taste, with an extra treat of the sherry aroma is very welcoming! Pannettonne: Dessert accompaniment: sainsbury- I'm glad I found this cartoon of whipped double cream with Courvoisier VS Cognac, as I head about it last year but didn't taste it. With its distinct booze flavour similar to eggnog I would happily have it buy itself.