The Cooking Blog

I always loved food and as I started to live on my own I started experimenting with recipes inspired by my mothers cooking.

[the-cooking-blog]

It has been a while

Soooo, I haven't written much (well not anything really) in the last few months and I haven't been active on other social media sites neither as a lot of things happened. My boyfriend and I broke up (still friends and everything but still it is very emotional), I wrote my Master Thesis (for which I was awarded a Distinction so yeah on that), I had to move from Leeds to London because I found a job after doing my Masters and had to move in, shortly after I got Tonsillitis and to be honest, it was all just a bit much. 

But now I am back on my feet, today I made an amazing Roasted Pork Belly with crackling and blue cauliflower with a blue cheese sauce and I am slowly getting my photography going again, so I do hope that I will be able to post more recipes and pictures and be a bit more active then I have been until now and get this Blog going again 

[the-cooking-blog]

Triple Chocolate Chip & Walnut Cookies

Get the Print Version here!

Cookies are an amazing food stuff, they are great to eat when you are happy, when you want to relax, when you are busy and need something to nibble on or if you in a bad place and you need solace and as there are many situations where you need cookies, the many a recipe there is to choose from.

A good trick I found (Well actually that I saw on one of Nigella's TV shows) is to have a cold egg from the fridge and I did find that my cookies have a better texture when I do that, so if you keep your eggs out of the fridge, pop one into the fridge before you start baking (an hour before does the trick)

Ingredients:

100 g Butter (soft) 100 g Caster Sugar 100 g light Muscovado Sugar ¼ tsp. ground (table) Salt ½ Vanilla Pod (or 1 tsp. Vanilla Essence) 70 g white chocolate (melted) 1 egg (cold) 175 g Plain Flour ½ tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)  30 g unsweetened Cocoa Powder 70 g Chopped Walnuts 100 g dark chocolate Chips (or whatever strength of chocolate you want)

How to do it:

Preheat the Oven to 160 °C

Cream the Butter, salt (even if you use salted Butter) and the caster sugar in a roomy bowl until pale and fluffy, adding the vanilla seeds (or essence) halfway through. 

Add the muscovado sugar and give about half the time as before.

Add the white chocolate (making sure it is not hot), give it a moment to all mix

and then add the egg. Crank up the speed so it all gets nice and fluffy.

  Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa on top and slowly fold it in.

If you use a stand mixer just set the paddles on lowest setting, the same goes for handheld although it probably saves you cleaning up if you do it by hand (cocoa and flour dust will be everywhere otherwise).

Stop mixing when some of the mixture leaves no mixture on the bowl surface anymore. Add the chocolate and walnuts and fold those in too.

Line a tray with baking parchment and using an ice cream scoop carefully place several spoon full (I can fit 4 on my large one) on the tray, flatening them out a bit leaving generous amount of room because they will expand.

Bake for upto 10 minutes or until crack appear. Take them out of the oven and let them get cool - ENJOY

[veganrecipecollection]

(via 30 second single serving vegan chocolate cake : Chowvida)

[the-cooking-blog]

I just tried this. It is really delicous and creamy. Usually I don't like these kinds of puddings but this is really nice.

[the-cooking-blog]

Trying Out: River Cottage Beetroot Brownies

Get the Print Version!

So I have been hearing a lot about cakes with Beetroot in it recently and I was curious so I went to a trusting source (River Cottage) which is a brilliant cooking show on Channel 4 (UK Channel 4 that is) and I tried their recipe.

Now I am really not a big fan of Beetroot, at all. But I was curious and as I recently tried my mother’s brilliant Beetroot chutney which was quite magnificent I decided to give them a try and I have to say they are quite magnificent.

Now what happens to the Beetroot is a kind of caramelisation and so it is a bit like biting into a fudgy brownie laced with thin strips of caramel - quite magnificent. - Now the original recipe called for Caster Sugar only but I am not a big fan of really sweet brownies so I decided to use mainly soft brown sugar instead and only have about a third of Caster Sugar, they still turned out beautifully.

Ingredients:

250 g Butter (preferably unsalted) 250 g Dark Chocolate (I used 70 %) 165 g Soft Brown Sugar   85 g Caster Sugar 150 g Self-Raising Flour (or 145 g of plain flour and 1 tsp. of baking powder) 250 g cooked cooled Beetroot (I just bought cooked Beetroot in a package) pinch of Salt (Vanilla Salt if you have)

How to do it:

Preheat the oven to 180° C

Now first for Beetroot. I coarsely grated the Beetroot. With Beetroot you have to be a bit careful otherwise you look like a Vampire with bad eating habits. Use Vinyl Gloves and DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE use a plastic bowl. Use a glass or metal one.

First place the Bowl in the sink, making sure there is nothing around that could get stained. Then place the cooled & cooked Beetroots in the bowl and add cold water to drain away any red colouring on the outside.

Then give grate them. If you grate them finely you will only get the sweetening effect. If you grate them coarsely they will slightly caramelise. Your choice. - BTW Wash everything directly after to avoid stains. 

Let's get going with the rest. Place the butter and chocolate in a bowl and heat over simmering water, making sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Alternatively melt the butter on the lowest possible setting of your stove and ad the chocolate when nearly all Butter is melted; you have to make sure though that the chocolate is in really small pieces.

In another bowl mix the eggs, salt and sugar with a hand whisk until all is creamy.

As soon as the chocolate and Butter is melted take it off the heat. Leave it to stand if it is too hot. If not add it directly into the egg mixture and whisk until well combined. 

Sieve the flour and baking powder over the mixture. Start folding (with a large metal spoon, if you have one) the flour into the mixture, midway add the Beetroot and continue as quickly and with as few folds as possible. - The metal spoon really does help.

Line a medium big rectangular baking tin with parchment; pour the mixture into the tin and even it out.

Bake for 25 minutes, let it cool down and cut it into whatever size you want - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

Easy creamy Turkey and Mushrooms Ragout

I grew up with relatively little meat in my diet, but this is one of the things that I remember most vividly as it is one of my most favourite dishes ever, when I was young. 

In Germany we call this dish "Geschnetzeltes" which technically just means "cut in strips" and it is always things sliced in a delicous creamy sauce, but the best way of cooking it is with white Turkey meat. 

Ingredients:

200 g Turkey Steak, cut in long strips 200 g Mushrooms sliced 1 medium sized Onion, cubed a handful of Mangetout 1/3 cup White Wine 1/3 cup Single Cream or creme fraiche (I prefer the latter) 1 tbsp Butter/Oil

Parsley/Salt/Pepper/dried Tarragon

How to do it:

Place a large frying pan on medium heat, melt the butter and sautée the onions. Crank up the heat and add the Turkey and fry for a minute, add the mushrooms and fry together for a few minutes. Add the White wine and let it bubble, adding the Mangetout and reduce the heat. 

Add the cream (or my persoanlly prefered version with creme fraiche) and dried Tarragon and then let it simmer for 2 minutes and add some salt and pepper. Serve with Pasta or Rice or a lovely tangy Salad with some nice radishes or try it with my delicous "Root" Bread. - Sprinkle liberally with Parsley  - ENJOY

[thewiserat]

[the-cooking-blog]

Olala - Salut

[the-cooking-blog]

On Trial: Nigella's One-step no-churn coffee ice cream

Nigella had an interesting program on BBC 1 called Nigellisima, showing her take on Italian or Italian inspired recipes. When I watched it one day I saw her making this Ice Cream and I thought I will givie it a try.

I wasn't sure about this recipe but then again there are very few Nigella recipes I was disappointed with, and mostly I was disappointed because of I don't like those types of food. ANyway, this recipe used an ingredient I did not know to the time which is "Instant Espresso Powder" which is a strong Instant Coffee Powder which is much stronger then normal instant coffee. - The one I use is Nescafé Azera - Nigella, on her own page mentions an other brand for the UK market.

The Coffee liqueur in the Ice Cream is a little trick. ALcohol can not freeze and it makes sure that this Ice Cream stays perfectly soft, ready to eat.

I have to say that I am very happy with this. recipe. It has a mild coffee flavour, mildly sweet, smooth and creamy. It of course can not compare with a perfect italian gelato but I would argue it is close.

Ingredients:

175 g Condensed Milk (It is easier to weigh such an amount rather then measure it) 300 ml Double Cream 2 tbsp. Instant Espresso Powder 2 tbsp. Coffee liqueur

How to do it:

Now here comes the complicated part of the recipe. Ok NOw put all the ingredients into a bowl like this:

Then you Whisk until it is is stiff and doesn't drop off the Whisk when you take it out (Maybe 2-3 minutes or so). By then it will have a lovely bronce colour and has the consistency of well whisked cream (logically).

Put into a container and freeze for at least 4 hours. - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

On the spot - Cheddar Pesto Mushrooms served on Pasta al Pomodoro

Get the Print Version here!

Most of the cooking I do are things that I just come up with on the spot. So often I make something it maybe good it maybe bad. But this "On the spot" recipe was quite brilliant

When I came back from my vacation in Germany my partner didn't use up the mushrooms I bought two weeks ago (ANGRY) so I needed to use them up. But at least he watered my Basil which grew beautifully (Brilliant)

 But it got so big I had to use up a lot of the leaves and with the leftover pine nuts the answer was simple - PESTO - although not quite as oily as the orignal.

Ingredients:

¼ cup Pine Nuts 1 cup Basil leaves (not squashed) 30 g piece of mature cheddar (I didn't have any parmesan and anyway I don't like the taste of cooked parmesan) 1 large or 2 small cloves of Garlic 1 punnet of closed cup mushrooms (about 400 g) 1 ½ cups of rehydrated dried mushrooms (I used some chinese asian brand I found in a local store and it doesn't have an english label but I think as long as you get a low flavour mushroom (so no Porcini or similar ones)) - you can also just use more fresh ones 200 g Pasta 1 glass of ready made tomato sauce (Homemade of course)

Salt/Pepper/Olive Oil

How to do it:

First re-hydrate the Mushrooms and let them drain on the side when they are fully re-hydrated. - also put the pasta on a boil so they are ready when you are. 

In the meantime place a non-stick frying pan on high heat and wait till hot. Add the Pine Nuts and let them roast until golden brown. Shake the pan often so they get colour on all sides. Place on kitchen paper to cool down and then place them in a small food processor (or you can use a pestel and mortar)

and the basil

and give it a good old blend (an no I do not know why I just wrote that).

Add the cheese and the Olive Oil (just a few swigs to get the mixture wet not to turn it into a liquid) and start the blender again. 

so it will look like this.

Now Slice the mushrooms and fry in some butter or oil until golden brown, adding the chopped garlic halfwaythrough. Add the re-hydrated mushrooms and fry witht he other musrooms for another minute. Now add the pesto mixture and very quickly stir everything together.

When the pasta is cooked drain it quickly, and put them back into the saucepan you boiled the pasta in. place that back on the stove, pour over the tomato sauce stir and let it cook quickly. and serve with a nice layer of pasta with the pasta ontop. - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

I love how it looks when these mushrooms re-hydrate

[the-cooking-blog]

I just love these two pictures

Afternoon Tea on Easter Saturday. My parents and I visited my grandparents in the Blackforest. We brought A wonderful & easy hazelnut and olive oil chocolate cake  and my mother baked a delicous British style carrot cake (she usually makes it swiss style) with the icing on the side because my grandmother is allergic to cream cheese. 

[yummyinmytumbly]

Butter Roasted Salmon

[the-cooking-blog]

I will so try this - let you know how it goes

[the-cooking-blog]

Speedy "Leftover" Ragout

Leftovers are always a challenge and it does happen regularly to me that at the end of the week I have left numerous ingredients that either haven’t been used up yet or I bought and then didn’t do what I planned to do that time because I made something else. And this also often happens when I make soup but no worries help is on the way.

When I came home the afternoon I amde this I just really craved something proper to eat, so I used the tomato soup to make a brilliant quick easy and delicious ragout with a few tricks to make it taste like it cooked for hours, but a proper ragout should, but just needing 25 minutes to do so.

It is probably better to not look at this recipe as something to follow precisely but more as a guideline of how to use up ingredients. You can also make it with some leftover sauce are the strips of totally different ingredients are exactly the same, by the way I’m sure it’ll be delicious.

Ingredients:

150 g minced pork ½ of my delicious Quick fresh and easy Tomato and Basil Soup 1 large carrot 1 onion sliced 2 celery stalks (with leaves) 1 red chilli deseeded a handful of cabbage half a glass of red wine 4 tbsp. Sherry or Masala

250 g of Pasta (I chose Linguine)

How to do it:

Dry fry (frying without any oil) the minced pork until browned, using a non-stick frying pan. When all the meat is well browned add some salt pepper and oregano, mix and set aside on a kitchen tissue (or not, depending on how lean your meat is).

Place the left over soup in a large heavy pan and put it on a medium heat so it is nice and hot. Also bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook your pasta.

Using the fat that is still in the pan (obviously add more if it is not enough), fry of the onions. Add the rest of the veg and chili (save the cabbage) and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes,  put the lid on and give it another 2 to 3 minutes. This will speed up the cooking process immensely, intensifies the flavour and quickly brown’s all the vegetables off without a lot of fuss.

Now add the sherry and the red wine. The sherry, which is fermented wine, has a lot of smoky flavours that you want in a Ragout, but without cooking for ages. By now the soup should be nice and hot oreven boiling a bit so add the sautéed vegetables & cabbage, give it a stir pop the lid on and leave it to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. If the soup is very liquidy take the lid off halfway through a letter to reduce until it has a rice thickness for sauce.

Drain the pasta and while still wet add to the sauce,

mixing so everything is combined and serve it hot sprinkled with Parmesan, some parsley and bustle. - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

Talking about his first Breakfast in the US in 1978 at a cafe at JFK Airport - "The English Muffin was a travesty of both Englishness and Muffindom"

Christopher Hitchens in "Hitch 22: A Memoir" 

[the-cooking-blog]

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Get the Print Version here!

To be perfectly honest, the only reason I make banana bread is because I foolishly buy  bumper packs of bananas while living by myself most of the time. Not a good idea unless you have a brilliant banana bread recipe where you can use all the bananas you don't want to eat anymore.

The first time I made this bread this way was really awkward because it comes to a stage where you think it all went wrong, but it doesn't and it just important to move on and not getting worried about it.

Ingredients:

6 soft bananas (I let mine go black) 1tsp. Baking Powder 1 tsp. ground Cinnamon 110 g Plain Flour 110 g Wholemeal Flour 80 g Butter 175 g Dark Brown Sugar 2 Eggs ¼ cup of crème fraiche or Greek yoghurt ½ cup dark Chocolate Chips

How to do it:

Pre-heat the Oven to 160°C

Take 4 bananas , pop them into the food processor and blend until liquid.

In a big roomy bowl mix the banana, butter and sugar, when everything is mixed add the eggs and mix some more.

Now sieve in the Flour, cinnamon and baking powder, Sieve the wholemeal flour last. You will end up with some bran. 

Just put them back in while mixing the mixture with the rest of the flour. 

Add the creme fraiche or yoghurt and mix well

Chop up the 2 leftover bananas and mix them into the mixture together with the chocolate chips.

Line a bread tin with baking parchment and pile the mixture into the tin and level the mixture with your spatula.

Bake for about 1 ½ hours, testing with a skewer or small knife. If it comes out clear you can let it rest for about 30 minutes before taking it out and letting it go completely cold. - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

My mini chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

Get the Print Version here!

For me Bread and Butter Pudding is one of the most ultimate indulgences. It is soft, sweet, flavoursome and just simply the best follow-ups to any comfort food dinner. As I didn’t feel that well this week and was also deprived of my lover I just had to make something to change my mood - and this is just hits the spot.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can just do your own thing. The chocolate chip version is just my personal favourite. You can just add any other ingredient you like. I personally quite like to use some rum soaked currants. Or you could add some orange zest to make a chocolate orange version - Whatever you want.

I personally made this with soy milk as I usually do not have normal milk in the house. You can also use half milk and half cream but if you do mind the butter as it could become too greasy.

Ingredients:

2 Slices of Bread cut into cubes 2 tbsp. Icing Sugar 2 Egg Yolks seeds of ½ a Vanilla Pod (or 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract) 2 tbsp. Butter melted 75 g Caster or Granulated Sugar 250 ml (1cup) milk (I used Soy Milk) - if you use whole milk or half and half you may want to go light on the butter ¼ cup dark Chocolate Chips

All Spice/Vanilla Salt

  How to do it:

Place the cubes of bread in a bag. Add the icing sugar and mix all together.

Place on a baking tray and roast them in the oven at 120°C so they are toasted and hard. This should take about 15 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let them cool down for about 15 minutes or until completely cool.

To make the custard mixture place two egg yolks in a bowl, add the vanilla and mix well. This is important when you use the vanilla pod so you don’t get vanilla lumps.

Add the sugar; incorporate it into the egg before you add the butter, which also need to be mixed well.

Gradually add the milk, slowly so everything gets incorporated until it is all mixed well.

Now put the bread into a small baking dish (I am using an 18 X 12 cm rectangle form but you could simply use a heat-proof bowl) and mix with the chocolate chips (or whatever you want to use). Add the custard to the bread and chocolate chip mixtures.

Leave it to rest and soak for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle some all Spice (I also sprinkle some Vanilla Salt over it, it is amazing) and bake in the oven at 170° C for another 25 minutes or until golden crispy on top. Leave it to rest for about 10 minutes before you serve it up (or eat it directly out of the form in front of the TV to get your comfort :) - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

Quick fresh and easy Tomato and Basil Soup

Get the Print Version here!

Sometime you come home and just want something hot, delicious, gratifying simple and easy. This tomato soup is amazing for that. You only need tomatoes, and they can be tinned, onions, garlic, a small potato some stock and basil - and that can be dried too.

The soup is also dairy-free but still velvety smooth like a cream-of-tomato soup and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

700 g Tomatoes (on the vine if possible) 2 cloves of garlic 1 medium sized onion 1 small potato a handful basil leaves 275 ml veggie stock (or whatever floats your boat)

Salt/Pepper/Sugar to season.

How to do it:

Chop the onion and potato into small chunks

and fry on a low heat until golden and caramelised.

Quarter the tomatoes and add them to the saucepan together with the crushed garlic and the vine from the tomato (don't worry you will take it out later)

Put on the lid and let it cook away for about 4 minutes, stir through and add the stock, some salt, pepper and sugar (¼ - 2 tsp. depending, especially if you use tinned ones or if they are quite tart)

Put the lid back on and cook it for 25 minutes. Take the saucepan off the heat, take out the vine and using either a hand blitzer or a standing one blitz it until velvety smooth.

Strain it through the sieve discarding all the bits you don't want to eat.

Pour the strained soup back into the saucepan. Add half of the Basil leaves (chopped) and some more pepper, salt and sugar to taste.

Bring up to a boil and as soon as it bubbles take it off the heat and serve immediately. If you wanted to add cream do it before you put it back on the heat. - ENJOY

[the-cooking-blog]

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip cookies are by far one of the best inventions ever. Though, it can be a challenge getting the right recipe perfect for you. I don’t know how many different recipes I have actually tried to date, but they were always too crispy, too chewy, too chocolaty or the opposite until I found a recipe that was quite brilliant yet it only a double and you can’t have just two legs to stand on can you.

Now I am sure you all had one of those lovely triple chocolate cookie, where the cookie dough is partly made of chocolate too, which are brilliant and these are quite similar but this is the white chocolate version which (I think) is sooooo much better.

When I make these I use 100 g dark chocolate Chips and then the equal amount of milk and white chocolate. I do this because I want the chocolate chips to balance the sweetness of the soft brown and caster sugar as well as the white chocolate in the cookie dough and that way you get the best from them all. The intense sweetness of white, the creamy goodness of milk chocolate and the intensity and flavour of dark chocolate is just the ultimate chocolate chip cookie flavour.

When I make these I usually make double the amount, pop it into the fridge and form it into 12 oz dough sticks and pop them into the freezer so whenever I wish to make cookies I can go to the freezer put the oven on and then have 12 perfect mini cookies in under 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

100 g soft brown sugar 100 g golden custard sugar 100 g soft butter 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract (or half a vanilla pod scraped) 225 g plain flour 70 g melted white chocolate 170 g mixed chocolate chips

Pinch of salt (Vanilla Salt if you have)

How to do it:

Melt the amount of white chocolate indicated in the recipe. Mix the butter and the two sugars with the salt in a big roomy bowl until golden and fluffy.

Add the egg and mix well, add the melted chocolate and the vanilla extract and mix for about another minute. Add the plain flour and after it is cooperated into the mixture fold in the chocolate chips – that is it.

I personally now like to pop it into the fridge for some hours but it is not strictly necessary – go with the flow.

Now, there are a variety of sizes you can choose from now, although I like to make a really small ones and I have a special form, I think it is a “Whoopi Pie” form, although I never made a single Whoopi Pie in my life.  Alternatively simply line a baking sheet with baking parchment and take whatever amount you like roll into a ball and place them on the baking sheet leaving enough space for them to spread out without sticking to each other. If you wish to make large ones, I would advise using an ice cream scoop to take out a portion and then placing a maximum of six on a large baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

The cookies need to be baked at 200°C for about four minutes to do small ones, six minutes to do medium-sized and about eight minutes to do the large ones. You have to be aware that when these cookies come out of the oven they don’t necessarily seem to be baked completely through and often the centre is still quite soft.

This is perfectly all right and any longer baking will make them quite firm and crispy, which can be nice two, if you happen to like your cookies like that. - ENJOY