Farmersgirl Kitchen

Saturday, 28 February 2015

Pear Upside-down Cake from Hummingbird Bakery: Life is Sweet

Life is Sweet is the fourth book by Tarek Malouf, founder of The Hummingbird Bakery. The Hummingbird Bakery was instrumental in popularising the sort of high quality bakes, loved by Americans, first to London through the bakeries and then to the rest of the UK, through the books. I already have a baking book from The Hummingbird Bakery, Cake Days, but I am particularly pleased with this one, let me tell you a little about it.

Life is Sweet is organised into 10 chapters

Cakes, simple and more complex includes Gooey Butter Cake, 7Up Pound Cake, Molasses Pecan Crumb Cake, Chocolate Bundt Cake, Tunnel of Fudge Cake and Upside Down Pear Cake

Cupcakes both familiar and unusual including Banana Foster Cupcakes, Tomato Soup Cupcakes, Toasted Marshmallow Cupcakes, Honey Cornbread Cupcakes and Mint Julep Cupcakes.

Layer Cakes includes an indulgent Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake, Gingerbread Icebox Cake, Alabama Little Layer Cake, Red Velvet Crepe Cake and Appalachian Stack Cake.

Pies is full of very American Pies including, Lemon Chiffon Pie, Deep-fried Apple Pies, Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie, Vinegar Pie and New Orleans Prune Pie.

Cookies and Candies provides bite sized treats such as Soft Molasses Cookies, Black Pepper Cookies (on my list), Vanilla filled Chocolate Cookies, Lemon Drops, Turtle Cookies and Creamy Pecan Pralines.

Traybakes are one of my favourite bakes, how about Coconut Dream Bars, Red Velvet Brownies, Blackberry Limeade Bars and Texas Tassie Bars.

Pancakes are so easy to make and these lovely flavours are very tempting Black Bottom Pancakes, Pumpkin Pancakes, Cinnamon Pancake Cake and Sally Lunn French Toast.

Top your pies and pancakes with some lovely Ice Cream, Grasshopper Ice Cream, Earl Grey Tea and Chocolate Ice Cream, Fresh Peach Ice Cream and Lemon Custard Ice Cream.

Puddings to delight your sweet tooth include Praline Bread Pudding with Pecan Caramel Sauce, Brownie Pudding and White Chocolate Bread Pudding.

The final chapter features Bread and Savouries, Skillet Cornbread, Crawfish Pie, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Loaf and Graham Crackers.

The book finishes up with some Baking Essentials about Ingredients, Equipment, Methods and Techniques.

Who is it for?
Pretty much anyone who likes baking and is looking for some different ideas to try. It's not aimed at beginner bakers, but if you follow the instructions there is no reason why a novice could not achieve good results.

Pros
A wide range of different bakes, each on a little out of the ordinary. Good photographs which let you see what you are aiming for.
Cons
I can't really think of any cons with this book, it is full of such good things.

The Verdict
I really was beginning to think I had enough baking books, that they were just full of the same sort of recipes, but this one really does have some exciting bakes in it, ones that I really want to bake. So I give a hearty thumbs up to Life is Sweet and would urge you to go out and buy it.

I decided to make the Pear Upside Down Cake, the cake is a soft gingerbread with works so well with the caramelised pears, it works well as a cake and as a dessert.

Upside-Down Pear Cake
Makes one 23 x 32 cm (9 x 13 in) cake, to slice as desired

For the caramelised pears
6 large, ripe pears, peeled, cored ad quartered lengthways
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
40g (1 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
80g (3 oz) caster sugar
130ml (4 1/2 fl oz) Kentucky bourbon or whisky

For Cake
195g (7oz) plain flour
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
160g (5 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
75g (2 1/2 oz) dark muscovado sugar
4 large eggs
170g (6 oz) pure cane molasses, such as Meridian
3 tbsp boiling water
1 q/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350C), Gas mark 4. Line the tin with non-stick baking parchment.
2. To make the caramelised pears, mix the pears with the lemon juice. In a large frying pan, melt the butter and sprinkle with half the caster sugar. Put the pear quarters into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes until brown on one side. Turn and cook for a further 5 minutes until the other side is brown. With a slotted spoon, carefully remove the pear quarters and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Add the bourbon and the rest of the caster sugar to the pan and cook and stir frequently for about 5 minutes until the mixture becomes syrupy. Pour this syrup into the baking tin and tip the tin to spread evenly over the bottom of the tin.
4. Start to arrange the pears from one corner so that they cover the bottom of the tin and are facing the same direction. Set aside.
5. To make the cake, sift together the flour, spices and salt in a bowl.
6. Using a freestanding electric mixer with paddle attachment or hand-held electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together for around 5 minutes on a medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time on a lower speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Only beat until just Incorporated. Add the molasses and beat for a few moments longer to mix.
7. In a small bowl, add the boiling water to the bicarbonate of soda and set aside. Add half the flour mixture to the creamed mixture on low speed. then add the water and bicarbonate of soda and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until well Incorporated It will look like the mixture has split, but that i correct.
8. Scrape the mixture into the tin on top of the arranged pears and bake for 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 165C (325F) Gas mark 3 and bake for 10-15 minutes longer. The top should bounce bake when lightly touched. Cool in the tin for 1 hour, then run a knife around the edges of the cake. Place a tray over the top of the tin and carefully(but quickly) turn upside down.

The resulting cake is rich and treacley but not too dense, the pears add a lovely texture to the cake and are not too sweet. A really delightful bake and I was thrilled with comments that my version looks just like the one in the book.

The Hummingbird Bakery - Life is Sweet
100 original recipes for happy home baking
Published by 4th Estate, Harper Collins
RRP £20

I have one copy of Life is Sweet to giveaway, you can enter by following the instructions on the Rafflecopter Widget below (UK only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels: cake, Cook book review, Gingerbread, giveaway, Harper Collins, Hummingbird Bakery, Life is Sweet, Pears, win

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Chicken and Apricot Curry and a review

A Love for Food is a cookbook from Daylesford. Daylesford is an organic farm estate, set up by Carole Bamford in 2002, dedicated to producing, top quality, locally produced food, the business is based on self sustaining organic food model that explores the link between what we eat and where it comes from. Daylesford now have two farmshops with cafes in London, kitchen dining and farmshop in Esher, a concession in Selfridges Food Hall and farmshop and cafe in the Cotswolds.food 'from farm to fork'. It is one of the most sustainable farms in the UK.

This book will help you make Daylesford's award-winning recipes at home, showing you how to live healthily and simply throughout the the food calendar year.

The Chapters

I've picked out a few recipes, which particularly appealed to me, from each chapter.

Grazings: Garden Vegetables with Hot Cheddar Sauce and Salsa Verde Mayonnaise; Bubble and Squeak with Fried Egg; Ham Hock Terrine with Piccalilli.

Soups: Beetroot, Bacon and Creme Fraiche; Celeriac and Apple; Squash and Smoked Haddock Chowder.

Salad: Griddled Courgettes and Pine Nuts in Yoghurt and Mint Dressing; Crunchy Chopped Vegetables; Lentils, Tomato, Daylesford Blue and Red Onion.

Vegetables: Wilted Spinach and Toasted Pine Nuts, Sultanas and Lemon Zest; Woodland Mushroom Shepherd's Pie; Leek and Wild Garlic Pesto Risotto.

Savoury Tarts and Pies: Single Gloucester,, Spinach and Smoked Bacon Open Tart; Three Tomato Tart; Cheddar, Potato and Onion Pie; Venison and Cranberry Pie.

Fish: Pan-roasted Pollock with Crushed Potatoes and Watercress Mayonnaise; Halibut with Morcambe Bay Shrimp Butter Sauce.

Meat: Slow-cooked Lamb Shoulder with White Beans and Salsa Verde Mayonnaise; Chicken and Apricot Curry; Smoky Slow-cooked Shin of Beef Chilli; Venison Cottage Pie with Beetroot and Apple Salad.

Puddings: Orange-poached Rhubarb Jelly; Coffee Jelly with Brown Bread Ice Cream; Salted Ginger Treacle Tart.

Breads: Pumpernickel; Seven Seeds Sourdough; Nettle Bread.

Cakes and Bakes: Manuka Honey Cake; Earl Grey Cake; Blue Cheese and Walnut Biscuits; Milk Chocolate, Almond and Espresso Fudge.

Staples: Salsa Verde Mayonnaise; Minted Aioli; Butternut Squash Chutney; Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam.

I chose to make a Chicken and Apricot Curry, using some of my favourite ingredients, chicken, apricots, coconut milk and butternut squash.

Chicken and Apricot Curry

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.25kg chicken meat, cut into bite sized pieces

About 2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp ground turmeric

2 large ripe tomatoes

150g squash, peeled and chopped

1 large baking potato, chopped (about 2cm)

1/2 medium leek, sliced

100g apricots, roughly chopped

500ml good chicken stock

100g coconut milk

1. Season the chicken. Heat 2 tbsp of sunflower oil in a large casserole and brown the chicken in batches, removing each batch to a bowl.

2. Lower the heat and add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli, together with a little more oil if needed, and cook gently until the onion is softened and golden. Stir in the cumin seeds, curry powder and turmeric and cook for a further 5 minutes, to release the flavour of the spices.

3. Add the stock and the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook gently for about 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.

4. Taste and season as necessary. Leave to stand for 20 minutes before serving to allow all the flavours to merge, then reheat gently - make sure the chicken is hot all the way through - and serve.

This was a pleasant enough dish but nothing out of the ordinary. I was rather disappointed although it had improved on the second day when I served the leftovers on toast for lunch!

Pros
There are some excellent recipes in this book, I also enjoyed the "Notes on..." pages and also the sections describing the history of Daylesford and information about how they farm and why. These are very well written and entertaining as well as informative. There is a useful Seasonal index near the beginning of the book highlighting which recipes to cook in each season.

Cons
I don't know why, but I found it quite difficult to find a recipe I wanted to make. The book is an odd combination of classic recipes like Fish Pie and Leek and Potato Soup alongside interesting and inventive salad and vegetable combinations. Many of the recipes feature ingredients that are not readily available in my local area and would be expensive luxuries. Most, but not all, recipes have photographs.

The Verdict
If you have easy access to a farm shop or other outlet selling a wide range of produce, then you will find plenty of recipes in this book to help you create a variety of dishes. It is an interesting read and contains many recipes which would suit vegetarians. There are some recipes I will go back and make, but it's not a book I feel I can give a rave review. I felt it was rather disjointed and other seasonal and farm shop cookbooks that I have reviewed and cooked from appealed to me more.

A Love for Food - Daylesford
Published by 4th Estate an imprint of Harper Collins
RRP £30

Thanks to Harper Collins for the opportunity to review A Love for Food, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: A Love for Food, Chicken, Chicken and Apricot Curry, cookbook review, curry, Daylesford, Harper Collins

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Stuffed Vine Leaves on a Bed of Lamb Chops - Recipes from the Levant

Regular readers will know that I am a sucker for a good picture, I really like my cookbooks to show me what I'm aiming for and believe a picture (of food) is worth a thousand words. So I surprised myself with how much I liked Levant - Recipes and Memories from the Middle East by Anissa Helou.

The book is packed full of recipes, but also tells a personal story of life and food from the Middle East and North Africa. The book reads like a journal a very personal account and the only photographs are a few of Anissa and her family, the success of this book is the strength of the story- telling which paints a picture of the delights of the Levant, far more vivid than any photograph.

About the Author

Anissa Helou is a food writer, journalist, broadcaster and blogger. Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and Syria, she knows the Mediterranean as only a well-travelled native can. She is the author of numerous award-winning cookbooks including Offal:The Fifth Quarter; Modern Mezze; Savoury Baking from the Mediterranean; Mediterranean Street Food; Street Cafe Morocco and Lebanese Cuisine, which was a finalist for the prestigious Andrew Simon awards and chosen as one of the Los Angeles Times' favourite books. Anissa has just launched Koshari Street an Egyptian inspired street food experience, in London and plans to launch others very soon.

Chapter 1 - En Famille

Anissa starts this chapter with a detailed description of family meals, bringing in characters such as her grandmother and aunt, and giving us many insights into her own character. Recipes include: Mini Dumplings and Meatballs Soup, Tabbuleh (learn how to make it properly), Pumpkin Dip, Stuffed Courgettes and Aubergines, Stuffed Vine Leaves on a Bed of Lamb Chops (recipe below).

Stuffed Vine Leaves on a Bed of Lamb Chops

Chapter 2 - On the Farm

In this chapter Anissa takes us back to her father's ancestral home in the Syrian mountains. The recipes include several different pickling, preserving and curing recipes.

Chapter 3 - In the Souk

It seems there were many different souks in Beirut when Anissa was a child, but this chapter is all about the street food sold there. Recipes include Omelette Sandwiches, Camel Kebabs, Sesame Galettes and Iranian Saffron Ice Cream.

Chapter 4 - In the Restaurant

This chapter starts with a couple of versions of Fattush, one of my favourite salads, I made Las Salinas Fattush or Bread Salad. There are a number of fish and seafood dishes and a Lebanese Steak Tartare made with lamb. As you would expect there are various versions of Hommus (Hummus) and labneh, strained yogurt, dips. There are a wide range of recipes, both meat and vegetable based: Turkish Kebabs sit alongside Stuffed Aubergine Fatteh.

Las Salinas Fattush

Chapter 5 - At the Bakery

Anissa's memories are of home bakers preparing their own fillings or toppings to take to the bakery to be combined with the baker's own dough and baked in the Bakery oven. This chapter contains recipes for everything from Pide, a soft oval bread that Turks eat most frequently, to Borek the most ancient type of Mediterranean savoury pastries made with filo pastry.

Chapter 6 - At the Sweet Maker's

The sweet recipes of the Levant are something really different including Ma'carun (Aniseed Fritters) and deep fried Kellage, a favourite for Ramadan feasts. As Pistachio nuts are a favourite of mine, I have bookmarked the Balluriyeh or Sweet Pistachio Pie and also like the look of the Sesame Cookies and Fragrant Shortbread Biscuits, neither of these recipes require any unusual ingredients and look simple to follow. The chapter closes with a recipe for Mango Ice Cream, a fittingly exotic dessert which is also simple to make.

Glossary

An excellent glossary with full details of the particular ingredients of Levantine cookery. Some ingredients get up to half a page of description, others a short paragraph.

Stuffed Vine Leaves on a Bed of Lamb Chops
Serves 4

8 thin lamb chops (about 600g/1lb 5oz total weight), most of the fatty bits trimmed
Sea salt
1 cinnamon stick
200g (7oz) medium-sized fresh or preserved vine leaves
Stock from cooking the lamb chops
Juice of 1 lemon or to taste

For the stuffing
125g (4 1/2 oz) short-grain white rice (bomba, Calaspara or Egyptian), rinsed under cold water and drained
200g (7ox) freshly minced lean lamb, from the shoulder or neck (either ask your butcher to mince the lamb or do it yourself using the fine attachment on a meat grinder)
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice or Lebanese seven-spice mixture
1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper

Put the lamb chops in a saucepan, cover with water and place over a medium heat. As the water is about to boil, skim away any scum that rises to the surface, then add a little salt, and the cinnamon. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat and let the stock bubble gently for 15 minutes. Lift the chops out onto a plate, strain and reserve the stock for later.

Meanwhile, make the stuffing. Place the rice in a mixing bowl, add the minced meat and water and season with the spices and a little salt. Mix with your hands to blend well. Pinch off a little mixture and sear in a hot pan to taste, then adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Choose a pan with straight sides and large enough to arrange the lamb chops in a tight even layer on the bottom. Put the vine leaves (fresh or preserved) in a colander and run boiling water over are using preserved leaves, rinse these beforehand in cold water, at least a couple of times, in order to get rid of some of the briny taste.

Take one vine leaf, cut and discard any stem and lay it flat on your work surface, smooth side down the the stem end nearest to you. Arrange 1/2-1 1/2 teaspoons of stuffing, depending on the size of the leaf, in a thin raised line along the side of the leaf facing you. The line should be thinner than your little finger, set about 1.5 cm (5/8 in) either side. Fold each side over the rice, in a line that slightly tapers toward the bottom , then fold and tuck the top edges over the stuffing and roll from the stem end, neatly but loosely in order to leave enough space for the rice to expand during cooking

Place the rolled leaf, loose edge down, over the lamb chops, on one side of the pan. Continue filling, rolling and arranging the vine leaves, side by side, lining the sides of the pan first and making one layer at a time, until you used all the leaves. If you have any leftover stuffing. put in a small pan, add an equivalent amount of water and cook for 20 minutes to serve on the side.

Pour some, or all, of the reserved stock over the rolled leaves until they are barely immersed. If you do not have enough stock, add water. Add a little salt, bearing in mind the saltiness of the vine leaves, and shake the pan to swirl the water and dissolve the salt. Put an overturned heatproof plate over the leaves, to stop them from unrolling during cooking, cover the pan with lid and place over a medium-high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and let the pot bubble gently for 50 minutes. Add the lemon juice and cook for another 10 minutes. It is a good idea to test one vine leaf, before you take them off the heat, to make sure the rice is properly cooked. Remove form the heat and leave to sit, covered, on a work surface for about 10 minutes.

The traditional way of serving this dish is to turn out the contents of the pan onto a serving platter as if it were a cake, and this why you need a pan with straight sides. You'll also need to wear heatproof gloves while performing this operation. First pour to the cooking juices into a bowl while holding back the stuffed vine leaves using the plate covering them. Remove the plate and place a big round, flat serving platter over the top of the pan. Hold it firmly against the pan with the flat of one hand. Slide the pan slowly over the edge of the work surface and put your other hand underneath it. Lift the pan off and quickly turn it upside down, then slide the platter onto your worktop and slowly lift the pan off to uncover a 'cake' of cooked stuffed vine leaves topped with the juicy lamb chops.

Alternatively, you can spoon the rolled leaves out, a few at a time, and arrange them in neat layers in a serving dish, putting the lamb chops on top or all around them. Baste with some of the cooking juice and serve immediately with a bowl of yoghurt.

'Cake' of cooked stuffed vine leaves topped with juicy lamb chops

Who is it for?
The recipes are mostly fairly easy to make, there are some unusual ingredients however, my feeling is that this is a book for a more confident cook, willing to take a few risks. It's also a book for people who like to 'read' cookbooks, not just cook from them, as each chapter has several pages of autobiographical introduction and every recipe is also introduced with interesting information and stories.

Pros
The book is packed with 150 recipes and enough stories to keep you entertained as well as well fed. Instructions are detailed, as you will have gathered from the recipe above, are despite the complexity of the recipe I chose, remarkably easy to follow. The Glossary is excellent and there is also a Bibliography, useful if you want to further your middle eastern cookery skills.

Cons
The chapter headings are not terribly helpful for finding particular types of recipe, you really have to use the index, but the structure has a charm of it's own which I enjoyed.

Worth Buying?
I'm sure you have probably gathered that I enjoyed reading this book and cooking from it too. If you would like to know how to cook authentic Middle Eastern food, then this book should certainly have a place on your book shelf.

Levant
Recipes and memories from the Middle East
Anissa Helou
Publisher - Harper Collins
RRP £20

I was provided with a copy of Levant by Harper Collins to review, I was not paid for his review and all opinions are my own.

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: Anissa Helou, book review, Cook book review, fattush, Harper Collins, lamb chops, Levant, Middle East, Vine leaves

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Farmersgirl Kitchen

Saturday, 28 February 2015

Pear Upside-down Cake from Hummingbird Bakery: Life is Sweet

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Chicken and Apricot Curry and a review

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Stuffed Vine Leaves on a Bed of Lamb Chops - Recipes from the Levant

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