Trying to make Crema Catalana

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The other day I tried to make crema catalana with my friend Judith. I had found a powdered version in  an Italian supermarket (I know how random this is) and we decided to make a 'proper' one as a comparison.
Before you get too excited, neither was super amazing. The home-made version was still a hundred times better than the shop bought version.
We also made a video :)


We used a Rachel Allen recipe I found on this page. Since we had over 90 minutes of video you won't find any actual recipe information in the final video but I'll give you the original recipe and my thoughts on it here.
You are supposed to use:

350 ml Milk
125 ml Cream
Zest of 1 Orange and 1 Lemon, cut into long strips (untreated citrus is always nice...)
2 Cinnamon Sticks
4 Egg Yolks
50 g Sugar
3 tbsp Sherry
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Demerara Sugar for caramel

What you do is put the citrus zest strips, milk cream, and cinnamon sticks into a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat the mixture until it starts to simmer. Then you take it off the heat, cover it and let it infuse with all the flavours while it cools down for half an hour. Here is where I suggest you do something different. Our crema catalana was super orangey and super cinnamony. Judith and I love both of those flavours but they were so intense the whole thing was a) too much and b) kinda bitter. What I would do is heat everything up and then take the zest and cinnamon sticks out after 15 minutes. That said, if you like bitter flan, then just go ahead...
Once you have a lukewarm milk mixture, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, sherry, and vanilla extract.
Preheat your oven to 150˚C and boil some water.
Whisk the milk into the egg mixture. The easiest way of doing this is by adding a small amount of the milk mixture to the eggs, whisking until there are no weird lumps or anything and then adding the remaining milk. Pretty much like when you're adding egg whites to the rest of the batter.
Next, place ramekins that will hold the flan (i.e. do the math before you start) in a deep baking tray or fat pan or similar. Pour the flan mixture into the ramekins and then place the baking tray in the oven. Now you pour the hot water you have just boiled into the tray. Judith will tell you more about all of that in the video.
'Bake' for 35 to 40 minutes, until the flan is set on the outside but the middle is still wobbly. Judith says it's supposed to wobble for about 15 seconds. She knows her flan so we're going to trust her on that one.
Once the flan has the desired wobbliness, take the ramekins out of the oven. A slotted spoon works really well for this. Put the ramekins into your fridge and do something different for an hour or two until the flan is cold. You can use this time to clean your kitchen. Or, you could make home made cannelloni from scratch like Judith did. I went and had coffee at the farmers' market :)
When you are ready to face the flan again, find a blowtorch. For some reason most of my friends have one in their kitchen. You can also use the grill of your oven, but apparently that's not what the cool kids do these days. We had four ramekins and put a very generous tablespoon of demerara sugar in each. Then you caramelise the sugar. Whichever way you are going to caramelise the sugar, watch it like a hawk. It's one of those things where nothing happens for like forever and then it burns in the blink of an eye.

If you decide to make this, let me know how it goes. Also, if there is something you would like me to make or talk about, let me know.

How ice-cream made my day

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You were supposed to get a recipe for grain-free 'porridge' but the time since my last post tells you something about my motivation. It's actually super nice but it's kinda boring. That has been a general theme with the food I have been eating. I enjoy what I eat but whenever I ask myself whether somebody else might want to know how to make the same thing I never feel that's the case. I guess red velvet cupcakes are sexier than grain-free zucchini muffins. Please tell me if you disagree but I am currently operating under the assumption that there are enough allergy/paleo blogs around so I don't need to start writing about that stuff.
Anyhow, enough complaining for today. I made ice-cream the other night and it blew my mind. Perhaps that's because it was the firs time I have used anything other than fruit to sweeten my food in a month or so. It was glorious. And I sat around in that haze like a 5 year old who has just stuffed their face with way too much cake and gummy-bears at a birthday party (before the hyperness starts...).
I'm aware the photo doesn't look very exciting. I'm sure the chocolate version of this, which is my next project, will be more photogenic :)
That said, coconut and bananas - winner!

Coconut-Banana Ice-Cream
400ml Full Fat Coconut Milk (the stuff that doesn't come from the dairy alternative section of your supermarket)
2 very ripe Bananas
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp Honey (if you want the ice-cream to be super sweet you might want to use more)
1/4 tsp Salt (so the freezing-point is lower)

Whisk all ingredients together.
Done.
Not really, but nearly.
Pour the mixture into a freezer-proof container (e.g. an old 500ml ice-cream tub - hence the quantities) and freeze for an hour or two before scraping down the crystals that have formed on the sides of the container with a fork. Over the next few hours keep coming back to break up the crystals that are forming so you end up with one giant popsicle. Personally, I prefer it slightly thawed because then the banana flavour takes centre-stage but that might just be me :)
This ice-cream goes really well with a cup of coffee after dinner. 
Have a fab evening! I'm gonna eat some more ice-cream.

Strawberries, Honey & Vanilla

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Can you still get good strawberries where you are?
Strawberry season is nearing its end and I am enjoying every second of it. So much that I actually got up at 8 this morning to get one of those super cheap 2kg baskets this stall near my house has been selling (if you don't make it there in time they have sold out and you're stuck with the 1kg ones that are nearly the same price).
Since getting back from a super quick trip to London earlier this week I might have made more strawberry milk, strawberry ice-pops, strawberry infused iced-tea, and the strawberries in the picture above. I got the idea for this on one of my flights back where I had a strawberry and pineapple salad with a 'honey and vanilla marinade'. It was such a lovely combination.
As much as I love a really elaborate meal (if someone else has to stand in the kitchen for it) I was just blown away by the  simplicity of this combination. This is obviously really nice on its own but some ice-cream doesn't hurt either. How else are you supposed to deal with this heat?!? :)
This is obviously more of a non-recipe. These are the quantities I went for so feel free to experiment. Also, pineapple obviously works really well with this...

Strawberries, Honey & Vanilla
2 tsp Honey for every
1/2 Vanilla Pod and
1lb Strawberries

Hull and quarter the strawberries.
Scrape the vanilla seeds into the honey and stir until the two are combined. Mix with the strawberries and allow the strawberries to macerate for 10 minutes or so.
Now get out that tub of ice-cream :)

Wild Rice Pudding

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Is there anything better than a bowl of warm, sticky rice pudding when it's cold outside? Or cold rice pudding when it's way too warm?
Unlike lots of other places Berlin seems to be in the middle of the next ice-age. Whenever you think the cold is over, you wake up in the morning and there's another five centimetres of snow. I don't remember it ever snowing as late as my birthday. Right now I don't expect the snow to be gone by the time I get to blow out even more candles than before.
Anyhow, I made this rice pudding one evening after I got back from the gym all freezing because I had forgotten an extra pair of sweatpants for my way back. It's like a warm hug in a bowl. And since you'll be waiting for an hour for the rice to cook you might as well make more so you'll get to eat rice pudding for a few days :)

Wild Rice Pudding
150 g Wild Rice
1 l Milk
3 tbsp Agave Nectar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cardamom
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Wash the wild rice. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 45-60 minutes stirring occasionally.
I like this rice pudding best when it's still sticky but it's still not as solid as baked rice pudding.
Oh, and while fresh fruit would be amazing, the part of me that cares about seasonal produce made me use local tinned peaches for the photo and it worked like a charm. If you close your eyes it will taste almost like summer is already back :)

Mini Chocolate Cakes (avec gooey centre) for Sonja

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Some people have told me that it's the friends you make in college that stay your friends for life. I've met some amazing people both during my time as an undergraduate and as a graduate student, but to me it feels like that diminishes the bond you have with some of your high-school friends. You know, the friends who knew you before you got highlights and lost weight and started using probably too much make-up. Yeah, those friends. My friend Sonja is one of those people I became friends with, let me think...I guess nearly 11 years ago. Even though we haven't lived in the same country for the better part of 8 years now (why do people have to move abroad when I decide to move back?!?!) we've kept in touch (thank you, Skype!). 

Anyhow, it's Sonja's birthday today and a while ago she asked me whether I could write a recipe for her. 

Something with chocolate.

Something 'like those mini cakes [I] used to make, those with the gooey centre' (ok, that was a fairly loose translation of the fb message that started this whole thing).

So let's talk about those mini cakes Sonja was talking about.

They're from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess and apparently I made them when I came back home one summer. I think.

They're pretty much chocolate with some eggs, butter, sugar, and flour to hold the chocolate together and you can even make them after a lacrosse game (only potentially still in your sports clothes) while dreaming of all the things you'll eat afterwards. I obviously didn't do any of that because I'm all grown up and organised and whatnot.

Anyhow, let's make some mini chocolate cakes (a.k.a. mini chocolate-mousse-soufflé thingies with a molten chocolate centre).

Note - the original recipe leaves you with mini cakes, I tend to keep them in the ramekins I use to bake them in and eat them like a chocolate soufflé. If you would rather have them sitting on a plate, butter your ramekins and cut out some baking parchment to line the bottoms. Both versions are super easy.

Mini Chocolate Cakes after Nigella Lawson's recipe - enough for 2 cakes

15g Butter

90g Dark Chocolate (use nice chocolate here since it's the main ingredient)

45g Sugar

1 Egg

Pinch of Salt

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

15g Flour

Preheat your oven 200˚C and heat a baking sheet in the oven.

Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Beat the egg with the salt until it is somewhat frothy. Cream the butter and sugar, then start adding the egg, followed by the vanilla extract. Mix in the flour until well combined. Add the chocolate to the mixture, make sure everything is properly mixed.

Pour the batter into the ramekins and place them in the oven for 10 minutes. 

Nigella suggests tipping them out straight away and eating them with some whipped cream, unwhipped cream, crème fraiche, crème anglaise or ice cream. I really like them slightly cooled just as they are.

Sonja, I hope this cures any chocolate cravings you might have while writing! I wish I could celebrate your birthday with you!

Spiced Brown Butter & Apple Muffins

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Are you enjoying autumn as much as I am? We seem to be having a lot more gorgeous days than cold and rainy ones and the leaves on the ground are beautiful. Plus, the tomatoes that I planted way too late (i.e. when I got back from Florida in May) seem to be turning into mini-tomato-factories so I feel like it's still summer. That and the fact that I get to see some amazing friends in three weeks (DC and Williamsburg, VA, here I come!) and that I am finally making some progress with the whole blog-redesign mean I'm loving the world these days.
But let's talk muffins - I made these for science-lunch at work the other week and after a bit of a disaster involving sticky apple-cinnamon rolls where everything that could have gone wrong pretty much going wrong (how come the one time I actually follow a recipe it turns out to be a really horrible one?!?), I decided to not listen to recipes anymore and just do my own thing. I got the inspiration for these from the introduction to the brown butter scones in Amy Scattergood's Good to the Grain but I wanted muffins not scones and I had some apples that needed using up....you know how that story tends to end. I like the crumb these muffins have because it is soft and springs back and there is a certain amount of lightness to it without being super fluffy like some shop-bought muffins can be.
Perhaps you should just try them yourself :)

Spiced Brown Butter & Apple Muffins
150g Apples, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
300g Flour
100g Raw Cane Sugar
1tsp Salt
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Allspice
1/4 tsp Cardamom
125 ml Single Cream
250 ml Milk
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)
100g Butter + more for greasing
2 tbsp Almond Flour


Preheat your oven to 200˚C and butter 15 muffin cups out of 24 (I have two 12-cup tins) - space them out evenly (i.e. don't just use all cups in the first tin and only 3 in the second).
Sprinkle the bottom of each muffin cup with some almond flour. I had originally hoped that the almond mixture would form a somewhat separate layer from the batter and would form a nice contrast. That didn't really work but the almond flavour forms a really nice backdrop to the muffins so the almonds get to stay.
Heat the butter in a saucepan and allow it to brown. Wait until you have brown spots forming at the bottom of the pan and your kitchen smells like brown butter heaven. Take the butter of the heat and allow it to cool down slightly.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. I really like how the spices pack quite a punch but it does have quite a Christmassy feel to it so if you want a toned-down version, I would use half the amounts of cloves, allspice and cardamom.
Whisk together milk, cream and eggs and once you have a smooth mixture, add the butter and the vanilla extract if you are using it. Combine the wet and the dry ingredients. Don't worry if you don't have a completely smooth batter - if you overwork the batter the muffins will become dense and chewy and simply not as nice as they turn out if you stop while there are still some small pockets of flour left in there.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester (or a dry piece of spaghetti) comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool down for 5 minutes or so before you turn them out on a wire rack to cool completely.
If you were to ask me I would recommend some coffee with these but I'm sure other stuff tastes really nice with them as well (it just won't keep you awake as well :) )

Very Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake

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I have been meaning to post this recipe for ages. Because it is so amazing I made it two weeks in a row (once you see the quantities you will understand that eating one of those loafs in a week is quite a feat) and had it for breakfast most days. And then I had some for dinner a few of those days as well. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the cake freezes really well if you wrap it in tinfoil and then stick it into a freezer-bag.
The reason I am finally getting around to telling you about it is that I was desperate for a pick-me-up while I was icing my possibly slightly bruised cheek the other day (you know, I thought trying to catch a ball with my face would be a good idea...) and after I found a frozen slice sitting next to the ice-pack I was rifling through my freezer for things did look a lot better. You can microwave the frozen cake until it is warm and then eat it with some ice-cream :)
I found this loaf cake in Baked Explorations which, in case I have not told you before, is full of recipes you will try and then bake again and again. 
Anyhow, the original is lovely but I found using yoghurt and dark agave syrup gives it a somewhat more rounded flavour.
It works incredibly well on its own and is really lovely with some almond butter or some cream cheese but it truly shines when you spread some caramel sauce on a slice and have it with some ice cream as a dessert.

Very Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake (adapted from Baked Explorations)
110g Cocoa Powder
200g Flour

1 1/2 tsp Bicarb

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

150g Raw Cane Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
100ml Dark Agave Syrup
125ml Yoghurt
125ml Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Coconut Extract

100g Dark Chocolate (at least 75%)

100g Milk Chocolate (both types of chocolate broken into pieces)

Preheat your oven to 175˚C. Butter and flour a 13x23cm loaf tin (if you don't know your tin's dimensions - that's one for a large loaf)

In a bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, bicarb, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar  until the mixture becomes lighter in colour and somewhat fluffy.

In a third bowl (I promise this one is the last one!) combine the yoghurt, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and coconut extract. Add the dry mix in three or four parts. Whisk about a third of the egg mixture into the batter. Once it is properly incorporated, fold in the remainder of the mixture taking care not to beat all the air out of the batter again. 

Fold in the chocolate and pour the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until no batter sticks to a cake tester when inserted in the middle of the cake.

Allow the cake to cool for a bit before taking it out of the tin and allowing it to cool completely.

As I said....caramel sauce is the way forward! Oh, and some good coffee doesn't hurt either :)

I hope you have a fantastic rest of your week!

Triple Berry Cobbler

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Today's recipe is one I made for my grandma's birthday dinner last weekend. We all got together and my mum and my aunt made stuffed veal breast (because that's what my grandma always made for big family-meals). We ate our own weight in cheese at the farmers market, and then we brought even more home. I baked a cake, or two. And then there was the berry cobbler.
When I was in high school I used to make this apple and berry cobbler whenever I had people over. The main reason was that you could bake it in advance, take it out of the oven slightly early and then just stick it back in when people were nearly done eating their pasta.
I like pasta. A lot. And if I'm having people over for dinner chances are fairly hight that  it's going to involve pasta. I don't know about you, but I don't see the point in slaving in the kitchen all day long when people come over for the company. So why not eat something that's simple and will allow everybody do focus on what's important - gossip :)
Anyhow, how did we end up with the pasta? Let's get back to dessert!
So, what can I tell you about the cobbler, other than that I tend to stop talking and focus on eating as much as I can when anything involving a cobbler or crumble or buckle or a crisp is sitting in front of me. Because somehow these dishes make a bad day seem much better and a good day (like this time I made it) just phenomenal.
This cobbler is a twist on the one I used to make in high school which was based on a recipe in one of the early Jamie Oliver cookbooks (before he went off to save the world and whatnot).

Triple Berry Cobbler
1kg Blueberries, Blackberries, and Strawberries (not each but that's the combined weight)
2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
100g Sugar
2 tsp Cornflour
200g Flour
1 scant tsp Baking Powder
1 scant tsp Salt
200ml Milk
150g Butter
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Cinnamon & Nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 180˚C.
Combine the berries (half or quarter the strawberries), balsamic vinegar and 150g of the sugar in a saucepan and heat over a medium heat for a few minutes. The berries will begin to sweat. Add the cornflour, stir until everything is combined and transfer into a 23cm or so pie dish (one of those deep ones).
Mix the milk and lime and set aside (I  started doing this when I didn't have any buttermilk at home with some lemon juice, but the lime juice adds a lovely flavour you don't get when you're using buttermilk, hence the extra step).
Combine the flour, baking powder, dals and remaining 50g sugar in a bowl, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add a generous pinch of nutmeg, then stir in the milk.
Drop pieces of the (fairly sticky) dough onto the berries. They don't have to be pretty or completely equal in size, I tend to aim for plum-sized blobs of dough.
Sprinkle with some cinnamon and perhaps another tablespoon or so of sugar and then it's off into the oven for 40-50 minutes until the biscuits are golden and the fruit is bubbling from between the biscuits.
This cobbler is lovely by itself, but ice-cream or whipped cream or even custard obviously don't hurt either.

Half-Baked Blueberry Pie

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Are you enjoying the end of a lovely blueberry season as much as I am?
Two years ago this blueberry pie recipe was making it's way around the blogs I was reading. People were raving about how amazing it was. And the trick was that part of the blueberries were cooked (giving you the amazing depth of flavour you get in a baked blueberry pie) and then uncooked blueberries were folded into the cooked mix (giving you the tart, juicy, incredibly fresh flavour you get in those blueberry tartlets). To me that sounded like the best of both worlds. But by the time I had some time to give it a go all I found were super expensive blueberries from Namibia (or wherever they grow blueberries in the winter). And then I forgot about it. Until I was confronted with boxes upon boxes of blueberries. I tried to trace down the blog where I first read about the recipe but I was unsuccessful but I found the post things seem to have originated from (on Shockingly Delicious). And then I changed everything....
I used Elana's gluten-free tart crust recipe but if you don't like almonds, just make a standard one or buy one. For the filling I used ground chia seeds as a thickener because I read about that the other night and wanted to give it a go, but if you can't find any or if you don't like them, the original recipe uses cornflour so just follow that recipe. And lastly, I used agave syrup and stevia as my sweeteners but if you want to use sugar, again, have a look at the original recipe.

Half Baked Blueberry Pie
-Elana's Tart Crust (from Elana's Pantry)
200g Almond Flour
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 Egg

-Blueberry filling
500g Blueberries
150 ml Water
3 tbsp Chia Seeds
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
Stevia (equivalent to 2 tsp sugar, I find when I use more it becomes too sweet)
1 tbsp Agave Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Lime Juice

To make the crust:
Preheat your oven to 165˚C.
Mix all ingredients together. Elana suggest pulsing them in a food processor. I ended up kneading the mix together with my hands because I only have one of those hand blender sticks and while they're amazing for lots of things - pulsing dry ingredients is not their forte.
Pat the dough into a 23cm/9inch flan dish and bake for 10-15 minutes (mine needed the whole 15 minutes).
Allow the pie crust to cool before you fill it.

To make the blueberry filling:
Mix the water, chia seeds, salt, and cinnamon in a saucepan  and bring to a boil. Add 250 g of the blueberries and and heat until the blueberries are heated through. This shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. Next you need a hand blender stick or a blender that is ok with high temperatures. Blend the mixture until it is smooth. By doing this you not only get a really pretty filling for the pie but, in my opinion, more importantly the chia seeds end up broken down into little pieces and you are less likely to have chia seeds stuck to your teeth after eating the pie :)
Add the stevia, agave syrup, vanilla extract and lime juice, then fold in another 150 g of the blueberries.
Pour the blueberry mixture into the cold pie crust and distribute the blueberries evenly within the mix. Top with the remaining blueberries (100g), cover with cling film, and refrigerate for a few hours. This allows the filling to become slightly less liquid.

When you are ready to serve the pie, allow it to come back to room temperature and then serve it with sour cream, ice cream or whipped cream (can you detect a trend here?). We had it with sour cream at our lab lunch today and I was a big fan of that combination.

I hope you have a fantastic end of your week!

Rhubarb Mascarpone Ice-Cream

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All right, let's put the ice-cream I've been talking about for the better part of the last few weeks together.
All the different parts taste lovely by themselves, but trust me with this one, once you put this darling together you'll never want to go back.
I'll talk you through the timeline but if you are looking for the recipes of the various sub-recipes, follow the links below.

Rhubarb Mascarpone Ice-Cream
Lemony Mascarpone Ice-Cream
Rhubarb Compote
Caramel Sauce

If you have all three of these sitting in front of you, perfect, if you are just getting started I would make them in the following order:
Make the ice-cream and freeze.
Then you make the rhubarb compote.
Allow the compote to cool completely.
Make the caramel sauce and, again, let it cool completely.
After a few hours, check how your ice-cream is doing. If it is well on it's way to being frozen (i.e. if you are looking at something that is more slush than a very solid semifredo, it is not ready), find a freezer-proof container that is large enough to hold all three ingredients.
If you want to make the ice-cream the day before, that works just as well. In that case you might have to give it a few minutes to soften up a bit.
Using a large tablespoon, spoon some of the ice-cream into the new container. Don't worry about getting an even layer of ice-cream because that is not what we're after.
Add spoonfuls of the rhubarb compote, filling the dips in the ice-cream layer. Drizzle with some caramel sauce.
And then you repeat this until there is nothing left. I went for 3 'layers' but if you want the flavours to be more evenly distributed, you could also go for 5 or so.
Freeze for a few more hours or overnight.
Now, because we didn't churn the ice-cream and because it doesn't have a custard base, it will probably be fairly solid when you take it out of the freezer. I give mine about 15 minutes in the fridge before scooping the ice-cream into bowls. If you're really desperate, though, you can also scrape off thin shavings which taste just as nice but won't look as pretty.

Rhubarb Compote

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Today we'll be making the second part of the mascarpone and rhubarb ice-cream.
There is a third part (a caramel sauce) which I'll hopefully get to tomorrow and then we can assemble things.

Rhubarb is one of those vegetables that make even the rainiest day seem filled with sunshine. 

Perhaps that's because you know by the time you see rhubarb in the shops (unless it's the amazingly cute forced rhubarb you get in the UK) spring is in full swing and you won't have to wait for summer much longer.

Back in St Andrews, we had a rhubarb plant in the garden which meant whenever I felt like making compote or a tart, all I had to do was fight my way through wild flowers and weeds and was then rewarded with fresh, juicy, bright pink rhubarb stalks.

It also meant whenever I had no money left at the end of the month the chances of me using rhubarb would go up exponentially.

Now I have to walk to the farmers market (which, luckily, doesn't take much longer than cutting the stalks myself).

Anyhow, this compote is really nice by itself as well.

Or spooned over vanilla ice-cream, or with custard, or with yoghurt...the options are endless.

This is the very basic version of rhubarb compote that I make, if I  want something more colourful, I add raspberries like in the version for the Raspberry and Rhubarb Tartlets.

Rhubarb Compote
500g Rhubarb, cut into 1.5 cm pieces
100g Sugar

Mix the rhubarb and sugar in a heavy bottomed pot, cover and heat over the lowest possible heat.
Give the rhubarb 15 minutes or so to 'sweat'  and once the bottom of the pot is covered in rhubarb juice you can turn the heat up to medium high.
Cook until the rhubarb is soft but is still holding its shape. This could be anything from 5 to 15 minutes depending on how fresh/young your rhubarb is, so don't go running away to watch some old episodes of Vampire Diaries or whatever you like to watch.
Once the rhubarb is cooked through, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly.
If you're using this for the ice-cream extravaganza, let the compote cool completely and then refrigerate it for a few more hours.
All right, I hope you have a fabulous evening! With lots of amazing food!

Lemony Mascarpone Ice-Cream

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In a bit more than a week I will be graduating for the second time around.
It's a weird feeling. You see, when I walk across that stage and get whacked on the head with John Konx's trousers (St Andrews has some weird traditions...though Edinburgh has another part of his supposed trousers) that will be the first time in my adult life that I won't be a student anymore. Ok, there was that summer between graduating the first time around and starting my PhD, but I don't think that really counts.
So, rather than feeling existential I am celebrating growing up (or something like that) with lots of food.
Mostly unhealthy food :)
Ok, if I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you, I was feeling rather existential after I got the email from our library that my hardbound copy had made its way there, but then I made some ice-cream and everything was better.

This mascarpone ice-cream is really nice by itself, but it's also part of a larger recipe that will eventually turn into mascarpone, rhubarb, and caramel ice-cream. Soo, keep your eyes peeled for the second part.
We'll be making enough so you can enjoy some of it before moving on to the rhubarb. Don't you worry, I wouldn't let you make ice-cream with lots to spare.

Lemony Mascarpone Ice-Cream
600ml Whipping Cream
3 tbsp Icing Sugar
250g Mascarpone
Juice and Zest of 2 Lemons
2 tbsp Vodka
1/4 tsp Fleur de Sel

Whip the cream and the icing sugar until soft peaks are only just starting to form (don't overbeat the cream here or you might have a buttery mess in your hands later).

Add the mascarpone and whisk until the two are just combined.

Add the lemon juice, zest, vodka and salt and whisk until they are incorporated.

Try the creamy mess. You shouldn't have an overly sweet mix but if you feel like all you can taste is the lemon, add another teaspoon of sifted icing sugar.

Fill the mixture into a freezer-proof container (I tend to re-use the plastic ice-cream tubs when I buy ice-cream) and freeze overnight. The salt and the alcohol lower the freezing point of the mixture so you don't have to churn the ice-cream. You will probably have to let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes but since there is no egg in there you should be fine.

Now, wasn't that easy?

This ice-cream works a treat when you're feeling existential, but it's also lovely when you're just looking for something to round off a nice meal.

Fruit Tapioca

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Today's post is for all my fellow tapioca-lovers, but especially for my friend Katharina who has been visiting me for the last few days.

Last year, when I spent a few days in New York City with my lovely friend Katharina (who suffered through me being the worlds laziest person where homework was concerned in high school (i.e. Katharina did the homework and I copied it either on the train, before class, or sometimes even during class)) we realised that she had never had anything with tapioca (like bubble tea). Since then whenever we talk about that week we talk about tapioca....and pork buns...and all the other amazing food we had.

When I read Janet's post about fruit tapioca a while back I really wanted to make but never got around to it.
So when Katharina told me she was coming to Berlin I decided that I should use her as an excuse to make a huuuge bowl full of fruit tapioca.

And it was good :)
Soo good.

Note: Adjust the amount of agave syrup you use depending on how sweet the juice and fruit are.
Also, in case you use the word juice in a different way I - when I talk about juice I mean the 100% from a fruit kind, not the kind with sugar and water (I would call that fruit nectar), and definitely not the sugar-free syrup you mix with water (I would call that squash) - I've had some misunderstandings on that front lately.

Fruit Tapioca
150g Tapioca Pearls (I like the medium ones but the small ones will do just fine)
250ml Water
750ml Fruit Juice (I used grape juice)
300g Fruit (I used mixed berries)
Some Agave Syrup

Take out a big, heavy bottomed pot.
Soak the tapioca in the water for about an hour (if you use the small kind half an hour will do), then add the juice and the fruit and bring things to a boil over a medium heat.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the tapioca is tender. Don't forget to keep stirring - have you ever had to scrape burnt tapioca off the bottom of a pot? I had to learn the hard way a while back - it wasn't fun.
If you feel the fruit and juice you used is a bit tart, add some agave syrup to taste.
Find a pretty bowl, allow the tapioca to cool and then find it a home in your fridge.
Oh, and in case you're wondering - this goes incredibly well with some vanilla ice-cream!

Coconut Cocoa Cupcakes

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Hello again :) I must admit the only reason I'm getting my act together so quickly is because I ran into my friend Lea on the subway today and she complained about yesterday's recipe, can I just point out that it tastes rather amazing, but for those of you who don't want a drink that involves cocoa powder and PB2, how about cocoa and coconut in a cupcake?
Rather than giving you a recipe that involves a cake mix, I thought I could share this cupcake recipe with you.
Sometimes I start thinking of flavours and then I can't get them out of my mind.

A few weeks ago that happened with the combination of chocolate and coconut - back in high school we went on a trip to Budapest and I have this vivid memory of going out to this bar where a few of us shared this coconut chocolate milkshake. 

I think part of why it was so amazing was that what I had grown up knowing as a milkshake was banana milk. 

What really got me, though, was how well coconut and chocolate go together. It's one of those combinations that never seems to fail you. Sometimes it can be slightly overpowering. Which is why I made these cupcakes with cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate. If I'm perfectly honest with you, I do actually prefer this combination because it is lighter and if you can be bothered to make some icing for the cupcakes (how about some seven minute icing or some traditional red velvet cake icing?) the icing actually has a chance to add to the overall flavour.

One quick note of warning - if you can't find coconut extract, I'm not sure whether I would make these - imitation coconut stuff is vile. Perhaps you could add more vanilla extract or actually go down the chocolate-chip route. Or just go straight for red velvet cupcakes.
Also, I used coarse grained wheat flour because I like how it handles, for those of you in Germany, that is Spätzlemehl/Weizendunst. If you can't get hold of it the cupcakes will taste just as nice, I just happened  to have some sitting around, and decided that I wanted the cupcakes to have more of a grainy crumb (does that description make any sense to anyone other than me?)

Coconut Cocoa Cupcakes (makes 12)
100g Coarse Grained Wheat Flour
50g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
30g Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
75g Butter
150g Sugar
2 Eggs
150ml Buttermilk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Natural Coconut Extract

Preheat your oven to 175˚C and line a muffin tin with some pretty paper liners. May I recommend Ernie and Bert ones because they go really well with these cupcakes :)
Combine the flours, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl and set them aside.
Cream the butter and the sugar together until the mix goes all white and slightly fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are properly incorporated. Add the vanilla and coconut extracts.
Reduce the speed of your mixer (or if you're doing this by hand you'll probably be tired by now anyway) to low and start adding the buttermilk and dry mix. I find this is the easiest if you keep alternating a few spoonful of the dry mix with a  swig of the buttermilk.
Fill the paper cups with the batter and bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.
If yours doesn't distribute the heat evenly you'll want to rotate the tin after 15 minutes or so.
When your cake tester (a.k.a. a dry spaghetti) comes out clean, take them out of the oven, let them cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so and then move them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

As I said, I think seven minute icing would be my first choice for these but they're lovely just plain as well (especially with a glass of milk).

I hope you have a fabulous rest of your week and an even better Pentecost/Memorial Day weekend!

Oh, and before you go, I was wondering - what is your favourite cupcake flavour?

Millet & Stuff

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A lot has happened lately...

I finally moved into my new flat (which now has a fridge...a doorbell...a kettle...but is still missing useful things like a bathroom mirror - don't ask how I blow-dry my hair cos it's definitely not working, a proper sink, and enough storage in the kitchen to not have everything lying around on the floor).

I finally submitted my thesis (the scary part is that I was more excited about getting a fridge than sending everything off).

I booked the flights for a trip to Georgia and Florida in May (I am rather excited about that one because I can't wait to wear shorts again).

It's finally spring in Berlin (and I can hear the birds in the morning when I wake up).

Oh, and I cooked something I'm actually not embarrassed to write about. Actually, it's something I think you should all try sometime.

I made a millet and orange dessert the other day. It is super easy, super tasty, and on top of that actually quite good for you. That said, according to my dad it does taste rather 'healthy' so if you are looking for a decadent dessert, make some brownies instead, but if you're not too bothered about the health-food factor, give it a try!
In case you haven't noticed, this is probably the 10th recipe or so in a row that contains mainly store-cupboard ingredients, so no major shopping required (if your store-cupboard is as weird as mine).

Millet and Orange Dessert
100g Millet
200ml Orange Juice
100-200ml Water
6 Dates, chopped into pieces
1-2 tbsp Almonds, blanched and roughly chopped
2 Oranges, cut into fillets
2 tsp Agave Syrup
A dash of Olive Oil

Combine the millet, orange juice and water in a saucepan and heat over a medium-high flame. Simmer until the millet is cooked through but still has some bite. This will depend a bit on how high your interpretation of medium-high is and this is also where the whole 100ml variance comes in for the water. I used the whole 200ml this time and it took about 25 minutes until it was done, but sometimes I ended up sitting around for 35 until I was happy with the texture and I didn't need quite that much water, so start off with 100ml and if things become too dry, add some more.
After 15 minutes, start filleting the oranges, if you haven't done so, and add the dates and almonds to the millet.
Once the millet is cooked through, take it off the heat, stir in the olive oil (you really don't need much, it just adds a nice flavour and helps keep the grains separated) and allow things to cool down for a few minutes.
When you're ready to eat or when you get bored waiting for the millet to cool down, stir in some agave syrup (you don't need it but just like the olive oil it adds a deepness to the overall flavour that is really nice) and add the orange fillets.
This would make a really nice breakfast but I didn't have any leftovers because I ate them as an afternoon snack when I got bored waiting for dinner.
Oh, and freshly whipped cream is a really nice addition to all the wholesomeness we've got going on here :)

What have you been cooking lately?
And, more importantly, what are your store-cupboard staples?
Do you want me to write about what I normally have sitting around in my kitchen once I have unpacked everything or would that bore you to tears?

I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Summer Fruit Tartlets

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I had a rather fabulous dinner with Anna and Preston the other day. We started off with some mussels followed by some really nice salmon with a pistachio crust (you'll get that recipe at some point, I promise!) and then ended it with some fruit tartlets.
Anna and I have made those tartlets on several occasions now and I am in love with them because they are so easy to make, look super pretty and are the perfect end to any meal (yes, the last leftover one was a very lovely end to my breakfast of cinnamon toast crunch yesterday).
I used blackberries and peaches this time, but they are really nice just with blackberries, or apple slices, or cherries, pretty much whatever fruit you have sitting around in your kitchen.

Summer Fruit Tartlets
For the pastry:
90g Wholegrain Spelt Flour
40g Buckwheat Flour
40g Fine Cornmeal (not cornflour, but more like super fine polenta)
50g Butter (refrigerated)
30g Coconut Oil (refrigerated)
1/2 tsp Sugar
A Pinch of Salt
Some Ice Water

For the filling:
Enough fruit to fill 12 mini-tartlets i.e.
24 Blackberries
or 12 Blackberries and 1 Peach
or 1 large Cooking Apple

Some more coconut oil to grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

We are going to make a pastry dough using a method called fraisage (if you're completely lost, have a look at the explanation at Have Kinves, Will Cook). So all you need to do is, mix the flours, sugar and salt, cut in the fats into hazelnut-sized pieces and then rub them into the four mixture until you have pea-sized pieces. You'll want to do this very quickly because otherwise the fat will melt (and the fat is what makes the dough flaky). Bind the dough with some ice water (one or two tablespoons should be enough for this dough) and scrape it together into a shaggy lump.
Now, take a piece of dough and smear it over a floured work-surface. Stare at the lovely thin layer of butter that is now embedded in the flour for a second before you repeat the process with the rest of the dough. Then you shape into a rectangular lump (it doesn't have to be perfect but i find having something to work with makes rolling out the dough a lot easier later) and refrigerate the pastry for at least an hour.

Preheat your oven to 220˚C.

Get the fruit ready - wash whatever needs to be washed, if I'm using peaches, I peel them (stick them into boiling water for 5 minutes, then into an ice-bath, and the skin should easily come off) and then I normally simmer them in a syrup (two parts sugar, one part water) for a couple of minutes. If I use berries, I sometimes only sprinkle them with sugar.

Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll it out thinly - think 3 mm max. Then cut out 12 round pieces - I use a 6cm cookie cutter, but a glass will work just as fine.
Line each cup with a piece of pastry. You will want to push them in so they are at the bottom of the cup but don't push them in too much or they won't want to come out in one piece.
Fill each pastry with some fruit, sprinkle with some sugar or spices if you feel like it and then bake them for about 20 minutes. I tend to check every couple of minutes towards the end, depending on how much fruit is in the tartlets they will look nice and crisp and fully baked a few minutes sooner or later, so keep checking.

Allow the tartlets to cool slightly on a wire rack and enjoy them with some coffee or ice-cream and a really good conversation :)

Rhubarb Lattice Tart

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I know, it's been a while - I've been busy with writing, running, eating, swimming, sleeping, and a Buffy marathon (ok, if I'm perfectly honest not necessarily in that order) and I kinda stopped doing anything else.
So now that I finally feel like I'm on track with my writing again (and Spike saved the world :) ) I thought I could share a tart recipe with you. I made this tart for a dinner last week and I must say that I am slightly in love with this recipe. It all started with Oliver Peyton's Rhubarb Lattice Tart which looked amazing (the book - British Baking is gorgeous in general) but I never quite understood everyone's obsession with plain flour when making a dough that brings out the flavours of all it's ingredients (and we've had this bag of rye flour sitting around for a while now, and rhubarb and rye both start with r...ok, I'm just making up random reasons now).
Anyhow, I wasn't disappointed, the subtle sweetness of the rye flour brought out the flavour of the rhubarb without being overpowering.
The dough takes some time because you'll want to rest it a couple of times before you actually get to the point of filling the tart but the actual hands-on time for this tart is about 20 minutes. So I'd say it's the perfect desert if you're trying to get some writing done and don't have a clue what to bring to that dinner party later that night.
Oh, and I used a 24cm flan dish.

Rhubarb Lattice Tart
150g Plain Flour
100g Rye Flour
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
175g Butter, cold, cut into 1cm pieces
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Some really cold Water

500g Rhubarb (trimmed)
200g Sugar
2 tbsp Cornflour
A pinch of Salt

Mix the flours, sugar and salt in a bowl, then rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Just like with a normal pie dough you'll want the butter pieces to remain fairly large - think the size of a pea - because the water evaporating from those pieces of butter will turn the whole thing into flaky pastry goodness once you bake the dough.
Now you add the vinegar and about 8 tbsp of the water to the mix and start working everything together. You don't want a super-well mixed dough at this stage, you just want everything to come together in something resembling a lump. If you can't get the mix you have to hold together because it's too dry, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time.
Wrap the ball of dough in some cling-film (you can sprinkle the whole thing with a tiny bit of water before you wrap it) and let it rest in the fridge for at leas an hour (i.e. you can go and do some work now).
When you get back, unwrap the dough and place it on a floured surface and squeeze it into the shape of a rectangle before you start rolling it out with a rolling pin.
Don't worry if the dough starts out being slightly awkward to handle and bits and pieces falling off. This will get better in a couple of minutes.
Roll out the dough until it's about 20x30 cm in size.
Now fold the dough into thirds. I really like  Kim's explanation of this - she suggests you fold the dough like you would fold a letter. Once you've done that, rotate the dough by 90˚ and roll it out again.
Repeat the folding and rolling until you have folded the dough 3 times.
I guess you could skip the following step but I tend to prefer working with chilled pastry dough so I suggest you give the dough rectangle another hour or so in the fridge and get on with some more work :)
Cut the dough in half and stick one half straight back into the fridge.
Grease your flan dish.
Roll out the other half until it's big enough to line the flan dish.
Cover the lined flan dish with cling-film and chill it for another half an hour or so which will give you time to get the rhubarb ready.
Preheat your oven to 200˚C.
In a bowl combine the sugar, cornflour and salt.
Cut the rhubarb into 3cm pieces and toss them in the cornflour-sugar mixture.
Now take the flan dish out of the fridge and fill it with the rhubarb mix.
Do you remember that spare piece of pastry?
Take it out of the fridge and roll it out until it's about as thin as the other piece was before. Cut the pastry into 1cm strips and weave them into a lattice pattern covering the rhubarb. If you have some strips left at the end you can use them later to cover the lattice ends.
If you feel like it brush the lattice with an egg-wash (I tend to be lazy and just go for milk) then cover the rim with the spare pastry strips. They also like the egg-wash :)
Bake the tart for 45-55 minutes and allow it to cool before you remove it from the flan dish.
Serve by itself, with some custard, or some ice cream and a good gossip with some lovely people.

Tapioca Pudding

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If there is one thing that will make me love a dessert it's some kind of starch cooked in some liquid. Verena keeps making fun of me for loving all kinds of pudding - semolina pudding, rice pudding, chocolate pudding, tapioca pudding, quinoa pudding, Christmas pudding...nah, really don't like that one...
Anyhow, I have recently been obsessed with finding the perfect tapioca pudding recipe and while I haven't cooked my way through 20 batches yet I have honed in on a winner over the last couple of days.
It's sweet but not too sweet, creamy but not excessively so and the vanilla....hmm

Tapioca Pudding
1/3 cup Small Pearl Tapioca
3 cups Milk
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (or 1/2 Vanilla pod if you have one lying around)
1pinch Salt
2 Egg-Yolks

Soak the tapioca in about 2 cups of cold water (1 hour works just fine, if you pass out while watching Grey's Anatomy because you're jet-lagged and only remember the next morning the end result will be slightly softer but will be just as tasty).
Drain the tapioca and combine it with 2/3 of the milk in a saucepan. Heat over a medium-low heat until it starts bubbling (this might take up to 15 minutes). Heating the mixture this slow allows the tapioca pearls to 'cook' through.
In a small bowl or jug mix the remaining milk, egg-yolks, sugar, vanilla and salt.
Once the tapioca mix is bubbling away, add the egg-mix and stir them well.
Cook until the tapioca is translucent (probably another 10-20 minutes but don't just take it off the heat based on the time, go for when the tapioca is done).
Enjoy your tapioca pudding either hot or cold with lots of fresh fruit.

Frozen Rosewater Yoghurt

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This is pretty much what it says on the tin - frozen yoghurt with a hint of rosewater.
It's perfect after a dinner on the spicy side but it also works on it's own. The reason why mine is so pink (which lead Verena to hope for bubble-gum flavoured ice-cream) is because of the rose-syrup I used. If you can't get hold of the syrup then simply use a bit more rosewater and simple sirup and enjoy a non-pink version.

Frozen Rosewater Yoghurt
500g Plain Yoghurt
2 tbsp Simple Syrup
2 tsp Rosewater
2 tbsp Rose Syrup
2 tbsp Lime Juice

Mix all ingredients together, put into a freezer-proof container and freeze. After an hour break up the crystals that have formed using a fork, then put it back into the freezer. Keep breaking up the crystals at decreasing intervals.
Before you serve the frozen yoghurt, leave it on the counter for a few minutes so it can soften a bit.

Coffee Granita

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Tadaaaa...
We have arrived at part three of our dessert odyssey :)
This granita goes incredibly well with the Coconut Poached Pears.
I have to add a warning though - I can drink coffee at any time of the day and still sleep (and I still believe anyone who can't is just not tired enough, but I've had that argument with several of you so we're just gonna leave it here) so while I think this is one of the coolest after-dinner treats (especially if you use nice coffee to start off with), if you know that coffee at dinner is really not a good idea for you, then you should potentially not make this for a dinner party (just a thought).
You could have it for breakfast though...granita for breakfast...hmm...
Anyhow, let's make some granita :)

Coffee Granita (after Vicky Bhogal)
8 Shots of Espresso
4 tbsp Sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar because I like the flavour)
Enough Cold Water to bring things up to 500ml
A pinch of Salt

In a jug mix the espresso, sugar, and salt and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then add enough water so you have 500 ml coffee mix.
Pour into a freezer-proof container and freeze for an hour or so before stirring in the first crystals that should have formed by now. Repeat the freezing/stirring thing a few more times (decreasing the intervals) until you have something that resembles a fancy slushy. Now you can either serve it or leave it in the freezer. If you decide to freeze the granita for a while before serving, give it 10 minutes or so and some serious aggression with a fork before you serve it.
This goes incredibly well with the Coconut Poached Pears but it's really nice on its own as well.