Now, apologies first off for being a busy bee, this week seems to have flown by with dinner dates, salsa parties, food shopping, sushi, bonfire night parties and lots of exciting news! However, what it does mean is that I have lots and lots of recipes for you, inclusive of glittery donut sparkler pudding, venison steak, turkish delight flavoured cheesecake, a moroccan feast, proper bloke's sausage fusilli, and blueberry, banana and raspberry french toast! All very exciting and calorific!
I had a lovely bonfire night, which sadly, our charming american cousins over the pond do not have, not celebrating the delightful tradition of burning traitors on large fires. Anyway! My chums and I went off to watch fireworks on the beach - Ooooh, aaaaah!! They were ever so pretty, green and gold, set to pounding club music (the last bit still confounds me) and we were rather glad, once they'd ended, to shuffle back to our friend's house where I assembled our pudding and we stood aro
und drinking beer, sailor jerry and some very peculiar vodka jellies. I bought donuts from the bakery on the university campus prior to my linguistics lecture (I must have seemed very hungry to all my fellow students, clutching a giant bag of sugary donuts) but I made a cone-structure out of them, and then liberally sprinkled them with more sugar and edible glitter, and then I stuck two mini 
sparklers in the top! There's something very relaxing about a pudding you only need assemble but still looks fab. Sadly, only a few friends stayed after the fireworks so we had a very entertaining time listening to Steel Panther and trying to look interested in WWE Smackdown... We got home very tipsy in the wee hours of the morning but having had a great time!The next day I woke up with a fairly sore head but my enthusiasm for cooking wasn't dampened in the least, and I trekked out in the windy rainy wet to the local Halal supermarket, which was a treasure trove if ever there was one! I unearthed rose water, rose syrup (see pic for the pretty bottle), peppercorns, almonds, unsalted pistachios, huge bunches of fresh mint and coriander and fresh fruit and veg, plus a scary looking butcher tucked away at the back. Lots of unusual produce, but much less expensive than imported things in the local supermarket! Go check out your local supermarket, just wander in and you'll see for yourself what I mean! I made a huge amount of meatballs for my moroccan feast that evening with two trusty helpers by my side. For the meatballs you need:
Minced lamb or beef - 500g
4 spring onions
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
Cracked black pepper
Handful of fresh mint and of fresh coriander
1 egg
Lime juice from 1 lime
oil for frying
Get your hands in there! Empty your mince into a bowl, then slice your onions finely and combine your spices in a small bowl. Break your egg into the mixture and then add all the various ingredients. You'll really need to work the spices and flavours in there, and you've got to do it with your hands - it's so therapeutic though, you'll see what I mean! This recipe will make roughly 30 ping-pong ball-sized meatballs, and it doubles up beautifully.
Fry them in hot oil for a good ten minutes, and you'll want to do this in batches. Let them drain on some kitchen roll and then transfer them to a warm crock pot before mass consumption.
I also tried out a persian rice recipe, which went down a storm. You'll probably get best results with a zester for the lemon (or lime, as I u
sed), because large chunks of zest aren't exactly ideal here. You're also meant to use saffron, but being a student, and therefore cheap, I sidestepped that, as I think it's mainly used for colouring.75g pistachios, roughly chopped
As above for the almonds,
Zest of one lemon or lime,
One onion, finely chopped
Saffron strands
Salt, cracked black pepper to taste.
400g basmati rice
I find bashing the nuts wrapped either in a plastic bag or a dishcloth with a meat tenderiser the best way of breaking them up - before you do this, pop your onion in a frying pan and caramelise over a low heat until golden and bubbling, then dry roast your nuts. Boil your rice until cooked and fluffy, then soak a couple of strands of the saffron in some hot water. When your onions are caramelised and your nuts toasted, mix them into your drained rice along with the pared zest of the lemon or lime and the saffron-water (remove the strands) the salt and the cracked black pepper. This will sit quite happily in a covered pot for a good half an hour until you want to serve, and it really is delicious.
The venison spoke for itself, I must say. If you've never eaten venison, you've got to try it. Be careful not to overcook or it will taste like liver, bleugh! My boss told me that the best way to cook venison (or any kind of steak) was to flash-fry it until it's sealed on either side and then let it rest before popping it in the oven to cook for a little bit longer. I like mine medium rare, and I served it on a bed of rocket with mustard and seasoning on the side. You can be forgiven for believing venison is hugely expensive, but I was able to pick up two steaks for £3 from my local farmers' market. If you have one nearby they're always worth going to - I picked up some beautiful Brie de Meaux as well and some fresh organic farm eggs... Yuuuuuuuuum!
I threw a dinner party this Sunday last for friends of my boyfriend and I - such lovely people and fantastic company and a brilliant evening to boot, as well as letting me use them as guinea pigs for a recipe my mother had sent me that day, known as Proper Bloke's Fusilli - a Jamie Oliver one; full of gutsy flavours and so filling.
2 heaped teaspoons of fennel, crushed
2 dried red chillies, crumbled
olive oil
600g good-quality coarse Italian or Cumberland sausages
1 tablespoon dried oregano
a wineglass of white wine
zest and juice of 1 lemon
500g good-quality fusilli or penne
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a couple of knobs of butter
a handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
a small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
Bash up the fennel seeds and chillies in a pestle and mortar or Flavour Shaker until coarsely crushed, then put to one side. Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins and put into the pan, really breaking it up using the back of a spoon. Fry for a few minutes until the meat starts to colour and the fat has rendered slightly, then crush it once more so it resembles coarse mince. Add the bashed-up fennel seeds and chillies and cook on a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the meat becomes crisp, golden brown and slightly caramelized.
Stir in your oregano, then pour in the white wine and allow it to reduce by half. Add the lemon zest and juice. Turn the heat down to low while you cook your pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. When the pasta has cooked al dente, drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water, and toss it in the pan with your sausagemeat. Coat the pasta in all the lovely flavours then add the butter, Parmesan, chopped parsley and a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water. This will give you a lovely loose, shiny sauce. Taste and check for seasoning, then serve immediately with a little extra grated Parmesan sprinkled over the top. It is so yummy, and even though it takes a little while to cook, it's totally worth it and you'll go to bed with a full tummy (especially if you manage a sliver of the pudding about to follow!).
Turkish Delight flavoured cheesecake? Bizarre? Totally. Described by one of my friends as fantastically weird, it really is but I love both the idea of it and the cheesecake itself.
You need:
One patient boyfriend to drag around a supermarket holding a basket for you
250g soft cheese (I use Philadelphia)
250ml sour cream
3 x chocolate covered turkish delight bars
200g digestive biscuits
3 tablespoons cocoa
80g honey
Rose water or rose syrup as I used
Splash of millk
125g butter, melted.
Edible glitter (yay!)
Bash up your biscuits using a rolling pin or a meat tenderiser in a freezer bag, melt your butter in a pan and then add your biscuits, honey and cocoa powder. Stir until the mixture has come together and then spread the mix into a loose bottomed cake tin and pop in the fridge. Mix your cheese and your sour cream together, and chop up your turkish delight bars. You can either create a turkish delight layer over the biscuit base or put the chunks with the cheese mixture into a blender and then whizz. Add your rose water or syrup to taste and then fold your lovely mixture over the cold base. Pop the whole lot back in the fridge and let it chill for 1 - 2 hours or overnight. I sprinkled glitter over the top of mine because I am addicted to it, but of course, this is optional.
Right, last but not least, french toast - another slightly adapted Jamie Oliver recipe: the fillings are entirely up to you!
Two nice thick slices of bread - brown or white
Some butter for frying
Two large ORGANIC FREE RANGE/FARM EGGS (not only is the flavour far superior, you’re eating and therefore supporting a better kind of egg farming. Poor wee battery hens just ain’t cool.)
Splash of milk
Sprinkling of any sort of sugar
Fillings for your toast! Blueberries and bananas, raspberries, dark chocolate - whatever you fancy.
Beat your eggs together with the milk and the sugar and meanwhile heat a knob of butter in a frying pan. Toss your fruits in a little bit of honey and add the banana (mashed) to help it all stick. Dip both sides of both slices of bread in the eggy mixture and then smear the fruit on one side of the bread. Squish the slices together and then throw the sandwich into the hot pan. Let the toast crisp up and go golden on one side before you flip it over and let the other side cook. Once beautifully crisped and golden, slide it onto a plate and serve with crème fraîche and some more berries. I must say, it makes a very pretty breakfast, even for a student!
Anyway, I have exhausted myself now, so I'm going to forage around in my fridge and chatter to you later.
By the way, I've had myself an article published! Have a look-see here: http://www.mookychick.co.uk/body/vegetarian/veggie-breakfast-of-champions.php
Big love!
Eloise xxx
(Having friends over for dinner is like weaving the fabric of your life with golden threads. Makes it sparkle. Invite someone over for food today, and may all your eatings be magical.)
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