Beignets

I love reading and learning about Louisianan food, but I haven’t cooked that many dishes from the state. I now make a gumbo without a recipe, feeling comfortable enough to make any changes and tweaks as the mood suits me. I’ll occasionally cook a jambalaya, but will usually refer to a recipe. I have made an attempt at doberge cake, an extravagant layered chocolate confection which I think most people would buy in rather than make at home. It was delicious, but is quite a labour-heavy experience to make.  I have made a pecan pie, using the filling recipe from The Gumbo Pages although that’s not exclusive to Louisiana.

My latest addition to this list are beignets- the state doughnut of Louisiana (as an aside- I love the idea of an official state doughnut, although after reading this article, sadly I don't think there is a doughnut per state). Beignets can be made with a choux pastry or a yeast-leaved dough. I made the latter. I think the place to get beignets in New Orleans sells the yeasted type (I could be wrong about this though). I will have to try the choux pastry version too though, to complete my beignet education. 

The recipe I used was from Taste and Tell Blog (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the recipe). They were definitely a success, except for the first 2 I made which were a little uncooked in the middle- I don't own a thermometer for deep frying.

My favourite thing about this recipe is that once you have made the dough, you can keep it in the fridge for up to a week with no ill effects. So whenever you fancy a treat, you can tear off enough dough for a beignet or two, and cook it to order. Like most deep-fried foods, it’s best to eat them fresh out of the pan rather than letting them sit around.

Being able to keep a ball of the dough in the fridge and cook in batches over the week helped me gain a better feeling for when the oil was hot enough to put the uncooked beignet in the pan, and tell when it was ready to be taken out. It also gave me more opportunities for experimentation, such as making a chocolate and salted caramel dipping sauce. This was my only deviation from the recipe, but there is a lot of scope for new ideas. Having said that, a plain beignet, liberally dusted with icing sugar is a wonderful thing, and doesn’t require anything else- except maybe some coffee alongside.

Roman Holiday: Part IV

We began our last day in Rome with a trip to the ever-wonderful Campo Di Fiori. I limited my spending there to some very ripe, sticky figs, and a punnet of wild strawberries.

 We then went to I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza, a Sicilian bakery for something a little more sustaining. We shared two extremely rich pastries, a ravioli dolci di ricotta and a cannoli stuffed with sweetened ricotta and dipped in pistachios. They were incredibly delicious, and not very expensive- the shop itself looks like it could charge you a lot, but for these two (big) pastries and a coffee we were only charged €5.

Next we went to the Jewish ghetto of Rome, where we went to Nonna Betta, one of the older kosher restaurants in the area.  The menu is split into a meat section and a dairy section, and given our ricotta-heavy breakfast, we both opted for a meat based meal. I had homemade gnocchi with braised lamb. It’s not the most beautiful looking dish, but it was wonderfully flavoursome and rich.

For dinner, we decided to treat ourselves to something a bit more upmarket, as it was our final evening in Italy. We went to Dal Toscano, a Tuscan restaurant (unsurprisingly) not too far from St Peter’s Square. I wanted to go for their speciality, a thick T-bone steak, but was a bit scared by the price (€48 per kilo). So I had a rump steak, which was tasted lovely, but was not as rare as I would have liked. I did regret my more frugal choice when I saw other diners’ incredibly thick and bloody T-bone steaks. I’ll know for next time. Adam had a veal steak, which was delicious- better than my steak, I think.

To follow, I had zabaglione. Again, Adam made a better choice than me, and had a custard and pine nut tart. Luckily he was happy to let me try both of his courses, so I could appreciate everything.

Roman Holiday: Part III

I could have eaten Roman food for the entirety of my holiday and not gotten bored, but I decided to be adventurous and hop on the train to Santa Marinella for a day of eating seafood and lying by the beach. Well, maybe not that adventurous, because I got the idea entirely from this article. Even if I’d ended up in Santa Marinella without guidance, there is no way I would have found the restaurant we visited; it's about a 25 minute walk from the station along a main road.

The restaurant in question, Tavola Azzurra 2, is an unassuming-looking Sardinian restaurant. They don’t do menus; you are offered what’s being cooked that day and you can take it or leave it. They brought us a jug of white wine, water, crispy carta di musica and a salad of assorted sea creatures dressed in olive oil, lemon and parsley (mostly octopus, but there were some prawns mixed in too).

 Sometime later, they brought us a huge plates of spaghetti alle vongole. It was incredibly garlicky and buttery, and had a generous amount (and variety) of clams. Despite feeling very full, we still used the bread to soak up the butter-garlic-seafood juices left on our plates.

We were then brought some pastries which we shared - a fig and almond tart and a berry tart. These were nice, but I didn’t appreciate them as much as the seafood. I couldn’t manage the final offering: a thick, bitter medicinal spirit.

Our bill

Roman Holiday Part II

Ragno D’Oro is located a short walk from St Peter’s square, but far enough take away any worries that you might be walking into a tourist trap. The name translates as Golden Spider, according to Google translate. We started with a very Roman selection of appetisers- fried courgette flowers, a globe artichoke to share and salt cod fritters, as well as some prosciutto and focaccia. I enjoyed it all, and despite the high proportion of deep-fried items, it didn’t feel too heavy.

To follow, I had a risotto alla crema di scampi, and Adam had spaghetti al frutto di mare. They were both gorgeous, but exceptionally rich- Adam struggled to finish his spaghetti due to the sheer quantity of butter in the dish. I found my risotto more manageable, but then I do have a love of fatty and dairy laden food.

Like the previous night, we didn’t have dessert at the restaurant, but went to a gelateria. This time we went to Fatamorgana, which is in the Prati area. They have a large selection of flavours, including a chocolate a tobacco concoction called ‘Kentucky’. Sticking to the rich food theme, I had a scoop of Venezuelan chocolate and a scoop of gianduja, whereas Adam went for a lighter option of strawberry and lemon sorbets.

Roman Holiday: Part I

I've just come home from my fourth trip to Rome, it's been my best trip there so far for a number of reasons, one of which was the food. Any holiday I take I centres around food as much as possible, and this time I was with my partner who is as interested in eating as much as I am, and doesn't seem to mind searching for the nicest looking deli or pasticceria, even if it is 11am and we haven't had breakfast yet.

Our first meal was surprisingly good- I say surprisingly because it was at about 3pm on a Sunday, and most places that aren't tourist traps would be closed at this time. We ended up stopping at the first place that was actually open, which looked unassuming, but turned out to serve very decent, simple food- I had a very tasty bucatini all'amatriciana, and Adam had spaghetti alle vongole. Unfortunately, my head wasn't really in food critic mode, I was too hungry and too tired from the trip to really assess what I was eating, or take down the name of the restaurant.

A nap and a walk into the centre of the city later, we were ready for our next meal. This time we could be more discerning where we went, as the restaurants had re-opened for evening service.  We found ourselves at Da Baffetto, which is a very popular pizzeria with both locals and tourists. It seems to make an appearance in every travel guide to Rome, and in every list of top 10 pizzerias in the city. We joined a queue for a table, where I could take some pictures of the exterior:

The queue moved quickly, and were seated right next to the wood burning oven- not great from a comfort perspective-it was a very warm evening-but watching the 3 chefs prepare the pizzas was good entertainment.

The pizza was as Roman pizza should be- thin, crispy and slightly blistered from the oven.

 

We didn't stay for pudding, instead continued our walk, stopping of for gelato at Cremaria Monteforte, which is a few moments away from the Pantheon. I went for a rather Middle-Eastern inspired combination of rose and pistachio ice creams, and Adam opted for lemon sorbet.

The rose ice-cream was delicious, flavoursome without reminding me of bath products, which rose flavoured things often do. 

Warm smoked mackerel, lentil and roast tomato salad

250g green lentils
3 fillets smoked mackerel
about 200g cherry tomatoes
one small/ half a large red onion, peeled, or a bunch of spring onions
bunch flatleaf parsley
2 small sticks celery
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Zest of 1 lemon
Leaves from a few springs of thyme.
Wholegrain mustard
clove garlic
2 big handfuls  of rocket, watercress or other salad leaves

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, and add the lentils. Don't salt the water, as it will make the lentils harden. Cook until the lentils are tender, which will vary in time depending on how old they are- I'd allow at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 190 degrees. Halve the tomatoes and put in an oven proof dish. Lightly coat with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast for about 15-20 minutes. Set aside in the pan. Any juices left from roasting the tomatoes will be added to the dressing, so don't be too enthusiastic with clearing up just yet.

Finely chop the red onion or spring onion, and set aside. Slice the celery finely too, and put with the onion. Destalk the parsley, and roughly chop the leaves. Skin the mackerel fillets, and flake into medium sized pieces.

Once the lentils are cooked, drain and let them cool for a few minutes. Slice the garlic clove in half, and crush lightly with the flat side of a knife. Rub the cut side of the clove around the serving dish. This will give the final dish a slight scent of garlic, without being overwhelming. Put the lentils into the serving dish and add  the tomatoes, with any juices from the roasting tray to the serving dish too.Dress the lentils with some olive oil, and just enough red wine vinegar to give them a twang. Add some wholegrain mustard, to your taste. Start with a heaped teaspoon and increase from there. Finely chop the thyme leaves, and add to the lentils along with the lemon zest.Stir through the mackerel, onion and celery. Add the salad leaves and parsley, using a fork to gently mix it in. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Serves 4

Hot Cross Buns

I made these using the same recipe last easter, and left it too late to post a recipe- hot cross buns in June just aren't right. I didn't want to make my own hot cross buns before Easter, but I hope posting the recipe on Good Friday gives any potential HCB bakers the chance to make them over the long weekend.

Again, I turn to Felicity Cloake's 'How to Cook the Perfect...' series. It does make me so much lazier at experimenting with cooking, on the other hand it allows me to bypass mistakes and go straight to perfect recipes- I am torn between whether I love it, or whether I resent having the exploration already done for me. I do know I really enjoy the articles, and I am hugely envious of her job.

I was glad Felicity has written a HCB recipe- before I relied on Felicity, I relied on Nigella; and I wasn't too impressed with her hot cross buns recipe- they were not sweet enough, and were too much like plain bread rolls. Felicity's feel more of a treat, richer and sweeter.

I did still make some adjustments to the recipe:

• I soaked the currants in Lady Grey tea. Dan Lepard soaks the fruit in his recipe in tea- a touch which creates, in Felicity's words an 'unnervingly juicy result'. I took this as a good thing, although Felicity doesn't do this in her final recipe. Perfection is, of course, subjective. I chose Lady Grey for it's citrussy flavours, which I really like in my Easter bun.
• I left out the 50g mixed peel, and made up the weight with extra currants. (I hate mixed peel).
• I added a strip of lemon peel and a strip of orange peel to the milk when I was infusing it with the spices.
• A controversial choice- I used strips of marzipan to make the crosses. I didn't like the alternatives for making the crosses that Felicity came across- icing, and cream cheese frosting. They both seem an very unwelcome addition. But marzipan doesn't seem unfitting here- and it makes the cross part actually interesting to eat. Also, you can make cut out strips of marzipan that make very neat crosses, whereas piping out a flour and water paste can be a very messy affair.

Soaking raisins in tea and infusing milk with citrus zest and spices.

Dough after the first prove

Shaped and unbaked buns

Unbaked buns with marzipan crosses