Sticky Toffee Pudding and Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

This is a proper rib sticking hearty affair that will definitely make you feel a bit too full afterwards. Now, I have done this as cupcake size portions, because although the original recipe says that it serves 8 (cooked in a retangular dish), I realized that my way gets 24 good sized portions with pretty presentation and gives you thrice as many overfed satisfied guests for your buck, so to speak. So, either pour your mixture into a large oven proof ceramic serving dish, or like me, divide the mixture between 24 lined cupcake moulds.

Having used cupcakes portions, and having a few left over, I discovered that this sponge delicious in it's own right, so this Friday I am experimenting with a cupcake version that can been eaten as a cake rather than pudding - the sponge freezes like a dream, so if you have any left over, be sure to hang onto them (and defrost them with a unceramonous blast in the microwave).

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Date Puree
375g dates, with stones removed
375 ml water

Toffee Sauce
600ml cream
300g sugar
130g unsalted butter

Sponge
130g unsalted butter
375g soft dark brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
450g plain flour
10g baking powder (sifted into the flour)
3g bicarbonate of soda (sifted into the flour)

Plus creme fraiche or good vanilla ice cream to serve.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Make the date puree: Simmer the dates in the water over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until they are soft and the water has almost evaporated. Process them in a blender until they are smooth.
Make the sponge: In a food processor or mixer, cream the butter and sugar with the paddle on a medium speed until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly , taking care the mixture doesn't separate (add a bit of the flour with the eggs to prevent this). Then fold in the sifted flour mixture slowly until smooth. Finally, add the warm date puree and mix well. Transfer your mixture to your baking receptacle of choice and bake for about 50 minutes in a dish, or 25 minutes in cupcakes cases or until the sponge is firm to the touch.
Make the toffee sauce: Whilst your sponge is in the oven (or before if you want to do as much prep in advance), pour half the cream and the sugar and butter into a thick bottomed pan and mix well. Bring the sauce to the boil stirring with a wooden spoon, and continue until the sauce is golden brown. This will take a while but persevere. When it goes golden brown, remove from heat, allow to cool slightly, and then whisk in remaining cream.
To assemble: If you've made cupcakes, remove the papers and arrange on a serving dish (a slightly lipped one is fine). Pierce the sponge all over with a fine skewer and the cover with about a third of the toffee sauce. Return to the oven at 175C for 10 minutes to warm through then remove.
To serve: Put the remaining sauce in a jug and heat (in the microwave). As you remove the sponge from the ovem, drizzle with a little more sauce and the serve at the table with the left over sauce on the side - encourage people to help themselves to extra sauce with thier pudding and a big dollop of creamy ice cream.

Now, if you've made these, then the above is the follow-on recipe of choice, as all you need to do is pour the leftover caramel syrup into some cream and whisk over a bit of heat to get your toffee sauce - a much faster option and worth considering to make the most of leftovers.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING CUPCAKES Follow the recipe as above (without the sauce), making the sponge with date puree in cupcakes.

Make the icing as follows:
Using your mixer with a whisk attachment, beat 140g of butter and 280g of sifted icing sugar together (you may want to add a bit more to get a good consistency for pipping). Add a few tablespoons of caramel syrup (either one you made here or a shop brought one is fine) and continue to beat. Taste and if overly sweet, add a squeeze of lemon juice to calm it down. Pipe onto you cooled cakes as desired.

Two treats from one recipe - I personally would use half as pudding and half as cakes, freezing the ones you don't use for later and recycling as required.

Carbonara

Apols, as it has been a while - CNY, guests to name but a few lame excuses. And although I took A LOT of photos, none was of the food.

As we had guests it was the usual round of eating on the tourist trail - Red Pepper, Mak's noodles (a lot), The Dragon Restaurant on Gage Street (pigs on walls - real dead ones), Dim Sum in Stanley (Shu Zhai) and Happy Valley (Sing Woo Road), Duck at Peking Garden after the light show, as well as a pizza at Simpatico and hangover Burgers at Shake 'em Buns. We need to add a few more places on to the list and remove a few others. Much as I love duck pancakes, I've had it that many times I just can't face them any more.

Amongst all this, I did manage to do some cooking - a CNY feast of Char sui, garlic pak choi, cheung fun in XO sauce and chilli prawns with chive and garlic shoots, but a favourite was carbonara - perfect for a bit of comfort eating and I usually have all the ingredients in, so it's cheap and quick too. Don't get too hung up on the exact amounts - to be honest I often do this dish to use up cream and eggs and the sad looking Parmesan that lurks at the back of the fridge.

Carbonara for two

2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 packet of pancetta (I always have some in the freezer)
4 tablespoons cheapy muscat or similar (sounds specific, but it lasts as, unlike the usual white wine, no one is tempted to drink it neat. Ever.)
1 egg yolk
1 whole egg
3 tablespoons double cream
4 big tablespoons ish of fresh Parmesan
Enough linguine for two people (bog-standard dried DeCecco is perfect)

Fry the pancetta (from frozen is fine) in a small frying pan until golden. Add the wine to the pan and let it bubble off until you are left with about 2 tablespoons of oily wine and the crispy panchetta and remove from the heat.
In a jug, beat the whole egg, egg yolk, the cheese.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and return to it’s cooking pan and stir in the pancetta and juices. The add the egg mixture and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon and serve with some crispy garlicky bread, and a green salad if you need to feel a little less guilty.

It's back to to the low fat stuff this week after all that eating - I'll keep you posted....

edit: completely forgot that I did some excellent sticky toffee puddings as well that I need to write up at some point - we're eeking out the remains from the freezer, still good - warm and sweetly date-y (the fruit) - having been quickly defrosted in the microwave without the sauce.

Christmas - Rudolph Pie

Well, it's been all quiet on the Eastern front since the being of December as I have been back West, to London, for most of December.

I missed a tonnes of gorgeous Christmas cooking to be done - cooking in someones elses kitchen is never the same and you are always ferreting around in the back of cupboards/drawers praying there's a grater/scales/rolling pin that is the crux of the recipe you've already started making. However I did manage to bang out a fabulous Christmas Cake, a Christmas Eve dinner of Rudolph Pie with red cabbage and a Christmas Lunch with all the trimmings - sausages in bacon, roast potatoes crisped to perfection in goose fat etc etc.

The Rudolph Pie suggestion came courtesy of a friend who is always great with ideas as I struggled to come up with something Christmassy, that didn't resemble a roast dinner, was easy to put together for what was our main family meal of the season. It is a Nigella recipe, slightly altered.

Minced venison can be a really hard to find - online or from a game butcher is your best bet, and I got mine from Borough market - well worth the visit, even if it is just to check out my friend and all round goddess's fabulous Mushroom pâté stall. Also, don't get too bogged down in the exact measurements - the packet of porcini I got had 40g in it, so that's all I used, and the onions and carrots are easily whizzed up briefly in a magimix as it took me hours and a lot of running mascara to make it through them by hand.

You're going to need a big dish - 30cm/30cm at least - and this left over enough of the meat sauce to stir into fresh tagliatelle for E, who hates potatoes and freeze a small bit for future pasta dinners. Serve with some festive red cabbage and some greens if you must.

• 50g dried porcini
• 3 - 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 white onions chopped
• 3 large carrots chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled and minced
• 500g button mushrooms, quartered
• 1kg minced venison
• 1kg minced pork
• 2 tbsp flour
• 6 tbsp Marsala
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
  
• Worcestershire sauce to taste

To Top:

• 3.5 kg potatoes, peeled and cut up into large chunks (no more than thirds)
  
• 100ml full-fat milk
• 100g butter
  
• nutmeg
• sprinkle of Worcestershire sauce

Pour 500ml of near-boiling water over the porcini mushrooms and leave to steep.Warm oil into very large thick bottomed pan and add the chopped onions, carrots and minced garlic. Cook stirring for about 10 minutes, sprinkling with the salt if the vegetables look as if they may burn.

Drain the porcini, reserving the soaking liquid, chop coarsely and add with the button mushrooms to the vegetable mixture. After about 5 minutes tip the whole lot out to brown the meat.

Add a little more oil to the pan then tip in the minced meats, breaking them up with a wooden spoon. Stir for about five minutes until the rawness has left them a bit, add salt - unstintingly - and then return the vegetable mixture to the pan.

Stir in the flour and add the mushroom-soaking liquid, tinned tomatoes, diluted puree, Marsala, 125ml water, and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce. Stir well, cover partly with a lid and reduce heat so that the mince bubbles gently, for about an hour.

Meanwhile boil the potatoes in a large pan of salted water until they are nearly ready. Boil until they are cooked to easily mashable tenderness, then drain and allow to dry slightly.

Warm the milk and melt the butter in the heat of the potato-pan. Mash the potatoes straight into this, grate in some fresh nutmeg and add salt to taste.

Put the mince into your large dish, then dollop the potato mash on top, spreading with a spatula, taking care to seal the edges to prevent the meat below from bubbling up in the oven. Fork lines over the top and sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce.

If you're cooking this straight away, about 10 minutes in a 225C oven should be enough to make it piping hot and crispily golden on top. If cooking from cold, about an hour in a 190C should do it.

I topped it with half a cherry tomato for a Rudolph nose effect. Rather annoyingly, there's no pictures as my camera has chosen to crash every time I attempt to take any photos - hopefully it will be up and running for the Friday baking.

Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagna

We have some friends staying this weekend, so I really want to cook something for a low key dinner - eating out all the time can get a bit much and it's nice to have the opportunity to stay in and relax. Especially as I don't want to drink too much again....

This is based on Delia Smiths vegetable lasagna. The trick is to get the vegetables cut up to roughly all of the same size for even cooking. To be honest, I have now dispensed with salting aubergines and courgettes - today's veggies have had most of the bitterness that once plagued them bred out. When adding your pasta sheets you may have to break up some of the sheets to fit the dish - you need to cover the entire thing. It always freezes like a dream, so if we are tempted by the city lights, I can always keep it for an emergency comfort food dinner.

All this needs is a lemony-dressed green salad so you can be healthy and opt for a big portion of the salad and a small of the lasagna if you fancy, though once you see it out of the oven with bubbling cheese edges with a crispy top and wafting it's roasted vegetable smell, this option is doubtful.

Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagna

The filling:

8-10 spinach (green) lasagna sheets

1 small aubergine, cut into chunks
2 medium courgettes, cut into rounds
450g cherry tomatoes (skinned - place in just boiled water for a few mins and the skins will fall off)
1 large red onion, cut into squares
2 yellow or red peppers, cut into squares
2 fat cloves are garlic, crushed
2 big sprigs of basil, torn roughly
1 ball of mozzarella, chopped finely

The sauce:

35 g plain flour
40 g butter
1 pint (570 ml) milk
1 bay leaf
grating of fresh nutmeg
3 level tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
salt and freshly milled black pepper

The Topping:

2 level tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan

Pre-heat the oven 240°C. You will need a large roasting tin and a heatproof baking dish measuring about 23 x 23 x 5 cm.

Arrange the tomatoes, aubergine, courgettes, peppers and onion in the roasting tin, sprinkle with the chopped garlic, basil and olive oil, toss everything around in the oil to get a good coating, and season with salt and pepper. Now place the tin on the highest shelf of the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are toasted brown at the edges.

Meanwhile make the sauce by placing all the ingredients (except the cheese) in a small saucepan and whisking continuously over a medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens. Then turn the heat down to its lowest and let the sauce cook for 2 minutes. Now add the grated Parmesan.

When the vegetables are done, remove them from the oven and turn the oven down to 180°C.

Now in the baking dish, line the bottom with layer of lasagna sheets, then pour one quarter of the sauce, followed by one third of the vegetable mixture. Then sprinkle in a third of the Mozzarella and follow this with a single layer of lasagna sheets. Repeat this process, ending up with a final layer of sauce over a top layer of lasagna sheets and top with the grated Parmesan. Now place the dish in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is crusty and golden.

Char Sui

Here's my recipe for the char sui - not as good as the place in the dead pigs on the walls on Gage Street (watch that floor - it's a death trap, and don't looks in the bucket full pig bits on the way to the loo - it fact, don't use the loo...) but pretty yummy all the same.

Notes: you do need the msg - we had a long discussion about this at the time of making it, msg has been used in Cantonese cooking for about 90 years now and unless you are allergic, it won't do you any harm. Lots of the rumours about how awful it is are unfounded/not proven. I don't use the red food colouring at home, but apparently the locals insist!

1.3 - 1.5kg pork - it should be pork butt or shoulder as you need the fat for the flavour when cooking - but I used the fattiest piece of pork loin I could find.

Marinade:
Garlic - 15g
Shallot - 15g
msg - 6g to 10g
caster sugar - 180g
chu hou sauce - 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons (I used Lee Kum Kee brand in a jar from Wellcome) I'd imagine that hoisin could be used as a substitute if absolutely necessary.
light soy - 30g
water 30g
sesame paste (I used tahini) - 115g
Salt - 30g
rose wine - 15g (it's the one in the green tear-shaped bottle - mei kuei lu chiew)
red food colouring - adjust to personal colour desired

Malt Glaze:
Water - 30g
Sugar - 15g
Maltose - 225g (at a push use a bland honey)

1. Cut the pork into long (10-11 inches) strips about 2-3 inches thick. Wash very throughly until it loses it's colour, pat dry before use.
2. Mince or blend the garlic and shallot. In a bowl, mix the water, soy, sugar, and msg. Add the remaining marinade ingredients (EXCEPT the colouring) to the bowl, and then stir in the minced shallot and garlic. Mix throughly.
3. Add the marinade to the pork strips and coat well - if desired add the red food colour for the authentic look.
4. Marinade for at least 3 hours - stir regularly to coat all the pork.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 300c (or as high as it will go). Put the pork on a roasting rack in the oven and roast for 15 minutes before turning over and roasting for a further 10 minutes.
6. Make the malt glaze: add all the ingredients to a small pan and heat until all dissolved and runny - keep warm to use for glazing.
7. Then turn the oven down to 250c and brush both sides of the meat with the malt glaze. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, brushing it with the malt glaze and turning it over every 5 minutes. It's done when a chopstick will easily pierce the thickest park - don't worry if the thin ends have gone very black - these can be trimmed off.
8. Remove from the oven and brush again with malt glaze - leave to rest for 30 mins before cutting into slices.

To Serve: Serve on rice with (thanks to Peggy Wong) the following - Chop a lot of ginger very finely and add some salt - heat up a couple of tablespoons of oil (canola or vegetable) and pour onto the ginger. Add some chopped spring onion and mix the whole thing to serve as a dipping sauce. You can't make enough of this - it goes SO well with the pork.

Yum! I'm making this again this friday.

Chocolate Layers - Brownies, salted caramel mouse and a chocolate ganche

As K suggested this would be fabulous cut into much smaller squares and served as petit fours, though I served it in thin slices - it's very rich and totally yummy. I found in on another blog, the excellent Tartelette - I've altered it only very slightly.

Dark Chocolate Walnut Brownie base:

3oz tablespoons unsalted butter
6oz 70% chocolate
2 3/4 oz plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
5oz caster sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°. Line an 9x13 inch baking tray with baking paper, leaving an overhang on to sides so you can lift the whole thing out once completed.

Melt together butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Remove the bowl from heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to let it cool slightly.
Beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla until pale and thick (about 3 minutes) then add in the cooled chocolate mixture and beat again.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and slowly mix until just incorporated.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and smooth top with an spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownie between edge and center comes out with a few crumbs about 20 minutes, depending on your oven (Do not overbake!). Let cool completely in the tin before proceeding.

Milk Chocolate and Salted Butter Caramel Mousse Layer:

3 1/2 oz caster sugar
2 Tbsp water
1 oz salted butter
10 floz double cream, divided into 7floz and 3 floz
6 oz mix of milk and semi sweet chocolate

Keep the 7 floz of cream chilled in fridge. Microwave the remaining 3 floz and the butter until it is fairly hot and the butter is melted. It will be added to the caramel and by being hot it will prevent the caramel from seizing on you and clumping up.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water . Set aside.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the sugar to the water over medium high heat and cook, without stirring until you get a dark brown caramel. Take the pan off the heat and add the butter and cream mix. It will bubble like mad but it will not run over....if the butter and cream are not cold the bubbling will be minimal and short lived. Stir with a wooden spoon to smooth the caramel if necessary. Let it cool to lukewarm.
Add the caramel to the chocolate and stir until smooth - if it seizes (which is may) mix in a small amount of vegetable oil to save it and continue.

Whip the remaining cream to soft peaks. Fold 1/3 of the this whipped cream to the chocolate/caramel to loosen it up and then add the remaining whipped cream. Spread over the brownie base and refrigerate until completely set. The mousse is quite dense as there are no egg whites involved so don't worry if it looks like it won't set - it will

Dark Chocolate Ganache:
5 floz cup heavy cream
6oz 70% chocolate

In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer, remove from the heat. Add the chocolate to the cream and let sit for 5 minutes. Slowly stir the heavy cream and chocolate until they come together and form a shiny ganache. Let cool. You want the ganache to still be pourable but not too warm that it will melt the mousse.Spread it over the caramel mousse and refrigerate until set.

To serve: lift the dessert out of the pan using the overhanging paper sides and trim the sides with a sharp knife (heated under hot water and wiped dry), cut into the desired number of servings and enjoy. You can sprinkle with the chopped walnuts - or just dust with cocoa.

This Weekend

I am feeling like such a glutton at the moment, and as soon as C is dispatched to Vietnam tomorrow, E and I will resume business as usual on the eating front, and by that I mean salads all round until next weekend, but it has been lovely to have an excuse to indulge.

I was a bit disappointed with the places we ended up in this weekend - there was no amazing stand out meal, we only went to Shake 'em Buns (excellent but hardly the gourmet rush I was after), The Blue Duck Workshop (the less said about the food the better), The Peak Cafe (average, but a lovely garden when it's not chucking it down with rain - hello summer?) and Beirut for the best houmous in Hong Kong (honestly, I've tried them all).

Though we made up for this inviting the "the parents to be" over and having roasted welsh lamb marinated in beautiful olive oil with garlic and rosemary, accompanied by crunchy green beans in a minted wholegrain mustard vinaigrette, and smashed roasted potatoes (due to a tad too much par-boiling and a too vigorous shaking before putting them in the oven - though they worked). After this we had a steamed syrup sponge with a hint of lemon and lashings of custard coupled with five bottles of red and a bottle of pudding wine, followed by several games of cards, the "who am I?" game, the Game of Life, and a slump in front of the GP/Tennis with a cup of mint tea.

A lovely rainy Sunday.

Cenacolo, Yi Jiang Nan, Ragu Bolognese

Had probably the worst meal out in HK so far on Friday at Cenacolo on Graham Street, Central (fortunately with great company though). It was like eating in a Italian in Streatham circa. 1972 - complete with wooden cartwheels on the wall, because they look, you know, rustic.

Anyway, I had read a unfavourable review of this place first (sour milk Pannacotta anyone?) but as I hadn't booked it and am trying to rein in my Bossy Boots (or Little Miss Know-It-All as E says) tendencies, I didn't mention anything.

"Worst" makes it sound like it was so awful that we all spent the night being ill - it wasn't that at all - it was just a bit rubbishy - all the dishes came as the menu stated, but is was just so disappointing - the the menu was overly lengthy (pages and pages), the antipasto platter was exactly that only they had used the cheapest meats and accompaniments, the pasta was ok, but again, they had used the cheapest type of pasta, so the texture was poor, the calamari was rubbery (and a bit fishy), the main courses un-memorable and I don't think any of us finished them, and the medium-bodied red recommended wasn't. It wasn't that the food was bad (the service was good), it was just very poorly executed food - no passion or love or thought. In HK's fierce and excellent restaurant scene, I am amazed they can get away with it.

However, despite this we did have such a fun night due to the company - lots of chatting and wine (and cherry-topped drinks). We ladies had to be forced into in taxis at 2. Perfect.

All this was followed up by a lovely meal at Yi Jiang Nan on Staunton Street on Saturday, when we were both feeling a little sorry for ourselves and craving the comfort food of fluffy white rice and spicy chillies. The beef with scallions was excellent, as was the garlic sauteed Chinese broccoli. Also good was the fried chicken with chilies and the salt and pepper aubergine (though a little plentiful). It certainly hit the spot.

Yesterday we had impromptu lunch on our new dinning room table - square is the way forward, very sociable. I made fettuccine with ragu, whilst E brought some lovely Jambon Iberico (leg and loin) which we ate with Parmesan and honey for nibbles first, and a couple of lovely bottles of red and a pudding wine which we had with Friands - all very good. Followed by a few too many drinks down at the Peak Lookout, under the trees in the garden.

Ragu (Bolognese)

This takes awhile to make so I recommend making twice the recipe and freezing the rest – it’s very handy to have lots in the freezer, and you can also use it as a base for cottage pie and lasagne. It re-heats like a dream.

1 kg lean mince beef
50g Good butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 small stick of celery, finely chopped
300ml dry white wine
200ml milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
400g tinned tomatoes (plum or Italian), chopped

Melt the butter and the oil in a heavy bottomed pan on a medium heat and add the carrot, celery and onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the beef and stir until all the raw red colour has gone (but it’s not fully cooked or brown). Turn the heat to medium-high and add the wine and stir occasionally until the wine has evaporated. Turn back to a medium heat and add the milk and nutmeg and stir until most of the milk has evaporated. Then add the tomato and stir until they bubble. Tune the heat down low and cook for at least and hour (if it reduces too much, add a little water)

Storage: Freeze in re-sealable bags. Make lots as it freezes really well.

Weather - as before. Really. Not good.