Cooking With Kids

The great folks at Great British Chefs (who I regularly write for) have recently launched a Cooking With Kids campaign. They have created a fabulous collection of recipes to tempt your charming children into cooking and eating a balanced and exciting diet. Dishes include aubergine parmigiana, bacon stuffed spuds and baked cod in tomato sauce. As well as catering to the tastes of the under 10s, these recipes sound more than a little appealing to this almost-33 year old too.

Recently, Great British Chefs conducted a survey with over 1300 parents on how children are cooking. They've agreed to give my readers a sneak peak at some of the highlights of their survey results with a fun infographic. So here it is!

The full results will be published over on the GBC site tomorrow afternoon, but these preview results certainly make for interesting reading - especially that shocking 7% statistic about how much influence we've taken from our Dads in the kitchen. Tsk tsk. Let's hope the next generation of British adults will have more kitchen-based memories to share with their fathers.

I must admit, my Dad rarely entered the kitchen other than to slice another lemon wedge for a gin and tonic or raid the back of the cupboards hunting down crisps. He made a mean fry up though and always wielded the pan on Pancake Day and you couldn't keep him away from the barbecue on a hot, sunny day, however much you tried. I was definitely more influenced by my mum, who was pretty adventurous and bold compared to most of my friends' parents.

As kids, my sisters and I always ate the same food as our parents - there were no cheap sausage and chip dinners for us, while the grown-ups had chicken jalfrezi and pilau rice. My mum always cooked from scratch and never made a big deal out of it, so I just naturally assumed the same attitude to food as I grew up.

I loved cooking so much as a child, that I was making chocolate profiteroles for my parents' dinner parties when I was 7 or 8 and getting out the silverware and posh napkins for elaborate breakfasts for the whole family on weekends. I might have made a terrible mess and I might have turned out the odd inedible dinner (carrots and minced beef in a whole bottle of soy sauce being one such example), but I knew how to knock up a salad dressing, whip up a Victoria sponge, stuff a tomato and cook a Sunday roast before I left primary school. And what's more, I loved it. It really stood me in good stead for my future and now, I'm proud to say, building on those early days in the kitchen, I can dish up a decent dinner and certainly know my artichokes from my zebra.

Cooking with kids is not only fun for you and them, it helps set them up for a lifetime of good food. What greater gift is there to give them?

Café de Mort

Photo from www.rememberacharity.org.uk

Nobody likes to think about death. Let alone our own. But you know what they say about death and taxes…

I went to Café de Mort and I survived. Organised by Remember A Charity, this two day pop-up restaurant was figure-headed by (an absent) Gregg Wallace and developed by food writer Matt Day and chef Errol Defoe. The potentially deadly menu aimed to make diners consider the fragile transience of life. What better way to ponder the legacy you’d like to leave after you’ve died, than while sitting down to eat what could very well be your last meal. Once you’ve looked after your loved ones, please think about leaving a gift to your favourite charity in your Will. I was a guest of Dogs Trust, so for all you dog lovers out there, you can still help out our furry friends even after you’ve kicked the bucket. 

Photo from www.rememberacharity.org.uk

Already feeling on death’s door with a bad cold coupled with a hangover, I trudged over to The Crypt at St Andrew’s in Holborn Circus, ready to face my mortality in meal form. I knew the venue well, having acted in a play called Warcrime down in the crypt a few years ago. They’ve poshed the place up since then – the floor is now even and it doesn’t feel quite as damp as it once did. 

When Michael Billington came to review us, he was keen to meet the final remaining unburied body (still unidentified after the enforced excavation of the crypt after the ceiling collapsed), wrapped in blue plastic, who lived just round the corner from our underground dressing room. And I’m delighted to report (sort of) that “Bob” was still there (or so we were told, I didn’t visit him this time round), adding an extra deathly atmosphere to the night’s proceedings. 

The Crypt really is a dramatically macabre venue, perfect for a night promising the deadliest feast known to man. We kicked off the evening with a nod from a serious-looking St John’s ambulance man, before signing a waiver in case any of us died. Then, I was led, in the gloomy half-light, towards a glass of Absinthe and Champagne, to get the juices flowing for what was to come. 

Green tea and sake Martini. Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

We sat round black tablecloth-covered tables, sipping the next potentially lethal drink of the evening: sake and green tea Martini. These sounded fairly tame to me, but apparently the Polyphenols found in green tea may cause liver and kidney damage. The Martinis tasted strangely bitter and musty. More exciting was the first course: Fugu sashimi with ponzu. Yes, that’s right, I ate puffer fish and I survived! The gastronomic equivalent to Russian roulette, fugu contains lethal levels of Tetrodotoxin, and, if not prepared expertly, can result in painful and certain death. 

Fugu sashimi with ponzu. Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

The taste of the fish itself isn’t particularly extraordinary. In fact, it just tastes like very slightly rubbery textured and delicate flavoured white fish. The dish was prettily presented with what tasted and looked like delicious seaweed flavoured Quavers. 

I respected the fact that we were thrown right into the deep end with the deadliest dish as the first course. Facing fugu led us all to ponder the precariousness of our own mortality, which was exactly what the evening aimed to do. 

Bloody Hell Mary. Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

Next up, we were presented with Bloody Hell Mary cocktails, containing Poitin - aka Irish moonshine. It was outlawed in 1661 due to its adverse health effects, which included blindness, but they stopped worrying about that by the mid 1990s and it was made legal again in ‘97. I can’t say I enjoyed this strangely tangy drink, but the curried ackee patties with ghost chilli washed the bloody awful taste of the Bloody Hell Marys away. Officially the world’s hottest chilli, the Ghost chilli is currently being developed into a self-defence weapon. 

Curries ackee pattie with ghost chilli. Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

I was expecting my mind to be well and truly blown, but I was surprised when I found the heat fairly mild. Sitting opposite another diner who was mopping his sweaty brow and knocking back as much water as he could reach, I wondered if I might, in actual fact, be some kind of hardcore chilli ninja, deserving of some kind of red hot medal. There’s no doubt I was finding the whole transience of life stuff quite exhilarating. Either that or the Poitin had kicked in.

Kluwak nut pasta with false morels. Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

Next up came a bowl of what looked like a hearty bovine broth with bits in it, but in actual fact, was kluwak nut pasta with false morels. It turns out this earthy soup potentially contained lethal doses of Hydrogen Cyanide.  To wash down the tasty soup, we were each handed a Champagne flute with a liquid that looked like old-fashioned lemonade with backwash in it. Turns out it was a snake wine cocktail and, by God, it was rancid. It was like a glass of Sarson’s with the added sour twang of a fungal foot infection. I tried to get used it, tried to drain the glass, but I think I’d rather have taken a fanging from the snake who’d drowned in it. 

Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

They brought round the bottle of neat snake wine next, to see who was brave enough to take a tipple. I couldn’t say no, when else would I get the chance to drink from a bottle containing a steeped venomous snake clutching a scorpion in its jaws? I knocked it back in one and, for a moment, desperately scanned the room in search of the St John’s Ambulance man. It felt almost like a sting, an allergic reaction. My tongue felt pinched and my mouth tingled unpleasantly, before the effects of the venom subsided and left behind the aftertaste of oily fish. Drinking snake wine is like someone snapping an elastic band on your tongue before slapping you round the face with a mackerel. I’m glad I’ve tried it, if only so that I know never to try it again. 

Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

The first of two puddings came in the shape of enormous macaroons with unpasteurised bitter almond cream and elderberry coulis. Although each bitter almond contains between 4 and 9mg of Hydrogen Cyanide, after the snake wine I knew nothing short of a live cobra picking its teeth with the rib of a clown could scare me. Light, creamy and sweet, this pud was the perfect antidote to the fishy snake drink and could only worry a pregnant woman due to the unpasteurised milk. We washed it down with a glass of equally unfrightening Amaretto, which can apparently induce symptoms of Cyanide poisoning. Whatevs.

Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

For the final course of the night, we ate peanut, cacao and nutmeg sweetmeats, which was billed as “a most tempting trio of potential toxins – Aflatoxin, Theobromine and Myristicin” which can cause vomiting, wild hallucinations and even death. For a moment I thought I could see Gregg Wallace in the distance, but it must have been a wild hallucination brought on by the pudding, or possibly the 84.5% proof rum I’d just necked. They’d swirled it about with cream and nutmeg so that it tasted like really boozy custard, and I do really love custard. And booze.

Photograph courtesy of Urvashi Roe*

The evening was a blast - the gothic atmosphere, the nervous and giggly camaraderie it induced between diners, “Bob” in the other room and the possibility of someone carking it at any moment. Alright, so the sense of danger wasn’t genuinely palpable, but it did bring home the message of the night clearly and in a fun and original way. It was a meal I won’t quickly forget, not least because the snake wine was still repeating on me for several days afterwards. But you don’t need to drink snake wine to remember a charity in your Will. Go on, do something nice from the grave.

* Huge thanks to Urvashi Roe for allowing me to her amazing photos from the night. Visit her brilliant blog here. 

"Roobarb" and Custard (RIP Richard Briers)

Vanilla rhubarb with custard panna cotta

Have you ever played that game where you have to pick a collection of famous people you'd like to invite over for Sunday lunch? It's usually the game you find yourself playing at a party which wound down an hour ago, but there's still 45 minutes before your cab's arriving. It's the kind of game that reignites the fun into a tired evening, without being in the least bit taxing. It's entirely uncompetitive, but everyone really wants to get it right. 

What I like best is that it genuinely celebrates people and the reasons we adore them. Humour, intelligence and talent win over money and power every time. I've never come across a player who would choose a Kardashion sister over Judi Dench, or Donald Trump over Spike Milligan. For my table, I sometimes include Christopher Biggins, but never leave out Richard Briers.

Rhubarb and custard panna cotta

Richard Briers died today at the age of 79. Best known to most as Tom from The Good Life, he was first known to me as the voice behind my favourite childhood programme, Roobarb and Custard.

Richard Briers

Although Roobarb and Custard was a 1970s show, it was still regularly on the telly when I was a child in the 80s and still holds up today. My nephews (aged 6 and 9) love it and I'm looking forward to my one year old niece being old enough to be converted, so I can have an excuse to giggle through the series all over again. It really is that good. In fact, the title music has been my ringtone for as long as I can remember.

So, here's my little tribute to the very wonderful, funny and talented, Richard Briers: a lovely pudding of rhubarb and custard for a much loved actor.

Rhubarb and custard pannacotta with ginger crumble

"Roobarb" and Custard

This is a light and refreshing take on the classic British combination of forced rhubarb and custard. I've made a custard panna cotta - which essentially means that I've set it with gelatine instead of baking it - and served it with rhubarb which I cooked with vanilla and sugar in the sous vide. You can just as easily bake it, but if there's any excuse to play with my new toy, I'll take it. I made my custard with single cream, but you can use double cream if you're after something richer or whole milk for something less so. But please don't do anything as perverse as trying this with skimmed. If you're unfortunate enough to have skimmed milk in your fridge, my advice would be to simply pour it down the sink. It will be better for everyone that way. 

If you are as much of a custard lover as me, you'll find other delicious custardy recipes over on Domestic Sluttery. Their Just Desserts club is all about custard this month, so do check them out.

Serves 6

"Roobarb"

150g forced rhubarb - the pinker the better

35g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out

35g water or the same weight in ice cubes if sous vide-ing

Vacuum pack all the ingredients in a single layer (it's best to use two bags) and drop them into the water bath at 61°C for 45 minutes. Fish out the bags and plunge them into ice water and then into the fridge until you want it.

Alternatively you can bake the rhubarb with the water and sugar at 180°C for about half an hour or until soft, but not squidgy. Leave to cool.

Custard Panna cotta

4 large egg yolks
100g caster sugar or, better still, vanilla caster sugar
350ml single cream
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
3 leaves of gelatine, soaked in cold water for 10 minutes

Place the cream/milk in a saucepan with the vanilla pod and gently bring to the boil. In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy and pop a sieve over the bowl ready. Once the cream has come to the boil, pour it through the sieve over the eggs to strain off the vanilla pod and any woody bits that have come off it in the cream. Whisk it all together and pour back into the saucepan. Place the saucepan over a gentle heat and whisk constantly until the custard thickens enough so that it can coat the back of a spoon and if you draw a line through the custard with your finger, the line remains. Transfer to a jug. Squeeze any excess water out of the gelatine and whisk into the hot custard until it has completely melted.

I poured my custard into oiled ring moulds with their bases covered tightly with cling film to set, but you can use ramekins or just set it in glasses. Whatever your chosen vessels, once cool, pop them into the fridge for at least 6 hours - overnight is easiest.

If using ring moulds, remove the cling film before placing one on a serving plate and blasting round the edges with a blowtorch to make sliding off the mould easy. A hairdryer will do the same job, or you can simply run a knife round the inside edge. For ramekins, dunk them quickly in boiling water to release and upturn on to a plate.

I served mine with a scattering of cold ginger-spiced crumble topping, cooked simply spread on a baking tray for ten minutes at 180°C before cooling. 

Rhubarb and custard panna cotta with ginger crumble

I Could Eat A Horse

Horsemeat

Horsemeat has been put in the spotlight due to the discovery of horse DNA in frozen burgers sold as beef in Tesco, Lidl, Iceland and Aldi. Although widely eaten in Europe, horsemeat has long tipped the controversy scales in the UK, but is our beef with eating equines ultimately hurting our horses?

Free range, sustainable and healthy: these are the words we all most want to hear when sourcing food for our tables, but when it comes to the meat we eat, not all animals are equal.

Horses are having a complicated time of it in the UK. Farm work has largely been overshadowed by modern machinery, there are only a select number of elite horses fit for the racecourse and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more expensive pet. Because of their depleting uses, equine numbers are steadily dropping. In fact, so critical are their numbers, that they are the group most worrying the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. The Cleveland Bay, Eriskay, Suffolk and Hackney horse and pony are all on their critical watch list (fewer than 300), with more breeds still on their endangered, vulnerable and at risk lists. Claire Barber at RBST, explained the problems the charity is facing in trying to conserve our native breeds:

“People are not buying horses because they’re too expensive to keep and breed, and without a productive purpose, they continue to lose market value”.

Although the RBST are doing stellar conservation work, they are all too aware that economic realities can’t be ignored.  Hill farmers are making as little as £5 for a Welsh Mountain Pony (a native breed on RBST’s vulnerable list) and it would be unethical to promote breeding when they have so little economic value. So, what exactly can be done?

Horse and horseradish scotch quails eggs

I spoke to Ruth, a smallholder in Cumbria, who is passionate about feral breeds staying on the fell, but understands the financial difficulties faced by farmers:

“The only way to keep them is to eat them.  They would have greater financial value if horses were used for meat, and if they had a value, they would be bred and cared for”.

Ruth believes that the conservation of rare breeds is being held back by our conservative eating habits and perception prejudice. She has dreams of starting her own horsemeat charcuterie business, so she can help preserve our native breeds and personally ensure a high standard of welfare.

Although horsemeat is not illegal in the UK (although it’s certainly illegal not to label it as such), there is currently no legislation for codes of welfare for horses, other than as companion animals. There is the added complication that horses are flight animals, prone to stress, so they would require careful handling and specialist abattoirs, but this issue would cease to be a complication if horsemeat became standard in the British diet, as it already is in some parts of Europe and Asia.

New EU regulations to protect animals at the time of killing came into force on the 1st of January this year, which has overhauled welfare mandates in slaughterhouses. The new regulations impose a stricter duty of care and specify that “a person who is responsible for an animal must ensure the animal’s needs are met”, which includes “the ability to behave normally” and “to be kept with other animals or alone according to the needs and requirements of that species”. If the special requirements of equines at slaughter are already safeguarded under The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2013 (WATOK), these arguments for not eating horsemeat become moot and the creation of licensed equine abattoirs seems the logical next step. But whether the public are ready to embrace this new red meat in their diet is another matter.

Horse tartare

Horsemeat naysayer, Marcus Wareing, publicly damned the eating of horses as “absolutely unthinkable” after Gordon Ramsay promoted it on the F Word in 2007, stating “I would never eat horse and I certainly wouldn't serve it in my restaurants”. Wareing’s argument that “it's not part of our food culture” may be true currently, but horsemeat has certainly played its part in British food history. In fact, the Brits were eating horse as recently as the 1930s. Ramsay’s attempts may have fallen flat (PETA protested by dumping a tonne of horse manure on the doorstep of his restaurant at Claridges), but six years on, is it finally time put our sentimentality out to pasture?

The argument for horses having a special status as companion animals is certainly an emotive one. Who doesn’t fondly remember Saturday afternoons watching Black Beauty on the telly? But it’s a cop out to compare horsemeat to stir-frying your pet dog or cat. Labradors and Tabbies aren’t in danger of extinction. There’s no denying that equines are beautiful and majestic beasts, but this ingrained taboo is ultimately short-sighted.

When I discovered that UK based exotic meat suppliers, Kezie, have recently started stocking horsemeat “from producers who reach [their] high welfare standards”, I was champing at the bit to try horsemeat for myself.  I spoke to managing director, Walter Murray, about the public reaction to their controversial stock and, aside from an angry letter from a young teenage girl with a pet pony, the reaction has been largely positive. I ordered a variety of cuts for a “Horses Four Courses” supper for six to find out if horsemeat is tasty enough to get off our moral high horse for.

Horse braised in red wine with a mash potato top.

We started with horseradish-spiked horsemeat Scotch quails eggs, which were excellent and much less gamey than I had imagined. These were followed by a deliciously tender horse tartare, which left the table silent in gratitude. Next we tucked into a hearty and succulent one pot warmer of horse braised in red wine before finally carving a horse rump roast, which was the only dud note of the evening. Roast horse excluded (it was as tough as an old riding boot), horsemeat is moist and moreish, with a similar character to beef, only slightly sweeter and with an extra subtle gaminess.  Because the meat is so lean, you need to treat it more like venison than beef. Rare or slow cooked seems to be the way to go to prevent it drying out, but with a little care and attention, horsemeat can certainly rival other traditional red meats.

Packed with protein, rich in iron and Omega 3 and with half the fat of beef, horsemeat is delicious, nutritious and inexpensive. I’m certainly game for going back for more.  If eating well and cheaply can go even a little way in helping to protect our native breeds from extinction, the ethical debate looks set to swing in horsemeat’s favour.

Roast horse with beetroot and horseradish gratin, carrots and cabbage (pre-gravy)

Great British Chefs and Action Against Hunger

Pascal Aussignac's grilled lamb with ratatouille.

I'm going to break from the alphabetical write-ups just this once (or more if I like, it's my blog) to tell you about an amazing charity. Please keep reading, it won't be as boring as that might sound. Promise.

Action Against Hunger provides live saving assistance and restores self-sufficiency to millions of people all over the world. You probably know from reading this blog that I have quite a passion for food and eating, and as a reader of this blog (regular or otherwise), I'm guessing that you do too. Action Against Hunger/ ACF International are a global humanitarian organization committed to ending world hunger, working to save the lives of malnourished children while providing communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. Now that sounds like something we could all get on board with, doesn't it?

A few weeks ago, I won the Nom Nom Noms - a Masterchef style competition for food bloggers held at the wonderful Cookery School on Little Portland Street in aid of Action Against Hunger. Amazing companies have donated prizes to a raffle that YOU CAN ENTER HERE. For just £10 you could win a set of Wusthof knives worth nearly £700 or a Cuisinart food processor worth £300. There are restaurant meals, hampers, equipment and other food-related goodies galore. Last year, Richard and I won a meal for two at The Avalon and a Brindisa paella kit. Not bad for £20's worth of raffle tickets. Please donate a tenner (or more, if you want to increase your prize-winning chances) so that you can be entered into the draw to win a fabulous prize while giving money to a fabulous charity.

And, while you're at it, why not download the Great British Chefs Summertime app. Not only is it full of 105 delicious recipes from 21 of the top chefs in the UK, it also boasts some of the most beautiful food photography you'll ever see. You get all of that for £1.99 and ALL PROCEEDS GO TO ACTION AGAINST HUNGER. Aren't the people at Great British Chefs a lovely bunch?!

I made Pascal Aussignac's grilled lamb rack with ratatouille, just one of the fabulous recipes on the app the other day and I'm looking forward to making more.

This is my food photography. The photos on the app are much lovelier.

I’ve always loved ratatouille, from first tasting it on a family holiday in France, to making it in my first Home Ec class at school. So in love with its charms, ratatouille was an absolute staple of mine as a student. It was simple, rustic, cheap and nourishing and I could make a big vat of it that would last over three or four days. Perfect on top of a jacket potato or turned into vegetable lasagne, ratatouille is a versatile beast. I liked it best served simply with roast chicken or, even better, a lamb chop. So, naturally, I leapt at the chance to try Pascal Aussignac’s recipe for ratatouille with grilled rack of lamb as soon as possible.

My partner’s family came over for Sunday lunch to celebrate his mum’s birthday, which felt like the perfect excuse to give it a go.  I doubled the quantities to allow for the extra guests and set to work peeling, roasting and chopping. This is certainly not your average one pot rustic fare. This recipe requires a lot of processes and a lot of pans, but don’t let that put you off from having a go. I really loved the idea of oven roasting the tomatoes first, but I ended up adding a few extras than the recipe states. I adore tomatoes and, because of this, I tend to buy them in bulk whenever they’re on offer. This often means I have to use them up unexpectedly quickly, after discovering the ones at the bottom of the bowl are suddenly “on the turn”.

In fact, I am such a tomato-head that rarely a day goes by during tomato season when I don’t gobble up at least one or two as part of my lunch. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which, studies report, acts as a natural sunblock for your skin – good news indeed in the glorious weather we’ve been having. The amount of lycopene increases when the tomatoes are cooked (so tinned toms and ketchup do the job too), which is bad news for people following raw food diets, but fantastic news for my ratatouille.

The only other tweak I made to the recipe was to chop up the sage and chuck it back in the pot when I reheated it, as it seemed a shame to throw it away. I also cooked the lamb for slightly longer, as our guests preferred their chops blushing pink rather than ruby rare. I made some crunchy roast potatoes cooked in duck fat (well, it was a special occasion) to go with it.

The combination of intensely aromatic and garlicky ratatouille with soft, juicy lamb is a real winner. I might try oven roasting all the veg next time to save on washing up, as the weather’s too nice to spend much time elbow deep in hot soapy water. Either that, or see if I can offload the dirty dishes onto some other sucker. I’d rather be sitting outside, sipping a Bloody Mary.

S is for...

Singapore Slings with sweet and sour shrimp spring rolls followed by scallops and crispy Serrano ham on puréed salsify and sorrel sauce. Next up,  I served smoked salt and Szechuan pepper squid with samphire salad and saffron mayonnaise, followed by succotash and socca bread. Next, we ate sweetbreads and Sauerkraut followed by seared springbok steak sashimi with spring onions, soy and sesame.  The main meat of the day was squirrel, stewed with sage and sherry and served with sautéed sweet potatoes and spinach. Something sweet was needed after all that savoury, and the sugar hit started with a shot of satsuma and Sauternes soup, followed by strawberry soufflé with strawberry semifreddo, strawberry sorbet and star shaped sablé biscuits. Back to savoury for cheeses beginning with S. I served up Serra De Estrela, Soureliette, Selles Sur Cher, Shropshire Blue and Stinking Bishop with sunflower seed soda bread scones.  The finale of this sizeable supper came in the shape of star anise sponge sandwiches and spoonfuls of sea salt caramel.

I may not be known for my restraint when shaping a letter-themed menu, and I've talked before about Richard having to reel me in sometimes, but it's never my intention to see guests go home so stuffed they feel sick, it's just that I sometimes get a bit carried away and on S night it was easy to. There really is a superabundance of foodstuffs starting with the letter S and it really is no overstatement to say that S night's spread was especially substantial. We kicked off the evening with Singapore Slings and sweet and sour shrimp spring rolls, while the CD player belted out the likes of The Smiths, The Sugarcubes, Sonic Youth, Sophie's Pigeons, Scissor Sisters, The Sisters of Mercy, Steps, The Shins, Sir Mixalot (we like big butts and we cannot lie), Snivelling Sluts, Silverfish and Sinatra. Guests brought a pleasingly excessive amount of wine, from Sancerre and Sauvignon Blanc to Saint Emilion and Sauternes and that was all before the scotch hit the table.

Singapore Sling

Invented some time before 1915 at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore*, this cocktail tastes like fruit juice but packs a  hefty punch. You have been warned.

Per person

1 measure of gin

1/2 measure of cherry brandy

A splash of Cointreau

A splash of Benedictine

3 measures of pineapple juice

A squeeze of lime

A dash of grenadine

A dash of angostura bitters

Soda water

Shake everything except for the soda water with ice, pour glasses and top with soda. 

*Info from Wikipedia.

rooibos tea with rum truffles.

I'm no fan of rooibos or red bush, or whatever you want to call it. It tastes like sticks to me and smells like the discarded water from boiled peas. I'd rather go thirsty than suffer this appalling drink, but others find it refreshing for some reason. Richard always drinks it post-caffeine curfew after 6pm, which I've always found strange, as he usually has such excellent taste. You probably like it too. Everybody else seems to. Feeling that perhaps it was time to concede defeat and bow down to majority rule, I served rooibos to the R party alongside rum truffles. I went thirsty.

Rum truffles

50g dark chocolate, finely chopped

50ml single cream

1 tsbp light muscovado sugar (optional)

A forkful of dark rum

A knob of butter (to help set the forkful of rum)

Melt the sugar into the cream over a gentle heat, stirring until it has fully dissolved. Stop stirring and scald the cream before pouring over the chopped choc. Leave to stand for one minute before stirring in with a rubber spatula until you are left with a smooth, glossy ganache. Add dark rum to taste - try to restrain yourself from going too overboard or else your ganache won't set. Stir in the butter until it's melted and leave to cool completely and set. You can pop it in the fridge to speed things up if you like. Roll teaspoon sized balls between your hands before rolling in sifted cocoa and serving.