Pear & chocolate Tart

This time of year always makes me think of Apples, Pears & Pumpkin. The Houseboy is not fond of Pumpkin (or orange food in general really) so i thought i would have a crack at some Apple & Pear dishes over the coming weeks. They are amazingly versatile either in sweet or savoury dishes & are great cooked quickly or slowly. They also go well with Chocolate, but then again everything goes well with Chocolate. Last week we had the Philips' & their amazing new addition - Wee Angus (great Scottish name!) over for a midweek dinner. In line with my attempt at trying to spend a little less time in the kitchen - especially when people are over, i made Fish Pie with a Herb Breadcrumb topping which was mainly prepared the night before. It's one of my favourite dishes, it reminds me of mealtimes growing up, Mrs Rhodes makes a very good Fish Pie. Although i'm hoping she will be whipping up some spicy curries over Christmas after her recent jaunt to Sri Lanka (she does get around)

We celebrated Bonfire Night with the ever hospitable Miss Shannon who made a delicious Cottage Pie (nothing better on bonfire weekend i reckon) served with fresh Veg & lots of red wine. Living at the top of a lovely building in South Kensington she has access to an amazing roof space which has roof tops views over London. The local square were having a fireworks party & we decided to head up, red wine in hand to see if we could get a good view. It was definitely a good idea because as we were so high up the fireworks were literally going off at face height (although on the other side of the street so not too dangerous) A very fun evening had by all.   

Sunday afternoon was spent at The Rose in Fulham having lunch with friends while The Houseboy cheered on Fulham FC (to no avail) I've eaten there a few times & it's always good pub food, the roasts are always a winner. The pudding menu was woefully small (only two choices!) but the Pistachio Ice Cream was delicious, (thank you Mr Philips for recommending it) they always have a few good homemade Ice Cream choices. After a lovely lunch it was a short waddle home to spend a couple of hours pottering in the kitchen making Soup for the week ahead. I seem to be making a lot of Soup lately, my next flavour venture will be Beetroot & Horseradish.

This is originally a recipe by The Telegraph food writer Diana Henry which i have adapted slightly. It's incredibly rich & delicious. Try & find decent pears as the flavour is important. It's a great time of year for this dish as British pears are at their best, i used ground Almonds i already had them in the cupboard. 

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of ready to roll short crust pastry
• 125g butter, softened
• 100g soft dark-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125g ground hazelnuts
• 185g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 4 ripe pears
• 3 tsp caster sugar
• icing sugar, for sifting (optional) 

Method:

Roll out the pastry on a surface dusted lightly with icing sugar and use it to line a 25cm (10in) loose-bottomed tart tin. Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up. This helps to stop the pastry shrinking during cooking.

Put crumpled greaseproof paper into the tin and fill with baking beans. Put in an oven preheated to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. Turn down the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. 

 

To make the filling beat the butter and brown sugar until soft. Gradually add the eggs, then stir in the hazelnuts. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool a little then stir into the egg and nut mixture. Fill the part-cooked pastry case with this. 

Peel, halve and core the pears, then set them on top of the filling with the small end in the middle (you may find you only have room for seven rather than eight halves). Sprinkle some caster sugar on the pears so that they glaze a little during cooking. Bake in the oven for 40 for 45 minutes. The tart is ready when you can feel with your finger that the centre is just set. 

Leave the tart to cool a little before removing it from the tin. It's nice warm or at room temperature. You can leave it as it is or sift a light dusting of icing sugar over it. Serve with cream or crème fraîche.

Hazelnut & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was spent mostly tucked away in the kitchen by myself. I'm a social person & love a good chat, but i'm also very happy being by myself. Especially in the kitchen listening to Radio 4 or watching re runs of Casualty (i never said i was cool) So with the Houseboy out practicing his golf swing i spent the afternoon making Summer Greens Soup, Aubergine Chutney & Cookies. All a success (well i think so) although i didn't quite anticipate the Chutney being so hot-despite the recipe warning me. I reckon it will balance out with a good strong cheese.I always cook for others & love having people over, but i think i sometimes lose sight of cooking purely for myself. I can thank a certain Mr T. Fry for making me change this slightly. He recommended a great blog www.gastronomicalme.com. In it she talks about the pleasure of eating alone & purely relishing simple ingredients put together. I'l be getting a fair bit of practice starting tomorrow as the Houseboy is heading off to Aberdeen for the next two weeks... They say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' or in the Houseboys case buys him two weeks peace & reduces my washing load by half.  

Earlier in the week i mentioned seasonal produce & i when i was walking down North End Road yesterday i saw a fruit & veg stall selling fresh figs. Figs are a fruit i rarely eat, i think because trying dried figs put me off. After buying a tray of ten & getting home i wondered what i was actually going to do with them. I had a good look through my cook books & found an interesting recipe for Fig Jam by Stephanie Alexander but quickly realised that they firstly needed to be dried out in the sun. Fail, as, not only do i not like dried figs there is no chance i could find enough sun in August let alone October to complete the recipe. So we decided to eat them simply wrapped in Parma Ham & they were delicious. I'm looking forward to having some for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from a Guardian publication in 2009, its one of the nicest cookie recipes i have made in a while. I doubled the recipe (only because the Houseboy & i are both taking them to work) & made them really big. Crispy on the edges & chewy on the inside. Perfect with a cup of tea on an Sunday afternoon.  

Ingredients: 

• 75g skinned hazelnuts
• 180g butter at room temperature
• 90g golden caster sugar
• 90g light muscovado sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g plain chocolate
• 180g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 

Method:

 

Set the oven at 180C/gas 4. Toast the hazelnuts till they are golden brown. This is easiest done under a hot grill with a watchful eye, but you can do it in a non-stick pan if you prefer.

Cut the butter into small pieces and put into a food mixer fitted with a beater attachment. Add the sugars and cream to a light and fluffy texture – you may have to scrape the mixture down from the sides a couple of times with a rubber spatula. You can, of course, do everything with a hand-held electric mixer or even a wooden spoon if you prefer to do it that way.

Break the eggs and beat them into the mixture. Chop the chocolate into small chunks, the size of small gravel and add it, together with the sieved flour and bicarbonate of soda, slowly and at quite a low speed, to the dough.

Take a large, heaped 15ml tablespoon of the dough and put it on a non-stick baking sheet (or use baking parchment if you prefer). Flatten it lightly. Continue with the rest of the mixture, putting the dollops of mixture well apart from each other.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until they have spread and are golden in colour. Let them cool for a few minutes before lifting them off and transferring them to a cooling rack.

Peppermint Brownies

Chocolate Brownies

Welcome back sun, all is forgiven. I love the sun, we don't know each other well given that i grew up in Scotland. People reminisce of long hazy childhood summers, i remember getting a tractor to school after being snowed in on the farm. Did earn me a little kudos though, useful when bartering playtime treats. The weekend incorporated some of my favourite things; food, the world of vintage & family. Mr & Mrs Robinson were down which was fun as always. We headed to Vintage at South Bank &amp an eclectic mix of 1920's -1980's clothing, jewelry, homeware, sewing bits, Cream Teas & 50's style makeovers. So much fun & i could have lost myself for hours. The stall holders were all die hard vintage fans, & it was evident that they rock the look full time. I added to my scarf collection with some rather natty choices, the Houseboy sadly doesn't share my love of second hand items, doubt i will be getting him into a vintage velvet smoking jacket any time soon.

Being on the South Bank it would have been rude not to have swung by Borough Market for lunch. Sooooo many options though , it was a toss up between delicious looking Green Thai Curry & Duck Rillet Sandwiches. The duck won & i have to say it was epic... although it must have been at least 3 spin classes worth of calories (such a dirty word) Bah, a moment on the lips & a lot of happiness i say. The evening found us in central London celebrating the engagement of friends. Always happy to celebrate love & perfect matches it was a lovely evening of chilled prosecco, canapes & banter. The venue was a new one for me. The Burlington Arms on Old Burlington Street is an intimate & cosy pub which works very well for private hire. 

Sunday i did what all Scottish girls do in sunny weather. Headed to the park with not a jot of sun cream on, lay reading on my tartan rug & then expressed surprise when i turned the colour as raw steak. A lesson i fear i will never learn... The Houseboy, despite being raised under the Australian 'Slip, Slap, Slop' policy is also a suncream dodger. When we met sailing in Croatia (romantic huh?) he proudly stated he was rocking the 'neopolitan' look... white, pink & brown. I didn't let that put me off. Next weekend we are heading off to Switzerland (very very excited) to do some outdoor pursuits, drink beer & work on our yodelling. I have a head start on that one. I have watching the Sound of Music more times than is strictly healthy. I will be stocking up on factor 50 & wearing an ankle to neck sun suit. (stay tuned for the failure of that venture)

I know that i have already covered Brownies, but i have been craving brownies for days & fancied doing some experimenting on flavour & texture. It was a toss up between mint or pistachios & given that Mrs Robinson bought me some chocolates this weekend & i didn't have any pistachios, hey presto peppermint brownies. They are intensely rich & minty. It's pretty hard to stop at one. The bones of this recipe is a Stephanie Alexander recipe from her cook book The Cooks Companion a fantastic book with a great variety of recipes & suggestions. It was a lovely gift from the Phillip's & Jordan's high praise of her skills is well deserved. As he says 'Stuck? Just ask Stephanie'. The only change i have made is the bendict bittermints (my very most favourite chocolates in the world) in place of 120g of dark chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 180g unsalted buter
• 3/4 cup coco powder
• 1 1/2 cups castor sugar
• a few drops of vanilla essence
• 4 eggs lightly beaten 
• 100g plain flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 5 bendict bittermints chopped up

Method:

Preheat your oven to 160c. Line a 20cm x 30cm with baking paper & set aside. Melt the butter & mix in the coco powder. Add the eggs, vanilla & sugar, mix in gently & then add the remaining ingredients. Pour into the prepared tins & bake for 20-25 minutes. (i have to say that my batch took nearer 45 minutes for some reason so be prepared) until firm on top. Allow to cool in the tin before cutting into squares. Then eat them all before other people do, because these little gems will fly!

My beautiful new measuring cups

Chocolate Brownies

The houseboy spent the week working away in Aberdeen so it was pretty quiet on the cooking front apart from my lunch box. I always take my lunch to work with me-the only decent places near the office are ridiculously over priced. So this week’s choice was a quick Moroccan style casserole with sausages & chickpeas, which i had with couscous or vegetables. Once you start making our own lunches you realise firstly how much money you can save (yes, im definitely Scottish with that attitude) & secondly you never have to end up eating dry pre packed sandwiches or dodgy pasta salads. I’ve fallen at those hurdles more than once. With the houseboy's return we had a nice social weekend catching up with friends. Friday was a fun evening of pizza & board games, i cooked a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe for Bread & Butter Pudding which seemed to get the thumbs up from everyone. By using brioche instead of white bread and adding some fruit (nectarines in this case) you could almost pretend it was healthy… Sunday morning was spent at the British Museum, which is a truly amazing place. Egyptian mummies, Inuit waterproofs made from seal intestines & full samurai outfits to name but a few exhibits, makes for a fascinating walk round. The Rosetta Stone was definitely the most mobbed attraction & i think that of all the tourists, the Italians are the best at taking twenty photos a second while talking on a mobile & shouting at their friends at a thousand miles an hour.

Another sweet treat this week, a chocolate ladened choice in honour of Valentine’s Day (stop groaning-there is no escaping it) As my sister Mrs Robinson likes to say ‘woman have a second stomach for dessert’ and i think i might have a third for brownies…on their own, or even better served with whipped cream and ice cream. I have so many recipes for brownies, but this one is a nice all rounder.

Ingredients:
• 110g dark chocolate
• 55g unsalted butter
• 170g dark brown sugar
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 2eggs
• 85g plain flour with a good pinch of baking powder mixed in
• pinch of salt
• 55g pecan nuts of walnuts-roughly chopped

Melt the chocolate au bain marie (this means melting the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, this ensures the chocolate doesn’t burn) Then beat into the butter, allow to cool then add the sugar and cream together till light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and then beat the eggs and flour alternatively. Gently mix in the nuts. Pour mixture into a well-greased tin and bake at 180c for 20-30mins. You can serve these in their own as they are lovely & rich or use them as part of a nice decedent desert with whipped cream, a splash of baileys Irish cream & an extra sprinkling of nuts…