Olive and Cheese Loaf

I should probably state outright that I'm not a fan of olives, however, the fact that this recipe also had ham and cheese as main ingredients was enough to convince me to copy if from a copy of BBC's Good Food November 2010 magazine.

This was the original recipe:

100ml/3.5 fl. oz. olive oil, plus extra for the tin
250g/9oz. self rising flour
100g/3.5oz. firm mozzarella or gruyere style cheese, coarsely grated
100g/3.5oz. sliced ham, chopped
50g/2oz. black olives, pitted and halved
pinch of salt
0.5tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 free range eggs
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Heat oven to 200 degrees C.
Oil a 22cm x 12cm loaf pan and line with baking paper.
Combine the flour, cheese, ham, olives, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs and 100ml olive oil.
Make a well in the flour, then tip in the egg mixture.
Mix quickly but thoroughly to form a think batter.
Spoon into the tin and smooth the top with a large metal spoon.
Drizzle with EVOO.
Bake the loaf for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Turn out onto a cake cooling rack.

Now for my version.

I didn't use any olives.

The only thing that I probably actually bothered to measure was the flour and the other measurements I figured I could just wing it.

I also did use three eggs, they weren't free range though, at least not as far as I know.

I used maybe 1tsp of freshly ground black pepper. Now I feel like its necessary for me to expound on this because I am officially a convert of using freshly ground black pepper. Generally I would just buy the regular black pepper, that's what I grew up with. The other day I went grocery shopping with my cousin and she was looking for peppercorns only because she already had a grinder. I asked why doesn't she just get the already ground up pepper and she told me that the freshly ground taste better. I was skeptical and I couldn't imagine that it would taste that much better that it would warrant hunting all over the place for. A couple weeks later my grandmother visited from Florida and whenever she comes she usually brings random food stuff. This time around I got raspberry preserves, organic peanut butter, cherries, raisins and organic peppercorns and a grinder. It's been sitting in the cupboard for perhaps about two weeks now and I figured once the regular black pepper finishes, it would save me having to buy a new one for a while. This morning I wanted to make something. At first I was thinking cupcakes but I may have a guest later who isn't a big fan of sweets so I thought let me try something savory. This recipe came to mind because he's a big cheese fan. So I reviewed the recipe and then saw that it needed freshly ground pepper. Here was my chance to test the powers of fresh pepper and with the first twist of the grinder I got a whiff of the aroma of the ground pepper and it was amazing. After that I just couldn't stop  adding pepper to the recipe.

I ran out of olive oil. I had bought a little bottle some time ago just to see what all the hype was about. Again I jump on the bandwagon, because EVOO is pretty darn good. It has a fragrant taste about it that it gives to whatever is cooked in it or with it. My dear little bottle however was just about finished ad I had had no idea. When I was ready to measure out my 100ml of olive oil the bottle only got me to 50ml. For the remaining 50ml I then used vegetable oil.

The time that the recipe called for is already up by the way. I've checked on it and it was far from ready so then I upped the temperature to 350 and left it for another 15 which hasn't finished yet. Once it's done and out and presentable I'll post photos and let everyone know how it went.

Bread Pudding

This is the recipe that I followed. It came from the website Moms Who Think

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk (or 2 cups half & half)
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark, depending on taste preference)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups bread, torn into small pieces (French bread works best)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)


Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat the milk just until a film forms over the top. Combine the butter with the hot milk stirring until the butter is melted completely. Cool to lukewarm.
2. Combine sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add milk mixture.
3. Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole.
4. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Pour batter on top of bread.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.


Without a doubt I can say this was an absolute success. Everyone loved it! My brother was the first taster and he wanted al of it for himself. But despite his enthusiastic review on it I was still a little skeptical. I thought it was all right but my first taste the pudding was still too hot for me to appreciate the taste of it. I was more or less just checking that the consistency of the inside was fine. And that it wasn’t a gooey raw mess of batter.

I went over to my friend’s house that night and I told him that I’d bring some for him. I went there armed with my bread pudding, more than a little apprehensive about letting an outsider try it. I gave it to him and he rested it on the dining table and then told his mother that there was some she could try if she liked. Nerves racked my stomach as I went to get a fork for her to try it. She liked it, not only that she really seemed to love it. And now she wants me to make her one. All of this took place while she was on the phone with one of her daughters and she proceeded to talk about how good my bread pudding was. Then the daughter wanted to know how comes she didn’t get any while she was visiting last month so I promised her one as well the next time she visits. I was so thrilled that so far everyone liked it. Eventually my friend tried it and he liked it too (he wouldn’t admit it though but I could tell). He said it tasted like a mash up of French toast and bread pudding.

By the time I got home my mother had already gone to bed so the following morning when I asked her what she thought of it she too loved it. I think that means it is officially a hit. She even asked me to send her the recipe because the ones that the housekeepers make at home is nowhere as nice as mine was.

Due to a lack of space and not having a real oven I had to half the recipe and make a smaller version of it using the toaster oven. Doing half a recipe was a little tricky when it came to certain parts like using one and a half eggs instead of 3. I literally used half an egg, without the second yolk though. I had started by using a large egg and a small one but the total of them both just looked like way too much so I took out what I thought would have been equal to a half an egg. Although when I told Mummy about that she laughed and said I should have just used two small eggs, which in hindsight would have made a lot more sense.

I began by putting the milk on to boil and waiting for the film to form on the top. While that was happening I figured that I could combine the other ingredients and beat them but then my milk started to burn just slightly. I quickly took it off the heat and put it on a cool burner and added the butter, stirring pretty constantly to ensure that all of the butter melted out evenly and there were no little clumps left in the mixture. While it cooled to lukewarm I combined and whisked my other ingredients. I don’t have an electric mixer at this house so for all my mixing I tend to rely on my whisk and myself.

After doing all of those while the milk was still cooling I began to tear up the bread into pieces. Again having halved the recipe I was left with using a cup and a half of bread that amounted to about a slice and a half. When I put those pieces into the greased casserole dish there were still quite a few empty spots so I tore up some more bread and filled in the gaps; in all I probably used about two slices of hardough bread. Then I sprinkled with raisins strategically positioning them so that they were relatively evenly distributed throughout the pudding.

Once that was done I added the milk/butter mixture to the other stuff and blended them together. Then poured it all over the bread in the casserole dish and made sure everything looked as good as I could make it and then into the oven it went. The 45-50 minute baking time was the perfect length to wash up the utensils I had used and then shower and get dressed. When my timer went off 45 minutes later I was dressed and pretty much ready to go.

I’ve decided that it’s the perfect homemaker recipe. You can do it like an hour before your husband is due to get home from work and once it goes into the oven you’re free to clean up the kitchen and yourself and by the time it’s ready your husband should be arriving home to the smell of cinnamon and vanilla permeating the house.

I would definitely give this five out of five stars =)

Bread Pudding

I really really feel for bread pudding right now and I don't know where to get any =( and while this recipe looks idiot proof I don't have the ingredients because my brother consumes anything edible like a vacum does dust bunnies. I also don't have a container to make it in. Sigh.

Bacon White Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Apologies in advance for the somewhat poor quality and selection of photographs. Everything was cooking far too quickly for me to keep up with.

I know this sounds kind of completely weird but I promise you it was amazing. Aunt Jemima and I got to know each other a little better today. I woke up at after noon expecting that I would have to rush and get prepared for a performance that I had. Instead I woke up to the news that there was no performance. While a bit disappointed it meant I could go back to my bed which I was dying to do since I didn't go to be until 6:30am. So I picked up a book and decided to enjoy the unexpected leisure time. I obviously picked up the wrong book if I had planned to go back to sleep because once I opened Kenny Shopsin's Eat Me I was filled with the instant desire to cook something. I lay in bed for a while thinking what might have been available in the cupboards of a household that rarely cooks. First I decided on eggs but then my brother informed me that we had no milk and there went my plans for delicious fluffy scrambled eggs. Then while flipping through the book I landed on one of my favourite looking recipes, bacon pancakes.

"Bacon pancakes and Bacon French Toast both remind me of pussy. When you press the cooked bacon into the raw pancake batter or French toast, it really likes to sink in. When you flip the pancakes back to serve them bacon side up, the bacon is in there, enveloped by soft walls. It's really very sexy." (page 91)-  Kenny Shopsin's words on bacon pancakes and French toast. While being a heterosexual female the idea of pussy doesn't appeal to me, but bacon anything in my books is just amazing.

The process began with me cutting up the frozen bacon (real bacon not turkey bacon or any other substitue- not that I have anything against them) into small pieces but not small enough to be considered bacon bits. Shopsin uses entire strips in his pancakes. I didn't expect that there was enough bacon left for me to do this so I cut up what was left and then fried them in the frying pan. When the bacon was done I removed the pieces and rest them on a plate with a paper towel to remove the excess oil.

While the bacon was cooking I mixed two cups of Aunt Jemima Buttermilk Complete Pancake and Waffle Mix with one and a half cups of water and whisked the batter together. In the end I added a little more water to make the mixture slightly thinner. After the bacon was done I put some of the excess oil into the batter to give the pancakes a general aura of bacon flavour.

I scooped out the first quarter cup of batter and poured onto the hot frying pan. Then I added the bacon, about three pieces and pushed them into the batter. I waited for bubbles to appear and then I flipped it. I was actually disappointed in the way it came out. The first two that I made I did using Shopsin's method and I found that when I flipped them the bacon it cooked it even more and I didn't like that. Generally I don't like my bacon really crispy so the extra cooking wasn't for me. Then I decided to pour the rest of the bacon pieces into the batter, stir things up and cook it like that. It worked so much better and all my pancakes came out better after that.

Somewhere when the batter was half finished and my brother and his friend had eaten their first helping I remembered the fun sized packs of M&M's we had and I wondered how M&M's pancakes would be. Then inspiration struck and I remembered the Hershey's white chocolate chips that were in my fridge. I opened the bag and sprinkled a few into the remaining batter and cooked the rest of pancakes.

When they were all done and I sat down to my "breakfast" at three in the afternoon I bit into one of the pancakes with a chocolate chip and there was a flavour explosion in my mouth. The sweet complemented the salty savory flavour of the bacon and it was all just beyond great. Domo (my brother's friend) said, "they are awesome" and Doodie (my brother) said, "it was like my taste-buds got head".

Cheesy Ranch Ramen

Recipe
2 packages finely chopped ramen noodles (any flavour)
1 cup ranch dressing
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Cook noodles in water according to the package directions and drain. Add ranch dressing and cheese to noodles and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted. Makes 2-4 servings.

Running Commentary
That's the recipe right there. it sound's idiot proof doesn't it? I'm going to half it though because I don't know how eager my brother will be to have any and we're not good with left overs either so there is no sense in cooking more than I can eat. I also am going to add bacon to it at the semi-request of my friend Andrew and because bacon makes everything taste better.

While I had planned type as I cooked this recipe moved way too quickly for that. I probably also should have measured out my ingredients before beginning but I thought I would have had time to do all that while the water was boiling. I also didn't get many photos either for the same reason.

The book says that unless directed otherwise you are to follow the directions on the package to cook the noodles. I don't know if it is just me but I found that a litte ambiguous. I boiled the noodles and did not add any flavouring to them because based on my understanding of cooking the noodles were cooked. I don't know whether or not the author intended for flavouring to be added and I suspect not because the flavour mostly affects the water anyhow. So I boiled my noodles and in no time they were done, all this while I was trying to microwave my bacon to avoid having to fry it. Then I added the noodles and let them cook until tender. While this was happening I grated the cheese (I used Edam cheese) and struggled to open the brand new bottle of ranch dressing that had been sitting in the cupboard.

I drained the noodles and left them on low heat while I opened the dressing. I quickly added the cheese and not so carefully measured dressing (it was still approximately 1 cup) and stirred continuously. Then I remembered that the bacon was still in the microwave so I got that and scattered it over my very creamy looking noodles. The aroma of it drifted up towards me and it smelt relatively bland (this may be the Jamaican in me coming out) so I went for my black pepper and started to apply liberally.

End Result
Then it was finished. I looked on it and all I saw was a mess of blah looking food. I decided let me add some of the seasoning anyway to hopefully spice things up a little. It helped some but the final product was still not fantastic. In a pinch this is a good one to cook because it's easy and really filling and the ingredients are things that are easy to find and very likely already in the house. I halved the ingredients and I'm struggling to finish half of my cooking. The other half is already in the fridge.

Remedying the Situation
Had I remembered before hand that I'm not a big fan of creamy foods then I may have not bothered to try this recipe as my introduction to the book. That being said, it was a simple recipe and the end product was not the best thing I have ever tasted but that could just be because of my specific tastes. I love salty, spicy and/or sweet foods and this was none of the above. I think I should have added more bacon to it, a lot more actually and possibly some other kinds of meat. I am pretty much a meat fiend so more meat is always a good thing. I also probably should have used a different kind of cheese, or even a combination of cheeses. Edam isn't my favourite cheese ever so it was probably a bad idea to use it for such a recipe, I don't know that I would have preferred using all cheddar either. I think based on my comments anyone can see that if I do this recipe again it's going to get a major overhaul.

101 Things To Do With Ramen

I'm very excited! I just got a new book, well four actually, but one of them is a cook book called 101 Things To Do With Ramen Noodles by Toni Patrick and it is exactly what it says.

Being a 21 year old who lives with my brother means that at meal times we pretty much have to fend for ourselves. Our parents are 30 miles away and while they occasionally bring us food, it tends to be more in the raw material form. Cooking is not something either of us had to do while growing up, we always had at least one helper and if they didn't cook then Mummy would. After we started to live on our own we realised that despite our affinity for it, cereal and milk would not quite cut it for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. That's where Ramen Noodles came into the picture. We could have it for lunch and dinner...kidding. But only slightly, we do eat a lot of Ramen Noodles.

This book I had seen at Bookland (a local bookstore) quite a while back but somehow whenever I went back they didn't seem to have it. I paid a visit there today and was looking at 101 Things To Do With Cake Mix and there was the Ramen Noodle book hidden behind it. I picked it up and decided to buy it.

While flipping through the recipes I found one for Cheesy Ranch Ramen that caught my eye. I knew we had all the ingredients at home which meant saving me a trip to the supermarket and it sounded easy and delicious. I still ended up going to the supermarket to buy other random things and guess what, they had a special on Ramen Noodles. I figured since I have this book now I might as well stock up on the noodles and so my cupboard is now full of it. I don't have near 101 packs of it though so I'm sure I'll exhaust my stash in no time.

Photos for the Cheesecake Cupcakes

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

A good friend of mine has a birthday on Sunday and to celebrate we're all supposed to be making cupcakes tomorrow and then going to Uber (a club party). Now I don't know that I'll be going to Uber but the cupcake making is definitely something I can do. I'm not sure what kind our two other friends are going to be making but mine will be Strawberry Cheesecake.

I usually use the JELL-O No Bake Cheesecake mix because it is idiotically simple. It really is idiot proof. The pictures will show you. It comes with three packages inside and they're labelled 1, 2 and 3 just so you don't mix up the order you're to use them in. After having some errands to run tonight I finally get home and I'm ready to bake or not bake as the case is. What do you know, the measuring cup and 1tbsp measuring spoon is dirty in the sink thanks to my brother who never sees the need to wash up his cooking (and by cooking I mean box mac and cheese) utensils when he's going to leave the house. It's not like I'll need to use the things.

So I begin this adventure with my ingredients, my JELL-O No Bake Cheesecake mix, 1-1.5cups "cold" milk, 5-tbsp melted butter, 2-tbsp sugar and my utensils, my bowls, my spatula, measuring cup and spoon (which I have just washed), my foil muffin pans layered with my very cute "cupcake" baking cups. When I saw them today I just had to buy them, they were too cute not to have and it's 75 in a pack so they will definitely last a while. And of course a glass of red wine because it's so much more fun to cook with wine.

While doing step one which is mixing the crust I think that I must confess that the crust is my absolute favourite part of the cheesecake. Without a doubt, it is just so delicious. On pretty much all cheesecakes. I have yet to taste a crust that I've disliked. To do the crust all you do is mix the "Step 1 Crust Mix" with the sugar and melted butter until properly mixed and then you use the crust to cover the bottom of the backing cups.

The "Step 2 Filling Mix" is now added to the bowl of "cold" milk and mixed. The instructions say to use a mixer to do the mixing but since I don't have one of those I'm relying on some good old (wo)man power, elbow-grease and my trusty whisks. I have a slight obsession with whisks. Right now I only have two but every time I see one I have to stop myself from buying it. I'm using my small one now to whisk the mix together. The recipe calls for 1-1.5 cups of milk and I used a little over the 1 cup mark because the last time I made it the filling was a little too goopy for my liking. The box also says that the filling will be thick, I have yet to see that so I'm going to just keep on whisking until hopefully it thickens.

Wow, they should have just told you to leave it alone for a little while. I left it to type up the last paragraph and I go back to it and it's like cement. Well not quite obviously but it was pretty thick. That definitely did not happen the last time and I'm pretty sure I used a mixer because it was when I was at home home*.

I spooned the filling on top of my yummy crust and then use the spatula to smooth out the top. The box then advises that I refrigerate them for an hour before putting the strawberry topping on. I decided that I was just going to leave them in the fridge overnight and decorate them tomorrow. Either on my own or with my other friends in the evening I guess. I'm not exactly sure what the plan is but I'll find out eventually.

The pictures I took I'll post them tomorrow (or later) when I've done the decorating with filling part. That way there will be a photo of the finished product as well.

If we all do get together tomorrow evening then I'll take pictures and blog about that as well. I'll probably have my laptop on me so I can do a semi live blogging like I did tonight. Which means that even thought everything is being posted at once quite a bit later than when I was doing the cooking/baking/whatever, I typed up these paragraphs as I was doing the things that I wrote about. I do apologise though because I know how boring/tedious it can be to be reading only text, especially for a food/cooking blog. I personally think it should be against the law to print recipes without photos. One that note, I'll see you tomorrow (or later).


*Home Home- For those of you who don't know, I'm 21yo and live with my younger brother in a teeny tiny flat. That is referred to as "home" and that's where I'm making this now. "Home Home" refers to the house in the country where I grew up (from age 9-18) and my parents and older brother live. I tend to do my big cooking experiments there because if something goes wrong my Mummy can usually help me out.

Cooking Recipes : Dessert Express Very easy - Nutella Lollipop !

Cooking Recipes : Dessert Express Very easy - Nutella Lollipop !

Lollipops!

Today I bought myself a lollipop making kit. I'm so excited! It had the molds, the sticks, the wrapping bags, labels and a stand. It's so cute. Yes it is made for ages 6+ but it still has everything that I need for making lollipops.



This is the stuff and in a little I'll have the pictures of my own experience using them. I'm going to make white chocolate lollipops because that's all I have at home right now.

Chocolate Rum Cream Mousse

My last post I spoke about Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintendo DS. That was to set up for this post where I'm going to relate my experience making Chocolate Mousse using a recipe from it. I don't have the actual recipe and the DS with me right now so I'm going to write what I remember.

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

5 oz dark chocolate

2 tbsp heavy cream

3 egg whites

4 tbsp sugar

For my version I substituted the dark chocolate for milk chocolate and I used one and a half tbsp heavy cream and a half tbsp rum cream.

I must state that this is the second time I'm attempting this recipe and the first time was a dismal failure. I had planned to make it for my boyfriend's (now ex) birthday and because the prep time says 40 minutes I figured I should be able to do it in the hour or so I had before going to dance class. Everything went as planned until I got to where I'm supposed to whisk the egg whites briskly until they form a peak when the whisk is removed from the whites. The first dilemma with this was that I didn't even own a whisk and I was using a fork. The second was that I only had about 30 minutes left before I had to leave for dancing. So I whisked and whisked with my fork and realized that nothing was happening. Eventually I gave up and continued the recipe as instructed and mixed in my non-fluffy egg whites into the chocolate. My mousse ended up being the consistency of very runny chocolate icing.

This time however I was back with a vengeance and armed with not one, but two whisks in different sizes. I used the smaller of the two and with all the whist action I had whisked until I noticed that there was a change taking place. I kept at it and realized that yes, it is turning white. Not quite fluffy yet but it looked like it was getting there. I whisked furiously until finally I was seeing peaks in my egg whites. I was astonished! I had no idea that eggs could do such miraculous things. Eventually after adding the sugar and when I thought that my egg whites looked like the photo on the DS I added it to the chocolate, egg yolk and cream mixture and kept on stirring it. After that was done I was to put it in the refrigerator to chill.

In retrospect, despite my excitement over my egg whites as they were, I think I should have whisked longer because after combining it with the chocolate mixture it got a little runny. I left it over night in the freezer figuring that the worst that can happen is that it becomes a sort of ice cream. Also I would substitute maybe one-third of the chocolate required for dark chocolate because it is rather sweet. Next time I'll also just make a third of the recipe because it makes far more than I had anticipated and I don't think I'll be able to finish it all.

All in all I feel like it was a good attempt but I have yet to get any very positive feedback on it. My brother said he likes the flavour but not the texture which means that he isn't going to have anymore of it. My ex-boyfriend did have a little taste but he didn't really convey any sentiments about it. If I do get anymore feedback then I'll make it known.

(Slideshow credit: http://tinyurl.com/4a829rk)

Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintendo DS

I can't quite recall if I have ever written about my Nintendo DS and Personal Trainer: Cooking. Well if not, here goes. It's a cookbook but for the Nintendo DS. There are loads of recipes from all over the world and the software allows you to select a recipe based on a number of factors. You could choose by the type of recipe you're looking for whether you feel for desert or for a salad. You can narrow your search down by looking for recipes from a certain country, or for the health/weight conscious you can even choose based on key ingredient or calorie content.

After you've chosen you're recipe you are shown three options. You can look on the ingredients and materials you need, you can look at the steps involved or you can go straight to the instructions. If you take a look at the ingredients you can check to see whether or not you have them and if not then you can add them to the shopping list that is also a feature of this game card. If you just want a brief idea of what the cooking process with involve then you can look on the steps or if you want to get straight to cooking then select cook.

Once there, your personal trainer will instruct you step by step, talking you through the recipe with helpful videos and tips to ensure that you are on the right track. If you missed something he said, simply ask him to "repeat". The Nintendo DS features voice recognition and so without having to get your device messy, you can verbally instruct the cook to "continue" or to go back to the "last step" with the various voice commands.

This game (and I use the term loosely) is a fun way to introduce cooking to the novitiate. The recipes are simple and easy to follow and the overall software is very user friendly.

(Photo Cred: http://tinyurl.com/49cm7o2)