Pumpkin and Chocolate Slices

Happy Halloween!

Carving pumpkins and making some chocolate slices, using this recipe from one of my favourite books - Zoe Berkeley's bake-a-boo bakery cookbook.



















Pumpkin and Chocolate Slices 
Makes 15

Ingredients


200g 7oz) butter at room temperature
175g (6oz) golden caster sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
4 large free-range eggs
300g (10oz) cooked mashed pumpkin
250g (8oz)self-raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
25g (1oz) cocoa powder, sifted
125g ( oz) chocolate chips




Preheat the oven to 180°C, Gas Mark 4, and grease and line the bottom of a shallow baking tray, approximately 33x23cm (13x9 inches). Lightly cream the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar and maple syrup until just combined.


Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the pumpkin. Sift together the flour, cinnamon and cocoa, then gently fold into the mixture, taking care not to overwork.


Fold in the chocolate chips, the transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and cooking the preheated oven for 35-40 minute until golden. Leave to cool in the tray, then slice and serve straight from the tray.

Zoe Berkeley

Zoe Berkeley is the owner of the bake-a-boo café in West Hampstead, London.

















The GFG Pumpkin Gallery...

Rapeseed Oil – My New Best Friend

Full of nutty flavours

I’ve switched to using Rapeseed oil after hearing that it’s better for you then olive oil as it contains only half the saturated fat. It’s also packed with Vitamin E (a natural antioxidant) and Omegas 3, 6 & 9.

It’s got a wholesome, nutty tang and can be used either hot or cold – so its perfect drizzled on salad, poured over pasta and swirled round in a stir-fry.

Look out for these the next time you hit the supermarket…

Heart of Gold

£4.99 (500ml)

Heart of Gold is a 100 per cent natural, pure, rapeseed oil produced by farmer Nick Bradley, who grows oilseed rape on his farm overlooking the picturesque Vale of Belvoir, on the Lincolnshire/Leicestershire border. The oil is cold-pressed to ensure maximum taste and nutritional content. With a wholesome, nutty tang, it can be used either hot or cold - drizzled on salad, poured over pasta or swirled round in a stir-fry.

Where to buy

Branches of the Lincolnshire Co-op, Asda, Waitrose and in 40 Tesco stores

www.heartofgoldrapeseedoil.co.uk (for full list of stockists nationwide)

Donegal Rapeseed Oil

£5.99 (500ml)

Donegal Rapeseed Oil is produced by a small locally owned company in Raphoe, Co Donegal from crops grown in specially selected farm holdings nearby. The seed is cold pressed and filtered to produce a virgin rapeseed oil. 

Where to buy

www.donegalrapeseedco.com

Available in stores across Ireland

Border Fields Rapeseed Oil

£3.99 RRP (500ml)

Border Fields Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil is a great all-rounder in the kitchen. The oil is pressed from crops grown in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and once harvested the seed is cold pressed, filtered and bottled – no heat or chemicals are used at any stage of production.
For something extra special why not try Border Fields sister rapeseed oil – Oleifera - which is available from selected delicatessens and food stores around Britain.

Where to buy

Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco nationwide

www.borderfieldsrapeseedoil.co.uk

www.oleifera.co.uk

A Cheesy Night in Little Italy

Grazing at...

THE MODERN PANTRY

47-48 St John's Square

Clerkenwell 
London EC1V 4JJ

Tel: 020 7553 9210 

 

It takes a lot to tempt me out on a weekday evening, particularly when it’s pouring down outside. I’d rather be doing anything but trying to grab a taxi from a rain-soaked pavement to a restaurant at rush hour. But that’s exactly what I found myself doing on a Tuesday night following the promise of a delicious cheese-inspired menu in central London. Arriving in Clerkenwell, known as Little Italy until the 1960s on account of the large number of Italians living there, we made haste to the welcoming (and dry) front door of The Modern Pantry. Downstairs we found a casual space for all-day dining, complete with a small bar serving eclectic wines and cocktails. Couples chatted quietly over drinks and nibbles.Upstairs, where we ate, were two dining rooms overlooking St John's Square.

Contemporary art work compliments the simple décor. The food was good. Starter was a twice baked Cashel Blue soufflé with braised celery and soda bread crumbs. The familiar flavours of the Irish cheese, together with a large glass of white wine, melted away earlier thoughts of the night’s miserable weather. The main course was a grilled rib-eye, with sour cherry, kalamata olive and cavolo nero – a Tuscan loose-leafed cabbage. Not the best steak I’ve ever had but by no means a poor effort. The Modern Pantry opened its doors in 2008 under the ownership of Canandian-born New Zealander Anna Hansen. Her philosophy, she says, is driven by the desire to please and excite the palate by renewing everyday cooking with modern ingredients and global inspiration. And dessert certainly matched up to this. We enjoyed an interesting plum and yuzu compote with ricotta sorbet, macadamia and sesame praline. Not my usual choice of dessert – give me chocolate any day - but certainly a sweet and rewarding end to a well put together menu.   

Three course set menu including a bottle of wine cost £30 per person.

Time To Get Stewed!

Winter warmers - a delicious recipe for homemade stew

Irish Stew



Alan Rosenthal



Alan Rosenthal is a man after my own heart. He quit his job in DVD product management after a eureka moment on the train to work - there and then deciding he would fulfil his passion for food and cook stew for a living. The gamble paid off and the 33-year-old set up his company Stewed! just a short while later. Stewed! Pots are now available in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Budgens, John Lewis’ food hall and Ocado. And Alan, who has just released his first book, is helping to give old-fashioned dishes a new twist by adding imagination ingredient combinations. He has come up with over 80 one-pot recipes from around the world, including prawn and chicken jambalaya, Brazilian black bean chorizo and pork stew, beef in barolo, and of course Irish stew. So if you’re a stew-lover or just fancy a dishy to warm up the evenings, why not try his easy to make recipe below…

 

Irish Stew

Serves 4-6

Alan says: “A stew cookbook really couldn’t exist without a good old Irish stew. The following recipe certainly isn’t the only way to make this grandfather of stews, in fact there are countless variations. I’ve chosen to use lamb but some people prefer beef, some add turnips and parsnips, I’ve just gone for carrots and potatoes. Some cook it in the oven, layered like a Lancashire hotpot, but I like it on the hob just as my mum did it when I was a kid – and here it is.

Ingredients

1.2kg middle neck lamb chops, trim off as much fat as possible and reserve

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 bay leaves

4 tbsp pearl barley

2 onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

3 carrots, roughly chopped (keep them chunky)

500g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into roast potato-sized chunks

To serve:

Chopped fresh parsley

Heat a few of the fat trimmings from the lamb in a large non-stick frying pan. Once they’ve melted, season the chops with salt and black pepper, brown them on both sides for 2–3 minutes in batches, then transfer them to a deep, heavy based pan.

Once all the chops have been browned, cover them with cold water in the deep pan. Pop in the bay leaves and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, skimming off any fat and scum that rises to the top using a metal spoon.

After 30 minutes, in a separate small saucepan, cover the barley with col

d water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, drain and rinse in cold water before adding to the simmering lamb.

Once the lamb has been cooking for a total of 1.5 hours, add the onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, a few generous pinches of salt and some grinds of black pepper.

Cook for a further 30 minutes before tasting for seasoning. At this point I like to crush a few of the potatoes into the liquid to thicken it slightly. Serve in big bowls sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Stewed! 80 Irresistible Stews and One-Pot Wonders is published by Ebury Press.

Grazing at The Ice House

 

I’m just back from a trip to the West of Ireland having been invited there for a friend’s wedding. We stayed in Ballina, Co Mayo and post-nuptials visited The Pier Restaurant at The Ice House for Sunday lunch. The restaurant is on the coast road to Enniscrone, Co Sligo next to the Moy Estuary and has an interesting history...

Inside the restaurant

A House With History

The Ice House was originally called The Iceland Cottage or Iceland House. And in the nineteenth century huge quantities of fish caught in the area were stored there before being taken in bigger boats and exported to Dublin or Liverpool. As a result a great amount of ice was needed and The Ice House in effect served as an enormous ice store. The filling of the cellars was an annual event and involved every person in Ballina town. During the winter, when the lakes and ponds froze, farmers and quay workers would harvest the ice by breaking it into large chunks with pick axes and sledge hammers. The chunks were conveyed on carts to the ice house, where they were crushed with long handled wooden mallets and thrown into the cellars. With the introduction of mechanical refrigeration, the building fell into disuse as an ice store. Now lovingly restored as a hotel, spa and restaurant, The Ice House opened its doors in December 2007.



View of the River Moy



Drinks on the terrace

Window booth with views of the river

Lunch at The Pier Restaurant







Bloody Mary



Once seated in The Pier Restaurant – fab views of the River Moy is you can bag a window booth -  we quickly ordered drinks and tucked into the selection of homemade breads.

Homemade bread

Starters came shortly afterwards – St Tola’s goats cheese and walnut pudding, with organic beets and poached fig in red wine for me, and plum tomato and basil soup for the fella.  

Goats cheese and walnut pudding

Tomato and basil soup

Main courses were a huge portion of roast rib of prime Irish beef, with horseradish mash and red wine jus, while I had the fillet of pork, served with sautéed courgette petals, pappardelle pasta and confit garlic. Delicious!

Fillet of pork

Roast rib of beef

Always Room For Dessert...

Passion fruit mousse

With everything from Baileys cheesecake with buttermilk and strawberry ice-cream to vanilla crème brûlée with pistachio biscuits on the menu, there was lots of choice for dessert.

Ice House Assiette

But in the end we settled for a selection of homemade ice creams (the almond and asparagus scoop stood out in the trio served) and the Ice House Assiette – apple square, strawberry and pistachio meringue, watermelon sorbet and passion fruit mousse. Already trying to figure out when we can go back to sample the Á La Carte!

Strawberry and Pistachio Meringue

Vanilla chip ice-cream

Avocado almond and chocolate ice-cream

Three courses, excluding drinks and service, cost €29 per person.

In Love With Hot Chocolate Fondant

I chatted to Chiswick-based actress and stand-up comic Deirdre O’Kane and we spoke about her favourite food fancies.

 

GRAZING WITH… DEIRDRE O’KANE

GFG: What your earliest food memory?

DOK: When my mother first put parmesan cheese on spaghetti bolognese - it smelled like vomit. I remember asking myself why anyone would do that to good pasta. I love it now, of course, but I'll always connect the two.

Deirdre O'Kane

GFG: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

DOK: Probably kangaroo when I was in Australia. I hated it.

GFG: Steak – well done, medium or rare?

DOK: Medium

GFG: What’s your idea of the perfect meal?

DOK: Crab claws to start, followed by spaghetti vongole with a very good white wine. For pudding, hot chocolate fondant, soft in the middle and with vanilla ice cream on the side.

GFG: What’s your favourite restaurant?

The River Café in West London. It's my local and it's always got a great atmosphere and wonderful food.

 

Thai Nights In Soho

Grazing at...

Lemongrass tart

PATARA

15 Greek Street

London W1D 4DP

Tel: 02074371071

Over the years we’ve certainly taken Thailand into their hearts, travelling there on holidays, gap years and sabbaticals. But when you return from your travels, having indulged in the best Thai cuisine on offer, it’s no easy task to find a place that will re-create those same delicious dishes to a level equal in detail and variety. So, it was with some delight that I happened across Patara in London’s Soho. Tucked away not far from the Palace Theatre – which West End fans will know as home to the musical Pricilla Queen of the Desert – Patara Greek Street is one of four branches of an international chain. Inside, there are two floors full of authentic furnishings and enchanting corners to dine a deux, which glow beneath the flicker of candle light.

Thai food is as much about the balance of flavours as the details that goes into each dish. I had a hot and sour soup – the tom yum goong prawn bisque scented with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf - to start and with each bite of succulent prawn this signature dish whisked me back to those long gone weeks spent in Krabi. The fella had the phed nam peung – a honey marinated Gressingham duck breast golden fried in fresh pandan leaf. An empty plate and satisfied grin followed. For mains we were seduced by plump king scallops sautéed in chilli paste and sweet basil, with a side of pak choi and gang kari – a yellow coconut curry with New Zealand lamb, new potatoes and baby onions. Dessert became another course of divine indulgence, this time incorporating more subtle and fragrant flavours. The lemongrass tart with coconut ice cream left a lingering smile, while the fella enjoyed his baked banana! Patara is that rare mix of modern yet authentic, making it the perfect stop for some genuine Thai food…particularly for those longing to recreate the memories of a perfect holiday.

Three course dinner for two, plus wine and service, costs about £100.

Downton Abbey & 1912

A Serious TV Feast...

I think Downton Abbey, ITV’s new costume drama, is pure brilliance – the perfect antidote to impending Monday blues on a Sunday evening.  

It's four episodes in – if you haven’t see it click here to catch up - and a second eight-part series has just been commissioned.

Episode one opens with news reaching Downton about the sinking of the Titanic – dramatic, yes but it sets the tone both in terms of time and class.
And if you’re inspired by the series like me, check out (and recreate?) this Titanic Menu from Rayanne House restaurant in Belfast. Chef Conor McClelland has produced a lavish nine-course menu boasting everything from champagne-laced asparagus and watercress salad to filet mignon topped with foie gras and truffle.

 Rayanne House Titanic Menu

First Course ~ hors d’oeuvres

Canapés a`L’Amiral

Second Course ~ Soup

Cream of Barley finished with Bushmills Whiskey and Cream

Third Course ~ Salad

Asparagus and Watercress Salad with Champagne – Saffron Vinaigrette served with Roast Squab

Forth Course ~ Fish

Poached Salmon with Mousseline Sauce garnished with Cucumber and Fresh Dill

Fifth Course ~ Sorbet

Rose Water and Mint Sorbet

Sixth Course ~ Entrée

Pan~Seared Filet Mignon topped with Foie Gras and Truffle drizzled with a Cognac, Madeira and

Red Wine Reduction served with Potatoes Anna, Creamed Carrots and Zucchini Farci

Seventh Course ~ Sweet

Spiced Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly and French Vanilla Ice Cream

Eighth Course ~ Dessert

Cheese and Fruit

Ninth Course

Coffee and Petit Fours

The year was 1912

In honour of my new fav programme, here’s a few other food highlights from 1912.

Food Loves Hellmans...

Richard Hellmann, a New York deli owner creates his recipe for bottled mayonnaise in 1903 and starts to market it in 1912.

Cookie Monster...

The Oreo cookie makes its debut.  

Say cheese!

The term 'cheesecake' was also invented when an actress arriving in New York posed for photographers and revealed more leg that was customary.

What you need to know about Downton Abbey

Downton Abey is written and created by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellowes and stars the impressive Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.

Set in an Edwardian country house in 1912, Downton Abbey portrays the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them.

“In 1912, England was teetering on the brink. Apparently placid, still rooted in the traditions of many centuries, it would be less than 10 years before the First World War and the Jazz Age had ripped every certainty to shreds. This is the moment when we enter the world of Downton Abbey, the great house of a great family, where the Granthams and their daughters preside over a household in the charge of Carson, the butler, and Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper. All these people must, in their different ways, deal with the changes that are coming.”

Downton is the home of the Crawleys, who have been the Earls of Grantham since 1772. In the drawing rooms and library and beautiful bedrooms, with their tall windows looking across the park, lives the family, but below stairs are other residents, the servants, as fiercely possessive of their ranks as anyone above. Some of them are loyal to the family and are committed to Downton as a way of life, others are moving through, on the look out for new opportunities or love or just adventure. The difference being that they know so many of the secrets of the family, while the family knows so few of theirs.

Downton Abbey - Episode 5/7 on Sunday, October 24 at 9pm on ITV1