I have a lot to learn...

I'd never heard of Peggy Porschen before her book landed in my letterbox. But I was instantly smitten by how pretty it was and very much taken by its title.

'Peggy's Favourite Cakes and Cookies... to make every occasion special' - doesn't that sound like the perfect book for an enthusiastic baker like me?

  

I flipped to the back of the book to find out more about Peggy and was impressed by her credentials. A German lady who moved to London to study French patisserie; she has become cake maker to the stars. Her previous clients include the likes of Elton John, Stella McCartney and Madonna; all of whom have bought cakes from Peggy Porschen's Parlour in Belgravia.   

There's obviously a lot I could learn from Peggy. Her book is bursting with beautiful photos of the most fabulous-looking cakes and cookies. Rather too fabulous, perhaps, for a learner such as me. A learner who has yet to take a course in sugar craft. A learner who sells cupcakes that are nicely - but very simply - decorated. A learner who doubts she will ever succeed in making anything look as good as these cookies: 

 

Or these cakes:

Or this one:

Or this:

But should I be so defeatist? Should I not just think of this as a challenge?  If I master the basics, as explained by Peggy, I might be surprised by what I could succeed in doing.

The final section of this book is devoted to these basics. Here, Peggy lists the equipment necessary to make her cakes and cookies. Once again, I feel disheartened because I don’t have very many of them. 

However, I persevere and read Peggy’s recipes for sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, Victoria sponge, rich dark chocolate cake, marble cake, sugar syrups, buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache. I go through the sections, complete with pictures, which demonstrate how to line cake tins, apply the perfect fondant icing, dip cupcakes, make royal icing and how to pipe different patterns and shapes such as sugar daisies, daffodils and rosebuds. 

There’s a lot for me to take in and it can seem overwhelming at times but by the time I’m done, I think I can do it. I’ll start with some of her more simple-looking recipes – perhaps a marble cake covered with a chocolate ganache and decorated with sugar flowers.

This is definitely not a book for the novice cook. No, it’s a book for enthusiastic bakers with a degree of experience. It’s also a book that has inspired me to try harder, learn more and make more beautiful cakes. Thanks, Peggy! 

Broken promises in bread making

I am a bad, bad blogger. Months ago (and in this post)I promised myself and you that I would bake a loaf of bread every second day until I had mastered a variety of different breads and was able to rustle up a loaf in minutes.

Have I kept this promise?  Indeed I have not.  Instead, I have bought bread from Orla and Niall (of the excellent Bácús Bakery) who man the bread stall beside me at Dingle Farmers' Market and when their bread is not available, I (shh, whisper it) buy bread from LIDL.

My conscience has reminded me of my broken promise from time to time and at such guilt-ridden moments, I have experimented with bread.  These experiments have included a sourdough fiasco, Kerstin Rodgers' wonderful pitta breads and many variations of this focaccia, which is based on a recipe by Nigel Slater.

This is a great recipe for beginners.  It's easy to make.  It always works out well.  And you can add any sort of topping that you please.

Ingredients:
450g/1lb strong white bread flour (this is just flour with a high gluten content)
1 and a half tsp salt
1 7g packet of fast-acting yeast
400ml warm water
16 cherry tomatoes
3 sprigs of rosemary
1tbsp olive oil
Cornmeal/polenta 
Sea salt  

• Place the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.

• Make a well in the middle and pour in the water. Stir it in until you have a dough of sorts. Don't worry if it's quite sticky and gloopy.  Mine always is and it always comes right. 

• Flour your work surface generously and then turn your dough onto it.  
• Start kneading it lightly, incorporating the flour from the surface. If the mixture is still too wet and sticky, add a little more flour - until the dough no longer sticks to the work surface.  

 

• Knead the dough for five minutes more or so and then place it in a floured bowl. Cover it with clingfilm or a towel and leave it until it has risen to double its size or so. This will take 40 minutes to an hour. 

 

• Lightly oil the bottom of your baking tin (the one I used was 30cm by 20cm). Sprinkle it with a layer of the cornmeal, which will keep the base crisp and stop it from sticking.
• Set your oven to 220 degrees Celsius/430F/Gas Mark 7.
• Remove the dough from the bowl carefully. It will sink slightly. Push it into the baking tin, covering as much of the bottom as possible. Set aside once more, covered with clingfilm, for another 20 minutes or so until it has risen again. 

• Now for the fun part: cut your tomatoes in half and tear up your sprigs of rosemary. Push them into the dough. Then drizzle over the olive oil and scatter the flakes of sea salt. Soon, your dough will look pretty as a picture. 

 

• Place in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the bread is golden and crisp on top.

 

This bread is best eaten warm. Cut into slices or torn into chunks, it's perfect with salads or soups. In fact, it's perfect with so many things that it's a bread that's well worth making. Perhaps I should persist with this bread-making lark after all.  

Clafoutis: a delicious dessert (with a cherry on top)

My boyfriend arrived home with cherries at the weekend.  Lots and lots of cherries.  So many cherries that even after we had gorged on them, we still had lots left over.

So, I decided to make cherry clafoutis.  I used to love eating this simple dessert in France but what I didn't realise was just how simple it was to make.

I started with a recipe from Kerstin Rodger's Supper Club, added in some modifications from Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and came up with a dessert of custardy deliciousness that was perfect served with some cream and a drizzle of leftover juices.

Here's what you need to make it:
500g cherries, stalks removed. (Traditionalists leave the pits in the cherries for extra flavour. I didn't but the choice is yours.)
60ml kirsch or brandy
40g caster sugar

4 eggs
60g caster sugar
300ml milk
300ml cream
50g plain flour
A 25cm (10in) square ovenproof dish (or a dish of equivalent size)
Butter to grease the dish

• Place the cherries in a bowl.  Sprinkle over the 40g of caster sugar.  Pour over the alcohol and mix. Leave to sit for one hour. 

• When the hour is almost up, preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/350F/Gas Mark 4.  
• Grease your ovenproof dish with butter.
• Strain your fruit, reserving the liquid, and lay it in the bottom of the dish. 

• Whisk the eggs and add the remaining 60g of caster sugar.  Once mixed, slowly stir in the flour.
• Finally, add the milk and cream and whisk again.
• Pour the batter over the cherries. 

• Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the batter has set.  Check by shaking the dish a little.  It should wobble but hold its shape. 
• If you want, you can brush the top with the leftover Kirsh when it leaves the oven. And now comes the hard bit: allow your clafoutis to rest for 30 minutes before serving it still slightly warm. 

I had mine with a little cream with some of the leftover Kirsh drizzled over it.  Sweet cherries, custardy batter, softly whipped cream and the decadent booziness of the cherry brandy: just as with the cherries themselves, I couldn't stop eating it.

Crackbird Dublin: pop-up restaurants arrive in Dublin

This post was originally written in May.  I have NO IDEA why it has posted again.  Ignore it and I'll do my best to post something new in its place over the weekend.  Promise!


Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
Time is running out for those of you who have yet to eat at Crackbird, Dublin's very first pop-up restaurant.


Open since the 21st of February, this buzzy (and busy) little restaurant on Crane Lane in Temple Bar is going to close its doors and disappear forever on the 22nd of this month. This means you now have only 11 days left to try the tasty chicken and experience the laid-back atmosphere for which Crackbird has quickly become renowned.

Run by the same people who are behind the hugely popular Jo'Burger burger joint in Rathmines; the idea behind Crackbird is simple: serve the most ridiculously addictive fried chicken with a range of sides and sauces.

I had heard lots of hype about this restaurant before my boyfriend and I visited on Monday and was apprehensive as to whether Crackbird could live up to it. My scepticism deepened as we walked down the dingy side street that is Crane Lane. Had I got the address wrong?

The exterior didn't look too promising either. Dark and gloomy, it didn't bode well for what we'd find inside.

But once we stepped inside, I found myself getting excited again. Bare lightbulbs hung over long communal tables lined with smiling people sharing buckets of chicken, salads and dips. The staff - all skinny jeans and quiffs - were friendly and welcoming. And there was music. LOUD music.

We had booked 'tweetseats' through Twitter. (Basically, this meant that we got to eat for free. All we had to do was follow @CrackBIRDdublin on Twitter and send them a message specifying the time, date and number of diners. Simple.)

So, what did we eat?

We ordered the super crisp soy garlic chicken, the semolina chicken crunches, carrot and cranberry salad, chermoula sauce and a whipped feta and burnt lemon sauce with a lime ginger spritzer and a rhubard lemonade to drink.


The super crisp soy garlic chicken arrived in a cute little red bucket and was exactly what we hoped it would be. It was so crispy it crunched. It was perfectly seasoned, perfectly spicy and completely addictive.

The burnt lemon and whipped feta sauce the waiter suggested we have with it was a revelation and my highlight of the entire meal. Its smoothness counterbalanced the spiciness of the chicken and the burnt lemon lent it great depth. (I loved this sauce so much that I'm going to have to try making it for myself. Watch this space for updates on my progress!)

The semolina chicken consisted of strips of moist chicken breast coated in crunchy semolina. It worked well with the herby, zesty chermoula.

The carrot and cranberry salad was sweet and fresh and provided a good contrast to the mostly fried food.

Finally, the drinks, served in repurposed jam jars, were zingy and refreshing.


My verdict? All that apprehension was unfounded. I loved the charming attention to detail - seating composed of picnic benches, homemade napkins in cute patterns, the jam jars for drinks... The food was great. As were the drinks (we didn't have any booze but if we had wanted to, there was beer, wine and cider to choose from). I liked the communal atmosphere and had the sense that we could have stayed there for as long as we wanted, sharing food, sipping drinks and chatting - not something you feel welcome to do in most restaurants.

The only negative was that I felt the chicken - the focus of the menu at Crackbird - should have been free-range. The menu tells us that the chicken comes from a cooperative farm in Cavan but I'd have felt happier if animal welfare were more of a priority.

Also - and this is going to make me sound SO old - the music was slightly too loud.

Those reservations aside, Crackbird is to be recommended.

Time is ticking people. Dublin's very first pop-up restaurant will soon be a thing of the past. Tuck into their chicken dishes, sides and sauces while you still can.

You should never forget to eat...

Do you ever have days when you're so busy you forget to breathe, let alone eat?  For me, these are days when editors bring deadlines forward so that they clash with when I've got classes to teach AND baking to do for the farmers' market.

On days like this, eight o'clock comes around, my head is reeling and, unless things have gone dramatically wrong, I can't believe I've somehow managed to get everything done on time.  Everything that is except eat - as my suddenly ravenous stomach reminds me by growling.

This recipe is perfect for those sorts of days, perfect for when you crave something flavourful and substantial but don't have the energy to spend much time cooking.

I created it on one such day and, because it contains ingredients I usually have in my fridge, freezer and store cupboards, it's one I've cooked at the end of many a busy day since.  Another great thing about this recipe is that it's infinitely adaptable.  If you like chillis, I would add half a red chilli to this dish and cook it with the garlic.  If you don't have as many prawns as the recipe suggests, make it with what you have.  And if you like more or less of any of the other ingredients, the recipe allows for modification.

Ketjap Manis, shrimp paste and nam pla (or fish sauce) may seem like exotic ingredients to have in your store cupboard but, as they both last for ages, I would recommend them to you all.  Ketjap Manis is an Indonesian flavouring/condiment similar to soy sauce.  It has a complex, sweet taste and keeps indefinitely in a cool, dry place.  Shrimp paste is made from fermented, ground shrimp and it's cooked into curries and sauces in Southeast Asia.  It lends a fish-flavoured depth to dishes and it too keeps for ages.  And nam pla is also made from fermented fish and brings a deep, salty flavour to food.

Here's what you need to make the simplest and most delicious of suppers:
Serves 2
150g rice noodles
200g tiger prawns (if you're using frozen ones, be sure to defrost them first!)
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
6 spring onions/scallions, cut into strips approximately 2 inches long
1 large clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Shrimp paste
Ketjap manis
Nam pla
Oil to cook with

• Prepare all of your vegetables.  Chop the peppers.  Shred the spring onions.  Crush the garlic and chop the coriander. 
• Cook your noodles according to the instructions on the pack.  Once they are cooked, stop them cooking any further by rinsing them in cold water and then drizzle them in a little oil to stop them sticking together.  I like using sesame oil as it compliments the Asian flavours of this dish but if you don't have it, use a flavourless vegetable or groundnut oil instead.
• Heat one tablespoon of your cooking oil (a vegetable, groundnut or olive oil that isn't extra virgin is best) in a wok over a medium heat.
• Add your garlic and cook for one minute.
• Add your chopped red peppers and move quickly in the oil and garlic for another minute or so.
• By this stage, your garlic may be starting to stick to the pan so add half a tablespoon of ketjap manis to loosen things up.  Cook for another minute.
• Add one teaspoon of the shrimp paste and one teaspoon of the nam pla to the dish and cook for another minute.
• Add your prawns and cook for another two to three minutes until they have turned pink. If at any stage you feel like your wok has become too dry, you can add some ketjap manis or nam pla.  Be careful about adding the latter though as it is quite salty.  I would usually add about half a tablespoon of each at this stage. 
• Add your spring onions.  Cook for a minute until they are warm but still retain a crunchiness.
• Sprinkle over the chopped coriander.

• Then get the noodles which you have set aside, toss them into the wok with the prawns and mix the whole thing together. 
• Serve with some extra ketjap manis and coriander to sprinkle over and in ten minutes, you've got the simplest and most delicious of suppers.  It's the best kind of fast food!
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