Recipe Time - Romano Pepper, Olive and Garlic Pasta

So, I've been cooking and I have a new recipe! Actually, it's the first recipe I ever developed but I wanted to get it just right before sharing it with you. Super-healthy and packed with flavour, it is also extremely quick to knock together and is an ideal midweek meal.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

200g Large-piece Pasta (such as penne, conchiglie or, my personal favourite, elicoidali)

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Cloves of Garlic

2 Sweet Romano Peppers

24 Kalamata Olives (don't ask me why, this number just works beautifully!)

2 tsp Dried Oregano

Salt and Black Pepper

Method:

Pour the pasta into a pan of boiling, salted water. While it is cooking, finely chop the garlic. Halve and core the peppers before cutting into thickish strips.

Spoon the oil into a frying pan, heat and, when the pasta is four minutes away from being cooked according to packet instructions, throw in the garlic. Cook for two minutes, then add the peppers. The idea is to make the peppers release their flavour without causing them to lose their bite.

As soon as the pasta is cooked, set aside a few tablespoons of the cooking water, toss the olives into the frying pan and drain the pasta. Again the idea is just to coax the olives into a deliciously warm, flavoursome state without destroying their structure.

Quickly return the pasta to the saucepan and throw in the contents of the frying pan, the set-aside cooking water, the oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Stir vigorously and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know in the comments what you think, I'd love to hear from you!

Book Review - The Curious Barista's Guide To Coffee by Tristan Stephenson

Do you want to know about coffee? Then this book is for you.

Released in March this year, The Curious Barista's Guide to Coffee does a very good job of informing the reader about the coffee making process.

Every stage from farm-to-cup is covered in copious detail. The reader is lead through how coffee is grown, processed, roasted and ground in such a way that Stephenson's expertise shines through.

The book fully explores the diverse, often confusing world of coffee drinks. Different brewing methods are demonstrated with step-by-step, illustrated tutorials and the pros and cons of each are discussed.

Milk-based espresso drinks, from latte to flat white, are also discussed and there is a really fun introduction to producing latte art which I wish I had had when I was a barista!

Coffee's history receives solid attention. The book starts with a general history of coffee and more specific information, such as the development of grinders, is included in the appropriate chapters.

Where the book is not so strong is the end chapters, focussing on coffee-based recipes, coffee varieties and coffee growing countries.

While the recipes are generally fun and it is an enjoyable addition to the book, some do make use of additive ingredients such as xanthan gum and carrageenan (lambda class). Scary titles aside, these chemicals admittedly seem fairly harmless.

However, I am personally against hurling unnecessary chemicals into things and there seems little need to include them in home cooking. For instance, I cannot see how espresso would be so destructive to the structure of a basic ice cream recipe as to require the inclusion of extra chemicals.

The chapters on coffee varieties and growing regions suffer due to brevity. Only the briefest of introductions can be given which, given the complexity of coffee, is of limited use. In fairness, these topics have huge scope and really are beyond the focus of this book, requiring one of their own to discuss properly. This being so, the chapters are a fun introduction to promote further study.

The tone and layout of the book are highly enjoyable. The tone of the prose is informal yet informed. It feels as though Stephenson is speaking directly to the reader and pertinent reminiscences from his life in coffee add to the enjoyment of the read.

Some might find annoying his insistence on the highest standards of coffee, including singing the praises of home grinders, and mildly snobbish disregard for lesser forms of the drink.

However, he goes into such details about coffee flavour and how it achieved that it is easy to understand his perspective and he is never shy of discussing the coffee he would clearly consider bilge-water, even detailing the various processes of producing instant coffee.

The layout of the book is great fun. It is exceedingly well illustrated and a blocky, cafe-style typeface printed on pages made to look like coffee bean sacking really puts one in the mood to read on.

The Curious Barista's Guide to Coffee is thorough, highly readable guide to how coffee is produced and brewed and anyone who reads it will come away with a deep respect for this most complex of drinks.

However, for those looking for a guide to coffee varieties and the character of the different growing regions, they might do better to look elsewhere - always bearing in mind that the processes described in this book will have a huge impact on the final flavour of any raw bean.

Overall * * * * * - An extremely thorough, farm-to-cup guide to producing coffee, let down slightly by average chapters on coffee varieties and growing regions.

Presentation * * * * *  - Perfectly pitched design puts one in the mood for coffee while the prose style makes one feel as though one is having an informal chat with a coffee shop barista during a quiet period.

Quality of Information * * * * * - Extremely thorough, coming from a highly knowledgeable and enquiring source.

Range of Information * * * * - Other than a thorough examination of coffee varieties and growing regions, every conceivable aspect of coffee is covered.

Price * * * * * - For £16.99, this is an excellently priced book for such expertise.

Will I Take This Off The Shelf For Reference? - Yes.

I have been reviewing The Curious Barista's Guide To Coffee by Tristan Stephenson, published by Ryland Peters & Small (2015), ISBN-13: 978-1849755634

Recipe Time - Rose Water and Cardamom Shortbread Fingers

Happy weekend, food-lovers!

Today, I am going to be writing up another of my recipes, an aromatic, Persian-inspired take on that most delightful of biscuits, shortbread.

I have to admit, while R&Ding this recipe I had some trouble getting the spice balance right - my first effort was like being smacked in the face by a spice shop - but I promise I managed to get everything working in perfect harmony.

Just for reference, as rose waters can vary, I used Nielsen-Massey's rose water in this recipe.

Ingredients (Makes 12):

200g Butter

100g Caster Sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)

300g Plain Flour

5 Cardamom Pods

1tsp Rose Water

Method:

Split open the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Either grind in a pestle and mortar or, if you don't have one, put in a plastic bag and pulverise with a rolling pin.

Soften the butter and put in a bowl with the sugar. Mix in but do not beat - the trick with shorthand is to do as little manual labour as possible to ensure a dense, crumbly biscuit. Beating at this point would introduce air bubbles into the mix which would expand in the oven.

Add the flour, rose water and cardamom and mix in, again using as little effort as possible so as not to develop the flour's gluten and produce a leathery texture. Personally, I think this is the moment to hurl the wooden spoon over your shoulder and rub the flour into the fat with your fingertips. Nothing matches the control and feel of your hands.

When the flour is no longer visible, press the dough into a ball. You can put the ball in the fridge for up to several days to improve its texture or do what I do and get on with things.

Line a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) brownie/cake tin with baking parchment. Throw the ball into the tin use your hands to spread into a nice, even layer. Prick the surface all over with a fork but don't go through the dough.

Place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes but up to a day to allow the gluten to relax, increasingly crumbliness. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 160°C (Gas Mark 3) or 140°C for a fan oven.

When the oven is up to temperature and the dough has chilled, bake the shortbread for about 25 minutes, until just starting to show a little colour around the edges.

Sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to cool before cutting up into 12 fingers.

Book Review - How Baking Works (And What To Do When It Doesn't) by James Morton

This week, I am reviewing another book, James' Morton's new(ish) How Baking Works (And What To Do When It Doesn't).

I have been using it for the last few months and I have to say it is utterly fantastic. As the title suggests, the book attempts to teach the reader basic recipes and techniques and how to sort out problems ranging from hard shortbread to soggy puff pastry.

Morton's chocolate and orange cookies

Morton takes a highly methodical approach to the book's layout, with each chapter tackling a different type of bake. Cake, sponge, brownie, muffin, torte, biscuit, short pastry, sweet pastry, choux (bless you!) pastry, puff pastry, meringue and macaroons all receive their allotted space.

He is not hidebound by his principles, however, and slips in a few odd recipes where they seem most appropriate rather than leave them out. For instance, a rather excellent recipe for chocolate fondants finds its way into the brownie section.

An introduction covers "basics", a collection of need-to-know sauces and dressings such as caramel sauce, jam and the best crumble topping you will ever experience.

Morton's chocolate fondant

It also reveals a unique selling point of medical practitioner Morton's books, his scientific approach to the subject. He is far less of a "it's all an arcane mystery we must feel our way with" than a "everything is there for a reason which can be explained" kind of baker.

His introduction features a description of the key qualities of the basic ingredients of baking, sugar, eggs, flour etc, and their importance to the baking process.

This style carries on into the later chapters, where he scientifically explains the why behind each style of bake's basic process and how things might have gone wrong.

For instance, he explains the purpose of chilling shortbread before baking (it firms the butter up to prevents spreading in the oven and allows the gluten matrix to relax to produce a crumblier shortbread, since you ask).

I suspect this reason-based approach may also be due to the cheerful blokeishness which suffuses the book. There is nothing fussy about is recipes. Most measurements are in simple multiples or divisions of 100 and he has a casual disregard for scrimping and scraping to make "healthy" bakes (his advice for soft caramel is "Butter. And lots of it.").

Morton's friands (financiers)

The style of the book is very much in this vein; simple, unfussy, cheerful. The prose is conversational, as if he is speaking to the reader, and the layout is clear and simple with plenty of photographs.

I am not entirely sure about the quality of binding. I may have been unlucky but a section of pages has already detached from the spine and is hanging by the thread binding - just the sort of thing to really annoy this book-lover!

As I say, I may just have been unlucky and it is certainly not a reason to avoid buying the book. In fact, I would very much recommend you do and I'm sure Morton would roll his eyes and tell me to stuff the pages back in or glue them down.

How Baking Works is a fantastic book for a baker of any level but especially for a beginner. All the basics anyone could want are in here along with ten skip-loads of advice on how to dodge common problems and take ones baking to the next level. This book is an indispensable jewel in my collection.

Overall * * * * * - A peerless guide to baking, one could not wish for a clearer or more thorough companion.

Presentation * * * *  - A simple but clear and effective layout is enhanced by Morton's cheerful prose.

Quality of Recipes * * * * * - Outstanding, solid basics to set you up for life.

Range of Recipes * * * * * - Every basic style of baking is covered while a few more experimental recipes are included among them.

Price * * * * * - At £20, this is really good price. With this much advice it is worth £25.

Will I Take This Off The Shelf To Cook From? - Yes.

I have been reviewing How Baking Works (And What To Do When It Doesn't) by James Morton, published by Ebury Press (2015), ISBN-13: 978-0091959906

Recipe Time - Leek, Tomato and Taleggio Risotto

This week on The Hungry Seagull I bring you another delicious recipe created by my own fair hand  - leek, tomato and taleggio risotto.

Taleggio is a soft, intensely flavoured cheese, a bit like stilton crossed with camembert. Frequently, it is made from pasteurised milk, which is good news for us germ-freaks.

It is extremely versatile and I love it fresh from the packet, smeared on fluffy white bread, as much as I do melting it in hot dishes such as this risotto.

This recipe uses cherry tomatoes because their delightful sweetness contrasts really well with the tangy cheese and buttery leeks.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

4 Leeks

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

200g Risotto Rice

1 litre Vegetable Stock

400g Cherry Tomatoes

200g Taleggio Cheese

4 teaspoons Oregano

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method:

Trim and wash the leeks. I also like to remove the outer leaf but that is a matter of personal preference, you may prefer to throw it all in!

Pour the olive oil into a large pan and heat. Slice the leeks into disks and, when the oil is good and hot, throw them in to the pot.

Cook the leeks over a medium heat, keeping them moving so they do not stick to the pan and burn. When they are soft, add the rice and, stirring all the time, continue to cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the first 250ml of the stock. Still stirring, cook until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. It is important not to cook at too high a temperature or the stock will evaporate rather than soak into the rice. Aim for a rolling simmer rather than a raging boil.

Add another 250ml of stock. Throw in the tomatoes and return to stirring to prevent the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan. After a while, the tomatoes should be soft enough to crush. Press them against the side of the pan until they burst and release their sweet juices into the risotto.

When the stock has been absorbed by the rice, add another 250ml and keep doing this until the rice is cooked. If you run out of stock, add water until the rice is cooked. It should be soft but with just a little bite.

Once cooked, add the taleggio, roughly torn up, and the oregano. Add a few good twists of black pepper - however much you like, really - and stir until the cheese is melted and evenly mixed through the risotto.

Serve immediately, preferably with a glass of white wine.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and, if you do, please let me know in the comments below!

Cafe Review - Vanilla Pod

This week, I decided it was time I did another eatery review so I visited Brighton and Hove’s Vanilla Pod.

Located on the western end of Western Road, it is surprisingly easy to miss. No glass-fronted modern café, it is a white-painted building with speaks of an older, gentler age.

The inside is bright and airy. Decorated with duck-egg blue walls and spotlessly clean varnished wood flooring and furniture, the morning light streams into a space which feels cosily old-fashioned and stylishly modern.

Vanilla Pod describes itself as a café and tea room but this rather undersells the range of food it offers.

Alongside tea, coffee and cakes, it offers a wide variety of savoury options. Of course, there are the normal sandwiches but there is also a selection of sausage rolls and puff pastry turnovers.

Breakfast, as far as Vanilla Pod is concerned, is a style of food not a time of day. A mighty range of dishes, from porridge to full English (via pancakes and eggs benedict) is available all day.

The sweet selection is modern British. Sponge cakes, brownies and flapjacks adorn the counter in a variety of original and classic flavours.

To start, I ordered the chocolate and orange cake and a cappuccino.

The cake was full of flavour and exquisitely presented. A large portion came to me, elegantly standing on end with a side serving of berries and a spring of mint.

The proportion of icing to sponge was well managed and both parts contained chocolate and orange.

In a playful gesture, a piece of Terry’s Chocolate Orange crowned the cake but somehow the classic sweet was more than decoration and contributed to the overall experience.

The same can be said for the side serving of berries and mint. More than plate-dressing, they allowed for fun flavour experimentation with the sponge.

My only complaint was that the texture at the very bottom of the sponge was a little clumpy, like the edible version of a bean bag. I must stress only the very bottom was clumpy and the rest was beautifully soft and smooth.

The cappuccino was good but no more. The milk had been competently stretched but the beans were not the finest. They lacked complexity and depth of flavour but were very pleasant for all that.

Once more, the presentation was superb. My coffee arrived in a beautiful cup and was served with a little round of shortbread.

Later, I ordered a leek, potato and Stilton cheese turnover.

This was perfect. The pastry was crisp and golden and contained plenty of filling. And what filling!

Sweet, buttery leeks were expertly balanced with salty, earthy Stilton and fluffy potato prevented the mix from being overpoweringly strong. Pumpkin seeds pressed to the top added a twist of something special to lift the turnover from delicious to sensational.

The prices at Vanilla Pod veer towards expensive. My cake cost £3.95 and the coffee and turnover where £2.45 and £2.95 respectively. These prices are not outrageous but neither are they bargain of the month.

The extra cost is probably because everything is home-made and Vanilla Pod is a family-run business. Prices inevitably go up.

Still, the experience left me not minding paying a little extra as the décor, service and atmosphere were perfect.

The staff are friendly, everything is spotlessly clean and the ambiance is extremely relaxing. Because the windows, though large, do not take up the whole shop front, it is a cosy space in both summer and winter, victim to neither the searing sun nor howling gale.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of many cafés and tearooms, complete with barely comfortable furniture at a variety of stages on the way to shabby, Vanilla Pod is a paradise.

Vanilla Pod is a wonderful place to eat, drink and relax. A hidden gem with homely, yet skilfully flavoursome, sweet and savoury dishes, it is marginally let down by high prices and unremarkable coffee beans.

Overall * * * * - Great food served in a relaxing atmosphere.

Food and Drink * * * * - The food is divine, bursting with flavour and wonderfully presented, though the coffee is average.

Atmosphere * * * * * - Clean and relaxing, homely and welcoming, the atmosphere is fantastic.

Service * * * * * - Prompt and very friendly. Faultless.

Price * * * - Not cheap but not extortionate.

Would I Go Here Again? - Yes.

Book Review - Real Mexican Food by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham

This week I'm kicking off the book review section of my blog. I'm starting with my latest acquisition, Real Mexican Food by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham.

Unsurprisingly, it's a book about Mexican food. Cruz and Fordham run Benito's Hat, a chain of Mexican restaurants in London which aims to serve up authentic, modern Mexican food.

This approach translates to the book. It feels AMAZINGLY authentic. This due to more than the use of the occasional vegetable I've never heard of (chayote, since you ask). The book is littered with little boxes explaining various ingredients' relevance to Mexican cuisine and each recipe has a little story attached to it, shedding light either on the history of the dish or the life of Cruz, the head chef.

The recipes themselves feel authentic. They feel timeless and unfussy, enduring classics, while there's a certain rugged, rustic quality to them too. The soups are chunky and the refried beans are mashed, as opposed to blitzed with some modern gadget which would looked laughably anachronistic in a Zorro movie.

My attempt at scrambled eggs with chorizo

The book is beautifully presented. Achingly so. The cover is a riot of green, magenta and gold and every pages is a different colour. The photography is fabulous, setting the food off with a careful selection of side dishes and Mexican-style tableware.

It's a perfect size, a little smaller and squarer than most recipe books, meaning it sits beautifully in the hand.

My attempt at a chicken quesadilla

I would have to criticise the book on the number and complexity of its recipes. At under 150 pages and with plenty of photographs, it is hardly extensive. There is only one burrito and one quesadilla recipe and no recipes for red or green rice.

The recipes tend to be on the simple side. To call it bish-bash-bosh cooking would be unfair, particularly as Mexican food veers that way anyhow, but some of the dishes really did not require vast imagination to construct.

That said, they are still lovely and some of the spice mixes required skill to conceive.

My attempt at an oatmeal and cinnamon drink

To road test the book, I tried three recipes. I made scrambled eggs with chorizo, a chicken quesadilla and an oatmeal and cinnamon "drink" (this served very nicely as an evening meal!).

First, some caveats. I had to adapt all the recipes slightly to suit my specific purposes. I used taleggio for the eggs, because I was out of cheddar, used quorn instead of chicken for the quesadilla because I couldn't afford well-looked after chicken and used honey instead of agave syrup for the drink because I didn't want to shell out for a bottle of sweet stuff I was unlikely ever to use again. Oh, and I forgot to put garlic in my quesadilla's marinade.

However, if there is one thing the friendly style of the book's prose encourages it's a flexible attitude to ingredients so I don't feel too bad. Besides, quorn is awesome.

The recipes worked out great. Each one was full of flavour and deeply comforting. Nothing required a fire extinguisher to the mouth yet compromised nothing in terms of taste, especially the wonderful marinade for the chicken quorn.

Real Mexican Food is a lovely book. Authentic, attractive and friendly, it is a great guide to a fabulous world cuisine. However, the book could have done with more recipes to make it truly great.

Overall * * * * - A good introduction into Mexican cooking but not without a couple of flaws.

Presentation * * * * * - Absolutely fantastic photography, design and prose style.

Quality of Recipes * * * * - Delicious and comforting, the recipes work well in the kitchen and feel extremely authentic.

Range of Recipes * * * - The book covers most of the basics but is hardly a thorough and rigorous examination of Mexican food. Could have been longer and some of the recipes were really quite simple.

Price * * * * - At £18.99 RRP I don't feel cheated but neither to I feel like I found a bargain. A fair price.

Will I Take This Off The Shelf To Cook From? - Yes.

I have been reviewing Real Mexican Food by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham, published by Ryland Peters & Small (2012), ISBN-13: 978-1849752589