Toffee apples

Today I made 56 toffee apples!
Tried and failed but we now have the perfect recipe.

You will need:
8-10 apples depending on size
400g sugar
100ml water
1 tsp vinegar
2 tblsp light syrup
Food colouring
Sugar thermometer
Greaseproof paper

Put the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the syrup and the vinegar and any food colouring you want.
Keep boiling until the sugar thermometer shows 140°c
Now you can dip the apples in the caramel and put on greaseproof paper to dry.

Wrap the apples in cellophane if you want to make them look pretty!!

DON'T do what I did and stick your fingers in boiling toffee.

My forgotten find!

I dug this out of the very back of my cupboard yesterday. I bought it in Torino a couple of years ago thinking it would make a good present for someone and forgot all about it.
Turns out I wanted it myself and the joy of watching it bubble up and spout out two lovely little espressos was happily repeated again and again.
It is from Bialetti and if I see one again I will buy one to give away this time!

Inspirational and endearing

Please please can someone do this for me when I reach my twilight years???
French photographer Sacha Goldberger realised his 91 year old grandmother was feeling lonely and depressed and decided to take some fun pictures of her - look at what this amazing twosome have cooked up together!!!


I can just imagine what fun they must have had, and what a totally unexpected difference and welcome change to her life this must have meant.

You can see lots lots more pictures on www.mamika.fr

Wibble wobble, wibble wobble.......

Jelly on a plate!
I love these brilliant orange jelly wedges for kids parties. Just split oranges in two lengthwise, scrape out all the flesh and fill with orange jelly. (I put mine in a baking tray filled with sugar to keep them steady while I poured in the jelly but imagine lentils, flour or anything similar would do.) When the jelly has stiffened you can cut them into smaller wedges. If you use a sharp knife that you run under really hot water it slides through easily.
P.S. I found that the jelly subsided a bit after it started to chill so I kept a bit over to top up with.

Naughty Santas christmas nibbles

Buy these saucy biscuit cutters here and cheer old Santa up after his umpteenth meal of biscuits and milk!!

Not very tempting.....

This is my ten year old daughters idea of a fun way to snack at the cinema!! Liquorice strings as shoelaces!! If only she could do it on one of her newer shoes. But in any case, I'm happy she has her own peculiar sense of style :-)

Candied Kumquats

I made these lovely little candied kumquats after findng a recipe on this blog.
It was a long process but very easy to make and they make gorgeous sweets that are perfect for this time of year. Cool christmas present too.
One thing though - check for the large green pips in the teeny tiny fruits!

Crackers for crackers

I realise that something has changed radically in my life when the only queue I make sure I'm first in is the one for the St Edmunds English Church annual Christmas bazaar here in Oslo!!!
Why is that you ask? Well simply to ensure that I get some Christmas crackers for my christmas dinner table.
So come November 13th you won't find me camping out for tickets for a rock concert or queueing for the premiere of this years must see film. Oh no, you'll find me and my sister elbowing little old ladies in the ribs in a mad rush for crackers at the church bazaar!!

Irresistible!

Just managed to lock myself out of the office and had to pop into hunting Lodge to borrow a phone to ask someone to let me in out of the bitter bitter cold. And just to prove that everything happens for a reason I found this brilliant set of gingerbread men cookie cutters. Or rather, Ninjabread men.
Could not resist and can't wait to make them.
Will eat with a nice Stilton and a good vintage port.

Coconut Ice,childhood revisited.

Made this good old sweet today. Great fun to make as it is easy as hell but unfortunately too easy to eat as well. I don't think my kids even like it so I'll have to wrap it up and give it away asap!!!
500g Icing sugar
1 397g can of condensed milk
400g shredded coconut

Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and mix in the condensed milk with a wooden spoon.
After a bit you will need to knead this well with your hands. You will very quickly find this to be horrificly sticky and wish that you had done this with your mixmaster!! If you have one do.
When the dough is nicely mixed add the coconut bit by bit.
Divide in two parts and dye one half pink with food colouring.
Press one half onto clingfilm and even it out until it's approximately 1cm thick. roll small balls of the other half and spead them on top of the first half and press down until you have even layers of each.
Chill for a couple of hours then cut into squares.
Enjoy!

Cold and cough cure with a bite!

I was looking for a liquer to make for christmas so I talked to my friend Fridtjof who is the manager of Bar Boca in Grünerløkka here in Oslo. Definitely my favourite bar in town. He suggested I make Rock and Rye as it doesn't need to be stored for too long and suits the christmas season. As an added bonus it turns out that it was an old cold and cough remedy in it's heyday.
The Memphis Medical Monthly tut-tutted that when a man “gets within twenty yards of the door of the saloon he commences coughing, and he puts his hand over his chest with an agonized expression and slips in the door and takes some ‘rock and rye.’”
If you too want to have a go making it here's the recipe Fridtjof gave me.
1 bottle of Rye whisky. (Not too easy to find in Norway so Fridtjof says use Seagrams 7 instead)
200g Rock candy
8cl Rum (slightly optional!)
!/4 Lemon
!/4 Orange
15 nails of cloves
1 big fat cinnamon stick
1 spoon of horsehound (Borremynte*) if you can find it!
Mix everything together in a jar and leave for a fortnight. That is except the Horehound that should just be put in a teaball and left in for a couple of hours just at the end.)
I just went to Bar Boca and had a Rock and Rye Toddy to be sure that i still liked it!! I did.
Serve with 1 part Rock and Rye and 2 parts boiling water, serve with a slice of lemon, orange or both and you have a perfect winter toddy.
Alternatively serve on the rocks mixed with a really good ginger beer (I recommend Fentimans)
Or just have a shot whenever you feel that little tickle in your throat :-)
*Borremynte kan godt sløyfes fordi den rett og slett er vanskelig å få tak i. Om du er flink eller sta kan du bestille fra www.Rolv.no. Stedet for alt du trenger av urter men ikke finner på supern!!!
CHEERS - SKÅL

And now with carrots!!!

After the success with my aubergine chocolate cake I just hade to try this recipe with boiled and pureed carrots instead of aubergines. A good dose of orange zest and cointreau instead of brandy and hey presto - wondercake. Loved it!!
The original is here and the rest is up to you!!

Top tips...

After making meringues or Pavlova I used to wonder what to do with the left over egg yolks. For anyone else wondering about this here are some tips -
You can use the yolks for about three days after being separated from their whites, put them in a bowl, cover them with water and put clingfilm over the bowl and keep in fridge.
Here are some things you can make with egg yolks - Mayonnaise,hollandaise, custard, crème caramel or zabaglione.
If you don't want to use them straight away you can freeze them. To stop them being thick and sticky when defrosted give them a quick whisk with a little salt or sugar before freezing them. (for eight yolks, you need ¼ tsp salt or 2 tsp sugar).
I found this website with examples of how to use leftover eggyolks that I think is quite cool because they have suggestions for what to make with 1,2,3 eggyolks and so on!

Sugar, butter and flour free Aubergine and Chocolate cake!!!

This cake was, despite it's peculiar name, absolutely delicious.
Aubergine chocolate cake doesn't seem to appeal to peoples imaginations but I think that after tasting most people will be converted!
The juiciness of it and the subtle taste of almonds mixed with the dark chocolate really and truly convinced me!
Even my ten year old 'I hate everything new' daughter loved it!!!!! Praise be something.
Recipe -

2 small whole aubergines (weighing roughly 400g)
300g 70% dark chocolate, broken into squares
50g good-quality cocoa powder
60g ground almonds
3 medium eggs
200g clear honey
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp brandy


Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 23cm-diameter x 7cm-deep tin with baking parchment and lightly brush the base and sides with a little oil.

Cook the aubergines by puncturing their skins here and there with a skewer, then placing them in a bowl covered with cling film. Microwave on high for 8 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and limp. Discard any water at the bottom. Leave the aubergines to stand in the bowl until they are cool enough to handle. If you don't have a microwave you can just prick them with a fork and bake them for approx 40 min in an oven at 200c

Next, skin the aubergines with the tip of a knife and purée them in a blender. Once the warm aubergine is puréed and smooth, add the chocolate, which will mingle and melt slowly. Set aside, covered once again in cling film, until all the chocolate has melted.

In a large bowl, whisk up all the other ingredients for a minute until well introduced to each other and slightly bubbly. Fold the melted chocolate and aubergine mixture into the bowl with all the other ingredients.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place it in the bottom of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in its tin for 15 minutes before turning it out to to a wire rack and peeling off the parchment. Quickly turn it the right way up again and put it on a plate. You can decorate with cocoa powder if you want but I prefer not to.

Serve warm or cold with vanilla ice cream, creme fraiche or sour cream.

Bon appetit!!

Moustache wax - you never know when you'll need it!

The other day my friend Pia said her flatmate had a question that she had told him I was the one to ask!! She refused to tell me what so I waited in great suspense to see what it was.
Imagine how happy I was when he walked in sporting a wonderful new moustache and asked me if I had a clue where he could buy moustache wax!!!!
If you've been following my blog you will have seen one of my latest blogs about Liebling, a shop/cafe in Løkka. When I was there the first time I noticed they had no less then 3 - three, different moustache waxes. I made a mental note of this in case anyone ever expressed a need for this particular eversoslightlyobscurepieceofeversouseful cosmetics.
And lo and behold, two days later.................
check out their facebook group. Liebling.
You can find them here: Øvrefoss 4, Grünerløkka.

Books for cooks

Want to go to London? Love food? Want to do something other than just wander around markets, shops and museums?
Why not take a cookery lesson at Notting Hills famous Books for Cooks?
They have around 8000 book titles, a test kitchen where you can eat from a new menu every day and they run cookery lessons in their own workshop above the shop. All manner of lessons, Thai, Italian, Indian, fish, baking, Lebanese, even cooking in high heels!!
Click here to see what's coming up!
Bon appetit.

Maya Glaser Wins Observer Food Monthly best readers recipe award 2010

Imagine my delight, not to mention immense pride, when I met my friend Maya in London last week and realised her hangover was a result of heavy celebrating after receiving an award at the Observer Food Monthly award ceremony the night before.
She even gave me a copy of the Observer supplement for the following Sunday with a picture and recipe of her winning dish.
I have had the privilege of eating her winning dish and can absolutely vouch for its deliciousness!

Sweet Potato and aubergine subji with a red onion and coriander raita.
Enough for 2-3
The base -
1-2 medium sized onions
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 green chilli peppers (according to what strength you like) finely chopped
Salt and pepper to season
25g butter(optional)
A good swig of Extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
a good handful roughly chopped coriander
The vegetables -
1 large aubergine cut into small cubes
2 medium sized sweet potatoes cut into slightly larger cubes (keep skin on)
2 good handfuls of roughly chopped spinach
The raita -
half a pot of natural yoghurt
1/2 clove of finely chopped garlic
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
A handful of chopped coriander
A good squeeze of lemon

Fry the onions, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and chillies with a pinch of salt in a little nit of butter and olive oil until soft.
Stir in the garam masala, turmeric and cardamom, followed by the chopped tomatoes and half of the chopped coriander.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes before adding the aubergine. Leave to simmer under a lid for 20 minutes, then add the sweet potatoes. If it gets too dry, add a little water.
Leave the mixture to simmer for another 20-30 minutes then add the spinach. Leave to simmer until the spinach wilts, then add the rest of the coriander and season.
For the raita, mix the yoghurt, garlic, red onion and coriander in a bowl, add a squeeze of lemon and season to taste.
Serve the subji with basmati rice or toasted lebanese pitta bread and the raita on the side.

Maya, I hope you don't mind the adulation, but if you do...tough! You deserve every bit of it.

For a list of all award winners you can look at the Observer website.

Geometry of Pasta

Well I am happy to say that I just found this book in London and as I am maybe over averagely interested in what pasta is right for what sauce it suits me perfectly! It is packed with great graphics of the different types of pasta and loads of great recipes.
You can get it on Amazon and take a sneak peak at its contents here.

Trellick Tower and Goldfinger, what's the connection??

Trellick Tower is a towerblock in North Kensington, London. You get a great view of it if you walk up Golborne road. It was designed by the architect Ernö Goldfinger and finished in 1972. It is now a grade II* listed building, meaning that it is a building of special architectural or historic interest. It was built for Greater London Council and all the flats were let as council flats. The majority of them still are, but those that are not are very attractive objects on the property market.
As for the connection between Trellick Tower and The Goldfinger most of us know as the villain in Ian Flemings book? The villain is indeed named after Ernö himself. Apparently he was given to notorious rages and not a friendly man to work for. Fleming had also been one of the protesters to the tearing down of the cottages that made way to what would become Goldfingers house.
Goldfinger threatened to sue Fleming for using his name but the dispute was eventually settled outside the court and Goldfinger received six books as part of the settlement!!
I bought this cup from the London Transport Museum t remind me of wandering down the Golborne road with my friend Maya. Check out the other amazing things they have here. PS. Make sure you look at their poster shop!!!

I recommend.....

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