Recently we threw a party to celebrate my partner Laura's 50th birthday. As usual, I made way too much food, but that is purely down to the reason that I love cooking and entertaining and feeding people, especially because it gives me the chance to show of my culinary skills. To experience that warm glow of satisfaction when something I have created makes people happy.
One of the dishes I wheeled out is this one, and it made me so happy this afternoon when one of our friends wrote to me and asked for the recipe because she loved it so much she wants to make it. So flattered was I that I decided to publish my recipe on this here blog. Give it a whirl at your next shindig - it was a big hit at ours.
JEFF'S GERMAN-ISH POTATO SALAD
INGREDIENTS
3lb (1.5 kg) waxy potatoes such as Charlotte, Anya or Jersey Royals
1 bunch celery (with leaves), chopped into 1/2" pieces
2 large onions, roughly chopped
olive oil
minced garlic
salt & pepper
Apple cider vinegar
Wholegrain mustard
DIRECTIONS
Dice the potatoes into thumb-sized chunks. Parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes, then place into a hot roasting pan with some olive oil and some sprigs of rosemary. Roast for 45 minutes - 1 hour until golden brown and getting crispy.
While the potatoes are in the oven, place the celery and onions in a skillet or large pan with some oil, salt, pepper and minced garlic, and sautee on a medium-low heat until translucent and semi-soft. Add a heaped dessert spoon of wholegrain mustard and a good glug of cider vinegar (about 4 tablespoons), and combine. Let simmer on low heat for a few minutes. When potatoes are done, add them to the celery mixture and toss together. Can be served immediately (traditional) or chilled overnight and served the next day (this is my preferred method as I feel it lets the flavours get happy together.)
Optional: you can cook some chopped bacon with the onions and celery, in which case you need to reduce the salt. I prefer it without the bacon as I feel it overpowers the other ingredients.
Enjoy.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Friday, June 7, 2019
Stars In Your Eyes
Hi folks, I'm still here (just!)
Last time on the blog, way back in (ahem) February, I posed the following food-related teaser: what, pray tell, is this?
My dear pal Marissa was on the case and correctly identified Star Fruit. Why are they called Star fruit? Because when you slice these delicious sweet-tart things, they look like this...
Carambola, or star fruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and throughout Malesia (a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone). The fruit is commonly consumed throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, and parts of East Asia. The tree is cultivated throughout tropical areas.
The fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually five but can occasionally vary); when cut in cross-section, it resembles a star, hence its name. The entire fruit is edible and is usually eaten out of hand. They may also be used in cooking and can be made into relishes, preserves, and juice drinks.
So what can we make with them? Here are a couple of ideas.
Food blogger Suwannee Rose has some great recipes for Starfruit, including Starfruit Chips, Starfruit Tart and Starfruit Palomas .
Food Network had this recipe too, for Starfruit Upside-Down Cake:
Star Fruit Upside-Down Cake
Level: Easy
Total: 1 hr 50 min
Active: 40 min
Yield: 8 servings (1 slice)
Ingredients
Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 or 4 small starfruit, cut into 1/4-inch-thick stars and seeds removed
Cake:
1/2 cup pecans
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
Directions
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan.
For the topping: Melt the butter, brown sugar and lemon juice together in a microwave-safe small bowl in the microwave. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan. Cover it with the starfruit slices by nestling them next to one another and overlapping (it will look crowded). Set aside.
For the cake: Spread the pecans out on a baking sheet, and bake until nicely toasted, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Whisk together the ground pecans, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and allspice. Set aside.
Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed. Adjust the mixer speed to low, and add half the flour mixture, then the yogurt, then the remaining flour.
Pour the batter into the pan, spread it out into an even layer and give it a few taps on the counter. Bake until golden brown, a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean in the center and the cake pulls away from the edges, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack until the pan is cool enough to handle, then run a knife along the edge and invert the cake onto a serving platter. Let cool completely before serving.
Sounds pretty amazing!
Ok, then - let's do another. Name THIS Food!
Last time on the blog, way back in (ahem) February, I posed the following food-related teaser: what, pray tell, is this?
My dear pal Marissa was on the case and correctly identified Star Fruit. Why are they called Star fruit? Because when you slice these delicious sweet-tart things, they look like this...
Carambola, or star fruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and throughout Malesia (a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone). The fruit is commonly consumed throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, and parts of East Asia. The tree is cultivated throughout tropical areas.
The fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually five but can occasionally vary); when cut in cross-section, it resembles a star, hence its name. The entire fruit is edible and is usually eaten out of hand. They may also be used in cooking and can be made into relishes, preserves, and juice drinks.
So what can we make with them? Here are a couple of ideas.
Food blogger Suwannee Rose has some great recipes for Starfruit, including Starfruit Chips, Starfruit Tart and Starfruit Palomas .
Food Network had this recipe too, for Starfruit Upside-Down Cake:
Star Fruit Upside-Down Cake
Level: Easy
Total: 1 hr 50 min
Active: 40 min
Yield: 8 servings (1 slice)
Ingredients
Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 or 4 small starfruit, cut into 1/4-inch-thick stars and seeds removed
Cake:
1/2 cup pecans
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
Directions
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan.
For the topping: Melt the butter, brown sugar and lemon juice together in a microwave-safe small bowl in the microwave. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan. Cover it with the starfruit slices by nestling them next to one another and overlapping (it will look crowded). Set aside.
For the cake: Spread the pecans out on a baking sheet, and bake until nicely toasted, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Whisk together the ground pecans, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and allspice. Set aside.
Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed. Adjust the mixer speed to low, and add half the flour mixture, then the yogurt, then the remaining flour.
Pour the batter into the pan, spread it out into an even layer and give it a few taps on the counter. Bake until golden brown, a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean in the center and the cake pulls away from the edges, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack until the pan is cool enough to handle, then run a knife along the edge and invert the cake onto a serving platter. Let cool completely before serving.
Sounds pretty amazing!
Ok, then - let's do another. Name THIS Food!
Monday, February 18, 2019
Double Bubble
Last time on Name This Food! I asked you what this was...
Well, ladies and gents, the correct answer was Bubble Tea.
I'm sure some of you know what bubble tea is - my friend Laura from the USA sure did, and she correctly identified same.
But what is bubble tea, apart from delicious? Even I'm a little foggy on the details.
Bubble tea (also known as pearl milk tea, bubble milk tea, or simply boba) is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Tainan and Taichung in the 1980s. Recipes contain tea of some kind, flavors of milk, as well as sugar (optional). Toppings, such as chewy tapioca balls (also known as pearls, or boba), popping boba, fruit jelly, grass jelly, agar jelly, and puddings are often added. Ice-blended versions are frozen and put into a blender, resulting in a slushy consistency. There are many varieties of the drink with a wide range of flavors. The two most popular varieties are black pearl milk tea and green pearl milk tea.
Has that cleared things up for you? OK, maybe not. Just go try some. If you Google it you'll be presented with local vendors and trust me, it's great.
Now then - Name This Food!
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