Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

After the lovely al fresco lunch last week, I thought that the usual clear blue skies and sunny winter days of the Costa del Sol would be back but instead, we've had another week of relentless rain.  Yesterday afternoon was one of the coldest days of the year.  I was stuck at home the rest of the day after a morning trip to the dentist and suddenly had a chocolate craving.  Flipping through several cookbooks, I started to look for a really simple recipe to sate my appetite and found it  - totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express.  I whipped up a batch, baked a few and froze the rest.  In less than half an hour, the cookies were ready.  I took a few of them with me and sat in the living room watching the rain fall as I took a bite of the freshly-baked chewy and chocolaty cookie - perfect with my afternoon espresso and an excellent way to spend a rainy afternoon at home.  The skies may be gray but that little treat really made my day.

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Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

(from Nigella Express)

• 125 gr. dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
• 150 gr. flour
• 30 gr. cocoa, sieved
• 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 125 gr. soft butter
• 75 gr. light brown sugar
• 50 gr. white sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 egg, cold from the fridge
• 350 gr. (2 bags) smei-sweet chocolate morsels or dark chocolate chips 

• Preheat the oven to 170C/ gas mark 3.  Melt the 125 gr. dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
• Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
• Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl.  Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
• beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients.  Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.
• Scoop out 12 equal-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop and a platte knife are the best tools for the job - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6 cm. apart.  Do not flatten them.
• Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter.  If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.
• Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool. 

My notes:

I used only 200 grams and mixed both dark and milk chocolate chips. 

I also ran out of unsalted butter so I used salted butter instead and omitted the salt.

I made 18 smaller scoops instead of the 12 large that the recipe indicated.  I baked 9 and froze the rest for another day.

Easy Apple Crumble

All of a sudden the temperature has dropped and from warm sunny days of 22C, it's become overcast and 16C.  We've been waiting a long time for some cooler weather and the opportunity to light a fire and  have some warming food - pot au feu, cocido, onion soup with melting hot gruyere.  Along with comfort food come winter desserts - fluffy whipped cream concoctions just won't do which is why tonight, we made one of our favorites.  The classic apple crumble has many different versions but we made the simplest one.  For a fast and easy pudding, this tops the list - apples, sugar, flour, butter and oats and dessert is ready in half an hour.  Make sure you have either creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream to make it perfect.  Winter's here!
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Easy Apple Crumble

• 100 grams plain flour
• 175 grams unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks
• 100 grams brown sugar
• 50 grams oatmeal
• 900 grams tart apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Mix the flour and butter together, either in a food processor, or with your hands until it becomes like rough sand.
• Add in the brown sugar and the oatmeal.
• Place the chopped apples in a baking dish (use one that can go in the oven that you can then serve the dessert in).  Line the bottom with the apples.
• Top with the crumble mixture and make suer to cover all the apples.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is crisp.
• Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche.

Feed Me Now

I just received my Amazon order yesterday evening. Along with two Booker prize nominations (AS Byatt and Sarah Waters) plus the winner, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, I also bought two foodie books - David Leibovitz's The Sweet Life and Bill Granger's newest cookbook Feed Me Now.  It's been a long time since I've actually sat down and read through a whole cookbook from cover to cover.  This is going to be a classic and will now be on my "favorite cookbook shelf" for its' simple recipes and realistic preparation and easy-to-find ingredients.  I can't wait to get back from Madrid and try the recipes out.

Ideas from a Jardin Potager

Now that the summer is over, I've replanted my mini jardin potager (kitchen garden) which I often use to add some freshness to our food.  Right now, I have eight small pots of herbs:  chives for omelettes fines herbes or added onto boiled new potatoes with melted butter; cilantro for Asian dishes like steamed fish; parsley for sauteed potatoes or in a bolognese sauce; basil for tomato sauce or just on a salad of sliced tomatoes; rosemary for lemon roast chicken; thyme for grilled lamb chops and mint for Vietnamese nems or to add in a pot of green tea.  I also have a red chili plant (bird's eye chili) in a larger pot on the terrace to add to Thai curries and spicy stir-fries.  There are so many ways to jazz up a dish just with fresh herbs and having a few pots on a shady window sill or in a small corner of your garden is an easyway to add some interesting flavors to your home cooking.

Thai Corn Cakes

What to do on a mid-week night with the fridge full of leftovers?  Yesterday, I started looking through my cookbooks for ideas of recipes using the ingredients I had:  cooked corn on the cob + a bunch of cilantro + ground pork for tonight's stuffed aubergines = Thai corn cakes.  It's a Thai appetizer that's easy to do and makes a nice impromptu dish to be served with drinks when guests come over or just for one of those nights when you're just too lazy to cook something complicated.  All you'll need is some store-bought Thai sweet chili sauce and it's ready.
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Thai Deep-fried corn cakes

1 Tbsp.. crushed garlic
1 Tbsp. chopped coriander/cilantro, roots and stalks
1/4 tsp. pepper

Grind the ingredients above in a mortar and pestle until it forms a paste.
The garlic mixture can be stored, covered, in the fridge for 1-2 days.

250 grams corn removed from cobs
250 grams minced pork
1 Tbsp. garlic mixture (above)
1 beaten egg
1/2 Tbsp. plain flour
1/2 Tbsp. corn flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
1/4 crumbled vegetable stock cube
1 Tbsp. coriander/ cilantro leaves to garnish

In a bowl, mix the corn, pork, and garlic mixture.  Stir the beaten egg.
Add the plain flour, corn flour, soy sauce and crumbled stock cube.
Form the mixture into round flat cakes.
Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer then deep-fry until golden brown.
When cool, arrange on a serving plate, garnish with coriander/cilantro and serve with Thai sweet-chili sauce.

OLIVE

After finishing Orlando Murrin's A Table in the Tarn and reading about his work before he moved to France, I bought olive, one of the three BBC magazines on food and cooking he helped create and I'm so glad I did. 

Its' concept of - eat in (for recipes), eat out (for restaurants), eat away (for travel) - is informative and interesting.  The recipes are seasonal and simple, the restaurant reviews straightforward and the travel articles informative and well-written.  It's a pity I can't buy it here in Spain but I do get a chance to pick up a copy when I cross the border to Gibraltar and  do my shopping at Morrisons.  
*Cookbook photo taken from amazon.co.uk

Sunday Roast

I've been meaning to blog all week but one thing led to another and now, it's Monday and I'm wondering where the last few days went. With two children, a husband and a household to run, the days just whizz by. This is the first quiet moment I've had in the office (television off and not blaring the Disney channel or some sporting event) and not surprisingly, it's almost midnight before I can post about dinner yesterday evening.

Sunday is our lazy family day when the nanny is off and we're on our own so we always have a very easy breakfast then sit around and try to read the papers then usually have lunch somewhere nearby. I make a simple roast dinner (or something on the grill if it's summertime) and we all go to bed early. Yesterday was no exception.

We had a lemon-rosemary roast chicken with roasted parsnips, carrots, garlic and onions. I also prepared some roasted sweet potatoes my way with a bit of chili to spice it up. There were some leftover roasted red peppers that we made over the weekend and were marinating in olive oil in the fridge so I put those on the table as well. Comfort food for a Sunday evening and just right for the start of autumn.

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Roasted spicy sweet potatoes

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• dried red chili pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• fresh thyme

• Preheat the oven to 2o0C.
• Peel and chop sweet potatoes into large chunks. Drizzle some olive oil in a large roasting tin. Place sweet potatoes into the pan.
• Grind some red chili pepper flakes onto the sweet potatoes.
• Add a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
• Place the roasting tin in the oven and roast for at least 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven. Add the maple syrup then mix the sweet potatoes, making sure to scrape off those that have stuck to the bottom of the roasting tin.
• Put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
• Crush some sea salt onto the sweet potatoes and serve hot.
• (Serves three as a side dish or two very hungry adults)

Peach Tarte Tatin

Another hot summer's day with the temperature at 32C and no wind at all. The best thing to do would be to sit in the shade with a large glass of iced tea or iced lemonade and take a nap or read a book but since we have family arriving today from Argentina, I'm making our dessert for tonight's dinner instead. (*I made this last Wednesday but haven't had the time to post it until today.)

This is a classic recipe that I've adapted to take advantage of the abundance of summer fruit available. Peaches are used in place of the traditional apples and it's a twist that works as the sweetness and juiciness of the peaches is perfect with the shortcrust pastry. All it needs later on is a dollop of extra-cold creme fraiche to complete it or if you want to be extra indulgent then some vanilla bean ice cream wouldn't be too bad either.

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Peach Tarte Tatin

For the short crust pastry :

• 2 Tbsp. ground almonds
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour, sifted
• 6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, chopped into chunks
• 2-3 Tbsp. ice water

• 8 ripe peeled peaches, preferably white but yellow ones will do
• juice of 1 lemon
• 6 Tbsp. vanilla-flavored sugar (*I always leave a spilt vanilla bean in my baking sugar)
• 4 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter

• Make the short crust pastry by adding the flour and butter and process briefly. Add the ice water by tablespoon until the mixture comes together. Wrap in wax paper and chill for at least 30 minutes. This may also be done a day ahead and left in the fridge overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 190C (375F).
• To peel the peaches, place them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave for 30 seconds then pour out the hot water and peel gently. Sprinkle them with lemon juice to prevent them from getting black. Cut the peaches into wedges but make sure to leave one half peach for the middle of the tarte tatin.
• Warm the sugar in an enameled cast-iron skillet (about 10-inch diameter) or any pan that can be put in the oven. The sugar must turn deep, dark brown and liquid so do this over medium high heat. Do not stir but keep moving the pan round to prevent the sugar from burning. Remove from the heat and add half the butter.
• Place the half peach in the middle of the pan, cut side up. Line the rest of the pan with the quartered peaches, remembering to place them cut-side up.
• Add the remaining butter on top of the peaches and then place the pan over the heat for a further 2-3 minutes to gently start the cooking.
• In the meantime, roll out the pastry. It must be large enough to cover the pan with some pastry hanging over the edge.
• Cover the pan with the pastry and then tuck the rest into the pan edge.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before inverting into a plate.
• Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or cold creme fraiche.

Summer grill Asian style

Another great idea for a summer grill is this Asian-inspired dish of grilled salmon in red curry. It's quick and easy to prepare and with just the right amount of spice to have for an alfresco lunch. I use salmon because it's oily flesh flavor is played down by the spiciness of the curry but other firm-fleshed fish such as cod or swordfish would work just as well. Just this with a small dish of stir-fried greens, steamed jasmine rice and some fresh lemonade is ideal for a hot summer's day.

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Grilled Salmon in red curry

• 4 salmon fillets (about 200 gr. each)
• 1 Tbsp. red curry paste
• 3 cups coconut milk
• 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/3 cup basil leaves, shredded
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• red chili, split lengthwise and seeded (*optional)

• Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Saute the red curry paste till fragrant then add the lemongrass and coconut milk. Lower heat and simmer. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and red chili and continue to simmer over low heat till the sauce starts to thicken a bit. Add the basil leaves.
• Heat a grill (charcoal grill is better, grill pan will do). Place the salmon fillets, skin side down, on the hot grill. Cook for a few minutes then flip over and cook for another 2 minutes making sure to score the fish (make stripy grill marks on the flesh side).
• Place the salmon in a large platter then pour over the curry sauce.
• Serve with steamed rice and stir-fried greens (like bok choi).

Empanadas

As a follow-up post to our Argentine dinner, here's the recipe for the empanadas that we served. We made two kinds - carne (mince) and choclo (corn) but there are so many other fillings that can be done. Here are a few ideas: cebolla con Roquefort (caramelized onions and crumbled Roquefort) and jamon y queso (ham and cheese). Empanadas can be baked or fried (what we prefer) and the dough can be made or you can buy ready-made pre-cut empanada dough. All you have to do is fill it and fry or bake.

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Empanadas de carne

• 250 grams mince/ground beef (*Don't use lean beef, some fat is needed so it isn't dry)
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• a small chunk of lard or 1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening (e.g. Crisco)
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. aji molida (crushed red chili flakes)
• salt and pepper to taste
• a dozen pitted black olives, chopped finely (about 1 olive per empanada)
• optional: 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs and 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 pack of pre-cut, ready-made fried empanada dough, comes in packs of 12 (*I use the Argentine brand Fargo. They also have a ready-made baked empanada dough)

• Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Sweat the minced onions then add the ground beef and shortening or lard. Add the cumin, sweet paprika and aji molida. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to cook over low heat.
• Chop the olives and set aside. (If using eggs, boil the eggs then chop and set aside. Prepare raisins as well and set aside).
• Mix olives (and eggs and raisins if using) into ground beef. Set aside to cool.

Empanadas de choclo

• 22 grams of butter
• 22 grams of flour
• 300 ml. milk
• 1 small can of sweet corn (150 grams) or 2 ears of fresh sweet corn, shucked

• For the Bechamel sauce, heat the milk in a saucepan. In another saucepan, prepare a roux by cooking the flour then mixing in the butter. Make sure that both are mixed well. Remove from the heat then slowly add the hot milk to the roux and put back on the heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. make sure that it it not too liquid - it should be thick.
• Add the corn to the Bechamel.

To assemble the empanadas:

• Prepare a wooden chopping board or a marble top. Sprinkle some flour then place one empanada pastry on the floured surface.
• Place about 2 Tbsp. of filling (ground meat or corn and Bechamel) into the empanada dough.
• Fold over and seal by twisting the dough with your hands or using a fork to seal the dough shut.
• Make sure to use a different seal for each type of empanada. For example, I used a fork for the corn ones and twisted the edges for the meat ones. This is so that when they're cooked, you can tell them apart.
• Heat oil in a deep-fryer. Fry the empanadas till light brown and crispy.
• Serve the meat ones with salsa chimichurri or white sugar for dipping.
• (* For baked empanadas, follow the same procedure but bake in a 200C oven instead)

Argentinean Dinner

Last night, we invited our next-door neighbors M & A and kids over for dinner. They had prepared a traditional Iranian meal for us a few weeks back and we decided to do an Argentinean dinner to reciprocate. After a week of careful planning - recipe research (from my mother-in-law), looking for ingredients all around Marbella and making do with our Weber grill instead of a parrilla (Argentine grill), we managed to re-create a near-authentic (at least food wise) experience for them.

As most Argentine meals are rustic outdoor set-ups where a large wooden table is set right beside the grill in a shady area of the garden, we opened all our sliding doors to let the outside in and first had aperitifs and appetizers on the terrace followed by the asado (grilled meat bien sur) indoors at sundown which is around half past nine anyway. The table was set with a place mat, a square plate, simple cutlery - forks and Laguiole steak knives, a linen napkin and some rosemary plants in terra-cotta pots as centerpieces.

To start we had empanadas de choclo (corn) y empanadas de carne (mince) along with Provoleta (grilled Provolone cheese) and chunks of baguette. The fried empanadas (we prefer these to the baked ones) were hot and crispy on the outside - the meat ones were either dipped in a bit of sugar or eaten with salsa chimichurri (oregano-based sauce for grilled meat) while the corn ones were eaten plain.

As soon as the appetizers were finished and the grill was ready, A prepared the three cuts of meat: entraña (skirt steak), asado de tira (short ribs) and bife de costilla (T-bone or Porterhouse steak). As we don't have a proper parrilla (grill) which can be lowered and raised depending on the heat of the coals, it was more difficult to ensure that the meat stayed red and juicy on the outside while not completely burning the outside. The grill sparked up with flames a few times but my Argentine husband managed to keep the flames to a minimum and cook the meat to medium-rare. We had two salads with the meats: a beet-carrot-egg salad and sort of a Waldorf salad of celery, apple, pear and walnut - both popular in Argentina. We also had some papas rejilla (crisscut fries) which are similar to potato chips to accompany the meat. I didn't have time to drop by the wine store in Marbella and see what Argentine wines they had so instead of the traditional malbec, we had an excellent Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero.

After dinner, we went back to the terrace for more conversation and to wait a but before the extra-sweet dessert we were going to have - mousse de dulce de leche (caramelized milk mousse). Much-needed espressos followed until we realized it was past midnight and time for the kids to go to bed.

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Salsa Chimichurri

• 1 Tbsp. oregano, crushed (fresh is better but dried works fine as well)
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, crush the leaves
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp. ground red chili flakes or to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil (if you want a milder flavor, use vegetable oil)

Soak all ingredients in the vinegar and water. Leave for at least an hour then add the oil. Adjust seasoning and serve with meat empanadas and grilled meat.

*If you're in a rush, get some of the ready-mixed dry chimichurri herbs that you add water and vinegar to, set aside for an hour or so, add oil and it's ready. I've used this many times and the result is very good.

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Mousse de Dulce de Leche

• 1 bottle of Dulce de Leche (about 454 grams) - buy the best that you can find. (*I use either La Salamandra or Havanna)
• 454 grams of whipped cream (in other words, equal amount of whipped cream and dulce de leche)
• Crushed meringues
• Walnuts

Crush the meringues and line the bottom of a large bowl, a serving dish or any container that you would like to present the mousse in Whip the cream until stiff. Add a dollop of dulce de leche to the whipped cream and whisk in. Gently fold in the rest of the dulce de leche. Make sure that the two are mixed together. Transfer into container then chill in the fridge for at least a few hours or better yet, overnight. When the mousse is solid, top with a few walnuts. Serve very cold.

Summer grill - Indian style

After our fantastic Iranian dinner the other night, I decided to dig up some similar recipes for the grill. I came up with an Indian-influenced chicken Tikka with cucumber raita along with some ready-made minted lamb kebabs from the English Butcher. We also made some buttered Basmati rice to go along with the meat. Both turned out well and we had another dinner al fresco although the M's kebabs were still the winner.

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Chicken Tikka

• 500 grams chicken breast, cut into large chunks (*I use chicken tenderloins which are the softer smaller filets under the breast)
• 3 Tbsp. yoghurt, plain or greek
• 1/2 cup tikka masala paste (* I use ready-made)

• Mix the yoghurt and the tikka paste.
• Marinate the chicken pieces overnight or for at least 6 hours.
• If using chicken breast pieces, thread onto bamboo skewers otherwise grill directly over hot coals.

Cucumber Raita

• 3/4 cup yoghurt, plain or greek
• 1 lebanese cucumber (around 130 grams), halved lengthwise then chopped into chunks
• 2 Tbsp. chopped mint
• 1 tsp. ground cumin

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl and chill till ready to serve.

Tofu Dinner

After all the rich meals we had in Paris, we needed to have an Asian food fix.  Luckily, I found some fresh tofu at the supermarket and one evening last week, we had fried tofu and a Thai green curry of chicken with some steamed jasmine rice.  The dish is something my sisters and I used to order at a small Chinese restaurant in Malate off Remedios circle called Empress Garden (I don't think it exists anymore and if it does, somebody please tell me where they moved).  My grandmother's cook Alice (who now works for my mom) then recreated the dish and this recipe is what we now use at home.   The tofu were deliciously crunchy outside and soft inside and turned out to be a good side dish for the spicy green curry.   It's easy to make and doesn't need any fancy ingredients.  Try it and you'll see (or rather eat) what I mean.

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Fried Tofu (from Alice's recipe)

Serves 4 as a side dish 

• 2 squares of fresh firm tofu (about 400 grams)
  
• cornstarch (for dusting tofu)
  
• Panko breadcrumbs (for coating tofu)

• FOR THE SAUCE:
• 3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
  
• 3 Tbsp. chicken stock
  
• 1 Tbsp. white sugar
  
• 1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
  
• 1 scallion (green part only chopped finely)

• Pat the tofu dry then slice the tofu into large squares.  Dust with cornstarch then cover in Panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs.
• Heat some oil in a shallow frying pan.  Slowly pan fry the tofu in batches and brown all sides.  Drain on paper towels.
• At the same time, heat the soy sauce and chicken stock in a small saucepan.  Bring to  a boil then add the sugar and simmer until the sugar dissolves.  Toss in the toasted sesame seeds.   Add the chopped scallions.
• Top the tofu with cilantro leaves and serve with the sauce.

Simple Spring Dinner

It was another beautiful spring day yesterday - blue skies, warm sun and a slight breeze from the Mediterranean - perfect for a simple dinner of sirloin and young asparagus on the grill accompanied by new potatoes and a salad of goat's cheese with red onion marmalade.  Often the most simple things make the best meal - not much thinking involved, not much time spent - just a quick peek in the fridge to make something with what you have.  Luckily, the fridge was still quite full from our weekly shop so we had a delicious impromptu dinner.

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New Potato Salad

• 400 grams new potatoes, scrubbed and washed
• 2 Tbsp. grainy mustard
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar (white wine or sherry)
• 250 ml. olive oil

• Boil the new potatoes until cooked through but firm.  Drain and set aside.
• While the potatoes are still warm, make the dressing.   Place the 2 mustards in a bowl, add the vinegar and whisk well to emulsify.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil and keep whisking until the dressing thickens.
• While the potatoes are still warm, split the new potatoes lengthwise then add the dressing and toss well.
• Sprinkle with chopped chives or sliced spring onions.
• Serve lukewarm.

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Easy Goat Cheese Salad

• 1 portion of goat's cheese
• honey
• red onion marmalade (I use the English Provender Very Lazy Caramelized Red Onion Marmalade)
• some good bread
• mixed greens
• dressing (1 Tbsp. mustard, salt & pepper, 1 Tbsp. vinegar - mix all then whisk in 3 Tbsp. olive oil)

• Toast some sliced bread in the oven.  When the bread is crisp, spread the goat's cheese and drizzle some honey on top.  Put back in the oven to melt the cheese.
  
• Make the dressing then toss the greens in the dressing.
• Top with the goat cheese toasts and serve with red onion marmalade on the side.

Moist Chocolate Cake

After a quick dinner of Szechuan chicken and stir-fried vegetables, we were all craving for some chocolate cake so the challenge was to find a chocolate cake recipe that I could whip up in an hour with the ingredients I had.

I reached for the encyclopedic How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and found a simple recipe for either chocolate cake or devil's food cake but I had to whip the egg whites and that was just too much to do at 9:00 p.m. plus we had just run out fresh milk. Nigel Slater's  The Kitchen Diaries came next but his version was a dense chocolate cake that was more mousse-like than cakey.  Finally I flipped through Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2 and found what I was looking for in the whole chapter on all things chocolate.  A simple moist cake using just seven ingredients, all of which I had.  The cake came out of the oven at almost 11:00 p.m. and after waiting for it to cool, it was perfect for a pre-midnight snack.  

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Moist Chocolate Cake

from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2

• 300 grams dark chocolate, chopped (*I used Lindt 70% chocolate bars)
• 250 grams unsalted butter (cut up into chunks)
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 1/4 cups plain all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup almond meal (ground almonds)

• Preheat the oven to 150C (300F).  Place the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth.  Set aside.
• Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes until pale and thick.
• Sift the flour an baking powder over the egg mixture and gently fold through with the almond meal and chocolate mixture.
• Line the base of a 23 cm (9 inch) round cake tin with non-stick baking paper.  (*I used a loose-bottomed cake tin lined with parchment paper)
• Pour in the mixture and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
• Cool in the tin.
• Spread the cooled cake with chocolate fudge icing, if desired.  (*I left mine unglazed and ate a slice with some ice cream instead)
• Serves 10

Stuffed Aubergines

Yesterday was one of those days when I ask myself why the service here is so inefficient.  I've heard it from so many already that I'm surprised nothing ever changes.  Although Spain is  a wonderful place to live, there's one thing I can't get over and that's bad customer service - especially in the only department store in the country - El Corte Ingles.  I was there to do a few errands - find a birthday gift for a classmate of my son, buy some cream for the baby and replenish my supply of face wash.  What should have been an enjoyable afternoon just left me frustrated.  At several make-up counters (Lancome, Sephora and Kiehls), the sales people were too busy chatting with each other to give me their attention.  At the pharmacy, the white-coated attendant was busy putting on her make-up at the register using (very expensive) NARS tester products normally reserved for clients.  That's also probably why in Spain, they never give any sample products away even if you buy a whole load of make-up because the salesgirls use it for themselves.  Do these people realize that there is a recession and 17% unemployment in Spain?  In the end I bought a tube of face wash from Bobbi Brown because it was the only counter where the salesgirl actually helped me and answered the few questions I had regarding the products.  Unfortunately, there isn't any other place in Spain where one can go and get most everything except at the old-style-no-service-customers-are-never-right El Corte Ingles.

So what does this have to do with aubergines?  After a day like that I needed to realx and cooking is what relaxes me.  I wanted a simple meal of comfort food to make me feel better and that's where the aubergines come in.  It's actually a Filipino recipe called rellenong talong (stuffed aubergine).  Well, it worked and I felt much better after eating so well. 

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Stuffed Aubergines

• 4 medium-sized aubergines (eggplant), sliced lengthwise
• 500 grams of ground pork
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 eggs

• Grill the eggplant halves, skin-side up until cooked through.  You can do this on a charcoal grill or on a grill pan on the stove. When done, peel the skin off one side and smash the flesh with a fork to flatten.
• In a pan, heat some olive oil and add the garlic and onion.  Saute for a few minutes then add the ground pork.  Make sure the pork is cooked through, then set aside in a bowl.
• Beat the eggs and place in a low bowl or deep plate.
• Dip the eggplant in the beaten eggs then transfer to a plate.  Add the ground pork and press firmly to the eggplant to stick.
• Slowly transfer to a heated frying pan and shallow fry.  You should be able to flip the eggplant over to its' other side in one piece and continue to cook until both sides are golden brown and slightly crisp.
• Serve with steamed rice.

Courgettes Belle-mère

The other day, A suddenly had a craving for this special courgettes (zucchini) dish that he used to have at home. It was a Romanian dish that his mother made often but he had no idea how to make it so I sent my mother in-law an email to find out how we could recreate it here.

After she consulted her cooking notebook and translated the original recipe from Romanian to English, she sent me an email with the ingredients and instructions which we then followed to the letter. We finally had it for dinner yesterday evening and it turned out exactly as A remembered - delicious and easy to make. I guess having it after all these years brought him a taste of home and lots of memories along with it. Since it was a recipe from my belle-mere (it's the French word for mother-in-law which just sounds so much better than English), I asked her permission to share her recipe here. Bon Appétit!

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Courgettes Belle-mère

(a.k.a. My mother in-law's Romanian recipe for stuffed zucchini)

• 4 zucchini (green or white, whichever is available)
• 500 grams ground beef
• 1 medium onion
• 1 slice of day-old bread
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 1 can of crushed plum tomatoes (about 800 gr.)
• cream or Greek yogurt


• Slice the top of the courgettes off and carefully empty out the insides using an apple corer (or melon baller).
• Soak the bread in water and leave for a few minutes.
• Chop an onion finely.
• Squeeze the bread and mix with the ground beef.
• Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil. Add the ground beef. Season with salt and pepper.
• Pour the tomato sauce into a large saucepan that can fit all the courgettes . Bring the tomato sauce to a simmer.
• Slowly add the courgettes, side by side. Cover the pan and leave on low heat for about half an hour making sure to turn the courgettes over after about 15 minutes.
• Remove the courgettes from the pan and transfer onto a serving dish. Scoop on the tomato sauce and add a few dollops of cream or yogurt on top.

* Alternatives - you may also use a mixture of ground pork and ground beef and add some peperoncini (dried crushed red pepper flakes) to add some zing or use the same recipe and replace the courgettes for red and/or green peppers.

Lemon and Orange Cheesecake

It's one of those lazy Sundays where there's not much to do.  Since it's also the start of the Easter break, my son has no homework due tomorrow morning and ten days off school plus A is off on a business trip until tomorrow evening which means a free day for me to do as I please.

One of the usual cravings I get is for cheesecake and since I still haven't found one that I really like here in Marbella (most don't have enough cheese and too much cream or the cookie crumb base is all soggy or it's way too sweet), I always end up making one at home.  I've tried many different versions - Nigella Lawson's London cheesecake,  Marie Claire's baked raspberry cheesecake but I think today I've found my favorite.  This one is the perfect blend of not too sweet fudgy filling with a crunchy cookie crumb base and just in time for my afternoon snack.

Lemon and Orange Cheesecake

adapted from The Kitchen Diaries

• 80 grams butter, melted
  
• 250 grams digestive biscuits or graham crackers
  
• 200 grams cream cheese
  
• 500 grams Mascarpone cheese
  
• 3 whole eggs
  
• 1 egg yolk
  
• 150 grams golden caster sugar
  
• 1 orange, zest only
  
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
  
• 150 ml. double cream
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 140C.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan or in the microwave.  Crush the biscuits in a food processor or if you're feeling energetic, then place them in a Ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin.  Make sure the biscuits are finely crushed.  Place the butter in a bowl then add the crushed biscuits and mix well.  Smash 2/3 of the crumbs into the base of a 22 cm. loose-bottomed cake tin then place in the freezer.  Set aside the rest of the crumbs.
• Bring the kettle to a boil (about 2 liters of water).
• Mix the 2 cheeses, the eggs, sugar and the zest of the orange and lemon with a beater or just whisk really well by hand.  Fold in the double cream and the lemon juice.
• Take the frozen base and wrap the tin in aluminum foil on the bottom and sides.  Do this twice so water doesn't seep in.
• Pour in the thick cheese mixture and shake the tin gently to settle the cheese in.
• Fill a large roasting pan with hot water (it should reach halfway up the cake tin).
• Slowly lower the cake tin into the roasting pan. then very slowly, place the roasting pan into the oven.
• Bake for 50 minutes then switch the oven off and leave the cake in the oven to cool.
• When cool, slowly remove the cake from the tin and press the leftover crumbs onto the sides.  Leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.  When ready to serve, heat a knife or spatula in hot water before slicing the cake. 

Salade Nicoise

Rain was scheduled for the weekend and we woke up to an overcast Saturday morning which then turned sunny. Lunch was supposed to be grilled Tuna Nicoise so I started to prepare all the vegetables - boiled new potatoes, boiled green beans, soft-centred boiled eggs, split cherry tomatoes (because that's what I had), roasted red peppers (leftovers from the fridge) and the basil and shallot dressing. Then, I got the grill ready. Five minutes after the charcoal had lit up, it started to drizzle - what to do? Well, I pulled out the awning and rolled the grill in the shade then went ahead with the plan and grilled the tuna steaks as quickly as I could before it started to pour. As soon as the tuna was done, which was in less than ten minutes, we sat down to lunch and while we enjoyed our Salade Nicoise, the sun came out again. Spring is definitely here.

Spaghetti with Ricotta and cherry tomatoes

There's a constant pile of books on my bedside table that gets taller instead of smaller so I can make sure that I never run out of things to read.  This month has been hectic though and I haven't read much.  March began with the end of our Las Vegas holiday then we received our iMac and I've been busy doing the big switch from Mac to PC which is why the pile of books has gotten a bit dusty.

Yesterday evening, after spending several hours creating a home network so we could use one printer, I just needed a break from all things tech-y.  I looked through my books and found  "A Platter of Figs" by David Tanis, Chez Panisse's  part-time (actually, half-year) chef. The recipes are organized into three-course seasonal menus starting off with spring which is perfect timing.  David Tanis spends half the year in Chez Panisse and the other half in a tiny kitchen in his Paris apartment where he cooks homey meals based on the best produce surrounded by friends.  I lost myself in his life of amazing ingredients and interesting anecdotes and it turned out into a really good bedtime story.

When I got up this morning, I was inspired to whip up a lunch from whatever I had in season in my fridge.  The cherry tomatoes and ricotta cheese stood out because a few days ago, fellow blogger Miss Expatria twittered this to me:  

@gourmettravel Try pasta tossed with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and a thwack of ricotta! Yumm.

I couldn't resist her suggestion so that became my impromptu lunch - influenced both by David Tanis (he has his Ricotta spread on toast and topped with cherry tomatoes) and Miss Expatria (exactly as it is in the photo).  As you can see, it was easy to make and I can tell you that it tasted simply delicious.