Baby Mia - Half baby, half bear

Here’s something a little off topic for this site, but getting prepared more often in my kitchen now than anything else; my daughter Mia’s baby food.  We’ve been determined since she was born to cook all of (OK, most of) her food instead of buying it those little jars, so this is my opportunity to pass on some of what we’ve learned.  Mia loves them and I’m sure your babies will too.

Most of these recipes involve pureeing, but as your little one gets older you might want to try mashing instead to start the change onto solid food.

Why not let us know about your favourites by posting them into the comments?

1. Banana and oat smoothie. Simply boil 150ml or so of full fat milk with 3 tablespoons oats for 3 minutes, then throw in half a chopped up banana and blitz up with a hand blender.  This is great for adults, too (idea from the River Cottage Everyday cookbook).
2. Baby Barszcz (Borscht). My wife is Polish so it makes sense that Mia too should share in this great East European classic.  Simply cook beetroot with potato (roughly 3/1 ratio), puree, and stir in a little yoghurt.  Thin with a little boiled water if needed.
3. Baby Porridge. (Note: Sticking the word “baby” in front of what is otherwise adult food seems to make it sound somehow more cute.)  Mia’s dad (Me!) has Scottish blood, and so Mia gets a Scottish breakfast.  150ml full fat milk and 3 tbsp oats boiled for 3 minutes and then pureed.  Yes, it’s a simple version of recipe 1 in the list above, but I don’t care – it’s delicious.  Mix in any pureed fruit of your choice for a little variety.
4. Guacamole.  This is delicious and mild for adults so babies will love it too; skip some of the ingredients from the traditional adult version and what we’re basically doing is a puree of avocado with a touch of very finely chopped coriander / cilantro.
5. Super Detox Broccoli Soup. Not that I think babies need to detox, but a baby version of my so-named soup from last year is simple and healthy.  Simply simmer the broccoli florets for a couple of minutes, remove and puree, adding some of the cooking water to make a suitable consistency.
6. Neeps and Tatties. Even Baby Mia didn’t miss out on Burn’s Night this year.  While we enjoyed our haggis, neeps and tatties, Mia enjoyed the same – minus the haggis, of course.  Simply boil 50/50 potato and swede (don’t even get me started on the difference between a swede and a turnip!) until tender, then mash as normal with a touch of butter.  Mashing is a great way to make the progression from a puree to solid food.
7. Rice Pudding. My confession here is that I just can’t get enough of Ambrosia Cream Rice from tins , but it is really pretty easy to make at home, too.  Simply boil an equal volume of cooked rice and milk with just a dash of vanilla extract until creamy.  Depending on the age of your baby you might want to purée this to make it easier for them to eat.
8. Cauliflower Cheese. Simply boil some cauliflower florets until tender, then drain.  Heat 50/50 flour and butter over a low heat to combine, then slowly pour in whole milk and heat for a few more minutes stirring well.  Add back in your cauliflower and grate in some cheddar, then puree as required.
9. Minestrone Soup. This soup is packed full of vegetables so is perfect for growing babies who need their vitamins.  Sauté finely diced onion with leek, and carrots, adding peas  and tomato purée before simmering in water or vegetable stock until tender.  Add in spaghetti (well broken up) and continue cooking until this is ready.  Finally serve either as is, mashed or puréed depending on your baby’s age.
10. Risotto. A basic vegetable risotto is perfect for babies, using broccoli, pumpkin or similar; just play safe and keep the amount of salt down and you’ll be fine.  As a rough guide, sweat your finely chopped veg with onion in butter, before adding your rice and stirring.  Add stock a little at a time always stirring and allowing it to fully absorb.  It’s also a good idea to cook it for a little longer than you might otherwise do to make it nice and soft for your little one.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas day is already well under-way here; the presents are opened, Mia is happily playing with all her new toys, and I’m contemplating what to make with my KitchenAid ice-cream maker attachment (thanks, Gosia!).  Yesterday we enjoyed a Polish Christmas dinner (traditionally enjoyed on the evening of the 24th), and today we’re heading to my Parents’ for the English version of turkey with all the trimmings.  Tomorrow is my turn to cook, and this Christmas Tree Cake is a great festive alternative those those who either don’t like or can’t be bothered with the traditional English Christmas Cake.

What you see pictured is nothing more than our Babka Cytrynowa (Polish Lemon Cake) recipe given a seasonal twist with the inclusion of Clementine juice and zest.  The flavour is delicate rather than overwhelming, and is very easy to make.

Clementine Christmas Tree Cake Recipe – Ingredients & Method

• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/2 Cup / 100g Cup Plain Flour, sifted
• 1/2 Cup / 100g Potato Flour, sifted
• 1/2 Cup / 100g White Sugar
• Juice of 1 Clementine
• Zest of 3 Clementines
• 8 tbsp Mild Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Baking Powder

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees c / 355 degrees f.
2. Mix flour(s) with baking powder into a bowl.
3. Separate your egg yolks and whites.  Beat egg whites in a bowl till they form soft peaks, then add the sugar.  Mix until combined, then add egg yolks and beat gently until combined.
4. Next to add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.  Add 4 tbsp of flour and 3 tbsp oil; mix well, then repeat until all oil / flour mixture is used up.
5. Sprinkle the raisins with a little flour (this should stop them sinking in the cake) and then distribute into the cake mix along with the clementine juice and zest.
6. Pour the cake mix out into your tin and put into the oven for approximately 35 minutes; check with a cake tester (a wooden kebab stick did the job for us) to make sure the centre is dry before removing.

The image below, by the way, is our attempt at following one of the recipes in the book – the sharp tasting Lemon Trickle Cake.  After all, what better way to review a book than to test one of the recipes in practice?  More about that later…

Lemon Trickle Cake

For those of you who, like me, follow Hugh’s escapades with interest, this book is a logical progression for the River Cottage brand.  Gone are the days of the naive city boy trying to find, grow and rear his own food – River Cottage is now 10 years in, and this experience shows.  Hot on the tails of Nigella Express and How to Cheat at Cooking, this is Hugh’s take on good food made quickly and easily.

Perhaps the most successful part of the book is how despite jumping on the “easy food” bandwagon, the River Cottage trademarks of home grown, organic and seasonal food are still in effect.  So now, not only are we making cheap food, we’re making it ethically, too – and all the better for it.

Anyway, on to the recipe test.  I picked out the Lemon Trickle Cake for no reason other than a lady at work bakes and brings in her own delicious version (Lemon Drizzle Cake), and I’ve never tried baking it myself.  This, and it would be a great excuse to practise using my KitchenAid for cake mixing.

The version you see in the picture is the second attempt at baking this cake; one attempt was mine, and one was Gosia’s (my Wife’s) .  Better not to ask what happened to mine; it’s a sore subject, and the word “sink” comes into the explanation.  Still, both versions tasted delicious – even if one did look better than the other, and it after all it was a great excuse to fill myself with cake for a few days running!

I’m not going to go into detail on the recipe here (for fear of Hugh striking me down) – for that, buy the book.  Basically, you take 175g of butter and caster sugar, beat until pale, then add the zest of 3 lemons, 3 eggs and 175g of flour.  The eggs are added 1 at a time, each with a bit of flour.  This goes into a greased tin and into the oven at 170 degrees c until cooked.

The magic comes in when the cake is stabbed liberally with a skewer and drizzled with lemon icing (200g icing sugar with the juice of 2 lemons); the icing soaks through the cake creating an intense and sharp tasting cake which is so addictive.

I’ve also tried out the “Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies” recipe; if there’s any left by the time I take out my camera, I might post a few pictures of those, too.  Right now, the chances are looking slim…

Easy Chocolate Soufflé

Now by the time I realised this urge the shops were already closed. I made a desperate attempt using a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk and it turned out just awful – far too sweet and not nearly chocolatey enough. It just goes to show that you can’t turn poor quality ingredients into good dishes, I guess.

I searched for a few soufflé recipes on the internet and in the end decided they were all just about the same.  Sure, some were quite fancy featuring various types of alcohol and the like, but I wanted pure unadulterated chocolate.  Why would I want to mask that with anything else?

Easy Chocolate Soufflé Recipe – Ingredients

Serves 4

• 100g (3.5 oz) good quality dark chocolate (I used Lindt Excellence 50% Cocoa solids)
• 50g (1.75 oz) Golden Caster Sugar
• 4 Egg Whites
• 2 Egg Yolks
• Butter
• Single Cream, optional

Easy Chocolate Soufflé Recipe – Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees c (300 degrees f), and rub the inside of 4 ramekins with butter.  Set to one side.
2. Place your chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of heating water.  This will allow your chocolate to melt without burning; stir it to help the process along.
3. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl.  If you’re using an electric whisk (as I did) then start off slowly, speeding up once the eggs start to thicken – at this stage you should also start to slowly pour in the sugar while whisking.  Stop once the eggs form a glossy, thick mix which forms fairly stiff peaks (they do not wilt when you stop whisking).
4. By this time your chocolate should be melted; take it off the heat and mix in your egg yolks, then stir in one spoon of your egg white mix.
5. Take your chocolate mix and add it to your egg whites.  Fold until combined but do not stir fast or over-stir – this will beat the air out of the mix.
6. Spoon into your ramekins and smooth the edges with your thumb (this helps them rise evenly).
7. Put the ramekins straight onto your shelf for 25 minutes.  Don’t open while they’re cooking or they’ll collapse.

That’s it.  I copied a Gordon Ramsey tip and cut a hole in the top with my spoon and poured in single cream to serve; I recommend you do the same.

Delicious!

Rhubarb Fool

I love this time of year. Sure, there are still the cold days (just this morning the front lawn was covered in frost) but there are also little hints of summer shining through; the odd day which appears unexpectedly with temperatures high enough walk around in just a t-shirt. In fact, I’m sure I could smell some of the neighbours cooking their first barbecue of the year this weekend.

A “fool” is a great and traditional way of showcasing in season fruit. You can try and be fancy (I’ve tried many different recipes before) but I’ve yet to find anything which beats the simplicity of stewed fruit folded into whipped cream. Confusingly, rhubarb is actually a vegetable, but that doesn’t stop it being right at the top of my list of seasonal foods, and my favourite for deserts such as this.  Give it a go with gooseberries or raspberries too – it works just as well.

Rhubarb Fool Recipe – Ingredients

• 4 Large Sticks of Rhubarb
• 50g (1.75 oz) Caster Sugar
• 200ml (6.75 fl. oz) Double Cream
• Couple of drop of Vanilla Essence

Rhubarb Fool Recipe – Ingredients

1. Chop up the rhubarb and place in a saucepan with 1tbsp water and the sugar.
2. Turn on the heat and stir around a bit; it’ll start out quite dry (keep stirring it for now to prevent the sugar catching on the pan) but will moisten up as the juice is released from the rhubarb.
3. Boil until the rhubarb is soft.  This will take 10 minutes or so.
4. Whip the double cream with the vanilla until it forms soft peaks.  When this stage is reached pour in the rhubarb and fold in until loosely combined.  Don’t worry about getting it fully mixed in, it looks much better when it’s not.
5. Empty into wine glasses and allow to chill for an hour or so before serving.

Polish Lemon Cake

Babka (or “Baba”) is also popular in Russia and other Eastern European countries, and (unlike this recipe) usually includes yeast as an ingredient. It is also popular with Jews, who’s families presumably originated in these countries, where it has developed into something quite different; a kind of pleated sweet bread usually topped or filled with chocolate and cinnamon.

This recipe is also submitted to the Easter Cake Bake 2009 event.

Babka Cytrynowa Recipe – Ingredients

• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/2 Cup / 100g Cup Plain Flour, sifted
• 1/2 Cup / 100g Potato Flour, sifted
• 1/2 Cup / 100g White Sugar
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• Zest of whole lemon
• 9 tbsp Mild Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 Handful Raisins

Babka Cytrynowa Recipe – Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees c / 355 degrees f.
2. Mix flour(s) with baking powder into a bowl.
3. Separate your egg yolks and whites.  Beat egg whites in a bowl till they form soft peaks, then add the sugar.  Mix until combined, then add egg yolks and beat gently until combined.
4. Next to add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.  Add 4 tbsp of flour and 3 tbsp oil; mix well, then repeat until all oil / flour mixture is used up.
5. Sprinkle the raisins with a little flour (this should stop them sinking in the cake) and then distribute into the cake mix along with the lemon juice and zest.
6. Pour the cake mix out into your tin and put into the oven for approximately 35 minutes; check with a cake tester (a wooden kebab stick did the job for us) to make sure the centre is dry before removing.

You could decorate your cake as we have with a drizzling of white chocolate sauce (melted white chocolate mixed with a little butter and double cream), or you could just sprinkle with icing sugar.  Either way, it’ll be delicious!

Sliwki w Czekoladzie / Plums in Chocolate

My wife introduced these to me a few years ago and I’ve been addicted ever since; needless to say I’ve been munching copious amounts all through Christmas.  I’m sure you could even try soaking the dried plums (read: prunes.  That term has become very unfashionable in recent years, but a dried plum and a prune are one in the same!) in alcohol for a little more kick, if you feel the desire.

Sliwki w Czekoladzie (Plums in Chocolate) Recipe

This one is so easy you barely need an ingredients list: a piece of greaseproof paper, a bag a dried plums/prunes, a large bar of milk chocolate and a bag of nuts (we used hazelnuts and almonds) are all that’s required.  The nuts are optional, by the way.

• Start by melting the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Once melted leave to thicken slightly, this will make things easier (very runny chocolate is a nightmare).

• While you’re waiting for the chocolate to cool slightly pop one nut into each plum; use the hole where the stone was.

• Take a toothpick or similar and stab the plum; dip into the chocolate and then place onto a peice of greaseproof paper.  It’s easiest to remove them from the toothpick with another one, unless you fancy getting sticky chocolatey fingers.
• Allow to harden somewhere cool and then enjoy!

Oh. and we’ve sprinkled a few decorative chocolate stars (bought from the supermarket) onto the top of ours to look pretty, but that’s in no way mandatory.

Baileys Chocolate Truffle

This recipe uses dark chocolate, Baileys and double cream, in a “ganache” (chocolate icing) style – and as such could easily be used for that purpose. You could just as easily replace the Baileys with another alcohol of your choice, or even omit it altogether (that is, swap it with an equal amount of cream).

Basically, this is your base point for any number of truffle recipes, simply play around with the ingredients until you find a combination of flavours that work for you.  This will make somewhere in the region of 30 truffles.

Baileys Chocolate Truffle Recipe – Ingredients

• 125ml Double Cream
• 100ml Baileys
• 125g Dark chocolate (70% cocao solids or above – higher percentage will give a stronger and more adult taste to the truffles)
• Cocoa or icing sugar for coating
• 30+ Cake cases (as picture) – optional

Baileys Chocolate Truffle Recipe – Method

1. Chop up the chocolate and place in a large bowl
2. Heat the Baileys / Double cream mixture over a low heat just until it starts to bubble.
3. Immediately remove from heat and pour over the chocolate, then stir until smooth.  Place bowl in fridge for a few hours.
4. Remove from fridge and form rough ball shapes with your hands; work fast as it melts quickly.  Dip each ball into your chosen coating (icing sugar, cocoa, even melted chocolate) and place into small cake cases (recommended) or onto grease proof paper.

These are then best placed back in the fridge to re-harden, removed shortly before they are required – for example at the end of a meal to be served as petit fours.  Enjoy!

Maple & Pecan Flapjack

I reckon that “plain” golden syrup based flapjack can be a bit one dimensional so decided to mix things up a little; golden syrup based with just a hint of autumnal flavour brought by the addition of maple syrup and chopped pecans.  It’s just on the border between crunchy and chewy but I love it.

Why not try it and let me know what you think?

Maple & Pecan Flapjack Recipe – Ingredients

• 100 grams rolled oats
• 125g Demerara Sugar
• 125g Unsalted Butter
• 50 grams chopped pecans
• 4 tbsp Golden Syrup
• 2 tbsp Maple Syrup
• 1tsp Ground Ginger

Maple & Pecan Flapjack Recipe – Method

1. Grease a 20cm cake tin & pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees c.
2. Melt the butter in a large pan before adding the syrup and sugar.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Turn off the heat and add the remaining ingredients.  Stir well until combined.
4. Pour out into the cake tin and squash down flat so that it covers the base of the tin evenly and flatly.
5. Bake for 25 minutes then remove and allow to cool.
6. Cut into pieces and enjoy!

The baking this time around is for good reason – my Wife (Gosia) has been busy preparing a birthday cake for my Mum’s 60th birthday.  An excellent choice of cake, too – Nigella Lawson’s Autumnal Birthday Cake (from How to be a Domestic Goddess) – oozing with the taste of maple syrup and pecans, and covered in gooey sticky meringue mixture.  What’s more, Gosia baking means I get to be a bit of a pain by licking the remains out of the cake mixture bowl (don’t do this at home though – uncooked eggs, as Gosia pointed out)!

Since it’s Nigella’s recipe I’m not going to repeat it here – but I did notice another blog that has, and would suggest heading over there.

Oh, and in typical English style, yesterdays torrential rain has been cast aside in what appears to be a Summer resurgence today – hence the cake photograph taken outside!