Cake House

It is Sunday, it is raining again,  we do not want to go out and cannot work in the garden. Plenty of time to check the fridge (fresh broadbeans, bunch of small turnips) and the freezer (what the French call lieu noir, the English saithe, a firm cod-type of fish). Then we turn to our recipebooks . Nigel Slater   tells us what to do with the turnips. Rick Stein comes up with a nice sauce, that will take 45 minutes, but we have time on our hands. Cod (or any other firm fish): 300 gr Broadbeans: 12 Turnips: 3 Dill: 3 sprigs Carrot: 1 Celery: 1 stalk Small leek: 1 Shallot: 1 Mushrooms: 2 Fishstock: 500 ml Start with the sauce: chop carrot, celery, leek and shallot. Sweat them in 25 gr butter and 1 tbs cognac , till soft. Add the chopped mushrooms, fish stock, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar , 1 tsp thai oystersauce , 2 tblsp oliveoil, small dried chili . Simmer for 30 minutes .            In the meantime cut the turnips in halves a...

Mackerel: 2 Butter: 40 gr Castersugar: 1 tsp English mustard powder: 1 tsp Cayenne pepper: 1 tsp paprika: 1 tsp Ground coriander: 1 tsp Red wine vinegar: 2 tbsp Freshly ground pepper: 1 tsp Salt: 2 tsp Vine tomatoes: ca 150 gr Small onion: 1 Mint: 1 tbsp Lemon juice: 1 tbsp A recipe by Rick Stein, the master. Preheat the ovengrill to high. Make cuts into the fish at each cm, not too deep Melt the butter. stir in the sugar, mustard, spices, vinegar, pepper and salt. Mix. Put the fish on baking paper in a roasting tin and rub with the butter etc on both sides, incl the open belly. Grill for 4 minutes on each side Slice the tomatoes and onions, chop the mint. Plate up as shown above. Drip lemon juice over it Enjoy.

Cut the tomatoes in 1 mm slices. Arrange   on  the   plates. Add basil-oil ( see  artichokes recipe ) and parmesan. Bit of pepper and seasalt.  Simple!

We found this recipe in Delicious magazine, and that is what it is...delicious. Simple too. For 2 persons you need: Squid: 6 Fennelbulb: 1 Star anise: 2 Coriander seeds: a tablespoon Mint: 2 sprigs Lemon: 1 Olive oil Start with cleaning the squid: look here for a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM2R_evubhI Then cut  trough the sac as shown Next step is preparing the fennel: Remove the green top, cut in halves, remove the tough heart and finally cut both halves in 4 wedges: Then heat some oil in a griddle pan, add star anise and coriander seeds and finally the fennel: When nicely browned transfer them to a plate and add some more oil, lemon juice and shredded mint, to marinate for 1 hour: Finally grill the squid in the same griddle pan, till nicely brown and soft, this will take about 5 minutes. Add the fennel to warm. Put in a nice way on plates you've warmed in the microwave (900W, 2 minutes). Enjoy!

Eggsize Romanesco artichokes: 5 Spaghetti: we use about 50 grams Feta: 15 small cubes pp Parmesan: just some shavings Garlic: 5 or 6 cloves For the basil oil: bunch of basil, 1 garlic clove, seasalt, good quality olive oil like Hojiblanca by Valderrama Start with the artichokes: Take off the outer leaves Cut off the upper halve Slice in two Remove the hay Cook for about 15 or 20 minutes till soft In the meantime slice the garlic in very thin '' chips' and fry them in a little cooking oil till brown and crisp. Dry them on kitchen paper Then use a blender to mix the basil, garlic clove, pinch of salt and olive oil Cut the feta cheese in 6x6 mm cubes and shave some parmesan When the artichokes are soft enough, take them out of the pan and dry them on kitchenpaper. Add water to the pan and cook the spaghetti Transfer the artichokes to a very hot griddlepan till nicely browned. Put the pasta on 2 plates, divide artichokes and feta over it Sprinkle garlic chips over it and then t...

T his is a very popular evening snack. My Mom used to make this often when I was a kid as this is so delicious and healthy. This won’t take much time to make. This can be done within minutes and is very nutritious for kids. These spring rolls can also be made with non veg. I have this whenever I go to a chinese restaurant, but nothing tastes better that what we make at home. This is a perfect starter to serve in parties. The filling inside can be made to our taste. We can add any vegetable as per the availability. After stuffing it with the filling, roll tightly and fry in a medium heat so that it frys well inside. After coming back from the park, my kid loves to eat something. So nowadays I am making this often and she also likes this a lot. I am sure this will be a yummy snack to enjoy in the upcoming monsoon. Ingredients: For the stuffing: Carrots- 2nos Cabbage- 1 cup Beans- 6-7 nos Cauliflower- 1 cup Salt- as required Pepper powder- 1 tsp Soy sauce- 1 tbsp Oil- 1 tbsp For the batte...

I love prawns in any form, like in pickle, prawns masala, prawns roast and in umpteen other preparations. Prawns biryani is the latest addition to the endless list of my prawns recipes. If you are a seafood lover, I bet you will love this. I had never made prawns biryani before till my SIL told me that she makes this often and is simple yet tasty. I thought of giving it a try and made this with the help of my SIL and other online tips. This is a super yummy and delicious one pot meal which can be made on all occasions. This biryani actually takes less time to cook than other biryanis. I made this in a pressure cooker as I had some guests at home and time was less. Usually the rice and gravy are done separately and then layered and sealed tight with a flour dough for some time.  Ingredients: For Marination: Prawns- 200 gms Red chilli powder- 1 tbsp Coriander powder- 1/2 tbsp Turmeric powder- 1 tsp Salt- as required Oil- for shallow frying For Gravy: Onions (sliced)- 2 nos Ginger a...

T he temperature is soaring in Bangalore and in this hot and dry weather, I thought a juice recipe would be an ideal post. This is a perfect thirst quencher which flushes out the toxins from our body. I have been thinking of buying a watermelon since quite a few days since I like eating it at leisure and I also like the juice. After a long wait, I finally  bought a watermelon and ate almost half of it within 2 days :-) Then I thought of making juice with whatever was remaining. While making the juice, I added mint leaves to the watermelon pieces to get a mint flavor in the juice. Juices in one way keeps your body hydrated and they provide fluids as well as all the nutrients of the fruits. Here I have added mint. We can also add ginger, lime and so on. I have removed the seeds from watermelon, so there is no need of straining. If you are making this in a hurry, just blend the watermelon pieces and strain.  Ingredients: Watermelon ( Chopped )- 2cups Mint leaves- handful Sugar- 2...

S pring is at its best and even though the weather is hot, I am loving this climate as every morning you feel some new energy within. The streets are covered with carpet of flowers which is a feast to the eyes. I wake up to the pink, white, lavender and many more different colourful flowers which can be seen through my bedroom window. In this mood I wanted to make something fresh and in the morning I baked some cupcakes with blueberries and they tasted amazing that I again made another batch because I know that these will get finished within seconds. If you remember, I had used the pureed blueberries in my blueberry cheesecake and half of the bottle was lying idle in my fridge and whenever I see that I used to have a spoonful :) So instead of finishing all those blueberries, I decided to use those in cupcakes and these cute little cupcakes happened one day. My little one was enjoying each and every bite. Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from : Cate's world kitchen All purpose flour / M...