Whilst on our long weekend in London I wanted to visit Moro, the restaurant I have heard a lot about. When we arrived on the Thusday I  looked it up and to my amusement it happens to be located at the Farringdon tube stop where our hotel was.

I called them up to see if I could book a table for two that evening.  I was supprised to find it was fully booked mid week. I was told though that if I called back at half past five we may stand a chance of getting a table outside, which would be allocated to the first people that called through. I was warned that if it rained there would be no alternative options for seating even if we had our food. We decided to risk it and call back for a table outside as the weather was so good.

Come five thirty I picked up the phone to book our table, but it was engaged and I managed to get through at five thirtyfive. Unfortunately all the tables had been taken and no more were available!! We were told our only other option was to sit at the bar and order food from there. We could not book, but would be seated on a first come first served basis. We decided to arrive later in the hope that people would have moved on.

We arrived at nine thirty and were lucky enough to be able to go straight to the bar. The resataurant had such an atmosphere, people appeared to be laughing, joking and celebrating. It most definately was the loudest restaurant I have visited. Yes, there was outside seating, which I had imagined to be in a courtyard garden. But no, they were tables outside the restaurant on the pavement. It reminded me of  people eating out on holiday in Southern Europe. I was actually glad to have not got one of those tables though as to me, it didn’t seem to be the nicest street to be sitting out  in. We sat up at the bar where there were big mirrors attached beween the ceiling  and the wall which gave you full view of the restaurant behind you. To our right at the end of the restaurant was the open kitchen, this added to the bustling atmosphere in the restaurant. We settled for their tapas menu as this seemed more appropriate than a la carte for sitting up at the bar. We ordered a selection including; manchego with membrillo paste (quince paste), spiced roasted chickpeas, marinated sardines, a lentil dish and a plate of cured meats. This was served with a plate of bread, i’m not exactly sure what kind of bread it was, slightly chewey with a soft crust and a dish of extremely good quality olive oil for dipping. It all tasted as fresh as could be and was infact the best tapas we’ve ever had.

They had an interesting selection of desserts. Which I would love to have tasted but was really too full at this stage. An unusual sounding ice-cream caught my eye, rose water and cardamon. Mark was cheeky enough to ask if I could sample a teaspoon of it and amusingly they aggreed and bought over a scoopl of it in a bowl. I really liked it, however Mark was not so sure as he thought it tasted like perfume. The difference is I love turkish delight and Mark can’t bare it. I was really impressed that they seemed so willing to let us have a taste and was half expecting to be charged for a scoop when the bill came through. But we weren’t.

What a great experience, I would love to go back and eat from the a la carte menu. I have learnt my lesson now though and know that I need to be booking well in advance even midweek.

[googlemap lat="51.525862" lng="-0.108846" width="500px" height="300px" zoom="15" type="G_NORMAL_MAP"]Islington, London EC1R, UK[/googlemap]

My friend Amy is living out in China at the moment and has sent me an article about noodles that she has written and had published by Good Food magazine in the Middle East. An interesting insite into the life of noodles and time in China!

So I haven’t posted at all over the last couple of months, the reason being that my website has been a work in progress and in the meanwhile I have been directing people to my last blog entry to give them an idea of what I do and to help them decide if they want to go ahead with a cooking demonstration.

I have aptly named my business ‘Annabel’s Kitchen’.  www.annabelskitchen.co.uk was launched last week through my facebook page. Annabel’s Kitchen on facebook has received just short of 100 ‘likes’ this past week!

In the last couple of months I have given various kinds of lessons and demonstrations.

Recently I was invited into Maidenhill school where I did a demonstration and then cooked with 45 of their pupils during their cultural awareness days. It was a great experience and was something totally different for the pupils. Most of them had not tried Thai food before! I cooked with the pupils over two sessions, just over 20 in each group and with the help of two assistants. I showed them first how to fry prawn crackers, they were totally amazing that this was how you made them and they didn’t just come ready in a bag. They then sampled them with sweet chilli sauce. After that they watched me make a curry paste which I then turned into a curry. The pupils were very suspicious of some of the ingredients that went into the paste and curry, mainly the shrimp paste and fish sauce due to their extremely unusual smell (’unusual’ being an understatement!)

After watching the demonstration they got to work  measuring out ingredients and making their curries with the paste I had made. They were extremely enthusiastic but required a vigilant eye whilst they worked out the difference between all the ingredients they had never used before! I put some rice on to steam whilst running round helping all the groups of cooking students. I sampled their curries and they were all very good, all slightly different, some sweeter, some saltier some more herby flavoured yet totally edible. Were there any disasters!? Just a tin of coconut milk exploding all over the kitchen and a couple of woks of burnt paste, but we remedied that by starting again with a lower temperature. They all sat down and ate their chicken curries with rice, and inspite of their suspicions all thoroughly loved it, with the exception of one vegetarian!

I definately plan to do more work in schools, and in October I’ve been invited to give a demonstration at the regions food technology teachers networking meeting, I look forward to it!

So I went from teaching 45 thirteen year olds one week to giving a demonstration for a group of 8 at a house on the luxury gated complex in Cirencester water park the next. Everything went extremely well and I employed my first assistant to help with the evening. Janine did a fantastic job and I’ll definitely be working with her again.

I’ve also given practical cooking lessons to various people, did a demo and tasting for 16 people from the Cleeve Hill society and had the Stanton Guildhouse host a demonstration and tasting open to members of the public. They plan to host another on October 21st. See Annabel’s Kitchen for more details.

I’ll keep you posted as to what’s coming up next.

Last week a group of 7 gathered at my house for a Thai cooking demonstration and dinner. As they sat around the dining table  nibbling on prawn crackers I demonstrated several dishes whilst they followed what I was cooking on their copies of my recipes.

 I provided them with information on buying their ingredients, all of which are available in Cheltenham. I gave them details of equipment that I find useful, provided tips on techniques to use and shortcuts to take if time is limited. I also answered any questions that they had as we went along.

This culminated in a delicious dinner of all the dishes cooked and a dessert that I had prepared earlier. Here is a copy of the recipes and photos.

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (Keaw Wan Kai)

STEAMED RICE

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD (Som Tam)

THAI STIR FRIED VEGETABLES (Phad Phak)

COCONUT ICE CREAM

SPICED BERRIES

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE

 Making your own curry paste produces such a fresh tasting curry as well as lending to a wonderful colour. This is my own version of the recipe as kaffir lime zest; an ingredient used in green curry paste in Thailand is unavailable in the UK.

Makes approx. 200g (8-10 tbsp)

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

6 big green chillies – deseeded if you do not want the paste to be too spicy

1 stem of lemon grass, finely sliced

5 cm piece of galangal, sliced thinly

5 kaffir lime leaves

30g coriander root and 10cm of stem, roughly chopped

1 tbsp coriander leaves

3 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

60G (3) shallots, roughly chopped

2 tsp shrimp paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp oil

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in separate batches in a pan. Grind in a pestle and mortar.

Blend chillies, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root, stem and leaves along with the ground coriander and cumin seeds.

Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to blend until smooth.

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (Keaw Wan Kai)

Thai green curry is one of the most popular dishes in Thailand. This is probably one of the most authentic recipes you will find. It is a slight adaption of a recipe that I learnt whilst at the Blue Elephant cooking school in Bangkok.

Serves 1

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1tbsp green curry paste

½ tsp roasted ground cumin seeds

½ tsp roasted ground coriander seeds

150ml coconut milk

50ml water or stock

70g-100g chicken, sliced finely

2 small Thai aubergines, quartered

10 pea aubergines

2 kaffir lime leaves

3 Thai sweet basil leaves

1 tbsp chopped coriander

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

Heat the oil in a wok until hot. Add the curry paste, cumin and coriander and fry for around 2 minutes until an aroma develops.  Lower the heat and add half of the coconut milk a little at a time. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes, add the chicken and cook until cooked through, and then add the other half of the coconut milk. Gradually add the water/stock until the curry has reached the desired consistency.

Add the green aubergines and the pea aubergines, the sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and basil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the coriander.

STEAMED RICE

Serves 1

100ml-150ml Thai rice- measured in a measuring jug

100ml-150ml water-equal volume to the rice

Wash the rice well in a sieve until the water runs clear.

Place rice and water in a rice cooker and press the ‘cook’ button.

If cooking in a pan, place the rice and water in the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until the water has reduced to the level of the rice. Then place the lid on and cook on the lowest heat for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

Fluff up with a folk before serving.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD (Som Tam)

Green papaya salad is a delicious traditional raw salad with mildly spicy, sweet, sour and salty flavours. Green papaya is totally unlike the fruit that we know. The texture of the green papaya is like a white crunchy vegetable.

Serves 1

70g green papaya, peeled and grated into long thin strips

½ -1clove garlic

½ -3 green birds’ eye chillies

30cm yard long beans, broken into 3cm pieces

1 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts

1 tbsp dried shrimps

3 cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 tbsp palm sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

Pound the garlic and chillies in a pestle and mortar.

Add the dried shrimps and pound until crushed. Add the beans and peanuts and pound.

Add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and stir together. Then add the tomatoes and press with a pestle.

Finally add the papaya and stir until well mixed in.

Serve at room temperature.

THAI STIR FRIED VEGETABLES (Phad Phak)

Serves 1

Stir fried vegetables are a great accompaniment to eat alongside all Asian dishes. Or for a healthy meal, eat the dish on its own with steamed rice.

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

40g baby corn, halved

40g Chinese cabbage, coarsely chopped

50g broccoli florets

40g carrots, julienned

25ml vegetable stock

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

½ tsp sugar

40g beansprouts

Heat the oil until hot. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of seconds, then immediately  add all the vegetables except the beansprouts, stir fry for 30 seconds to 1minute, or until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.  Add the stock and the sauces and sugar. Mix well. Toss in the beansprouts just before serving.

COCONUT ICE CREAM

Serves 4

2 sheets of gelatine

560ml tinned coconut milk

250g caster sugar

Soak the sheets of gelatine in cold water for 15 minutes. Dissolve the sugar in half the coconut milk in a pan over a low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, remove the mixture from the heat and add the gelatine. Mix to allow the gelatine to dissolve.

Stir in the rest of the coconut milk and set aside (put in the fridge once the mixture is cool enough) until the mixture is completely cold.

Freeze in an ice cream machine or put it into a container in the freezer. If making it in the freezer, after an hour of freezing take it out and beat by hand or use a food processor, repeat this process again after another hour, and repeat until it is smooth and evenly frozen.

SPICED BERRIES

Serves 4

400g mixed berries

200g sugar

225ml water

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

Put the berries into a bowl.

Put the sugar, water, cinnamon stick and star anise into a pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil for just 2 minutes.

Cool for 4-5 minutes then pour the hot syrup over the fruit and allow the flavours to infuse for several hours in the fridge.

NB If using frozen berries, pour the boiling syrup straight onto the berries rather than allowing it to cool.

Last week we stopped in Bath for the day and stumbled upon Jamie’s Italian whilst exploring the town centre. We were really hungry but it wasn’t usual restaurant hours, around four o’clock. Anyhow, we  thought we’d try and see if they’d let us in. Conveniently it turned out they serve food all day!

The decor is a mixture of rustic/stainless steel with red plastic chairs. Very ‘Jamie’. We were welcomed by a pleasant waiter who was happy to make recommendations on the food, was well informed and seemed very enthusiastic about his job. The options on the menu ranged from breads and antipasti through to pasta, mains, sides and desserts. All very reasonably priced. What I really liked about this menu was that it was all different to your usual Italian restaurant. All the pasta is freshly made on site every morning and all the breads are baked in one of Jamie’s bakeries and delivered daily.

The kitchens were partly open plan and partly out the back. The open plan kitchen had all the fresh vegetables on display and cured meats hanging up. It almost resembled a market stall. The loaves of bread were on display at the side of the restaurant- again it looked like it was for sale. I enquired if it was available to buy to take home as the sourdough looked extremely tasty! To which I was informed that it’s really there for restaurant use but if diners particularly want to take away their bread they could buy at the restaurant rate. Which worked out at around £20 a loaf…..I politely declined!!

I had to try their home made pasta. I went for TURBO! PENNE ARRABIATA £5.95/£8.75  which is curly penne tossed in sweet tomato sauce spiced with chilli, garlic and parmesan with crunchy herby breadcrumbs, it was absolutely delicious. With that I also had GENNARO’S WINTER SALAD -radiccio, roasted pumkin, sweet red onions, sultanas and pine nuts £3.35 a combination of flavours I have never had before – radiccio is quite a bitter salad leaf thoguth it was extremely tastey. Mark went for LAMB CHOP LOLLIPOPS £13.95 -Grilled Welsh mountain lamb chops, cooked ‘al matone’ under a brick with a special minted sauce, chopped roasted nuts and soft herbs, delicious! He thought it was well cook, pink in the middle and a novel idea to dip the lamb into the three little bowls of nuts and herbs. The only down side is that the mint flavour could have been stronger to compliment the lamb. To accompany the lamb Mark ordered FUNKY CHIPSwith fresh garlic and parsly £2.75 . He was originally going to go for the posh truffle chips but was informed by the waitor that the flavour would be too strong to accompany the lamb. These funky chips were what Mark has been after everytime we go to a restaurant, but is usually dissapointed by soggy wet chips, they  were crispy and crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Our overall experince of Jamie’s Italian was excellent. The menu was a refreshing change from the usual Pizza chains (infact no pizzas on the menu) the staff were helpful and worked well together and the food could not be faulted. The popularity of the restaurant meant that you felt you were eating extremely fresh food. (There was a queuing system outside for busy periods, which luckily we didn’t have to use). The only thing that I could critisize Jamie’s Italian for would be general cleanliness- the floor looked like it could do with a good sweep and unfortunately the toilets had an airfreshner that was pumping out such a strong smell that you felt like you had to hold your breath whilst you  were in there. It almost seemed like they were overcompensating for the lack of toilet cleaning.

If you are in the Bath area you should most certainly pay Jamie’s Italian a visit, you won’t be dissapointed. Brand ‘Jamie’ is certainly on the up.

Last week I week I taught a Thai cooking lesson for three, they wanted a practical lesson, not just a demonstration. Our kitchen is suitable for a practical lesson for three people, as there are three work surfaces. They took it in turns using the hob as they each had ingredients prepared at different times. Now that I have a new camera I have photos to accompany the post! Including a photo of the new kitchen…

 The way it was arranged was that the recipes I gave them served one so they each prepared and produced their own meals. Being fairly amateur (apparently, never having cooked anything from scratch!) we started with the basics, frying prawn crackers, and then moved onto a Thai soup, Tom Kha Kai Mapaow Paow (Menam Chicken Soup), followed by Phad Thai noodles.

Pad Thai is an extremely simple recipe (all the effort is in the preparation). The recipe is posted earlier on this blog, and the soup is delicious, just as you would have in Thailand. They are worth a try!

Tom Kha kai Mapaow Paow- Menam Chicken soup

Ingredients (makes 1 serving)

12 tbs chicken stock

140g coconut milk (1/2 cup)

4 thin slices of galangal or ginger

1 stem of lemongrass very finely sliced on the diagonal

1 kaffir lime leaf- crushed

40-60g chicken breast- cut into thin slices

20-40g button mushrooms quartered

1 shallot halved and crushed

1-3 birds eye chillies crushed

1 coriander root and stem

To season

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbs tamarind juice

½ tbs lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp oil of Nam Prik Paow (chilli oil)

Pound the Lemongrass and coriander root in a pestle and mortar to form a paste

Put the stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat.

Add the galangal, lemongrass & coriander root paste, shallot, chillies and kaffir lime leaves and boil for 1 minute.

Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil; add the sliced chicken and mushrooms and simmer for 1 minute until the chicken is half cooked.

Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind and lemon juice. Bring back to the boil and remove from the heat.

Transfer to a bowl and Float chilli oil on the surface and garnish with coriander leaves.

Way back in October I went and heard Ruth Rogers speak at the Cheltenham literature festival. I’ve heard and know of The River Cafe but I’ve never eaten there before, nor did I know of its history, until I went to hear Ruth speak. The story of The River Cafe is intriguing. I was particularly inspired by the fact that Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers set up the River Cafe as friends and with no formal chefs training and twenty-two years later they are still going strong and have gained an outstanding reputation. She spoke particularly on their new book The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook, a collection of 200 traditional and regional recipes from their extensive travels through Italy, cooking with friends, chefs and winemakers. Of course I bought the book and got it signed. Whilst signing the book Ruth said to me ‘do you like to cook?’! To which I replied ‘yes, I love to cook’ whilst my head was telling me to add ‘would I be able to come on work experience at The River Cafe?’ but I didn’t pluck up the courage!!

I got home and tried two recipes, the Italian focaccia bread, which was a total success and the Pumpkin Gnocchi, not so much of a success. The pumpkin was so wet that I ended up having to add far more flour than stated in the recipe.  The gnocchi didn’t end up tasting much more than a raw ball of dough. Extremely unappetising. In fact probably one of the worst things I’ve ever made and tasted! But I’m sure with a good pumpkin it would have been delicious.

This Christmas I received an Magimix ice cream machine, a totally brilliant invention and it does not require any freezing of bowls in advance- which is great, because our freezer does not even fit the old ice cream bowl part that I have in.  From turning the machine on it is ready to make ice cream within 5 minutes! Then, once the mixture is in the churn, it is frozen into ice cream within about 20 minutes.

The first batch of ice cream that I have made in the machine is the River Cafe Caramel ice cream found in their Classic Italian book. ( Gelato della caramello) This is apparently the most popular ice cream they make at the River Cafe. It is a bitter caramel ice cream, in fact it tastes rather similar to creme brulee.

For 10

1.75 litres double cream

450ml full-fat milk

20 large free-range eggs

350g caster sugar

For the caramel

300g caster sugar

120ml water

In a large thick-bottomed pan, gently heat the cream and milk to just boiling, then remove from the heat.

Beat the eggs with the sugar for about 5 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy in consistancy. Pour a little of the warm cream and milk micture into the eggs, stir to combine, then add this mixture to the remaining cream and milk. Return the pan to the heat and cook very gently, stirring constantly to cook the eggs but prevent them curdling. When the mixture has thickened and is almost boiling, pour it into a bowl and leave to cool.

To make the caramel, whisk the caster sugar and water in a small thick-bottomed pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn up the heat slightly and boil until the sugar turns from toffee to almost black caramel- but do not let it burn. Immediately remove from the heat and add the caramel to the cooled custard (carefully, as it does spit imensely!), stirring with a whisk until everything is comnined and is a beautiful dark rich colour. Allow to cool, then pour into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen, or freeze in a container, stirring occasionally to break up the ice crystals as it freezes.

I thought I would post the recipes for various quick and easy meals I’ve been cooking whilst unpacking boxes, painting and filling holes in walls etc. I have to admit that it still looks like we moved in yesterday and when people call by they look amongst the boxes and say ‘ Oh it’s looking great!’. Filly our dog has just added to the list of chores by attacking the door frame to the utility room in an attempt to escape. It looks like a job for a carpenter. Her other antics have included climbing on the dining table and stealing three pork pies, to which she is highly allergic. As well as chasing the neighbours cat and she’s also showing a keen interest in their chickens!

The first two recipes are adapted from recipes I saw in this months Olive magazine (actually they are so adapted you probably wouldn’t recognise the recipe if you had the magazine, but that is where the inspiration came from – i guess I could call them my own recipes!) and the Pad Thai is a noodle dish we learnt in Thailand.

Linguine with green and black olives and feta cheese

Serves 2

Olive oil

Garlic 2 cloves sliced

Small onion 1 chopped

Chopped tomatoes 1 x 400g can

Tomato puree 2 tsp

Linguine 200g

Pitted green and black olives approx 12-15 halved

Feta cheese 2 tbsp cubed

Flat-leaf parsley a small bunch, chopped

Heat 2 tbs oil in a medium pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for 2 minutes, without allowing them to brown. Add the tomatoes and tomato puree and season (including seasoning of 1 tsp of sugar to counteract the sourness of the tinned tomatoes). Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the linguine according to packet instructions. Drain well. Stir in the olives and parsley and heat through for 1 minutes. Add the feta to the sauce just before serving.

Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve.

Tip: I bought a pack of marinated olives and feta all together instead of buying them all separately

Roasted root vegetable and green lentil soup

Serves 4

Chantenay carrots 250g halved lengthways

 Potatos 2 peeled and cut into small chunks

Onion 1 cut into thin wedges

Olive oil

Dried chilli flakes a pinch

Ground cumin 2 tsp

Green lentils 200g

Vegetable stock 1.5 litres

Parsley a small bunch, chopped

Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Arrange all the vegetables in a single layer in a large roasting tin. Drizzle over 2 tbsp oil and spronkle over the chilli flakes, cumin and some salt and pepper. Toss the veg to coat in the oil and roast for 30-40 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile put the lentils and stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Stir in the roasted vegetables and parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Pad Thai

Serves 1

70g rice noodles

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large egg

3 prawns, deveined and headless but with tail attached

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp yellow bean curd, finely diced

1 tbsp ground dried shrimp ( soak in cold water for 5 minutes, drain and pound in a pestle and mortar)

1 tbsp ground roasted peanuts

1 stem spring onion, cut into 2 cm pieces

30g bean sprouts

Soak the rice noodles in hot water until soft, approx 10 minutes. Careful they don’t get too soft.

Heat the oil in a wok until hot, then break the egg into the oil and scramble it.

Add the prawns and noodles, stir-fry for 15 seconds.

Add the fish sauce, sugar and lemon juice. Stir-fry for a further 15 seconds.

Add the dried shrimps, peanuts and beancurd. Stir-fry for another 15 seconds.

The toss in the spring onion and bean sprouts. Mix and remove from the heat.

Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprinkle with coriander leaves.

On Wednesday whilst I did the DIY Mark took over in the kitchen! He served up a delicious meal of crispy belly pork, chunky chips, red cabbage and carrots. I’ll let him take it from here!…………

As we have just moved into our new house, I did the typical bloke thing and went to B&Q to buy all the things a typical “Man needs”, the spirit level, drill, all the attachments (you can never have too many attachments for a drill), plenty of paint and some wall plugs and screws to match. Annabel has done a sterling job of making use of them all, as everyone in my family seems to think I am about as useful at DIY as Pete Docherty is at being sober. So I was banished to the kitchen to prepare a feast for the hungry workers.

I have always had a passion for chunky chips. So much so that I even asked the chef at a local restaurant, just how did he get his chunky chips so crunchy…. He lied as all I was left with after using his recipe, was raw starch, drenched in cooking oil. But I was now determined to find out how you make chunky chips, crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. People beware, if you want the chunky chips with a crispy outer shell and a soft fluffy centre, you need to put some effort in. So here comes the recipe:

What you will need

1 large potato per person (I’m still experimenting with the best variety, but please do post if you have an insight.)

About 4 litres of vegetable oil (you can use less if you are using a pan, fill one third full)

A deep fat fryer and a large pan.

A colander

Two baking trays

Some kitchen roll

Method

Firstly peel the potatoes and then wash to remove any excess dirt.

Cut the chips so that they are about three quarters of an inch thick. Try to ensure that they are of similar thickness, so that they will cook evenly.

Place the chips into a ban of cold water and bring to the boil. Boil the chips for about 8 minutes

Meanwhile just as the chips are finishing boiling, fill your sink with ice cold water (please clean the sink first.)

Drain the chips with the colander and put immediately into the iced cold water

Heat the oil using your deep fat fryer or pan (you will need a thermometer if using a pan) to 160 degrees.

Place the enough chips into the frying basket so that they only cover the bottom of the basket, or if using a pan, the base of the pan.

Fry for 3-4 minutes. The chips will not be golden brown but that’s ok. Remove and place on a baking tray lined with kitchen roll.

Complete this until all the chips have been done once.

Repeat the process again. (This is the secret).

Turn the oil up to 190 degrees, and then fry a batch of the chips for about 3-4 minutes again. This will turn the chips golden brown, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. Repeat with the remainder of the chips.

Season with salt, but no vinegar as this will make them soggy.

They key to getting the crispiness is the boiling, iced cold water and three times frying. It takes some time, but believe me your DIY professionals will love them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

My friend Jess is expecting a baby girl in March. We decided on an afternoon tea party for her baby shower. Which included cooking for various specialist food requirements…the whole family bar one being vegetarian and one also being gluten free! However the selection of cakes I got together were still tasty and I’d say the one that was gluten free was probably the best!

I received The Hummingbird bakery cookbook for Christmas from a friend so I tried out their chocolate cupcakes with American cream cheese frosting. I wish I’d had a camera because they looked gorgeous and Christmassy, but you have to have an exceptionally sweet tooth to like them! Also my untouched Christmas cake made an appearance ( which remained untouched! and then got taken to the in-laws who love their fruit cake!)  along with the gluten free Italian hazelnut cake. I’ll include the recipe for the hazelnut cake below as people are often after something delicious to cook for gluten free eaters or celiacs. This is an exceptionally light cake. It’s from Rachel Allen’s Bake book.

ITALIAN HAZELNUT CAKE

200g (7oz) hazelnuts (skin on)

1tsp baking powder

1tsp ground cinnamon

100g butter, softened

5 eggs separated

175g (6oz) caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

You will need 20cm (8in) diameter spring-form/loose-bottomed tin

1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (Gas mark 3). Butter and line the sides and base of the cake tin with greaseproof paper.

2) Grind the hazelnuts with the baking powder and ground cinnamon in a food processor until fine. Add the butter and combine.

3) Place the egg yolks in the bowl of an electric food mixer or use a hand-held electric beater. Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture becomes slightly ‘moussey’ and the mix holds a trail when you lift the beater. Add the hazelnut mixture and the vanilla extract and whisk until combined.

4) Whisk the egg whites and salt together in a large, spotlessly clean bowl until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into the nut mixture in three stages so as not to deflate the whites.

5) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the surface an bake in the oven for 55-70 minutes or until the cake feels firm and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The mixture is quite delicate so don’t be tempted to open the oven until close to the end of the cooking time.

6) Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. then very gently ease the sides of the cake out of the tin using a palette knife. Remove the base after another 15 minutes and leave to cook before cutting into slices.