Following the Jerusalem artichoke soup with girolles as a starter, and pork fillet with crunchy potatoes and lovely sauce, I served Nigella’s glitzy chocolate puddings as dessert at last week’s dinner party.
I expected the chocolate pudding to be good, but not as good as it was. Please, please, try this, or you’re really missing out on a fantastic pudding!
In the recipe Nigella suggests ramekins, but normal sized ramekins are a bit too big for this recipe I think. I used Christopher’s chinese tea cups that are smaller and that was the perfect size following two courses.
Break up the chocolate and melt it with the butter in a bowl in the microwave or in a double boiler. Once it’s melted, sit the bowl on a cold surface so that the chocolate cools.
Preferably in a freestanding mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale and moussy, then gently fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.
Fold in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter mixture and then divide between eight ramekins, put in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, get on with the glaze by melting the chocolate and butter in a microwave (or double boiler), then whisk to form a smooth glossy mixture, and spoon this over the cooked puddings.
Decorate with Crunchie rubble: I just put the bars in a freezer bag, set to with a rolling pin and strew over the top.
Last week before I went to Budapest we had Ian and Anna over for dinner. It is always lovely to see them, so I don’t want to spend all evening in the kitchen but actually spend time with them, and that worked well with the following menu:
Jerusalem artichoke soup with girolles, parsley, garlic and shallots
Pork fillet with dijon and cognac sauce, steamed broccoli and crispy parmesan potatoes
Nigella’ glitzy chocolate puddings
I love the Jerusalem artichoke soup, this time I fried the artichokes quickly in some oil in the saucepan before boiling them, to induce their flavour. Fry the girolles in butter and add garlic and chopped parsley. Pour the soup into bowls and put the girolles and chopped shallots in the middle. Sprinkle over some olive oil in a circle.
For the maincourse I made pork fillet with a lovely sauce and crispy parmesan potatoes. I forgot to take a picture of the lovely potatoes, but promise to make them again soon and post it here. 🙂
Pork fillet with dijon and cognac sauce, serves 4
2 pork fillets (about 400 g each)
a knob of butter and olive oil for frying
700 ml single cream
3 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
3-4 tsp dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, pressed
3 tbsp chilli sauce
a splash (or two) of cognac
concentrated beef stock
salt
white pepper
a bunch of chives, chopped
Trim the tendons and fat off the fillets and fry them whole in butter and oil on high heat until they are nice and brown all around. Place them in an oven dish and cook for about 20 minutes in 200 C. Make sure they are cooked all the way through and take them out of the oven to rest for a few minutes. Slice the fillets into 1cm thick slices and place them in a clean ovenproof dish. Next mix all the ingredients for the sauce apart from the chives, bring to a boil and let it thicken for a few minutes. Season after taste and add the chives. Pour the sauce over the fillets and put the dish in the oven to heat up for a few minutes. Serve with the amazing potatoes (recipe to come) and steamed broccoli. Nice and simple!
Nigella’s puddings I will post tomorrow, as they deserve their own place in the spot light! Stay tuned.
Both my parents and I really enjoy food and cooking, so our first stop on Saturday was the food market on Vaci utca.
In the market hall they had lots of meat (including chicken heads, pig’s trotters, pig’s ears, big blocks of lard etc.), seasonal vegetables, lots of Hungarian sausages (the biggest brand is called Pick) and of course paprika powder. I also found saffron really cheap!
Hungarian platter with interesting sausages, ham, cheese and pickled peppers with soft cheeseSmoked salmon baguette with cucumberdressing, and ham and egg baguette.Lovely caramel sundae!
On the Saturday we made sure to eat our lunch outside and found a nice café on a square. There were mainly tourists eating there, but despite that it was a nice place. Dad enjoyed an Hungarian platter, while mum and I had regular baguettes. Afterwards we treated ourselves to amazing caramel sundaes! 🙂
For dinner on Saturday we went to Central Kavehaz on Karolyi Mihaly utca, an old style café and restaurant. The interior was amazing in grand old style and a band were playing classical music throughout the evening. The menu was Hungarian with French influences, so to start dad chose the Goulasch soup, mother had smoked trout and I chose a platter with their own cured ham, bacon and paté. The ham was excellent but the paté was only liver and I like mine mixed with other flavours, this one was a bit too ‘livery’ for me, but otherwise good.
For main course we all had different things again. Dad had duck breast with red cabbage and potato dumplings and said the duck was cooked to perfection, pink inside and crispy on the outside. Mum chose pike-perch with mashed potatoes and interesting spinach crisps, that were really nice. I had forest mushroom ravioli with spinach and ricotta with an amazing velouté. One of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever had. The ravioli wasn’t the neatest ones I have ever seen, but the taste was amazing. The mushrooms really came through and was supplemented well by the spinach and ricotta, but the veluoté was what made it so classy. Subtle in sweet flavour, silky smooth and enhanced the other flavours.
On the menu they only had three desserts and they didn’t seem to exciting, but then we discovered the pastry counter we could choose desserts from. Mum had a raspberry mousse cake, I chose the passionfruit and coconut cake (not knowing it was coconut in it), I am not a fan of coconut, but it went well with the passionfruit. Mum’s rasberry mousse was even nice but dad was the winner with his lime, mango and vanilla pudding.
We could see one chef working the whole time from our table, but the music drowned out the noise from the kitchen which was good. The waiter also misunderstood when I ordered the starters because the band (although they were excellent musicians) played so loud it was difficult to hear each other, but the quality of the food definitely made up for that blunder.
All restaurants only had Hungarian wines in the wine list, and to be honest we didn’t know much about white and red Hungarian wines. At the Central Kavehaz we tried a dry riesling which was really really good, so will try to see if I can find it outside of Hungary. With our desserts we of course had a glass of the local Tokaji.
The following evening we went to another restaurant recommended by Spotted by locals. Gerlöczy restaurant was just off the main centre (on the street with the same name), and looked very cosy and bohemian from the outside. This restaurant was also a grand café style place, but a bit more run down than Central Kavehaz. The bar was on the ground floor as well as the smoking section, whereas non smoking was upstairs where it was slightly less cosy. We only had two courses this evening, as it felt like we were constantly eating. Mum and I decided on the guinea fowl with mash potatoes and it was very rich in flavours. The mash was nice and glossy with lots of butter in it, and there was herb butter wrapped in the quinea fowl that was then wrapped in parma ham, so the butter was all nice and melted and contributed to the juicy meat. The plate looked simple, but the food was delicious. Dad had steak with peppercorn sauce and fried potatoes, he though it was really good, but a tad too much pepper in the sauce and not enough potatoes. For dessert mum and I chose the same again, a pear tarte, even though my mum really wanted an apfel strudel, but they were all out. The tarte came on its own with only a little raspberry coulis, but it would have been nicer with custard or icecream. The pastry was nice and soft though. Dad chose the creme brulee which I thought was too runny but dad liked it.
Mum and dad outside the Gerlöczy restaurant.
It was easy to find Goulasch soup, dad had this one our first evening when we just walked into the first restaurant we saw. We were dying of hunger and really tired because (both) our flights were delayed. It wasn’t as easy to find langos, but they sold them on the Margrethe island. 🙂
At the airport they had a good selection of the Tokaji wines, which was great as we only had hand luggage and therefore couldn’t buy it anywhere else. The left one is 5 puttonyos and the right one was just a really cheap (€6) one to try.
I also bought a few different Pick sausages, paprika powder, saffron and some biscuits. No point shopping for other things than food, as the selection of shops was quite poor.
I went to Budapest on Friday to meet up with my dear parents and explore the city for a long weekend. It was lovely and sunny, cooler than London, but perfect autumn weather with crisp air, blue skies, warming sunshine and autumn leaves in all its colours.
Below are some sightseeing photos. It’s a lovely city, don’t you think?
The Buda castle
View from the castle
The Széchenyi bridge
The liberation statue
Another beautiful bridge. This one is called the Szabadsag bridge
The Parliament
Greenery on the Margareth Island in the middle of Danube
Wilted spinach is one of my hangups at the moment. To be honest I first made it the other day, and it is sooo easy and yummy. The perfect side dish for the autumn. As usual when I get an hangup, I have it with everything, but it is actully a very versatile side dish, so try and see which your favourite combination is.
Wilted spinach
Melt some butter in a small frying pan or sauce pan. Add a large handful of spinach and stir it around occasionally and watch it shrink, then add some more, and some more until you have as much as you want. Be warned though, it shrinks a lot! Just season with salt and pepper and if there are lots of liquid left in the spinach just press it out in a sieve.
Sometimes I wonder if I should have been born a man. That might be an exaggeration, but sometimes I feel quite masculine. Only sometimes though. Like when I just have to have steak, rare steak, and bearnaise sauce. Not the girliest of meals, but I love it!
We eat this quite a lot, and this last time it was really really good. The steak was nice and tender, the sauce was perfect (I hate to brag, but it was) and the root vegetables and potatoes (parsnips, carrots, swede and potatoes cut into strips/wedges, baked in oven with olive oil and persillade) were lovely. Christopher bought some nice wine on his way home as well, and we had a lovely evening.
Even though I don’t know where to find this lovely meat in London, I have to recommend it to you!
First of all, try cooking pork fillet. Really nice meat and quite cheap. I haven’t met an English person yet who has bought it, but DO, I highly recommend it. It is the best part of the pig, hardly any fat in it, and it is very versatile, and of course (obviously) it’s tasty.
Simple and delicious!
The smoked version I didn’t discover until this summer when I was back home in Sweden. Christopher fell in love with the meat and of course we had to buy some and bring with us back. We have manged to keep it in the freezer until now, and that is quite remarkable.
It is best served cold or lukewarm and cut into thin slices. We had tzatziki and new potato salad with it, and leftovers became yummy sandwiches the next day together with some decent bread, dijon mustard and mayonnaise.
IF you come across it here, I hope you will do two things! 1. Buy it and enjoy it. 2. Tell me about it! Many thanks.
Using the same method as with the poussins, I roasted a chicken the other day. To me, a roast chicken is a very hearty meal, probably because it reminds me of childhood dinners when my dear mother roasted the chicken. It is so easy to make but so rewarding with its juicy meat and the aromas that fill the house, and usually there is enough for leftovers too.
Something I dislike with roast chicken is when the breast is too dry. Dry chicken breast is so unsexy, and so easy to prevent. The cure is butter. Lovely softened butter, mixed up with herbs, some lemon zest, salt and pepper, and is smeared all over the breasts (this sounds a bit pervy, I know!) underneath the skin (ok, maybe not this part).
It is easy, I promise! So why note invite some friends over for a Sunday roast? Are there better ways to spend an rainy autumn evening?
Roast chicken with thyme, serves 2-4
1 medium chicken
80 g softened butter
1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2-3 sprigs of thyme
1/2 lemon
2 parsnips
1 red onion
olive oil
salt and pepper
5-6 sprigs of thyme
Mix the lemon zest, garlic, and the leaves of 2-3 sprigs of thyme with the butter. Add some salt. Cut a pocket in the skin above each breast (basically make a cut through the skin at one end of the breast and slide the knife along the inside of the skin to make a pocket). Fill these pockets with the butter. Put the lemon and maybe some thyme sprigs in the cavity of the bird. Rub in some salt and pepper all around the chicken and place it in a roasting dish. Peel the parsnip and cut it into chunks, peel the onion and cut it into wedges and place them around the chicken. Add some salt and pepper to the vegetables. Drizzle some olive oil over the bird and vegetables and throw over some of the thyme leaves. Put the tray in a 200 C oven for about 1,5 hours. Make sure the chicken is cooked through by cutting in the flesh (you want white meat and clear juices). Let it rest a few minutes (5-10) before serving. We had potatoes au gratin with it as well as some wilted spinach and creamy gravy.
I’m leaving for Budapest today. Spending a long weekend there with my dear parents. Even though both my mother and I love to cook, I’m actually looking forward to a break from it, and only focus on the eating part. 🙂 Thanks to this blog, I also have lots of restaurants and try out. My parents are looking forward to the Hungarian gulasch, and I could always eat another langos. Also have to make sure to buy a bottle of Tokaji, the amazing Hungarian dessert wine.
See you in a few days! The blog will be updated as usual, so you probably won’t even notice I’m gone. 🙂
At least in Sweden this dish was a popular starter in the 70s, and it is something I have picked up from my mother’s repertoire. I love this as a simple dinner for one, but can’t say I serve it as a starter very often. It is a very simple dish, but I love the combination of crispy potato, salty caviar, creamy cream fraiche and a bit of crunch and a punch from the red onions.
Rosti with creme fraiche, caviar and red onions,serves 1 as supper or 2 as a starter
2 large potatoes
knob of butter
olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
creme fraiche or soured cream
lumpfish caviar (you find this at Waitrose)
Peel the potatoes and grate them. Heat butter and oil in a pan and divide the grated potato into 4-6 rounds in the pan. You need nothing more than the starch from the potatoes to hold it together. Fry them golden and crisp on both sides on medium-high heat and season well with salt and black pepper. Mean while chop the onions and place a dollop of creme fraiche and caviar on each plate and divide the chopped onions between the plates as well. Serve immediately for the potatoes to stay crisp.
I expected the chocolate pudding to be good, but not as good as it was. Please, please, try this, or you’re really missing out on a fantastic pudding!
Scandelights 
