March 2015 – Page 2 – Scandelights

Berlin in pictures

Published on March 10, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Berlin was quite different to what I expected, but Emma and I had a fabulous time. We enjoyed good food (restaurant reviews in separate posts), laughed A LOT and walked lots taking in the sights.

On the Saturday we started the day at the Berlin Wall museum for some contemporary history. It was very educational and well worth a visit. After that we walked around for the rest of the day exploring Berlin. The city is a fun fix of old and new, pretty and ugly.

Emma at The Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.

An obligatory tourist picture by Brandenburger Tor.

Strasse des 17. Juni by Brandenburger Tor.

Reichstag (the Parliament).

Modern architecture.

The river Spree.

Brandenburger Tor.

Gendarmenmarkt (Cavalry square) with pretty old buildings.

Den iconic green man; a little chubbier than the regular one.

A typical Berlin view; old meets new.

Die Fernsehenturm (Television tower) which you can spot from anywhere in the city.

The River Spree.

Graffiti.

The Lipstick and the Powder Compact by Kurfürstendamm.

A walking talking sausage stand. I didn’t buy any but they looked and smelled great!

Tasting menu at Harwood Arms, Fulham

Published on March 9, 2015March 6, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

I celebrated Valentine’s day with my fellow foodie friend Caroline at Harwood Arms, amongst a few couples but we enjoyed the food too much to notice it much. I’ve only had their a ‘la carte before and was a little worried that the tasting menu portions would be huge as the portions here are very generous, but it was just the right amount.

Shortly after having received water, bread and wine at the table the first course arrived; beetroot poached salmon with yellow beets and smoked sourcream. It was a very fresh dis and the smoked sourcream was a fun twist.

Next we had a rabbit terrine with almond praline, turnip, endive and yoghurt. Also really nice!

Thereafter turbot with smoked bone marrow and parsley root. Another nice dish with a fun twist. It was the first time I’ve had bone marrow paired with fish!

The best dish was without a doubt the last savoury one; perfectly cooked fillet of veal with velvety garlic potato purée with jus and toasted garlic. A-ma-zing!

After that high, the puddings were quite a blur. I prefer savoury over sweet any day and was really content after the first four courses. It was nice to have something sweet to finish off the meal but I’m afraid, to me, the puddings weren’t that memorable.

But they were just the right size to round off the meal nicely, and especially the mousse-topped shortbread with ice cream was really nice, even though it didn’t top the veal.

Harwood Arms, Walham Grove, London SW6 1QP

Panforte di Siena

Published on March 8, 2015March 6, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

This cake dates back to the 13th century in Siena, Italy and because the cake has been around for so long there are lots of different recipes around. I settled for Jamie Oliver’s as I thought it sounded nice with figs in it, and it was really nice. It’s a dense and quite hard cake consisting mainly of fruits and nuts (and sugar) so a small piece is enough. I totally forgot to buy rice paper for my cake but it worked well without.

Panforte di Siena, makes 20 pieces

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s recipe.

(rice paper) spapper

300 g nuts, I used almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts

200 g mixed candied peel

75 g plain flour

175 g dried figs

1-2 tbsp sherry or vin santo

6 tbsp honey

150 g golden caster sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cardamom

grated nutmeg

a pinch ground cloves

icing sugar

Cover a 22cm springform with rice paper. Toast the nuts in a dry pan and mix with the mixed peel and flour.

Pre-heat the oven to 150C. Mix the figs into a paste using a food processor. Transfer the paste to a saucepan and add 1 tbsp sherry/vin santo, honey, sugar and all the spices and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-8 minutes and then add it to the nut mixture. Mix well and add another tbsp sherry/vin santo if the mixture is dry.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully press down a layer of rice paper on top of the cake and bake for another 10 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.

Dust with plenty of icing sugar, cut into thin slices and serve.

Molten chocolate cake

Published on March 7, 2015March 5, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

This pudding is such a crowd pleaser. I mean, who doesn’t like a warm gooey chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream?! You can prepare the batter ahead of time, just put them in the oven half-way through the main course and they’re ready when you are.

Chocolate fondant, serves 4

Translated from Pickipicki‘s recipe.

75 g butter (I prefer salted)
100 g dark chocolate (70 %), broken into pieces
2 eggs
4 tbsp caster sugar

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the chocolate pieces. Let it melt on low heat while stirring. Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Divide between four buttered ramekins. Bake in 175C, in the lower part of the oven for 10-15 minutes. The fondant needs to be cooked on the outside but still liquid inside. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Berlin!

Published on March 6, 2015March 5, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

I’m off to Berlin tonight where I’m meeting up with my best friend Emma (who’s flown in from Sweden). I’m so looking forward to a whole weekend of quality time with my bestie as well as discovering Berlin, try good restaurants and have a cocktail or three.

Have a nice weekend!

Barrafina Adeleide Street – revisited

Published on March 5, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Since Barrafina opened its second restaurant a two minute walk from where I work I’ve been there for lunch a few times. Last time I went with two colleagues and we had a lot of lovely food. So much that it was rather laborious to walk back to the office after lunch.

We started off with Jamon bellota and pan con tomato; actually one of the best pan con tomato I’ve had both in and outside of Spain. Perfect amount of garlic and the bread resists the wetness just enough.

Then we had these lovely crab croquetas.

And the tortilla with caramelized onions. So yum!

And extremely crispy smoked cod fritters with tartar sauce.

The fried artichokes was another favourite; so crispy and served with a lovely mayonnaise.

I can never resist the goat’s cheese stuffed courgette flowers with honey. Mmm…

And these ribs were delicious!! Good combination of salty and sweet in the sauce and the meat just fell off the bones. We also shared a pork belly with crackling and white beans with morcilla that I forgot to photograph, it was nice but the ribs were just amazing!

Although we were extremely full we couldn’t resist to share a plate of churros with cinnamon sugar and chocolate sauce. The perfect ending to a fabulous lunch!

Barrafina, 10 Adelaide St, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4HZ

Lemon soufflé with elderflower liqueur

Published on March 4, 2015 by Hanna5 Comments

I’ve been wanting to make soufflés for a while now and when I was at home for Christmas I finally did. With my very knowledgeable mother by my side. But I needn’t have worried – it wasn’t hard at all. And it is so satisfying watching the soufflés rise in the oven through the oven door.

The original recipe called for Grand Marnier, but we didn’t have any and therefore substituted it with another liqueur; St Germain. It didn’t add that much flavour though, but there was an elderflower hint at least.

Lemon sufflé with elderflower liqueur, makes 6

50 g butter

80 g plain flour

200 ml milk

3 egg yolks

6 egg whites

80 g caster sugar

100 ml St Germain elderflower liqueur

grated zest from 1 lemon

softened butter and caster sugar for the ramekins

icing sugar for dusting

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and incorporate it into the melted butter using a wooden spoon. Add milk and sugar and incorporate it on low heat until the batter is smooth and easily comes off the sides of the pan. Leave to cool.

Thereafter mix in the egg yolks, liqueur and lemon zest. Beat the egg whites to a hart foam and fold them into the mixture.

Butter the ramekins thoroughly and coat them in caster sugar. Fill the ramekins (all the way up and make sure the surface is even).

Bake in 200C for 12-15 minutes; until they’ve risen above the ramekin edge and are golden brown on top. Keep an eye on them through the oven door.

Remove the soufflés carefully from the oven, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Dinner at Eelbrook, Fulham

Published on March 3, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Even though I don’t live in central London I am more than pleased with the restaurants near where I live. Boma have nice burgers, just like Joe’s Brasserie and the best pub ever is just around the corner (all three places are actually within a 4 minute radius!).

There’s also a lovely one starred pub with amazing food a 10 minute walk north, and if you walk the same distance in another direction you have lovely Claude’s. And now there’s another addition; Eelbrook.

Caroline and I had dinner here on a Saturday night at in January and had a lovely meal! We started with pig’s head croquetas that were utterly delicious! As was the little crab tartlettes with beurre blanc and chives which I loved.

We also shared a portion of smoked eel, with beetroot, apple, mustard and horseradish.

Then it was time for our mains. I had bavette with broccoli rabe, trompettes and wild garlic butter. Very simple but absolutely perfect.

Caroline’s pork chop with lentils, leek and romesco sauce was equally amazing!

What a great addition to the already mentioned restaurants! This is definitely a little more up-scale than some of the others but the cooking is consistently very good and quite homely so it really works for a neighbourhood restaurant.

Eelbrook, Eel Brook Common, New King’s Road, Fulham, London SW6 4SE

Orzo pasta with goat’s cheese and gremolata

Published on March 2, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

This is actually my first encounter with orzo, the rice-shaped pasta, but definitely not the last. I like the texture and flavours of the creamy goat’s cheese contrasting the zesty punchy gremolata is fantastic. Recipe courtesy of Swedish food blog Matrepubliken.

I only made one change to the recipe, and that was to swap chèvre for softer goat’s cheese as I am not a fan of the rind on the chèvre.

Orzo with goat’s cheese and gremolata, serves 4

2 finely chopped shallots

800 ml chicken or vegetable stock

400 ml orzo pasta

100 g chèvre or soft goat’s cheese, in chunks

salt and pepper

Gremolata:

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

100 ml olive oil

2 tbsp grated lemon zest

2 garlic cloves, pressed

salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients for the gremolata and set aside. Fry the shallots in 1 tbsp butter without browning. Add the orzo and half the stock. Cook on low heat while stirring continuously (like when making risotto). Add more stock bit by bit. Once cooked add some butter, salt and pepper. Stir in the goat’s cheese. Plate and serve with a dollop of gremolata.