The Bolingbroke, Clapham

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You might remember that I wrote about The Stonhouse pub not long ago, and The Bolingbroke is one of its sister pubs in the same area. It is however situated closer to a high street and seems to be packed with people everytime I go there.

I actually went here for food for the first time before Christmas, with my friend Anna. I had mussels that were really good, but I didn’t feel it was a spectacular meal worthy of mentioning here. But after being back on Saturday, this time woth my friend Sinead, I’ve had to reconsider.

I really like this place. It is laidback and cosy, the food is hearty but has some finesse, the service good but relaxed and you just feel comfortable here. We arrived around half eight in the evening and the place restaurant was full with merry people.

We ordered a bottle of wine and went straight for the maincourses since we knew since before that the portions here are huge, big enough for a big working man to survive on. Sinead chose an open pie with sweet potato, kale and barley. It was enormous and looked really good. The vegetables came in a small copper pot on the side, which was nice and cute.

I went for the stuffed rabbit with spinach and hazelnuts served with a potato fondant and carrots. The rabbit was really good, the potato fondant was ok but consisted of a little too much onions. Again the portion was gigantic, but we did our best.

After a breather we were ready to try the desserts, but one to share was definitely enough. We settled on the chocolate fondant with honeycomb icecream. And it was fabulous, the creamy centre of the fondant was just right and worked perfectly with the icecream. Yum!

I really like this place, it is exactly what a pub should be about; a cosy interior, friendly staff, hearty and good food and a decent winelist.

A childhood classic: semolina

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Although I love most foods now as an adult, I was very picky as a child, but that was mainly because I was used to good homemade (from scratch) kind of food from my mother and grandmothers so when I started preschool I just couldn’t eat the food there, because it was lightyears away from what I was used to.

But there were a few things at home I didn’t like foodwise; fatty pork belly slices with onion cream sauce and boiled potatoes, which my parents loved and bruna bönor (baked beans, which is white beans in a brown sweet sauce) that one of them loved, so when they had this I normally got something else. Semolina. Which I always ate if I wasn’t feeling too well either.

I remember sitting on the kitchen sofa dangling my feet while mother made me semolina. It came boiling hot from the pan into my bowl with sheeps in, then I waited for it to coll enough so I could eat it and had it with a dollop of butter (in the middle of the bowl) and powdered with caster sugar.

It is so good, I still eat it like this as a grownup. Try it!

Semolina, serves 1

275 ml milk

2 tbsp semolina

a pinch of salt

Add everything to a saucepan (preferrably non-stick). Bring to the boil and let it boil on medium heat until the mixture has thickened, about 5-10 minutes, while stirring with a whisk. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool (and set slightly) for a few minutes. Serve with butter and sugar.

Very cherry chocolate cake

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The most impressive of the three cakes I made for work last week was this very cherry chocolate cake. It is easy to make (even though it might not look it) and it tastes divine.

Just make sure you choose a decent preserve for the filling and to make the ganache thicker than the original recipe suggests.

Very cherry chocolate cake, sreves 12

Translated and adapted from this recipe.

Sponges:

2 eggs

250 ml water

250 ml butter milk or natural yoghurt

125 ml sunflower oil

200 g plain flour

450 g caster sugar

85 g cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Filling:

500 g (2 tubs) mascarpone cheese

300 ml whipping (or double) cream

250 ml cherry preserve

120 g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Ganache:

100 g dark chocolate

200 ml whipping (or double) cream – halve this

1 tbsp butter

cherries to decorate

Preheat the oven to 175C. Butter three round cake tins, approx 20 cm diameter and line with baking parchment.

Add eggs, water, oil and butter milk/yoghurt in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until incorporated. Add all the dry ingredients in another mixing bowl and mix. Add the dry mixture to the liquid and beat unitil fully incorporated.

Divide the batter between the three cake tins. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for about 35 minutes. Leave to cool completely.

Beat mascarpone, cream, sugar and vanilla until a stiff and fluffy cream in a mixing bowl. Add the preserve and stir to combine.

Place one sponge cake on a cake stand and add a layer of filling. Repeat with the other two sponges. Then cover the top and sides of the cake with the filling and spread it even with a spatula.

Melt the chocolate and cream in a saucepan until fully melted and incorporated. Add the butter and leave to cool and thicken. Pour it over the cake and decorate with cherries before serving.

Lemon meringue pie

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It was time for the monthy cakes again on Friday. This time I made a Tosca cake, a very cherry chocolate cake (recipe to come) and this fresh lemon meringue pie.

I really like lemon in cakes as the acidity masks the fat and makes the cakes to appear light.

Lemon meringue pie, serves 10

Adapted from this recipe.

Short crust:

200 ml plain flour

100 g cold butter

1 tbsp icing sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp cold water

Lemon curd:

2 lemons, zest and juice

1 orange, the juice

100 ml water

2,5 tbsp maizena corn flour (for thickening)

100 ml caster sugar

75 g butter

3 egg yolks

1 egg

Meringue:

4 egg whites

200 ml caster sugar

1 tsp lemonjuice

Add the butter and flour to a food processor and mix it into crumbs. Add the icing sugar, egg yolk and water and blitz to a dough. Knead it in a bowl for a few minutes. Either roll out and cover your dish or press it into the dish. Pick wholes with a fork and leave to set in the fridge for an hour.

Once the crust has resten, cover with baking parchment and ceramic beads and blindbake for 15 minutes in 175C. Remove the parchment paper and beads and bake for another 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 150C.

While the crust is baking, prepare the curd and the meringue. Wash the lemons and grate the zest and add it to a saucepan. Add the juice and the juice from the orange too. Add the water, sugar and maizena. Bring to the boil and let the mixture thicken while stirring. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Stir while it melts.

Divide the yolks and the whites in two bowls (3 yolks and a whole egg in bowl for the curd and 4 whites in another mixing bowl for the meringue). Beat the yolks and the whole egg together and add to the curd on low heat. Beat with a whisk while the mixture thickens, do not let it boil. Put aside.

Beat the egg whites foamy, then add some of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks. Add the rest of the sugar bit by bit while beating, until very stiff peaks and a glossy meringue. Add the lemon juice and beat a little while longer.

Assemble the pie: Add the warm lemon curd to the warm pie crust and cover with the meringue. Bake in 150C for an hour in a low oven. Leave to cool before serving.

Scandi tip #15: A Scandinavian Easter

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Another month to go and then it is Easter. Apart from a lamb roast I don’t think England and Sweden have much in common when it comes to food for Easter.

Just like every other holiday we eat herring. Usually with boiled, oftened coloured eggs, dark rye bread, strong hard cheeses and some smoked or cured salmon. I usually make a matjes cheesecake, and Janssons temptation (potato and anchovies bake) is common too. This food is usually consumed on Easter Eve, the Saturday, and the roast lamb is more common on Easter Day (the SUnday).

A very popular Easter cake is the Oscar II cake, named after a Swedish king. The reason it is so popular during Easter is probably because of its yellow colour and nothing else.

Note: The image is from here.

Keep pizza dough?

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On Sunday when Nick came over for dinner I made proper Italian pizzas and used the recipe serving four, because you always eat more when you have pizza.

This time though about half the dough was left over despite our good efforts, so I put the dough in a bowl, covered it with clingfilm and put it in the fridge.

On Monday when I got home from work I just rolled out some of the dough to a pizza and it was superquick since the dough had already risen the day before. I repeated the procedure on Tuesday since there was another chunk of dough left and I enjoyed it just as much.

I wasn’t sure the dought would keep elastic enough being kept in the fridge for a few days but it worked really well, so if you ever get dough over just keep it until the next day.

Le Chardon, Clapham

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Although I like to discover new restaurants all over London (and especially central), sometimes it is quite nice not to venture too far from home for a meal out.

On Sunday, I met up with Laura, who lives in the same area, and we went to the cosy Abbeville Road for lunch. To the French restaurant Le Chardon to take my Taste Card out for a spin.

I have been to this restaurant once before over a year ago and although we enjoyed the food, the service decreased as the restaurant filled up and we were sat ignored for 30 minutes after our maincourses. Not ideal.

They were better this time, but the service could still be smoother. It was the little things, like forgetting cutlery and ketchup, but it does a lot for the overall dining experience.

The food here is classic French bistro and not innovative or gourmet, which is nice sometimes. You know what to expect and if the produce is good and the food cooked with knowledge then it is usually good.

Laura started off with a bowl of mussels and they were big nd juice. Definitely good.

I wanted to warm up, so I chose the French onion soup which was nice with the right amount of cheesy croûtons on top.

For maincourse Laura had a whole seabass and it was perfectly prepared; the meat was tender and fell of the bone.

I chose a more carnivorous approach and had the steak (rib eye) with bearnaise sauce and chips. It was good, not great but then I didn’t pay very much for it either.

With our taste card discount the bill came to £36 in total and that is definitely reasonable, don’t you think?!

Dulce de leche pannacotta

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To me, a great ending to a meal is some cheese, a pannacotta or a creme brulée. On Saturday after some homemade pizzas with bacon and chorizo I served this lovely caramel pannacotta.

It is incredibly easy to make, especially if you buy the dulce de leche readymade but also if you boil it yourself.

The panncotta is enough in itself but I added a dollop of caramel on top just for appearence and texture.

Dulce de leche pannacotta, serves 4

300 ml cream

ca 200 g (1/2 can) dulce de leche

2 gelatine leaves

Soak the gelatine in cold water. Bring cream and caramel to the boil in a saucepan while stirring. Remove from heat and add the gelatine, water squeezed out. Stir to incorporate. Leave to cool for a while before pouring into bowls. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

 

The Stonhouse, Clapham

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Although I tend to go out eating all over London, I sometimes neglect my own local area, Clapham. I am a fequent visitor to two lovely restaurants, Trinity and Tsunami, but other than that I don’t eat out locally much, which is a shame really.

A few Fridays ago I met up with Laura after work, who also lives in Clapham, and we decided to meet up somewhere local for a drink and some nibbles. A pub I really like is the Stonhouse, it is non-pretentious but nice and I have never been disappointed there, although I probably didn’t expect the menu to be quite as good as it was, as I’ve only had burgers here before.

We ordered tosted focaccia that arrived on a board with bith green tapenade and balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The green olives where not pitted and lovely and buttery. We just couldn’t stop eating them. The chips were nice too, chunky and crispy yet fluffy in the middle.

But the best nibble for me was without a doubt the baked cheddar pannacotta which arrived warm with a tomato chutney. The texture was slightly firmer than a regular pannacotta, but the cheddar flavour was lovely and a good pairing with the chutney.

Sometimes this is all you need after work; some tasty nibbles, a (large) glass of wine and a chat.

Simple pleasures

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Sometimes the simple pleasures in life are enough to put a smile on your face. One of my simple pleasures and favourite desserts are a plate of room temperature Ossau-Iraty cheese, a Basque ewe’s milk hard cheese. It is hard and creamy at the same time and the flavour is lovely. Especially paired with some truffle honey. Bliss!