Category Archives: cinnamon

mulled wine macarons

almonds, cinnamon, egg, food, meringue

mulled wine macarons

This photo is of easily the worst one of the bunch. I figured you can Google macarons and get a million results of perfect Parisienne treats. But I bet you’d struggle to find another that looks like Audrey.

I have been very lucky – expert tuition on how to make macarons, from the excellent Waitrose Cookery not once, but twice. This time Kenwood were laying on an event to promote their Boutique range. It’s a range of vivid and colour-themed small appliances. At the school each colour was arranged on a table with well-matching items which were very eye-catching.

They are gorgeous items, but here’s what else was eye-catching: the price. Each of these things are well made but I certainly can’t justify spending £55 on a kettle. Or £85 on a toaster. And when you have one item in the range, you’re going to want the rest… ouch.

I teamed with Helen to make macarons. The coloured cocktails had got to her a little, and she started piping little green nipples onto our pukkah pink blobs. We had a whale of a time.

mulled fruit juice waitrose

These macarons are made not with mulled wine, but mulled fruit juice from Waitrose. Heavy with spice and warmth, this juice made the perfect accompaniment to super-sweet and chewy macarons. The macaron recipe is Waitrose Cookery School’s, and I was inspired to make the mulled reduction by my previous trip to the macaron class.

Thanks to Z-PR for the fruit juice, and Clarion Comms for hosting the Kenwood event.

Mulled wine macarons (makes loads):

1 litre mulled fruit juice

1 tablespoon icing sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon cornflour

275g caster sugar

95g egg whites (approximately 3 egg whites)

½ tbsp red food colouring

275g ground almonds

275g icing sugar

95g egg whites (approximately 3 egg whites)

  1. Pre heat the oven to 145ºC. Cut out two sheets of parchment paper, the same size as the baking tray and set aside ready for piping.
  2. Boil the mulled fruit juice over a high heat with the cinnamon stick until reduced by half, and then add the icing sugar. Mix the cornflour with a splash of water and whisk into the fruit juice, and continue to reduce until thickened. Put aside to cool.
  3. For the Italian meringue: In a small saucepan, add the sugar and 100ml of water and mix until there are no lumps. Add the food colouring and place the saucepan over medium to high heat and place the sugar thermometer inside. The required temperature is 114C.
  4. In the electronic mixing bowl, add the 95g of egg whites with the whisk attachment. This will then be ready for the sugar syrup when the required temperature is reached.
  5. Once the sugar syrup has reached 110C, start whisking the egg whites on a medium speed and once the temperature has reached 114C, (the whisking egg whites should be frothy at this stage) lift the thermometer out and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl ensuring not to splash yourself! Turn onto full speed and after approximately five minutes, the Italian meringue will become glossy and whipped.
  6. Meanwhile, whilst the meringue is whisking, we can make the paste. In a separate bowl, combine the ground almonds and icing sugar and add the other 95g of egg whites and mix with a wooden spoon until a paste has formed. The paste should be stiff.
  7. Once the Italian meringue is ready (soft peaks will form) this is combined with the paste in three stages. If it is over mixed the mix will become too liquid and the macaroons will become very flat once cooked. It is important to ensure a nice gentle mixing motion. The first addition of the meringue to the paste will be the most aggressive in order to ensure there are no lumps. The second amount of meringue must be folded in gently and the final addition of meringue must be extremely gentle.
  8. The macaroon mix is then ready to be piped. Using a spatula, fill the piping bag half way. Pipe some mix into each corner of the baking trays in order to stick the parchment paper onto the tray. Pipe in straight lines going from left to right leaving a 2cm gap in between each macaroon. These are now ready to be baked for 17-19 minutes at 145C.
  9. Once they are cooked, take the trays out of the oven and leave to cool. Pipe some of the sticky fruit juice inbetween two halves, before downing in one.
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empire chicken with indian gravy and bombay roasties

carrots, chicken, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cucumber, cumin, curry, food, garlic, ginger, lemon, nigella seeds, potatoes, red onion

empire chicken with indian roasties

What a triumph this is. Just when I was feeling a bit indifferent to Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain along comes this absolute belter. Jamie introduces this by saying most people when asked about their favourite foods will mention roast chicken and curries, and this utterly unites the heart of both of these.

With blackened, tangy skin the chicken comes out juicy and tickling on the tongue, although be warned it will make a mess of your oven as it sits on the rack.

Being the kind of blog this is though, I have to talk about the roast potatoes. They are a triumph. I used to get “spicy spuds” from a dubious takeaway near me and these are very, very close to those – crispy, spicy and fluffy.

I’ve made a few changes to the spices in the potatoes based on what I had, and used floury over new pots to get them really crispy. I’ve served mine with a refreshing salad.

I cannot recommend this recipe enough.

Jamie’s original recipe is here.

Empire chicken, Bombay roasties, Indian gravy and refreshing salad (serves 4):

For the chicken and marinade

1.4kg free-range chicken

1 heaped tablespoon each finely grated garlic, fresh ginger and fresh red chilli

1 heaped tablespoon tomato purée

1 heaped teaspoon each of ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala and ground cumin

2 heaped teaspoons natural yoghurt

2 level teaspoons sea salt

For the gravy

1 stick of cinnamon

2 small red onions, peeled

10 cloves

3 tablespoons each of white wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce

3 level tablespoons plain flour

500ml chicken stock

For the Bombay-style potatoes

800g new potatoes

sea salt and ground pepper

1 lemon

2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil

a knob of butter

1 heaped teaspoon each of nigella seeds, ground coriander, garam masala, fenugreek and turmeric

1 bulb of garlic

Pinch of chilli flakes

For the salad

½ a cucumber, peeled

3 carrots, peeled

1 red onion, peeled

½ lemon

    1. Slash the chicken’s legs a few times right down to the bone. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and smear all over the chicken. Leave to marinate overnight.
    2. Preheat the oven to 200°C and organize your shelves so the roasting tray can sit right at the bottom, the chicken can sit directly above it, right on the bars of the shelf, and the potatoes can go at the top.
    3. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball size pieces then parboil them in a large pan of salted boiling water with a whole lemon for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Drain the potatoes then let them steam dry. Stab the lemon a few times with a sharp knife and put it right into the chicken’s cavity.
    4. Roughly chop the onions and add to a roasting tray along with the cinnamon stick, cloves, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, then whisk in the flour. Pour in the stock or water, then place this right at the bottom of the oven. Place the chicken straight on to the bars of the middle shelf, above the roasting tray. Cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.
    5. Put a roasting tray in the oven for five minutes to get hot. Add the olive oil, butter, the spices, halve a bulb of garlic and add it straight to the pan. Add your drained potatoes to the tray, mix everything together, then season well. After the chicken has been in for 40 minutes, put the potatoes in.
    6. Once the chicken is cooked, move it to a board to rest. Pass the gravy through a coarse sieve into a pan, whisking any sticky goodness from the pan as you go. Bring to the boil and either cook and thicken or thin down with water to your preference (I had to add some boiling water to deglaze the surface and make a sauce out of it.
    7. For the salad, use a vegetable peeler to make thin strips of the carrot and cucumber. Then finely slice the onion and add this to it. Add a pinch each of salt and sugar, then squeeze over the lemon and toss to combine. Leave for 15 minutes while everything else finishes off.
    8. Get your potatoes out of the oven and put them into a serving bowl, then serve the chicken on a board next to the sizzling roasties and hot gravy.

boozy milk

cinnamon, drink, honey, milk, rum

boozy milk

A rare evening alone; everyone had disappeared to bed. So I did what every self-respecting man does: catch up on recorded TV, eat crisps and er, flick through the latest cookbook. I’d been sent a copy of Hungry?, the third recipe book from the cheeky chaps at Innocent. It’s a family-friendly cookbook, with loads of great reliable recipes made from decent ingredients. I’ll certainly be featuring a few in the coming weeks. The layout reminds me a bit of Leon’s which is no bad thing (it was my favourite cookbook of last year after all); a scrapbook of memories, stories and kooky odds and ends that give the book real character.

One particular recipe struck me in this witching hour of being exactly what I wanted right at that minute, and I don’t think there can be any greater validation for a recipe book. Essentially, naughty late-night milkshake.

To celebrate the release of their new book, Innocent are sending a van around London all this weekend, selling food from recipes straight from the book. Check out where it is on their Facebook page. If you’re in the area, why not check them out?

Boozy milk (serves 1):

250ml milk

2 capfuls rum

1 teaspoon honey

Cinnamon to taste

  1. Heat up the milk, rum and honey in a saucepan until warm. Whisk briskly, pour into a mug and dust with cinnamon.

chestnut and brandy torte

chestnuts, cinnamon, orange

chestnut and brandy torte

Merchant Gourmet threw down the gauntlet again: use their chestnut products in a really festive  way. I’m a fan of chestnuts at any time, not just Christmas, whether it’s fried with bacon and sprouts, stuffed into a chicken, giving body to a soup, or dressing a hearty pasta dish.

But how to give them a real Christmassy twist? I racked my brains and brought in as many festive foods as I could: that boozy treat Brandy butter, juicy sharp cranberries and just a whiff of clementine. The result is a rich, dark torte, with a fudgy centre and citrussy base. The real kicker is the cranberry, providing a sharp tang against all the sweetness.

Give it a try this Christmas. I think you’ll like it.

Chestnut and brandy torte (about 10 slices):

For the base:

200g digestive biscuits, crushed to dust

50g butter, melted

50g dried cranberries

Pinch of cinnamon

Zest and juice of 1 clementine

For the filling:

200g Merchant Gourmet whole chestnuts

50g icing sugar

200g brandy butter

For the chocolate frosting:

200g dark chocolate, chopped

100g butter, cubed

  1. Mix the crushed biscuits with the cranberries, cinnamon and clementine and stir in the butter. Pack the biscuit mix into a 15cm springform tin and pop in the fridge to firm up while you get on with the filling.
  2. Whizz the chestnuts in a food processor and gradually add the sugar. If the mixture looks a little rubbly at this point add a tablespoon of water to form a paste. Add the brandy butter and blend until smooth. Pour this on top of the biscuit and chill for another hour. (If you have some handy, you could use chestnut puree blended with sugar and brandy butter instead).
  3. For the chocolate topping, put the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a gently simmering pan of water. Allow to melt together very slowly until smooth, then add a tiny sprinkle of sea salt. Pour this on top of the torte filling and chill for another hour until the top has set hard. When ready slice with a damp, warmed bread knife to get a clean cut (unlike the one in my picture!).

    aromatic rice

    cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, food, rice

    This is the rice from the chicken tikka masala recipe. I’ve broken it out to it’s own page otherwise I have trouble finding it!

    Aromatic rice:

    1 onion, diced

    2 cloves garlic, peeled and bashed

    1 cinnamon stick

    3 cloves

    4 cardamom pods

    1 cupful rice per person

    1. Fry the onion gently until softened, then add the garlic.
    2. Add the spices and stir, allowing them to warm.
    3. Add the rice and a generous sprinkle of salt, stir will to coat the rice in the spiced oil. Top up the pan with three times the amount of water to rice. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
    4. Cover the pan and allow to simmer for ten minutes – do not lift the lid.
    5. Turn off the heat and leave for a further ten minutes, leaving the lid on.
    6. Stir through with a fork and grind over plenty of black pepper. If you have any left over from the curry, throw in some parsley too.

    churros with hot chocolate

    chocolate, cinnamon, food, sugar

    churros with hot chocolate

    This was another foray into Jamie’s America. Sticking with the Navajo theme, the idea of little balls of fried batter with hot chocolate for dipping was too much to resist. Churro comes from the breed of lamb that the Navajo farm, and the dumplings are supposed to be shaped like sheep’s horns!

    It starts with butter and water boiled together and then flour added with baking powder and salt, with an egg beaten in to bind. That’s your batter made. This was then deep fried for 3 minutes until puffy and brown, then tossed in cinnamon and caster sugar for sweet-spicy flavour. The chocolate was made with boiling full-fat milk and cinnamon, mixed with a little cornflour and sugar until thickened. When it was the right consistency I added chopped dark chocolate and whisked like billy-o until I had a gloopy sweet sauce.

    My gripes were three-fold: the chocolate while tasty was too thick and unctuous. It was more like chocolate custard. Next time I might forgo some of the cornflour. Also, the churros were a little doughy in the centre – I tried making smaller ones but the problem was still the same. I’d probably aim for something more like a doughnut recipe next time to get a lighter filling. Thirdly I used nearly every pan in the house! There’s so many things happening concurrently I needed pots and pans galore. (And therefore washing-up galore – ugh).

    That said, it was very tasty and pushed lots of sweet / rich buttons, and I can really imagine this being a hit on bonfire night when everyone’s wrapped up warm, or possibly Christmas time as a fun snack. I’ll bring this one out again – with a few modifications.