Scones

During the Easter holiday, Poppy went to her Brownie pack holiday, which meant that we had a bit more free time than usual. I therefore decided that it would be a nice time to do a spot of solo baking, so I stole half an hour during a George nap to quickly knock up a batch of scones.

This is definitely a recipe I want my children to have as you can't beat a good scone!

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

• 500g/1lb 1oz strong white flour, plus a little extra for rolling out
• 80g/3oz softened butter, plus a little extra to grease the baking tray
• 80g/3oz caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs
• 5 tsp baking powder
• 250ml/8½fl oz milk
• 1 free-range egg, beaten with a little salt (for glazing)

To serve

• butter
• good-quality strawberry or raspberry jam
• clotted cream

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan assisted)/425F/Gas 7.
2. Lightly grease a baking tray with butter and line it with baking or silicone paper (not greaseproof).
3. Put 450g/15½oz of the flour into a large bowl and add the butter. Rub the flour and butter together with your fingers to create a breadcrumb-like mixture.
   
   
   Watch technique0:46 mins
4. Add the sugar, eggs and baking powder and use a wooden spoon to turn the mixture gently. Make sure you mix all the way down to the bottom and incorporate all of the ingredients.
5. Now add half of the milk and keep turning the mixture gently with the spoon to combine. Then add the remaining milk a little at a time and bring everything together to form a very soft, wet dough. (You may not need to add all of the milk.)
6. Sprinkle most of the remaining flour onto a clean work surface. Tip the soft dough out onto the work surface and sprinkle the rest of the flour on top. The mixture will be wet and sticky.
7. Use your hands to fold the dough in half, then turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. By folding and turning the mixture in this way (called 'chaffing'), you incorporate the last of the flour and add air. Do this a few times until you’ve formed a smooth dough. If the mixture becomes too sticky use some extra flour to coat the mixture or your hands to make it more manageable. Be careful not to overwork your dough.
   
   
   Watch technique0:51 mins
8. Next roll the dough out: sprinkle flour onto the work surface and the top of the dough, then use the rolling pin to roll up from the middle and then down from the middle. Turn the dough by 90 degrees and continue to roll until it’s about 2.5cm/1in thick. ‘Relax’ the dough slightly by lifting the edges and allowing the dough to drop back onto the work surface.
9. Using a pastry cutter, stamp out rounds from the pastry and place them onto the baking tray. Dip the edge of the pastry cutter in flour to make it easier to cut out the scones without them sticking. Don’t twist the cutter – just press firmly, then lift it up and push the dough out.
10. Once you’ve cut 4 or 5 rounds you can re-work and re-roll the dough to make it easier to cut out the remaining rounds. Any leftover dough can be worked and rolled again, but the resulting scones won’t be as fluffy.
11. Place the scones on the baking tray and leave them to rest for a few minutes to let the baking powder work. Then use a pastry brush (or your finger if you don’t have a brush) to glaze them with the beaten egg and salt mixture. Be careful to keep the glaze on the top of the scones. (If it runs down the sides it will stop them rising evenly.)
    
    
    Watch technique0:24 mins
12. Bake the scones in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, or until the scones are risen and golden-brown.
13. Leave the scones to cool, then split in half and add butter, jam and clotted cream to serve.

I ended up making mini scones as we only had a small cutter; however, i was really pleased with how cute they turned out, so I would probably do exactly the same the next time!

Purnell's

I have very fond childhood memories of, on occasion, being taken by my Mum into Birmingham city centre to meet my Dad from work. I don't know how often this actually used to happen, but one of the main things I remember is that we would sometimes go out for dinner after meeting Dad and usually end up at a restaurant called the "Berni Inn". This was roughly equivalent of a Toby Carvery-type restaurant that exists now and, as a small child I thought it was absolutely amazing and made the best food ever!  As I grew up and became more aware of food and the food-scene, much to my dismay I learned that the Berni Inn was pretty rubbish and that Birmingham had always had a reputation for being somewhat of a culinary blackspot. As a proud Brummie, this really bothered me and I always hoped that Birmingham would at some point be able to improve its reputation for food.

To my delight, over the past 10 years or so, Birmingham has made such amazing strides forward in the culinary world that it was listed in the top 20 places to visit in 2012 by the New York Times, largely due to its burgeoning gastronomic credentials.  At the forefront of this revival has been chef and all round nice-guy Glyn Purnell. 

 

Glyn secured Birmingam's first ever Michelin star at Jessica's in 2005, left in 2007 to set up Purnell's and was able to secure another star here in 2009.  

Anyway, in the months leading up to mine and Diana's 3rd wedding anniversary, we were talking about what we would like to do and we thought it would be fantastic to see if we could get a booking at Purnell's on the weekend of our anniversary.  I have eaten at Birmingham's other Michelin starred restaurants (Simpson's and Turner's) on other occasions, but neither of us had eaten at Purnell's and we both thought that going together for an anniversary meal would be a lovely way to break the duck. So on Friday 22nd March, we plodded on down to Purnell's to see if the restaurant was worthy of its lofty local reputation.



Our evening started with a lovely snowy (yes snowy!) walk through the back streets of Birmingham, upon arrival, we decided to sit down first and have a drink, so we opted for two strawberry based, non-alcoholic cocktails:

It was fascinating to watch them being made; if you only saw the finished product, it would be impossible to understand the amount of crushing, measuring and mixing that went on to produce it! As we were enjoying our cocktails, we perused the menu and both decided that it would be a travesty if we settled for anything less than the taster menu which is called The Purnell's Tour.

The menu was as follows:

Bread :

It may sound ridiculous to blog about a piece of bread, but this was bread like no other.  It was warm and so so soft and was perfect with the freshly churned butter and rock salt. It was really difficult to not fill up on this before our first proper course arrived!

Dish 1 - Warm potato soup - types of onions - crispy barley - creme fraiche:

This was a really velvety potato soup with really lovely pieces of confit potato at the bottom.  My favourite thing about the dish was the crispy barley, which packed a real punch in terms of flavour as well as being a lovely texture to counteract the soup.

Dish 2 - Emotions of cheese & pineapple on sticks "Soixante-dix":

This dish consisted of a parmesan-choux pastry ball filled with a cheesy filling and a cheese and pineapple cube.  The flavour of the cheese was excellent and the slight hint of pineapple provided a nice counterpoint to the cheesy-ness.

Dish 3 - Haddock and eggs - cornflakes - curry oil:

This is where the gastronomy really kicked in!  The egg yolk was very gently poached and was surrounded with a haddock foam.  It sat on top of pieces of haddock, crispy pieces, which were apparently cornflakes and had a drizzle of very subtle curry oil.  To go along with it was a smoked haddock croquette.  The egg yolk was superb and worked really well with the very tender pieces of haddock.  The croquette was also really nicely flavoured and was lovely to dip into the egg yolk.

Dish 4 - "Remoulade" 2012

Unfortunately I don't have a picture the all of the elements of this dish, but it came in three parts.  Firstly there was a cube of hot, seasoned celeriac, secondly was a liquidised celeriac with a solid ghee "crust" around the outside and then finally a apple and celery "pop".  All of these were designed to cleanse the palate in preparation for the main dishes........


Dish 5 - Carpaccio of beef - red wine octopus - home corned beef - salt beef - sour cream - sweet & sour onions

Up to this point, I was really enjoying the menu, but was starting to wonder when the big guns would come out.  As soon as I saw this dish, I knew it was a serious one!  The three kinds of beef were equisite and had so much beef flavour.  My favourite was the carpacio, which was melt in the mouth tender and so tasty. The real surprise of this dish was the octopus; it was a really dense texture, but was intensely flavoured and tender.  Another favourite element of ours on the plate was the sweet and sour onions which was accompanied by an onion marmalade of sorts.  The most remarkable thing about this dish was the layers of texture and taste; the flavours were still developing in our mouths after we had finished eating it.  This was a serious contender for the dish of the night!

Dish 6 - Roast hand dived scallops - Devonshire crab mayonnaise - pickled cucumber and apple - paprika honeycomb  

I am a huge seafood fan, so I had been looking forward to this dish all evening.  This was another gastronomic heavyweight of the evening.  The scallops and crab were immense and again, the contrast against the pickled cucumber set the dish alive.  My only complaint is that it could have done with more pickled cucumber.

Dish 7 - Monkfish Masala - Indian red lentils - pickled carrots - coconut - coriander

This was the dish that Glyn Purnell won with on "Great British Menu" and so we were expecting this to be a real good one.  It was also the dish that Jay Rayner (food critic of the Guardian) raved about in his review of Purnell's.  Where to start???  The carrots were to die for, as crazy as it sounds, they were amazing, like no carrot you have ever tasted.  The lentils were seasoned to perfection and at no point did it feel over spiced.  The monkfish was soft, meaty and again seasoned to perfection.  The icing on the cake was the coconut, which worked well to pull all of the elements together.

Dish 8 - Roast rump of Wiltshire downlands lamb - emulsion of English greens puree - capers - yoghurt - lettuce

I am a real fan of lamb, but rarely have it, so I was really looking forward to this one.  Diana on the other hand, is less of a carnivore and so I was interested to see how she reacted to it.  The lamb was beautifully pink and tender and was sat on a combo of capers and mushrooms in a sauce, which was the perfect accompaniment .  The seemingly random addition of iceberg lettuce was also a masterstroke and brought an interesting extra texture to the plate.

Dish 9 - Mint Choccy Chip

We were both hotly anticipating this dish throughout the meal and we were not disappointed.  This was also the one really spectacular dish in terms of quirky presentation   It started with the waiter pouring liquid nitrogen into a bowl filled with mint smelling liquid and mint leaves.  This produced liquid nitrogen vapour which crept over the table spreading a minty smell.  

The inside of the dish was a was a thick warm chocolate sauce with a cold mint ice cream in the middle.  In addition, there were crumbly chocolate pieces on the top and bottom.  The combination of flavours, textures and difference between hot and cold was amazing and took the dish to another level.  This was a definite favourite of the night.

Dish 10 - Burnt English custard egg surprise – rhubarb and ginger

The final dish of the night was based around an egg shell filled with beautifully rich custard.  The other elements of the dish were rhubarb, granola and a ginger sorbet.  The egg custard was delicious and was extremely rich. The rhubarb and ginger were light and refreshing and at this point in the meal, a welcome palate cleanser. While it was not our favourite dish of the evening, we certainly appreciated the lightness when we were both getting really full!

As the evening drew to a close, we had no doubt that we had been treated to something really special.  While the individual dishes were spectacular, it was the coherence of the entire menu that was amazing.  It felt like we had been treated to to very carefully crafted culinary crescendo that had got better and better throughout the night.

Another really pleasing element of the evening was the quality and friendliness of the service.  I have eaten in restaurants where the service was as good as Purnell's, but the staff made you feel like an unwelcome presence in the restaurant.  I have also eaten in restaurants where the staff were friendly, but the service rubbish.  Purnell's managed to combine both elements perfectly.  We felt welcome throughout and the staff were falling over themselves to help us.

So, has Birmingham moved forward in culinary terms since the dark days of the 1980s?  Having eaten at all three Michelin starred restaurants that the city has to offer, I can now emphatically say a massive yes!  Is Purnell's the best of the three?  In terms of offering the complete package, I would say that you will struggle to find better in the city than what is on offer here.



Hot Cross Buns

For a few years now, we have taken some time over Easter to make hot cross buns together as a family. We are really keen for this to become a family tradition, so over the Easter weekend, we once again got cracking on making a batch, as always trying to improve on our attempts of the previous years. I had found a brilliant recipe on the BBC website from Paul Hollywood (from Great British Bake Off), so I had high hopes this time round! Here is the recipe:

IngredientsFor the buns

300ml/10fl oz whole milk

500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour

75g/2½oz caster sugar

1 tsp salt

7g sachet fast-action yeast

50g/1¾oz butter

1 free-range egg, beaten

75g/2½oz sultanas

50g/1¾oz mixed peel

1 apple, cored and chopped

1 orange, zest only

1 tsp ground cinnamon

sunflower oil, for greasing the bowl

For the cross

75g/2½oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

For the glaze

3 tbsp apricot jam

Preparation method

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1. Bring the milk to the boil and then remove from the heat and leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, butter and egg together in a bowl, then slowly add the warmed milk until it forms a soft, sticky dough.
3. Add the sultanas, mixed peel, chopped apple and orange zest, then tip out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heal of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for five minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
   
   
   
4. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for approximately one hour, or until doubled in size.
5. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces, and roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured surface. Arrange the buns on a baking tray lined with parchment, leaving enough space so that the buns just touch when they rise and expand. Set aside to prove for another hour.
6. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
7. For the cross, mix the flour with about five tablespoons of water in small bowl, adding the water one tablespoon at a time, so that you add just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven, or until golden-brown.
9. Gently heat the apricot jam to melt, then sieve to get rid of any chunks. While the jam is still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.

We decided that each of the children would have control over their own bowls (to stop quarrelling!) and then I would also make a batch. Poppy, did all of the measuring by herself and then Diana added a little of each ingredient to George's bowl so that he had the same. Once all of the ingredients were added, both children got their hands messy and started mixing a kneading. As expected, Poppy had a great time, but we were both surprised at how much George loved this. 

Once all mixed, the mixtures were left to prove, which allowed me to get working on my batch.

After the 1st proving, we knocked back, shaped and then left to prove for the second time

After 20 minutes and the generous application of the application of the glaze they were done!

This was the resulting mess (I was pleasantly surprised really!)

The hot cross buns were really superb and although I have never been a massive Paul Hollywood fan, he is slowly winning me round, one recipe at a time!  I was particularly pleased with the fun that the children had while doing this; both Poppy and George had great fun and were eager to follow along.  

There is no no doubt about hot cross bun making becoming an annual fixture on the Cross family calendar after the fantastic results of this activity!

Itihaas

Although the main reason I started a food blog was to build up a family recipe book, another significant reason was that I wanted to keep a record of some of the restaurants we eat at and the experiences we have there.  In reality, I have a bit of a repressed ambition to be a restaurant critic, so I suppose this is a manifestation of that ambition! 

When my mother and father-in-law came to stay over the half term break, we had decided to go out for dinner with them, partially as a belated birthday celebration for them both.  We ultimately settled on going to go to a place called Itihaas, which is an Indian restaurant (not a balti house!) in the centre of Birmingham (http://www.itihaas.co.uk/) which I had been to a couple of times before on work functions; however, this was the first time that I had been with family.

I really love the decor of Itihaas; it's got a colonial theme which makes it feel really warm and snug and is a million miles from the cheap and cheerful Birmingham balti house.  The other thing that I really rate the restaurant on is the attentive service; the waiters were always on hand when needed and were always happy to help.  I've been to restaurants that are far more expensive than Itihaas that have had much worse service.

 

Our food was really fantastic, and the portion sizes were crazy; the starters in particular could have been half the size and would stil have been big!  The stand out dishes of the night were Chilli Paneer (Indian cheese, stir fried with onion, chilli and garlic) and Paapri Chaat (crispy discs of pastry topped with chick peas and potatoes accompanied by yoghurt and tamarind chutney) for starter and Koila Murgh (tandoori chicken) for main.  The presentation of the Koila Murgh was really eye catching:



In reality though, everything we ordered was tasty and well cooked.  I think we could have chosen anything off the menu and had a great meal.

 

 

For dessert, we ordered chilli chocolate indulgence, sweet ginger cheesecake and mango cheesecake.  Unfortunatley, it was all so good that we forgot to take a picture until we had nearly finished!  A real favourite of mine was the kulfi (indian ice cream) that came with each dessert, particularly the pistachio flavoured one.

 

 

So overall, a really enjoyable night out with really good service and great food.  I have a feeling that this is going to become a family favourite of ours for years to come.

Chilli Sauce

Yesterday we had planned to have homemade burgers for dinner, but as I started to cook, I had a brainwave to make Kofte kebabs.  We had all of the ingredients to make the Kofte, wraps to put them in and salad to go with it, but were missing a vital component - chilli sauce; an absolute must for kebabs!  As a result, I decided to find a recipe and have a go at making a batch. 

The recipe (courtesy of bbc.co.uk) is as follows:

50g sugar
150ml water
2cm piece of fresh giner, peeled and finely grated
1/2 red chilli, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Splash rice wine vinegar
Splash fish sauce

1. Heat the sugar and water in a pan until it becomes a light syrupy consistency
2. Add the other ingredients and stir well
3. Heat and simmer gently for 4-5 minutes
4. Blend using a hand blender or food processer
5. Tweak the consistency by adding small amounts of water or reducing further

We were amazed by the results; it tasted fantastic and was really quick and easy to make and worked perfectly with the Kofte.  I just wish I'd made more......

Poppy's Cookies

Even at the tender age of 7, Poppy already loves cooking.  Up until recently, she was always content to be my little sous chef, but a few weeks ago she asked if she could cook something entirely by herself. At this point, I have to confess to being a bit of a busybody in the kitchen; I find it really hard to not interfere and offer hints and tips!  Most of the time this does not go down too well, so I had been given strict instructions to let Poppy get on with it all by herself even if it ended up being a total disaster!  Poppy chose a cookie recipe that she wanted to cook and after getting all of the ingredients and equipment out for her, I sat back and let her get on........

Recipe for Poppy's cookies:

150g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
25g ground almonds
150g light muscavado sugar
50g porridge oats
50g raisins
40g chocolate chips
150g melted butter
1 large egg yolk

1. Mix the dry ingredients together
2. Add the wet ingredients
3. Mix well with hands
4. Form into small walnut sized shapes, place onto a lined baking tray and flatten out slightly
5. Heat oven to gas mark 5
6. Cook for 10-12 minutes

Poppy proceeded to measure, weigh, melt and mix her way through the instructions.......

 

 

Then after 10-12 minutes of cooking, we got to see (and taste) the results:

 

The cookies were truly excellent and I honestly don't think I've ever tasted a better homemade cookie.

 

Even more important was the fact that Poppy had a fantastic time making them and loved being the queen bee in the kitchen for once.

 

A few weeks after this, I read a really interesting article in the Times about the attitude that the French have towards food with their children.  The whole point of the article was that there are far fewer problems with French children and food compared to Britain.  The article made at a number of points, but the two that really stood out to me were firstly about how the French allow their children to get really involved in cooking and secondly the fact that treats are not treated as evil, rather as treats. 

 

I feel really strongly about both of these points. 

 

If our children are not taught how to cook and not allowed to experiment, how will they ever be able to be self reliant and not just rely on ready meals?

 

and if crisps, biscuits, chocolates etc are treated as evil (as many schools treat them - might need to do another post on this!), how can we expect children to take a balanced and sensible view to consuming them when they get their own independence?  In my view a balanced diet should be just that - balanced.  There is room for treats, as long as they are enjoyed sensibly.

 

Anyway, I was so happy with how much fun we all had, either making, watching or eating, that I think this will be a regular occurrence as Poppy continues to grow.  I'm not sure if I have the courage to let George loose yet though........