Cooking England County by County: Cornwall: Cornish Fairings

I seem to be abandoning this blog more and more as I just don´t have the time to write these days. However, I am still just as keen to cook around England,Spain and around the world little by little and it is time to visit the county of Cornwall. 

Despite being a very beautiful part of England ,I have never visited Cornwall and can you believe it I have never tried one of it´s most famous dishes, Cornish Pasties so I´ll definitely be having a go at making one. I decided to kick off Cornwall to a traditional sweet recipe,not so well-known, called Cornish Fairings,which I´d also never tried. Cornish Fairings are basically a gingerut biscuit and are fairly simple to make and oh so worth it. I used this recipe from Tin And Thyme´s blog but used white flour. Next time I´ll definitely be trying them with wholemeal flour for a slightly healthier version. I did cut down on the butter and sugar,which praobaly resulted in a more chewier and softer biscuit,more like an American cookie rather than a harder, crispier gingernut texture. The problem is trying to stop at one....these biscuits didn´t last very long in our house as we soon polished them off!

 

Cook & Learn About the World: Angola: Chicken Muamba

II first started adding these posts as a way to explore dishes from other countries in an attempt to widen my children´s palettes and also teach them about different countries around the world. Life however got iin the way and cooking the world kind of got put on a backburner...until now...when again my interest iin trying out new dishes,flavours and ingredients has been piqued.

 So, finally, we move onto Angola, an African country, which I  know little about including it´s cuisine. I drew on Global Table Adventure¨s recipe for Angolan Muamba Chicken Stew  for my inspiration, with only a few tweaks to the recipe. Instead of using a  whole chicken, quartered, I used half a chicken, quartered, which was plenty for the four of us. I also only used 2 tomatoes and 200g pumpkin. As I cannot buy okra where I lived , I substituted it for 100-200g courgette. I don´t like very spicy food and as we couldn´t buy any chilli peppers, I omitted it from the recipe. I also added less chilli powder,about 1/4 of a teaspoon as opposed to 1 1/2 teaspoons. As red palm oil is not very healthy and also because I cut down the amount of chicken and vegetables, I used only about half a 1/4 measuring cup of red palm oil ,which I then filled the rest of the 1/4 cup with mild olive oil.I also added salt & pepper to season the stew.

The result was a tasty chicken stew, with the chicken meat being very tender. However, I think it did lack a little in flavour for me so I would add more of the chilli powder and/or the chilli peppers if I were to make it again! 

 

Cooking England County by county: Cheshire: Souling Cakes

I rarely have time to blog these days but still like to when and if I can find the time. As it´s been awhile since , I made and blogged anything from the various English counties, I decided to make these Souling Cakes (also known as Soul Cakes) which are typical in Cheshire. 

Before making these ¨cakes¨ which are actually more like biscuits, I´d never heard of them before,much less tried them.Traditionally these cakes were made around Halloween or All Soul´s Day, hence the name of Soul or Souling Cakes. They were given to the poor, who went door to door singing and praying for the souls of the givers and their friends, especially the souls of deceased relatives that were thought to be in Purgatory. 

The biscuits are similar in texture and taste to pastry or shortbread with a hint of spice. I followed this recipe from Cheshire Regional Recipes  OAKDEN more or less to the letter and was pleased with the results. I´d defnitely make them again. Let me know if you try the recipe and whether you liked these biscuits.

Guide to the best cafés and bakeries in Ciudad Real, Castilla La Mancha- Part 1

Long time, no hear but I´m finally back,this time with a guide to the best cafés and bakeries in Ciudad Real. Although Ciudad Real is a fairly small city, it has its fair share of cafes and bakeries. I´m going to give you a tour of some of my favourites.

La Deliciosa,  located in the Plaza Mayor, or main square, is a cafe and cake shop rolled into one and is one of my favourite places to go for breakfast. I am definitely one of the ¨regulars¨ and even know my name and my order. 

I love the doorstep-sized toast here with butter and jam although they also offer a more Spanish style breakfast with baguette- style bread, olive oil and tomato. In my opinion, it´s also one of the few places where you can get a decent cup of tea (although in any cafe you go to in Ciudad Real, always ask for the milk to be separate, otherwise you get milk with tea rather than tea with milk!) They also serve delicious cakes although I often stick to the toast but can´t resist their Tarta de Santiago (almond cake), when they have it, nor their torrijas although these are not always available. 

La Deliciosa has two seating areas, inside the café and outside on the terrace, weather permitting. The only bad point about this cafe, is that it is often busy, especially at certain times, so finding a seat can sometimes be a bit tricky. 

Pasteleria Mas Cuqui is a fairly new bakery that has opened recently in Ciudad Real. It is a cosy, comfortable bakery and cafe ran by Venezuelans with fresh,homemade food, with one of their specialities being Venezuelan arepas with various fillings and other typical savoury Venezuelan treats such as pan de jamon(ham bread) & tequeños (cheese rolls). 

They sell a variety of cakes, both individual cakes or pieces and whole cakes, cupcakes, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls. They have certain cakes that are always on the menu but each day there are different cakes to try.

 Everything I have tried is delicious and is a reasonable price. Service is very friendly. I have tried Papelón con limon (a sweet lemonade drink) with a small Black Forest cherry cake,which was heavenly..I thoroughly recommend you to try this cake, a Nutella cupcake and an Oreo and passionfruit brigadeiros,which are similar to truffles. The passionfruit brigadeiro was to die for!

Cooking England County by County: Chester: Chester Pudding

 I´d never heard of Chester Pudding, let alone tried it, until I started looking at traditional old British recipes and came across this dessert. It´s a Victorian regional variation of lemon meringue pie so it does not disappoint. The tart lemony curd with a marshmellowy, melt in the mouth meringue topping and lovely, short pastry is a winner.

I had some frozen ready-made shortcrust pastry in my freezer so ended up using that instead of my usual homemade shortcrust pastry and I think it was the only thing that let the pie down.  I may have halved the recipe but I didn´t make any further changes to the recipe. I used the following recipe from the Oakden website. You have to be careful when adding the ground almonds to the meringue as you might lose some of the air and lightness that you´d whipped into the meringue.

I´d 

Cooking England County by County: Cheshire: Cheshire Cheese Soup

 Cheshire is in the north-west of England,very close to my neck of the woods and is known for its cheese, which is a crumbly, mild cheese,similar to mild Cheddar or Lancashire cheese. It also features in many regional recipes,including this one for Cheshire Cheese Soup. If you are unable to buy Cheshire Cheese you could substitute it for a mild Cheddar.

I´m not really that keen on soup but I enjoyed this soup and it is lovely to mop up with a fresh, crispy French baguette...even if it doesn´t look so appetizing in the photo. Perfect for cold, autumn and winter days! I used the following recipe. Enjoy!

Cooking Spain Region by Region: The Balearic Islands: Cocarrois or Spinach Pasties

 

 When you think of the Balearic Islands, you tend to think of beautiful beaches and crystalline waters and you probably aren´t far wrong. The Balearic Islands are formed by Mallorca, Menorca,Ibiza and Formentera. The only island of the Balearic Islands I have been to is Ibiza but I was more into the clubbing scene at that time and typical gastronomy could not have been further from my mind!I don´t recall even seeing these typical spinach pasties, or Cocarrois, let alone trying them. However, I decided to have a go and making them for this month´s Cooking Spain Region by Region and they were definitely worth it.

The pastry was a very short, crumbly pastry made with lard and olive oil, which was new to me and it was filled with spinach, pine nuts, currents and smoky paprika. These could easily be made vegan or vegetarian by using vegetable shortening. I´d definitely make these again even though unfortunately I couldn´t persuade the kids to try them. The recipe is taken and adapted from the book ¨ Las 1000 Mejores Recetas de Cocina¨. I think I halved the recipe which made about 3

  

Cocarrois (serves 4)

 Ingredients:

Pastry:

 400g plain flour

50g lard

50 ml olive oil

40g sugar

50ml water

1 egg

 Filling:

3/4kg fresh spinach

50g currants

40g pine nuts

1tbsp of sweet, smoky paprika

40ml of olive oil

Salt & pepper to season

Method:

1. Mix the egg, lard and olive oil until creamy, then add the sugar and water and mix till combined,add the flour gradually and knead till it has some consistency. Cover and allow to rest for half an hour.

2.Wash the spinach leaves, chop and boil for 10 minutes, then wring as much water out of the spinach as possible.

3. Fry the spinach in a little oil for a few minutes,season with saly and pepper and add the currents, pinenuts and paprika, stir quickly over the heat for a short time.

4. Roll out the pastry..it is quite crumbly so my advice is to roll it out on top of plastic wrap or Clingfilm. Using a small saucer or pizza cutter cut into circles of around 20cm and place filling in the centre of each circle.

5. Double the pastry covering the filling to form a semicircle or pasty shape,sealing the edges of the pasty.

6. Heat the oven to 180/170º C and place ¨Cocarrois¨ or pasties on a greased baking tray and cook for 25 to 30 mins until a pale golden.

7.Serve hot or cold.

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