It’s no secret that I’ve been trying to teach Roger how to
cook. Unfortunately, my success rate isn’t as high as I would have hoped; a
confidence knock has kept him back after a misspell on my account led to him
using a whole bag of flour (how could
he use a kilo of flour?) to try to bring pizza dough back to a knead-able
consistency when too much water was specified in the recipe. One thing I have
learnt is that there is no room for initiative in the novice cook. If a recipe
stated “add poison”, I’m pretty sure Roger would, because the recipe said so. Despite these setbacks,
I still enjoy making Roger watch me cook, even if he doesn’t, in the vain hope
that one day he’ll realise that he can do it too! I know, it won’t ever happen,
but please humour me.
Living on a student budget doesn’t mean you actually have to
eat like one. Recently, all of the newspapers and particularly the radio
(that’s right Radio 4, I’m listening) are obsessed with Jack Monroe. Obviously,
she is a bit of an inspiration, having gone through hard times and actually
used food banks rather than just waffled on about how important they are (and
oh-my-goodness I just googled her and we’re the same age..). Nevertheless, having
read her G2 articles, a lot of her
recipes don’t exactly jump off the page, especially if Felicity Cloake has
something ultra-ritzy with cream and white wine sharing the same page.
Normally the granola bar is seen as the boring cousin of the
flapjack. Dry and often tasteless, I’ll be the first to admit that I’d side
with the flapjack if it was pitted against the granola bar in a fight. This may
have something to do with a lust for golden syrup that’s rarely sated but the
fact that so many granola bars are dry and hard, rather than moist and soft is
always a turn off for me. Last week however, I made the mistake of buying an
unsatisfactory coconut and after having shoved a quarter of it in a spicy
chicken pulao rice dish, I still had three quarters of the soft-fleshy thing
left. Always one to rise to a challenge, I went in search of recipes that could
tempt me and lo, the granola bar won.
I’m sure it has become obvious that I don’t get invited to
many parties. But that’s because University finished and there isn’t anyone
around! That’s my excuse for an early night, anyway. Roger, on the other hand,
actually has friends that he sees and everything and in a moment of madness last
week we invited a few over for some drinks. Essay season has just passed, so it
felt appropriate to push the boat out and celebrate by making some fancy jelly
shots and cookies.
Gyoza dumplings are some of my favourite nibbly things out
there. They cost a bomb to eat in restaurants and let’s face it, the North is
hardly blessed with places to eat them, unless you fancy braving Yo!Sushi and
its rotating belt of dubiously warm plates. However, they cost next to nothing
to make at home; all you need is to source the wrappers from a Chinese
supermarket and you’re set. I made these for our traditional Christmas Eve
buffet, which is a little nibbly things dream, peppered with dozens of amuses
bouches that I spent all day happily preparing.
It’s finally here! A day well spent in the kitchen preparing my favourite meal of the year. Tonight’s selection includes homemade prawn gyoza, parma ham, goat’s cheese and fig bundles, ham cooked in coca-cola with a treacle and brown sugar glaze, balsamic vinaigrette salad, crudités, potato salad and many more! Happy Christmas!
One thing that I love about the patisserie course is learning
new skills. I thought I was pretty clued-up before but there are always things
to learn and a few weeks ago it was puff pastry. Practicing pastry so often
doesn’t come cheap though and using butter actually makes the product unstable,
as it has such a low melting point. Although we were all shocked on our first
day to see Fabrice advocate the use of pastry margarine in lieu of butter, when
it comes to rough puff, I’m now a convert.
.JPG)
