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Jamie Oliver’s Recipeas
When we were visiting Notting Hill this spring, we happened upon Recipeas, one of Jamie Oliver’s kitchen shops. Have you heard of it?
I have nearly a dozen Jamie Oliver cookbooks and am a faithful fan of his TV programs, but hadn’t heard a peep about Recipeas. Taking a walk inside, I was struck by this charming little deli/cafe/cook store that also offers cooking lessons. So many intoxicating aromas! So many wonderful breads, olive oils, wines, cheeses, items perfect for packing into a picnic! Yet it was intimate and cozy, not intimidating or snooty.
I will definitely think of booking some lessons on our next trip over! Some classes center around a specific dish like beef wellington, roast pork belly or Thai green curry, led by cooking pros. Others focus on a technique like bread baking, filleting fish or rolling sushi. It might be the inspiration I need to get back into the kitchen with gusto!
Recipeas, 92-94 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3QB. 0203 375 5398.
A gift for the Marmite lover
I’ve blogged a few times now about my newfound love for Marmite, right?
Well, one of my most excellent birthday gifts last week was a jar of Marmite and The Marmite Cookbook by Paul Hartley.
I had no idea this book existed, but I cannot wait to start cooking with Marmite. Recipes are as varied as Savory Waffles with Pumpkin and Pancetta to Marmite Corn Fritters. Many of the recipes just use a teaspoon of Marmite to elevate an ordinary recipe into something quite extraordinary. A must for the Marmite lover in your life!
America’s ‘Masterchef’ Season 4 premieres
Graham Elliot, Gordon Ramsey and Joe Bastianich are the chefs in Fox’s “Masterchef.”
“Masterchef” Season 4 premiered tonight with a two-hour kickoff. Did you watch?
I DVR’ed it and will check it out this weekend. I haven’t watched any episodes of the American version – only the British version so am interested in the compare and contrast. Based on the clips I’ve seen, the U.S. version already feels more sensational, more “Hell’s Kitchen”-y, than the dignified BBC version.
I find it hard to even think of “Masterchef,” without conjuring up the old British “Masterchef” theme tune!
Banana bread and the Brits
Last week, I blogged about a new banana bread recipe I tried, which got me thinking … do Brits eat banana bread? Did it originate in America? And is this one our American culinary contributions that Brits have embraced like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?
After doing a little research, I found a Guardian article that answered all of my questions and more. It did, in fact, originate stateside.
“Banana bread as we know it doesn’t appear in cookbooks until the 1930s. Food history website foodtimeline.org suggests that although it’s sometimes attributed to thrifty housewives looking to use up overripe fruit, all evidence points to the fact it was developed by banana companies to promote their wares – indeed ‘in the 1950s banana bread was actively promoted in nationally syndicated television cooking shows.’ Jane Grigson writes in her Fruit Book that it appeared in [the U.K.] after the war, when West Indian bananas returned to the shops – presumably once everyone had gorged themselves on the fruit in its natural state, they began to seek other ways to make the most of it.
Also it’s interesting to note that British recipes for banana bread usually includes baking powder, instead of baking soda (the recipe I tried last week was very American and included baking soda), which usually lends to a lighter, fluffier cake.
Banana bread serendipity
This week, I had an excess of slightly over ripe bananas and the desire to do some baking. What to do?
That same day, Ally from A Girl and Her Fork blogged about a recipe for banana bread that she had tried and loved. Simple ingredients, straightforward instructions. Bingo! I was sold. I made it the very next day.
The banana bread was legendary. Super moist, lots of depth of flavor, crispy on the edges, just delicious! If you’re in search for a go-to easy banana bread recipe, here’s the one!
Julia’s Best Banana Bread (Bon Appetit, March 2013)
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar, bananas, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and stir just until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
3. Bake until a knife inserted into the center of bread comes out clean, 60-70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan to release the bread. Turn out onto rack and let cool completely.
Celebrate Pi Day with chicken pie
In honor of Pi Day, I wanted to share with you my favorite fast pie recipe, courtesy of Jamie Oliver’s “Meals in Minutes: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast.”
Ingredients
For chicken pie:
4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
A pat of butter
A bunch of scallions
6 ounces button mushrooms
1 heaping tablespoon all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
2 teaspoons English mustard
1 generous tablespoon heavy cream
1-1/4 cups organic chicken broth
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1/3 of a nutmeg for grating
1 large sheet of all-butter puff pastry
1 egg
Directions
Turn the oven on to 400ºF. Put the chicken breasts on a plastic board and slice into 1/2 inch strips. Put a lug of olive and a pat of butter into the hot large, wide pan. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes or so. Meanwhile, quickly trim the scallions and wash the mushrooms then slice together in a food processor. Add to the pan with 1 heaping tablespoon of flour and stir. Add 2 tablespoons of mustard, a generous tablespoon of heavy cream and 1-1/4 cups chicken broth. Stir well. Pick the thyme leaves and stir into the pan with a few fine gratings of nutmeg and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Leave to simmer.
Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and unroll the sheet of puff pastry. Use a small kitchen knife to lightly crisscross and score it. Take the pan of chicken off the heat. Tip the filling into an ovenproof baking dish slightly smaller than the sheet of pastry (approximately 9×13 inches). Cover the filing with pastry sheet, tucking in at the edges. Quickly beat the egg then brush it over the top of the pie. Put into the oven and cook on the top shelf for around 15 minutes or until golden and gorgeous.
Serves 4.
BTW, this cookbook has a lot of great shortcuts for preparing a full meal (starter, main course and dessert) in under 30 minutes. I’ve timed a few of these meals and it always takes me a while longer than that (I’m a slow chopper!) but turns out beautifully!
Blythe and her blueberry muffins
I realize that Gwyneth Paltrow is not actually British, but she’s British enough (married to a Brit, raising two half-Brit sprogs, speaking in that often strange, Madonna-esque English).
I bought her cookbook “My Father’s Daughter” last year and every once in a while, I will dip into it and have been rather successful. Her father’s pancake recipe is legendary in our house. I like her best stir-fried chicken recipe and her ten-hour chicken recipe. She’s got some great simple pasta dishes. But there’s one recipe I’ve eyed from the start – her mother Blythe Danner’s blueberry muffin recipe – and I finally made it on Saturday.
It’s a basic muffin recipe. You mix dry ingredients in one bowl. Wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix them together and then fold in the blueberries. It was straightforward, except the results were more like a drop scone batter than a cake batter.
And the final results:
Not very pretty, and not like the photos in the book, but it was as she described. Tart and sweet. It tasted wholesome and even a little nutritious. The kids actually ate around the blueberries (which were the tart component) and the cat wouldn’t leave us alone once the muffins came out of the oven. She didn’t eat them but lingered like she had hoped a piece of muffin might be in her future (as it turned out, I did offer her some and she smelled it longingly but didn’t go for it.)
Here’s the recipe:
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 organic large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with papers.
Whisk the butter, eggs and milk together in a bowl. In another bowl whisk together the flour, the 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold in the blueberries. Divide among the muffin cups and sprinkle the muffins with the remaining teaspoon of sugar. Bake until a toothpick tests clean and the muffins are golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Best to eat these warm.
Yield: 1 dozen muffins. Active preparation time: 15 minutes. Total preparation time: 45 minutes.
BRITRISH.COM 