Jinxed

There's obviously something weird going on with me and technology at the moment. First off, I managed to mist up my camera lens when trying to take a picture of some soup (which was completely tasteless by the way and somehow makes the misted lens situation worse - cos it would have been worth it if the soup tasted great?).

Now my computer has gone kaput.

The extremely helpful people at PC World think it's just the power port but it could be the motherboard... So my laptop has to go off for a proper check-up. Which could take a couple of weeks.

Eurgh. No internet. No email. No blog? Noooooooooooo! The room is starting to spin...

However, it's not all doom and gloom as Mr. B has said I can use his laptop for the duration. What a lovely guy :-) Just hope I don't unwittingly damage this computer with my techno-jinx...

This means I should be able to get round to reading/leaving comments on everyone's blogs as per usual but if I haven't done so recently then you know why!

The icecream man cometh

Just the sheer number of cinnamon-spiked dishes I've posted on this blog probably speaks volumes about how much I love this spice. I will happily make any recipe in which it is the main star or I will sneak in a little extra if it's only meant to have a supporting role. In short, I am a cinnamon fiend.

So when Kieran of Murphy's Icecream put out the call the other week for recipe testers for his upcoming book, well... it was a shoe-in which one I would go for. Cinnamon icecream - oh wow.

Now, I've got to admit, this was a leetle bit of a selfish choice on my part - Mr. B likes cinnamon, he thinks it's, you know, ok and all that. But it's not his favourite. So back I went to Kieran's recipe list to search for something that would preserve marital peace and harmony. And there it was - hot fudge sauce. Mr. B likes to consider himself something of an afficianado when it comes to icecream extras - he has his own special recipe for chocolate sauce, along with the sweetest tooth of anyone I know, so Kieran's recipe would be judged against stringent standards.

The icecream turned out like a dream, as the warm spice of the cinnamon partnered well with the creamy custard base - a real taste of Christmas (you know, when you're still far enough away from Christmas that it still seems exciting). And I have confirmation of that from people who aren't as enamoured of cinnamon as I am - we polished the whole lot off for dessert one evening when we had friends round for dinner, along with this scrumptious apple tart from Smitten Kitchen. Unfortunately, there is no picture of this happy event as I'm still a bit shy about taking food pictures when other people are around. I've got to get over that.

But did the hot fudge sauce meet Mr B's exacting expectations?

And how. He was seriously considering drinking the lot straight from the jug at one point. I think I mentioned that he has a seriously sweet tooth :-) In the end, he showed admirable restraint by simply drowning his icecream in the molten, fudgy gorgeousness.

I'd love to tell you that I've deliberately shot a soft-focus pic here but the truth is I think I screwed up my camera the other day when I leaned in to closely to snap some soup and a bit of steam got into the lens. Now everything looks like I'm applying for a job with the M&S advertising team. For mouthwatering pics of icecream, hot fudge sauce and many other wonderful things (along with the recipes, of course) I'd recommend a trip to Icecream Ireland.

Good luck with the book, Kieran. It's certainly been fun testing the recipes!

Old haunts

Well, I fell off the NaBlaPoMo wagon in spectacular style. Apart from a general tendency towards laziness on my part, I think part of the problem was that posting articles every day on the internet was a lot like my old job... which was posting articles every day on the internet. So, unsuprisingly, blogging became much less fun than usual.

And then I scarpered off to Edinburgh for a long weekend to catch up with all the people I haven't seen since I moved to Ireland in June. Hurray! It was good to see all the familiar faces, catch up on all the gossip and visit old haunts - but I'm glad to be back home as, pathetically, I missed Mr B soooooooooooo much.

All this means that I'm feeling rejuvenated and ready to get back in the kitchen. Normal food-related blogging will resume shortly!

PS That's a picture of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh on a grey and cloudy day (roll on winter). All very moody and atmospheric. Love it.

Lovely, lovely links

I keep meaning to update my blogroll, or maybe set up a completely separate page for all my favourites because that list is getting rather long and not everything is food-related and really, maybe I need separate categories and, ooh, suddenly it's getting complicated...

Whilst I go off and figure out some kind of blog taxonomy for my links, here are a few gems I've stumbled across recently that are either making me chuckle or salivate:

Lunch - two architects with a mission to escape the office and eat as much of New York as possible during their lunch hour. Wish I was there too.

Eggbeater - the rest of us may play at making our masterpieces in the kitchen but Shuna is the real deal - a pastry chef with an overwhelming passion for both her subject and life in general.

Mollie Katzen - the Moosewood founder is online! I found this link through Winedeb (cheers!) and I've been clicking through the recipe archive, noting down many, many things to keep me busy in the kitchen. The dilemna is where to start.

Grandad - possibly the most cantankerous resident of Ireland, Grandad sticks his hobnailed boot into whatever subject is unfortunate to cross his path and gives it a good, hard kicking. Warning: this site contains some, no, a lot of strong language.

Mustaches of the Nineteeth Century - if you're on Blogger then you probably saw this pop up as one of the 'top picks' a few weeks ago. At first, I thought that this would be a subject with limited potential but oh, how wrong I was. Go on, take a peek, you know you want to...

In defense of cheese on toast

I can tell what you're thinking... 'Come on Jen, I know you're trying to find something to blog about every day for NaBloPoMo and all that, but cheese on toast? That smacks of sheer desperation.'

But wait, in my defense, this is lip-smackingly wonderful cheese on toast. Perhaps the best ever. Ever. And when you find out that the recipe comes from the queen of all good eating, Alice Waters, then there really can be no argument.

There's no curiously plastic day-glow orange cheese or slice of cardboard-like bread involved here. Instead, there's tangy, soft goat cheese, blended with garlic and thyme to create... well, something that had me salivating from the minute I read the recipe, let alone when it was under the grill. The smell coming from the cooking mixture had me jumping round the kitchen like a small child, checking every few seconds to see if it was done yet.

Yes, when I finally removed the slices from the grill, I managed to burn my tongue. Greedy guts.

Goat cheese croutons/toasts from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (who cites Alice Waters as the recipe source)

Serves 6

You'll need:

170g soft white goat cheese
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped thyme leaves, plus extra for garnish
Salt and freshly milled pepper
6 large or 12 small baguette slices

1. Smooth the goat cheese with the milk or cream, then stir in the garlic, thyme and a little pepper.

2. Toast the bread slices under the grill until the tops are lightly coloured. Then spread the cheese mixture thickly over the untoasted side and put under the grill again until the cheese goes golden-brown and bubbly on top.

3. Serve with salads, stews, soups...

Cook's notes

This lasted two days for me because I used bigger pieces of bread and I made it the main course of my meal, instead of the appetiser/starter that the recipe would suggest.

As you'd expect, the garlicky taste was stronger after the flavours had a chance to mingle overnight in the fridge. Delicious.

Yesterday, I paired the toasts up with salad, today it made a good sharp foil against a lentil stew from Mollie Katzen's online site.

Cinnamon dreams

Not quite cake, not quite cookie, snickerdoodles fall somewhere inbetween in the baking lexicon. Lightly crisp on the outside, soft and tender-crumbed on the inside, they make another good accompaniment to a mid-morning cup of tea or coffee.

Have I mentioned that they're rolled in cinnamon sugar? And that there's a generous grating of nutmeg in the cake/cookie/whatever-it-is mix?

As a consequence, they smell heavenly when they're baking in the oven. Imagine the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg wafting around the house, lifting the spirits, making everything feel snug and warm on a chilly autumn day. Consider it a form of aromatherapy with edible results.

And I defy anyone to eat just one snickerdoodle alone, particularly when they're still warm from the oven. It's simply not possible. I've already eaten three while typing this up...

Snickerdoodles from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Makes around 21

You'll need:

250g plain flour

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
125g butter, at room temperature
100g plus 2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 180Cgas mark 4 and line or oil two baking trays.

2. Combine the flour, nutmeg, baking powder and salt, and set aside for a moment.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the 100g of sugar until light in texture and pale in colour, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

4. Now stir in the dry ingredients until you have a smooth, coherent mixture.

5. Spoon out the remaining sugar and the cinnamon on to a plate. Then, with your fingers, squidge out pieces of dough and roll into walnut-sized* balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon mixture and arrange on the prepared baking trays, two inches apart.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, by which time they should be turning golden brown. Take out of the oven and leave to rest on the baking trays for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Cook's notes

For a chocolatey variation, replace 25g of the flour with cocoa powder.

Be careful with the baking time on this recipe. Snickerdoodles are supposed to be a teensy bit dry, making them good tea-break dunking material, but it's easy to go too far and dry them out completely.

Nigella suggests they'd be good with spicy poached plums and cream. I'm also thinking pears... Or crumbled over icecream... I wonder if you could adapt it into some kind of cobbler topping... Oh the possibilities!

They don't store well, so they would make a lovely treat to share with work colleagues or friends on the day of baking or within 24 hours at most.

*I don't know what kind of walnuts Nigella is used to but they must be tiny. She suggests that this recipe makes about 32 snickerdoodles, but I only managed to scrape 21 together at a push.

I've eaten another one to see me to the end of these notes. I don't think that Mr. B is going to get a look in.