Zürich, 27/1/2011: Home made nutella

This turned out to be completely different, but in some ways, better than the real thing...
On Sundays, for brunch, it's a bit of a Swiss tradition to eat zopf, which is a braid of white bread made with milk and plenty of melted butter instead of water. There's even a business in Zürich made up of people who bake a load of zopfs, in the own kitchens, which are then delivered early on Sunday mornings into people's post boxes.
I made one last Saturday (not for this business), and was on the verge of buying some nutella, when it struck me it's chocolate and hazelnut spread - Anouk's allergic to hazelnuts, so I decided it was the perfect excuse to try to concoct something. Last weekend's attempt was OK, but the mix had a burnt taste (from the nuts I toasted for too long) and went too hard to be spreadable.

Today I toasted almonds and peanuts, then processed them in the liquidiser for about 15mins. It takes this long for the oil to be released from the nuts and for it to become a sticky mass, edging towards a peanut butter-like state. Actually, I had to add a slug of sunflower oil to get it oily enough to be sure the spread wouldn't go too hard. I chucked in some allspice and a pinch of salt, too. Then I melted dark chocolate with some golden syrup and milk, mixed the nuttiness in and put it in an old jam jar in the cupboard. It is lush, and I can't wait to get it on some buttery toast.

Quantities approximately:
40g almonds
40g peanuts
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1/2 tsp allspice (optional - I can't really taste it in the spread)
pinch of salt
80g dark chocolate
2 tsp golden syrup
1 tbsp milk

Zürich, 11/1/11: Fennel, potato and Vacherin tart

A good, filling tart, this. I was inspired at the market, as I often am, this time when I visited the Italian van which stocks lots of goodies like Parma ham, parmesan, finnochiona, poncey balsamic vinegar and the like, as well as some French and Swiss cheeses.
So I bought some deliciously creamy (I think I could even say unctious) Brie de Meaux and then clapped my eyes on the black ash rind of the cheese that ended up in this tart, because Anouk and I couldn't physically eat it unless it was cooked. Afer tasting a morsel of it, I had to buy some, but I knew I would probably end up turning it into a tart, so I bought some fennel, too. The shallots just happened to be in the cupboard at home - onions would be fine, I reckon. The cheese isn't actually Vacherin, but I can't remember its name and I think a Vacherin on the turn would be a great equivalent.

I made a basic shortcrust, just flour, butter and water, and baked it blind while sorting out the filling - boiled some chunkily sliced waxy potatoes and fried a couple of shallots with a touch of nutmeg and a pinch of aniseed before adding two bulbs of fennel, thickly sliced. They need to sauté gently for a while, in plenty of butter. Then I whisked up two eggs, one egg yolk, 250ml sour cream and some black pepper, diced about 100g of the crazy cheese and stirred it into the mix with the fennel. I arranged the spuds in the base nicely, poured the rest in, chucked a few more dice of cheese on top and baked for 40 mins at 180 C.

It was pretty good. :)

By the way, have the rest of you not actually eaten anything in the past week?

M

salsify...

I bought some salsify at the market yesterday, enchanted by the sootiness of its black skin (it is a pure white inside, though), and I have no idea what to do with it. Has anybody cooked with salsify before?
Matt

Birthday supper

Helen caramelised 6 onions for two and a half hours: we all know that you can't hurry onions. Gosh, it was worth it. Lovely and sweet in a tart with goatscheese and flaky pastry. Actually, we just copied the fabulous tart made by Alison (Queen of Tarts!) on Boxing Day - thanks, Alison.

I'm planning the Embassy Book Club supper I'm hosting next Tuesday - it's a toss up between the Swedish lamb pie recipe I found in The Times at Heathrow yesterday and turkey and white bean chili. Can't be red meat and needs to feed a crowd. Any ideas?

2/1/2011, Cold Aston: roast butternut squash and red onion with couscous

Ems roasts the squaash and onion in the aga, and makes the couscous with olive oil, stock, lemon juice and a sprinkle of chilli powder for a little kick. yum.
Meanwhile, Alison and Coco nibble Matt's sourdough and follow it with Clare's apple crumble (interestingly made without cooking the apples first).
YUM!