Blog

• 19th January 2013

  Bread & Soup & Snow - Oh!

  I promised to write this before the end of the day so I better get a move on since it's 11.25pm. Too bad it has to be typed before anyone can read and make sense of my scribbles - yeah I haven't benefitted from the advancement of technology - but this is not about my classic whinge. This piece is about bread, soup and snow!

  It was so pretty outside in West London on Friday that I thought I'd make some white bread to go with a hearty pot of soup, to warm me up in this weather. I had it all planned out. Pick up some butternut squash and carrots on Saturday to make soup. Eat bread and soup. Genius.

  Alas that did not happen. I made the most delicious white bread that was nearly completely devoured by my partner and I, with butter and the rest of the Hungarian red wine a friend bought me - thanks! High society I tell you - bread and wine. Of course what I'm not telling is that I had a good spread of jam on a slice or two, but lets stick with the official bread and wine line.

  11.34pm, I'm doing write up in good time. I have sufficient time to reflect on my achievements this weekend. Trip to supermarket today through the snow and in high spirits, tick. Carrot cake with best ever ingredients purchased on a snowy day, tick. Bread and soup, partial tick for bread, write up for sweet-demanding-content-manager, tick. Just like that I feel this sense of accomplishment. The world is mine! Must have bread and soup while looking out of my window onto the snow covered streets of Highbury - hope it snows a couple more days!

• 14th December 2012

  Panettones for Christmas

  It's Christmas! Yippee

  

  It's my favourite time of the year because I have an excuse to use all the fragrant spices and herbs in my delicious breads, pastries and yum food – well not that I needed an excuse but, oh well!

  So I've got large eggs, wonderful cinnamon, the best vanilla that crossed the channel, Brandy that even the French would envy and voilà 'Panettoni da Inghilterra!'. Yes, I declare these the best British Panettones – Italians have nothing on us.

  Word of caution, these are rich and decadent. If you get the post Christmas guilt, I recommend you eat only three of these daily. Otherwise go wild – it's Christmas! This season only comes once a year.

  I seriously hope you enjoy eating these as much as I have enjoyed making and "tasting" them.

• 03rd December 2012

  Summer Special

  Summer '12 – hide now Bryan Adams, it gets even better from here.

  

  Summer '12. The Summer of the flat breads. Flour, water, spice, herbs and cheese have never tasted so good. These flat breads were crafted for 12 hours and cooked to perfection and everyone loved them. The most popular of them was the Chilli Cheese and Garlic flat bread and they were delicious.

  My favourite was was Coriander and Caramelised Onions. I like the contrast, sweet onion, subtle burst of coriander – aah.

  I remember Michelle telling me she was a "lazy eater" when I made the first batch for sale. She likes food to melt in her mouth, she said. So I made the next batch with this in mind and she loved it. Its made to be soft, teary, for sharing and caring – yes I can be cheesy but I'm also cheery. I promise that's the last one for this section – I just had to get it out of my system.

  Anyway, come Summer '13, I can't quite decide what to unleash on you wonderful people but suppose I have a few months yet of baking research. Whatever I decide I bet it'll be delish. If you have any ideas, drop me a line from my contact page.

  Happy New Year all, hopefully we rock Summer '13.