One for the Vegans

One of the things I love most about being a meat eater is a good burger. Granted, I'm pretty picky about my burgers now, especially when eating out. But when people get it right, there's nothing better. This is why I sometimes feel a bit sorry for vegetarians and vegans. One of my closest friends is a vegan, and trying to find something for him to eat when we go out always proves to be a bit of a challenge. If it's a vegetarian meal, people tend to slap a load of cheese on it. So I found this recipe by Healthy Happy Life - a vegan food blog by Kathy Patalsky. 

Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Avocado. 

To accompany these, because Rob can't stand too much healthiness in one go, we had shoestring onion rings that were to die for. 

Find the recipe here: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/02/easy-sweet-potato-veggie-burgers-with.html

Go out and try a delicious vegan burger! It was nearly as good as a normal one. Nearly.

Little Pick Me Ups

I thought that I would share a few of the food related things that have made me smile this week. 

This is the first one. It's a cookie sandwich. I spotted these whilst wandering around Camden Market and I couldn't leave until I'd nabbed one. It's from 'Cookies and Scream', a vegan and gluten free baketastic stall. I was extremely happy that I'd bought this. Two incredibly delicious and meaty cookies and a smooth, rich buttercream gluing them together. I could barely get my mouth around it, but it was so good.

Thursday morning I was having a quick bit of breakfast and 4 cups of tea in 'Caravan', when I spotted Thomasina Miers, the restaurateur, chef and host of 'Mexican Food Made Easy'. I am severely coveting her Mexican book and spotting her just a few tables across from me made my whole day a lot brighter, and I was a whole lot giddier. Alongside this, Caravan's crumpets were so incredibly buttery that I felt very naughty indeed.

Rob's Chilli Chicken Stir Fry. I am so chuffed that I bagged myself a man that can cook. I was having a bit of a poorly, yucky day and Rob's cure is to sweat it out. With lots of chilli, ginger and garlic. This dish will always hold a special place in my heart, as it features in one of our 'falling in love' events. I demanded cheekily that he cook me dinner, and this is what I got. Om nom.

There's nothing like a special afternoon tea. Especially with your best friend. Last week, my best girlie friend Celine came to visit... so we did what girls do best, browsed through Selfridges wishing we were rich and indulged in a delicate tea time. We ventured to 'Drink, Shop, Do', somewhere I had been anxious to try for a while. For just over a tenner each, we had a pot of tea (or a milkshake in Celine's case), a selection of cute little sarnies (salmon and cream cheese, cheese and pickle, ham and mustard and cucumber), a selection of decadent looking cakes (brownies, lemon slices and macaroons) and topped off with pick and mix. We didn't finish most of the sweets, but foraged them away into one of our bags for later nibbling. We then went on to a fun fair... a warning to others - do not eat a delicious, rich afternoon tea and then go on 7 extreme fairground rides. It will not end well.

Beer Braised Pork Knuckles with Garlic and Caraway

What is a pork knuckle? I know what you're thinking... it's not that. It's a genuine cut of meat.

Voila

Pork knuckles can also be called Ham Hocks, which more people may be familiar with. It's a cut of meat that I found notoriously hard to track down. Of course, my local supermarket doesn't stock it... that would actually be useful. Then after several butcher trips, I struck gold. This beauty fed three of us (with healthy appetites) easily with enough left overs for tomorrows packed lunch. Getting hold of one of these was inspired by a recipe in 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson - Beer Braised Pork Knuckles with Garlic, Caraway, Apples and Potatoes.

This is a cheap cut of meat and would make a great family Sunday lunch or any day you fancy something a little bit indulgent and comforting. 

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsps caraway seeds

- 2 garlic cloves

- 1 large or 2 small pork knuckles

- 2 onions

- 2 eating apples, cored and quartered - I used Granny Smiths

- Enough potatoes to feed your crowd, cut into wedges

- 1 500ml bottle of good amber or dark ale - I used Fullers Honeydew Ale for a touch of sweetness

- 2 cupes of boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the salt and caraway seeds into a bowl with the garlic (minced or grated) and combine. Add the pork knuckles and rub them well with the caraway mixture. Spend time giving it a good massage and make sure the mixture gets into the scores in your rind.
2. Peel the onions and slice them into rounds, then add them to the roasting tin so that they make a layer for the pork knuckle. Put the pork knuckle onto the onions and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Get your tin out of the oven and arrange the apples and potatoes around the knuckle. Now here, I realised that I was using the wrong kind of tin so please make sure you are using a deep roasting dish (something missing from my culinary equipment). I had to make do with a casserole dish and the crackling did suffer.
4. Pour half of the beer over the knuckle so that it is absorbed as it pours into the tin. Put it back into the oven at 325 degrees F and roast for 2 hours.
5. Turn up the oven to 425 degrees F, and baste the hocks with the remaining beer. Roast for 30 more minutes.
6. Once the outside is crispy and the potatoes and apples are nicely cooked, remove your tin and transfer the apples and potatoes to a warmed serving dish. Lift the knuckle onto a carving board and leave the onion and juices in the tin.
7. Put the tin on the stove over a medium heat and add 2 cups of boiling water, stirring to deglaze the pan and to make a gravy. I chose to add a 25ml shot of whisky to our gravy for a boozy compliment to the apples. Transfer the gravy to a gravy boat or jug.
8. Take off the crackling and break it into pieces (or just eat them...) and serve with your other parts.
9. Pull or carve the meat and serve it with the crackling, apples, potatoes and gravy. Can be served with a strong, German mustard.

Tasty Buns

There's nothing better than a sweet, sticky bun from the bakers. It's something I'm sure everyone must feel some sort of nostalgia about... even just the smell that emanates from a bakery full of incredible treats. One evening after work I was desperate for something sweet and I saw these adorable Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies on Pinterest (my new favourite obsession). As good as these looked, I was after something a little more substantial... something a little more melt in the mouth. 

Here is the outcome.

Cinnamon Buns

Ingredients:

For the buns:

• 500ml milk
• 150g butter 
• 800g strong plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g fast action dried yeast
• 100g golden caster sugar
• Brown sugar for sprinkling

For the filling:

• 75g butter
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 75g golden caster sugar

For the glaze:

• Icing Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon
• Water

Here's what you need to do:

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7 or 200 degrees.
2. Put 25g of the butter and the milk into a jug and pop it in the microwave. Heat in 30 degree intervals until the butter has melted and the milk has warmed. Set this to one side.
3. In a bowl, put your flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Give it a quick stir to combine everything. 
4. Add the milk/butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix in with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form.
5. At this point, I found it easiest to get my hands in and form the mixture into a better dough. But prepared to get a little messy.
6. Now you need to knead (get it?) the dough for a good 10 minutes. Stretch it, punch it, squish it, do whatever you need to do to get rid of all of your stress. At the end it needs to be smooth and luscious.
7. Cover the dough and put it to one side.
8. Now you need to make the filling. Melt your butter a little bit and combine it with the other ingredients so it makes a gorgeous paste.
9. Get a big sheet of baking paper and sprinkle it with flour. Now roll your dough out to cover the baking sheet. If you've done it right, the dough should be very stretchy.
10. Now spread the filling all over the dough. Again, I found it easier (and more fun) to use my hands to ensure that the dough was covered properly (and you get to lick your hands afterwards).
11. Now if you pull the baking paper up on one end, whilst tucking the dough round a little bit, as you pull the dough should roll and form a giant swiss roll shape.
12. Prep a cupcake or muffin tin by placing little cake cases into each of your muffiny things. 
13. Use a very sharp knife to slice thin portions of dough from your swiss roll. Sometimes the whirl shape doesn't hold properly, so just use your creativity to twist it a bit until it forms a cool shape.
14. Place each whirl into a case and sprinkle over a little brown sugar.
15. Bake in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown.
16. Leave to cool.
17. Make the glaze by combining the icing sugar and cinnamon and then add water until you've got a good, loose consistency.
18. Drizzle your glaze over the buns and enjoy!