Garlic and rosemary focaccia

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I’m a big fan of homemade bread but in the past I have always played it pretty safe with a simple loaf. However earlier this week I decided to push the boat out and make a rosemary and garlic focaccia to go with a chorizo pasta dinner.

To make the focaccia the ingredients I used/recipe I followed was…

·  2 cups (118 ml) olive oil

·  2 garlic cloves, minced

·  1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

·  1/4 teaspoon black pepper

·  1 cup (237 ml) warm water

·  2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 envelope)

·  1/4 teaspoon honey

·  2 1/2 (350 grams) cups all purpose flour

·  1 teaspoon salt

I first of all combined the oil, rosemary, olives and black pepper into a saucepan and gently warmed it for about five mins and then set aside.

Next I combined the yeast, warm water and honey, mixed that and then left it for five mins until it went slightly foamy. I then added one cup of flour and half of the oil mixture, stirred it a little and then left it for another five mins.

I then added the salt and the rest of the flour, combined it all and then kneaded for about a minute before transferring it to an oiled bowl and left it in a warm place for an hour.

After an hour I transferred the dough to a baking tray, which was lined with a couple of tablespoons of the oil. I prodded it down with my fingers to create dimples and then drizzled the remaining oil over the top of the dough before leaving it for 20 mins to let it rise a little.

Meanwhile I pre-heated the oven to 230 degrees.

After 20 mins I transferred it to the oven to cook for around 15-20 mins and then got it out when slightly golden on top.

A very tasty bread to enjoy hot with dinner, but equally as tasty cold the next day. I shall definitely be making it again but next time I might try it with different flavoured oil, perhaps pesto or sunblushed tomato.

An Indian delight...

I'm back...

After several years of not posting anything I realised how much I love cooking and I am still talking about food to other people and wanted to start sharing it again. And as at the weekend I made a really delicious meal I decided there was no time like the present.

The boyf is a massive fan of Indian food and after a lazy Saturday afternoon on Northcote Road drinking a selection of Belgium beers I decided that I would cook him a posh Indian feast for dinner without an onion bhaji in sight.

For starter I attempted what I dubbed Cauliflower Cheese three ways.

This consisted of sag paneer, pan fried paneer on cauliflower purée and aloo gobi. The sag paneer was a bit of an error to be honest as I was attempting to make a cheesy spinach filo roll but as I turned the pan on and got the filo out I realised I had totally forgotten to defrost it so I instead cooked the spinach and paneer mixture (fresh spinach, chopped paneer, our homemade butter chicken spice mix and salt and pepper) in a buttered pan for five minutes.

For the paneer and purée I cooked a few florets of cauliflower in a pan of salted water before blitzing them up in the food processor with the addition of some plain yoghurt, some ground fenugreek and cumin plus lots of salt and pepper. The cube of paneer was just seasoned and then fried in butter for a couple of minutes on each side.

The third component included boiling chopped jersey royals and then adding chopped cauliflower before frying chopped onions with the cauliflower and potato and then adding grated ginger, curry leaves, black mustard seeds, turmeric, fenugreek, a whole chilli, chilli powder, salt and lemon juice. I left it to fry for five mins and then added about eight chopped baby plum tomatoes and a few splashes of water and left it to simmer.

My attempt at being arty...

For mains was an Indian spiced monkfish with ginger and coriander sweet potato cake, wilted spinach and minted yoghurt.

To make the fish I ground up cinnamon, cloves, cumin, corriander and fennugreek and then rolled the monkfish in the mixture and left it to marinade. Five minutes from the end I panfied the monkfish in lots of butter for three minutes, basting it as I went and then popped it into a pre-heated oven for around another three mins.

To make the sweet potato cakes I boiled some sweet potatoes and then mashed them with grated ginger and chopped corriander, then added flour to make a patty which I then fried. I served the monkfish on top of the sweet potato cake with wilted spinach and a minted yoghurt, made my simply whizzing up some fresh mint with the yoghurt.

It doesnt look overly appealing but tasted so good.

For dessert I made a passionfruit and lemon syllabub, which I cheated and used a recipe from the BBC website. The ingredients for this were...

• * 284 tub whipping cream 
• * 50g caster sugar 
•  * 50ml white wine 
• * zest and juice from ½ lemon 

And according to the BBC you... "Whip the cream and sugar together until soft peaks form. Stir in the wine, most of the lemon zest and the juice. Spoon into glasses or bowls, sprinkle with the remaining zest and serve with almond thins or berries." I sprinkled it with passionfruit and it was delicious.

A very nice meal indeed.