Umami

The other day we went on an evening Christmas shopping trip in miserable weather so as a treat Bailey suggested we go for a nice casual dinner instead of having to cook. To avoid paying for parking in town, we decided to visit one of our old favourites - Umami on Oxford Road. 

I first started going to the little underground restaurant that is Umami during my PGCE for Friday night post-pub feeds, after the place was discovered by one of my fellow teacher pals. We kept going back because it is a great student haunt that does good quality food and is excellent value for money. I always used to order the Vegetable Pad Thai which, despite being a bit of a boring, safe option, was amazing and definitely the best Pad Thai I've had in Manchester.

Anyway we hadn't been in ages, probably due to me not really spending as much time down Oxford Road way as I used to, so we were very excited, also hungry, so we decided to get starters AND mains!

My starter was an Oriental Vegetable Salad, which was really fresh and healthy - exactly what it said on the tin. I was amazed by the lovely flavours of soy, ginger and rice vinegar in the dressing and the veg were perfectly warm and crunchy. A little bit difficult to eat with chopsticks...

I was still envious of Bailey's TWO starters - one of them, in his defence, being part of the Umami Combo that he ordered. Still, you can't argue with a lovely plate of crispy Vegetable Tempura and another of Vegetarian Gyoza Dumplings. Bailey was really happy with his tempura and said the batter was "the best he has ever had"! Can't beat a good bit of freshly made tempura done properly!

Bailey was a little less impressed with his gyoza as he thought the dough was a little on the soggy side, and not as firm and crisp as other gyoza we've had in the past. However he thought the filling was good.

As tempted as I was to go ahead and order my usual Pad Thai (I was dreaming of those perfect noodles, crispy veggies, crunchy peanuts, subtle hint of lime and lovely chilli flakes) I decided not to be boring and decided to choose something different. After much deliberation I plumped for the Chilli Vegetable Udon. Very nice it was too with a lovely selection of perfectly cooked veggies and a sweet, sticky chilli sauce to go with the soft noodles. However, sometimes the best thing about trying something new is the reminder that the grass is not greener and how good your usual dish is. I have to say I will definitely be boring and sticking to the Pad Thai in future!

Bailey's main was Chicken Ramen which he actually said was very similar to the Atsu-Atsu he'd had a few days earlier at the well-recommended Koya Noodle Bar - but better! The broth was perfectly clear yet full of flavour, the chicken tender and the veggies yummy. He loved it so much he picked up his bowl to drink down all the last drops of broth.

So as usual, Umami did not disappoint and we had a lovely bit of food in a nice atmosphere for cheap as chips. Another thing that really impressed me was the outstanding service and the warm welcome we received. The staff were super attentive - for example, no sooner had I emptied my glass of water, someone would swoop in to fill it up. They also dealt brilliantly with the people sitting on the table next to us, who were a bunch of absolute, for want of a better word, dicks. A fab little restaurant worth checking out.

"Sun-blushed" Olives and Tomatoes with Chilli and Oregano

When I was about 17 or 18 my mum's friend told me about some "cheat's" sun blushed tomatoes you could make yourself by bunging cherry tomatoes in a warm oven overnight. I remember being fascinated by this idea and after that made them quite often to eat with Ryvitas.

I still occasionally pull these bad boys out of the bag as a bit of a yummy and healthy antipasto if we are having people over for Italian nosh but really not as often as I should. They are super yummy and sweet and have never failed to impress our guests.

Imagine my intrigue therefore to spot my lovely friend Hayley chowing down on some delicious "cheat's" sun blushed olives one lunchtime in the staff room. I tasted one (which turned into a few more than one) and they were amaaaaazing. She explained that her Italian future grandmother-in-law always makes them in the oven and I was suddenly hit by a fantastic idea - what about combining these two delicious treats!

I decided to try them out to give out for presents as part of our Christmas food hampers. They were really easy to make seeing as you basically put them in a warm oven and leave them for half a day. They tasted and looked lovely and I can't wait to give them out!

Recipe:
2 large jars of black olives
3 punnets of cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
2 bottles of Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 50 degrees C. Drain the olives and place in a large oven tray. Sprinkle liberally with the chilli flakes and a nice bit of salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place in another large oven tray. Sprinkle with the oregano and some salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.

Place both trays in the oven for around 12 hours. Take them out every couple of hours and jiggle about or stir to make everything "shrivelling" at a similar speed. After the 12 hours, check that all the veg is looking nice and dried but still with a tiny bit of firmness left. 

Mix the olives and tomatoes together in one of the dishes and season to taste.

Transfer the olives and tomatoes to jars before filling with the oil and sealing well. A lovely Christmas treat with a Mediterranean twist - perfect for buffets!

Yule Pear Chocolate Log

Christmas started early in our house this year as we decided to have a little Christmas Film party with our Manchester buddies on the first weekend in December. The plan was to get together, have a few beverages, watch a few Christmas movies and, most important of all, have a bit of Christmas tucker.


We did a few bits and bobs for a buffet which included Brie and Cranberry bites as well as Brussel Sprout and Caerphilly Muffins but this post is about the dessert. Christmas pudding is not loved by all and we already made a Christmas cake for our actual Christmas holidays so what is the third most popular Christmas dessert eh?

Yule Log of course!

I used a recipe by Mary Cadogan from the BBC Food site, I can't say I've heard much about her before or used any of her recipes but this one looked neat and simple and with a little twist could be a bit more indulgent. First of all I made the sponge to be rolled later on. Mistake number one was not having a Swiss roll tin so I had to use a much smaller tin which was okay in the end but meant my sponge was way too fat to roll properly.

The sponge was dead easy to make and even before it went in the oven I knew it was going to be super light. Once you have baked the sponge it is a bit of a rigmaroll sugaring it and then rolling it up but even I managed it. I don't think this is a dessert you can rush though, you have to take your time and definitely allow it time to cool before you do anything with it.

On to the icing and filling which luckily is only one and a half processes as you split the mixture halfway through. Just looking at the ingredients I knew this was going to be tasty but just to add a little bit of an extra dimension to the log I decided that once I had split the misture and made the filling a bit thicker I would also add chocolate chunks and a good few shots of a pear liqueur. I think the pear liqueur really worked but I was not heavy handed enough with the chocolate chunks, next time more chunks!

So once everything is cool and set you can put the different components together. Take your filling and stick it on to the sponge in nice generous portions. At this point you need to start rolling the sponge up and this is where mistake number one came to bite me in the bum.

Because my sponge was so thick when I tried to roll it into a lovely multi layered log it just sort of folded into a sandwich and cracked in one or two places. Panic set in and I didn't know what to do. Realising there was absolutely nothing I could do at this point I soldiered on and started to add the icing to the cake, again I didn't think it was looking very good as the tears in the sponge were ripping even more when I applied icing to them. Somehow though as I added more and more icing it ended up looking more and more log-like. Once I did the diagonal slice and reposition you can see in the pics then added the final icing and a dusting of icing sugar I was really really happy with how it looked.

Everybody did seem to enjoy eating it too. I will definitely try this again and learn from my mistakes, next time invest in a swiss roll tin!

Recipe:

For the sponge:
Butter
5 eggs
140g light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp water
100g self-raising flour
25g cocoa powder
Caster sugar

For the filling and icing:
285ml double cream
550g dark chocolate
35ml pear liqueur
Icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Butter and line a Swiss roll in with baking paper.

Separate the eggs into two large mixing bowls. Add the sugar and water to the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk until light and thick.

Sift in the flour and cocoa and lightly fold.

Beat the egg whites until they are stiff before folding them into the cake mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread to the edges. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until firm. 

Turn the cake out onto a clean sheet of baking paper before leaving to cool. Roll the cake up using the paper to help you, rolling the paper inside the cake.

Pour the cream into a saucepan and heat. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat, then break in 400g of the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Take one half of this chocolate icing from the saucepan and place in a separate bowl and add another 100g of chocolate to this, as well as the pear liqueur. This will be the filling that goes in the inside of the log. What is left in the saucepan will be the icing for the outside of the log. Leave both to cool.

Unroll the cake and chop up the rest of the chocolate into chunks. Spread the filling all over the inside of the log and scatter with the chocolate chunks. Roll the log up again using the paper to help you.

Cut a thick, diagonal slice off one end of the cake. Transfer the large piece of cake to a cake plate. Spread some icing onto the little bit of cake and stick it to the "log" giving the effect of a little "stump". Spread the rest of the icing all over the log, using a palette knife to give it the texture of a log!

Koya Noodle Bar

Last stop on Bailey's Birthday London Eating Adventure: dinner at Koya Noodle Bar in Soho. Expectations were high as Koya had come highly recommended by The Observer who awarded it Best Cheap Eats. And despite it being only 6:30pm when we arrived, the small restaurant was totally packed out and there was quite a large queue of people waiting patiently outside for a table. This to me spoke volumes in a city where people have so much choice.

Despite the queue the staff at Koya obviously had a pretty good system down and it wasn't long before a waitress came outside to make a note the groups that were waiting so she could get tables ready and we were soon shown inside.

We found a super-clean and modern, simple interior that was made cosy and inviting on a cold winter's night by nice mood lighting and plenty of communal seating.

Koya's menu itself was very basic - offering a variety of noodle bowls with different broths and ingredients. For those people after something a bit more exciting, there was also a great selection of dishes available on the specials board. Bailey chose a Helles Beer from there which he loved and said it had a really Christmasy taste. I was feeling like a bit of a stodge monster after all the eating we'd done in the day so went for a nice calming pot of green tea.

I guess given the amount we had both eaten earlier in the day we were both feeling in the mood for something simple and both picked a bowl of Atsu-Atsu - described on the menu as "Hot Udon in Hot Broth". Bailey ordered the Tori Atsu-Atsu and I plumped for the Kizami.

Mine arrived steaming hot - a simple bowl filled with broth, thick noodles, spring onions and crispy fried tofu. I would say this dish was very simple, but still full of fresh and well-prepared ingredients. The tofu was great, I loved the texture of the noodles and the spring onions went really nicely with the perfectly clear broth.

I was quite surprised that the actual broth itself wasn't mega tasty and flavoursome and although I did manage to pep it up a bit with some of the spices they had out on the table, I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed.

Bailey's Atsu-Atsu was quite similar to mine except filled with chicken and some veg bits and bobs.

He loved the ingredients in his dish, particularly the chicken which he described as "high quality, soft and succulent". However Bails agreed with me about the broth lacking a little in flavour and body and also felt like it "wasn't a very hearty meal" and that it didn't satisfy his appetite. Perhaps we should have ordered a few starters or sides!

Overall I would say we were generally impressed with Koya Noodle Bar, even if it didn't blow our socks off as much as we thought it would. There's no denying that it lived up to its reputation as an excellent value (I think we only spent about 20 quid!) "budget" place to eat in London, and it was definitely a lovely place to hang out with friends on a Friday night.

Turrón de Chocolate Crujiente

The other day I was making a quiz on Christmas in Spain for my Year 10s and suddenly remembered how delicious Turrón de Chocolate Crujiente is. It's so chocolatey, thick and crunchy - I remembered that I became a little obsessed with it when I lived in Barcelona and that I'd wanted Bailey to taste it so much that I actually sent him a slab of it through the post which cost me a fortune.

As part of our homemade Christmas gift hampers that we've been making for pressies, we had been trying to think of a sweet or chocolatey treat that we could make as a little extra to go with the other bits and I had a brainwave that some nice Turrón de Chocolate would be perfect. Trawling the Net, I found a Spanish YouTube video showing how to make it but it didn't actually specify any quantities for the ingredients so I had to kind of guess it.

Luckily it turned out great. Super easy to make, super unusual and really tasty! A great Christmas treat!

Recipe:
250g unsalted butter
600g dark chocolate
150g caster sugar
150g Rice Krispies

Begin by preparing the tray and bain-marie you will need. Line an oven tray or dish with foil then greaseproof paper (the reason being - the dude in the YouTube vid points out putting the turrón mix straight onto foil makes it "wrinkly". Which we don't want...) Place a large bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

Break up the butter and place in the bain-marie and melt over a medium heat.

Break up the chocolate and add to the bain-marie. Mix well with the butter and allow to melt, stirring occasionally to help any lumps melt more quickly.

When you have a lovely smooth and shiny chocolatey mix, remove from the heat.

Add the sugar to the chocolate and mix well.

Add the Rice Krispies and mix well.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared oven dish.

Place in the fridge and allow to set - this doesn't take too long but I left mine overnight to be sure. When fully set, remove the whole turrón from the dish by lifting the foil and paper out.

Cut into slabs of whatever shape and size you need then eat! Tastes amazing!