Bagels

I give up on finding real bagels anywhere within reasonable travel from where I live in London. I know there are some Jewish areas that have shops where you can get real bagels but we're talking 3 hours car travel round trip in off-peak hours or more - and forget about public transport, they shut down half the subways and trains here on weekends. Are you kidding?

So I watched Rachel Allen teaching how to make bagels on a cooking show and thought, "I can do that".

Know what? I can and I did. Twice this week already. They're great. Look they are no H&H but they are damn good and easy enough to make. Fresh bagels? Heaven. You can make them, too.

Makes: 8
Prep: 3 to 4 hrs
Bake: 20 min @ 220C (210C Fan)

Ingredients:
450g strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting (This is a high glutin bread flour)
2 tsp Salt
7g fast-acting Yeast (1 packet)
250ml warm water (this is approximate, I needed almost 275ml)
2 tbsp clear Honey
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
3 tbsp honey or molasses or in US - Karo syrup can be used
maize or cornmeal, for sprinkling
1 Egg, beaten with a bit of water
sesame seeds, sea salt poppy seeds, or a savoury topping of your choice (optional)

How-to:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl

2. Measure the water in a measuring jug then stir in the honey and oil. , Add the yeast and mix well. Yeast should start to bubble and turn water cloudy.

3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the liquid in gradually, bringing the dough together with your hands. Dough should be soft and slightly sticky - add slightly more water if the dough feels stiff and dry.

4. Turn the dough out onto a clean, dry and floured work surface. Start kneading the dough, stretching it away with the palm of one hand and folding it back again with the other, for about ten minutes, adding more flour if the dough becomes too sticky. Continue kneading until the dough is firm and elastic. This takes about 10 minutes. Do not try to cheat and cut it short. If you are one of those lucky people with a proper mixer with a dough hook, go for it! Let the machine knead it till it forms a smooth and elastic ball around the hook. (You know best how your machine works.) I did the kneading by hand, the dough shapes up nicely.

5. Shape the dough into a large ball and put into a lightly oiled large bowl and turn in the oil to coat. Cover with cling film or a plastic bag and put in a warm, dry place for 2–3 hours or until the dough is doubled in size.

6. When the dough is nearly ready – doubled in volume – bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the honey or molasses. Cover and turn off the heat.

7. Lightly oil two baking trays and sprinkle with maize or cornmeal. (I confess, I lined the trays with non-stick baking parchment and lightly oiled it. Didn't use cornmeal since none was available here) Remove the dough from the bowl, then punch it down and knead it briefly. Roll it into a rough sausage shape and divide into 7 or 8 equal chunks. As you work with one chunk, keep the others covered with a clean tea towel.

8. Firmly roll out each chunk into a long log, then bring the ends together and seal with a splash of water and squeeze the ends together. Place on the prepared baking trays and repeat with the rest of the dough. You can also do it the traditional way of lightly rolling the dough into a flattened ball, then pushing a finger through it to make the hole. Twirl the bagel around your finger a bit to enlarge the hole as it will shrink when the dough rises.

9. Cover and allow to stand for a further 20 minutes.

10. Preheat the oven to 220C.

11. Bring the saucepan of honey and water back to a gentle simmer. Gently drop each bagel into the water (do this in batches of no more than 2 or three at a time as they swell) and turn over after 1-2 minutes. Simmer for another 1-2 minutes, then remove the bagels from the water, and drain.

12. Place the bagels on the prepared baking trays, spacing them widely apart. Brush the tops with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds, sea salt, poppy seeds or a savoury topping of your choice, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool before serving.

Lime Marmalade

This is a classic "free form" recipe, in other words, something I just whipped up from stuff I had in the house anyway and without bothering to measure or test. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I've tried to remember general measurements but don't worry, it's pretty forgiving.
Another thing is that it's just a small batch - a couple of jars for us and 1 to give away to a friend. If you make this and want to make more to stock up, just double the recipe.

I should warn you that I like a really strong tart lime flavor. This is it in bags.

Ingredients:
13 big juicy limes
5 cups water
1 KG jam sugar - this is a special sugar you can buy in the supermarket that has pectin in it to help fruit jell. It's essential with soft fruits and good with lime because limes have no pits (well, mine didn't) and very thin skins with little pith. It's the pith and pits that release pectin into jams. You must have pectin as that's what makes the marmalade "jell".

You want to use a fairly large/tall saucepan for this because the liquid bubbles up high and FAST when it boils.

1. Slice limes in half, squeeze out all the juices and dump juice into the pan.

2. Slice the leftover peel from about 4 of the limes into very, very thin crosswise strips. Cut the limes halves into quarters to get about the right size for the strips. Six is better but I'm a lazy sod and lime peels are tough and a misery to slice into small thin strips. Dump the strips in the pan with the juice.

3. Now add the 5 cups of water to the pan. I used filtered water because London water is - well it just is.

4. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours, until the peel is very soft

5. Add the jam sugar and stir over low heat until all the sugar is dissolved.

6. Turn up the heat and let it boil rapidly for about 15 min. Watch the pan because you will have to adjust the heat occasionally or stir down the boil if it gets too active and starts to rise too high.

7. The mix needs to reach the "setting point". To test for this, put a small glass or china saucer in the fridge when you start cooking. After the mix has boiled for 15 min, move the pan off the heat, dip in a small spoon and drop a teaspoon of the marmalade onto the saucer. Let it cool a few seconds and then blow on it and touch gently with your fingertip. If the surface wrinkles it is ready. If not, boil for a further 5 minutes. When I made the marmalade today it needed 2 extra min cooking for perfection.

8. Take the pan off the heat, skim off any obvious foam -don't fuss. Let it settle for 15 min and then you can ladle it into jars.

9. You can be fancy and use proper canning jars/jam jars. Or you can be like me and save a few small jars and lids, wash them thoroughly, and reuse them for jam. I used 4 small jars for this batch.

10. We'll assume your jars are clean. Just before you fill them, while the marmalade is settling, rinse the jars and lids with very hot tap water, drain and set upside down on a clean dishtowel.

11. Ladle in the hot marmalade leaving about 1/3 inch clear space at the top. Wipe the jar lip with a damp paper towel and put on the lid. Place filled jar back on the dishtowel to cool. You may have enough to partly fill a 5th jar like I did. This is fine. That jar will be ready to use first.

12. Leave the jars to cool and then store all but one (see- that's what the partial one is for!) in a cool dark cupboard.

13. Put up coffee or tea. Make some toast. Butter toast with unsalted butter. Spread some marmalade on the toast.

14. Sit back, sip your coffee/tea. Eat buttered toast with lime marmalade and smirk at the world knowing you have something utterly delicious that you made by yourself.

Eve's Pudding

Tonight was the debut of Eve's Pudding at our house.

This recipe is easy and delicious, and must be eaten all in one sitting. That's an order. It can be done, really.


Eve's Pudding

Sponge Cake:
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Milk - to reach "right consistency"

3 apples, peeled and cored
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
pinch salt
optional - splash of cognac or calvados
1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 48oz souffle pan or 1 medium pudding basin

First the apples:

1. Slice apples into thin 1/8" slices. Gently toss with 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves.

2. Place all in small saucepan. Toss in the butter and now's the time for that good slug of booze. Splash it in. Also a splash of water to prevent burning.

3. Bring apples to the boil, cover pan, let boil a minute then turn off heat and let apples sit COVERED. Don't touch that lid. You want to let the steam poach those apples a bit.

4. Go have a cup of coffee while the apples cool down a bit - covered.

Note - the apples should be firm sweet apples. If you can get Winesap apples they are quintessential. In the UK, I used Pink Lady - don't even ask.

Now the sponge:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

3. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a mixer until it becomes smooth and pale. Add the eggs, one at a time.

4. Alternately add in the milk and flour mixture. Do not over beat.
- This is tricky here. I suggest you add the flour mix in 1/4 cup increments. After each 1/4 cup of flour goes in, add a little splash of milk to keep the mix from tightening up. The operative word here is LITTLE. The sponge batter should be soft, satiny but thick. If you want a more exact description of how much milk and what the batter should look like - you will have to come and watch me make a pudding. And remember, don't kill the batter by mixinig it to death. Gentle. Gentle. Quick.

Now to assemble:

1. Spoon the apples into the souffle dish/pudding basin. Pour any remaining juices over the apples.

2. Spoon batter over the apples and with a flat spatula, level out the batter to form a flat seal to cover the fruit. Sprinkle the top with sugar.

3. Place on flat tray to protect from spills. Bake 45 minutes.

Serve warm with your choice of custard, whipped cream, cream

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Having dazzled all and sundry with my gorgeous Cranberry & Port Sorbet, there was a bit of a problem. What to make next? It seemed that everyone had an opinion and to complicate the matter, I had about 4 different recipe books to be explored.

But, once we got past the tears and recriminations (it being Christmas after all), we had settled on something everyone could enjoy that was also festive - Cinnamon Ice Cream.

Next issue, how to make the custard base. It seems that every recipe book has at least 2 different recipes for the custard base - none of which agree with each other. The problem, I think, stems from the fact that different people like different things from their ice cream base. Some like it swet, some like it to be a blank palette upon which they can paint with the flavours of their ingredients. Another factor to consider is the consistency that you are looking for which will be dictated by the amount of dairy fat in your ingredients.

In other words, it's an art as well as a science.

::sigh::

In the end I threw caution to the wind and came up with my own recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup single cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
cinnamon sticks

So, I put the milk into a small saucepan, brought it to the boil, then cut the heat and put the cinnamon sticks in to infuse as it cooled. Unfortunately, after much searching through our ridiculously huge amount of spices (and a few muttered imprecations about the perfidy of men), I managed to find some ancient cinnamon sticks. They were by no means at their best but were still within date. I used three 6 inch sticks but if you have some decent fresh sticks, 2 should be fine for this recipe.

While the milk was cooling and the cinnamon infusing, I whipped the eggs and sugar until thick and foamy (the colour will change to a pale creamy yellow).

At thispoint, most recipe books say to bring the milk back up to a boil, then add slowly to the egss, whipping all the way. I think that this is a fine way to make scrambled eggs but not so hot for ice cream.

Instead, I removed the cinnamon sticks from the milk, then slowly added the room temp milk to the egg mixture, whipping constantly. Then I added my cream and gave it another whip.

THEN I returned my mix to the pan and heated it over a low flame, stirring constantly. As it reaches the boiling point the custard will thicken so it will coat the back of a wooden spoon. Then take it off the heat.

Pour the mix into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and pop it into the fridge to cool, then into the ice cream machine.

One surprising thing about this recipe is that it looks just like regular old vanilla ice cream. I can only surmise that commercially available cinnamon ice creams that have flecks in them or are a pale brown are created using either ground cinnamon or food colourings.

Anyway, this recipe creates an incredibly refined and sophisticated ice cream. The only drawback is that this recipe serves 4 genteel guests or 2 gannets. In other words, you may be wise to double the quantities.

Cranberry & Port Sorbet

For Christmas this year I got a beeeauuutiful ice cream machine, the Magimix Gelato Chef 2200 which is awesome as it removes a huge amount of the tedium involved in making tasty frozen treats.

So, as it was Christmas morning, I went straight to work preparing a few festive delights and the very first thing I experimented with was making something fairly safe - a Cranberry & Port sorbet. This is straightforward but one must always keep in mind that when working with alcohol it will have a direct effect on how long it takes for your recipe to freeze.

Right then, ingredients:

9 0z. fresh cranberries
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
5 Tbsp ruby port

OK kids, it really doesn't get much easier than this:

Dump the cranberries and the water in a small sauce pan, bring to the boil, then simmer untill the berries are soft.

Blend the resulting mixture (careful here or you may have a hell of a cleanup job!)

Push the resulting slurry through a fine sieve (nylon if you have one) into a bowl.

Add sugar and port, then stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Pop the bowl into the fridge to cool down for a few hours (at least 2). You can, of course, accelerate this process by seating the bowl within a larger container of ice, but be careful that the melting ice doesn't cause the inner bowl to sink and slop water in!

I then poured the mix into my my new toy, turned it on, and about 30 minutes later had a wonderfully refreshing sorbet. It's not sweet. The sugar is just enough to take the edge off of the bitterness of the cranberries and it made a marvelous palate cleanser.

If you are not blessed with a shit hot ice cream maker, you can still follow this recipe but will have to do all the freezing and churning manually.

New York Cheesecake

I don't use a graham cracker crust in my cheesecakes. I used to live around the corner from the Turf Cheesecake shop, they didn't use the crust and I prefer it that way. You can add one to the baking pan before adding the filling, if you insist.

2-1/2 pounds PHILADELPHIA brand cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1-3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
6 large eggs
optional 3 tablespoons plain flour

Mixer - You really need to use a stand mixer for this - preferably a kitchen-aid type. Needs must, a hand held will do. But you can't make this with a wisk and spoon. Unless you're crazy.
10 in. springform pan
Pre-heat oven to 500 F (yes, really! If your oven doesn't go this high, then the top temp available and you'll have to cross your fingers)

Assemble all ingredients.
Butter bottom and sides of the springform pan. (I prefer unsalted butter)

Cut the cream cheese into small chunks and place the pieces into work bowl of a standing mixer. Beat the cheese on low until smooth, about two or three minutes. It may be easier to beat half the cream cheese first, followed by the second half. Once the cheese is smooth, add the salt and about a third of the sugar. Beat until integrated and scrape down the sides. Add another third of the sugar and continue to mix until the sugar is mixed in. Then add the final third of sugar and mix in. Optionally, three tablespoons of flour can be added with the sugar to help add a bit of stability to the cake. Adding flour will not affect the taste or texture of the cake, but will reduce the likelihood of a cracked cake. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix.


Scrape the sides down and add the heavy cream. The cheese should be much easier to work with at this point.


Add the egg yolks and mix until they are blended in.


Now add three whole eggs and mix until the eggs have been completely mixed into the filling. Scrape down the sides and beat in the final three eggs. Now, pour the filling into the springform pan. A 10-inch pan should fill up to almost its rim with this filling. Lift the pan an inch or two above your counter or cutting board and drop it to bring any bubbles trapped inside to the surface. Place the springform pan onto a sheetpan (for easy handling and safety), and slide into the middle of an oven preheated to 500°F.


After ten minutes, reduce the temperature to 200°F and allow the cheesecake to bake as the oven gradually reduces temperature (do not open the oven door). Bake the cheesecake until the center of the cake registers as 150°F (making sure it does not exceed 160°F), about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Feel free to use an instant read thermometer in the center of the cake - a slightly blemish is worth a perfect cake. Note: When baking the example cheesecake, I kept the cake at 500°F for only five minutes (thinking that the convection oven would keep the temperature higher for longer). Notice that the edges of the cake had begun to brown, but the whole surface of the cake is still a light shade. This cake resulted in the texture and taste of a New York style cheesecake, but failed to achieve the look. Remember to keep baking at 500°F for the full ten minutes.

The cake will not fully set until fully chilled, but the cooling process should be gradual. First remove the cake from the oven and onto a cooling rack. After about ten minutes, run a paring knife along the rim of the cake to release it from the walls of the pan. This will reduce the risk of cracking as the cake contracts and tries to pull away from the walls of the pan.

After about two to three hours of cooling, wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap and place the cake into the refrigerator to chill for at least five hours. remove the springform sides and serve.

If you must, you can serve this topped with a fruit sauce - I suggest keep it simple. Strawberries or blueberries briefly cooked with a bit of sugar and cornstarch. You can splash in some liquer to be fancy. Cool and spoon over the cake or spoon over individual serving slices of cake.

Kiwi Sorbet

After seeing Andrew's fabulously illustrated recipes, I vowed to myself that I, too would start photographing recipes step by step.
However, this recipe for Kiwi Sorbet is an old family favorite and I'm not making it at the moment, just sharing it. (I'll photograph the English dessert I'm making this afternoon and post it later.)

8 kiwis
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 - 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Step 1. Combine water and sugar. Heat in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Cool the syrup You can do this the night before or early in the morning, whatever is easiest for you. It is called a "simple syrup" and is used in many recipes - basically 1:1 sugar & water.

Step 2. Peel kiwis. Puree in a food processor.

Step 3. Add simple syrup and lemon juice to the processor. Give it a pulse or two to mix well.

At this stage you are ready to start the freezing process.
Option 1 - If you are one of those priviledged people with a ice cream machine:
Pour the mixture into ice cream maker and freeze 15 to 20 minutes.

If you are one of the Rest Of Us:
Option 2 - Pour into container, cover, and place mixture in the freezer.
When it is semi-solid, mash it up with a fork and refreeze again. (this may only take 2 hours depending on your freezer)
When almost frozen, place in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
Cover and refreeze until serving time.

NOTE: Can be prepared 2 to 3 days in advance. Cover and keep frozen.