Edinburgh and tarte tatin

A weekend in Edinburgh was one of the first trips I did after I moved to London. I remember quaintly wondering if I needed to take a passport (no) and the one-time novelty of getting different money out of ATMs up there (Scottish pounds look funny).

I've been a few times now and love it every time. A weekend to watch the All Blacks play Scotland in November 2012 was no exception. The Friday night train up from Kings Cross was definitely the most fun I've had on a train, the majority of passengers laden with their green M & S bags filled with train picnic and cheap booze to while away the 4-ish hours to Edinburgh Waverly. The great thing about visiting a place several times is that there isn't much pressure to do touristy stuff on subsequent visits. The first time I went, I spent a Baltic half day exploring the excellent Edinburgh Castle, and another afternoon hauling my hungover self up Arthur's Seat before getting into a serious state of hanger on the way back into town for shandies and haggis pre-train.

Grey day view of the city from a cannon at the Edinburgh Castle

Arthur's Seat

The famous haggis, with neeps, whisky sauce and oat cakes on Rose St.
Delicious! But didn't feel like quite such a good idea on the train back home afterwards.
 

The second visit for the rugby uncovered more delights of this wonderful city, especially the fact that we could drink Moet in a student pub for about £18 a bottle, cheaper than Tesco?! and if we didn't have our own supporter gear from home we could buy it here.

Thumbs up for some cheap posh champagne!

Kilt with your AB jersey?

Murrayfield Stadium.

To recover from the weekend, I cooked dinner for Jacque and I on the Monday night using some delicious old fashioned heirloom veges from the organic shop and café down the road that she was also working at on weekends.

Lemon, thyme, rosemary, honey mustard chicken,
with roast veges and rocket.

Made apple and pear tarte tatin after seeing it on a menu a few nights earlier

The perfect pudding with some clotted cream ice-cream!

How to make the chicken:
Mix up fresh lemon juice (zest the lemon first for added zing), fresh herbs (dry would be ok at a pinch), a dollop of whatever mustard you have to hand, chopped garlic, olive oil and some honey and salt and pepper. You want a thick-ish dressing. Rub all over chicken pieces, leave to marinade if you have the luxury of time. Roast until chicken is cooked. Serve with roasted veges (heirloom carrots, aubergine and sweet potato here), which I would cook in their own dish then pour leftover marinade over the lot once plated.

Tarte tatin (upside down French apple tarte):
1. Cut some pre-rolled puff pastry the same size as a baking dish, or more ideally, use a frying pan that is 100% oven-proof, including the handle. It is a good idea to cut the circle slightly bigger than the pan. Set aside.
2. Peel, core and chop apples and pears - enough to fit a single layer across the frying pan.
3. Melt 100g butter and 100g sugar in the frying pan over a high heat until it bubbles. Add the fruit to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring so neither the caramel nor the fruit burns.
4. At this point, sprinkle in some chopped fresh rosemary (delicious trick ingredient).
5. Cover the fruit and caramel in the pan with the layer of pastry. Squish the overhang of the pastry so that the edges are slightly thicker than the middle, then prick all over with a fork.
6. Put the pan in the oven and bake at 180 for about half an hour until pastry is golden and cooked. Be very careful as the caramel will be hot and may have bubbled above the pastry.
7. USE OVEN MITTS TO REMOVE VERY HOT PAN FROM OVEN. Leave to cool about 10 minutes then very carefully invert onto a serving plate. Serve with cream and icecream.

Savoury Cakes - Rachel Khoo

Whatever about the digital world and the fabulousness of the internet, one of the great bonuses of living in the UK is the affordability of beautiful cookbooks. To celebrate this discovery when I first arrived last year, and jump on the bandwagon of personal-mail-delivered-to-work I ordered Rachel Khoo's 'The Little Paris Kitchen' from Amazon. Somewhat of a sentimental purchase too, as I discovered Rachel in my first couple of weekends in London, watching her BBC season of The Little Paris Kitchen on back to back episodes I when I was too jetlagged and overwhelmed to venture beyond the Holiday Inn Canning Town.

Just checked and you can currently get this online in NZ for between $37-$55NZD

While I have made very few of her recipes so far, this book is a delight to read and devour the photography. Rachel has a great website www.rachelkhoo.com and blog and is a great follow on Instagram (rachelkhooks) as well, inducing not insignificant pangs of I-want-your-life-and-at-the-very-least-your-entire-wardrobe.

Living in France in 2004, I first encountered savoury cakes ('cakes salés'), that featured as an aperitif at drinks parties. Yes, went to quite a few Rotary-related drinks parties. According to Rachel, these cakes now appear frequently as a light lunch menu with a side salad and are great for picnics. A really good use of leftovers too, which is what lead me to having a go.


Page 109: 'Cake au saucisson sec avec pistaches et prunes'

Cured sausage, pistachio and prune cake - customised

250g plain flour
15g baking powder (I used 3 tsp)
150g French sausage or salami (leave out for vege option - I used a combo of olives, goat cheese and chopped fresh seed-free tomato flesh to make up the weight. Mixed cheese-only would be great)
80g pistachios, roughly chopped (I used chopped almonds)
100g prunes, roughly chopped
4 eggs
100ml milk
150ml olive oil
50g plain yogurt (about 1/4 cup)
1 tsp salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 180. Line a medium sized loaf tin.

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, sausage (equivalent), nuts and prunes.
2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs until thick. Gradually whisk in milk, oil, yogurt, then add salt and pepper.
3. Fold the flour mix into the wet mix gradually, taking care not to over-mix.
4. Pour into tin. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave in tin to cool.
5. Serve cold, cut into generous doorstop slices. A wine in hand wouldn't go astray.

Next time - prunes and tomato were a bit of a strange mix which is why I have suggested that all-cheese would be great with the nuts and prunes, if you want to leave out meat.

I am looking forward to the release of Rachel Khoo's next book, in October in the UK. Titled  My Little French Kitchen, it will apparently showcase recipes from outside the confines of her mini Parisian kitchen.



The Whitechapel version