I’ve been baking brownies for a really long time and each time I’ve always used a different recipe just because I’ve never really found a recipe that I absolutely loved. Until now that is, this recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson although a slight alteration of using 4 eggs rather than her 6 eggs. None the less these brownies are incredibly fudgey and intense, its so good that I bake them for my coffee shop!.

Enjoy the recipe, give me your feedback if you’ve tried it out. Pictures to follow.

 

INGREDIENTS

Filed under: Recipe

Sticky Pecan Cinnamon Buns
(Recipe adapted from Will Cook For Friends  who adapted their dough recipe from Noshings lol)

The Dough:

4 large eggs.
2 TBSP white sugar
2 TBSP brown sugar*
6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
4 TBSP cream cheese, softened
6 oz. (3/4 cup) buttermilk, warm (115f.)
2 1/4 tsp. (1 packet) instant dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, separated
1 1/4 tsp. sea salt

The Filling:

1/4 cup (half stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed*
1 1/2 TBSP cinnamon
Optional: 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

The Goo:

1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed*
1/4 cup honey
2 TBSP brown rice syrup (or corn syrup)
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (or walnuts)

*I used dark brown sugar throughout this recipe, but feel free to use light brown for any or all of it.

Method:

The Dough
In a bowl, warm the buttermilk. Not hot or boiling, just warm. Stir in the white sugar and yeast, and set aside 5-10 minutes to let the yeast come alive.
In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese, egg/yolks, and brown sugar.
While mixing, add the buttermilk mixture to the butter.
Add in 2 cups of the flour and all of the salt. Beat until thoroughly combined, then remove the beaters and sprinkle the remaining 1.5 cups of flour over the dough. Begin working the dough with your hands (or switch to the dough hook on your stand mixer), kneading until all of the flour is incorporated. The dough will be extremely soft and supple at first, and will get increasingly more firm as you go.
Once all of the flour is off the sides of the bowl, turn the dough out onto your counter. If it’s too wet to work with at this point, add more flour one TBSP at a time – but don’t add more than two or three TBSP in total. The dough should be very soft and tender, not dry.
Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes, then shape into a ball and set in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours, or until doubled in size.
At this point the dough can be used immediately, or stored in the fridge for overnight or up to a day or two. The longer the dough rests, the more flavorful it will be.
When you’re ready to make the rolls, if the dough has been chilled, let it warm up at room temperature for 30-40 minutes before using.

The Filling
With a fork, mash together the butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg if using. Set aside along with the brown sugar.

The Goo
In a pot on the stove, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, and syrup. Bring to a bubble over medium heat, stirring frequently, until all of the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, stir in the cinnamon and vanilla, and pour into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over the top, and set aside.

Goo Alternative - Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

Ingredients:

Directions:

Assembly
Gently sink your fist into the dough to ‘punch’ it down, releasing some of the trapped gasses. Pull it out of the bowl and onto a cutting board or counter top – the dough will be moist, but should not require any extra flour.
With your palms and finger tips, press and stretch the dough to about a 12×18 inch rectangle. You could use a rolling pin if you’d like, but the dough should be soft enough to work by hand, and the warmth will help the dough to relax.
Once you’ve got a big rectangle, spread the softened butter/cinnamon mixture evenly over the surface. A flexible rubber spatula helps. Take the filling right up to the edges, then spread the  brown sugar over top.

Preheat the oven to 176C.
Place the buns onto the middle rack, and put a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any drips.
Bake 12-15 minutes, then rotate the baking dish and cover the buns loosely with aluminum foil. This is very important to keep them from getting to brown/burnt on top. Continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edges. Wait about 5-10 minutes for the sauce to cool down and stop bubbling, then turn the dish over onto a large platter or baking sheet and marvel at the wondrous mess before you. Be sure not to let the buns cool completely before removing them from the pan, lest the goo become, well… glue.

Filed under: Recipe

Making a roast tenderloin of beef using Marcias’ Kitchen incredibly easy  recipe.

 

1 whole beef tenderloin, trimmed of fat

1/2 cup olive oil

1 T balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

several sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2-3 cloves of garlic- mashed- you don’t have to peel

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

2 T unsalted butter- room temp

Combine the olive oil, vinegar,parsley,thyme, bay leaf, and garlic in a glass dish large enough to hold the beef- with some space around the roast. Rub the beef all over with the mixture and marinate for at least an hour- if longer than an hour refrigerate it. (Remember to remove it from the fridge about an hour before roasting)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove the meat from the marinade and pat dry. Place it in a shallow roasting pan and rub the butter all over- top, bottom and sides.

Roast for 20 minutes. Check with a meat thermometer- in at least 2 places- when it’s 120 degrees it’s medium rare. The temp goes up fast so if you need to return it to the oven check every few minutes- this is one expensive cut of meat that you don’t want to over-cook.

Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing into thick- about 1/2” slices- serve with the sauce of your choice. I like either bearnaise or bordelaise sauce.

Tags: Beef, recipe, Recipe Box
Filed under: Food, Recipe

These are a collection of recipes that I am hoping to try out soon.

Beef.

Braised Brisket

Kansas Beef Brisket

Easy Roast Beef

Steak & Mushroom pot pie

Chili Con Carne

Roast Tenderloin of Beef my attempt on this recipe.

Chicken.

Chicken pot pie with cheesey mash topping

Baked chicken drumsticks with honey & soy glaze

Spicy Thai Drumsticks

Extra-Crispy Spicy Fried Chicken with “Delta” Sauce

Chicken Tikka Masala

Honey BBQ Chicken Wings

Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken

Stickey Chinese Chicken Wings

Chinese chicken & potato stew

Soy sauce chicken

Chinese style roast chicken

Buttermilk fried chicken

Southern fried chicken

Cajun chicken pasta

Honey hot chicken wings

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Tikka Kebabs

Crock pot chicken Tacos

Pasta.

giada’s quick bolognese

Pasta Bolognese

Creamy bacon carbonara

Brown Butter Parmesan chicken Linguine

Pasta & Meatballs

Pizza.

Mozzarella Pizza Bites

Stromboli

Pizza Sauce

Pizza Dough

Semonlina Pizza dough

Deep dish Pizza 1

Deep dish pizza 2

Olive & Ricotta Deep Dish Pizza

Pork.

Cantonese Char sui

Pecking Spare Ribs

Sweet & Sour Pork

Tonkatsu Pork Chops

coca-cola Ribs

Vietnamese sweet and sour ribs

Chinese BBQ Ribs

Vietnamese Com Tam Suon Bi Cha

Pork chop with mushroom, dill & sour cream sauce.

Carnitas Shredded Pork – Crock Pot

Chilli lime grilled pork chops

 

Fish

Grilled Salmon

Salmon Teriyaki

SALMON TAGLIATELLE

TERIYAKI SALMON WITH STIR-FRIED NOODLES

 

Seafood.

Fried Shrimp Recipe

Lobster, potato & sweetcorn

 

Tofu.

Crispy Salt & Pepper Tofu

 

Soup Noodles.

Soba Soup Noodles.

Won Ton Soup Noodles.

Bun Bo Hue

Sides.

Appetizers.

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Sweets.

Fresh mango pudding

Logan, lotus seed, lily bulbs & wolf-berries tong sui

Sticky pecan cinnamon buns

Honey Kasutera

Meyer Lemon Mini Muffins

Raisin Scones My attempt on this recipe here –> Attempt No.1 to bake Sultana Scones.

Raspberry & white chocolate scones

strawberry and sour cream scones

Red velvet cupcake 1

Red velvet cupcakes 2

Red velvet cupcakes 3

Red Velvet cupcake 4

Red Velvet Cupcake 5

Red Velvet Cupcake 6

Strawberry jam biscuits

Chocolate Ganache & Strawberry Tart

Oatmeal & Raisin Cookie

No bake mango cheesecake

Easy lemon shortbread cookies

Vanilla Almond shortbread cookies

 

 

 

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Tags: Beef, Chicken, fish, noodles, pasta, pork
Filed under: Food, Recipe

“The scone is a small British quick bread, traditionally hailing from both Scotland and the South West England. They are usually made of wheat, barleyor oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent. The scone is a basic component of the cream tea or Devonshire tea.”

I’ve always enjoyed scones particularly on a nice sunny day sitting in a boutique cafe or garden, but I don’t like any old scone only the home baked ones will do since the supermarket scone tend to give off this chalky after taste. To me a scone is a quintessential British treat slathered with clotted cream and jam paired with Earl Grey or Breakfast Tea. mmmmmm……. With all this free time until the baby is due I have a plan to find the perfect recipe and concoct the perfect scone.

 

Ready to cut out the scones.

I tried some with ridges on the edge and smooth round ones.

Just baked.

A thick layer of clotted cream and french strawberry jam!

Below is my first attempt at making the classic Sultana Scone.

Adapted from Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup milk (I ended up only needing 1/3 of milk)
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Sun-Maid Natural Raisins
1 beaten egg yolk (for egg wash)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F (204 C). Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs and then follow by the egg and vanilla. Add in the milk slowly. If the dough becomes too sticky, stop adding the milk, instead add a little more flour to form the dough. Stir until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add in the raisins.

Roll out the dough on floured surface to 3/4-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the scones. Gather the scraps; reroll and cut out additional scones. Place the scones on prepared baking sheets, spacing apart.

Brush egg yolk over the tops of the scones. Bake scones until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Serve warm.

Cook’s Note:

If the dough is too sticky, add more flour to the dough.

Filed under: Food, Recipe

A Triple Roast eaten with rice or noodles is a classic Hong Kong dish available in most cantonese cafes and restaurants. It consists of 3 types of meat.. although you can opt for a single roast meat, 2 roast, 3 roast and even a 4 roast and the meats commonly available are: crispy belly pork, roast duck, soya chicken, plain chicken or char sui.

Ken Ho situated in the chinese quarter in Birmingham is probably the only eatery that I would go to for a Triple Roast Rice or for some Duck Ho Fun Soup noodles. This is mainly because Birmingham doesn’t offer much stiff competition for good roast meats. Even though every cafe and restaurant offers it, it does not necessarily mean that they are good. Most places serve their ducks way too fatty with fat oil drowning your rice and another problem is that I find a lot of cafes serve their chicken way undercooked…. you can see bright red blood on the chopped part of the bones and the meat surrounding the bones sometimes look raw and that’s definitely a health & hygiene issue. One last problem about cafes in Birmingham is their hygiene, go to Peach Garden in china town to see what I mean and even though their roast meats fly out like hot cakes I find them the worst of all places to eat from. They put a box of uncooked veg right outside the staff & customer toilet…. on the greasy dirty floor… uncovered… nice. Their meats are drenched in oil and the staff’s hygiene is more than questionable.

My Triple Roast Rice with roast duck,crispy belly pork & soya chicken.

Anyhoo, Ken Ho offers a much cleaner & friendlier environment. Their roast duck tends to be more lean with a nice crisp skin far from being soggy & drenched in oil. The chicken is usually cooked… not thoroughly though and I did have times when the chicken was undercooked. The skin on the belly pork is always crispy but can sometimes be a little too fatty but hey my other half loves that. The only thing about Ken Ho though is that they can be inconsistent (actually every chinese restaurant i’ve ever been to in Birmingham is rarely consistent) one day I will get nicely cooked soft fresh rice and well seasoned meats and another day I could get old rice re-steamed (quite common with chinese eateries) with my roast meat over seasoned with salt.

Prawn Won Ton soup noodles.

I tend to order Duck ho fun soup noodles here because I find their soup base not heavily seasoned with msg and offer the most natural tasting soup base. Oh and the portions are huge too costing between £5.50-8 a dish.

Even though Ken Ho’s roast meat isn’t on par with roasts served in Hong Kong.. or even London… they are in my opinion one of the better ones to go to in Birmingham.

Address: 41-43 Hurst Street  Birmingham, UK B5 4BJ

Telephone: 0121 622 2287

Filed under: Birmingham, Dining Out, Food

Since becoming pregnant breakfast has become my favourite meal of the day, I actually look forward to eating breakfast and work myself up an appetite as I lay in bed the night before.

On a spur of a moment my partner asked if I wanted to visit London for the day so I jumped onto Hawksmoor’s website to try my luck for any available reservations. ONE table for 2 remaining, it was meant to be!

Arriving at Hawskmoor I had already decided that we would order the breakfast for 2 but that didn’t stop me from taking a peak at the rest of their menu.

I ended up feeling torn between the Hawksmoor breakfast and the Sunday Roast, everyone around me was eating the roast and it looked and smelt divine. What stopped me from ordering the roast was that the beef is served pink and being preggers…. everything has to be cooked well done *sniffles* So i’ll definitely be back for the roast after I give birth.

Home-made lemonade & Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.

The breakfast. As you can see there is a well cooked egg on the plate, all I asked our waitress was… “Does the breakfast come with 1 or 2 eggs?” and she replied it comes with 2, would you like well cooked?. wow… she offered to cook my egg well done before I could even ask, now that’s attentive service. I usually feel awkward when dining out asking for food to be well cooked and then having to explain I really do need it well cooked because i’m pregnant, whenever I ask for it well cooked and I don’t state i’m pregnant i’m served undercooked food. I don’t want the staff & kitchen to bitch that i’m being fussy by sending it back it’s because i’m doing it for the safety of my unborn baby. The end, rant over now lets get back to the food. : )

A beast of a bacon pork chop, this was the best bacon pork chop I have ever eaten to the point that I  didn’t want to share it with my other half.

mmmmmmmm just looking at this picture makes my mouth salivate!

I wish I had room to fit in a dessert, I would’ve ordered the Peanut Butter Shortbread with Salted Caramel Ice Cream… now that sounds divine.

I had such a great meal here, the staff were attentive, it was a busy Sunday afternoon, the vibe was buzzing and their breakfast really is the King of all Breakfasts. I can’t wait to go back!

A luxehunter Gem!

What the people on TripAdvisor are saying.

Details:

Address: 157 Commercial St., London, England

Telephone: 020 7426 4850      

Website: www.thehawksmoor.co.uk/locations/spitalfields

Filed under: Dining Out, Food, London, Luxehunter Gems

Last week my partner & I decided to try out Nicholsons in Portsmouth, being described as the “best tapas in Portsmouth” and with a craving for tapas it made perfect sense to come here for lunch. We arrived about 4.15pm (they open at 4pm) and already had a couple seated inside, the lady who seated and served us was ever so friendly and made the whole dining experience that much more enjoyable.

Now if you visit Nicholsons before 6.30pm they have an offer of 5 tapas for the price of 4, so we read through their Menu and picked the following dishes.

Basket of bread – When they served us the bread I was a slightly surprised that they charged an extra 60p for the balsamic even though it seemed like a drop of it compared to the rest of the olive oil so we ended up with lots of olive oil left over and no balsamic vinegar, definitely not enough balsamic for 2 people to share but hey-hoo this didn’t affect my dining experience.

Patatas Alioli - Fried cubes of potatoes with garlic mayonnaise. I love patatas with alioli.. its not hard to get wrong as its simply fried cubes of potatoes slathered in garlic mayo.

Albondigas - Pork and beef meatballs with garlic, nutmeg and parsley cooked in a rich tomato sofrito. I liked these meatballs…. it didn’t blow me away but I didn’t dislike it either, we still finished it so that’s saying something.

Alitas de Pollo - Chicken Wings (7 pieces min) roasted cooked in a delicious barbecue sauce. I personally didn’t think these chicken wings were anything special… it tasted like the wings were cooked in a generic BBQ sauce, no  intense flavour like it was in a special marinade I was rather disappointed.  

 Champinones al Ajillo - Mushrooms cooked in olive oil, white wine, garlic and chilli. I didn’t like this dish only because this tasted slightly off, I even asked my partner maybe something was off but what could be off in this dish there’s only mushrooms, olive oil, white wine, garlic & chilli which one of these could be the culprit? Maybe an ingredient wasn’t off but it gave the dish that sour taste… unless it was meant to give that taste? I have no idea but whatever it is we didn’t finish it.

Boquerones Fritos - Deep fried breaded whitebait with garlic mayo dip. Last but not least the whitebait. I have a bone to pick with this as this “could’ve” been an enjoyable dish… but it was far too oily because the bottom of the plate had a coating of oil which I understand is bound to happen with fried dishes but this had a thicker coating of oil compared to what i’m used to from a restaurant… to make matters worse my partner and I had both agreed it tasted like it was fried in old oil.. not mega old oil like a weeks worth of use but maybe a couple of days? I’m not saying it was fried in old oil but old oil has that distinctive stale taste & scent and it was lingering all over the whitebait.

So overall I enjoyed the service & the ambiance, but for me the food didn’t live up to their “best tapas in Portsmouth” reputation. The chicken wings and meatballs were served lukewarm… like it was reheated but I noticed that this is quite common whenever we’ve had tapas. I think this restaurant could be a lot better because I have read good things about them… maybe it was down to our luck…?

What the people on TripAdvisor are saying.

Details:

Address: 245 Albert Road | Southsea, Portsmouth PO4 0JR, England

Telephone: 02392815222

Website: www.nicholsonsrestaurant.co.uk

Tags: Portsmouth, Tapas
Filed under: Dining Out, Food, Hampshire

There are just so many restaurants that I would like to go to these days but with such little time and very limited memory space I’ve decided to compile a restaurant check list to go through.

My 2012 restaurant list.

London.

• Meat Liquor.  Their Website
• Honest Burgers Their Website 
• Burger & Lobster Their Website 
• Pitt Cue & Co Their Website 
• J Sheeky Fish & Seafood Their Website 
• Poncho No.8 – Burrito to go Their Website 
• MADD – Mango Dessert Their Website 
• Spuntino – Lunch Their Website
• Bubbleology
•  Sensory Lab – 27.09.11
• Scot’s Restaurant – Revisit.
• Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley – Revisit.
• Bread Street Kitchen.
• The Hawksmoor Spitalfields – Breakfast. 26.02.12
• The Wolseley – Unbelievable Breakfast.
• Cay Tre – Vietnamese.
• Jak’s Cafe – Cheesecake & Tiramisu
• Guerilla Burgers- 05.09.2011
• Barrafina – Tapas
• Opera Tavern – Tapas
• The Ledbury – Fine Dining.
• Sushi of Shiori – Sushi.
• Candy Cafe – Oriental Dessert.  29.09.11 – Post to follow
• Bill’s Café – Brunch
• Racine (Côte de Boeuf )
• The Rib Room – Grill
• All Star Lanes – Ribs. (A re-visit)
• Pearl Liang – Dim Sum
• Le Relais de Venise – Steak

Birmingham & West Midlands.

• Ginger’s Bar
• Loves Restaurant – Fine Dining.
• La Banca – Italian
• La Plancha Spanish Tapas & Cocktail Bar – Tapas  - 19.09.11 Post to follow soon.
• Annexe
• Carters of Moseley  - Fine Dining.
• Edmunds – Fine Dining
• Byzantium – Tapas
• Bohemia -
• Becketts Farm Restaurant
• Syriana – Lebanese
• Buonissimo – Italian
• French Connection – French Bistro
• Beau Thai – Thai
• Purnells – Already been here, but would like to refresh memory.
• Chez Jules – Re-visit.
• Lasan – Re-visit
• Turners.

 

Warwickshire.

• No 9 Church St

France.

Paris.

State-side.

New York.

• Shake Shack – Burgers.

Washington DC.

•  Co Co Sala – Desserts.

San Francisco.

• The House Of Prime Ribs – Steaks.

Florida.

• Yoder’s Restaurant (Sarasota) – Pie & Pressure cooked chicken.

Baltimore.

• Chaps Pit Beef – Signature Pit beef sandwich & The Raven Sandwich.

Asia.

Hong Kong.

• Mak’s Noodle – Noodles.
• Tsim Chai Kee – Noodles
• Lau Sum Kee – Noodles
• Din Tai Fung – Dim Sum
• Aqua Roma, Aqua Tokyo & Aqua Spirit – Food & Drinks with a view.
• Tim Ho Wan – Dim Sum.
• The Lobby at the Peninsula Hong Kong – Afternoon tea.

Down Under.

Melbourne.

• Proud Mary. – Coffee
• Auction Rooms. – Coffee
• Market Lane Coffee – Coffee

 

Filed under: Birmingham, Coffee, Dining Out, Food, France, Hong Kong, London, Spain, Uncategorized

I love Olivia Palermo in this dress along with the simple hairstyle.

Tags: Olivia Palermo, Style Inspiration
Filed under: Style Inspiration