Well I’ve packed up my blog suitcase because this blog is moving home. The new site will still be Culinary Travels Of A Kitchen Goddess but will be found here at http://culinarytravels.co.uk

My new site is still in the early days of the design process but if you could leave any comments over there (instead of here) and update your blog rolls etc it would be much appreciated. Bear with me, but, I do hope it won’t take too long to get fully into the swing of things over there.

I must thank you dearly, my blogging friends and readers, for supporting and encouraging me with this blog! Without you the blog would never have gained the success it has.

I can’t wait to ’see’ you over at the new site.

“If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing by reading this book.”
—Guy Kawasaki, cofounder of Alltop, and author of Reality Check

Whilst Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah is aimed primarily at business owners, many of the topics covered will also be very useful to bloggers who want to get themselves known in a field wider than their family and close friends.

The premise of the book is that the old marketing is dead or dying. Gone are the days where simply throwing money at print or radio advertising guaranteed succees. Instead, you need to engage your customers; give them reasons to come to visit your web site, and once they are there give them reasons to come back again and again. The key notion is that at the centre of all business (or blog) promotion is the Internet and the social media available within it such as Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedin etc.

No matter how confused you feel by the rise of social media sites, (sure doesn’t a new one seem to appear everyday now?) this book will help you overcome your worries and fears.

The chapters cover:

• Shopping Has Changed, Has Your Marketing?
• Is Your Website a Marketing Hub?
• Are You Worthy?
• Create Remarkable Content
• Get Found in the Blogosphere
• Getting Found in Google
• Get Found in Social Media
• Convert Visitors into Leads
• Convert Prospects into Leads
• Convert Leads to Customers
• Make Better Marketing Decisions
• Picking and Measuring Your People
• Picking and Measuring a PR Agency
• Watch Your Competition
• On Commitment Patience and Learning
• Why Now?
• Tools and Resources
• Tips from the Trenches for Startups

Inbound Marketing is a compact and easily accessible book. Unlike many of the other books focusing on this subject Inbound Marketing is engaging and easy to follow. Sure, it talks about the power of Twitter, but it then gives you advice on how to choose a twitter handle. Sure, it talks about the rise of the superstar blogger and the death of the press release, but then it talks about how to decide whether you need a PR agency and, if you do, then how you should hire one. Each chapter contains a checklist of things you should do, right now, to start improving your inbound marketing; a great feature that those already well established in the world of commerce and the new starters alike will find immensely useful.

In the crowded social media market, where just about everyone and their brother is coming out with a book, this book rises to the top because of its balanced combination of theory and practice.

With thanks to Wiley & Sons, Inc. for the review copy.

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (29 Oct 2009)

Language English

ISBN-10: 0470499311

ISBN-13: 978-0470499313

Not so long back I visited Cley Next The Sea in North Norfolk, a lovely place and one that I would return to again and again. The village is home to a fabulous Smokehouse, and of course I just had to bring back a sample of their delightful produce home with me. All the smoking is done ‘in house’ and all the fish obtained as locally and seasonally as possible. A true ‘artisan’ producer if ever there was one. If you’re ever in that neck of the woods do stop by, you will not be disappointed.

Now here is a good place to point out that I am the only member of my family to truly enjoy good smoked fish, but, I am on a mission to convert the others. I am convinced this is born not from a dislike of good smoked fish but from the memories of the bright yellow smoked haddock and kippers widely sold throughout the UK.

The starting point — smoked mackerel and spinach tart. I suppose you could refer to this as a quiche but I prefer to call it a tart, I’m not really sure why but I just think it suits the dish better.

Due to the strong, but I hasten to add not overpowering, flavour of the smoked fish very little else is required in terms of flavourings. I simply used a basic quiche mixture of eggs and cream with shredded spinach and flaked fish; I used the peppered smoked mackerel from Cley but regular smoked would work just as well. You could play with the flavourings a little if you wish, maybe swapping the spinach for samphire or cherry tomatoes but definitely no cheese here please.

I have a real passion for using different flours wherever I can, mostly I buy them from Shipton Mill as the quality is superb and the customer service outstanding. This time around I used sunflower & wheat flour to make the pastry.  It has a wonderful slightly sweet flavour and I find it gives a lovely nubbly texture to the finished pastry, in addition the sunflower acts as a dough conditioner giving the pastry a really tender crumb. If you can get hold of some of this flour, do give it a try.

The crisp buttery pastry combined with a silky smooth creamy filling made the perfect base to hold such beautifully smoked fish.

I chose to serve the tart with nothing more fancy than a simple green salad and some crusty brown bread.

The bread is an oat & granary loaf. The addition of oats gives an added richness and nutty flavour to the bread, perfectly suited to the sunflower nuttiness of the pastry. The bread has honey added which lends a sweetness and olive oil which helps condition the dough. Adding oil to bread gives a lovely softness and resilience, resulting in a bread with not only a wonderful flavour but a great texture too. This loaf has a tight crumb but a definite springy, light texture to it with a lovely crisp crust, making it perfect for serving along side a main meal, for mopping up sauces, to dunk into soup, for sandwiches or even great toast — an all round good loaf.

Although I created the ingredient list myself I (as per usual) followed Dan Steven’s fabulous Bread: River Cottage Handbook No. 3 (River Cottage Handbook 3) method for making the bread.

Smoked Mackerel & Spinach Tart

• 350ml double cream
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g spinach, shredded
• 2 smoked mackerel fillets, flaked
• 200g sunflower & wheat flour
• 100g butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg yolk (reserve the white)
• 60ml milk

1. Make the pastry. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until you have a mixture resembling bread crumbs. Add the egg yolk and milk and gradually bring together until you have a ball of pastry.
2. Roll out to fit the tin (I used an 18cm spring-form tin), leave a little extra depth above the edge of the quiche pan to allow for shrinkage.
3. Prick the bottom with a fork, then chill the tart case in the freezer.
4. Heat the oven to 180C.
5. After about 30 minutes, cover the pastry in a layer of greaseproof paper or foil and put either baking stones, or dried beans on the top to keep the pastry down.
6. Bake in the oven on the baking sheet for 15 minutes or so.
7. Remove the beans and paper and brush the case with the spare egg whites from the filling.
8. Return the tart case back in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
9. Prepare while tart case is baking
10. Beat the cream, whole eggs and egg yolks together, adding a good grind of pepper
11. Place the spinach in the base of the tart and pour over the egg and cream mixture, 3/4 full in tin
12. Arrange the smoked mackerel over the surface, making sure that it is mostly in the egg mixture with only the very top showing
13. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden and softly set. The centre should not feel too firm.
14. Allow to settle for 5 minutes before removing from the tin.

Oat & Granary Bread:

• 500g granary flour
• 1o0g medium oatmeal
• 1 7g sachet fast action yeast
• 10g fine salt
• 350ml warm water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon ivy honey
• 2 handfuls of khorosan flour, for coating

1. First, mix the dough. Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the liquid, and with one hand, mix to a rough dough. Add the oil and honey and mix it all together. Adjust the consistency if you need to with a little more flour or water to make a soft, kneadable, sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a work surface and clean your hands. Knead the dough until it is as smooth and satiny as you can make it — this will take about 10 minutes.
2. Shape the kneaded dough into a round. Then oil or flour the surface and put the dough into the wiped-out mixing bowl.
3. Cover the bowl with a bakers cloth or clingfilm and leave to ferment and rise until doubled in size. This could be anywhere between 45 minutes and 1½ hours — or longer still, if the dough is cold.
4. Deflate the dough by tipping it on to the work surface and pressing all over with your fingertips. Then form it into a round. If you like, leave to rise again up to four times (generally I leave it to rise 3 times). This will improve the texture and flavour.
5. Now switch the oven to 250C (or the equivalent). Get your water spray bottle ready if you have one, your serrated knife or lame, and an oven cloth. Clear the area around the oven.
6. Shape the dough into a round transfer either to a baking tray or proving basket and cover with the bakers cloth, leave to rise until doubled in size. If using a proving basket gently transfer the dough to a baking tray once doubled in size
7. Slash the top, if you wish, and before you bake the bread, spray it all over with water. Put the tray in the oven, spritz some water into the oven and close the door as quickly as you can. Turn the heat down after about 10 minutes to: 200C if the crust still looks very pale; 180C if it is noticeably browning; 170C if it seems to be browning quickly. Bake until the loaves are well browned and crusty, and feel hollow when you tap them: in total, 10-20 min for rolls; 30-40 min for small loaves; 40-50 min for large loaves. If in doubt, bake for a few minutes longer. Leave to cool on a wire rack

I am beginning to feel my blog is looking a little cluttered, despite the recent revamp. So my idea is to move the links to their own page such (for example like the Recipe Index has). 

How would you feel about that? Would it be easier or harder for you to navigate? 

Come on readers let me know your thoughts

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Cupcakes may seem to be the flavour of the moment but us foodies are always on the hunt for the next best thing, we are it seems a people intent on the next sensation, pundits, food enthusiasts and bloggers alike have all wondered what this sensation might be. More than a few have suggested that French-style macaroons (called macarons in France) might supplant the cupcake. This may or may not come to pass, but the basic premise of the French macaroon is a delectable patisserie item.

When I was a child any reference to macaroons meant a cookie made primarily of coconut, which I by the way hated. However European macaroons are based on either ground almonds or almond paste, combined with sugar and egg whites. The texture can run from chewy, crunchy or a combination of the two. Frequently, two macaroons are sandwiched together with ganache, buttercream or jam, which can cause the cookies to become more chewy.

These delectable French cookies are notoriously hard to master. Have a tootle around various food blogs, cookery websites and you will see many an attempt to find the perfect technique. Which one is right? Which captures the perfect essence of macaroons? The answer is all of them and none of them. Macaroons are highly subjective, the subject of passionate debate in the food world. Do what works for you and you should be happy with the end result. 

We had a lot of scope with this challenge, we could choose our own fillings, our own flavourings, our own colourings but we just had to stick to the method laid out by our hosts.

I’d just had a large bag of cobnuts delivered and thought this to be a great opportunity to get using them. Kentish cobnuts are a type of hazelnut. Most of the hazelnuts grown in Britain are of the named variety Kentish Cob, which was introduced in the early 19th century. Cobnuts are marketed fresh, not dried like most other nuts such as walnuts and almonds and consequently they can usually only be bought when in season, typically from about the middle of August through to October, although stored nuts may be kept until Christmas. At the beginning of the season the husks are green and the kernels particularly juicy. Nuts harvested later on have brown shells and husks, and the full flavour of the kernel has developed. 

The cobnuts grow in a papery husk, and then are contained within a relatively hard shell. As you can see my cobnuts were late season and had taken on that lovely ‘nut’ brown colouring.

Trust me peeling and shelling hundreds of these is hard work, but the taste, well that makes up for it. They are delicious.

I was slightly daunted by this challenge, although not overly complex they are a precision timing event. The last time I made macarons I didn’t cook them long enough and they turned out too chewy and sticky. I was determined this wouldn’t happen this time around so I baked them for perhaps slightly too long instead as they turned a darkish shade of hazel brown but they had the desired texture and I rather like the colour, even though it is unconventional to let macarons brown.

I had intended to use half cobnuts to half ground almonds as per the Daring Bakers note that as almonds are drier than other nuts and help again with that all-important texture. However I didn’t have any almonds to hand and I wasn’t putting off the baking for another day so I could go shopping. All cobnuts it was and with no ill effects at all.

Cobnut macarons instantly lead me onto thinking of chocolate fillings and of course what could be better than Nutella? A hazlenut chocolate spread, but a home made version – perfect right? The recipe for the nutella comes from The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts  (Sherry Yard) and is I have to say even better than shop bought Nutella.

The macarons went down a storm, slightly crunchy on sinking your teeth into the cookie, but yielding a chewiness and creamy centre. They were devoured within the day.

Thank you Daring Bakers for the challenge, it was most enjoyable

Macarons

• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2 cups ground cobnuts
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 5 egg whites, at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 90C or the equivalent. 
2. Combine the icing sugar and ground cobnuts in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery. 
3. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks. 
4. Sift a third of the ground nut mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients. 
5. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc  style bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter. 
6. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper). 
7. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. 
8. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 190C or the equivalent. 
9. Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
10. Cool on a rack before filling. 

‘Nutella’ Spread

• 1lb milk chocolate 
• 1lb bittersweet chocolate 
• 2 cups double cream 
• 1 cup hazelnuts (or cobnuts)
• 1 tbsp hazelnut or vegetable oil. 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or the equivalent. 
2. Place the nuts on a baking tray and toast until they are golden brown (about 12 mins). 
3. Remove from the oven and remove the skins if present. 
4. Transfer the hot nuts to a food processor and blitz to a fine paste, using the pulse function for around 2 mins. 
5. Turn the processor onto steady speed and drizzle in the oil, when all the oil is in stop the machine and scrape down the sides. 
6. Process again for about 15 seconds. 
7. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a heat proof bowl. 
8. Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. 
9. Once at the boil immediately pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and leave for 2 minutes. 
10. Gently stir the mixture with a spatula until the chocolate is throughly melted. 
11. Fold in the hazelnut mixture and allow to cool slightly before using.

NB The nut spread can be stored in the refrigerator but needs to be brought to room temperature again before attempting to spread as it sets hard.

I realise I’m a wee bit early to be writing about Halloween but the craving for barmbrack was just too much to bear any longer – I just had to give in and sure why not just blog it now while the recipe was fresh in my memory?

I did create rather a stir when I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to be baking a barmbrack, several members asked what it was, curious to expand their food knowledge. It appeared that barmbrack was only really familiar amongst the Irish contingent of the place. No great shock really as it is a traditional Irish spiced fruit bread.

The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sau-an) was celebrated on November 1^st – the first day of winter – and it was believed that both the fairies and the ghosts of the dead were particularly active on that day because the border between this world and the afterlife was particularly thin. The family’s ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm – hence the wearing of witches costumes etc in the modern traditions.

The the day became known as All Saints’ Day (officially the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas) in the Christian calanader and is a solemnity celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. It is the use of All Hallows/Hallowmas that precursered the use of Halloween; which litteral means All Hallows Eve.

Barmbrack couldn’t be more of an exact name. The word barm comes from the old English work beorma meaning yeasty fermented liquor and brack comes from the Irish word brac meaning speckled. Which of course this bread is, yeasted dough that is speckled with dried fruit and candied peel. The recipe I used comes from The Festive Food of Ireland by Darina Allen but with one slight adaptation (it is my adapted version you’ll find at the end of this post, not the one from the book), where Darina uses milk I used warm milk which I’d infused with a tea bag for a minute or so. I also added a handful of dried cranberries along with the other fruit (mixed dried fruit & candied) peel as I just cannot get enough of them right now, their bright ruby tones shimmering away in the baked goods never fails to make me smile.

Although not traditional I also allowed my dough to prove in an oval banneton, I just couldn’t resist. Having recently bought a lovely box of bread baking items from Bakery Bits it seemed a shame not to actually use it. The quality of the items I bought is superb and the customer service second to none. I will be buying from them again.

Traditionally barmbrack is studded with symbolic items, most often a wedding ring, a coin, a pea or thimble and a piece of matchstick. These items signified an event in the future for the person finding them, e.g. the wedding ring meant marriage within the year. Now I wonder how true these fortune telling prophecies really were.

I suppose the nearest thing akin to barmbrack is the traditional English fruit teacake must frequently served toasted and buttered or the hot cross bun typical of Easter but they all have slight differences in flavour and texture.

I enjoy barmbrack still warm from the oven and slathered with a good salted butter but it is also wonderful toasted and so I’ve been told it makes very good bread & butter pudding.

Back in the days before mass commercialism took over the festival and trick or treat became a dreaded rather than fun event (how many times do we open our local newspapers to see mass destruction in the name of trick or treat? Oh goodness me I’m beginning to sound old now), the evening would have been spent listening to seanchaí, stories of the past would be told along with ghost stories and Halloween games played. Turnips were the things to carve most typically too, sure they must have been much harder work than a pumpkin but just as, if not more, eerie. From what I can remember I was never all that keen on going for the trick or treating but I did love the carving of the pumpkins. Now here’s an interesting side note for you, according to Irish legend Jack-O-Lanterns were named for a man called Jack who couldn’t enter Heaven because he was a miser and couldn’t enter Hell because he’d played jokes on the Devil so he had to walk the earth forever with his lantern until Judgement Day. The fire burning within the lantern is supposed to ward away evil spirits.

I will be entering this bread to YeastSpotting, a fabulous event held by Susan over at the amazing blog Wild Yeast.

Halloween Barmbrack

• 450g strong bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 55g salted butter
• 1 sachet fast action yeast
• 85g caster sugar
• 350ml warm milk infused with a tea bag for 1-2 minutes
• 1 egg, beaten
• 350g mixed dried fruit & candied peel
• 1 tablespoon sugar mixed with two tablespoons boiling water to glaze

1. Sieve the flour and spices into a bowl then rub in the butter.
2. Add the sugar, egg and most of the milk and knead until you have a soft, supple, elastic dough (adding the rest of the milk as needed).
3. Fold in the dried fruit and peel, cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave to double in size.
4. Tip the dough out and gently press out with your fingertips before reshaping into a round and returning to the bowl.
5. Allow to rise again (once or twice more) before shaping and transfering either to a baking sheet, proving basket or loaf tin.
6. Preheat your oven to 180C or the equivalent.
7. Allow to rise again for 30-60 minutes or until the dough reaches the top of the loaf tin/doubles in volume, then bake (tip the dough from a proving basket gently onto a baking tray first) for about an hour.
8. Glaze the top with prepared sugar syrup, turn out onto a cooling tray and allow to cool before slicing and serving.

The addition of beetroot to chocolate cakes and brownies seems to be a very trendy move at this moment in time. Whilst I like to keep up with the current trends I’m not one for doing something purely for the notion of food fashion, rather, I combine my ingredients for maximum flavour and to get the best I can from the completed dish.

I am a real lover of using beetroot in cakes and have attempted chocolate beetroot brownies before with great success. So you can imagine my delight when I came across a recipe dubbed “so wicked that you could drown in it” in Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache: The ultimate feel-good book of natural cakes that taste naughty by Harry Eastwood, of Cook Yourself Thin fame. How could I resist baking them?

Like Zoe Williams (The Guardian) my first reaction to the book Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache: The ultimate feel-good book of natural cakes that taste naughty (Harry Eastwood) was that it was written in a horrendous style; giving all the vegetables a personality and in some cases the finished cakes even a gender. Now look I’m all for inventive styles and a relaxed feel but this is surely taking matters that step too far?

Once you manage to pull yourself away from the rather over the top writing style (I have in fact given up reading the recipe introductions and pages of accompanying text) you will find many decent recipes, that are both interesting and doable with minimal fuss. Ok so they might take a little more planning than your average sponge, especially if you like to eat in a seasonal and local way. I suppose that is part of the books charm, whatever the time of year you will find a vegetable based cake to suit and to use up that leftover vegetable lurking in the fridge or basket.

Heading back over to the sinful and irresistable brownies then, Harry isn’t wrong at all when when she says the recipe is dangerous – dangerous because it is all too easy to eat that extra piece of brownie, warm or cold they are truly amazing. Squidgy, dense, tinged with a deep maroon colour that makes them that hint more exciting, not to mention their deep earthy flavour. They do not taste like beetroot but they maintain a sweet, earthiness that only beetroot can yield. If serving the brownies warm they make a fantastic dessert, creamy vanilla ice cream being the perfect partner.

As I don’t own a microwave, shock horror in this day and age, I cooked my beetroot the more traditional way of wrapping in aluminium foil with a couple of tablespoons of water and baking until tender. In the method below I have simply given the microwave instructions as per Eastwood’s book.

I dotted the top with wet walnuts as soon as the brownie came out of the oven, simply because I adore them and I like a little texture, a bit of crunch, with my brownies. They are of course by no means essential.

Vegetables have been used in cakes since the 1500’s, if not earlier).  It seems many of us have a phobia of cakes with vegetables in, but this would I suspect come from memories of dodgy carrot cake with fake cream icing. Come on, go bake it. No need to be afraid!!

The Recipe:

• 400g topped, tailed and peeled raw beetroot, cut into 2cm dice
• 100g hazelnuts
• 3 medium eggs
• 220g light Muscovado sugar
• 150g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
• 2 tablespoons white rice flour
• 70g cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 160C or the equivalent and line the base and sides of your brownie tin (approx 27cm x 20cm x 5cm) with baking parchment.
2. Cook the diced beetroot in the microwave for 10 minutes in a heat-proof bowl with a splash (approx 2 tablespoons) water, covered with clingfilm.
3. Whilst the beetroot is cooking grind the hazelnuts in the food processor until you have a fine powder, you may need to do this in two or three batches as hazelnuts are fairly oily and tend to clump.
4. Whisk the eggs and sugar together with a hand held whisk or in a free-standing food mixer until pale and tripled in volume.
5. Drain the water from the beetroot and puree it in the food processor. Add the chocolate squares and set aside, so that the chocolate melts.
6. Beat the hazelnuts, flour, cocoa, baking powder and vanilla extract into the egg and sugar mixture until well combined.
7. Add the beetroot and melted chocolate puree to the mixture and fold through until fully incorporated.
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cook for 30-35 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before cutting into individual brownies and serving.

I was catching up on my ‘mentions’ over on Twitter the other morning when I noticed that the Italian chef Antonio Carluccio was a member on there, naturally I clicked to follow him. Not only did I click the follow button but I clicked the profile button too; a dangerous thing of course as it then drew me onto looking at his delightful website/online store. As per my standard behaviour I ended up adding a few ‘essentials’ to my virtual shopping basket and a small(ish) order was placed.

The large box of exceedingly well packaged delights arrived the following day and two of the items became tonights dinner – fresh egg fettucce pasta and a jar of ragu di lepre (hare sauce).

Ragu di lepre is one of my all time favourite Italian dishes and generally the first thing I make a beeline for when I visit the beautiful country. I first ate it in a tiny trattoria in the Trastevere district of Rome; an area that hasn’t lost the ‘local’ feel and charm. Whilst the rest of Rome may feel cosmopolitan and incredibly modern Trastevere somehow doesn’t; it has kept its strong local (working class) identity; happen it is because it is separated by geography too – being separated from central Rome by the river Tiber. In Trastevere internet cafes are happily nestled side-by-side with gloomy ancient premises of uncertain function, trendy bars lie next to traditional bakeries down narrow cobbled lanes.

Image courtesy of Google Images.

That’s enough, I’ve said enough, Trastavere is Romes hidden secret gem and if I keep telling you all how nice it is, it won’t stay hidden for much longer

According to Carluccio’s website the ragu di lepre was based on a recipe from the Piemonte region but I have to confess it was most like the versions I have eaten both in Rome and Umbria. The ragu was spot on, it hit all the right key notes in flavour and texture.  When I considered how much pasta I’d got cooking and then looking at the small quantity of sauce I thought I’d made a big error, much as I like the Italian route of little sauce to lots of pasta the rest of the family are not always quite as keen, however with a tablespoon or so of the pasta water left clinging to the beautifully cooked al dente fettucce the sauce morphed and mingled its way through the golden strands to create one of lifes most wonderful pleasures when it comes to simple cooking – a bowl full of heartwarming, memory evoking pasta. We both throughly enjoyed it.

As for the pasta, well I’m always on the lookout for good pastas. They form a large part of the backbone of my pantry; perfect for speedy pre night shift meals that need to fuel me but not leave me feeling ’stuffed’ and sleepy, wonderful for meals for one when a lot of preparation cannot be faced and for the times when you want to create decadent meals for guests. Pasta is most versatile, suiting any situation you wish of it; now if only I could convince my mother, hmmm.

This fettucce genuine all’uovo is made with at least 25% eggs making it incredibly rich both in colour and taste. It is apparently the use of  a bronze dye in the production process that leads to its rough and ready texture, perfect for helping sauces cling and stopping that terrible fate suffered all too much by pasta and sauce in the UK, the sauce simply being in one area of the plate and the pasta the other alla spaghetti Bolognese – a British created culinary travesty if ever there was one.

I will be ordering many more boxes of this pasta, it was so good I’d have been happy to eat a plateful of it simply adorned with a trickle of olive oil or a dot of unsalted butter. Trust me, its flavour and texture was out of this world.

A very beautiful pasta, wouldn’t you agree?

According to Carluccio’s website the ragu di lepre was based on a recipe from the Piemonte region but I have to confess it was most like the versions I have eaten both in Rome and Umbria. The ragu was spot on, it hit all the right key notes in flavour and texture.  When I considered how much pasta I’d got cooking and then looking at the small quantity of sauce I thought I’d made a big error, much as I like the Italian route of little sauce to lots of pasta the rest of the family are not always quite as keen, however with a tablespoon or so of the pasta water left clinging to the beautifully cooked al dente fettucce the sauce morphed and mingled its way through the golden strands to create one of lifes most wonderful pleasures when it comes to simple cooking – a bowl full of heartwarming, memory evoking pasta.

Of course I couldn’t resist getting myself a copy of Antonio’s latest book Antonio Carluccio’s Simple Cooking, either, after reading several good reviews by fellow Twitter members I felt a compulsion too great to fight. Once I’ve had time to curl up with the book and a couple of glasses of Carluccio’s wine and a listen to some Italian music, I’ll get back to you with my thoughts.

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• Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell’s Kitchen by Mitch Omer (founder of the original Hell’s Kitchen Restaurants) and Ann Bauer (previous food editor at Minnesota Monthly) is a roller coaster of a book, from recounting Omer’s darker days of addiction and suffering from bipolar disorder to sweet childhood memories inter-spaced with belly rumble inducing recipes of the most exciting kind, all written in a style that makes you want need to keep turning the pages. Add to this some amazing photography of both the food and Omer’s famous Hell’s Kitchen restaurants with decor aptly dubbed “The nightmare side of Sesame Street” by Bauer and you have a book you will truly not want to put down, let alone, let out of your sight.
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• In places this book seems to go for the shock factor as much as the inducing mouth-watering moments factor. In fact, depending on how tender your sensibilities, there may even be moments where you wish the authors had held back, from various disclosures about relationships, or moments when Omer gets unnecessarily, perhaps, profane. It could be argued rather successfully though that this book wouldn’t be the ‘joy’ it is without that very notion of shock. Omer has had a life full of unconventional and shocking moments, this book relies on the truth being told, without it we would simply have another same old chefs memoir full of fuzzy feel good moments — this is not the movies, this is real life and the dark side of real life at that told against a backdrop of good honest food. It is very clear that food played a large part in Omer’s ‘recovery’ process, maybe too big a part as he ended up having to have a gastric bypass. 
• Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell’s Kitchen is beautifully presented, mostly in black and white but dotted with bright, full colour photographs which help bring warmth and dare I say it, even more character (as if Mitch didn’t already bring enough, just by talking about himself). The book is printed on premium quality paper, making it joyous to handle. The text is set out so that there’s plenty of white space around it, and the font is a good size, making the recipes and text paragraphs very easy to read. The excellent publication quality doesn’t stop there, the photography is both of excellent quality and inspiring, particularly the inner kitchen shots of the chefs at work.
• Omer really does allow his soul to be bared, nothing is held back: not his opinions, not his personal failures and triumphs and most certainly not his recipes. Recipes range from the basic such as French Toast and Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches to awe inspiring dishes such as Bison Sausage Bread and Chocolate Bunnies (you’ll have to read the book to learn more), covering every concept of American comfort food imaginable —macaroni and cheese, corned beef hash; of course the famous Mahnomin Porridge is included too, but how could it not be?
• Most of the recipes have side notes as to how Mitch came up with the idea or for variations on the theme; for example next to the Mahnomin Porridge recipe is a text box that reads “I first got the idea for this recipe more than twenty years ago while reading transcripts of journals kept by fur traders travelling across Canada in the nineteenth century. There was a meal served by Cree Indians that consisted of wild rice with nuts and berries and sweetened with maple syrup. But I decided it needed more fat, so I added heavy cream.” These anecdotes really help to bring life and spirit to these recipes, many of which while a mainstay of American food culture, are unfamiliar to the UK market. 
• According to the book “Mitch was encouraged to hold some recipes back — ”God knows I tried,” says [his wife and business partner] Cyn but he chose not to do so; what you the reader have in this book is a ‘manual’ that includes every single ingredient, secret, and cooking tip from the inner sanctum of Hell’s Kitchen. With Hell’s Kitchen you really do have all the information you’d require to cook a Mitch styled restaurant dish, So it’s your choice. Prepare yourself for the crowds and the queues, fight for a table, and have a meal. Yes, I know — all very nice, but… or, spend that same money on the book, and be able to recreate over a hundred of their very best recipes in the comfort of your own home? I know which I’d be choosing.
• With thanks to Minnesota Historical Society Press/Borealis Books for the review copy.
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press,U.S.; 1 edition (1 November 2009)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0873517245
• ISBN-13: 978-0873517249

EDIT: If anyone of you who buy the book have any queries about the recipes or ingredient substitutions please leave me a comment and I will pass them on to the publisher, who has very kindly said she will then pass them on to Mitch and I will get back to you asap with an answer.

Somehow World Bread Baking Day escaped my event planning this year and as such I’ve rushed to create something for it. It is too good an event to miss out completely. 

So I have compiled a photo gallery (just click the links to go to the appropriate blog post) of some of my most recent bakes. I do hope this is ok.

King Arthur’s Burger Buns

Hazel Maizel Bread

Chestnut Bread

Cabernet Grape Flour Bread & Farmhouse White 

Cheats Sourdough

Ivy Honey Malt House Bread

River Cottage Focaccia

Hope you see something that inspires you to get bread baking, it is so much fun and so rewarding, not to mention how much better for you it is than most store bought bread – for some bread truths & horrors look here.