The Sneaky Magpie

Saturday was super busy with all sort of chores but Sunday turned to be bit wet and staying indoors sounded like an excellent idea.

Having finished Cranford which I enjoyed immensely (and I am even more impressed with Sue Birtwistle who managed to transform it into such captivating TV drama) I reached for a book that was waiting for me for few days, a fresh Amazon purchase skipping the queue of the long overdue books to read: Adrian Mole, The Prostrate Years. I almost devoured it in one go, as every other book from the series it is hilarious and heartwarming, it manages to capture all the things people get obsessed by. This is the first Adrian Mole book I read while actually living in UK which definitely does help in understanding a lot of the cultural references.

Books were not the only things I devoured, as the courgette gods keep giving I decided to bake Clotilde’s chocolate and zucchini cake (thanks Laura for pointing it out). It was delicious especially when cooled in the fridge overnight. I will be baking this one again!

The new season beetroots seem to be abundant as well and I made a classic Polish chilled soup which has got the most amazing color.

Now I can only look forward to the long weekend ahead, hopefully the sun will shine!

The summer seemed to have gone, I don’t mind as I am not a heat lover, it also makes me hope for warm autumn.

But in remembrance of July here is a very summery cake which I made for my friend’s birthday, her name is off center but try to spell in berries!

The tart was a huge success, the base is a classic short crust pastry and the cream is a mix of mascarpone, sugar and amaretto from Jamie’s Italian cookbook aka torta di more.  It survived the bike ride much better than the picnic tart.

The courgette season is clearly pretty fruitful this year, my veg box delivers them weekly and in a large quantity so I struggle to use them up. I did the marinating and grilling for salads and pastas, raw strips dressed in olive oil and lemon, incorporated them into pasta bakes and soups and eventually I got bored.

Since I hate wasting food I had to come up with a new solution and this is when a friend at work mentioned a delicious courgette cake she was given. I quickly researched the recipes and settled on one which is pretty close to my beloved carrot cake, full of cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s also a great way to clear out your cupboards as variations of flours, sugars, nut and dried fruit can be used up.

Courgette cake recipe:

3 eggs

1 cup olive oil

2 large courgettes, grated

210g of sugar (I used a combination of maple and light brown sugar but any type will do)

400g flour

3 heaped tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp  of nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

200g of nuts and dried fruit, optional

Generously grease the tins and set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Whisk up the eggs, adding the sugar and oil later, keep whisking till smooth.

Add the courgettes and vanilla extract, mix it. In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients, add to the egg mixture and stir till well combined. Mix in nuts and fruit and split the mixture between two loaf tins. You can also bake them as muffins. Bake for 45-1h or until the knife comes out clean.

The cake is delicious, slightly moist and fragrant with the spices. I took it to a BBQ (in a classic cold London rain) and a couple of people commented that somehow you can taste chocolate in it.

Another extremely busy weekend, juggling lots of tasks and managing to do some fun things too.

On Saturday morning I met a friend for her first bike trip in London, we started lightly on a 20 minute ride to Dulwich Picture Gallery. The gallery is in such a lovely spot and the works displayed are just the right mix of old masters, as usual there is a very good representation of the Flemish golden age which I adore.

As we started quite early we decided to go to Brixton and have a lunch at Franco Manca, we got there just past 12.00 to get the last table, few minutes later the queue was 20 people long. Franco Manca’s pizza is legendary and I heard many opinions by the locals blaming Claphamites for invading the place. Well, I visited with a local so I guess that’s ok? Anyway, the pizza is amazing and dirt cheap, definitely worth waiting for.

Back home for a brief moment and hubby and I were out of the door heading up to town to do a spot of shopping. Oxford Street was heaving so we got what we needed and quickly moved away to the quiet Kaffeine for some refreshments. They had some rather delicious carrot and lemon marmalade.

Sunday started early again, we met up with friends for breakfast at Gail’s, the morning was glorious with sun shining, market stalls unpacking and a pleasant company.

Back home to do some important mortgage paperwork, dull but it got done. Then we were off again, this time to Battersea Car Boot Sale, we had a clear idea of what we wanted and pretty much stayed focused. We have a long list of birthday gifts to get and a couple of people definitely would appreciate something vintage. A beautiful tile for my mother in law, a bag of figs grown in Balham for us (they were delicious!) and a sleek Denby dish for a friend (tried to haggle but the woman kept saying ‘it’s Denby, it’s the last piece of Denby I have got, no discount, it’s Denby!’ she was lying, there was a Denby jug just next to it, oh well).

On a way back home M smelled steak. Le Pot Lyonnais is a restaurant I pass twice daily on my way to and from work and it always looks tempting in the evening with tables on the pavement. So we gave it a go and I must say it was a proper French fair of steak frites and poulet.

So a lot of nice things but also a lot of mundane tasks like washing, house cleaning and grocery shopping. I need some rest now!

Lately all my weekends were packed with chores, last week I was on a shoot which left me exhausted so I took two days off and decided to only do things I really want to do.

My plans were ambitious but as the baby is growing fast now I get tired faster than before so I did about half what I intended.

I went to Tate Britain to see the very funny Rude Britannia exhibition, I knew there will be a number of Hogarths but to my absolute delight they had Rake’s Progress which I always love to see. There was a lot of David Shrigley too who I find hilarious.

Reading room at Rude Britannia

It’s a great show for everyone who likes politics, history and humour, a well spent hour indeed.

Afterward I wandered to the newly opened Chelsea Space and had a quick peak at the current exhibition. There were some colorful windmills outside.

I had a house viewing later on and planned to go to the movies after but when I got home I just had enough.

On my second day off I had more grand plans, Tate Modern and Borough Market in the morning and a movie in the afternoon. I had to stop a little, I spent the morning at home.

I started knitting a baby hat.

And I baked Nigel Slater’s peach pie which was delicious.

Re-energised I took the bump outside to see a film. Here it is, just started to show at 18 weeks.

My outing was very pleasant, I went to see Gainsbourg – a great biopic. Beautifully made and so well cast. A real pleasure to watch.

And there is still whole weekend ahead!

Picnic with friends in Richmond Park sounded like a great idea for a hot Sunday afternoon. I decided to contribute with individual fruit tarts.

The pastry recipe was from Jamie Oliver’s first book, I always get bit scared not to overwork it so usually it comes out too crumbly. I think this time I came pretty close to the real deal. My little tart shells baked and got decorated with  fruit and jelly. I never poured jelly into pastry cases before so obviously I didn’t think about putting a layer of egg white on top. The jelly set beautifully overnight but it also soaked through the shells so the tarts became soggy and definitely not picnic worthy.

I had plan B, as I made a lot of pastry I had enough for a whole fruit tart so I set to work. I almost got it rolled out in one piece and it almost landed perfectly in the baking tin. I think I am close to getting it right, just need to practice a bit more. It is a very satisfying thing.

This time I sealed the pastry, whipped some cream and arranged summer berries. It looked very pretty. It lacked few mint leaves but I could not find any in the supermarket (damn you Pimms drinkers!).

The next challenge was the packing and wrapping. Cling film was used heavily and the tart landed in my basket. We set off to Richmond. But 20 minutes into the ride the cream started to melt and as the tart was right in front of me I was getting more and more stressed about it. In despair we stopped to buy some ice, the tart was placed on top of it and somehow we made it to the park. It wasn’t as spectacular as the original but it tasted very good indeed.

This weekend was not the hot summer weekend I was expecting, the fact that my house doesn’t get much sun and is bit cold in general, didn’t make me think that the weather was ok to go out. On top of it my tube station was closed for maintenance so I got kind of stuck in Clapham. I could of course cycle but if going to East End markets I prefer to take the public transport. And I don’t have patience for buses, they make me nauseous when I try to read. So it was a weekend at home, well, almost.

I got a bit of reading done. My boss gave me On Chesil Beach (we shot in Weymouth some time ago just next to Chesil Beach hence the gift) by Ian McEwan and I actually enjoyed it. I never liked McEwan but this strange story of two people who despite loving each other very much are not able to stay together managed to suck me in.

I am also reading Séance and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This collection of bizarre folky Jewish stories is taking up all my free time. Singer is so engaging with his writing it’s hard to put the book down. I have a couple of his novels waiting for me too.

Speaking of books waiting to be read, somewhere between car boot sales, charity shops and gifts I have managed to accumulate quite a sizable new pile so I really should not buy anything for a while.

On Friday evening hubby was working late and I happily settled to watch An Education. From the start I knew I will enjoy it, the imagery was pleasing, the acting very good especially Alfred Molina and Carey Mulligan, the dialog was clever and natural and the storyline in general simple yet engaging. It wasn’t a massively thought provoking film but it definitely had a lot of good values and messages.

I am really really looking forward to Sophia Coppola’s new film Somewhere. It looks good!

I continued to watch Sopranos and I even channeled my inner Carmela when I whipped up a very good tasting lasagne and salad for dinner (I skipped all the 5 other dishes she would usually make keeping her fake nails intact).

I did some baking of course, this time it was chocolate and nut banana bread, a kind of left over ingredients cake. I had some odd amounts of various nuts, flours and sugars to use and it all married together well.

The recipe is dead easy:

150g of sugar (cane, caster, brown)

2 eggs

80ml of olive oil

1 tspn vanilla extract

3 -4 ripe bananas

260g flour (rice, wheat, tapioca, almond)

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn sea salt

100g chocolate

100g nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts, macademia)

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, prepare 2 small loaf tins.

Cream eggs and sugar until smooth, add vanilla, oil and combine. Add mashed bananas and mix until smooth leaving few chunks. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the egg mixture. Add chopped chocolate and nuts and mix well. Split between the tins and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the knife comes out clean.

A great afternoon snack.

I did manage to drag myself out on Sunday, wrapped in a scarf and a jacket I soon discovered that it was in fact a very nice day outside! My flat is so misleading. Hubby and I wandered down to Wandsworth Common which is much nicer than Clapham Common with its bits of wild. We gathered some wild flowers and had a cup of tea in the park café. Then it was back home for more Sopranos and reading.

Some time ago I wrote I signed up for an Abel&Cole veg box. The main reason for it was the fact that my local farmers market became so sad I could not shop there anymore and believe me I really tried to support it for a long time. I don’t really have the time to go to different boroughs to do my weekly groceries even though Marylebone and Islington markets are great.

I used to be with A&C years ago and loved it then stopped it because of aforementioned farmers market. When I started to get the veg boxes in the early spring I was very happy with my deliveries but as we progressed into full spring/early summer and I have not seen many seasonal items in my box I started to question my supplier. It’s all well that the produce is organic but local and seasonal is as important.

I came to a boiling point last week when I received:

a pineapple

2 grapefruits

pears

last year’s carrots and beetroots

red pepper

courgettes

aubergine

new season potatoes

mushrooms

I can agree with the potatoes and courgettes, even with the aubergine and pepper, but the rest? Beetroots and mushrooms, pineapple and grapefruits?? Where are all the goodies that spring has got to offer like British strawberries, asparagus, lettuce, radishes, dill, onions, rhubarb, the list goes on.

I got so annoyed I canceled my account immediately.

Then I looked at Riverford and their offering was looking more attractive, this week’s box included cherries, Romaine lettuce, wet garlic and new onions. Much better I think. Let’s see how they do in a long run.

Sunday was a baking day again!

I really fancied something chocolate-y but not too sweet and this recipe seemed just perfect and easy enough.

100g dark chocolate

150g butter

170g muscovado sugar

3 eggs

175g flour

1.5 tspn baking powder

2 ripe bananas

25g cocoa

50g hazelnuts (roasted so the skins fall off)

Heat the over to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare 2 small loaf tins by buttering them.

Melt the chocolate in bain-marie . Cream sugar and softened butter into a smooth paste and add the eggs one by one. Fold in all the dry ingredients, add the chocolate, mashed bananas and hazelnuts, combine and fill in the tins. Bake for 40-50 minuted or until the wooden stick comes out dry. Cool.

I took one of the loaves to work today and it disappeared very fast. A perfect afternoon tea cake. I think next time I am going to add more bananas, they added very subtle moisture and freshness to the cake, more is better I say!

I also visited Nardulli’s for the finest gelato this city has ever seen. I had passion fruit and mango sorbets and M had pistachio and choco nut which was pretty much frozen nutella. It was all heaven but the pistachio was just from another wonderful, creamy, nutty perfect world. I am so happy to have this place just a stroll away from my house. And I swear it will make a trip to Clapham worthwhile!

Full of sweets I settled to watch A Prophet, another great film from Jacques Audiard.

Nigel Slater is one of my favorite food writers and so are his recipes, so simple yet so utterly delicious. When I opened one of my birthday presents and found it to be his latest book Tender I almost shrieked.

I have been wanted a garden (or an allotment) for a very long time so I devoured the whole book in one evening admiring Nigel’s city garden, his experiences with London wildlife, struggling with compost and figuring out what grows best and where.

It’s amazing to think that a medium sized garden can make you nearly self sufficient, from humble onions and potatoes to several varieties of tomatoes, pumpkins and all the fresh herbs you can ever wish for.

Here are few things I will be making this summer:

Baked aubergines with yogurt and cucumber.

A salad of carrot thinnings.

Broad beans with white cheese and radishes.

Goat’s cheese and beetroot salad with seeds.

The book is bursting with recipes be it for fresh salads, warm winter stews and soups or wonderful cakes. It’s a gardener’s year on a plate.