The Sneaky Magpie

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.

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.

I feed my starter every few days so I built up a pretty large batch. I still cannot look at bread so I decided to make pizzas instead.

I have never done sourdough pizzas before but they came out surprisingly nice. No domestic oven will ever replace a wood burning one that can reach up to 1000 degrees but a baking stone will definitely help.

The dough

220g starter

220g strong bread flour

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

bit of tepid water

Take your starter out of the fridge at least 1h in advance.

Combine starter, flour, salt and oil, knead in a mixer using a bread hook for about 5 minutes, half way through add some water so the dough gets nice and soft (this can be between 0.5-1cup). Leave to rise for 1h.

While the dough is resting prepare a simple tomato sauce by frying some garlic in olive oil, adding a tin of tomatoes and some ripped basil then reducing. Season with salt and pepper.

Prepare all your topping ingredients. I have boiled sliced potatoes which are combined with taleggio and rosemary. Toppings can be anything you like.

Half Mediterranean veg half potato, taleggio and rosemary.

Buffalo mozzarella, grilled aubergines and peppers.

Buffalo mozzarella, courgettes and peppers.

Bake at the highest temperature possible for about 15min or till the edges are golden and the cheese bubbly.

Yesterday was one of those Saturdays when I wake up early and cannot fall back to sleep. I quietly left the bed, made myself a cup of green tea and some toast with jam. M baked some delicious rye sourdough the day before so I could not ask for a better treat. I settled comfortably on the sofa with a book and spent a blissful couple of hours with Mrs Gaskell. I am nearly finished with Wives and Daughters and loving every page of it.

Later on it was definitely time to give my house a bit of attention and catch up with my every day life. Cleaning, washing, shopping and lots and lots of cooking.

We had a bit of a disaster with our baby plants and the Thai basil is the only one that survived.

It looks so fragile in comparison to the bought one.

Fresh blossoms found their way into our living room. This is bird cherry.

Time for lunch.

Grilling some bread which is later rubbed with garlic.

Topping for my bruschettas are tomatoes with onions dressed in vinegrette and artichoke dip.

Some time ago I have baked lemon cookies.

I really fancied rhubarb and custard, the perfect accompaniment to it are lemon cookies. So I decided to combine the two and make a tart.

The pastry is very simple:

cream 160g of butter (room temperature) with 125g powdered sugar, add zest of 2 lemons and juice of one as well as 1 tsp of vanilla

combine with 260g of flour, 20g of corn starch and 1/2 tsp of salt

chill for 2h

butter the baking tin and heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

instead of rolling out the pastry slice it (bit like carving meat) and place in your baking tin, press the pasty slightly so the whole surface is covered

chill again for 30 min

bake for 20 min or until golden

in the meantime slice the rhubarb and place in a pan with a small knob of butter, 4 tbsp of sugar and a few slices of peeled ginger

stew for 15-20 min

after the pastry and rhubarb have cooled pour the fruit into the pastry shell, top up with good custard

It is delicious. Next time I would probably place the custard in a separate jug though.

On Friday night I was supposed to go to V&A followed by a dinner at Daquise (a rather shocking website but the food is good) with a  friend of mine but she was swamped at work and it didn’t work out. Polish food was on my mind. And then Chihiro left a note in the comments about a new Polish eatery in Elephant and Castle. I was sold.

I know most people hate Elephant and Castle but every time I go I love to look at the Ernö Goldfinger’s development and the beautiful mid century tiling in the scary as hell (after dark) subway.

Mamuska is a ‘milk bar’ or bar mleczny. It’s a canteen style establishment serving very traditional food very very cheaply.

The place have a modern look embracing its location (the E&C shopping center), it looks more like a funky student canteen with modern paintings than your everyday old skool caf.

The food was delicious, just like my mum’s. There were dumplings, stews and schnitzel that covered half of the plate on a mountain of mashed potatoes, all for £5. They also serve full on breakfast for £3.

It’s a great place. And the best thing about it was the clientele, there was a number of nationalities and races, everyone tucking in like it was your regular Chicken Cottage.

I woke up to a rather grey Saturday morning. The sun is still a bit shy but it is definitely getting milder outside. Snowdrops and crocuses are everywhere making the dull wet grounds colorful and the daffodils are nearly in bloom.

I got a lovely parcel from my friend in Amsterdam – a box of Easter eggs. The Dutch Easter eggs are especially nice, hopefully they will survive the next 3 weeks.

The worst thing about this part of the year is lack of good fruit and vegetables. I am so fed up with all the roots, cauliflowers, cabbages and apples that lost their sweetness. It is still some time before we have all the lovely spring peas, chives, radishes and strawberries.  I decided to re-subscribe to Abel&Cole and my first seasonal box is arriving on Friday, hopefully this will stimulate my imagination as they often have things I am not even able to find at my local farmers market.

Last week I got some Jerusalem artichokes and decided to make a warm salad.

The artichokes were roasted for 45 minutes at 180°C with thyme, bay leaf, olive oil and some salt. In a separate tray I roasted some hazelnuts for 10 minutes to make the bitter skins fall off. The artichokes and hazelnuts were combined with rocket, fennel and vinaigrette dressing. I suppose there is still a tiny small room to get creative.

And of course we baked bread again, this one was spectacular, the best one so far. It’s so important to keep going and experimenting, making mistakes is a part of the learning process after all. We made 2 large sourdough loaves, I think our work colleagues will be sampling it on Monday.

The bread was slightly moist, chewy and full of big air bubbles, the nutty flavor was there and the crust was superb. Long proofing time is really the way to do it.

I truly don’t think we will go back to buying bread ever again. Baking is a very enjoyable process and I love feeding the starter, it is like my pet. I had a bit of a comedy moment this morning when the starter fermented so much it popped the tupperwear lid up and spilled out of its container. It is a living creature.

Today is the first proper spring day, the sun is shining and I could feel its warmth on my face. In our bid to discover as much of South West London as possible we cycled down to Tooting Bec Common.

It’s a fantastic common with large green spaces and little bits of wild, lots of brambles and gorse, duck ponds, an outdoor café and the wonderful lido.

When I walked in and saw colorful changing rooms and a blue sheet of water reflecting the sunshine I was speechless.

Dating back to 1906 when it first opened it is the 3rd largest lido in Europe, the largest in England, open to members every single day of the year and to the public from the 24th of May till the end of September. I will be sure to go this year.

I used to go to an open air swimming pool in Amsterdam every week, it didn’t matter if it was cold or rainy, once I was in the water it felt wonderful.

Back at home I am having a fantastic Gaskell time. Two exciting books just hit the shelves: David Eggers’ Zeitoun and Nancy Mitford’s Wigs on the Green. The latter has landed in my mail box already.

Somehow my book pile has managed to grow again and as work is busy (animating dog food and shooting commercial with UK’s favorite pop princess) I don’t get that much time to read. Better get back to it!

This is not an ordinary cheese and pickle baguette, this is a home-made sourdough baguette. The first successful bread we made.

A couple of weeks ago two architects moved into our office, I got talking to them and soon we discovered our mutual love of sourdough bread. It turned out that they have a 9 year old starter and make proper bread at home. I tried to make a starter last summer but failed. Later on that day they made me toast with home-made plum jam (one of them has got an allotment in High Gate) the bread was delicious, close enough to my very favorite bread from Gail’s, the jam was amazing too. I was determined to give it a go.

So to my delight the next day I was given a bit of their starter and a book to get my head around bread making. They also gave me a bunch of very good tips:

- in order to create steam in the oven for good crust, get a squirter for the oven walls and a ‘bath’ to put on a shelf

- get a stone instead of a baking sheet

- get a proofing basket

We had a go earlier this week and made pain de campagne. It was good, but it needed more salt and more kneading.

It was way better than any bread we baked before but we realised we have to keep making it till we are happy.

Yesterday we decided it was the time to make sourdough baguettes, we chose the recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini. It took about 17 hours but the baguettes turned out really well. Actually, they were amazing. It’s a really straight forward process with a lot of proofing time in between including a 12 hour rise in the fridge.

From this:

Via this:

To this:

So we are hooked. I fed my starter again and in few days time we can bake again.

I also baked some sweet buns.

M planted some herbs: basil, oregano and dill.

I sorted out the freezer.

Whenever I buy fresh herbs I only keep a small bunch in a glass with water and freeze the rest for future use. I usually toss them into sandwich bags which is not a great idea as the sizes are uneven and they spill. The solution to this are small take-away containers which will keep my herbs neatly. I even wrote names of the herbs on the boxes, I know, I am sad. Soon enough though I will have my own herb garden.

I got up on Sunday morning wanting to bake with hazelnuts. I have got a large jar of hazelnuts and am eager to use them up before they go off. I flipped through a number of cook books desperately trying to find a good nut recipe but didn’t quite feel satisfied with anything. There was either pastry to make, billion of eggs or tons of butter to use. I had a clear idea of fruit, hazelnuts and yogurt.

Looking through My Favorite Ingredients by Skye Gyngell cherry clafoutis caught my eye and after reading the recipe carefully I decided that I can replace cherries with plums, almonds with hazelnuts and cream with yogurt.

First things first, I had to prepare the nuts. Step 1. blanching. Step 2. roasting for 10 minutes. Step 3. rolling in a tea towel to get rid of bitter skins. Step 4. grinding. And there you go – ground hazelnuts aka hazelnut flour.

I got some ridiculously cheap plums rescued from the supermarket’s shameful rack of things passed the sale by date. The plums were not even entirely ripe let along not suitable for retail. They would be in the skip the next day while absolutely fine to eat.

First step is to stone and cut the plums into chunks, melt 40g of butter till bubbly but not brown, add the plums, 100g of sugar, tsp of ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick and rind of 1 unwaxed lemon and let it cook for 10-15 minutes till the juices thicken.

Place 1/3 of the fruit at a bottom of a low round baking dish and save the rest of fruit and juice for serving. This is super delicious on its own or on porridge.

To make the batter you need to cream 2 egg yolks with 5 tbsp of sugar (Skye says 3 spoons but it was not sweet enough). Combine it with 75g of ground hazelnuts, 75g of sifted flour, 1 stick of ground vanilla. Beat the eggs whites with a pinch of salt and add it to the mixture carefully.

Pour the batter over the fruit and bake in 200 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes. Let it cool for few minutes and serve with the plum sauce.

I will definitely make the proper cherry version this summer.

Now to books. I haven’t read a lot this past week due to going out a lot. So I promise to make up this week. I am actually reading a number of books at the moment, I am wondering how I am even able to do it. I am still going through Chekhov’s stories as I don’t like to read them all at once, I read one story in between books. At the moment it’s Three Years, as everything by Anton it’s very good.

I am re-reading The Golden Age of Couture. Drooling over the beautiful pictures and soaking up all the details about making couture clothes. There is a fair bit about rationing as well and the transition from poor post war years in to the opulence of New Look. This leads to another book on rationing, Utility Furniture and Fashion, which describes the rationing years not only in furniture making but other areas too. This little book is my breakfast read.

I am also enjoying the very silly Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edward-Jones which can tell you one or two interesting things about the true face of the fashion industry. Last but not least is the gripping biography of the Marquess of Bath – Strictly Private – one of Britain’s biggest eccentrics is not afraid to say it all. I am now yearning to visit Longleat. Vogue has arrived as well and it is a very fat issue, M is out climbing tonight, I will be having a night in with my magazine.

Oh, and films. I have seen a couple of films.

Do you remember Dolly Bell? Emir Kusturica’s early film full of human drama, politics, love, suffering and generous dose of the usual music and animal antics.

A woman under the influence by John Cassavetes. Brilliant performance by Gena Rowlands (p.s. her early 70s dresses were to die for) portraying a housewife going through a nervous breakdown, her husband trying to keep the family together in a very dysfunctional manner and committing his wife to an institution. Her suffering is almost tangible, a woman so desperate to please her family she forgets about herself, having no creative outlet she focuses on being a housewife so much she becomes self destructive.

And there was also a bit of music, well kind of. It was experimental avant-garde hosted by Resonance FM in the depths of Hackney. It was interesting. The two first performers were good but the third was not so good, noises that were very unpleasant to the ear. We didn’t stay for the fourth performer. Good experience all together and a very nice cafe, if you are ever in Dalston you must visit. It’s called Cafe Oto. It serves cakes, snacks, Montmouth coffee and the whole place is furnished with vintage Ercol chairs and tables. I loved it.

My weekend started at Osteria Antica Bologna in Northcote Road, a nice family run Italian restaurant where I enjoyed delicious scallops with lentil, apple and parsley salad accompanied by good wine and fabulous company. I actually tried to recreate the lentil salad but it wasn’t as good, truth be told I used the wrong kind of apple. If you are ever in Clapham Junction area do go, it’s a fantastic place for lunch, dinner or drink. Beware of a slow service but the wait will be worth it!

Saturday was all about food shopping and a very early spring cleaning of the flat, we have thrown out a bagful of old papers and organised a lot of cupboards. We also visited the local charity shop to offload some stuff where I couldn’t resist buying F.Scott Fitzgerald collection of short stories for 50p.

After last two weeks of ebay madness I hardly have things to get rid of which feels so good.

Sunday was spent on cooking and playing with my little niece. I baked Allegra McEvedy’s Swedish apple cake which is more of a pudding than a cake, especially when served with good vanilla ice cream. Very easy recipe, it takes about 10-15 minutes to put everything together and 50 min to bake.

Got to read a little too, Vogue and ELLE arrived, The Sunday Times had a good article on Mad Men which btw won the best drama at Golden Globes for the 3rd year in a row, well deserved!

I am reading Chekhov’s stories and this weekend I enjoyed Ward no6. I also got D.V. by Diana Vreeland which I am very much looking forward to. Following the Norman Parkinson show at Somerset House I decided to re-read The Golden Age of Couture – the book accompaniment to one of my favorite exhibitions.

I watched the rather bad Breaking and Entering (a total waste of time) and the very graphic yet beautifully shot Antichrist.

Few things I am looking forward to:

a visual feast of A Single Man thanks to Dan Bishop

visiting V&A to see Quilts, Grace Kelly and Horace Walpole shows, and might even pop in to see a rather intriguing sounding The Metropolitan Police Service’s Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries

Foal and Tuffin at Fashion and Textile Museum should be fun, along with a stroll down Bermondsey Street

William Eggleston at Victoria Miro Gallery

Irving Penn Portraits at NPG

whole lot of good stuff at the Tate Galleries

buying some plants – I quite like the idea of mother-in-law’s tongue in nice mid-century pots, at the moment I own no plants whatsoever, even my basil died so this will be a challenge.

Yesterday I got home drenched with cold rain, the only day I forgot my raincoat the sky has decided to open, just my luck!

Quick change of clothing and off I went to the supermarket to get supplies for my first truffle session.

It’s amazing how easy they are to make, I shall be making more of them for Christmas gifts.

Recipe for about 20 truffles:

100ml thick cream

150g good quality dark and milk chocolate (or only dark chocolate if preferable)

cocoa for coating

2 tbsp amaretto

Break the chocolate in small pieces. Heat the cream till nearly boiling and pour over the chocolate, stir till smooth. Add alcohol and stir in. Cover your bowl with cling film and chill overnight.

Next day roll small balls and cover them with cocoa.

I used Green&Black’s 85% cocoa solids chocolate and milk chocolate with whole almonds which worked great with the amaretto. You can use brandy or other alcohol or skip it altogether.

You can also add other nuts inside – roasted hazelnuts will work a treat and form lovely round balls (almonds made my truffles wonky).

The cocoa coating is also optional – crushed nuts, coconut, cinnamon, coarse sea salt or even chili can work when combined well.

I didn’t manage to take a picture as I was making the truffles when the sun wasn’t even up!

Tonight I am going to make them again for my friends in Leeds. And then next week probably for someone else….