Cocktails and Dreams

Remember that film? If you're lucky, not well. But the title seems apt to introduce the culinary contribution of Cocktail Party Physics. Go to the site and scroll way down and you'll find the "Physics Cocktails" in the left-hand sidebar, including the Black Hole (5 liquers, with the tagline "so called because after one of these, you have already passed the event horizon of inebriation") and the Quantum Theory (guaranteed to collapse your wave function). Well, it is Friday, after all.

The Quantum Theory:

3/4 oz Rum

1/2 oz Strega

1/4 oz Grand Marnier

2 oz Pineapple juice

Fill with Sweet and sour

Pour rum, strega and Grand Marnier into a collins glass. Add pineapple and fill with sweet and sour. Sip until all the day's super-positioned states disappear.

There are also lots of interesting posts to read. Enjoy both! But probably not at the same time - the posts deserve more focussed attention than you'll be capable of after drinking one of the cocktails...

Muesli - not too sweet!

I like muesli, but increasingly find that they are too sweet, even those without added sugar. So, I did the obvious thing and mixed my own!

I didn't find any guidance online for relative proportions of ingredients (admittedly I didn't look too hard, but how wrong could I go?), so I did a taste-test of the cereals to find which I liked most individually, and determined that, actually, they don't taste all that different (with the exception of oats). The bigger differentiator is the texture: wheat flakes are softest, rye flakes are hardest. Oats are far softer and flourier. So decision made: equal quantities of wheat, barley and rye flakes, a bit more of oats. This is also appealing as oats are significantly cheaper than the others. Win-win! On the subject of buying the cereals individually, I found them in Whole Foods.

After that, it is just a question of determining what extras one is going to add. Well, this is simple - just think about what you like! I am partial to lots of nuts and seeds and, as I've already implied, only a bit of added sweetness. I toasted the almonds and hazelnuts to intensify the nutty flavour and really bring out the crunch, but not the cashews as I thought that might be a bit much, and some slightly waxier pieces make for more varied mouthfuls. Note that toasted nuts go rancid faster than raw ones though, so if you aren't going to eat your muesli up within a few weeks - say, a month - then it is probably best to skip this step. I used flame raisins, which are big, plump and full of flavour. You can add anything you like though - if you like sweeter museli add more fruit and less nuts, and try different fruits, or different nuts or seeds. The shelves at Holland and Barratts should provide ample inspiration. Next time, I would probably go for slightly less additives to cereals (a bit too nutty), and cranberries are very tempting...

To almost fill a tall Kilner jar (825g total weight):

100g wheat flakes

100g rye flakes

100g barley flakes

200g rolled oats

75g almonds, roughly chopped

50g hazelnuts

50g cashew nuts, roughly chopped

100g flame raisins

25g pumpkin seeds

25g sunflower seeds

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Spread the hazelnuts and chopped almonds out on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, until fragrant and slightly coloured. Set aside to cool completely. Once cold, measure all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, stir in the nuts and decant into an airtight jar or tub to keep it fresh.

Rye Bread

So, the bread using the starter was a fail. I'm not even going to go into the humiliating details, just believe me that it was bad. We are now on take two with the starter. If this is also a dud, I'm going to abandon the friendship bread and go for straight sourdough. I'm a bit afraid to go down that route, as I have assumed that this is (even) harder to get going, as you don't give it a pile of yeast and lots of sugar to start with but rely on just yeasts in the air (or a tiny smidgen of packet yeast) and the flour as the food, but it's conceivable that I am wrong. Some might say likely, but if they do they won't get any bread. And since I am entertaining (and feeding) myself with rye bread made the usual (for me) way until the next starter experiment is ready, that would be a great shame for them. Because it is delicious. This was the best bread that I can recall making. It was packed with flavour and rose beautifully to give a crumb which was soft but tightly woven and perfect for sandwiches. We are going to make it again at the first Anglo-Asian Bakeathon tomorrow - I can't wait!

See how much it has risen in the oven? The above picture was immediately before it went in. And you can see too the "stretch marks" along the fissure where the long gluten chains are all lined up and give the bread it's structure. This is what kneading prepares them to do. The shape of the loaf (high on one side vs. the other - most obvious in the top picture) is yet another demonstration of the uneven temperature distribution in my oven. Le sigh.

Makes one 1lb loaf:

250g rye flour

250g white bread flour

7g sachet dried yeast

1.5 tsp salt

300ml warm water

2 tbsp olive oil (I used 1tbsp strongly flavoured extra virgin and 1tbsp very mild as I'm out of regular)

Mix the flours, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and oil. Mix with a round-bladed knife and then your hands to form a soft ball of dough. If the dough seems too sticky to knead, add a bit more flour; if it won't form a cohesive, soft ball add a little more water. Rub your hands with flour to remove all of the stuck on stickiness. Turn it out onto a floured work surface (ideally around hip height for maximum leverage) and knead until smooth and springy. Wash out your mixing bowl, oil lightly, put the ball of dough in and give it a couple of turns to get the surface lightly covered with oil too. Cover the bowl with cling film or a damp, clean tea towel and set aside until doubled in size (about an hour, depending on the temperature etc.).

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Punch down the dough (literally, punch it! SO fun!), turn out on to the work surface and knead again briefly. Press out to a rectangle three times the size of your 1lb (500g) loaf tin. Fold one end in and then the other (imagine folding an A4 letter to go in a business-size envelope) and then put in the tin seam-side down. Leave to prove for about 15 - 30 minutes, until it has risen to above the top of the tin. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until it looks done on top and sounds hollow when you rap on the bottom with your knuckles. Sit on a wire rack, out of the tin, to cool before trying to slice it.

Red Salad: Radish, Beetroot and Kohlrabi

Total crunch fest! When I made this (weeks and weeks ago - I am not efficient about writing these up, which is a pity as when I eat them they are seasonal. Note to self: stop faffing), I had in mind something along the lines of the Carrot, Avocado and Cashew Salad, though here the contrasts are more about the flavours than textures. And it's so pretty! White, white and pink, and deep purpley-red. With little yellow flecks. What more could you want? Oh yes, as fork. Just don't try to eat it curled up in a chair, straight out of the pyrex casserole in which you mixed it, because you will drop it down your front. And on the pale green chair. And then on the floor when you stand up trying not to get more on the seat. Trust me. I know.



One very greedy (but so healthy!) portion, or perhaps more sensibly, two:

5 radishes

1/4 kohlrabi

1 small-medium beetroot

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Pinch of cumin seeds

1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Dry fry the spices in a small frying pan then tip out on to a plate or sheet of kitchen roll to cool. Top and tail the radishes and chop in to quarters. Peel the kohlrabi and slice into short, thin batons. Peel the beetroot (wear gloves if you don't like having vibrant magenta hands) and dice or julienne. Put all the vegetables and spices in a bowl, add the lemon juice and oil and mix thoroughly. Gobble. It might improve of steeping, but I wouldn't know.

Starter started!

Shortly before heading off on my second holiday to Morocco, I saw this post at Asymptotia which introduced me to Amish Friendship Bread. The idea is one starts with a bread "starter" - a live yeast culture - which must be loved and nurtured and fed for a few days, after which you give some to a friend(s), make bread with some and retain the rest to replenish for future use. Being on the wrong side of the pond to even bother asking if I could have some of Clifford's starter, I Googled to find out how to make my own. It's not hard! Just flour, sugar, milk and a bit of yeast, all mixed together and left to ferment. If you want to make sourdough, the process is very similar except that you are not supposed to add any yeast (or a tiny pinch at most) but let the naturally occurring yeasts in the air colonize the mix. There are some cute articles on the science of bread-making (plus recipes) at The Science of Cooking for the uninitiated.

Instructions for making you own starter are below. Think of it as a pet: it has to be taken care of each day. Note the quantities given are the total you will need for the 10 day cycle. On the first day you only need 1/3 of it, so don't let shortage of ingredients stop you. I give US cup measures as this makes the formula simple: equal measures of flour, sugar and milk. Weighing it out obscures this symmetry - a cup of flour is not the same weight as a cup of sugar or milk. If you don't have proper cup measures, just use a measuring jug: 250ml of each.


Another important note is that metallic bowls and implements are best avoided as they can be reactive and kill off the yeast. Use plastic, glass or ceramic bowls and a wooden spoon.

When my batch reaches maturity I will post how I used it to make bread - assuming it is successful! And of course, at the same time I will be giving some away to my friends! In the interim, I'm making rye bread for the first time.

For a 10-day cycle (another cup each of flour, milk and sugar will be required on day 15 and every 5th day thereafter if you want to keep it going):

1 sachet dried yeast

1/4 cup warm (NOT hot*) water (60ml or 4tbsp)

3 cups flour (or 750ml)

3 cups sugar (or 750ml)

3 cups milk (or 750ml)

*if it burns you it'll burn the yeast too - remember, it's alive and you want it to stay that way!

Mix the yeast with the warm water and let stand until a bit frothy - about 10-15 minutes. Thoroughly mix the flour, sugar and milk to a smooth, thick cream then stir in the yeasty liquid. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to sit. This is day 1.
Day 2: stir starter
Day 3: stir starter
Day 4: stir starter
Day 5: add another cup each of flour, sugar and milk and stir until smooth
Day 6: stir starter
Day 7: stir starter
Day 8: stir starter
Day 9: stir starter
Day 10: Congratulations - your starter is ready! Remove 1 cup of starter to make bread, put 1 cup in a ziplock bag and give to a baker-friend. To the remainder add another cup each of flour, sugar and milk. You are now back to day 1.

Cauliflower and parsnip curry

Another "what am I going to do with all this veg?" recipe. Yes, we are still struggling with it and Sarah was away again this weekend. So on Saturday evening I tried to make some space in the fridge and get ahead for the week by making a vegetable curry to take in as lunches. The cauliflower in this was from two boxes ago and the parsnips have been languishing for one week; heaven knows when the celery appeared. This certainly didn't make any in-roads into the latest selection.

It is a very basic curry, using ready ground spices, in which pretty much any left-over bits can be used up - squash, potatoes, broccoli, leafy greens... And don't worry if they look a bit sad already - any loss of colour is irrelevant once the turmeric and paprika are in!


Canned pulses or meat could be added if you feel the need for more protein. Skip the lentils if you don't happen to have any, they're just to provide some bulk to the sauce and you can compensate by using less water and living with less sauce. (Proper curry sauce is based on ghee-softened laboriously-chopped onions; this is the healthier, simpler alternative.) Fresh chilli can be replaced with a pinch of chilli flakes or some ground chilli powder, say half a teaspoon (or more to taste).

Before and after:

For a good four portions:

2 tbsp oil (olive, vegetable, sunflower, whatever)

2 smallish onions (or one big 'un)

2 parsnips (or one enormous bruiser)

2 sticks celery

1 head of cauliflower

1 green pepper

1 green chilli

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

3 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp ground paprika

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can water (i.e. fill the tomato can with water to rinse and measure simultaneously)

1/2 American cup measure or about 125g red lentils

2 tbsp concentrated tomato puree

Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Chop onion into small wedges and add to pan. Peel and dice parsnip, then chuck in with the onion on a medium heat. Finely (very finely, even) chop the celery and add to the pan. Finely chop or mince the chilli, removing the seeds unless you have a taste for the very spicy, and stir into the already softening vegetables. Stir in all of the ground spices at the same time. If it looks like the spices might burn on to the bottom of the pan, add some water now. Cut your cauliflower up into small florets and the pepper into bite-sized pieces and stir into the pan together with the canned tomatoes, lentils, water (reduced roughly accordingly if you already added some) and tomato puree. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the lentils are done. Remove the lid if it is not thickening or add more water if it looks like drying out and sticking to the bottom. Before eating, taste and salt as required.

TAMALES!!

OMG! TAMALES!

Okay, deep breaths...

Phew. I think I have myself back under control now. But the excitement was very great. I went to Borough Market this morning, and there was a Mexican stall which, though it was sadly not selling tamales, did have the wherewithal to make them. Well, corn husks and masa, the filling will have to come from elsewhere.

I have had tamales precisely once. Well, on two days, but they were consecutive and so count in my mind as one occasion. I spent a few days in Los Angeles back in 2005, and went to the Hollywood Farmer's Market and had tamales for breakfast from a stall there. And they were SO GOOD! I have been missing them ever since. Sob. If anyone knows of a source in London, please, please tell me. More likely, if you are based in the UK, you are thinking "what's a tamale?" Basically, starting from the inside out, they are some sort of filling - usually meat-based I believe, encased in corn dough/paste all wrapped up in corn husks and steamed. To eat, you open up the husk wrapper, add sauce and eat. Preferably in the LA (or even Mexican!) sunshine, but I'm not going to get finickity about the weather if I've got a tamale.

So anyway, I have corn husks and masa, and now just have to find a recipe, get the rest of the ingredients and find a weekend to make them! I can hardly wait.