Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Before I begin tonight, I'd like to invite you to put yourself forward to write me a little round-up. It's been a while since I had a guest poster for this little feature, and I always enjoy reading other people's picks so much. Plus, at the moment, all the recipes featuring mushrooms, aubergines, olives, fennel, coffee, etc are being instantly eliminated. Yes, for a food blogger I have a fairly long list of dislikes, as my friends never tire of informing me. My justification is that I have very refined taste buds, and therefore tastes are stronger in my mouth, or something. Not sure there's any scientific basis to that, but I'm working on saying it with such quiet authority that no one will question me. Anyway, if you do fancy doing a round-up, email me at norathesplorer at gmail dot com and we can talk details. 
And now, to the food! First into the round-up bucket this week was this Beef Ragu Papardelle with Gremolata from Food Stories, a slow cooked sauce made with beef shin, sprinkled with a mix of parsley, garlic and lemon zest to add a bit of zing. Yum! But if you're after a slightly simpler pasta dish, can I send you off in the direction of Bucatini all'amatriciana from The Pink Peppercorn? It's a sauce made with just bacon, onions, tomatoes and chilli - simplicity at its best. And for a spot of Spanish pasta (for the Spanish speakers among you), head over to La Cocina de Lechuza for Fideos con almejas - a Spanish version of Spaghetti alle vongole. 
Bread is something that I'm always intending to make, but very rarely do. And sourdough bread is one of the best, but also one of the most intimidating. So I was delighted to see Sourdough for Dummies at Just Cook It, with day by day instructions for making your starter and all. With that level of detail, I think even I could become a bread making queen. Though in the meantime, I might just 'settle' for Wholemeal banana bread from Cooking at Marystow. What?! It's still bread, isn't it? Oh, and while we're on bread, check out this round-up of the Monthly Mingle at Life's a feast - the theme was chocolate and bread and there is A LOT of good stuff in there.
Moving on, I spotted this Cauliflower and caramelised onion tart at Smitten Kitchen, which looks absolutely scrumptious, minus the mustard layer (yes, add that to the list of my dislikes!). These Egg Baked Potatoes from The Daily Spud combine two of my favourite ingredients, and it's such a great why-didn't-I-think-of-that idea. Another great combination is this Broccoli Cheese Soup from The Urban Spork. And while we're still in the savoury arena, I also rather liked the look of both this Honey seared salmon with sesame noodles from The Goddess's Kitchen and this Chicken and 3-rice salad from What Rachel Ate, which both look like tasty, nutritious dinner options. And I'll be saving up this recipe for Grilled Zucchini Rolls from Apples and Butter for the summertime - can't you just see yourself sitting in the park with a swanky picnic, popping one of these babies into your mouth, while the sun beats down on your face....? (Can you tell I'm officially sick of winter?)
But, perhaps the way to appreciate winter is to stuff your face with cake, safe in the knowledge that no one's going to see your wobbly bits for a while. And if that's your policy, I have a few recommendations for you. Just within the realms of cake, there was a host of triumphs this week: Brown sugar bundt cake from Let Her Bake Cake, an Apple cake which is almost a pie from The English Kitchen, Almond, orange and lemon cake from Not Another Food Blog, Lemon curd and blueberry loaf cake from Chocolate Teapot and the most gorgeous Lemon cupcakes from The Red Deer. But that's not it for sweet stuff, oh no. For a start, there are these lovely Tozzetti, or Italian hazelnut biscuits from Broxholm Road, which look all crunchy and nutty. These Carrot and cardamom muffins from Gin and Crumpets look so spicy and soft. And I can't finish without mentioning these Black Sesame dessert dumplings from Hollow Legs - very exciting and delicious-looking!
And before I sign off, I must just thank Sarah of Simply Cooked for her Happy 101 award - thank you so much Sarah! My 10 things I love and my nominees are in my post here, and if you haven't checked out my nominations, I highly recommend you have a look.

Rhubarb swirl cheesecake

Avid readers of this blog may remember the time I threw a batch of cupcakes out of the kitchen window. This may have led you to believe that I am slightly clumsy. And nothing I'm about to say is going to disprove that hypothesis. For last night, all of 2 minutes after our guests had departed from a night of sushi making and poker, I managed to drop the leftover slab of rhubarb cheesecake face down on the floor. Twice. I was SO annoyed with myself, because this was a fabulous, delicious dessert. Mr Splorer immediately suggested that I make another one, so I think he liked it. In fact, he's not even a massive fan of rhubarb, but it looks like I've finally converted him. Hurrah!

I was particularly pleased with this cheesecake because it was a bit of an experiment. With lots of cream cheese in the fridge and having spotted rhubarb in the greengrocer's, I knew what I wanted to make, but I couldn't find the recipe I wanted. So I took the gingernut biscuit base (rhubarb + ginger = heaven) from The British Larder and the cheesey filling from BBC Good Food. Then the stewed rhubarb was such a lovely pink colour I decided to go a bit swirly. And it turned out just lovely - the sugar in the rhubarb mixture caramelised at the edges, the rhubarb flavour mixed wonderfully with the cheese and the sweetness was just right. It went down extremely well with the guests  - at one point one of them just took a fork to the whole thing. So I'd highly recommend this as a dessert. In fact, it's a mystery to me why you don't see more rhubarb cheesecakes around. I shall be doing my best to rectify that!

Rhubarb swirl cheesecake

Serves 8-10

For the rhubarb filling: 

500g fresh rhubarb

150g caster sugar 

1 tsp ground ginger

For the base: 

190g gingernuts

75g unsalted butter

45g oats

For the cheese filling: 

600g cream cheese

2 tbsp plain flour

175g caster sugar

a few drops of vanilla extract

2 eggs, plus 1 yolk

1 142ml pot soured cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. 

Chop the rhubarb into small slices of about 2 cm. Put the rhubarb, caster sugar and ginger together in a saucepan and stew over a low heat until the rhubarb has broken down and the mixture has reduced to a puréeish texture. This took me about 35 minutes. Leave to cool a little.

While that's cooking, line a large (23cm) spring form cake tin with greaseproof paper. Melt the butter for the base. Crush the biscuits and oats in a food processor (or bash them with a rolling pin, if you've got some frustrations to deal with!). Mix in the butter and press into the bottom of the tin.

Beat the ingredients for the cheese filling together until it's smooth. Pour half of the stewed rhubarb mixture onto the base, then the cheese filling, then the rest of the rhubarb mixture. Swirl the two together with a knife and cook for 40 minutes to an hour, until the cheesecake is set, though still a little wobbly in the middle. Leave to cool in the tin.

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Evening all. I can't help but notice that I've been utterly useless at providing posts to accompany recent special days, i.e. Valentine's Day and Pancake Day. Don't worry, I was still eating, though Mr Splorer made the Valentine's dinner. (Delicious - the boy is learning well!) But perhaps the round-up will also give me the chance to redress the balance, as I skilfully link to other people's posts for these happy holidays. 
If it's my turn to cook next Valentine's Day, I might have to make these cute Valentine's biscuits from The Caked Crusader. The CC describes them as "crispy mouthfuls of biscuity heaven" - and I suspect Mr 'Splorer might agree. And for a pancake day offering, I give you Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes from The English Kitchen, Spiced Apple Compote with Buttermilk Pancakes from The Red Mangetout and Savoury Potato Crêpes from The Daily Spud. However, I've no intention of waiting until next February until I try them. (Am I the only person who invariably spends Ash Wednesday thinking 'I really should have pancakes more often'?) 
So that's the traditional English festivals, but don't think I haven't noticed that Sunday was also Chinese New Year and in celebration of that fact, I simply must encourage you to make one of these fabulous recipes for dumplings: Chinese Dumplings from Gourmet Chick and Dim Sum from Girl Interrupted Eating. Those really are some of my favourite things in the world - I seriously think I could live off them. 
Moving on before I get too overexcited, there were quite a few relatively simple but tasty mid-week stand-bys around this week. Firstly, I have been lusting over Food Stories' Best Chicken Sandwich of My Life. I LOVE the idea of using the oil left over from roasting a chicken to make mayonnaise. Then there's Tag for tea, or a Nigella recipe for tagliatelle with roast chicken thighs, rosemary, sultanas and pinenuts, from Domestic Goddess in Disguise. I can't believe I've never tried it, but it sounds like a Nigella classic! And this Poppy seed and citrus sponge from Clotted Cream Diaries looks like a great mid-week cake - simple but scrumptious. 
Next, I can totally sympathise with David Hall's dilemma of loving starters in Indian restaurants above all, so I am determined to try his Courgette pakora at home, where I can eat as much as I want. The Goat's Cheese and Onion Tartlets from The Red Mangetout also look like they'd make great starters - and I'd also want to wolf down a huge pile! Other savoury goods that tickled my fancy this week included two fantastic Italian themed dishes from Chocolate Teapot: Four cheese gnocchi and Insalata di zucca e cipolle rosse (Roast pumpkin and red onion salad). And while we're travelling the world, check out this Korean spicy marinated pork from Hummingbird Appetite and this Bandeja Paisa from My Colombian Recipes - a couple of most delectable looking plates of food. 
And back to the British Isles, with this Cornish Banana Cake from The English Kitchen, which gets a possibly record-breaking third mention with these Raspberry Jam Bars. Just too many good sweet things to resist! Then we have a couple of lemon based puds - one of which was my childhood favourite, a Lemon Meringue Pie from everybody likes sandwiches. And the other is rather more daring and unusual, a Lemon and chilli tart from Just Cook It, and made with chillis from round my way. Another unusual sweet this week was this Overnight apple and spice cake from Apple and Spice, which is layers of apples baked with spiced sugar. Not cake as we usually know it, but a pretty fab thing to do with apples nevertheless.
And I'd like to finish today with two cakes, a fab breakfast and something I've never tried. Firstly, the cakes: this Torta Caprese from a forkful of spaghetti and this Sour cream spice cake from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice both look like such delicious, flavoursome cakes that they've gone straight to the top of my to-make list. For breakfast, I want to give these Lemon and sultana wholemeal drop scones from Domestic Godddess in Disguise a try - I think they'd really set me up for the day. And finally, I must admit that chai is something with which I have the most limited experience. I think that trying someone else's chai latte in Starbucks might be the sum total, but I'm feeling inspired to learn more by this post for Chai concentrate from Let Her Bake Cake. Gotta keep 'sploring new culinary avenues, you see. (Plus it sounds yummy!)

Black bottomed cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day and/or Chinese New Year! Although, actually, this post really has nothing to do with either of them - these cupcakes were baked because the world felt a bit grey, cold and February-y and I thought it needed cheering up. Obviously I can't claim to have cheered up the whole world, but the workmates seemed pretty chirpy when I brought out a tin of these little fellas! Though I did have to do quite a lot of explaining about the name, especially as the bottoms are not really black, but a delicious chocolatey brown. Ah well, just blame it on the cookbook, that's what I say. But despite the controversy about the name, they were a triumph. Squishy, dense little chocolate cupcakes topped with a cream cheesey chocolate chip mixture. Hence the brown bottoms. Easy to make, but a bit more exciting than normal plain cupcakes (and so you can get away with not messing around with icing!). I'll be making these again. 
Having seen the post at Chocolate Log Blog (Choclette's cupcakes look beautiful!), I can also pass on that the recipe is online here.  

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Inevitably when Wednesday rolls round, my Google Reader is full to bursting with unread posts. Actually it's a good job I have to go through it once a week, or God knows how behind I'd get! But it's quite interesting to see the trends of what everyone's making. I find it fascinating that, although I'm looking at what such a diverse group of people are cooking, you always see a theme developing, especially I guess amongst UK bloggers. At the moment, I think we all need a bit of cheering up, as it's all about brownies and other chocolate based goodies. And it just so happens that I have a batch of Black bottomed cupcakes cooling in my kitchen, inspired by this post from the Chocolate Log Blog, in order to perk up the workmates tomorrow, not to mention give the Hummingbird Bakery book another go after the disaster with the pumpkin cupcakes. So far they look pretty good, but I'll keep you posted! 
So, if you need cheering up, or need something sweet and scrumptious to show you care this Sunday, I offer you selected highlights of the chocolatey treats floating around this week. Firstly, a brownie recipe: Fudge walnut brownies from The English Kitchen, which Marie describes as fudgy but not sludgy - marvellous. Next check out these Chocolate puddle cookies from 101 Cookbooks. I'd love them just for the name, to be honest, but they also look spectacularly yummy - all crackled crust and squishy insides. Chocolate caramel banana tart from Tartelette looks so rich and gorgeous - a chocolate crust, a caramel-peanut butter-banana layer and a topping of chocolate ganache. But the one chocolatey number that I'm determined to make as soon as humanly possible is Pain au Chocolat from dinner with Julie. It's one of those things that you think is definitely just for the pâtissiers (yes, I had to check that one in Wikipedia), but Julie makes it sound so doable - and so desirable! 
However, it's not all about the chocolate. I can also offer you a variety of other sweet things - valentine's treats a-go-go! These Rhubarb melting moments from The British Larder are so gorgeous - a perfect, unique treat for a loved one. For something a little fruity, how about either a Sicilian orange cake from Jam and clotted cream or a Sticky spiked double apple cake from Let Her Bake Cake? Meanwhile, Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen can always be relied upon to produce a delicious citrussy dessert and these Tangy lemon tartlets with a burnt sugar crust look particularly fabulous. And check out these Sardinian carnival doughnuts from Broxholm Road - bring on Carnival, I say! 
Right, onto the savoury deliciousness. Every time I see gnocchi on a blog, I want to make them, but I think I may well start with these Spinach and ricotta gnocchi with sage and butter sauce from Rachel eats. Such a classic combo, I can almost taste the little fellas. Speaking of classic combos, this Split pea and ham soup from Foodycat sounds absolutely yummy. And there have been a couple of classic dishes from France and Italy that I need to get around to trying - this White bean and sausage cassoulet from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice and Spaghetti amatriciana from Italian foodies. They both look so very tasty.
Another savoury something that caught my eye this week was these Polenta chips with garlicky chipotle beans from Allotment 2 Kitchen. Isn't polenta chips a great idea? It's basically chips and beans, but much better! Maybe I could accompany them with Crispy, crunchy onion rings from A Wee Bit of Cooking for the full superior junk food experience. Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking of it. 
Other stupendous suppers that I've got my eye on include this Potato, salmon and cream cheese chowder from the Daily Spud, these Tex-Mex stuffed pasta shells from Elly says opa! and this Chicken baked with lentils from the Wednesday Chef. And as I'm feeling very into strong, Asian flavours (am resisting the urge to say 'big flavours', refuse ...  to ... be ... brainwashed ... by ... Masterchef!) at the moment, I really like the look of this Two lentil makhani dal with freshly baked peshwari naan breads from the British Larder and this Chinese slow cooked pork shoulder with five spice sauce from Girl interrupted eating (though neither of them are easy to say quickly!).
And finally, if you want to cook something delicious for a Valentine's Day Sunday lunch, allow me to suggest Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic from Food Stories. Just the thing to tear apart with your bare hands!

Crispy aromatic duck with Chinese pancakes

Every so often, it's nice to make the effort to make something a bit special, a bit outside your comfort zone. I like to make the most of little sis's visits to do something along those lines. Last time she was in town (in May, I notice - how neglected I have been!) we made sushi and this time I decided it was to be crispy duck pancakes, everyone's Chinese restaurant favourite. Well, mine at least! 

Doing a little preliminary web surfing, reports of making it were not positive, the general consensus seeming to be that it's too much effort and it is doesn't taste as good as in a restaurant anyway. But undeterred, I picked up a copy of Ken Hom's Foolproof Chinese Cookery from a charity shop, phoned up the butchers to make sure they had a duck and sent Mr Splorer off to buy a wok big enough to steam a duck in. I rubbed the duck with five spice powder and sichuan peppercorns inside and out (though for inside I just poked it about a bit with a wooden spoon - I'm not THAT committed to my crispy duck!) and left it for 24 hours. I steamed the duck in the wok for two hours and then left it to dry for another two. Finally, I graciously allowed Mr Splorer to deep fry the quartered duck. 

And was it worth it? Oh yes, it was! It was delicious, and did taste rather like the yummy duck pancakes you have in a restaurant. It served five of us, with the bones picked totally clean. Combined with home-made Chinese pancakes, a rather scrumptious Hoisin sauce from the Chinese supermarket, cucumber and spring onion, it was a heavenly thing to scoff down on a Sunday lunchtime. And although it was time-consuming, none of the individual steps were difficult. I'm not sure I'll be making it often, but (now we have the massive wok), it would be the perfect thing for a special occasion, or when I really want to impress! 

Crispy aromatic duck from Foolproof Chinese Cookery by Ken Hom

Serves 4-6

1 2.75 kg duck, fresh or frozen

6 slices of fresh root ginger, 7.7 cm × 5 mm (3 × ¼ in)

6 spring onions, cut into 7.5 cm (3 in) lengths

plain flour for dusting

1.2 litres (2 pints) groundnut oil 

For the spice rub: 

2 tbsp Chinese five-spice powder

65g (2½ oz) Sichuan peppercorns 

25g (1 oz) whole black peppercorns

3 tbsp cumin seeds

200g (7 oz) rock salt

[I didn't use this much, as I only had 20g Sichuan peppercorns, and it still tasted good!]

If necessary, defrost the duck. Rinse well and blot dry with kitchen paper. Mix all the spice rub ingredients together and rub the duck inside and outside with the mixture. Wrap up with cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Take the duck out of the fridge, unwrap and brush off the excess spices. Stuff the ginger and spring onions into the cavity and put the duck on a heatproof plate. Set up a steamer or the rack in a wok. Fill it with 2cm of water and bring to the boil. Lower the duck and plate into the steamer/wok and cover tightly. 

Steam for two hours, pouring off the excess fat from time to time. Add more water if you need to. Remove the duck and remove the ginger and spring onions. Leave it to cool for two hours, until it is dry and cool. 

Just before you want to serve it, cut the duck into quarters and dust with flour. Heat the groundnut oil in a wok or deep fat fryer. When it is almost smoking, deep-fry the pieces of duck two at a time. Fry the breasts for about 8-10 minutes and the legs for about 12-15 minutes, until the duck is crisp and heated through. Drain on kitchen paper. You can shred the duck with a fork, though we had fun ripping the meat off the bone with our hands! 

Chinese pancakes from Foolproof Chinese Cookery by Ken Hom

275g (10oz) plain flour, with extra for dusting

250ml (8 fl oz) very hot water

2 tbsp sesame oil

Put the flour in a bowl and gradually stir in the water with a fork. Add more water if the mixture seems dry. Turn the dough our and knead it for about 8 minutes, or until it is smooth. You might need to dust with flour if the mixture is sticky. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and rest it for 30 minutes. 

Knead the dough again for about 5 minutes, again dusting with flour if necessary. Form it into a long roll about 45cm (18 in) long and 2.5 cm (1 in) thick. Cut the role into 18 equal pieces and shape each one into a ball. 

Put the sesame oil into a small bowl. Take two of the balls. Dip the bottom of one ball in the sesame oil and place the oiled side on top of the other ball. With a rolling pin, roll the two pancakes simultaneously into a circle about 15 cm (6 in) in diameter. 

Heat a frying pan or wok over a low flame. Put the pancake into the pan and cook it for 1-2 minutes until it looks dry. Turn over and cook the other side until it's also dry. Remove from the pan and let it cool a little. When it is cool enoguh to handle, peel the two pancakes apart. Repeat to cook all the pancakes. 

To reheat them, steam them or microwave them wrapped in cling film. (Apparently if you heat them in the oven, they dry out.)

My tip: make sure that the pancakes are getting cooked all over - we made ours a bit too big for the frying pan at first, and it was much more difficult to separate the two pancakes.

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Would it be rude to begin a Wednesday round-up of deliciousness with something I wrote? Maybe, but who cares! My first ever guest post has just popped up at Jo's Kitchen - Spanish bean stew. And for once, I can really vouch for its deliciousness, as it's a winner. And I bet it would go wonderfully with a spot of delicious soda bread, either in loaf form, like this recipe from Let Her Bake Cake, or in these little scones, from Cooking at Marystow.

This week there were quite a few delicious spicy goodies around. First of all, take a look at this Keema shepherd's pie from a forkful of spaghetti - a combination of Indian dishes to make a spicy, tasty version of the classic dish. And while we're on Indian food, check out this Chana masala from Smitten Kitchen. Then there's this Mexican steak and green poblano rice from Dinner Diary, made with some tangy, smokey dried guajillo chillies, not to mention Chicken chilli burgers from Elly says opa! 

For other savoury treats this week, I'd suggest starting off by heading over to Amuse Bouche to check out this Salmon en croute, which is no simple salmon wrapped in pasty - there's goat's cheese, there's a tarragon crepe, there's Parma ham, there's even a 'chimney'! A simpler dinner option might be Nigel Slater's Lamb and beetroot meatballs with a cucumber and yoghurt dressing from What Rachel Ate. Healthy, earthy, pink meatballs - yum! Then there's this Mussels, leek and bacon chowder from Dinner du jour - what a great combination. Finally, for the Spanish speakers amongst you (or just look at the pictures!) there's these yuca tamales from Costa Rica, Mr Splorer's homeland. They're very popular round those parts, so I really must give them a try sometime. 

This week there were lots and lots of delicious sweets to choose from. (Is everyone giving up on the January diets?!) These Chocolate oatmeal almost-candy bars from Mainly Baking have nice healthy oats in them, but the chocolate and condensed milk rather preclude them from being a health food. These Best cocoa brownies from Smitten Kitchen are intriguing as Deb has been converted to brownies made with cocoa rather than chocolate through this recipe. Sue's chocolate custard bread pudding from Life's a feast looks like an amazing squishy chocolatey pud. And these Berry scrolls from Chocolate Teapot look just scrumptious - bread rolled up with berries and ricotta. 

There have been some wondrous fruity numbers around blogsville. For a start, there's an Apricot & hazelnut cake with caramel meringue frosting from Apple & Spice, which looks like such a light and nutty cake. I love rhubarb, and I think it goes wonderfully with ginger, so this Rhubarb and ginger cake from Gin and Crumpets looks just the thing for me. Another one of my favourites is banana cake, so I really want to make a Dreamy banana cake with cream cheese frosting from The English Kitchen. There were also a couple of wonderful citrusy desserts - take a look at this Frozen Lemon Meringue Bombe at The Unconfidential cook and these Clementine muffins at Allotment 2 Kitchen. Oh, and we have a late entry - this Raspberry and apple cake has just popped up, and what a winner it looks!