Let's get Ready to Chrumble!

I admit, it is a rather unseasonable post but then my personal motto is a crumble is for life, not just for Christmas.

Crumbles are, in my opinion, the ultimate puddings.  Hot, fruity, sweet, comforting and homely…

As a child I became rather obsessed with the making of crumbles and as such this was a Sunday staple pudding in our house and my main contribution to the Sunday dinner. 

I started, like most, with the classic and traditional apple crumble.  My recipe, from the previously mentioned, good old Good Housekeeping book (hence the measurements), is as basic as it is perfect:

8oz Plain flour

4 oz butter

4 oz brown sugar. 

3 Bramley apples

Caster sugar to taste.

That recipe will be seared on my brain until the day I die!   The other great thing about it is that it is so easily reduced or increased depending on how many guests you are feeding (the above recipe serves four).  Even as a very non-mathematically-minded child, I could easily calculate and adjust the recipe accordingly.

Rubbing the crumble ingredients together to resemble breadcrumbs was – and still is – one of my favourite tasks.  The trick is speed of movement and lightness of touch – you need to rub the butter, flour and sugar as quickly as possible between the tips of the finger and thumb and avoid over-handling otherwise it can go soggy.  Cold hands are a definite advantage.  The texture of fine breadcrumbs is as comforting as letting sand run through your fingers but I also liked to leave the occasional large buttery-sugary “rock” in the mix. 

Opinion is divided on the issue of stewing the apples before baking.  Personally I do like to cook them just for a few minutes until the start to soften (but not puree).  Good Housekeeping also favours this approach and recommends adding some caster sugar to the apples when heating depending on how sweet or tart you like your pud. 

As a self-professed crumble expert, I remember one Home Economics lesson at school when it was announced that we would be making apple crumble.  My excitement was short lived when I discovered how regimented the process would be.  Not to mention the fact that it had barely crossed my mind that not all my classmates were whipping up dessert and helping with the Sunday roast every weekend.  I remember watching with increasing horror as they failed to follow instructions, dumping all the ingredients (apples, flour, sugar, butter) together then complaining that their “breadcrumbs” were too wet and had lumps of apple in them.  All this was treated with a smile by the teacher but when I opened a window to stick out my hands (in the absence of a freezer I thought I was quite innovated) to make them as cold as possible (all the better for rubbing the crumble mixture together) and when I asked for some extra sugar to sprinkle over the apples, I was the one to get into trouble.  Sigh.

But it wasn’t all about apples.  Rhubarb crumble was another firm favourite in our house and it wasn’t long before I started putting the two together.

The apple and rhubarb combo sparked a new phase of experimentation in my crumble adventures and I would spend all week thinking about what I could top with crumble that week.  I was lucky to have parents who allowed and encouraged me to experiment in the kitchen and we would try “crumbling” a variety of fresh and tinned fruits.  Many of the combinations, so obvious now, still seemed exciting to me as a child:

• Apple and blackberry
• Apple and blueberry
• Apple and sultana
• Apple and rhubarb
• Rhubarb and blueberry
• Peach
• Peach and apricot
• Plum
• Apple and plum

Then came the experimentations with the crumble topping itself as I started to understand that additions could be made here to complement the fruit flavours, so oats were added to apple –based crumbles and nuts to the stone fruit dishes.  A layer of caramel between apples and the crumble topping was also well received.

I became obsessed with the idea of adding desiccated coconut to my crumble toppings and wanted to make a summery, tropical filling to complement that.  The first attempt of banana didn’t work.  Banana, mango and pineapple however was a triumph!

As I grew older, I wanted my crumbles to “grow-up” with me so I started adding alcohol to the fruit during the brief stewing process.  Port works well with apples and plums, amaretto is divine with plum, peach and apricot (especially with lots of flaked almonds in the crumble mixture) and Malibu gives an obvious extra kick to the tropical crumble.

As the combination of plum and almonds is so good, my most recent variation – with thanks to Earthmaiden from the Wildfood Forum – is replacing a third of the flour in the crumble mix with ground almonds.  Beautiful!

So what to serve with the perfect crumble?  It may surprise you to know that despite my love of crumble, I consider custard to be the work of the devil.  Although a thin, “proper”, vanilla custard (crème anglais, if you will), is a world away from the thick yellow stuff normally served in these circumstances and is perfect with a nutty plum crumble.  My accompaniment of choice would have to be ice cream – a good quality creamy ice cream in a perfect round scoop, placed on the hot crumble crust just before serving to allow slow melting into the fruit.  I adore the hot/cold sensation of hot pud with ice cream.

I would love to hear any further suggestions for jazzing up the humble crumble.

Ten Eating Options during the Edinburgh Fringe 2011

Anyone who has ever “done” the Fringe will know that for the three weeks of the festival, food becomes a source of fuel rather than a gourmet experience.  Often this is little time to sit down over a preper meal between shows so substinence in grabbed on the hoof thanks to the plentiful and varied stalls that set up around the Big Four venues and vegetables sadly become relegated to the September-July months.  There was a time where deciding what to eat would be a case of which burger topping to have each night but now there is more choice so here I present my ten of the best fast-food options for Edinburgh 2011.

1.  Mussel Men

Set up in the George Square/Assembly area for the second year running, this is a fantiastic venture offering fresh local seafood.  Moules Frites with a bottle of beer will set you back a non unreasonable £8.50 and you get some great banter with the equally delicious stall holders also!  They also sell fresh and tasty oysters for those who want in need of an aperitif or a little pick-me-up taste of the sea.

2.  La Favorita Pizza

In the Cow Pasture/Underbelly @ bristo Square, there is a small outpost of the large, successful Leith Walk restaurant.  The pizzas are beyond compare and freshly made to order at around £10 for a whole one or £3.50 a slice.  On an elusive sunny day, this is perfect al fresco eating.

3.  La Creperie

This has become a mainstay of the Gilded Balloon area in recent years and offers both savoury and sweet crepes and waffles with an astonishing amount of empty nutella jars piling up each day.  Good for a light lunch or sugar hit when energy levels are low.

5.  Red Box Noodle Bar

Okay, this is a permanent restarurant rather than a temporary stall but situated in the middle of both Festival and Student Land it does a great trade all year round.  Meals are simple, speedy and nutricious.  Choose from a variety of noodle types, meat option, up to three veggies and a sauce (chilli, ginger and garlic can be added at no extra cost) and your combination will be stirfried and served to you in a traditional box with chopsticks.  There are seats to sit in or you can take away and it is a good opportuinity to get in some elusive veggies!

6.  Pleasance Barbeque

The pleasance got in on the fast-food options some years ago and it is hard to resist the smell of grilled meat wafting through the courtyard.  Good quality burgers in different sizes with or without cheese.  This year S discovered “The Ripsnorkler” which included a haggis topping within the bun.

7.  Well Hung and Tender

I couldn’t leave out this Edinburgh institution.  Good quality beef burgers produced locally and ethically with a variety of toppings available.  S swears by the monster “deluxe burger” with bacon, cheese, onions and lots more.

8.  The Mosque Kitchen

Another Edinburgh institution and a permanent fixture, the Mosque Kitchen is and does exactly as it sounds.  Delicious Middle Eastern-style curries are served at a long counter with plentiful veggie options available along with some halal meat options.  Seating is communal and you just have to cross your fingers that one will be available once you have obtained your food.  Prices are astonishing cheap starting at just £4 for veggie curry with rice or you can mix and match meat with veggie or two diffeent kinds of vegetable curries.  Naan bread is available at an extra cost and the food is very good indeed (especially the spinach curry which is another way of packing in the veggies during the long festival month).

http://www.list.co.uk/place/102602-mosque-kitchen/

9.  Organic Juice Bar

Okay, this stall in George Square/Assemby area offers more drinks than food but a few tasty wraps and homemade organic cakes are available.  The vast menu of smoothies and juices are the star though and a welcome relif amongst all the neighbouring fried food stalls.  Supplements can also be added such as wheatgerm or guarana to give your tired and abused body more of a lift and keep you going and scurvy-free until the end of August.

10.  The Baked Potato Shop

It’s a little walk away on

Cockburn Street

but handy for those taking in the street theatre on the Royal Mile and constantly recommended by festival goers and performers alike.   Unsually this spud seller is totally vegetarian so those who can’t see past tuna mayo or coronation chicken may be better off at the equally good Tempting Tattie on

Jeffery Street

.  For those who want to try something a little different however, there is a vast array of veggie and vegan fillings served in moster sized jacket potatoes (also available as filled pitas or salad pots).  The avocado salad is the real winner in my opinion but if you are looking for something warner the veggie haggis is one of the best I have ever tasted!  Only downside is lack of seating which means you may find yourself tucking into your spud in a bus shelter or leaning on a bin.  Such is the festival!

http://www.list.co.uk/place/102318-the-baked-potato-shop/

Thoughts on Yoghurt (and Pina Coladas)

Yoghurt.  A substance with which I have a somewhat tricky relationship.  For years I thought I hated it.  Not surprising after a primary school incident in which I was held down by the class bully whilst she poured, or rather dollopped, thick, toffee-flavoured yoghurt over my head.  I swear I can still feel it sliding down my neck and smell the artificial sweetness mingling with and masking the sour milk stench…  For years I avoided the cultured goo – and then I discovered Greek yoghurt.  More precisely, I discovered Greek Yoghurt and Honey – the true food of the gods if ever there was one.  Thus began my love affair with thick creamy natural yoghurts what S calls my “weird yoghurt thing.” That is to say, I will eat different flavoured yoghurts but only if they are white in colour.  This means I will eat any Greek or natural yoghurt and am happy to top this with fresh fruit or a compote.  Muller Corners are fine (fruit varieties only, no “unnatural” flavours in my yoggies) but I will invariably eat only half the sauce and enjoy the plain yoghurt either au natural or with the merest hint of compote – the sight of S mixing the sauce into the virginal creamy white yoghurt quite turns my stomach!

My old aversion to yoghurt did not, at least, ever extend to using the substance in cooking.  I have long been a fan of tzatziki and raitas and the very first meal I ever cooked was a Lamb Tikka Massala (age 11) and I remember being quite sceptical by the instruction to add a few tablespoons of plain yoghurt.  When I did, I was transfixed and amazed by the way it changed to texture and spicing of the dish and from then on I was hooked!  Nowadays, a large pot of natural yoghurt is a staple feature of my fridge and I love to cook Indian and Middle-Eastern dishes where it is a strong feature.  Two of my current favourite recipes, both by Anjum Amand, feature yoghurt strongly and I would recommend these the anyone looking to expand their “curry” repertoire – these are:

Honey Roasted Spicy Leg of Lamb (one of the best things about this dish is the leftovers – stuffed into a pitta the next day.  Yum!)

Yoghurt Chicken

When S and I first set up home together I began knocking up a very simple dessert on a regular basis which consisted of tinned peaches soaked in amaretto then layered in a tall glass with dollops of natural yoghurt and topped with a generous covering of crushed amaretti biscuits.  Simple, elegant and effective!  After a while I made the big leap of faith to substitute my beloved plain yoghurt with a vanilla variety – something that I had previously eyed with suspicion…  To be surprise and delight, it worked even better in this dish (although I still can’t bring myself to eat it on its own).

Recently I have seen a plethora of adverts for coconut yoghurts from various brands.  Given that coconut is one of my one true addictions in life, I was quite intrigued but also wary, still bearing my sweet yoghurt battle scars.  Knowing that S’s biggest weakness – and worse kept secrets – in life is a Pina Colada (to be honest, he just likes girly cocktails, the creamier the better and especially when they are adorned with umbrellas, fruit and sparklers – more of an event that a drink!) I decided to bite the yoghurty bullet and adapt my old faithful dessert to create a pina colada-esque sweet treat.  I soaked pineapple chunks in white rum for a few hours, then, as before, layered these with the coconut yoghurt.  This time, to complete the cocktail effect, I used margarita glasses and was quite pleased with the finished product!

Feeling it needed both crunch and sharpness to cut through the creaminess, I also crumbled a gingernut biscuit over the top (not pictured) and this worked well.  Okay, it’s not haute cuisine but as simple weekend treats go, I think this is pretty special and S absolutely LOVED it!  Obviously both this and the peach/amaretto concoction could easily be adapted for children by leaving out the alcohol.

And the coconut yoghurt?  I adored it and will definitely buy again.  But then, what else could have been expected, it is white, after all!



Flippin' 'Eck!

Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras…  Whatever you want to call it, Pancake Day is upon us at last!  There are few foods in life better than a pancake.  Three simple ingredients, minimal effort but can lead to worlds of glorious flavour combinations – sweet or savoury!

I have already mentioned my wonderful grandmother in this blog, who taught me so much about life and love.  I wish I could say my love of cooking came from her.  Sadly she was no great shakes in the kitchen.  In fact, her cooking was atrocious with one exception – pancakes!  Not the delicate crepes or indulgent American varieties that dominate our mardi gras nowadays but podgy little scotch pancakes, cooked on a massive girdle over the hob.  Yes, for the non-Scots out there, I do mean girdle.  A girdle is a Scottish griddle man or bakestone – like this one and Grandma didn’t need a particular day of the year or religious belief to bring it from the bottom shelf in the larder.  I can still remember the mouthwatering anticipation when the girdle was produced.  I used to love helping make the pancakes, dropping perfect rounds of batter onto the greased pan and watching them colour.  We would eat them hot, straight from the girdle, slathered in butter or cold with a good dollop of homemade raspberry jam. 

These days, I tend to favour the French style crepes – at least for Shrove Tuesday.  My recipe comes from my mother’s old Good Housekeeping book – a true kitchen antique if ever there was one.  I remember how amazed she was when I insisted on keeping it when she was going to toss it.  It’s old, worn, stained with over a century’s worth of spills and splashes – but it is my go to guide for all the old fashioned puddings and traditional British dishes.  It was, as I said, my mum’s but I think even she picked it up at a fair age in a charity shop – the publication date is before she was born! 

My cookery bible gives the following recipe for pancake batter:

4oz flour

½ pint milk

1 egg

¼ tsp salt (I don’t tend to add this).

Mix in a food processor (ok, the recipe says beat with a wooden spoon) and leave to rest for at least 30 mins before giving a final stir just before starting the cooking process.  Mum would always make the batter in the morning and leave to rest all day until teatime.  The recipe suggests heating lard until bubbling in a frying pan, I follow mum’s method of swirling a dab of butter in a non-stick pan before adding the batter one pancake’s worth at a time.  When it starts to show pits and bubbles, it is time to flip!  The above recipe yields around 10 pancakes depending on thickness.

I had, in anticipation, lined up the potential toppings, ready to do their duty.  In the end only the maple syrup lived to fight another day.  S, who has a seriously sweet tooth, slathered 3 pancakes in nutella and filled two with a banana/nutella combo.  I had 2 x classic sugar and lemon, 2 x nutella and 1 x nutella and banana.  Don’t judge me – it’s the one day of the year we can feast like pigs!

Pancakes are for life, not just for Shrove Tuesday and they do occasionally make an appearance as dessert or lunch at other times of the year.  I thought I would take the opportunity to share with you my top ten pancake dishes

1.                  Lemon and sugar.   There’s a reason classics are so called and this is seriously hard to beat. 

2.                  Nutella.  I was introduced to nutella late in life after having spent my childhood maintaining that it looked yuck.  Big mistake.  I became addicted quickly.  I am allowed to buy one small jar a year for the purposes of Shrove Tuesday only.  Without this routine I would happily sit in pyjamas all day everyday, eating nutella from the jar with my fingers.

3.                  Nutella and banana.  See above but with a healthy addition!

4.                  Banana flambé pancakes.  Wrap a banana in a warm crepe.  Pour over the liqueur of your choice – dark rum is good, kahlua is better!  Flambé and serve warm with a spoonful of Chantilly cream.  Heaven!

5.                  Banana pancakes.  Not to be confused with the above banana variations, this involves blitzing ripe bananas with the batter mix (3-4 bananas is perfect for the above batter quantity) and cooking small thick scotch pancake or drop-scone like rounds with a slightly squidgy banana flavoured centre.  Good hot or cold spread with butter.  Better warm and topped with toffee sauce. 

6.                  Maple Syrup and Ice Cream.   A la Pancake Place.  This was my favourite childhood indulgence but I am sorry to say, it’s too sickly sweet for me to contemplate these days. 

7.                  Maple Syrup and Bacon.  When I first went to the USA as an 11 year old, I was both shocked and intrigued by the breakfast options but they have it so very right.  The bacon has to be perfectly crisp and salty to be complemented by the sweet syrup, all presented on a fluffy pancake base.  Clogged arteries have never tasted so good!

8.                  Cheese and mushroom.  Classic savoury version and a quick and tasty lunch.

9.                  Cheese, mushroom, egg and tomato.  More indulgent version of the above.  Bacon is also an optional extra. 

10.              Jam and cream.  Who says it’s just for scones!

All About Me

Well hello there and welcome to my blog.  Have a seat, get comfortable and make yourself at home.  Hopefully this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship…

Let me tell you a bit about myself…

I am a Scottish (wah-hey!) woman, living in Edinburgh.  I’m really lucky to live in such a wonderful city and am sure I would have found my way here eventually, even if I hadn’t been born here.  I spent a brief period in my early twenties living and working abroad but having met the love of my life at a much earlier age than expected, I just couldn’t stay away from him and ended up returning to Edinburgh where we set up home together and eventually married in 2007. 

Blogging has been on my mind for a while.  In truth I’ve always harboured fantasies about having regular newspaper or magazine column – you know, those women that get paid for writing about their lives, loves and opinions on the world each week.  Given that I never pursued my dream of becoming either a travel writer or a food critic, I think it’s safe to say that neither the Guardian nor even the Scotsman is going to come knocking on my door for hilarious anecdotes or worldly views any time soon.  So blogging it is then!  But what to blog about?  There are a lot of experts out there in cyberspace who tell me that a blog must have a theme and should stick to one subject only.  Food blogs should be about food only, travel blogs likewise… What to choose? Who am I?  What do I do?

Food!  I love cooking and love eating even more.  I love watching cookery programmes, reading cookery books and in the spirit of the most passionate Masterchef contestant, I think about food constantly; always considering ingredients and recipes and I just love feeding friends and family and seeing that look on their face when I know I have hit a flavour combination just right!  I don’t want to just talk about food though.  Aside from anything else, I’ve usually halfway through dinner before I remember that I meant to take a photo of the impressive looking dish.  Plus, there are so many great food blogs out there.  Can I really compete with the likes of the wonderful Kavey Eats or Bon Apetit?

Travel!  I love going places and experiencing new things.  Well, going places and eating new things mainly…  Problem is, I haven’t travelled particularly extensively despite an ever growing must-go list.  We live on a bit of a budget; both get limited holidays from work and the clincher – my parents retired abroad.  Great decision for them.  Means that my choice of holiday destination is now somewhat limited though. 

I’m a film geek!  That’s right.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.  I love film and hubby and I are regularly greeted by staff at the local cinema as if we are old friends.  Yep, if the cinema were a bar in Boston, we would be Norm.  I love most films apart from really scary ones and rom coms.  Unfortunately this makes me somewhat of a pariah amongst fellow female friends.  Knowing how many films I watch, they are constantly trying to get my opinion on the latest Katherine Heigl/Matthew MCaughney/Kate Hudson love fest with the fabulous shoes and oh so cute ickle baby…  They don’t understand when I would rather talk about Almodovar’s vintage work or the sheer awesomeness of the latest comic book adaptation/Frank Miller effort etc.  So could I use my blog to review films?  Well, I may certainly enthuse about a movie I have loved but it’s a rather restrictive topic really, and I don’t want to turn my cinema trips into a chore by feeling that I have to blog after each and every film.

What about books?  I read a lot but not always new titles so not sure if there is an audience out there.  Also, I am already in a bookgroup so have space to share opinions on most of my reading material.

Music is good.  It makes, so a wise woman once said, the people come together.  Personally I listen to anything from hard rock to jazz with a bit of classical thrown in.  My tastes are eclectic and I love discovering new bands.  Can’t really see a blog being shaped around all this though…

Families feature heavily in a lot of blogs.  Personally OH and I are child free.  This is a conscious decision and contrary to popular belief, not one that was taken lightly.  A great deal of the thoughts swirling around my head on any given day tend to revolve around this issue and it is one I am constantly being asked to defend.  Yes, the childfree stance on life may be a regular feature of my blog but I don’t want to restrict my writings to just that.  There are already great blogs out there on this topic, such as Childfree Me and I don’t necessarily want to reinvent the wheel.  Neither do I want to set this out as the very essence of my being and the most interesting thing about me.  Above all I don’t want to attract haters.  I know you can’t please all the people all of the time but I feel us childfree women (never the men) attract a lot of bad press by those who don’t understand our views and I want this blog to be, well, a nicer place than that!

Life is an ongoing struggle.  OH and I live on a tight budget.  We would like nothing better than to move to a bigger, nicer house or even have the money to make our little flat look and feel a bit more homely but with ever rising prices, we are finding things tough.  It certainly doesn’t allow us to travel to the places we want to see or even be able to feast on the food we would like but we are doing our best to get by with the hand which we have been dealt.  Living on a budget could be a good blog theme – it would certainly encompass all the above aspects of our daily life – what we eat, how we travel frugally etc but then, that just brings me back to talking about general life with a bit of all the above elements thrown in from time to time.  Yes, a bit like those magazine columnists really! 

So I guess I’m going to be telling you more about my life and habitual musings.

So, now you have gotten to know a bit about me, I hope you will continue to read and interact with my rambling streams of thought.  Perhaps you will recognise bits of your own life, thirty-something or not. 

Welcome to the world of blog!