Or When in Rome LA do as they do – Juice Cleanse, Hike and be fabulous!

Before I wrote this post I spent too long sitting at my desk debating if it’s a good idea. Will this be evidence that I have been in LA for too long? I have finally crossed a line from English rose to LA crazy? I can see my sisters rolling their eyes to heaven and muttering “She’s just so LA these days.”  But let’s just stop for a moment, back it up, rewind and breath – this post is a celebration of the best of LA – the fabulous outdoor life we get to lead, the delicious fresh organic produce that is plentiful (for making juice!) and the sunshine – all year round.

I love love love LA!  No, really, I do.

I am so proud to call it home and so amazed that I was ever in any doubt about moving out here from New York. What’s not to like? This is the city of dreams, of endless possibility, and where doing a juice cleanse is seen as normal every day life – something everyone does, just because. Have you noticed how many juice bars have been opening around town? But not all juice bars are created equal I was quick to learn. I was incredulous that certain juices weren’t organic – potentially carrying pesticides and goodness knows what else up through that plastic straw into your body when you are intending it to clean you up not add more toxic elements.

Just look at the beauty of Lake Hollywood – at the weekend we rode our bikes around the reservoir – they have finally opened the west half after years of reconstruction of the hillsides post landslides.

To get us all in shape for the excesses of Made in America 3 in Hawaii the chefs and I did a juice cleanse. We were lucky enough to have Blue Print Cleanse sponsor the cleanse with the juice for 3 days. I chose Blue Print for the simple fact that they are certified organic, the process is extremely simple and the juice tastes delicious. The juice for the 3 day cleanse arrived in a big blue box.

The bottles of juice are clearly numbered 1 through to 6. It really couldn’t be simpler – no messy juicing machine to wash up and no endless trips to the market to stock up on produce. The tough part for me was squeezing all the bottles into my tiny refrigerator – and also remembering that I had to shop and cook for the kids.

I was fearful of this experience – no food for 3 days was going to be tough – or so I thought. It actually turned out to be really amazing – so amazing that I extended my cleanse to 6 days. I combined the cleanse with lots of fresh air and walks – they say it’s good to sweat a little during the cleanse. This picture was taken looking across to Griffith Park with the backside of the letters of the Hollywood Sign poking up above the hillside.

I felt alive, clean, sharp and full of energy. I woke up every morning at 5.30am raring to go – now this had never happened before! I filled the gap that having no food in my life created with walking, reading, knitting and relaxing.

Since breaking the cleanse for a few months now I still wake up early and I still feel good and I’m still hiking as much as I can. I found ‘meadows’ of wild flowers in Baldwin Hills:

Bright orange California Poppies on hillsides in Sherman Oaks:

Next week we are going back to the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, this time for a family holiday – in celebration of our 15 year wedding anniversary – yes 15 years!  So in an attempt to drop a couple of lbs, regain that feeling of vitality and get myself ready for the beach I have decided to do it all over again. The juice cleanse that is. This time I have purchased the Blue Print Cleanse juices from Wholefoods – 3 green, 1 pineapple mint, 1 lemonade cayenne ginger and one cashew milk. Mummy arrived this morning, on her way from Australia to England, and I’m thrilled that she has decided to join me on the cleanse – she’s going to be in LA for 5 days and just drink juice and maybe I can even get her to hike to the tree with me?

… next up surfing, updating my earthquake kit and then perhaps I might dabble with some Botox!?!

Or introducing the French and the Americans to all things British on Easter Sunday.

Rémy begged me to host a large Easter gathering this year for his friends Sonny and Timmy (they joined us last year). I am so glad I listened to him as I had more fun putting everything together than you can begin to imagine. Here are Ara and Rémy with their Easter ‘baskets’ and bunnies:
It was also very satisfying to know that we are creating traditions – not just for ourselves but for the other families who came to hunt eggs and feast with us. Here are Ara, Taylor and Hop hanging out post hunt – eating chocolate and doing who knows what – I have pics from Easter hunts with Ara and Hop when they were 2.
From the smallest – les petites Lefebvres to Rémy, Sonny and Timmy who did a lot of recon. of where to find the eggs on the ridge to Lisa who discovered the art of egg beading (more on this in another post) to the biggest kid of all – Ludo – we all enjoyed ourselves.

Whilst the Easter Bunny was busy hiding eggs in the garden I distracted the children with a  crafting project. Rémy soon got bored/tired and went to play Minecraft – his idea of crafting! Ara helped me make cute bunny tags for the egg candles and the Praline filled Quails eggs. She stamped the tags with a shocking pink Easter rabbit and then added silver glitter letters with everyone’s name. The funniest thing happens when she and I craft together – we constantly discuss how it should be done and neither of us backs down! She wasn’t happy that I wanted the full names to use for the placements, she wanted to use everyone’s initial – she won for Krissy’s tag:
How beautiful is this Easter centerpiece?

It was inspired by this one below which came in via text from the farm in Devon – trust Brian to have the chicest most exquisite floral display of primroses and daffodils – complete with the Rococo chocolate rabbit proudly sitting in the center with the chocolate quails eggs.
My father is the master of making perfectly boiled eggs for everyone on Easter Sunday – not only do I not have access to his chickens I was rather worried about cooking soft boiled eggs for all my guests and switched it up by baking a batch of hot cross buns for everyone to break off from the middle of the table and then slather with butter.
The glaze for the hot cross buns is heated Golden Syrup that is brushed on after the buns come out of the oven – a fine English delicacy for my French friend Ludo to learn about. But I needed something else – something classically British and decadent that would be easy to make for 16 people for the brunch: The good old English Bacon Butty. Thank you to Max and Kate (Sonny and Timmy’s parents) for joining the bacon butty production line and even dipping some of the rolls in the bacon fat that had dripped off the bacon and through the rack to the pan below.
I preferred the softer rolls – other guests went for the chewier crusty rolls – but everyone was taken with the HP sauce and even more amazed to learn that HP stood for Houses or Parliament – I think they thought I was joking until I showed them the picture of Big Ben, or rather the newly renamed Elizabeth tower – in honor of her majesty’s jubilee last year. I also boiled some quails eggs for people to peel and dip into salt and pepper. A take on bacon and eggs. Nigella suggested putting the quails eggs in cold water and bringing them to the boil for one minute and then running them under the cold tap before peeling. The colder eggs peeled more easily.

Ludo ate one of the praline filled eggs – shell and all – thinking it was a fake chocolate egg with a sweet crispy shell!
I can’t wait to host Easter again next year in the secret garden – for new friends and old – with a mountain of bacon butties, hot cross buns, quails eggs (both praline filled and the real thing), gorgeous centerpieces and lots and lots of eggs from the Easter Bunny for the kids to find.
Bacon Butty

4 rashers of bacon per person – preferably back, unsmoked and hormone free
soft white bread rolls
Butter
HP Sauce – or brown sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Place a wire rack inside a large sheet pan and lay the bacon rashers out. Cook in the top of the oven until just turning a little crispy.
3. Split open the rolls – butter or use the bacon drippings on the rolls – and then fill with rashers.
4. Add HP sauce and serve immediately.

Happy Good Friday!

Hot Cross Buns,
Hot Cross Buns,
One a penny Two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns,
If you have no daughters
Feed them to your sons,
One a penny Two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns.

Today I wanted to share a recipe for Hot Cross Buns – adapted from a recipe given to me by my friend Charlotte. She has made them up more times than a baker’s dozen and I know why! The recipe comes from the BBC Good Food magazine from April 2008. I’m a huge fan of an iced spice bun – many are purchased at Marks and Spencers when we visit England – traditional hot crossed buns are not iced/frosted – the crosses are made with a flour and water paste that’s piped on before baking. Iced buns have that distinct spicy sweetness that makes the hot cross bun so tempting.

These buns are easy to make and are sure to please the whole family – apart from Rémy, who doesn’t like the raisins and insists I include them in everything I bake just to annoy him! Ara wants iced crosses – “like Le Pain.” Papa is now a fan – how could he not be with the house smelling of warm sugary spice?

Hot cross buns require Mixed Fruit – a mixture of diced vine fruit and candied mixed peel. If you can’t find a box of Mixed Fruit you could substitute a mix of saltanas, raisins, currants and skip the candied orange/lemon peel. I found a box at the Irish Import Shop in Los Angeles – it’s a favorite for me – not just for the hard to find ingredients in some British cooking but also for the real bags of crisps (potato chips). Yesterday I treated myself to a bag of pickled onion crisps – heaven! Oh, and the Battenberg cake that I have squirreled away for a rainy day or afternoon tea with friends.

The other special British ingredient found in hot cross buns is mixed spice – not to be confused with allspice. This is similar to the pumpkin spice mix found in America, or you can do what I did and mix up some of your own.

Mixed Spice Recipe

1 Tablespoon ground allspice, Spice Islands
1 Tablespoon ground Saigon cinnamon, Spice Islands
1 Tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves, Spice Islands
1 teaspoon ground coriander, Spice Islands
1 teaspoon ground Ginger, Spice Islands

Mix all the spices together, and store in a sealed jar away from light.

Hot Cross Buns Recipe

I am serving these straight from the oven on Sunday morning – people can tuck in to the buns and add lots of salty butter. The unglazed buns freeze really well – just thaw and glaze and heat – either split and toast or bake them whole in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes.

500 g/1 lb 2 oz bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
85 g/3 oz light brown or light muscovado sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice (recipe above or substitute pumpkin spice)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
50 g/2 oz butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
7 g/1 sachet Active Dry Yeast
140g/ 5 oz mixed dried fruit
150ml whole milk, lukewarm
150 ml water, lukewarm

For the topping

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons golden syrup

1. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly butter. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the buttered paper to transfer some of the fat. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of the electric mixer mix the flour, salt, sugar and spices. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips. Stir in the yeast and dried fruit and mix to combine.
3. Place the milk and the water in a jug and heat to 95-100 F.
4. Fit the bowl of the electric mixer in place and using the dough hook stir in the warm milk/water to make a sticky dough. Continue to knead on medium speed for about 3-5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and no dough remains stuck to the sides of the bowl. You will hear the dough come together and lose the sticky consistency as the gluten is released.

5. Divide the ball of dough into 4 equal pieces. Then divide these quarters into 6 equal little balls, laying them out in 4 rows of 6 with a little space between on the lined sheet pan. Go back over each ball and work each of the 24 pieces, pulling the sides down and tucking them under to form a neat ball. Cover with the buttered plastic wrap and leave to rise for 1 1/2 hours. The buns will double in size and rise into each other.

6. After the buns have risen for 1 1/2 hours pre-heat the oven to 400 F.
7. In a small bowl mix together the flour and water for the topping to make a smooth paste. Spoon into a small plastic sandwich bag and snip off the corner to make a small hole. Pipe across the top of the buns to form crosses.

8. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. The buns should sound hollow when tapped. Transfer the buns in the parchment paper to a wire rack and let cool. The buns can be frozen at this point. To serve, heat the syrup and brush over the top of the buns. Place in the middle of the table and let people break off the buns, split and add butter.

Now I’m off to blow 70 Quails eggs to fill them ready for Sunday and the visit from the Easter Bunny! Happy Easter everyone.

]]> http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/hot-cross-buns-easy-recipe-for-buns-and-mixed-spice/feed/ 17 http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/rococo-praline-filled-eggs-for-easter-recipe-and-how-to/ http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/rococo-praline-filled-eggs-for-easter-recipe-and-how-to/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:37:06 +0000 Lucy http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/?p=5365

The challenge was set by Lucy Dahl – to make Rococo Praline Hen’s Eggs – from the gorgeous book Rococo; Mastering the Art of Chocolate by Chantal Coady, which she had messengered over to my house in the hills. Now, you know how I love a challenge and this one is particularly close to home, especially as I happen to be so far from my English home, the farm in Devon, as Easter approaches. Easter was always a really big deal when we were growing up – the Easter egg hunt all around the farm became legendary. Easter Sunday begins with a giant breakfast of boiled eggs and soldiers (toast cut in strips for dipping) and lots and lots of chocolate Easter eggs. The table is crowded with chocolates in every shape and size – including a giant chocolate rabbit from Rococo. Our friend Brian Boylan would arrive from across the river with baskets of goodies purchased in London at the Rococo shop – he and Chantal Coady (the founder of Rococo) are great friends. The distinctive packaging of Rococo chocolates – the white boxes with the deep blue fish, shells and bunnies from chocolate moulds really remind me of Easter at the farm.

So let’s get back to the Rococo praline filled hen’s eggs challenge.

To prepare the eggs

30 quail eggs
18 large, fresh organic eggs
Spring loaded egg topper
Syringe – I used a flavor syringe

1. Using a pin and the syringe make two holes at the top and bottom of the quail’s egg. Make the hole at wide end of the egg slightly larger and insert the pin and break up the yolk inside. Insert the syringe full of air into the top hole and gentle push the air into the egg to push the egg white and yolk out. This has to be done with a mixture of force and gentle persuasion – you want to get the insides out without cracking the egg. (Save the cracked eggs – once they are filled with the praline it’s hard to see that they are cracked.) When all the egg is out insert a syringe full of warm soapy water to wash out the inside. Rinse well by syringing in with warm water and then place eggs on a wire rack. Heat the oven to 250 F and place the blown quails eggs, bottoms down, in the oven to dry out all the water for about 10 minutes.

2. I had to borrow an egg topper from Ludo Lefebvre. You can see from my first egg (top left hand corner) that it took an egg to get the technique down. It’s a very tricky gadget – you pull back on the stopper and it hits the egg and the vibrations cut into the shell. Supposedly the top comes away leaving a neat edge – it wasn’t easy. I had to use a sharp knife to prize off the top. Set aside the 18 egg whites and yolks to use in another recipe – omelets, meringues, custard, lemon curd or ice cream all spring to mind. If you want to just make 6 eggs you obviously don’t have to top 18 – but it means you can select the most perfect shells!2. Wash the egg shells and boil them in a large pan for 10 minutes with some blue dye. Dry the shells on a rack and make sure all the membranes on the inside are removed. Select you 6 best egg shells.

To make the praline

250g whole hazelnuts
2 tablespoons baking soda
100g good quality milk chocolate (405 cocoa solids)
30g cocoa butter
200g confectioners sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. De-skin the hazelnuts by placing them in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and add the baking soda. Boil for 5 minutes then drain (the water will be black) and cool under running water. The skins will rub off. Spread the hazelnuts out on a large baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until golden brown.

2. Place the chocolate and the cocoa butter in a bowl and microwave (or use a bain-marie) on low until it melts and reaches 104-113 F.

3. Place the hazelnuts in the food processor with the confectioners sugar and process until the oils from the nuts releases and it forms a paste. This takes about 10 minutes and requires you to scrape down the bowl as you go. If the machine starts to overheat stop and let it cool down.
4.  Add the melted chocolate and cocoa butter to the hazelnut paste and process to combine. Transfer to a bowl and then cool the mixture down to 75 F.

To fill the eggs
1. Using a teaspoon fill the syringe with the praline and insert directly (no need to use the needle) into the larger hole at the base of the quails eggs. Gentle push the praline into the egg until it starts coming out of the top little hole.

2. Chill the filled eggs in the refrigerator. Give as gifts in pretty boxes – I used Didier’s paper shredder to make pretty pink nests using tissue paper. I think he’s been watching too much Argo because he was concerned about me using the paper that was already shredded!

3. Place the rest of the praline in a ziplock sandwich bag, snip the corner and use like a piping bag to fill the hens eggs about 1/2 full. The eggs below are too full – the praline is extremely rich and when I serve this for breakfast on Easter morning I will put much less in each egg shell.

The praline should be room temperature rather than cold from the refrigerator – for that rich creamy consistency. You can quickly heat the egg filled praline if it’s cold from being stored in the refrigerator in the microwave.

This would be great as a dessert – with something salty – In the book Coady suggests crispy bacon dipped in chocolate to dip – I’m going to skip dipping the bacon in chcoolate and simply dip it in the praline.

I raced out today to buy more quails eggs – ready to fill for Easter brunch – the best place to get them in Los Angeles is Pavilions – first time I’d ever been into Pavilions – the manager was extremely helpful and showed me to the produce section where we found the quails eggs – in with the lettuce! I bought all 7 boxes that were on the shelf – that’s 70 eggs that I now have to blow between now and Sunday. I’m going to turn into a chocolate egg factory – I’m thinking that since it was Lucy Dahl (daughter of Roald Dahl) who laid down the gauntlet this should be called Lucy and the Chocolate Factory!

Okay, I feel like I’ve been living in a cave during the Croodaceous Period (somewhere after the Jurassic Age and before the Stone Age) with the world’s first modern family, the Croods. Seriously, why have I never made microwave popcorn from scratch before? It’s so simple and so quick and so easy and there’s really no clean up.

An all natural snack in less than 2 minutes without any of the hidden chemicals, flavorings, coloring and additives found in store bought microwave popcorn. Why bother adding 3 tablespoons of oil and heating it up in a heavy bottomed pan on the stove? Although, you can still do this if you really want or if you don’t have a microwave.

This morning I was recipe testing and having some fun in the kitchen cooking up some ideas for a special Croods Caramel Corn – with nuts and bananas and chocolate crisps and even my favorite fun ingredient – Pop Rocks!

I didn’t have the special ears of corn we used to make popcorn trees but I wondered what would happen if I just microwaved the kernels?  No extras needed – not even the oil – just pop (sorry couldn’t resist) them in a paper bag, fold over the top, place in the microwave and cook on high for about 2 minutes, until the popping slows down… And that’s exactly what I did and you know what? It worked! It’s so simple. I was so excited I rang my friend Krissy (Lefebvre) to share my eureka moment and being the all American girl she is, she calmly said “Oh yes, we used to do that all the time when I was 12.”

I feel like I’ve discovered something so fundamental – like fire or bananas or popcorn even. Which is exactly what happens to the family in the new 3D comedy adventure THE CROODS, starring Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman and opens March 22.  When the cave that has always been their home is destroyed – with the rest of their world not far behind it – the Croods are forced to set off on the first family road (or path) trip. Rocked by generational clashes and seismic shifts, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures, food, shoes and a future beyond any they imagined.  The Croods meet Guy (Ryan Reynolds) along the way and he introduces them to fire. The field of long grass Thunk “hides the fire in” turns out to be a field of giant corn – which as it heats up turns to – well, yes you guessed it – it explodes and showers the Croods in giant white pieces of popcorn. You can see for yourself – “Looks like magic,” says the older brother Thunk. “And smells like food!”

The easy peasy microwave popcorn provides the base to the caramel corn. I then used a simple technique that avoids corn syrup, candy thermometers and molten caramel found in most traditional recipes for caramel corn. You make a syrup with butter and sugar  and drizzle this over the popped corn and then bake the coated popcorn in the oven at exactly 300F. If you have never calibrated your oven now is the time to do so – you want to cook the caramel corn at exactly the right temperature – too hot and it may burn too cool and it will end up sticky rather than have that special crack. The popcorn caramelizes in the oven, fills the house with the sweet smell of deliciousness and reduces the burn risk that usually comes with making caramel on the stove top.  I have added a few special items for a truly spectacular caramel corn that will induce fireworks in your mouth – not unlike the fireworks the Croods inadvertently create when they cook up their first batch of popcorn, so large they can stand on it!

So in a time long before the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago when the Rueckheim brothers unveiled their popcorn and peanuts coated in molasses which they subsequently adapted to make Cracker Jack – the Croods were popping their own giant version of the American movie goers favorite snack. According to What’s Cooking America some of the earliest popcorn was discovered in a cave in New Mexico which carbon dating showed to be around 5,600 years old – let’s just say the Croods were popping many many years before this – some would say millions of years before.

Popping Caramel Corn Recipe

½ cup of mushroom popcorn kernels – these are the best for caramel corn
3/4 cup dry roasted unsalted pistachio halves
1 cup organic banana chips
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup (170g) lightly packed golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
3 tablespoons water
½ cup chocolate crispearls (if you can’t find the crispearls you can use mini chocolate chips or M&Ms)
1 packet Pop Rocks

Makes enough to fill 2 32 oz popcorn buckets

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease with the extra butter. Line another baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside.

2. Pop the popcorn in the microwave in two batches. Place half the kernels (1/4 cup) in a plain paper bag, fold over the top twice and microwave on high for 1 ½ – 2 minutes until the popping slows down. Be careful not to cook for too long as you don’t want to burn the popcorn. It is important to remove the unpopped kernels – we don’t want broken teeth!

You can place the unpopped kernels back in the paper bag and microwave them again for an extra minute. Discard the really stubborn kernels that still haven’t popped. Repeat with the remaining 1/4 cup of the unpopped kernels. Place all the popped corn (approx 12 cups) in a large heatproof bowl with the pistachios and banana chips.

3. In a small heavy saucepan melt the butter. Add the sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the vanilla paste and 3 tablespoons water and bring to the boil, stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat, wait for 2 minutes and then slowly drizzle half of the hot sugar mixture over the popcorn using a wooden spoon, toss to coat evenly. The key here is not to drown the fluffy popcorn in the liquid but to lightly coat it. (If some of the pieces do shrivel don’t worry, they become a bonus treat at the bottom of the bucket.)

5. Spread the coated popcorn out on the foil lined baking sheet and drizzle over the remaining half of sugar mixture. Toss some more and bake for approximately 4o minutes, tossing every 15 minutes (twice) with two wooden spoons. When the caramel corn turns golden it is done. Remove from the oven and transfer the shiny caramel corn to the paper-lined baking sheet, spread out evenly, sprinkle the popcorn with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt.

6. Sprinkle the caramel corn with the milk chocolate crispearls, you want the crispearls to stick to the caramel corn but you don’t want it to melt too much so it’s a good idea to test a couple first to make sure the caramel corn isn’t too hot. Finally sprinkle with the pop rocks and serve in popcorn buckets. Hopefully the noisy popcorn won’t disturb anyone’s movie watching pleasure.

Would you like to learn more about THE CROODS?

Visit the official website
Like THE CROODS on Facebook
Follow @DWAnimation on Twitter #TheCroods
Re-pin great DIY tutorials, printables and more from THE CROODS on Pinterest!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by 20th Century Fox and Dreamworks Animation. All opinions, recipes and food photography are my own.

]]> http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/easy-popping-caramel-corn-recipe-inspired-by-the-croods/feed/ 10 http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/australian-meat-pie-challenge-recipe/ http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/australian-meat-pie-challenge-recipe/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:00:15 +0000 Lucy http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/?p=5281

I have been working on a really fun and exciting life changing new project with my two friends – Lucy Dahl and Emma Cheney. Lots more to share about this in the coming weeks and months but today I wanted to start by telling you about one item in particular on our weekly checklist of five: the challenge. Each week we decide on five things we have to do the following week – the aim of the game is to make life as fun as possible and full to the brim with enjoyable times. It’s only been three weeks and I’ve never felt happier, more positive and more grateful for everything that is happening right now. Our to do list consists of a variety of things – physical, mental, silly, obvious and obscure. One item on our to do list is making something – it’s not necessarily food, but so far this had been the main focus.

The first week we tackled jam making. I sourced Seville oranges from Karen Beverlin at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market and made marmalade (I promise to post the new updated recipe for Seville marmalade sometime soon). My most lasting memory of this challenge was carrying 20lbs of oranges around in the hot February sun – 20lbs is a lot of weight – imagine how light I will be when I lose 20lbs in the coming months – seriously, I will float around the market. Emma set out to find apricots to make her first batch of jam- five supermarkets later she changed fruits to blueberries – her hand delivered little pot of jam (tied with a pretty ribbon) has been enjoyed on hot buttered toast for breakfast and I’ve made a note to let her know as soon as the stone fruit start arriving at the market.

Then I came up with the challenge of baking a cake and giving it to someone. Nigel Slater talked about how baking a cake for someone was the ultimate gesture of love – why didn’t I factor in a small trip to Hawaii for my Made in America event at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai?  But along with many cartwheels (another item on the to do list that week) I proudly made my hubby a cake for his birthday during my cooking class with a big helping hand from the wonderful pastry chef and owner of fonuts, Waylynn Lucas. She taught us how to make strawberry buttermilk fonuts which uses a great buttermilk cake batter recipe. I promise, promise, promise to post this and much more from Made in America, but today I want to share my experience making Emma’s suggestion for The Famous Australian Meat Pie.

I’m not a big pie/pastry girl – and especially not savory pies – think pasties, chicken pot pie or samosas – but I was willing to give myself over to the challenge and make it for dinner for the family. Australians are potty for their meat pies – usually eaten with a side of mashed potatoes or fries?!? I have taken the liberty to adapt the classic Australian recipe – most importantly I used bison rather than beef. Given the amount of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and stock used to flavor the filling I would challenge any Aussie Meat Pie aficionado to detect a difference!

Australians are known to slather on even more ketchup with their pie but this recipe really has enough sugar, salt and vinegar baked inside the crust! When Ara took her first bite she said “It tastes like HP!” [HP Sauce from England]. Whatever you do don’t add salt – and you may want to use less and/or a low sodium beef stock, a tad less ketchup and even, dare I say low sodium Worcestershire sauce.

Australian Meat Pie Recipe

Adapted from Australian Food.com

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
500 g minced bison (or minced beef)
1 cup water, divided
2 teaspoons Au Jus Better than Bouillon or 2 beef stock cubes
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 black pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 puff pastry sheets

What to do

1 Pre-heat oven at 425 F.

2 Heat olive oil in pan over high heat and add onion – when onion starts to brown add meat and cook until all browned.

3 Add 3/4 cup of the water, bouillon cubes, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, pepper, oregano, and nutmeg. Stir well to combine all the ingredients and scrape off all the brown bits on the side of the pan.

4 Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

5 Blend flour with the remaining 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth paste with no lumps. Add to the meat.

6 Remove meat from the heat and let cool. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

7 Line a pie dish with puff pastry and add the cooled filling.

8  Brush edges of pastry with milk and put the pastry top on. Crimp edges with a fork. I added little figures cut out of the left over pastry but next time I wouldn’t do this – the pastry was just too thick and didn’t cook evenly in these places.

9 Trim edges and glaze top with milk. Bake in a very hot oven, 425 F for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 F and bake for 25 more minutes, or until golden brown.

10 Serve with fresh English peas, fries or even mashed potato.

]]> http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/australian-meat-pie-challenge-recipe/feed/ 4 http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/la-cote-basque-3-generations-in-the-kitchen/ http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/2013/03/la-cote-basque-3-generations-in-the-kitchen/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 20:20:29 +0000 Lucy http://www.ladlesandjellyspoons.com/?p=5265

I was sorting through photographs last night and came across this of Jean Jacques, Didier and the kids, three generations in the kitchen at La Cote Basque, October 2005.

What I love about this picture is that it captures a moment in time – when three generations were all in the kitchen together. Just look at those wonderful copper pans hanging behind – how I’d love to get my hands on a couple of those!

I wish there were more photos like this – sadly we didn’t think to take more at the time. What it does do is inspire me to get JJR to pass along his recipes for when Rémy is ready to follow in his footsteps into the kitchen.

Rémy decided he wanted to have a Tour de France party for his birthday this year – he was very particular about which friends he wanted to invite – all boys and only 10!

Here is the invitation:
Lake Hollywood offers the perfect location for bike riding – it’s flat, it’s a paved road, there are no cars and very few people. It was nice to show some of the other boys and their parents this place to come and ride – even some of those who have lived in Los Angeles a long time had never been here. The boys all gathered at the gate and Rémy gave out the team shirts I had made. I used plain T-shirts in white and orange and ironed on the logos and each boy’s name on the sleeves.

Since it was Rémy’s birthday he got to wear the maillot jeune.

For his birthday cake this year Rémy begged to have an ice cream cake – I purchased a cookies and cream one from Coldstone Creamery and asked them to leave the top plain – no extra Oreos and no written message – it provided the perfect blank canvas for the fondant decorations I made.

I added a Union flag to the Eiffel Tower in honor of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ win last year.

We were lucky to get a warm sunny day for the race but this meant that the cake would start melting soon after the party began. So I served the cake first and loaded the boys up with lots of sugar to make them go faster.

It was time for the two coaches, Billy and Max from The Amazing Kid Company, to take the kids off around the lake. They set up a cones slalom to find the King of the Cones. I made a special t-shirt that mimicked the King of the Mountains shirt with red dots.

Then Billy and Max organized an escargot race – for the slowest rider between two markers, if you put your feet down twice you had to stop. After a brief pit stop where the kids were given their performance enhancers by Billy, chocolate Smarties from the UK, everyone set off around the lake.

At the end of the racing the t-shirts for the winners of the Lantern Rouge (L’escargot race), King of the Cones, Fastest Sprinter and Prix du Courage were presented by Billy and Max and each boy was given a cycling medal.

Here’s a simple and yet immensely satisfying comfort food salad which is easy and quick to make and works all year round. Yesterday I ate it in front of the fire with a friend as we brainstormed for an exciting new project – fuel for the mind, body and soul!

Tonight is the two hour series premiere of The Taste on ABC – staring the acerbically witty Anthony Bourdain, queen of home cooking and domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, the ‘breakout star’ classically trained French chef Ludo Lefebvre and restaurateur Brian Malarkey.

My friend and twitter maven Jo from @MyLastBite, My Last Bite has organized a party for Ludo to celebrate his new show and she’s been cooking up a storm – think brocomolli, foie gras and pork belly. I offered to help with a dessert and suffering a little from Recipe-Block (think writers block when you don’t know what to cook) I tweeted out “I’m trying to decide what to bring for dessert at #TeamLudo dinner – recipe from @Nigella_Lawson?” Imagine my delight when Nigella replied with the idea to make pink rhubarb crumble for Ludo. Perfect.

So I tracked down the rhubarb – fresh in from Holland at Gelsons and set about tweaking my recipe. I started with the recipe from Nigella in her great book The Feast and then I added a little je ne sais quoi because I can’t help but think that the addition of a little crystalized ginger in the crumble and a little ground ginger and black pepper in the rhubarb will take this beloved English dessert to a new level in taste and perfection for my French friend.

During my research for a great crumble recipe I came across this video of Chef Raymond Blanc making a rhubarb and strawberry crumble at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons.

I love watching Chef Blanc as he goes into his fabulous kitchen garden and cuts the rhubarb that has been grown to perfection under the most beautiful terracotta cloche. He returns to his kitchen where he has someone wash and cut the stalks as he cooks the crumble separately and then adds it almost as a cookie on top of the dish at the end. As much as I adore Chef Blanc and as much as I respect and admire all that France has to offer in terms of food and cooking I beg to differ on this crucial aspect of the dish. Surely the point is to have the juices from the fruit seep into the crumble as it cooks to form that sublime combination where the crumble and filling meet? This is just one of those comfort food desserts where I think the home cooks have an edge over the professional chefs – in The Taste cooking contest the judges have one bite to judge the dish. Tonight I’m hoping this crumble will have everyone coming back for many more bites.

The Best Rhubarb Crumble Recipe EVER!
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s recipe in The Feast

This tart fruit makes the perfect filling for a crumble. In England March brings in pink forced rhubarb and with it the need to bake up a crumble and serve it with copious amounts of custard. Being January we are little early in the season for local rhubarb but desperate times calls for desperate measures – thank goodness for Gelsons where I found some pretty pink stalks squeezed between parsley roots and turnips.

For the Filling:

2 lbs rhubarb, chopped into 1/2 in pieces
50g (1/4 cup) Bakers sugar (superfine)
15g (tablespoon) butter
1 tablespoon paste or vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Crumble Topping:

150g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
110g (1/2 cup/4oz)unsalted butter, cold and diced
15g (1 tablespoon) Bakers sugar
32g (2 Tablespoons) Crystalized Ginger
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

1. Heat the oven to 375 F with a baking tray on the middle rack.

2. In a large pan heat the rhubarb over medium heat with the sugar, butter, vanilla paste, cornstarch, ginger and black pepper for about 5 minutes, until the rhubarb is glossy and everything has melted together.

3. Transfer to a 9 1/2 in pie plate (approx. 1 1/2 in deep).

To make the Crumble Topping:

1. In the food processor pulse the flour, baking powder and chilled butter until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the Bakers sugar, ginger and Turbinado sugar and pulse very little just to combine.
2. Spread evenly over  the top of the rhubarb and press down gently.

3. Bake in the center of the oven on the baking tray for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and the filling is bubbling up. The tray is to catch any filling that bubbles up and over the sides.

4. Remove the dish from the oven and let cool a little before serving. The rhubarb crumble is delicious served hot of cold with rich thick custard, double cream or vanilla ice cream.

Cheats Custard – Quick Creme Anglaise

1 can Ambrosia Devon Custard
1 cup Organic cream
1 tablespoon vanilla paste

Combine all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan over low heat, pour into a fancy jug and serve over the top of the crumble. No one will ever know!