Dirty Chocolate and Caramel Cheesecake

A low fat failure becomes a big fat success

On Wednesday evening I tried to make some low fat chocolate biscuits out of egg white, walnuts, dark chocolate, sugar and cocoa but failed pretty miserably. They were bitter and stodgy but I didn't want to waste them, so I decided to turn them into cheesecake crust and thought up this Dirty Chocolate and Caramel Cheesecake for Squirrelface's birthday.

I do attempt to make slightly healthier things when I'm baking but as this was something of a celebration cake  I decided to go all out and create something so calorific and delicious that it will possibly only get made once a year. I might train for the London Marathon for next year and use it for carb loading. I should really have gone for a run today but my kitchen got the better of me.

One thing you must remember is to leave the cake in the fridge until the cake is completely cold or the caramel will squidge out form underneath the cheesecake. Or alternatively use more biscuits and have the base come up the sides as well, I didn't have enough bitter biscuits.

This is a gluten free creation, the biscuits I attempted to make were Gizzi Erskine's Beacon Hill Cookies so if you have better luck, let me know (I didn't have cream of tartar).

Salt the caramel if you wish, I didn't. Vogueish foodstuffs annoy me.

Dirty Chocolate and Caramel Cheesecake

For the base

150g chocolate biscuits
60g butter

For the cheesecake:

200g dark chocolate 

500g cream cheese

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs

150ml sour cream 

For the caramel

125ml water

125ml Golden Syrup

300g Demerara sugar

90g unsalted butter

250ml double cream

Blitz the biscuits with the butter in a food processor and push into the base of a loose bottomed spring form tin.

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C

To make the caramel put all ingredients but the cream in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and allow to bubble away for 5-10 minutes until you're happy with the colour.

Take off the heat and pour in the cream, then put back on to a low flame and reduce until you reach your desired consistency, another 5 minutes should be fine.

Pour the caramel into the spring form tin and place straight in the fridge.

For the cheesecake mix all ingredients aside from the chocolate to a batter-like consistency.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a boiling pan of water without the bottom of the bowl touching the boiling water. The chocolate should melt within 5 minutes. 

Pour the chocolate into the batter and mix until combined.

Remove the cake tin from the fridge and pour in the cheesecake batter.

Bake for 50 mins and allow to cool thoroughly before removing the tin.

The result is a light cheesecake topping a dense round of caramel. If left in the fridge overnight remove from the fridge at least an hour before serving.

Lazy Bastard's Carbonara

Squirrelface is washing up twice this evening.

We went out for our friend Charlotte's birthday last night and had some lovely IPA from The Montpelier on Choumert Road, too much lovely IPA... We didn't get to bed until 02:00 after an ill advised 'all back to mine' moment. We then still tried to watch an episode of Mad Men, and failed.

I managed to get to work on time and amused myself looking at the Wikipedia page for Maria Callas, Squirrelface didn't get out of bed until noon, the lazy student. So now I'm feeling a bit sleepy, I want to curl up and watch that episode of Mad Men and eat something involving carbs, bacon and cheese. Squirrelface, being Italian, immediately suggested carbonara, what could be better or tastier in this instance? Plus with him there it allows for a sense of authenticity, but opens me up to stark criticism.

I call it a Lazy Bastard Carbonara because I'm a lazy bastard today but not lazy enough for a ready meal and this takes less than 20 mins from apron to first bite. It harks back to my student days when I'd make bacon and egg pasta, carbonara without Parmesan, i was particularly lazy and hung over a lot back then.

For all you fact fans out there, carbonara gets its name form the amount of black pepper used in the original conception of the recipe... LOTS!

Lazy Bastard's Carbonara

1 or 2 packs of pancetta/lardons (smoked or unsmoked is up to you, i like smoked)

3 eggs plus one egg yolk

50g Parmesan finely grated

250g long pasta (we're using linguine)

Black pepper to taste (don't be shy)

Get a big pot of water to the boil and chuck in a big pinch of salt, put the pasta in the pan and put a lid on. It should take around 10 mins.

Meanwhile fry the pancetta/lardons in a super hot pan to begin with and then turn the heat down after 3-5 mins and let the fat melt out of them.

Mix the eggs, egg yolk, Parmesan and black pepper together with a fork.

Once the pasta is cooked throw it in the pan with the bacon and toss. Turn off the heat and throw in the egg mixture and toss again.

Serve in warm, slightly tattered pasta bowls you've had for over 10 years.

Chocolate Orange Melt-In-The-Middle Muffins

Squirrelface and I are off to Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest this weekend, so we can save our money for the overpriced East London booze, I decided to make some treats we could take with us.

These lovely oaty muffins are robust enough to survive in an airtight container in a bag for a day and are moist enough that they will keep for at least 3 days - if they last that long, they're pretty scoffable.

You could substitute the orange marmalade for lemon curd, orange zest and juice for lemon and use 50g extra flour and omit the cocoa powder, if you prefer a non chocolate experience, the sour cream can be easily substituted for yoghurt if you're dieting (while baking....?). You know my modus operandi, experiment with flavours, not measurements!

Chocolate Orange Melt-In-The-Middle Muffins

125g plain flour
50g cocoa  powder
25g porridge oats , plus extra for sprinkling
175g caster  sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
zest and juice 1 orange
1 tbsp sunflower oil
150g sour cream
1 large egg
9 tsp chunky marmalade

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6 and line a muffin tin with 9 paper cases. Combine the flour, cocoa oats, sugar, baking powder and bicarb in a bowl. Whisk the orange zest and juice, oil, sour cream and egg together with a fork, then lightly stir the 2 mixtures together until just combined.

Spoon 1 tbsp of the mixture into each muffin case, top with 1 tsp of marmalade, then cover with the remaining muffin mix and a sprinkling of oats. Bake for 15-20 mins until cooked through and golden, then leave to cool slightly.

Punchy Smoked Duck Stir Fry with Mixed Vegetables

I'm definitely not washing up tonight...

However much i enjoy cooking, i don't always want to spend hours in the kitchen making something wonderfully complicated after a day at work and with various chores to do once returning home. Stir fry is an easy go to option in this instance. I don't like buying pre-made sauces, they always have a chemical after-taste, mixing up some citrus, soy, heat and sweet takes seconds and yields much tastier results.

I've included smoked duck in this recipe, which isn't that easy to obtain, unless you have a budget German supermarket near you, not the one beginning with 'A', the other one. Look out in the special offers section, a couple of times a year it pops up at a really reasonable price and can be used like any other cured meat. The fat is great in this recipe as you don't need to bother using oil, plus both duck and goose fat are healthy animal fats.

I really enjoy the combination of punchy flavours in this dish, but nothing seems to overwhelm the individual ingredients, it enhances them. You could always use tofu and marinate in the sauce if you're vegetarian/vegan and substitute the duck fat for a tablespoon of sunflower oil or similar, or if you can't find smoked duck, chicken or pork would work well too. Use your imagination with the vegetables, whatever you have lying around is usually fine, tomatoes or harder roots are probably a no-no.

If you're canny it takes around 20 mins from start to finish and doesn't have the mountain of washing up some 'quick' recipes can create.

Punchy Smoked Duck Stir Fry with Mixed Vegetables

1/2 a pack of sliced smoked duck

2 carrots, scrubbed and julienned 

4 spring onions, snipped up

4 large or 6 smaller cabbage leaves, central stalk removed and shredded

2 handfulls of mushrooms, quartered

3 cloves garlic

thumb sized piece of ginger

juice of 1 lime

4 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp hot pepper sauce

1 1/2 tsp fig vinegar

2 sachets of straight to wok noodles

Snip the slices of duck with scissors into a hot wok and allow the fat to render, then throw in the mushrooms,  spring onions and carrots and coat with the fat, turn the heat down to medium.

Bash the garlic and ginger in a pestle and mortar with a generous pinch of salt, then throw in to the wok and fry gently.

Rinse the shredded cabbage and drain, then throw in to the wok and mix up.

I usually turn the heat down and stick a lid on (not technically stir fry, I know) while mixing the sauce and opening the noodles.

Quickly stir fry the noodles till they're separated and pour in the sauce. Cook on a high heat for 2-4 minutes, whatever you're comfortable with.

Serve with a fruity Italian red.

Balsamic Roasted Beetroot and Lentil Salad with Walnuts and creamy blue cheese

The Sun is Shining, Weather is Sweet...

... Makes me want to cook something savoury and moreish.

I headed out early Sunday morning, leaving Squirrelface snoozing, in to the wilds of Peckham to the farmer's market which, I'm sad to say, was a little underwhelming. I snaffled up some nice fat beetroot, some duck eggs, some smoky streaky bacon and half a loaf of granary bread, I'm hopeful that later in the year there will be more on offer.

I know the Great British Summertime is technically upon us but let us not kid ourselves, if and when it happens it will be brief and we will take it by the hands and dance the gin and tonic jig. Said jig needs something hearty and filling but not necessarily meaty.

So while you all made your roasts, I fashioned a salad that is so delicious I've made it at least 10 times since I created it one balmy June afternoon, under the influence of the gin and tonic jig.

It's great for lunchtime or teatime picnics, having in your carry-out for work or as a stand by snack in the fridge, it should keep for a week in an airtight container, but I doubt it will last that long. I sometimes pair it with a big leafy salad and slices of apple or pear but it would go wonderfully with a barbecued bit of lamb or beef too.

Green or Puy lentils work best here as they retain their shape very well and have a more contrasting flavour than the also shape holding brown.

Today I used Saint Agur because i found a cheap slab in the supermarket but I've had success with other strong creamy blue cheeses such as Dolcelatte, Gorgonzola or Roquefort. I'd not substitute Stilton as the bitter edge doesn't compliment so well.

Balsamic Roasted Beetroot and Lentil Salad with Walnuts and creamy blue cheese

100g Puy/green lentils

350g beetroot - peeled, ends discarded and chopped into bite-size pieces

75g walnuts - chopped coarsely 

100g strong and creamy blue cheese chopped and/or crumbled

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

6 tbsp walnut oil

Saly & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and combine the oil and vinegar plus salt and pepper then pour over beetroot and mix.

Tilting the bowl so the oil and vinegar mixture is away from the beetroot and spoon in to an oven dish. (The reserved liquid will be the dressing for the salad.) Roast the beetroot for around 45 mins, giving it a shake after 20 mins or so.

Put lentils and two mugs of water in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 mins and drain if any water remains. Then refresh and drain again. Add to the bowl with the dressing.

When the beetroot is just caramelised take it out and let it cool. Then combine with the cheese and walnuts. Taste and season and add more dressing, if needed.

Yum it up!

LIME MARMALADE DRIZZLE TYPE-CAKE

I'm Washing Up This Evening.....

From the chaos of unpacked bags and boxes I’m starting my food blogging.

The first thing i did after moving my stuff into mine and Squirrelface’s new Peckham flat was sort out the kitchen. Chaos isn’t chaos when the kitchen is in order.

I like baking with fruits and vegetables – they give a naughty treat a slightly healthy hue – and this evening I’m making a lime marmalade drizzle type cake.

I’m not much of a recipe follower when it come to savoury things, I like to let my instincts kick in  but when it comes to baking I know it’s science as much as it is art. When I adapt, I tweak flavours, not measurements. I’ve had enough cakeccidents being gung-ho and have learned my lesson.

This cake can, I imagine, be made with any other kind of marmalade and citrus fruit combo you like, mix and match etc. I’m not prescriptive, I would encourage you not to be either. Lime marmalade is evocative of my maternal grandparents and triggers happy culinary memories, the heady citrus tang of the fruit itself is possibly my favourite flavour, savoury or sweet. The Chinese don’t have the monopoly on sweet and sour.

I particularly love a thick shred marmalade, which adds an emerald glisten to the top of the cake, not unlike candied peel.

LIME MARMALADE DRIZZLE-TYPE CAKE

• 125g full-fat Greek-style yoghurt
• 50ml vegetable oil
• zest of 3 limes
• 3 free-range eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

DRIZZLE

• 75g lime marmalade
• juice of 3 limes
• 2 tbsp icing sugar

Preheat oven 180C/Gas 4. Grease and line a loaf tin.

Beat together the yoghurt, vegetable oil, lime zest, caster sugar and eggs until well combined and glossy.. Sift the flour and baking powder in and mix until no lumps are visible..

With the help of a spatula, pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about 45 minutes. Do the skewer test to check it comes out clean.

Whilst the cake is baking warm the marmalade, lime juice and icing sugar until the marmalade melts.

Take out of the oven, use the skewer to poke holes in the top of the cake and leave in the tin. Drizzle the marmalade mixture over the cake and set aside to cool completely.

Remove the cake from the tin and eat with friends (or in my case, Squirrelface).