Chorizo Baked Beans

I used to love Saturday mornings.  It was a chance to recharge the batteries and catch up on much needed sleep during the week.  Sadly, Saturday mornings are no longer mine due to the hopeful search for a new nest and so I've had to become a morning owl.  So, Saturday mornings are no longer my favourite morning of the week anymore, well for now anyway.  As Borat would say ... "Theese one .....  not so much!".

Running around, demands serious fuel and home made baked beans are the way to go.  Not only do they taste a gazillion times better than your average tin, but you can control whatever you put in and also the low GI rating means that you're well prepared for the day ahead.

Home made baked beans are really just cooked tomatoes with a tin of canellini or butter beans added. The addition of sugar and vinegar is optional but gives the dish a slight sweet and sour note which adds to the depth of flavour and makes you want to go back for more and more.  A traditional tin of baked beans has ketchup or Barbecue sauce added so if thats all you have, a squeeze of that in the mix will be fine too.

If you're anything like me and don't always have a well stocked fridge on a Saturday morning, use what you have.  Bacon, Speck, Pancetta or even sliced ham will work and for that hit of smokiness add a shake of Spanish paprika.

Finally, if you can be bothered chopping all the veg, feel free to use a mini food processor to blitz it all up.  Add the onion, celery, garlic, thyme leaves and chilli pulse a few times until chopped. I would definitely dice the chorizo by hand though.

Homemade Chorizo Baked Beans

Ingredients

1/2 small onion - chopped

1 stick celery - chopped

1/2 chorizo - diced (add more if you want, or none if your a vego)

1 large clove of garlic - chopped

1/2 red chilli - deseeded and chopped

Thyme sprigs

1 tin of Italian cherry tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes)

1 tin of Canellini or butter beans

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp of vinegar (white balsamic works best)

1/2 cup of stock (I used 1/2 a Knorr jellied beef stock pot)

Muffins or sourdough

Poached eggs

Shavings of Manchego, parmesan or even cheddar

Herbs to garnish - Chives or parsley

To make

1) In a pre heated saute pan (or any heavy based pan) on med/low heat, add a splash of olive oil and gently fry the onion and celery for a few minutes until soft. Your pan should be heated before you add the oil.

2) Add the chorizo and gently fry until the red porky goodness begins to leach from the chorizo dice.

3) Add the aromats - garlic, chilli and thyme stalks and continue the gentle fry for another minute.

4) Turn the heat to medium.

• If you're using liquid beef stock, deglaze the pan and reduce stock by half.  Then add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer
• Otherwise, add the tin of chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Once at a simmer, add the jelly stock pot and stir in until uniformly incorporated.

5) Add the sugar and vinegar to the pan, stir in and reduce by one third.  The sauce should now be thickened.  

6) Turn the heat down to Medium Low and add the tin of rinsed beans.  Bring back up to a simmer and turn the heat to low and half cover the pan whilst you ready the eggs, toast and coffee/tea/OJ.

7) Once all is ready, plate up and serve!  For that extra hit of deliciousness, add a couple of drops of white truffle oil to the egg. hmmm ....  

Obviously this is a home meal but if you've got guests around or want to make it look more cafe style  plate it up in a rice bowl, ramekin or mini pot, you get the idea.

Anyone looking to perfect their poached egg technique, I recommend the whirlpool method using fresh eggs.  I first read about this method via Gordon Ramsay salad recipe (I think?) but Felicity Cloake, the Guardian food writer has written an eggcellent article on it .... (sorry couldn't resist the pun)...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/16/how-make-perfect-poached-egg

Alternatively, another method I've tried with good success is the one by Heston Blumenthal which you can read about here.

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/heston-blumenthal/poached-eggs-recipe

Raspberry Soufflé

It's the last day of summer and a lot of rain has been falling lately. So much so that I've emptied my 6 litre dehumidifier every day for the past fortnight. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to stay indoors eat loads of food and watch TV.

Inspiration arrives by email. "Can you make chocolate fondants for dessert tonight? =) ".  I begin to imagine the oozing chocolate from a hot pudding but immediately think that's more of a Autumn or Winter dish. Something lighter and more seasonal would be better.

I remember the new mini pans I've just bought and "BING" raspberry soufflés come to mind. Also with raspberries priced at 2 punnets for a tenner, I can't resist.

There's a lot of hype about soufflés but to be honest they're not really difficult once you master how to whip egg whites to the correct stage.

Keys to eggy bliss are:

• Your whisk and bowl must be very clean and dry. Glass and stainless steel bowls are ok, copper is the best but not essential. Use hot water, detergent and a clean sponge.
• It is not necessary to use freshly bought eggs. I sometimes freeze whites when I have too many eggs. This is a tip I picked up from chef Michel Roux. The whites should be room temperature though.
• Separate egg whites cleanly into the bowl. If you get a few specks of yolk in, use a clean egg shell to scoop it out. Egg shell is a good yolk magnet.
• Add half a pinch of salt to help the whites aerate.
• Start whisking. I prefer using a hand balloon whisk but a stand mixer or electric beater is fine too.
• Whisk until the "ribbon" stage. ie: when you can lift your whisk out of the mix and a ribbon of white foam is visibly supported on the surface.
• At this point add caster or pure icing sugar and whisk until the whites are stiff and you can hold the bowl upside down for 2 secs and it doesn't slide out. If you see the mix start sliding whisk some more.
• At this point the whites are ready to be incorporated to the base mix.

Regrettably I didn't take photos of the egg white process. I will next time though so that its a bit clearer to see whats going on.

The beauty about this souffle recipe is that it uses pure fruit and only 1 tsp of cornflour (cornstarch) to make the soufflé base. Most recipes require a creme pattissiere base which is a little more work and much more calories.

Since writing this post, I've found some additional tips (both scientifically proven) which will help with the rise of your souffle and world domination.

1. Whipping the whites in a copper or silver plated bowl will give you an advantage.  Copper ions strengthen the foam and make it more stable. (source Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking, pg 104)
2. According to Dr Herve This, prior to baking your souffles in the oven, grilling the tops of the souffles for 10 - 20 seconds will seal the top and allow the steam in the mix to create an even bigger rise on your souffle. Apparently by 1/2 inch!
3. Finally, you don't have to bake the final mix/batter straight away.  Once in the souffle moulds, it will happily sit
• on a kitchen bench for up to one hour
• In the fridge for several hours
• In the freezer is fine too

RASPBERRY SOUFFLÉS - makes 4
adapted from recipe by V. Gadan

Ingredients

For souffle moulds
Softened butter
Freeze-dried raspberries, ground or caster sugar or grated dark chocolate or even cocoa powder.
You will also need 4 ramekins (300ml) or 4 mini copper pots (250 ml).

Raspberry mixture
30g caster sugar
1 tbsp (10g) water
1 tsp (8g) cornflour
Juice of 1 lemon
170g raspberry puree (2 punnets of raspberries, blended, sieved)
4 egg whites (XL Eggs - 700gms to the dozen)
1 tbsp caster sugar

To serve
4 raspberries for decoration
Raspberry coulis - about 1 punnet raspberries, blended with some icing sugar to taste, then sieved, to make a coulis for pouring into the souffles.
Icing sugar for dusting/plating.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Brush the inside of the soufflé mould with the softened butter. Smear the butter vertically up the sides of the mould with a pastry brush. Then, coat with the powdered freeze-dried raspberries/caster sugar/ grated chocolate/cocoa powder. I used caster sugar.
3. To make the raspberry mixture, put water in pan first then the caster sugar. Heat pan and swirl occasionally. Do not stir as sugar crystals could form and ruin the syrup. Heat the caster sugar and water until the sugar dissolves.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour and lemon juice. Add this to the sugar syrup, along with the raspberry puree. Bring to the boil and cook for 30 seconds or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl and set aside to cool. I poured my mix into a metal bowl and placed it in a sink of cold tap water to let it cool.
5. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until the consistency reaches the "ribbon" stage. Add the caster sugar, whisking continuously, until firm. See above for egg whipping tips.
6. Whisk a spoonful of egg white mixture into the cooled raspberry mixture until well combined.
7. This bit is important..... Pour the raspberry mix on top of the remaining egg whites. GENTLY fold the raspberry mix into the remaining egg whites until completely pink and uniform. Be gentle to ensure the maximum amount of air is retained in the mix.
8. Spoon the mixture into each mould. Tap the base and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake in a bain-marie, cold water is fine, in the preheated oven, for about 10-12 minutes.

   

   These ramekins are 350ml - there wasn't enough mix to completely fill the 4th ramekin

9. When ready, feel free to sing aloud do the Gangnam dance, whatever.
10. Dust the soufflé with icing sugar and decorate with a fresh raspberry on top.  Serve immediately. (NB: the souffle will begin to deflate once take out of the oven, so it is important to have the icing sugar ready to sprinkle as well as any accompaniments you plan on serving with it.)
11. To eat, break the centre of each soufflé with a dessert spoon and pour a little puree over the back of the spoon (2 dessert spoonfuls should be plenty for each) into the centre of the soufflé.

If you don't have enough raspberries to make a coulis/sauce you could use cream, custard or even a scoop of good vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

ENJOY with family, friends or with your loved one in front of the TV. Especially if the weather is dreary, like it was today.

Have you ever made a souffle and what are your favourites, either sweet or savoury?