My tribute to James Macavoy - Nigella Lawson's sweet and salty crunch bars

Oh my, I do believe I have found my culinary equivalent of James McAvoy. My tastebuds are swooning, baby! I know I say this often. But I have fallen head over heels. Like Nigella says, these should definitely come with a warning. Don't make unless you have the willpower of a saint. Don't make if you're trying to portion control. Don't make if you're lonely and food seems to be your only solace these days.

I'll admit it, these days alone in Miri while awaiting my transfer, are pretty lonesome. Stirring, chopping, baking, braising seem to be my chores of choice, perfect activities to while away the hours. That, and blogging about it at all.

Back to the bars - the whole world is crazy for salt in desserts these days. And after tasting these, oh man, I can see why. There's just something about salt that makes chocolate that much more tasty, that heightens its very chocolatey intensity and makes it that much more winsome. Aargh, like I needed another addiction (I have been spending the last weekend ploughing through The Last King of Scotland, Wanted, Starter for 10, The Last Station, The Conspirator, Becoming Jane, and X-Men: First Class (twice, Atonement is too gut-wrenching to warrant repeats. Damn his good acting!)

This new one is serious, folks. I've started talking to myself about it. Like today, for instance - after eating two 2-inch bars (and they are super rich), I think I want another one. No you can't have another one, you'd be cancelling out yesterday's workout. And the ,day after's tomorrow's too. But my lunch was practically no-fat! But you're not even hungry. OK, just a little piece that you "accidentally" broke off. Oh man that was good. Oh well, that piece just looks ugly and doesn't fit in with the rest. I better put it out of its misery. You see what I mean? ??

To add further insult to injury, these are spectacularly easy to make. Trust Nigella to make sure of that, ya?

I made my own salted peanuts for this recipe - roasted them like usual, then tossed them in a hot pan of melted butter and sprinkled a pinch of sea salt flakes over. Also, since I had a pack of salted cashews and macadamias so I thwacked it a bit with a pestle and dumped the contents into the mix. I also used my amaretti that I bought from back from Venice, which turned out to be too sweet to eat by themselves anyways, in place of Nigella's advocated Nestle Crunch (aka golden honeycomb) bars. Oh, and I used all dark chocolate (70% cocoa ) instead of a combination of milk and dark.

Here's Nigella's recipe,from her book and my trusted companion these days, Kitchen.

Sweet and Salty Nut Crunch Bars

Ingredients

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate (or 1 heaping cup chips)
4 ounces milk chocolate (or 1/2 cup chips) (or 11 ounces milk chocolate instead) - I used all dark1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons golden syrup (recommended: Lyle's) - I omitted this, they came out OK2 1/4 cups salted peanuts - I used my own homemade roasted salted peanuts, plus a bit of salted nut mix that I had - I think they added a lot of nice additional contrast - buttery macadamia, super crunchy almonds
6 ounces honeycomb candy - I used amaretti. I think these are much nicer than honeycomb - less sweet and more crunch, less sticky on the teeth too
Special equipment: 1 (10-inch) springform pan or 1 rectangular aluminum foil pan approx. 13 by 9 by 2 inches - I used a silicone pan
Line your springform pan with aluminum foil or use a foil pan.

Break up or chop the chocolate into pieces, and drop into a heavy-based saucepan. Add the butter and syrup, put on a low heat, and melt gently together.

Tip the peanuts into a bowl, and crush the honeycomb candy with your hands, letting the golden-glinting rubble fall into the nuts.

Take the melted chocolate mixture off the heat and stir in the peanuts and crushed honeycomb candy, then tip straight into the springform pan or foil pan. Smooth the top of the mixture as much as you can, pressing down with a silicon spatula or vinyl-disposable-gloved hand. Put into the refrigerator for about 4 hours, and once set, cut into slices as desired.

Dhal with egg and spinach

I have to say, I have been pretty delinquent in feeding myself these past 2 weeks. Too much travel (Qatar, KL, Miri, Bintulu), too much time spent in airports, and overall sheer exhaustion. Couple that with some crazy times at work, and I have reverted back to my old instant noodles-or-oatmeal for lunch/dinner habits. The good news, though, is that my constant travel has yielded something fruitful - we finally decided on a house. A basic one that had us sweating when we handed over the earnest deposit, and then excited when we started dreaming of renovation and decoration.

Anyway, this is something I made a few weeks back, before the start of all the craziness and I had the time and energy to cook something for myself. Simple, hearty and warming dhal, bulked up with egg and spinach when reheated for lunch or dinner.

This recipe is from my old standby, 5 Spices 50 Dishes, by Ruta Kahate. One basically simmers split moong dhal (red lentils) with ginger, then make a tadka (spice mix) with coriander, cumin, garlic and "burnt" onions. I find that this tastes a lot better the next day, after the flavours are given a chance to meld and mature.

Everyday Yellow Dal

1 cup yellow split peas, soaked in cold water for 1 hour
3 cups water
1 large tomato (about 8 ounces), cut into 8 wedges
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium red onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
5 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, finely ground
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup minced cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt

1) Drain the dal (split peas) and place in a large saucepan.
2) Add the fresh water and tomato and bring to a boil.
3) Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the peas are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4) Pick out any tomato skins and whisk the dal to emulsify it. Keep warm over low heat.
5) Make the tadka: Heat the oil in a medium skillet over high heat.
6) When the oil beings to smoke, add the cumin seeds, covering the pan with a lid or splatter screen.
7) After the seeds have stopped sputtering, add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat until most of the onion has turned dark brown, about 5 minutes. Add the coriander, turmeric, and cayenne, stir, and pour the onion mixture over the dal. Add the cilantro, butter, and salt to the dal and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.Serves 4.

While traditionally one should eat this with bread or rice, accompanied by a few more dishes, I simply top my dhal with some wilted spinach and a poached egg, throw in the frozen spinach and break an egg over before reheating it in the microwave.

A cheesy makeover

I feel that I must first apologise for the title. But it really does fit the bill. :)

Bedtime, with Nigella Kitchen and a big fat furry purring bundle of contentment next to me. Yes I read cookbooks in bed. One of my many simple pleasures in life, and Nigella's books make for particularly dreamy bedtime reading.

I am especially inspired by one of the chapters in Kitchen, entitled "Cook It Better", where she describes her inability to throw anything away. There are recipes here for stale bread (Panzanella, bread pudding), vegetable odds and ends (throw them into a green curry), subpar strawberries (make crumble). I especially enjoyed her describing "making a banoffee cheesecake rise out of the sad ashes of a blackening bunch of bananas." You just can't fault the woman, outrageous as the stuff she says.

So of course I was inspired. And good thing too.

I had, in a spate of bad judgement, bought myself a pack of processed cheese slices thinking that hey, I could make a solo meal by slapping a conveniently pre-sliced, calcium-fortified piece on a tortilla, pop it in the oven and hey, dinner.

Not so. I had to force myself to finish my first attempt. And then I vowed to buy those blocks next time.

So what to do with the rest of the vile-tasting cheese? I fretted about it and resigned myself to conveniently forgetting about the rest of those horrid slices. Until I read this. I am a big fan of the blog - a lot of the posts are about buying, cooking and showcasing local Filipino produce. Plus I love breakfast. I read this post, and yes my friends, this I would do. I would pay homage to Nigella and throw more ingredients at my unwanted one and crackers will emerge. How glorious.

I set to work. Since the flavour of my cheese was quite horrid, I threw in curry powder (4 teaspoons), turmeric powder (2 teaspoons), Maggie seasoning (about 1/2 a teaspoon), and garlic powder (2 teaspoons). And I also subbed a combination of all purpose flour and ground oat bran for whole wheat flour. To top the crackers, I sprinkled some with chilli flakes, others I cracked black pepper over.

Lo and behold, they came out more than edible. Addictive almost, with the curry and garlic and chilli all contributing to a complex, deeply savoury flavour. I am rather pleased, I must say. I'm sure Nigella would approve.

Orangette's Marion Cunningham's fresh ginger muffins

This Molly of Orangette. She sure knows how to sell a recipe. Boy I'm glad I trusted her on this one.

I have baked from her book before, a banana cake with crystallised ginger that I wound up discarding. But I blame myself - I actually despise banana bread, but as always, was so taken by her beautiful prose that I decided to give it a try.

Well, I do love ginger. And boy, do I love these muffins. Boy I'm saying Boy a lot.

They tasted just as good cold as they do fresh and warm from the oven. That tender crumb, that amount of sweetness that was just right, that addictive kick of ginger, that freshness of flavour from the lemon zest. I followed the recipe Molly provided, except I sprinkled the tops of the muffins with some demarara sugar for a nice crunchy topping, which they lived up to that nicely.

Just like Molly promised I would, I had these for dessert, as a teatime snack, for breakfast. And I have not tired of them. Far from it, in fact. Many more batches to come.

And the madness continues......

Ahh, I feel like George Washington Carver. Who knew that the humble peanut could bring so much joy and pleasure?


I have been buying and roasting my own peanuts for the third week in a row, with no sign of abatement. I crush them to top my oats, I grab a handful whenever I need a bit of sustenance (so satisfying). I have made my own peanut butter and used that to make these super pleasurable things - twice!


I decided to change it up and bake cookies instead, following this recipe, which calls for natural peanut butter. What could be more natural than homemade, eh? I also chopped my own 60% cocoa chocolate bar and dumped it into the batter. The results, I admit, are no lookers. Most of my cookies are like that anyway - I have grown to accept this sad fact *sniff*. In this case my clumsy chopping skills resulted in a lot of fine shavings along with the hunks of chocolate, and they turned the cookies a dark, rather unattractive brown. But the cookies were chewy and peanutty and chocolatey, and totally addictive. I finished half the batch within 2 days (this statement is starting to get old, I know, I know. Bear with me, will you?)


So, if you're on the lookout for a super natural, super cheap (peanuts are way cheaper than butter) and moderately healthier (peanuts are surely healthier than flour and butter, and at least they contain fibre) cookie recipe, well, look no further. Because let's face it, there aren't many out there. But this one, this is it - Michael Rechiutti's Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. Amen.

Weekend Brekkie - another take on oatmeal

I like to think of this version as an apple pie-like one. I normally eat my oatmeal with banana, the ideal fruit I think with oats. But that got a bit old, and soon I was yearning for something different. Since I had apples, why not try those? Putting raw apples directly into oatmeal didn't do it for me - no oomph at all. So I decided to try this instead - I stirred half an apple, diced, with a teaspoon of muscovado sugar and a small knob of fresh ginger (grated, with the juice) for a little warmth. I microwaved this mixture for about a minute, till the apples got tender and a sticky little sauce was created - not unlike caramel :). I topped my usual soy-oat mixture with this and it was everything it promised to be - warm with the ginger, and like I said, very apple pie.

Oh, and to grate my ginger, I used my fabulous little Japanese ceramic grater, so much easier than using a handheld one. Plus it helps to collect the "juice" that gets extracted during the grating. I got mine at one of those 5-ringgit Japanese stores and it works like dream. Genius invention.

Caramel topped Blondies

I get it now.

What took me so long?

All those bloggers were right. Caramel absolutely rocks my world. I can't get enough of it now, damnit. It's a deep, dark, delicious hole, my friends.

Like I said previously, I intended to use the little batch of caramel I made on Blondies. Well, they came out a little short of my expectations. Too cakey and not the heavy, chewy stuff I want my Blondie to be. Still delicious, mind you, they are topped and filled with my salted caramel sauce after all (Ms. Yard recommends poking holes in the just-baked Blondies and "injecting" the caramel into the crevices, I poked holes and just poured the stuff over). And thanks to their relative lightness I've also managed to eat my way through half the pan.

My caramel trial

Might as well admit it, I am a stalker. Of food blogs. I have a few regulars that I follow feverishly, reading and re-reading their prose and wishing (and vowing) to cook the foods they cook. Well, they been waxing lyrical over the joys of burnt sugar for years. I never thought caramel could be so, well, sexy. How could I not, really, after seeing all it shine in all incarnations possible - in sophisticated salted butter caramels (or caramel au beurre salé, mind you) , with crème fraîche or espresso, or in a wicked-looking sauce to top vanilla ice cream, or - and this is the one incarnation that I cannot get out of my head - to streak seemingly innocent blondies with.

Let me tell you something.

These writings, they are beautiful. The photos, absolutely mouthwatering. And it's all true. I can vouch for it, because I made some last night. It wasn't all smooth sailing - I had to toss my first batchTrying to follow David Lebovitz's advice on taking it beyond smoking, I waited until the caramel turned the colour I wanted then I took it off the stove. Unfortunately the residual heat was just too much and it took the caramel beyond what I wanted - an almost black, smoking, bitter mess. I tried again, watching the colour changes like a hawk and taking the pan off the stove much earlier than before. I whisked in my butter and salt and milk (can't afford cream). It came out sticky and looking very much like the ones in other people's blogs. And my kitchen smelled like a candy factory for hours later. Which was kinda nice.

But the cleanup, my friends, is no joke.

I ended up spending more time boiling my utensils in water, again and again, to remove all the stubborn traces of hardened caramel. So not only was there the danger of handling the hot sugar itself (more experienced bloggers recommend wearing goggles and oven mitts, not putting your face over the pan of molten sugar), trying to clean a pan with hot water was no walk in the park either. But that's the only way, people, to clean hardened caramel off your stuff. Except your fingers of course.

Tomorrow I am going to bake those Blondies (recipe will be courtesy of Sherry Yard's Secrets 0f Baking), and tell you if it was all worth it.