All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Dark Chocolate, Orange and Hazelnut Brownies

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Gooey orange and hazelnut dark chocolate brownies
I sit at home sometimes, nothing unusual there, and things pop into my head and then I can’t get them out. If I have a hankering for a particular food, place to go or thing to do nothing else will suffice until I lay my hands on that thing. One evening last week I really needed some chocolate. I didn’t want wishy washy unsatisfying chocolate I wanted full on, one slice is enough, complete chocolate indulgence. The kind where you feel like you have a chocolate hangover when you’re halfway through the first bite. My dark chocolate, orange and hazelnut brownies were created out of desire and the need to use up some hazelnuts in the back of the cupboard. I’ve been practising my brownie recipe for some years now so I thought I’d try a variation on my plain recipe.

Ingredients

You will need (for nine brownies):

  • 100g salted butter
  • 180g golden caster sugar
  • 70g light muscovado sugar
  • 120g dark chocolate with orange (the stuff I used had caramelised orange peel in)
  • 1 tbsp golden syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • Splash vanilla extract
  • 100g plain flour
  • 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 50g roughly chopped hazelnuts (mine were blanched)

Method

Line a (roughly) 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper. You could grease the tin but anything for a life of easier washing up. Melt the butter, sugars, chocolate and golden syrup together in a pan over a low heat until melted and well combined. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Beat the eggs and vanilla extract together then whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together then fold this into the chocolate mix. Gently mix in the hazelnuts. Pour the brownie mix into the tin then bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Mark into pieces while still hot.

I think everyone likes their brownies differently; some prefer them cakier, some want them still gooey and others will have them like fudge. The thing I like about this recipe is the corner pieces are cakier than the edge pieces which are fudgier and the (best) centre brownie which is still slightly liquid. The middle piece is my favourite and I try to take it out when it’s fresh from the oven to enjoy hot. This of course is somewhat awkward as you need all manner of kitchen implements to try and extract it; it’s like culinary Operation but well worth the effort. The chocolate is just intense enough, the orange is more of a whisper and the hazelnuts add a welcome texture. Exactly what I wanted. read more

Christmas Trifle

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Christmas Trifle
I’m not one for Christmas pudding or Christmas cake. It’s a bit too intense for me. I think if I made my own my opinion may change but until then I’ll stick to alternatives. It doesn’t help that I despise marzipan. To make an equally lovely centrepiece I thought I’d try my hand at a festive trifle: mulled wine jelly, panettone and orange juice and softly whipped cream reminiscent of a snow scene. All it needs is some edible glitter; but they’d run out when I went to get some.

Ingredients

You will need (for 6-8 portions): 400ml mulled wine 5 sheets gelatine 100g sugar 160ml water

Few slices panettone
2 tbsp fresh orange juice

150ml double cream

Method

Make the jelly by dissolving the sugar in the water on a low heat. Put the gelatine into some cold water. Bring the sugar syrup to a boil then remove from the heat, squeeze out the gelatine and then stir it in to the sugar syrup. Add the mulled wine and stir well. Pour into the dish you’ll be serving the trifle in then refrigerate until set.

When set, lay the slices of panettone on top of the jelly and drizzle over the orange juice. Whip the cream until firm and then smooth over the top of the panettone. Decorate however you like. read more

Outrageously Orange Mince Pies

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Outrageously Orange Mince Pies
Confession time. I’m not a great fan of mincemeat. It’s just a bit too strong for me. Having said that I am a big fan of the mince pie; so long as there’s more pastry than mince. To mellow the minciness of these mince pies I have mixed the mincemeat half and half with marmalade. There’s also some orange zest in the pastry to give them a real citrus zing. I think if someone had given me this less intense mince pie as a child I would have been more inclined to eat the whole thing rather than just the pastry.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 mince pies):
225g plain flour
120g butter
Zest of one orange
Cold water

130g mince meat
130g marmalade (all the better if it’s a whisky marmalade)

Milk or egg for brushing

Method

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour until you have a breadcrumb texture.
Stir through the orange zest.
Bring the mixture together with little drops of cold water until it forms a ball. Knead quickly on a floured surface then wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the pastry out on a floured surface until just less than the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 12 rounds (fluted or plain) with a cutter that will fit your tin and then 12 smaller rounds for the lids. I used an 8.5cm and 6.5cm cutter.
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Use the larger rounds to line bun tins. read more

Hot Blood Tonic with Orange

By 13 Comments

hot blood tonic and orange
One of my favourite things to make is drinks. They are so simple and there is a world of flavours and so many combinations to choose from. I recently met a great company called Mr Fitzpatricks who make a range of interesting cordials. To make the most of their intriguing flavours I am doing a series of posts all about drinks. The first of four posts is about the curiously named Blood Tonic. It’s got a fantastic deep red colour and it smells of fruit and herbs. I’ve been a bit under the weather recently (and feeling terribly sorry for myself) so this was sure to cheer me up.

Ingredients

You will need (per glass):

  • Blood Tonic
  • Hot water
  • 1 small orange

Method

With the exception of water (and even then maybe not) people are very particular about how they like their beverages; strong, hot, milk in after and many other variations can enhance or upset our enjoyment of a drink. When it comes to making this concoction it is all about how strong you like it. For this unbelievably simple drink just dilute the Blood Tonic with hot water, squeeze in a little orange juice and then top with a slice of orange. read more

Citrus Carpaccio with Champagne Sabayon

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Citrus Carpaccio with Champagne Sabayon
January is the month in which we all need a bit of sunshine. When the clouds fail to part sometimes you need to rely on a plateful of bright beams to keep you going. The dark mornings and evenings are easily punctuated by citrus fruits; particularly the blood orange. If anything is going to brighten a chilly evening it’s a platter of thinly sliced citrus fruits covered in a decadent Champagne sabayon with hints of mint and pomegranate.  

Ingredients

You will need (for two):
1 blood orange 1 pink grapefruit 1 white grapefruit Pomegranate seeds Mint leaves 3 egg yolks 3 tbsp caster sugar 150ml Champagne

Method

Start by peeling and slicing the citrus fruits as thinly as possible. Put to one side.

To make the sabayon put a bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water taking care that the bowl and water do not touch. Whisk together the eggs yolks and sugar in the bowl until combined and then whisk in the Champagne. Keep whisking for around 10 minutes until it is completely frothy and doubled in size. 

Serve the slices of fruit on a big plate, spoon over the sabayon and top with some pomegranate seeds and mint leaves.  read more

Blood Orange Bucks Fizz

By 25 Comments

A new house and a new kitchen, a tricky transition I find. What will the oven be like; a brute or a wimp? It turns out the oven is a pretty good one although I am yet to bake a cake and discover its true character. We have managed to save enough space to have a pantry; something I’ve always wanted. There are a few boxes yet to be unpacked and a few more bits of furniture to be put in place but progress has been good. So, with all the unpacking, swearing, cleaning and tidying there had to be time for a beautiful breakfast. read more

Mulled Wine and Orange Jelly

By 19 Comments

I feel a little left out at the moment. Everyone is having a Christmas party of some sort or other and I have never been to one. I’m not sure how it’s different to any other kind of party other than people adorning some questionably festive earrings and the subtle background music involving an alarming amount of sleigh bells. In order to rectify my festive blues I decided to have my own Christmas party. I say party but really it was just an excuse to make some jelly. read more

Christmas Spiced Tea

By 22 Comments

spiced tea in cups
I rather like tea. There are times where no matter how terrible the situation a cup of tea can remedy it in an instant. If the first cup doesn’t work then you move onto a mug. If the mug is failing to turn that frown around then you move onto a larger receptacle. And so on and so forth until the only solution is to fill a bath tub with warm tea and have a little soak. That way you’ve got the best of both worlds.

No matter what the tea there is always an appropriate occasion for it. For example I would start the day on a strong single blend, have an Earl Grey in the afternoon and a fresh green tea in the evening. Each to their own I reckon. Over the festive period I find my tea consumption reduced in favour of mulled wine, sloe gin and hot chocolate. Of course, I don’t start pouring gin over my cornflakes but you get the picture. In order to feel festive and start wading through the mountains of tea I have acquired over the last few months it was time to try making a Christmas tea. read more

Cranberry, Cointreau and Clementine Sauce

By 26 Comments

cranberry, cointreau and clemantine sauce (1 of 9)
Christmas cannot be a cranberry free zone; this versatile berry can be paired with both sweet and savoury things. Not only is this fruit a great all rounder but it makes itself into a sauce in no time. As the cranberry transforms so simply into a sauce it lends itself to interference, by you, to turn it into something new and exciting. This recipe is for my cranberry sauce with Cointreau and clementine which is extremely delicious when used as a mini pie filling, or, as I like to call them: festive puffs.

You will need (for the cranberry sauce):
200g cranberries
80g sugar
50ml water and 50ml clementine juice, mixed together
Splash Cointreau

Put all the ingredients into a pan and cook for five minutes until the cranberries start to burst. If it looks a like there’s a little too much moisture (I find cranberries to vary a lot in their water content) then cook for a few minutes more to evaporate some of the water. Put the cranberry sauce into a bowl and leave to cool. I’m not sure it gets much simpler and this sets to a lovely dolloping consistency. read more

Orange and Caraway Cake

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I didn’t mean to make this cake. I was sat there minding my own business and my mind started to wander. It wandered into realms of freshly baked things, delicious wafting scents and warm moist sponge. My imagination ran away with me and before I knew it my hands and arms were creeping in to the fridge and searching for butter and eggs.

There have been many times where I’ve fancied something in particular and invariably I never have what I need to fulfil my requirements. But this time I did. I was having one of those days where I just needed a bit of warm cake; a spontaneous bake if you will. It was also one of those days where a plain sponge just wouldn’t do; I wanted some spice in my life and so this orange and caraway cake was born. read more


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