TOFFEE NUT DRINKING CHOCOLATE
Hurray hurray hurray! I have been asked to start adding to the content on www.chocolatexpert.co.uk - and help build it into a baking, eating, drinking resource all about chocolate. Can you think of anything better? Okay, I am often to be found writing for a website - one day about finding work in Newcastle, the next about selling scrap gold online - but rarely are they as close to my heart! I can think of no better way to spend a Friday.
And while I'm here, and we are talking about chocolate, would you like a recipe for the Starbucks winter special? Well, not the official recipe, but an extraordinarily close approximation. Here's what happened: I walked past a Starbucks. The "Toffee Hot Chocolate" advertisement called to me. I stopped. It carried on yelling, with all its creamy, toffee-coloured might. "I'll come right back," I promised. And I did.
And seriously, could I get addicted to those things. Fortunately, as I wrapped my hands around the warm brown cardboard and sipped, I remembered that I had recently bought some Caramel Sale (Toffee Nut) Syrup from an online drinks store. It was, in fact, sitting in a dusty corner of the kitchen (with its friends Green Apple and Gingerbread) as I drank. So the next day, I whipped up a couple of Toffee Nut Chocolates for us, at home. Whipped cream optional...
Per person, you'll need:
3tbsp real drinking chocolate (I used 'Liquid' by Hotel Chocolat)
1mug-full of milk (measure in the cup and then tip into saucepan or jug)
2tbsp Toffee Nut (Caramel Sale) Monin Syrup
Having measured and emptied your milk into a saucepan or jug (depending how you plan to heat it), put the drinking chocolate and syrup into the bottom of your mug, add a splash of the cold milk from the pan, and stir it to a paste. In a saucepan over the hob, or in a microwave (go slow), heat the milk to just below boiling. Pour it over the mixture in the mug, and stir well. Using a handheld frother or the steam spout on a coffee maker, froth up the top of the milk, and sprinkle with cocoa to serve.
Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Fresher, Brighter and Lighter: Risotto and Smoothies
All this sunshine is rousing the earth and lightening the step. I'm becoming impatient for full-blown summer: I want to eat freshly podded peas, wickedly bitter rocket and cheery tomatoes - outdoors, with a cold glass of wine. Eating with the seasons feels natural: right now I'm yearning for light dishes and fruit smoothies, while in winter it's perfectly instinctive to tuck into a big bowl of mashed celeriac. Just one of the reasons I love our vegetable box.
Last Friday our box brought the last of the pears with Spanish oranges (they do sneak in a few imports now and again) and mangoes. Smoothies are so brilliant, I don't know why we don't make them every day. It's utterly rewarding to drink a glass packed full of fruit and nothing else.
MANGO, ORANGE AND PEAR SMOOTHIE
2 oranges
1 large, ripe mango
1 eating pear
Ice cubes
Lazily peel the pear and mango, and chop both roughly. (No need to labour over it.) In an empty blender jug, juice the oranges, getting every last bit of juice out. Plop in the chopped fruit, then whiz until smooth (if too thick, add a little apple juice or the juice from another orange, if you have one). Add a couple of ice-cubes and whiz briefly to break them up a little. Drink in the sunshine!
NO-STIR RISOTTO PRIMAVERA
Primavera, "first green" in Italian, is the name used to describe a whole rainbow of spring pasta and rice dishes. Think of it as a celebration of spring; Primavera always contains plenty of fresh vegetables, like asparagus, wild garlic, fresh peas, broad beans, artichokes and other lovely new greens. Ideally made in May with baby asparagus spears, it should always be abundantly green with a good splash of white wine: fresh, light, and a delicious way to celebrate the season. I use Delia's oven-bake method for this risotto.
SERVES TWO
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 courgette, roughly chopped
1 handful peas
1tsp butter
200ml carnaroli rice
200ml white wine
400ml vegetable stock
2tbsp finely grated parmesan
1 large handful wild garlic, washed and shredded
Set the oven to 150 deg C.
Saute the onion in the butter until translucent, then add the courgette and continue to soften for about 5-10 minutes. Add the peas halfway through. Now stir in the rice and mix thoroughly, heating it so it glistens. Add the wine and stock, bring to a simmer, then put the whole lot into a warmed oven dish and slide into the oven.
After about 15-20 minutes (when the rice will be almost cooked), remove from the oven and stir in the sliced wild garlic and the parmesan. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, checking, then serve with crusty bread and mixed salad leaves.
If you make a note of the cooking times for this in your particular oven, it will be even less demanding next time.
All this sunshine is rousing the earth and lightening the step. I'm becoming impatient for full-blown summer: I want to eat freshly podded peas, wickedly bitter rocket and cheery tomatoes - outdoors, with a cold glass of wine. Eating with the seasons feels natural: right now I'm yearning for light dishes and fruit smoothies, while in winter it's perfectly instinctive to tuck into a big bowl of mashed celeriac. Just one of the reasons I love our vegetable box.
Last Friday our box brought the last of the pears with Spanish oranges (they do sneak in a few imports now and again) and mangoes. Smoothies are so brilliant, I don't know why we don't make them every day. It's utterly rewarding to drink a glass packed full of fruit and nothing else.
MANGO, ORANGE AND PEAR SMOOTHIE
2 oranges
1 large, ripe mango
1 eating pear
Ice cubes
Lazily peel the pear and mango, and chop both roughly. (No need to labour over it.) In an empty blender jug, juice the oranges, getting every last bit of juice out. Plop in the chopped fruit, then whiz until smooth (if too thick, add a little apple juice or the juice from another orange, if you have one). Add a couple of ice-cubes and whiz briefly to break them up a little. Drink in the sunshine!
NO-STIR RISOTTO PRIMAVERA
Primavera, "first green" in Italian, is the name used to describe a whole rainbow of spring pasta and rice dishes. Think of it as a celebration of spring; Primavera always contains plenty of fresh vegetables, like asparagus, wild garlic, fresh peas, broad beans, artichokes and other lovely new greens. Ideally made in May with baby asparagus spears, it should always be abundantly green with a good splash of white wine: fresh, light, and a delicious way to celebrate the season. I use Delia's oven-bake method for this risotto.
SERVES TWO
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 courgette, roughly chopped
1 handful peas
1tsp butter
200ml carnaroli rice
200ml white wine
400ml vegetable stock
2tbsp finely grated parmesan
1 large handful wild garlic, washed and shredded
Set the oven to 150 deg C.
Saute the onion in the butter until translucent, then add the courgette and continue to soften for about 5-10 minutes. Add the peas halfway through. Now stir in the rice and mix thoroughly, heating it so it glistens. Add the wine and stock, bring to a simmer, then put the whole lot into a warmed oven dish and slide into the oven.
After about 15-20 minutes (when the rice will be almost cooked), remove from the oven and stir in the sliced wild garlic and the parmesan. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, checking, then serve with crusty bread and mixed salad leaves.
If you make a note of the cooking times for this in your particular oven, it will be even less demanding next time.
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