Thursday, June 24, 2010

Sweet evening with Canderel
The lovely ladies from Canderel invited me to an afternoon tea party to test out some recipes and after being stuck in London traffic for one hour - to go a distance of 4 miles, I finally made it to their lovely and peaceful kitchen! When I finally made it I was treated to lovely cocktails, amazing olives and a mini cooking lesson with Canderel. For those of you that enjoy sweetners instead of sugar (less calories for those of you watching your weight), Canderel has some great recipes that you can make (that are very easy!) I missed the walnut bread making but made it for the brownies, mini strawberry trifle pot, (easy & yummy) and the chicken tagine (divine).
Below is the recipe for the uber delicious walnut bread. I think I am just big fan of bread and anything with added nuts or seeds is always a healthy bonus. Thanks to the Canderel peeps for such a lovely evening and check out their site for more recipes and vids. Bake away!
Walnut Bread (Serves: 8)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes at 180C or Gas Mark 4

Ingredients:
  •  8 tablespoons Canderel
  • 225g plain flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
  • Pinch salt
  • 50g half fat sunflower margarine
  • 1 large egg
  • Grated zest from 1 medium orange
  • 150ml fresh orange juice (use the juice from orange in this recipe and compote recipe)
  • 100g roughly chopped walnuts
  • 4 tbsp skimmed milk
Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with non-stick parchment paper or pre-formed liner.
Put the Canderel, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and stir together.
Beat the butter and egg with orange zest until creamy (the mixture will look curdled, this is OK). Add the orange juice and stir well. Add the dry ingredients and walnuts then mix until just combined. Add the milk to give a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin and bake in pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with jam or butter!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

It's Brownie Month!
And we have been busy working with lots of lovely chocolate in our kitchens! The lovely peeps at Hackett were treated to some of our brownies last week and more lucky recipients are getting deliveries -maybe you are on our list?!
 

Thursday, June 17, 2010

My next stop - Tom's Terrace

I personally think Tom Aikens is quite cute and have been to his restaurants and always had a great time, my ex-boyfriend even had to stop me from staring at the cute chef in action (he was reading his boring Sunday newspaper so I had to entertain myself, non?)

Somerset House is one of my favourite spots in London with the lovely water fountains and fab architectural beauty that surrounds it so how fitting to haev a great and cool patio restaurant with Tom at the helm. I walked by it the other day and was definitely impressed, the pics on the Somerset House website don't do it jsutice but check out Mathilde Cuisine's blog for her review and some great pics! And check out my review that will be posted soon as when it finally gets warmer I would love to sit on the patio and enjoy some delights from Hottie Tom and co. The maitre'd said that they close, 'well whenever, depending on the evening and the weather' my kinda place indeed.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Shop shelf latte
I got one of these cold Starbucks lattes from Sainsbury’s and once again my attention to detail failed me. As I ripped off the lid, peeled off the foil and unpeeled the straw, I realised that at the end of the straw there was a sharp end meant for poking through the lid and the foil. Oh well, it just wobbled a little in its nice packaging until it was fully consumed. I was curious to taste this and compare it to the real thing you get in store and also to the famous Canadian Iced Capp from Tim Hortons. It was very nice indeed and has just the right amount of sugar. I think they need to create a soya version of this or a lactose free version (maybe they should team up with Lactofree!) but it was a nice treat on a sunny afternoon!


Thanks Starbucks for being there for those important times in life when a little pick me up via caffeine is needed. I had to share the rest with my favourite bear James but he was happy to sip up the rest; another problem is that my eyes are always bigger than my stomach!

Friday, June 04, 2010

Oranges, olive oil and black pepper

This may sound like an odd combination but it is a Sicilian favourite! I can recall my grandfather eating this in his garden on sunny summer afternoons. He always had a little paring knife he would use to carve at fruits and vegetables he would pluck from his garden. The sun is shining in Londontown and everyone is outside enjoying picnics in the park, pints on the patio and eating lots of lovely fruits and ice creams. I have had this little combo a few times with some lovely oranges from Spain. Long live summer….



Try it yourself, you will be surprised. Happy Weekend x

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Dear Bloggies, the cookbook project is back on and above is a pic of Momma Dolce's secret meatball recipe made with organic ground beef. That is the only way I like ground beef!

The lovely Jake spent a day with All Things Dolce to take photos of 14 dishes I whipped up for him. He left with a bag of food and a full tummy as usual and we in return got some amazing shots (the above is from my dinky camera).

More photos to follow and more blog posts to come now that a very busy period has passed. Le Dolci has been very busy, we just had a fantastic Cupcake Masterclass this past Friday - see photos here   

It was a wonderful evening with cappuccinos and cupcakes and lots of lovely ladies making cakes for their children and husbands (who were babysitting!). Another cupcake class date will be set shortly. Thanks to our lovely friends at our favourite Italian deli in London - we heart Alimentari!

Off to bed bloggies. I hope Londontwon is less soggy tomorrow for my mini purple broccoli plants to get some much needed sunshine.