Eats #20: Summertime Tagliarini

This weeks number is 68, Summertime Tagliarini.

I’m not a huge pasta fan and I’ve never heard of Tagliarini so this dish is going to be an interesting one…

Eats #19: Sticky, Gooey, Goodness…

Ingredients: [Flavoured Butter] 75g unsalted butter, pinch nutmeg, pinch cinnamon, zest large orange. [Other] good quality bread, 5 egg yolks, 1/2 egg white, 70g caster sugar, 250ml whole milk, 284ml double cream, vanilla pod, 4 tablespoons fine-cut marmalade.

Note: I reduced the ingredients by half to serve 2 people.

Difficulty: 2/5
Rating: 4/5

Create the flavoured butter by mixing unsalted butter, nutmeg, cinnamon and the zest of an orange.

Cut as many slices of bread as needed to fill your bowl. Butter the bread on both sides with the flavoured butter and stack in the bowl leaving the tips protruding.

Mix the egg yolks, egg white and sugar until smooth. Gently heat the milk, double cream, vanilla seeds and vanilla pod and pour slowly into the egg mixture while whisking continually.

Then pour the mixture over the bread and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Once soaked cook in a bain marie for 40 minutes until the custard has set. Meanwhile, melt the marmalade in a saucepan and spoon over the bread and cook for a further 20 minutes until sticky and golden - serve!

Review

Despite parts of this recipe being unknown territory (custard and marmalade glaze) it was fairly simply to make and I’ve always loved bread and butter pudding so I was very happy to finally taste this dish.

The flavoured butter was lovely and aromatic and adds a hint of spice to the dish and the marmalade has created a sticky, gooey toffee like texture which is delicious!

The custard and bread has formed a smooth, light sponge which works really well with the other textures.

My only criticism of the recipe is it’s sweetness. I don’t personally have a sweet tooth and at times the dish can be a little sickly. I’d also like to add some dried fruit such as raisins or currents to this dish as, to me, bread and butter pudding isn’t complete without them.

Eats #19: Good Old Bread & Butter Pudding

This weeks super yummy looking number is 416, Good old bread & butter pudding with a marmalade glaze and cinnamon and orange butter.

Really looking forward to cooking and more importantly… eating… this recipe! It looks amazing!

Eats #17: Crunch!

Ingredients: [Lemon Salt] zest of a lemon, 4 tablespoons sea salt. [Other] sun flower oil, 800g potatoes, few sprigs fresh rosemary.

Difficulty: 1/5
Rating: 4.5/5

Make the lemon salt by crushing the zest of a lemon and 4 tablespoons of sea salt in a pestle and mortar until fine and slightly coloured.

Prepare the potatoes by removing the top and bottom of the potato - giving you a sturdy surface to work with. Slice the potato into thin slices and then into match sticks and place on kitchen roll to remove excess water and starch.

Heat some vegetable oil in a pan until hot and add the matchsticks. Cook until almost done then add the rosemary leaves and cook for a further 30 seconds. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen roll.

Once drained sprinkle with lemon salt to taste and serve!

Review

I really enjoyed this recipe. The matchsticks were tasty and really crunchy and the lemon salt was a really nice surprise. The recipe quantities meant left over lemon salt which I’ve used since and works surprisingly well with fried foods - perhaps the citrus bites through the oil, who knows.

I’d definitely give this recipe a go in the future although I’m not overly keen on cooking with large quantities of hot oil… perhaps it’s time to by a deep fat fryer!

Eats #18: April’s Rosemary Straw Potatoes

This weeks number is 306, April’s rosemary straw potatoes with lemon salt.

A minor variation on last weeks recipe but none the less a yummy looking alternative for potatoes - looking forward to giving it a go!