# 15 - ninja breadmen!!

The ultimate in Christmas ginger breadmen!!

The recipe I nicked from channel 4 food website - principally as it didn't involve treacle as well as golden syrup (which I've discovered comes in squeezy tubes = less mess!)

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/baking/gingerbread-recipe-07-12-06_p_1.html

Couple of top tips - if your egg and golden syrup mixture leaves the dough a bit dry and crumbly add a little water to help it stick (but not too much else you won't be able to roll it).

I used a medium egg and the mixture wasn't quite wet enough - a large egg and a heated spoon so the golden syrup slides off easier would have probably helped too - but water worked fine!

The ninja breadmen cutters I found from Urban Outfitters I think - but you can find them on amazon too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ninja-Bread-Men-Cookie-Cutters/sim/B0045EQ8VC/2

Hope you have as much fun making them as I did!

The Camden Road Cook

# 14 - Chicken soup for colds...

My most favourite chicken soup because its easy to make, luxurious yet (fairly) low calorie, oh and tasty of course!

Beautiful pics! but now to the scientific stuff...

The recipe is from the 'cook yourself thin' cookbook and should serve 6 - but with my friends you need accompaniments with it if its to go that far (e.g. garlic bread!)

you will need;
2 teaspoons oilve oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic (well it will scare a cold away!), peeled and chopped
300g risotto rice
200ml dry white wine
2 litres of chicken stock (I used stock cubes)
200g chestnut mushrooms, wiped and sliced
1 tbs low fat creme fraiche
1 tbs flat leaf parsley finely chopped
20g freshly and finely grated parmesan
1 cooked chicken breast, skinned and shredded
salt & pepper

start off by heating half the oil in a pan (in this case my lovely large le creuset - remember you need to fit 2 litres of liquid in here) & gently fry onion & garlic over low heat for 5 mins until softened

add the rice and fry for a further minute stirring and coating the rice with the oil

pour in the wine & stir until its all absorbed. Pour over chicken stock & bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 mins or until the rice is tender (it doesn't matter if it gets well cooked).

The soup will be quite thin but fills out when you add the other ingredients.

Meanwhile heat a large frying pan & fry the mushrooms in the remaining olive oil for 5 min until golden brown.

When the risotto is cooked stir through the creme fraiche, parsley, parmesan, chicken and mushrooms et voila!

the camden road cook

# 13 - Sushi koko

So for Christmas this year I got a sushi making lesson at Yo! Sushi in Poland Street.


I went along on Saturday morning ready to learn what makes good sushi and I can tell you that the following are definitely required:

• sushi rice - cooked properly (I still need to pin this one down!)
• fresh fish
• fresh nori
• sushi rolling mat
• lots of practise in making!

Once you've cooked your sushi rice you need to spread it out and let it cool and then season with vinegar (or prepared rice seasoning you can buy in the supermarket).

Then for thin rolls (maki) you need half a sheet of nori and 80g of rice. Spread the rice evenly over the sheet from one edge, leaving a few cm uncovered on the other long side:

Me with nori sheet and sushi rice - you need to spread it out evenly... (this helps when the rice is cooked properly!)

When your rice is done, you add the filling eg. cucumber, down the centre of the rice (not the centre of the nori else it rolls off centre) and using the sushi mat roll the rice covered edge away from you to the uncovered edge.

The uncovered nori then acts as a seal - once your roll is formed like this increase the pressure to ensure the rice and filling is compacted and then shape - for beginners square is best as its easier to cut neatly.

The finished article - with classic beginner mistakes (the cucumber is off-centre and none of the rolls are in the 'right' shape).

Fillings you can use - cucumber in maki, but also tuna/salmon avocado etc

For larger rolls e.g. california inside out roll, this classically uses crabsticks, avocado, mayonnaise and sesame seeds, with the twist being that the rice is on the outside of the roll, rather than being inside (the stickiness of the rice ensures that it stays on!)

When I've had a chance to practise these and the very pretty hand rolls I'll post some more photos so you can either a) marvel at my progress b) spot the mistakes!

The Camden Road Cook

# 12 - Cookie monsters

I think most people love cookies...

Recently rediscovered my favourite cookies - and they are almost healthy!!

From the most comprehensive cook book I own - The Joy Of Cooking, the best cookies are the classic oatmeal ones.

Right ingredients & quantities are quite important in baking so I will actually write them out!

First pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Cand grease baking sheets (I also line them with baking parchment so that I can slide all cookies off in one go for endless rounds!)

For a half size recipe - about 20 odd cookies - you need the following quantities:

125g plain flour
1/3 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (although I seem to have lost mine....)

whisk these ingredients together thoroughly

beat the following ingredients on medium speed until well blended

115g unsalted butter softened (really make sure its soft if doing by hand!)
150g light or dark brown sugar
22g sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

stir the flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in:

80g dried cranberries (original recipe says rasins, but T recommended cranberries and they work really well - any dried fruit could be substituted)
175g rolled oats

Now the recipe says drop the dough, but whenever I make it, it turns out more a roll-mixture than a drop mixture :) (think I might need to use bigger eggs, or else actually remember the vanilla extract or something?!)

Anyway drop/form in hands about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie, leaving 8 cm between them on the baking sheet, press down lightly to flatten into 1 cm thick rounds

Bake 1 sheet at a time until the biscuits are lightly browned all over (turn halfway through cooking) and almost firm when pressed in the centre - 6 to 9 minutes

Remove the sheet from oven and let stand for 2 minutes until the biscuits firm slightly and then transfer to a rack to cool

When cool enough to eat, do so.

If feeling kind distribute to friends, colleagues and other cookie monsters (like PP ;P)

Else just eat :)

The Camden Road Cook

# 11 - cooking frenzy!

Ok - so today I'm trying to be super organised and cook up some stuff with the fresh veg in my fridge (as opposed to letting it go off like last week - salad soup anyone?? nah thought not...)

So tonight I've cooked up a hot and tasty cous cous number and Jamie Oliver's recipe for smashed courgette paste:

Hot and tasty cous cous

So I love cous cous, but to be frank cooking it from scratch seems overkill when I can buy ready flavoured-cooked-in-5 minutes cous cous from the shop, so my recommendation, buy a packet of Sainsbury's own brand and follow packet directions.

When my cous cous was cooked I added shelled pistachoes, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped mint, a squeeze of lemon and seasoning.

Then I took my already marinating halloumi and diagonally sliced courgette (whoops shoulda said already - these were in a mixture of rose harissa and olive oil), and a hot hot griddle pan..

Result = almost setting off the smoke alarm, but also tasty griddled halloumi (ummmm - Jess and Em know what I mean!)

Mix with the cous cous mixture and settle down into an eating frenzy!

Smashed Courgette Paste:

Whilst eating the cous cous the following was cooking away on the stove - olive oil fried off with 2 cloves of garlic and some chopped fresh red chilli (Jamie uses dried, but when I have fresh might as well use it!), and 6 courgettes coursely chopped (large lumps!)

Cook over a medium heat with the lid on the pan for about 30 minutes, giving the pan a shake every 5 minutes to ensure courgettes don't stick to the bottom.

When the courgette lumps are soft and almost pulped take off the heat and taste - add seasoning, lemon juice, 4 'Jamie' glugs of olive oil and a large handful of chopped mint, stir and eat!!

I plan to actually eat this with pasta and feta cheese for lunch tomorrow - yum!

The Camden Road Cook (stuffed full of cous cous)