Jess Cantoni: Magazine Mondays

Monday, 23 May 2016

Milk Chocolate Torte / Magazine Mondays 23rd May

Another Monday, another recipe! Today for my foodie link up, I am sharing with you all another Jamie Oliver success: Milk Chocolate Torte. This torte is simple to make and super effective when you want to make something that looks impressive but is also quick and easy. It's also brilliant if you have a pack of 6 eggs to use up as it requires exactly 6!

When you think torte, you might think something along the lines of a tart, well torte actually means 'cake' in French, and that's what this is: a dense but not rich cake with a crunchy praline topping..mmmmm!!

In aid of my Magazine Mondays link-up (details below), I brought this recipe back to see the light of day, from the Jamie Oliver magazine June 2013 issue.

Before I begin with the recipe, I'll just explain a little bit about the link-up:

Magazine Monday is friendly link up where we can all share the recipes we have cooked from any magazine or newspaper cutting you may have been saving. This link up gives you the opportunity and excuse to get cooking from them!

And like I said in the last post, it will be a text-only link up until I get at least one regular participant!

I will leave details on how it works below the recipe.

Ingredients

Cake

170g butter

170g milk chocolate

6 eggs, separated

150g caster sugar

100g plain flour

Cocoa Powder for dusting

Praline

100g caster sugar

50g hazelnuts

Method

1. To begin with, start with making the topping for the cake: the praline. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

2. Add the sugar to a small, non-stick pan and bring to a gentle simmer on a low heat. Make sure you don't stir the sugar, just wait for it to turn a golden colour. You can help it by swirling it around by tipping the pan. You will need to do this every now and again to stop it burning. This is called caramelisation.

3. Once caramelised, pour in the hazelnuts, swirl around and pour straight onto the baking sheet. Don't worry if it doesn't spread around completely; It will cool down very quickly, as soon as it hits the tray, so the best thing to do is tip the tray as soon as you can, to prevent this as much as possible.

4. Leave to cool and harden. Once hardened, crush into a coarse crumb with a pestle and mortar. Don't worry if you don't manage to get all the lumps.

5. Now to begin with the cake: pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees.

6. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, and add the chocolate. Stir to combine. Cool.

7. Whisk the yolks and sugar in a bowl and add the chocolate, then the flour. Combine.

8. Whisk the whites until soft peaks form. Carefully fold into the chocolate mixture.

9. Pour into a 23cm round cake tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until it is firm to touch and springs back. Leave to cool.

10. To finish, dust with cocoa powder and sprinkle over the praline.

The Link-up Info!

How will it work?

Choose a recipe from: magazine, newspaper, recipe book that you've been dying to try
Share your recipe on your blog and use the hashtag #magazinemondays on Twitter, and tweet me in the process (@fessjarmer) - I will retweet and comment on all
Each month I may include yours as apart of my favourites in a round-up post
Share the love on your post by adding the Magazine Mondays board - use the html below and copy into your post
Add your link by using the button below, and this will appear as a collage on my page
Spread the cuttings love and comment on at least one person's post - you may get one back!

So what are you waiting for - spread the cuttings love!

Magazine Mondays: 16th May

So it's Monday again, which means one thing: Magazine Mondays are back! I'm still not having a lot of luck with anyone joining in, despite sharing it on Twitter and various other sites and facebook groups. However one must carry on and not lose enthusiasm, as I do believe there are food bloggers out there who will enjoy this link-up, as much as I do hosting it!

Now to explain again what it's all about:

And like I said in the last post, it will be a text-only link up until I get at least one regular participant!

Note - I will be adding my entry later this afternoon. It's going to be a summery gazpacho!

How will it work?

Choose a recipe from: magazine, newspaper, recipe book that you've been dying to try
Share your recipe on your blog and use the hashtag #magazinemondays on Twitter, and tweet me in the process (@fessjarmer) - I will retweet and comment on all
Each month I may include yours as apart of my favourites in a round-up post
Share the love on your post by adding the Magazine Mondays board - use the html below and copy into your post
Add your link by using the button below, and this will appear as a collage on my page
Spread the cuttings love and comment on at least one person's post - you may get one back!

So what are you waiting for - spread the cuttings love!!

Magazine Mondays: 9th May

So it's that time of the week again; time to share what you've been cooking!
Now you may have noticed that this weeks link-up is text-only. This is due to having no participants last week (I mean, what did I expect having only just launched this!?) However this means that I've decided not to subscribe to the extended account with Inlinkz, as I see no point paying £2.99 a month when it's only me linking up! So until I get a few people regularly, I won't be subscribing.

Anywhoooo.. back to what it's all about! For those of you who don't know (which I'm guessing is all of you!) what Magazine Mondays is, it's basically a place where we can all share the recipes we have cooked from any magazine or newspaper cutting you may have been saving. This link up gives you the opportunity and excuse to get cooking from them!

How will it work?

Choose a recipe from: magazine, newspaper, recipe book that you've been dying to try
Share your recipe on your blog and use the hashtag #magazinemondays on Twitter, and tweet me in the process (@fessjarmer) - I will retweet and comment on all
Each month I may include yours as apart of my favourites in a round-up post
Share the love on your post by adding the Magazine Mondays board - use the html below and copy into your post
Add your link by using the button below, and this will appear as a collage on my page
Spread the cuttings love and comment on at least one person's post - you may get one back!

So what are you waiting for - spread the cuttings love!!

Now I know this is a bit of a strange dish to be raving about when it's nearly summer, however you have just got to trust me.

This one-pot wonder doesn't come with an over-powering, rich taste that you usually expect from casseroles and the like. The rosemary conjures thoughts of the garden, and brings out a real umami taste from the chicken. The lentils are in two forms; mushy like peas with the taste of chicken stock, and crispy. I always like to eat the crispy bits that become stuck to the bottom of the dish. Who's with me?

I would say this dish, originally published in the Waitrose Food magazine (Jan 2016), by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, is perfect for those summer evenings where you are too busy but still want something fabulous. It's all about the rosemary in this one!

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp Rapeseed oil

1 large onion, sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

200g red split lentils, rinsed

500ml chicken stock

8 skin on, bone-in chicken thighs

Handful of flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4.

2. In a large, deep frying pan (or your casserole pot if it's flameproof - i didn't want to risk mine as i've already had one crack on me. Read that funny story here after!)on a medium/low heat, add the oil and onion and fry until softened.

3. Add the garlic and rosemary, and season. Cook gently for 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the lentils and stock.

5. Season the chicken pieces and place skin-side up in the pan/casserole. You need to keep the skin exposed in order for it to go crispy in the oven. Bring to a simmer.

6. If you're using a separate pan, take the chicken out carefully and transfer the rest of it into the casserole, and then carefully place the chicken thighs on top, keeping the skin exposed. Place the casserole, uncovered in the oven, for 1 hour.

7. Once the chicken is cooked and the lentils are soft, remove from the oven and serve with a scattering of parsley. Enjoy!

I created this post with my link-up Magazine Mondays in mind. It's every Monday and it's a great excuse to cook a recipe you've never tried before. Information on it can be found here. Hope to see you around as I read, comment and promote each post added!

Also wanted to link up with CookBlogShare and Recipe of the Week.

Scandi Potato Salad

The first post of #magazinemondays has begun, where we cook and bake recipes from our usually stowed away magazine cuttings. Having just started this new foodie link up this weekend, i'm quite happy with how it's going so far, I mean, nothing is going to happen overnight, but If just one person joins in, I will be happy. If not, maybe next week!

Like most people, I have a ton of magazines piled up on my office with pages turned down waiting to be opened and cooked from. On the weekend I had a scan through some of them to see which recipe stood out for me most. The one that shone through was this Scandi Potato Salad recipe from the Waitrose Spring Harvest magazine from 2013.

Now this probably due to summer and the height of BBQ season being around the corner (ahem, i'm not kidding myself at all..). And potato salads are one of the must-cook items to go alongside some perfectly BBQ'd meat. Now since it's pouring down outside (good ol'England) I decided to pair the salad with a crispy roast chicken because I also love this combo too. It reminds me of the dinners my mum would cook for me.

I did change a few things, partly due to not having the right ingredients (oops!) but also because of personal taste. These will all be pointed out in the ingredients list.

I found this recipe super simple and yummy too. The intensity of the red wine vinegar really balances out with the creaminess of the sour cream, and is paired well with hints of the spicy peppercorn and mustard. And also another lovely thing about this recipe was that I got to use the duck eggs I picked up from our trip to the sleepy village on the Estate of Miserden in Gloucestershire. A house was selling eggs outside and I couldn't resist.

The husband and I enjoyed it for lunch this afternoon and will certainly be making it again, maybe when the weather actually lets us have a BBQ!

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g Jersey Royal potatoes

2 red onions, finely sliced

100ml red wine vinegar (the recipe stated white wine vinegar, but I was out!)

6 black peppercorns

50g caster sugar

2 free-range duck eggs (the recipe called for Columbian Blacktail eggs)

100ml sour cream

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

20g fresh dill, torn

What I omitted: 1 tsp coriander seeds

Method

1. Boil a pan of water and add the potatoes. Boil until tender. Drain and cool.

2. Place the sliced onions into a bowl.

3. Weigh the vinegar into a small pan with the peppercorns and sugar. Cook over a medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Pour over the onions and cool.

4. Boil the eggs until hard-boiled (about ten minutes from boiling). Cool under cold water and then peel. Slice into quarters.

5. In a large bowl, mix the sour cream with the mustard. Loosen with a little bit of the vinegar mixture. Season.

6. Stir in the potatoes. Remove the onions from the vinegar and stir in also, plus the dill and the boiled eggs. Mix gently. Serve!

So there we have it; the first #magazinemondays recipe all complete! Please let me know if you try this recipe, and how perhaps you would improve\tweak it.

Also do get involved with this food link up - it's proving a lot of fun! It's every Monday and it's a great excuse to cook a recipe you've never tried before. Information on it can be found here.

#Magazine Mondays

An idea came to me recently that could solve all your recipe hoarding problems (although there's nothing wrong with that!) We all do it. We all have a box/bookmark/folder full of magazine/newspaper cuttings and ear-marked recipe books waiting to be looked at. I don't know about you, but this often frustrates me; there's just too many scrummy recipes going around to cope with. I find it all too overwhelming! This is why I have had the idea to create a food link up for every Monday where we can all cook and share our recipes chosen from our over-buldging folders etc, freeing up some space for more (does anyone else get that guilty feeling of hoarding more cuttings when you haven't cooked from any?? Please say I'm not the only one!) The link up, even though being called Magazine Mondays, won't be limited to just magazines.

How will it work?

Choose a recipe from: magazine, newspaper, recipe book that you've been dying to try
Share your recipe on your blog and use the hashtag #magazinemondays on Twitter, and tweet me in the process (@fessjarmer) - I will retweet and comment on all
Each month I may include yours as apart of my favourites in a round-up post
Share the love on your post by adding the Magazine Mondays board - use the html below and copy into your post
Add your link by using the button below, and this will appear as a collage on my page
Spread the cuttings love and comment on at least one person's post - you may get one back!