Kitchen Therapy

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Why We Love Nigella – Madeleines and Mirror Neurons

 

Have you ever wondered why some people leave you cold while others leave you wanting (or in the case of Nigella Lawson), begging for more?!

Backtrack to Italy in the early 1990’s where Italian researchers made an unexpected discovery (don’t you just love the way most of our greatest discoveries were made by accident?) Anyway…

One day, sitting in the lab, surrounded by macaque monkeys with electrodes implanted in their brains, one of the researchers noticed something interesting as they reached for their own food. The monkeys watching him began to show neural activity in the same area of the brain that fired when they themselves made similar hand movements! The discovery of mirror neurons was made!

These brain cells fire not only when we do something, but also, when we watch someone else do the same thing.

Scientists used to think our brains used logical thought processes to understand and predict other people’s actions.

Now they believe we understand other people by feeling, not by thinking.

These little neurons help us to not only mirror other people’s actions but also the intentions and feelings behind those actions.

For example, when you see someone smile, your own smiling neurons fire up, creating a sensation in your own mind of the feelings that go with smiling.
Or you watch an athlete on television and feel your own heart racing and the exhiliaration of winning.
Or you watch Nigella taking almost erotic pleasure and delight in her cooking, you can feel her rapture and joy in what she is doing (no wonder we can’t get enough of her!).
In all of the above examples, our mirror neurons fire away, creating in us, the same experience and emotion being observed, so in a sense we enter another person’s reality for a moment.

Now this is all fantastic when we are around people who make us feel as fabulous as Nigella does, but consider the effects of those who aren’t so positive in their take on life. People who are anxious, nasty, fearful, depressed, manipulative or just plain whiny! We all have them in our lives (and if we are really honest we’ve all been one of them at some point in our lives!) People who we walk away from feeling drained, empty, anxious and depressed. If we understand how mirror neurons work, we can identify who these people are and prepare ourselves or even choose to avoid them.

And just as importantly, we can ask ourselves, “how do we want others to experience us?”

So… what in the world does this have to do with Madeleine’s???

All this started with a decision to catch up with some really great women one Friday afternoon. Intelligent and supportive women that approach life with a sense of humour, so there’s always a lot of laughter. And there are no hidden agendas or power plays, so there’s a wonderful lightness and a simplicity in being with them. As I flicked through Nigella’s “How To Be a Domestic Goddess” book, I took one look at the simple yet elegant madeleine’s and they seemed to embody the essence of what these women are about and how they make others feel!

Rosebud Madeleines

(Nigella Lawson’s “How to Be a Domestic Goddess” book)

50g unsalted butter (plus 1 tablespoon for greasing tin)

1 large egg

40g caster sugar

pinch of salt

45g plain flour

1 tbsp rosewater

icing sugar for dusting


Steps (abbreviated by me)

1. Melt butter then leave to cool.

2. Beat egg, sugar and salt with electric mixer for 5 mins, until “thick as mayonnaise.”

3. Sieve flour over egg and sugar mixture, then fold with a wooden spoon.

4. Fold in butter (minus one tablespoon for greasing tin).

5. Fold in rosewater.

6. Mix gently, then leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

7. Take out of fridge and rest a further 30 mins.

8. Preheat oven to 22o degrees Celsius.

9. Brush insides of tin with melted butter and fill with mixture.

10. Bake for about 5 minutes, turn out and cool on a rack before dusting with icing sugar.

(Nigella says her recipe will fill two x 24 bun mini-madeleine tin. I used 1 x12 bun tin and only filled 10 of the holes).


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Salmon Fishcakes with Pancetta Green Beans

The green beans were amazing!
I honestly thought most of them were going to go to waste so figured I’d better make a kid friendly main and planned to force them to at least try the beans, but I didn’t have to do that at all!
I made a huge serving and they were all gone! My 10 year old son was incredibly pleased that pancetta tasted “almost as good as bacon!”

 

I ‘get off’ on seeing the colours, textures and flavours of  vegetables that have been blanched!
Awesome!

And don’t get me started on the colours and flavours of anything ‘bacony’ being fried up!
The smell was driving the neighbours crazy! (Especially their dog, I could hear him scraping at the fence trying to get over!)

On their own, the beans and the bacon were already looking great, but when they were brought together for one last saute, it was like watching the coming together of two gorgeous people and forming a… a Brangelina! (Too much?)

I was thinking of something fancy to accompany these beans and match their elegance, but let’s face it, with kids in the house (3 of them) I couldn’t face fighting them to eat the green beans and the main! I decided to practice self love and went with Salmon Fishcakes! (And surprisingly, they went really well with the beans!)

While the potatoes were cooking, I poached the salmon in milk with some lemon slices and a handful of peppercorns.

I then mashed the potatoes and mixed them with the flaked, poached salmon and shallots (I luv shallots!)
I took scoops of the mixture and formed patties the size of my palm.

These were then dipped in flour, eggs and fresh breadcrumbs before being placed in the fridge to chill for 20 mins.

Then cook for 20 minutes, turning the patties at half time at 200 degrees celsius!

 

Salmon Fishcakes

(Adapted from MasterChef Australia)

5oog potatoes (I prefer dutch cream)

500g salmon fillets

2-3 cups milk (to cover fillets depends on size of frying pan)

4 lemon slices

handful of peppercorns

1/2 cup sliced shallots

1/2 cup of flour

3 eggs beaten together

150g fresh breadcrumbs (about 6 slices of bread, crusts removed, in a food processor)

 

Steps:

1. The potatoes – peel, dice and boil until tender. Then drain the potatoes and mash until smooth. Set aside.

2. Salmon – place salmon in frying pan with lemon slices and peppercorns and cover with milk. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer. When the liquid bubbles, turn heat to low and poach for another 7 minutes.

3. Combine the mashed potatoes, salmon and shallots in a bowl then season with salt and pepper.

4. Take scoops of the mixture and shape balls the size of your palm into fishcake patties.

5. Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs into separate bowls and dip each fishcake first into the flour, then the eggs and finally coat in breadcrumbs.

6. Place the completed fishcakes on a tray or plate and chill in the fridge for 20 mins.

7. Lightly grease an oven tray and bake for 10 minutes on each side or until fishcakes are light and golden.

 

The Pancetta Green Beans came from Dorie Greenspan’s latest book, Around My French Table and were this week’s recipe from French Friday’s With Dorie, click to see a whole variety of takes on this recipe!


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Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream – Valentine’s Day

I came across the “Nigella Forever” at Maison Cupcake and I it was the perfect excuse to cook something totally indulgent!
(I seem to need a good reason to do things just for the fun and pleasure of it, contradictory I know!
However I’ve noticed that something as simple as having a deadline legitimises all my worries away!)

Nigella’s Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream really struck a chord with me!
Margarita cream! Really! How flamboyant!
And in addition to a very real deadline I had an even better excuse… Valentine’s Day!
I couldn’t wait!

I made the cake…

It turned out absolutely perfect!

I made the Margarita Cream…

 

And since I was on a roll and loving it I decided to make Margaritas!

And I remembered a few things in the process…
It’s perfectly okay to have fun for the sake of fun!
And when you relax and enjoy yourself, everyone else around you relaxes and has fun.
Isn’t that what life’s about?

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!


You can read the recipe for yourself by clicking on Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream or by visiting Nigella.com

 

 


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Orange-Hazelnut Tart

I found this tart really easy to make.
Maybe it’s because I was prepared and organised.
I read the steps, organised my self and over a couple of days I completed one stage at a time.

I made the dough after picking up the 10 year old from school with a bunch of his friends.
As they ran riot around the house, I whizzed up the dough, pressed in the crust and placed it in the freezer before dragging them all off to karate.

I cut and dried the oranges that same night while negotiating with my 13 year old daughter a camping trip being planned on facebook with 7 boys and 7 girls at a site only accessible by boat or an hour and 1/2 bushwalk!
The next morning my 10 year old had early morning try outs for the school Eagle Tag team so we were up early and I had time to blend up the hazelnut cream and leave it in the fridge to chill.
(My 13 year old is allergic to most nuts, so swapped the almonds for hazelnuts which she can actually eat!)
And while waiting for the 3 year to finish dance class in the afternoon, the tart was easily assembled and put in the oven to bake!

I am never organised or prepared!
Most things I squeeze in at the oddest moments with never enough time or the right equipment and ingredients at home!
So this was such a pleasant experience!
Until I decided to go through the 13 year old’s closet and pull out clothes she no longer wears while the tart was baking.
I lost track of time and burnt it lightly singed the edges.

Conclusion:
The tart tasted delicious!
I do think almonds would have been better, the hazelnuts have a very strong and distinct taste.
But well worth the time and effort.

For the almond version and many more variations check out French Fridays With Dorie!

 


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Chorizo and Capsicum Frittata & Basque Potato Tortilla

We had a week of record hot temperatures in Sydney.
High 30’s to over 40 degrees Celsius.
Living by the beach we get a cool breeze at some point in the day, however this week the humidity was high and any breeze we had was hot.
The nights were incredibly still, not a breath nor a whisper of a breeze.
We had broken restless sleep, often waking to find ourselves thirsty and our pillows damp from sweat.

We ate out a lot.

We hung out at the beach a lot.

Being home was hot and uncomfortable.

Turning the oven or stove on was not even to be contemplated!

French Fridays With Dorie was postponed for us this week as we eagerly waited for the cool southerly breeze to hit.
It finally arrived late Sunday afternoon and we all slept in the next morning.
Ahhhh, sweet sleep!

I was really looking forward to making the Basque Potato Tortilla and better late than never!

I started with the original recipe by Dorie and followed it exactly (except for the size of the skillet! I just used my frying pan which was much bigger!)

I chopped the potatoes about 1/2 an inch maybe a tad bit smaller (as I had read from the P&Q pages they were taking a while to soften).
I fried them with onions and as they were cooking I decided to make another tortilla with chorizo and capsicum. I’ll call the second one a frittata to differentiate between the two.
I boiled the potatoes first in the second version to cut down on frying time and increased the number of eggs to accommodate the extra ingredients and also my larger size frying pan!

Chorizo and Capsicum Frittata Recipe

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Basque Potato Tortilla Recipe)

500g potatoes chopped to 1cm to squares
2 chorizo sliced in half length ways and then sliced in half again before chopping into smaller cubes
1 red capsicum cut into thin strips
1 onion diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
12 eggs

 

Method

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until they just begin to soften.
2. While they are cooking, fry the chopped chorizo and sliced capsicum in some oil.
3. When the chorizo begins to turn brown and the capsicum softens, place into a large bowl and put aside.
4. Drain the just softened potatoes and fry them with the onion and garlic until golden and soft enough to eat.
5. Add them to the chorizo and capsicum mixture.
6. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper and add to mixture.
7. Pour the entire mixture into a clean frying pan and cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
8. Lower heat, place a lid on the frying pan and cook for another 10 minutes until the centre pulls away from the edges but the centre is still wet.
9. Turn grill on while the frittata is cooking and position the rack so it is about 15-20cm away from the heat.
10. Place frying pan in oven and cook until the top of the frittata is set and golden.

 

Conclusion: The Basque Potato Tortilla tasted really nice on its own.
However it paled in comparison to the flavour packed frittata!
We decided the only way we could do both versions justice was to eat the tortilla first and enjoy it’s simple flavours before turning our attention to the frittata!

And back to the beach!


I really enjoyed reading all the different posts at FFWD!

 


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Fresh From The Oven – Khrushchev Rolls

After I came across a recipe for Kiflice, I joined Fresh From the Oven.
A monthly baking group.

I was ready and excited to learn! You see, I love bread recipes but avoid them. Like the plague. Not sure why!
Habit?
Fear?
Yeast?
A habitual fear of yeast?!
Dunno…
Nevertheless, it was a habit and a fear I was prepared to face and work through!
Cos I love bread!
(Unlike my crazy fear of snakes that I have decided does not need to be addressed. Ever.)

Anyway…

The challenge was Khrushchev Rolls by Mushitza (click to see recipe).

I made the dough very late one night after another hectic, school holiday day at the beach with all the kids and their friends… (and that’s just half of them, the other half were riding the waterslides around the corner!)

After our 8 hour day at the beach we were exhausted.
However, I was determined to participate in this month’s challenge and psyched myself up to bake!
I began… and within minutes it was over!
The dough was made and resting in the fridge overnight!

I was thrilled with how easy it was and convinced myself I must have messed it up and surely missed something in my bleary eyed enthusiasm!

The next day I wasn’t expecting much.

My first batch I rolled around a thin beef sausage.

We ate these for lunch.
I put all the sauces out for the kids, who were happy to eat the ‘sausage rolls’.
I found that the sauce detracted from the wonderful taste of the bread!
The dough smelled amazing while baking and it tasted too good to hide under any sauce flavouring.

For the rest of the dough, I followed the cutting and rolling style of the Kiflice.

I filled half with crumbed goat’s feta…

And the rest with Nutella…

I rolled them up. Baked them…

And for such little effort what an amazing result.
I can’t recommend the flavour of the pastry enough.
The smell and taste was so good, the kids actually fought over them (especially the Nutella ones).

The following day we had a futsal gala day and my only regret was not making enough of these to feed the team.

And the younger sibling (supporters) that get dragged around to watch their older brothers!

With school around the corner, I will definitely be making batches of these rolls to put in lunch boxes and have ready for after school snacks.


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Chicken B’stilla

I love cookbooks! I love to read them, take in the photos and then stack them lovingly on the bookshelf, full of good intentions to return soon and often!

But if I’m to be honest, I don’t return soon enough or often enough. And if I’m to be really honest, when I decide to make something from one of my beloved books, it’s usually something I am comfortable with. You know… we all have our comfort zones. Our grooves… Okay! Our ruts! I admit it! As much as I like to think I’m open minded and expose myself to new experiences, my initial reaction is “play it safe!”

Now that’s no way to live life!

And that’s why I joined French Fridays With Dorie. I knew myself enough to know that I would follow through on a commitment and I would cook recipes that I would normally dismiss.
Recipes like this one!

A “sweetly spiced” chicken pie which has “as it does in Morocco, a dusting of cinnamon sugar over the crust.” Ummm… no thank you!

But I made a commitment…

So I found myself marinating the chicken in onions and spices.

 

Boiling and simmering ’till “falling-off-the-bone tender.” Then whisking, reducing and thickening some more.

 

Spooning into stacked and buttered filo sheets.

 

Then topping with some more stacked and buttered filo sheets before tucking the edges in “as though you were making a bed.”

 

Baking ’till golden brown and serving warm.

 

Yes, I skipped the dusting of cinnamon sugar on the top (what can I say?! I really wanted the kids and husband to eat it!).
I also skipped the almonds (my daughter is allergic).

The final result… everyone loved it! Even my 3 year old!

The only issue we had was that it was so rich and flavourful we couldn’t eat too much of it so I had to make sure we had other bits and pieces to fill up on.

Best of all… feeling amazingly good about myself for stepping out of my comfort zone!

Thanks French Fridays With Dorie!


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Australia Day Classic: Pavlova

What is more Australian than a BBQ and Pavlova?

I’ve made many (oh so many!) different pavlova recipes from a variety of books and magazines but have found the following works best.

Firstly, my recipe has 12 egg whites, it makes a decent sized pavlova. I wouldn’t even bother making a smaller size!

Once I’ve added all the caster sugar to the egg whites I let the Kitchen Aid mixer run for a good 10-15 mins, beating the mixture until it’s fairly glossy and firm.

Once it’s baked, I turn the oven off and open the door slightly and then leave it until it gets cold in the oven.

Most of the time I bake the shell the day or night before and decorate it with cream and fruit the next morning.

Ingredients:

12 Egg Whites

1 2/3 cups Caster Sugar

300g Thickened Cream

2 Tbsp soft icing sugar

1 Punnet Strawberries sliced

4 Kiwi Fruit diced

4 Passion Fruit

 

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees.

2. Whip egg whites until firm.

3. Add caster sugar a spoonful at a time until it has all been incorporated.

4. Set the Kitchen Aid at a speed of 6 (medium) and leave it! I walk away and check on how it’s going every few minutes. You want the mixture to be thick and glossy. (I’ve walked away and forgotten the mixture many times and have returned each time scared of over-beating, but it has never happened).

5. Pile the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

6. Place into oven and after about 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 120 degrees and cook for about 75-90 minutes.

7. I turn oven off after this time and open the oven door a fraction. I leave the pavlova in there until it goes cold (a few hours or overnight).

8. Once cold, I whip the thickened cream until stiff peaks form then add icing sugar.

9. Spread the whipped cream over the pavlova.

10. Scatter strawberries and kiwis on top then spoon passion fruit over pavlova.

ENJOY!


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Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

Just joined French Fridays with Dorie! Very excited!

I’m kind of new to this whole blogging thing. However it didn’t take me long to find some amazing sites!

And even less time to work out what most of these guys had in common was an appreciation for Dorie Greenspan.

I have to admit I had never even heard of Dorie prior to this but after looking at pics of some of the amazing stuff being cooked from her books, I found myself eagerly awaiting my Amazon delivery of a few of her books!

So this is my first French Fridays post and I just discovered the Problems and Questions page which I read in retrospect.

I was lucky the one cake pan I had was exactly the right size and my cake didn’t leak!

And while I’ve been reading about the all the baking being done in snow storms and oohing and aahing over fairytale pics of snow-covered fields and trees, I forgot that I live on the Northern Beaches of Sydney Australia! Our 6 week summer school holidays are coming to an end with the kids back at school Jan 31st but most of our days are spent here…

Doing this…

You may be wondering what in the world I am on about!

What I’m trying to say is… it is hot down under in Oz!

So to complete this week’s recipe I started cooking after 9pm when the humidity and heat isn’t so bad (sometimes) and chose the option to chill it over night.

I was up and baking the rest of the cake at 6am the next morning before another full day at Manly Beach and the water slides!

The kids were exhausted and famished after another 10am-5pm beach day so they devoured the cake.

The final verdict was “delicious!” from myself and my 10-year-old son, while my husband and 13-year-old daughter thought it needed to be more sweet!? (Each to their own I guess!)

Thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this week’s event and I found that while participation is voluntary having some accountability and a set day and time to complete the recipe by, motivated me into action.

Have been enjoying reading all the other posts on Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake at French Fridays With Dorie!

And loving the snow pics, but still stopping to appreciate this…

The Aussie summer and Manly Beach at dusk!




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Golden Cheesy Bread Rolls (Kiflice)

“Until you know that life is interesting – and find it so – you haven’t found your soul.” – Geoffrey Fisher

Why does baking feel so incredibly satisfying and nourishing to the mind and the soul?

Or is that just me?

I get excited finding and planning my next cooking project, buying the ingredients and then carving out the time to play!

I wrote about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his studies about being in what he calls “flow”. Being engrossed in an activity that causes time to disappear, our problems and worries to melt away and we are no longer aware of our surrounding other than as they related to what we are doing. Being engaged in an activity that both challenges us and rewards us, an activity that gives us a sense of accomplishment and improvement, this is his definition of happiness.

Given this definition, then baking, cooking, creating something from scratch, is so wonderfully important to me because it makes me happy!

It’s as simple as that!

Could there be any better reason?!

Making these kiflice, which are Serbian bread rolls, brought back so many childhood memories, they made me feel closer to my Serbian dad who is in rehabilitation after suffering a heart attack and a stroke and they helped me feel closer to my heritage and my family!

Amazing that these little golden bread rolls could do so much!

I saw them when they were featured on FoodPress by Things We Make and followed their link to Maja from Cooks and Bakes who posted her recipe in Serbian and English!
They wouldn’t leave my thoughts and I knew I had my next baking project!

I made them with feta and they turned out magnificent! These little cheese rolls brought happiness not just to me but also my dad!
I’m already planning my next batch with fried leeks and goat’s cheese feta!

As the quote from Geoffrey Rush says, I hope you find that special something which makes your life interesting and in turn find your soul!