Happy Hallowe'en

My little bat Eddie says happy Hallowe'en!

Our Meg and Mog pumpkin

I never celebrated Hallowe'en as a child, it was something kids did in the States, a totally alien concept. And though I am still not exactly a convert, I thought it might be fun to carve a pumpkin for my guys.
I did not want anything scary or threatening, just something gentle and toddler-friendly.
As we love Meg and Mog stories, it was a natural choice.

Spooky Cookies: Dr Oetker Hallowe'en Bat Cookie Kit (review)

We are baking cookies for two days in a row. Today it's the turn of Dr Oetker Hallowe'en Bat Cookie Kit that I bought a few days ago. The kit contains a cookie mix, a bat cookie cutter and a tube of black Writing Icing for decorating. All you need to add is 85g of butter. The kit says you will get 6 cookies, we managed to do 8. As there is only a black icing tube included in the kit, I added a bit of colour from a different set of Writing Icing. The Evil Witch was decorated with Dr Oetker Coloured Ready to Roll Icing. The icing pen needs a steady hand for squeezing the icing in a neat line, not an easy job when an inquisitive toddler tries to grab the icing pen from your hand. Coloured Ready to Roll icing is very easy to work with.

Monsters for my little monsters (Halloween Make a Monster kit review)

Browsing shelves in Sainsbury's, I spotted a box of Hallowe'en Make a Monster: Gingerbread men kit by Sainsbury's. The kit comes with a mix, a cookie cutter and a small bag of golden syrup as well as two icing tubes, all you have to do is add a bit of water and butter.

So we stirred and we poked the dough, we rolled it on the board and cut out the gingerbread men, then in they went in the oven to come out in 10 minutes all nice and golden brown.

Sasha wasn't interested in helping and watched me a bit anxiously, trying to take away his book Noisy Monsters that I tried to use as an inspiration for decorating my Mummy and Skeletons.
I also bought a pack of Dr Oetker Coloured Ready to Roll Icing which comes in several colours and Silver Spoon Writing Icing.
This is how the cookies looked before being baked.

You get 6 men and a bit.
My gingerbread men are a bit psychedelic. The Mummy is covered with yellow rolled icing and painted over. The skeletons were decorated with the icing pen from the kit, and I thought that I would prefer a slightly whiter icing, this one is almost translucent.
And if you like your gingerbread men have a more pronounced ginger flavour, I suggest adding a bit more ginger while making the dough, as the flavour is quite mild.

I am no longer an Abel & Cole virgin

I have been thinking of trying an organic food delivery from Abel & Cole for a long time and finally placed an order for a small gourmet box. I was quite curious as to what I was going to receive.
The box arrived promptly yesterday.

I set myself a task to cook several dishes and decide for myself whether it is worth continuing the scheme or not. You see, I am usually the type who inspects each piece of fruit or veg when buying, so for me having groceries delivered is a bit of a mental challenge.
I got: 1 aubergine, 2 sweet potatoes, 2 courgettes, 1 sweet pepper, two boxes of tomatoes, 5 red onions, an avocado and a box of shiitake mushrooms. So far so good, cannot fault the quality. All vegetables looked fresh.
First I decided to cook a Russian style aubergine ikra (see my recipe below, in a separate post). Sweet potatoes were roasted with the olive oil and a bit of cinnamon.

My experiment continues today, as I plan to do a beef stir fry with shiitake mushrooms. Will be adding to this post.
Update on 27/10/11
My husband commented that my blog is turning into a cooking blog. Perhaps I am spending too much time blogging about my recipes and food?
As someone mentioned my blog as "Chef Maximka" by mistake, and I giggled, as I can see why it might be an appropriate name.
Anyway, returning to our muttons, i.e. the contents of the organic box.
Yesterday's dinner was made using the shiitake mushrooms. I haven't followed any particular recipe, it is just an Oriental-themed dish, a stir fry with beef, shiitake mushrooms, a carrot, a sweet pepper and tinned pineapple. I also added a pouch of Hoisin Garlic sauce from Aldi and served with the egg noodles.

I slightly dusted the meat with the wholemeal flour before frying, and also added a dash of Mirin rice wine.

Now I have an avocado, a few onions and courgettes left. Not sure I have time to be very imaginative and creative, as I am again on my own this weekend with my guys, and that is a challenge enough.

Update from 28/10/11
A quick salad made from the avocado, iceberg lettuce, cashew nuts and Leerdammer cheese with a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Update 1 November 2011:

One more dish: pasta with courgettes and shrimps (as suggested by my friend Bloom), see the recipe here.

Tomatoes were eaten raw as snacks by Eddie, and I added a good amount of them to the soups.

Which means, all the vegetables have been eaten.

And now it is time to order another box.

I am looking forward to a new challenge.

Aubergine ikra (Russian aubergine spread)

This dish is known in Russia as the poor man's caviar, and there are as many variations of this dish, as there are cooks, and of course, each one thinks her recipe is the best. I am offering you the recipe as taught by my Mum (and my Mum of course knows best, lol). It is not easy to find an exact British equivalent to this dish, as it is something between a dip and a spread, but not salsa. Maybe caponata is close enough.
You will need
1 aubergine (about 300g)
300 g carrots
300g tomatoes
2 sweet peppers
2 medium onions
flat leaf parsley
sunflower oil

Skin the aubergine and chop into small cubes. Add some sunflower oil (about two tablespoons) to the frying pan and fry the aubergine cubes until soft and golden, stirring them frequently. Once cooked, place the aubergines in a bowl.
Chop the carrots very thinly and fry with a small amount of oil. Once cooked, add to the bowl with aubergines.
Next chop the onions and saute in oil, adding a teaspoon of dark muscovado sugar (optional) until soft, but not too dark.
Fry the sweet peppers, chopped into small pieces. Again, add to the bowl with the other cooked ingredients. Add the chopped skinned tomatoes to the frying pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Place in a bowl, mix all the ingredients well and return to the pan. Cook it for another 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. I add salt at the very last stage, when all the ingredients are combined.
Before serving add some chopped flat leaf parsley.
This dish is lovely hot as a side dish to meat and sausages. In fact I served it yesterday with some Sicilian sausages, lamb chipolatas and roast potatoes.

And today, I keep snacking it as a cold spread on toasted stonebaked bread.

Heston Blumenthal's olive oil and vanilla biscuits (review)

Just in case I have some friends coming to visit me at a very short notice, I decided to try some new Heston Blumenthal's biscuits.

Heston Blumenthal’s frozen dough packs mean you can have a plate full of biscuits in just 15 minutes after you take them out of the freezer. There are twelve biscuits per pack and they come in three Heston-derful flavours: olive oil and vanilla, chocolate and caraway, and almond and marzipan. £3.79 for 12, available at Waitrose.
It was very easy to bake a batch of biscuits, the kitchen smelled lovely.
As for the taste, I cannot say I was impressed. If anything, they were a tad disappointing. For £3.79 for a pack of biscuits I expected something a bit more inspired. You can hardly taste the vanilla in them. However, the texture is right, nice and crumbly. I just wish there was more vanilla.
Will I buy them again? Probably not. But I might be tempted to try the other two varieties.

Soup for a cold autumnal dinnertime (recipe)

A bag of mixed rocket, spinach and watercress was sitting in the fridge, looking slightly despondent, and I fancied making a bit of soup to serve for dinner.
To make this soup you will need
1 bag of rocket, spinach and watercress
1 medium courgette
1 medium leek
1 biggish potato
double cream to serve
a stock cube, optional
a dash of brandy or sherry, optional
Chop a potato into cubes, thinly slice a courgette and a leek. Fry the sliced leek in a frying pan, adding a bit of olive oil or butter, if you prefer. I also added a dash of brandy, just to give it a more intense flavour, but it is optional. I have a bottle of cheap-ish brandy from Aldi for cooking (we don't drink brandy as such, but it is very handy for cooking). All the above ingredients go in a medium sized pan with enough water to cover all the vegetables. You can also add a stock cube if you like. Add the salt almost at the end. Whizz the soup once all the vegetables are nicely softened.

Best served with hot ciabatta bread, but any chunky bread will do, like stonebaked boule, for example.

And don't forget a generous swirl of double cream (or single cream if you count calories, or plain yogurt if you want to be saintly good)

Quince jelly (recipe)

A family friend asked me if I would like a bag of quinces. Yes, of course, I would. As tempting as it was to try the recent Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipes from The Guardian, I love the quince jelly.

I used the most basic and simple recipe as I don't think quinces need any extras, they have such an intense beautiful flavour of their own.
You will need
500g/1lb granulated sugar to every 600ml/1pint of strained juice
or in simple terms, if you don't have scales, for a full cup of strained juice you will need to fill a cup with sugar about 4/5.

1.Wash the quinces well and cut into chunks, removing any blemished or rotten parts, keep the skin on. Put in a large pan and pour over enough water to just cover the fruit. Simmer until pulpy, which will take at least an hour.
2.Put the pulp into a jelly bag or muslin cloth and leave to drip for at least 4 hrs (or overnight).
3.Measure the juice and pour it into a preserving pan. Stir in the sugar.
4.Heat slowly, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil rapidly, skimming the scum off the top, until the jelly reaches setting point.
5.Pot into warm, dry jars, cover and seal.

Serve your quince jelly on crumpets, muffins or toast, or with roast hot or cold meats, especially game.
I absolutely love a good dollop of quince jelly with a chunk of smelly cheese.

I made a batch of quince jelly jars and also left a couple of quinces for a game casserole I am cooking tonight.

I tried to take a few photos outdoors to show the most gorgeous colour of the jelly, but the sun is hiding today, and the photos do not do the justice to the colour palette.

Enjoying the macarooniest taste: Mrs Crimble's Macaroons (review)

Back in early September a big surprise parcel arrived, full of Mrs Crimble's goodies. It was a prize, but I must have entered the competition on the auto-pilot, as I had no recollection of where or when I did it, and there was no note attached to help me.
We have been enjoying Mrs Crimble's fruit cakes and rice cakes, but this hamper proved to be a discovery box. There were lovely rice cakes, coated with chocolate and yogurt that I haven't seen anywhere before. Once sampled, I had to find them, and it took me a few trips to several supermarkets and health shops to find which ones sell them. They are very handy to carry, when we are out, to keep Eddie's hunger at bay and also to keep him happy when I do my grocery shopping.
Now, there are macaroons and there are macaroons, they might go terribly wrong and be as dry as sawdust. However, Mrs Crimble's macaroons which come in two varieties - chocolate and cranberry - are very moist, coconutty (is that a word? :)) and chewy.
They are also gluten free and wheat free, and are lovely to entertain guests who are on a gluten free diet.

While Eddie prefers the chocolate variety, I am partial to the cranberry macaroons.

To see the whole range of products go to Mrs Crimble's