Blood Orange and Beetroot Salmon Gravlax

My housemate Jenny is this incredible Svenska that has refined my tastes in life – not only in life but in the way of living. 

This one goes to you Jenny! 

  
What you’ll need: 

• Whole side of salmon
• 6 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 2 whole grated beetroots 
• zest and juice of 1 blood orange
• Handful of chopped dill 
• 3 tablespoons gin

Place the salmon skin side down in a large shallow roasting tray.

Rub the grated beetroot and orange rest on to the flesh. In a food processor combine salt, brown sugar, gin and orange juice and dill until it forms into a paste and place the mixture on top of the previous rub. 

Cover the tray with plastic wrap and  weight it down with another tray or any canned you have in the cupboard. Leave in the fridge to cure for at least 48hours. Once it’s ready remove the tray from the salmon and wipe off all the curing ingredients. Pat the salmon with kitchen towels to ensure its completely dry. When you’re ready to serve make sure you cut the salmon off the skin with a very sharp knife. 

  
I’ve served this with homemade anadama bread, avocado and a drizzle of Greek yoghurt with paprika. 

Enjoy! 
Ana 

Portuguese Chorizo Bread

Happy Sunday guys!

I have so many recipes that I have to post but I have been slacking big time! 

Let’s start with this easy Portuguese chorizo bread recipe. 

  
For the bread recipe please see my White Bread Recipe – however instead of using white truffle oil, use extra virgin olive oil. 

Use half of a chorizo ring and cut the chorizo into thin slices. 

Once you’ve proved your dough, divide it into 3 portions and roll out each portion into rectangles. Layer the sliced chouriço on the dough, about 3 slices per row. Roll the dough up, and pinch the seams to close – it doesn’t have to be perfect – we want them to look rustic. 

With a knife make 4 diagonal cuts to the top of the bread. Set the rolls on a greaseproof baking sheet and let them rise for about another 30 minutes, then dust the tops of the rolls with some flour.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for about 25-30 minutes until the bread is done.

These are great fresh out of the oven or the next day! 

Try it and let me know how it goes! 
Ana x

Savory Waffles with Salmon

Good day! 
I have created this brunch meal that I’m absolutely obsessed with, and I will be posting different variations of this. 

  
You will need a waffle machine for this recipe, I have bought mine from Amazon brand VonChef for about £20 and it makes 4 waffles at the time. 
For the waffle batter: 

• 250g Plain flour 
• 7g Baking powder
• 20g Caster sugar
• 5g Salt
• 475ml Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 30ml Vegetable oil

Other ingredients you will need: 

• Smoked Salmon or Gravlax Salmon
• 1/2 tablespoon  Philadelphia Garlic & Herb cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 2 tablespoons  Lemon juice
• 1 Spring onion chopped or strips for garnish
• 1 Poached egg 
• Salt and Pepper

To make the batter, break the eggs into the milk and beat the mixture. In a big bowl place all the dry ingredients and slowly pour the liquid mixture in an stirring at the same time. 

Add the oil and mix all ingredients together until all the large lumps have been disappeared. Do not over mix otherwise the waffles will not be fluffy when you cook them! 

Turn on the waffle maker, while you’re waiting for the waffle to heat up, prepare the salmon by cutting into strips. When this is hot pour a bit of a batter – without covering all of the holes, quickly evenly distribute the salmon pieces on top and then pour more of the batter over covering all the holes – make sure you don’t get too excited and overfill it. 

You will know when the waffle is done when it stops steaming and its golden brown. 

While the waffle cooks, prepare the honey drizzle by mixing the honey, with the lemon juice and some salt and pepper to taste – this is the part that you can let your mind go free and add whatever spices/flavours to your sauce.  I find that lemon and honey are enough for this. 

Serve the waffle hot with a poached egg and the lemon! 

Enjoy 

Crepe Blue-Suzette

Hello petals! 

So two days ago, was pancake day in England – I have no clue if the rest of the world celebrates this day too, I’ve personally never heard of it before until I moved to London. 

I had in my mind that I wanted to make crepe suzette, but because my mind was on another planet, I forgot to buy the main ingridients to make crepe suzette – oranges and orange liqueur. 

I had almost given up on making crepes at all, but then I’ve decided to look in my freezer… And I found frozen blueberries and a small of Captain Morgan dark rum –  I thought to myself… What’s the worse it can happen? 

  
Ingridients for the crepes:

• 100g plain flour
• 1 tablespoon of white caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 
• 300ml milk

Put the flour and sugar  in a large bowl, make a well and add the eggs and oil in, and beat together with a whisk until combined. You can now slowly start to pour in a little milk, whisking the mixture as you pour, to keep the batter smooth. 

I like to put my mixture in a measuring jug once it’s mixed because it’s easier to pour in the pan. 

Make sure you have a GOOD non stick frying pan – trust me – my housemates have managed to destroy my pan by burning food and using a metal scrounger   – after trying to flip over a paper thin crepe from a sticky plan for over 10minutrd, I’ve immediately bought 2 new frying pans from Robert Dyas. 

When the pan is hot, pour in your batter mixture into it. When the crepe is golden underneath turn and cook for a another 30 seconds, until there’s a few brown spots. 

Ingridients to made the sauce:

• 100g butter
• 130g white caster sugar
• 100ml water 
• 100g fresh or frozen blueberries
• 50ml dark rum 

To make the sauce,  heat the butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to dissolve. Once it’s dissolve, turn up the heat until the mixture just starts to go brown and caramelise, stirring only towards the end. 

Pour in the water and the blueberries, stirring and mashing the berries with a fork. Let the mixture bubble for the sauce to thicken. Add in the dark rum and let the sauce

Ideally to serve this dish you will need to cook the crepes in the sauce – I haven’t done it in this occasion because I thought they would look prettier for the photo if they weren’t smothered in dark purple sauce. 

Let me know what you think of my Blue Suzettes! 

Ana x

Chinese Steamed Scallops with Vermicelli

Hello guys! 
So my mom was over on holiday and that is why I haven’t posted recently, I was busy being the great daughter that I am! haha

While she was here, we went to Billingsgate Market – my first time as well! – and I completely fell in love with the place! If I could, I would have bought the whole place.
My recipe for you today is Chinese Steamed Scallops with Vermicelli – This recipe is amazing however it takes time if you are buying fresh scallops, which I would definitely recommend for the visual effect of course.

  
 
Ingredients: 

• 6 half-shelled fresh scallops
• 30g of rice vermicelli 
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil 
• 8 middle size garlic cloves
• 1 handful coriander
• 2 spring onions
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil 
• Salt

In a large bowl, soak your vermicelli in boiling water. While the noodle softens, remove the scallop meat from its shell, with a spoon or a small knife and wash the meat under cold water to remove  sand or any dirty bits. You will also want to wash the shells to remove all dirt, as you will be using this to present/eat the dish.  

Place some water in wok and set up the steamer – You can place the shells directly into the steamer or you can put them on a plate, which is what I prefer. If you are not using a plate, you will need to place the vermicelli evenly in each shell under the scallop. Alternatively, place the bunch of vermicelli on the plate and drizzle with the sesame oil making sure that they are all coated – If you don’t do this, it might get stuck to the plate and you will curse at yourself when you try to wash that plate. 

Depending on the size of your steamer/wok, you might have to cook the scallops in 2 batches. 

Put the garlic in a blender or food processor, add the cooking oil, coriander, spring onions and salt to taste. Blitz the ingredients until it becomes a thick paste and scoop the mixture into each of the shells next to the scallop meat. 

Bring the water up to boiling and then continue to cook for 8-10 minutes.

This recipe takes a bit of time for preparation, but it is well worth the work. Serve the scallops with the vermicelli 

Enjoy! 

Ana x