Chocolate chilli marshmallow brownies

I made these brownies the other day and haven't been able to stop craving them ever since, which is not good for my waist! The heat of the chilli is not particularly noticeable at first bite but you will notice the warmth as it goes down. If you are not sure about the chilli factor I suggest you reduce the quantity a little.

• 150g salted butter, cut into dice
• 150g dark chilli chocolate (with 60 – 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped into small bits (or use dark choc and add 3/4 tsp ancho chilli powder preferably or 1/2 tsp chipotle and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)125g plain flour
• 1 tablespoon good quality cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 225g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100g mini marshmallows, or roughly chopped full size ones

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Butter a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) square baking dish or pan and line with a enough baking paper or foil to leave a bit of overhang on either side. This is so you can easily lift out the brownies afterwards using the overhang as handles.
3. In a small saucepan, gently melt the butter and dark chocolate together over a very low heat, constantly stirring till just melted. Leave to cool a little.
4. While the chocolate mixture is cooling, mix together the plain flour and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.
5. Beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and caster sugar in large bowl until fairly smooth.
6. When the chocolate mixture is just warm to the touch, pour it into the eggs and sugar and mix well.
7. Add the flour mixture and mix thoroughly, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl well to blend any pockets of flour.
8. Tumble in all the marshmallows and roughly mix.
9. Pour and scrape the brownie batter into the prepared baking dish, spreading it to the corners. Don’t worry if the marshmallows aren’t evenly distributed.
10. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, rotating the dish halfway through.
11. The brownies are ready when the batter is set, crackly and shiny on top. A skewer/toothpick poked into the outer third of the brownie should come out clean or with a moist crumb, while the very middle should be quite wet.

You can bake them for a few minutes more if you don’t like your brownies to be too gooey, but at this stage the brownies shouldn’t be done all the way through or it’ll just be chocolate cake when it’s completely cooled.

When the brownies are ready, immediately take them out of the oven and leave them cool completely on a rack. Cut into 9 large pieces or 12 smaller ones, bearing in mind that these brownies are very rich.

Refrigerate any leftover brownies in a container, wrapped in their baking paper or foil. Eat within 1 week ( like that will be a problem?!)

 

Quick update

Just a quick update to say I haven't got bored of blogging already - just been crazy busy with the day job and have been away from home for the past 3 weeks (including the weekends!! - I don't get paid enough for that kind of dedication!). Back home 4 days and will now be off to the States (Texas, Colorado and California) on Wednesday for a week on business - so blogging unfortunately got to take a back seat for a few more days :-(

Look forward to catching up on reading your blogs too when I get back ;-)

Ginger Glazed Pork Hocks

Ginger glazed pork hocks slow cooked in fiery ginger beer

This recipe comes from the Waitrose magazine, a cutting I had stashed away for safe-keeping but unfortunately I did not make a note of the date or photo credit. These pork hocks are slow cooked in fiery ginger beer then glazed in the oven until sticky and golden. They can be cooked in a slow cooker or in a conventional oven as you prefer. Nice served with a buttery mash or colcannon, would also go well with rice and a green vegetable such as a soy braised pac choi or lightly steamed tenderstem broccoli.

Serves 4
Prep time: 30 mins approx.
Cook time: slow cooker 3.5hrs - 6.5hrs (depending on heat setting); conventional oven: approx. 3 hrs

2 x large pork hocks (about 1kg each) - not ham hocks
2 litre bottle of fiery ginger beer
4 x bay leaves
12 x whole cloves
5tbs ginger marmalade (or orange and ginger)
1.5tbs wholegrain mustard
50g dark brown soft sugar
1 tbs finely grated ginger, just the pulp not the fibres

1. Put the hocks in a slow cooker and cover with ginger beer.  There should be at least 4cm gap between the contents and the lid of the slow cooker.
2. Add the bay leaves and cloves, cover and cook on high for 3-4hrs (or on low for about 6hrs) until the meat is pulling away from the bone and is very tender.
3. To make the glaze mix together the remaining ingredients, cover and set aside till the pork is cooked.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C/ gas 7.
5. Put the hocks in alarge foil-lined roasting pan.
6. Remove the skin from the hocks leaving a thin layer of the fat on the hocks.
7. Smother the hocks with the glaze.
8. Pour 500ml of the cookign liquid around the hocks and bake in the oven for 20 mins, basting a couple of times, until golden.
9. Serve the hocks drizzled with some of the syrupy pan juices.

For the conventional oven:
Cook the hocks in a large, deep, covered pan, immersed in the ginger beer (add water if not enough beer to cover).  Add the bay leaves and cloves and bring to the boil.  Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 2
hours until the meat is pulling away from the bones and is very tender.  Then continue as above.

Caramelised Pork Hock with Chilli Vinegar

Serves 4-6 (as part of an Oriental meal)
Cooking time - 1½ - 2hrs braising

oil for deep frying
2 x pork hocks (not ham hocks)
10 x garlic cloves
20 x white peppercorns
130ml sweet soy sauce (ketchap manis)
130ml oyster sauce
130ml Shaoxing wine or sherry
2 x cinnamon sticks or cassia bark
4cm root ginger, peeled and chopped finely
250ml light soy sauce

Garnish:
handful of coriander leaves
1 x red chilli, shredded
handful of dried fried shallots / fried onions (available in tubs from good supermarkets or Oriental food stores)
white rice vinegar (or white vinegar) into which you have sliced a couple (or more!) red chillies

Caramel:
150g palm sugar or light muscavado sugar
1 x star anise
1 x cinnamon stick or cassia bark

1. Put a couple of inches of oil in a wok and fry the pork hocks until browned. 
2. Crush the garlic with the peppercorns to a paste and fry in a little oil.
3. Add the sweet soy, oyster sauce, wine, cinnamon, ginger and light soy.
4. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 mins.
5. Add the pork hocks, top up with water to almost cover the hocks and simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, skimming as needed.
6. Lift out the pork, cool and dice keeping 50ml of the stock.

To make the caramel:
1. Melt the sugar with a little water and cook till it starts to bubble, then darken and caramelise.
2. Add the reserved stock, star anise and cinnamon. The caramel should be like honey in colour and consistency. Keep boiling until it thickens a little.

To finish the dish:
1. Heat some oil in a wok and deep-fry the pork cubes until they are crispy.
2. Add the pork cubes to the sticky caramel mixture and garnish with the coriander, sliced red chilli and fried shallots.
3. Serve with the chilli vinegar as a dip.

In praise of slow cookers

When I was looking through Nigella Lawson's new book 'Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home' I was dismayed to see that in her "Kitchen Gadget Hall of Shame" she placed the electric slow-cooker as being one of the items she had bought and was now going to give to a "more deserving cause."  I was surprised at her condemnation of this great piece of kitchen equipment which I am happy to give cupboard space too.  Anyone reading my "About" page will have already read that I used to have a pub with restaurant section - my mid-life crisis attempt to escape driving a desk all my working life! It was during these few years that I really discovered just how great slow cookers can be and a lot more versatile than it might appear at first glance.

Spanish Style Chicken & Chorizo Bake

Spanish style chicken & chorizo baked in a tomato & smoked paprika sauce. This is a very easy, tasty and rich casserole.

I had a bit of a sort out of my freezer yesterday and decided to make something out of some chicken breast fillets and some chorizo sausages I found lurking in one of the drawers.  This dish doesn’t follow any particular recipe although is loosely based on a cross between a Spanish dish and an Hungarian goulash!  Very homely and smoky rich with a very slight sweetness and spice from the hot smoked paprika, although not chilli hot.  I also added 4 rashers of smoked back bacon I needed to use up, cut up into lardon size pieces but this was purely to use them up and not essential.  You could garnish with some olives or some soured cream, chopped parsley etc.

This is a very easy and lazy (one dish to marinade and cook in with no browning of the meat first etc) main meal dish. I served it with some rice cooked by the absorption method in chicken stock and a knob of butter but could be served with pasta or whatever you fancied.

The Cook's Book of Ingredients

This 544 page cook book just published by Dorling Kindersley arrived on my doorstep a few days ago and I have been flicking through it constantly ever since. The idea behind this cook's companion is to provide detailed information, normally including a photograph, of over 2,500 ingredients from all over the world, items both familiar and exotic. There are also over 200 recipes although this is not, in my opinion, the reason why you would buy this book. All the pages have multiple full colour photographs of the majority of ingredients accompanied with some explanatory text alongside the photos.

There are 10 chapters covering: Fish and Seafood; Meat; Vegetables; Herbs; Nuts and Seeds; Spices; Dairy and Eggs; Fruits; Grains, Rice, Pasta and Noodles; and finally Oils, Vinegars and Flavourings.