New Year, New Soup: Patatas Bravas

Happy New Year to you all! Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Years Eve? Rich and I went to Berlin, and got engaged so that was very exciting and unexpected we are very happy and look forward to sharing the celebrations with friends, there will be a food travel blog post on Berlin at some point this month, so am looking forward to sharing that with you. This month is always notoriously frugal so once we returned from Germany I went to Reg the Veg in Clifton village and bought up a stack of soup making vegetables. I had two soups in mind for this week, spicy squash, red pepper and coconut and last night's soup of patatas bravas.

A favourite on the tapas scene I was keen to try and recreate the taste of this dish in a soup, inspired by one of mum's gifts to Rich, some gorgeous Pimentón de la Vera as part of a Christmas present, I was determined it's first use would be a tasty one. Plus the packaging is right up my street and very kitsch but the wonderful smoky sweet smell that rises from the open tin is heavenly. 

Pimenton

Some of Reg the Veg's wares

I used the following ingredients:

1 small onion

1 crushed clove of garlic

2 large potatoes chopped into cubes

1 pepper chopped into pieces

Half a ring of chorizo chopped into bits

2-3 chargrilled peppers from a jar chopped finely

2-3 beef tomatoes chopped small

A good squeeze of tomato puree

2-3 teaspoons of pimenton

1 and a half pints of chicken stock

A good helping of chilli flakes, a pinch of cumin plus healthy shakes of salt and pepper

So I chopped a small onion, and two inches of the chorizo ring and let that sizzle away with the chilli flakes, I then added all the vegetables, puree, spices and then the stock. I let this cook happily away with the lid on for about an hour and then let it cool whilst I went to pilates class. When I returned I used my hand blender to blitz the soup into a puree then I added some more chopped chorizo whilst I heated it up to serve with some crusty bread. It was very easy indeed and I was glad that it tasted just like patatas bravas, it fed me for  lunch today and will tomorrow as well. 

Today's lunch

Close up, with crackers topped with brie and caramelised onion chutney

Next blog posts will include our review of lunch from peri peri chicken place Roosters on Park Street and meat filled German meals. But in the mean time enjoy this recipe and thanks for all the congratulations we've received on Twitter so far. 

Boom!

Gluten Free Christmas Baking: White Chocolate and Stem Ginger Cookies

Sarah (Wuthering Bites) and I had a Christmas baking day. Each of us brought a recipe and she was going to show me some straightforward gluten free baking to prove how easy it is to substitute flours but with no affect on taste. So whilst we prepped all the ingredients we popped on Kate Bush and Disney and sang along with great gusto, I like to think nurturing cooking with song helps it taste better. I had brought a white chocolate and crystalised stem ginger cookies to the table whilst Sarah had adapted a black treacle and cinnamon heart biscuit recipe to make it nice and gluten free. You can see her recipe, more of her excellent photos, and our results here.

White Chocolate and Ginger cookies (with hot coffee) 

It amazes me how gluten, something I take for granted as being able to consume, causes so much trouble., but for a lot of people it is a big problem. Luckily Sarah, who is a hero to the cause, has made a study of how to alter recipes so they taste pretty much the same, just requires a little more experimentation. Here however is a fool proof cookie recipe, that to me, having consumed my own version many times, tastes almost bang on the gluten filled one. The cookies will come out chewy and super moreish. This recipe is pretty versatile, whatever you fancy in your cookies you can just add in. So far I have  made these cookies with, Daim bar (also gluten free), Toblerone and dark chocolate with hazelnuts.

You will need:

125g butter

120g gluten free plain flour*
30g of tapioca flour

100g white chocolate
4 pieces of crystalised stem ginger chopped into small bits

½ tsp gluten free baking powder

1 egg

100g granulated sugar-it's the two types of sugar that give them the chewy texture

75g soft brown sugar

2 tsp of vanilla extract 

Pinch of salt

*(the standard gluten recipe uses 150g of plain flour)

Chop the chocolate and ginger and pre heat the oven to 190 degrees with fan. Weigh out the sugars into a mixing bowl and melt the butter in a saucepan then add the melting butter to the sugar mix then beat it. Crack the egg into the bowl and add the vanilla extract, salt and baking powder. Tapioca flour, I am informed, acts as a  thickener or gel when cooking, like fake gluten, adding a little extra help to the gluten free flour. Weigh the flours and then add gradually to the bowl  mixing each time as you go the mixture will be fairly stiff by this point. 

A very eager Miko (photo by Sarah Carter)

Add the chocolate and ginger and mix once more. Get some baking parchment on a baking tray and use teaspoons to separate out your mix into small blobs, do not press down, the oven will do the magic for you. Bake for 8-10 minutes, you are looking for browning round the edges and cracks forming across the top. They will still be soft when you get them out but have faith because if you leave them in too long they won't be chewy and delicious.

Cookies in detail (All Photos by Sarah Carter)

Miko eager to sample  (photo by Sarah Carter)

So my first foray into gluten free baking and I was suitably impressed as to how easy it was. I was afraid it was going to be difficult but with a guiding hand I know I have at least one sweet to prepare for my gluten intolerant or coeliac suffering friends.