Food Stuffs

Halva - Well I couldn't eat a whole one

Sunday's baking session demanded something a little bit different. Dragged down by the chocolate and cake of the season, I couldn't help but want to try something new, something a bit more exotic. I was taken by Dan Lepard's recipe for Halva, one of those treats rarely found and I couldn't help but expect a freshly made batch to beat the dry mixes you occasionally find in the supermarket.

Adapted from Dan Lepard's recipe (reproduced below).

Sesame Ginger Halva

This makes a sweet halva similar to the sort you see in Middle Eastern stores - wrapped in foil and sometimes studded with pistachios, or a combination of chocolate and vanilla halva swirled together - and is technically a kind of fudge. The texture produced by this recipe is very creamy, without the sugary flakiness found in shop-bought. This is because the syrup the ginger is packed in contains glucose, which slows the formation of sugar crystals as it cools and gives the halva a creamy texture. Perfect cut into little squares to have with short black coffee and arak after dinner.

250g tahini

100g stem ginger, strained from its syrup

200g caster sugar

50ml water

50g of the syrup

Spoon the tahini and the oil separated from it into a bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until it is smooth and emulsified.

Chop the ginger into ½cm cubes. Line the base of a 2lb loaf tin or similar with a buttered sheet of foil.

Place the sugar, water and 50g syrup from the stem ginger in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until a drop of the toffee hardens when popped into a glass of cold water, and can be squeezed with the fingers into a soft ball.

Next, add the ginger cubes and heat until the toffee boils again, then remove from the heat and add the tahini. Beat until the mixture thickens, then tip into the foil-lined tin. Cut into squares when warm.

Cheese Scones

Adapted from Dan Lepard's recipe below (also featured in his magnificent 'Short and Sweet').

I've left out the garlic as I'm making them to take into work and nobody wants to stink of garlic when they're dealing with patients. I've also (is this controversial?) switched the plain flour to bread flour - I think it gives a more impressive rise without making them too chewy. 

The scones have got a real kick from the mustard and cayenne, if you're a bit meek you may want to hold back on the cayenne and have a milder scone. They're fantastic warm, but people are more than happy to eat them cooled with a good spread of butter on them.

I love how the cheese just seeps out the side of the scones and catches on the baking tray. It takes all my restraint not to cut it off the scones and scoff it myself.

Garlic butter and cheese scones

Dan Lepard

Saturday 26 January 2008 23.49 GMT

I know: first garlic bread, now garlic scones - but it's the future. I've recently become a real soup-lover and these turn a tin of Heinz's best into a feast. In around 45 minutes you can transform a bowl of flour into a tray filled with crisp, buttery scones marbled with melted cheese.

100g plain flour

100g wholemeal, rye or spelt flour

2 tsp English mustard powder

Scant ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp brown sugar

1 clove garlic, mashed fine

50g unsalted butter

150g-200g cheese, in 1cm cubes

1 large egg

About 4 tbsp plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 210C (190C fan-assisted)/410F/gas mark 6½ and line a small baking tray with nonstick baking parchment. Place all the dry ingredients, the garlic and butter in a mixing bowl, rub together until the butter has all but disappeared into the mix, then gently stir in the cheese.

In a jug, beat the egg and yogurt, then stir through the flour mixture until it comes together into a soft dough. If you're really neat and tidy, pat the dough out on a floured surface to about 2cm thick, cut out five or six 8-10cm wide discs, then lay on the baking tray; alternatively, tip the dough straight out on to the tray, pat into one big 16-17cm wide disc and cut it into quarters pushed apart a wee bit.

Bake for about 25 minutes until golden on top, then leave on the tray to cool slightly before eating.

Prawn Risotto, topped with a parmesan crisp.

So, I discovered a glut of figs in Tesco on Tuesday. 15p for 4 (down from £2 odd originally. I promptly bought 40 to make a chutney with,  Nigel Slater has an excellent recipe which I have used. It is reproduced below.

Fig chutney

MAKES 2 LARGE JARS soft brown sugar 250g figs 8 large, about 1kg malt vinegar 150ml cider vinegar 150ml onions 250g, roughly chopped sultanas 250g salt 1 tsp

allspice 1 tsp black peppercorns ½ tsp, cracked coriander seeds 1 tsp

Warm the sugar in a bowl in a low oven. Roughly chop the figs, removing any tough stalks, then put them in a large, stainless steel or enamelled pan. Add the vinegars, onions, sultanas, salt, allspice, peppercorns and coriander seeds, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes until the onions and fruit are soft.

Stir in the sugar. Place over a low heat, bring slowly to the boil, then turn the heat down so the chutney bubbles gently. Leave for 10-15 minutes, with the occasional stir to stop it sticking, until the mixture is thick and jam like. Bottle while hot and seal.