Bits and Bobs

Some good words, tips for making the best coffee, and a couple of simple spring recipes

Hello from Kenya! I’m typing this from a lodge in the Masai Mara, where right now we’re on safari on our family holiday. Oh my goodness, WOW WOW WOW: what a magical part of the world! Will do a proper comprehensive travel post on this soon, sharing more details and tips… But for now, I just wanted to touch base and say hello before the Easter holidays proper. And share a couple of things, not least the recipes I promised you last week (see below), and a few other bits and bobs I thought you might enjoy and/or find useful.

Some really good words

I’ve been reading Henry James (Wings of the Dove), who has such a lovely way with words and uses such good words; which has got me thinking about words generally. Specifically, I’ve been obsessing over the collective nouns for animals (when in Africa…). Here are some especially good ones, I thought you might enjoy too:

A coalition of cheetahs
A bask of crocodiles
A flamboyance of flamingos
A tower of giraffe
A pandemonium of parrots
A prickle of porcupines
A crash of rhinos
An implausibility of wildebeest
A dazzle - I mean how good is that?! A dazzle (jazz hands)! - of zebra

How to make a very good pot of coffee

So, I’m obsessed with the moka pot: it makes the best espresso coffee (or the closest approximation to an espresso you can make at home without involving fancy or expensive gadgetry). It’s a really good piece of kit: lasts forever (basically un-break-able), simple to use and comes in all the sizes from titchy tiny right up to ginormous (the dream is to collect them all). But here are a couple of tips for making extra good coffee in your moka pot:

• the smaller pots make stronger coffee: the bigger the pot, the more water-y (American style) the coffee tends to be. If I’m making coffee for a tiramisù, say, then I’ll use a larger, 6-8 person pot; but if I’m making coffee to drink for more people than just me, then I’ll make up two smaller pots’ worth. A little extra hassle, a little extra by way of washing up, but (in my humble and honest opinion) worth it.

• fill the bottom of the pot with boiling water from the kettle, rather than cold from the tap: this means that the coffee will come to the boil quicker, which is good because the longer it simmers away on the stove-top, the more bitter it tends to taste. Also don’t over-fill the water valve: there’s a little marker at the top, stay just shy of that or your coffee will taste watery.

• press the ground coffee firmly into the filter basket: the more you tamp it right down, the stronger the coffee will come out tasting.

• whilst the moka is bubbling away on the stove-top, fill your coffee cup(s) with hot boiling water, then tip it out. This way you’ll have a warm cup when you fill it with coffee and it will stay nice and hot for longer. It’s the same principle as serving food from warm plates, although I don’t usually bother with that because I’m perfectly happy eating food at room temperature; coffee, on the other hand, unless it’s an iced coffee, really should be hot.

• use double cream in your coffee instead of milk: I promise you, it’s transformative.

• if you’re feeling adventurous, try popping 4-5 cardamom pods into the top half of the pot: this will give you a spiced coffee, more of a Middle Eastern vibe than Italian, and utterly delicious.

A couple of recipes

As promised, here are the two recipes from last week: a Spring Panzanella and a Hot White Chocolate and Saffron Sauce to serve with berries, ice cream, colomba or pretty much whatever you like and might usually serve a warm custard-y sauce with. You can watch a little video of me making the two dishes here, if you like - you’ll see it’s super simple.

Spring Panzanella

This is basically a green twist on a classic Tuscan bread salad. Feel free to play around with the flavours and chuck in whatever yummy greens you have to hand: you might want to try a few slivers of crisp fennel in there, some chunks of cucumber, or raw zucchine. You might even want to add some slivers of peppery radish and a handful of rocket or watercress leaves for a touch more fiery oomph. It’s one of those great dishes that will work very happily on its own for a light lunch or supper, but also as a nice, fresh side dish (a good one for Easter Day, for example, alongside roast lamb and a few other bits).

Serves 4

6 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
200g stale crusty bread (I used ciabatta, but baguette or similar would also be good)
150g shelled garden peas (or blanched frozen peas)
3-4 baby artichokes, cleaned and thinly sliced (or chargrilled artichokes from a jar, also sliced)
4-5 slim asparagus stems
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 Baby Gem lettuces, leaves torn
A handful of fresh mint leaves
A handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt flakes

Combine the olive oil and lemon juice together in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Season generously with salt and whisk lightly with a fork. Tear the bread into small, bite-sized chunks and throw into the bowl, then give everything a good toss so all the bread is nicely coated in the dressing. Add the peas and sliced artichokes, and toss again. Break off and discard the ends of the asparagus, then cut the stems into pieces, roughly 3-4 cm long. Toss the asparagus and the spring onions into the bowl, together with the rest of the veggies. The panzanella will happily sit like this for up to a day.

When ready to serve, add the lettuce leaves and fresh herbs and toss together to combine. Dress with an extra splash of olive oil, if you feel like it needs it.

Hot White Chocolate and Saffron Sauce

This is basically a warm, chocolate-y custardy sauce and it is BLISS. You can leave out the saffron, if you like - but I love that pop of warmth it brings to the dish. This is super with frozen berries: the hot sauce turns a delectable fudge-y consistency when it hits the ice cold berries; but it’s also great with regular berries (especially strawberries). For Easter, I love it with colomba (the Italian Easter cake not dissimilar to panettone): pretty much the world’s easiest pudding to make, but also a show-stopping guaranteed hit.

Serves 4-6

160ml double cream
200g white chocolate, finely chopped
1 x 0.3g sachet of ground saffron

In a small pan and over a medium heat, bring the cream to just under the boil. You can tell it’s just about to come to the boil, when you can see the tiniest little bubbles come to the surface at the edge of the pan. Now, take the pan off the heat, and tip the chopped white chocolate into the hot cream. Stir constantly, until the chocolate has completely melted and you have a thick, custardy sauce. Add the saffron and stir, until the sauce turns a vibrant shade of sunshine yellow. Cover and set aside until you’re ready to serve.

To serve, warm the sauce gently over a medium heat, then pour over berries or colomba.

HAPPY EASTER

Lastly, wishing you a wonderful and happy Easter weekend! I’m going be on the road this year, and for the first time in a long while I won’t be celebrating at home or cooking Easter lunch. I feel a bit sad about it because I love Easter and all the rigmarole of the egg hunt and the lunch and so forth, and now I’m thinking about it I feel like I’m missing it; but also I’m happy because it’s such a treat to be on holiday and to be in such a special place.

If you’re looking for ideas for what to cook and what to do for Easter Day, I’m linking to (and have lifted the paywall from) this post from last year about all things Easter (ideas for decorating the table, what to cook, eggs, and so on and so forth) in case useful…

Whatever your plans, I hope you have a wonderful and restful break! And I’ll be back with more for you on the other side…