Coffee,Coffee,Coffee!

For my second post, I thought I'd talk about something dear to my heart - coffee. 

I love a good cup of coffee, be it a quick cup of instant or a lovingly made latte. A good cup of coffee and a biscuit or slice of cake is a simple, and relatively healthy pleasure. I must start out by stating that I am not a coffee snob, and that I primarily drink instant for the convenience of the thing. 

However......... I do enjoy really good coffee, and want to discuss, and give a few tips and opinions. 

My favourite drink is a really good Macchiato. For those who don't know of this, it is an espresso, topped off with a delicate small layer of milk foam. It's a little less harsh than a straight up espresso, so is great to drink if you are not sure of the quality of the coffee/barista in the place you are drinking, or if you're pulling the first shot of the day. The sweetness of the milk is a great foil to the strong espresso, especially if you are using a blend with some robusta in it. 

My first plug goes to www.coffeegeek.com - they are far more knowledgable about all things coffee than I am, and if you are looking to learn more about coffee, it's a great place to go. 

Right, onto my coffee tips

1) If you are buying instant, please, get some decent stuff. I like the Kenco single origin stuff :) 

2) The same goes for beans. Find a good independant coffee merchant, and go in and talk. As with most things food and drink, specialist and independants are the best option. You can talk about blends and the suchlike, and get it ground to your requirements. If you can't find a merchant, buy Illy. 

3) Buy in small quantities, About a fortnight is as long as coffee will be at its best once ground.

4) A good coffee maker is not cheap. the very lowest end of good gaggia machines are about £1000 new, plus your grinders and accessories. Below that, I would suggest Nespresso. Makes great coffee first shot to last, and has enough variety in the pods to keep you happy.

5) Don't drink at starbucks. It's terrible. the coffee is in the groups too long and it burns it. Find a good local coffee shop with great baristas using more hands on machines, and taste real coffee. 

Finally, as I am rushing this off slightly due to the immense lateness of this second post, my guide to coffee if you are starting from cold/instant

Start off with a cafetiere/french press. mellow coffee, difficult to mess up, and drink it as you like. Once you get to know more about coffee, move onto a moka pot (classic stovetop espresso) and put in your favoured beans. A cup of this in the morning is the ONLY way to face the day, IMO. Then go from there! The possibilities are endless, but be warned, once you start, you will go from a £20 french press to looking at £10,000 la marzocco beasts. 

Enjoy! and if you fancy something a little stronger, keep your eyes peeled for the cocktail guide that is about to be published on here too :) 

My first Blog Post :O

I know I'm a little late to the show on the whole blogging thing, but decided that as I have some time to spare, i'd set one up, and share my musings, ideas and of course cooking, with the internet.

A little background: I'm a student who loves to cook when he gets some spare time, and have also worked in numerous kitchens, in various capacities. I cook a variety of foods, though I'm heavily influenced by Italian food. 

anyway, enough about myself, and onto the food. Recently I have made two things. well, I've made far more, but i've made 2 things that i've also photographed to post here: Cheesecake, and Chocolate Brownie. 

The cheesecake was a joint project between myself and the girlfriend, A simple strawberry one. I rarely measure things out, so have appropriated a recipe of rough measurements for a 20cm tin.

100g Digestive biscuits (if you want more crunch and a gingery flavour, use 50/50 digestives/gingernuts, my GF's preferred mix) I Prefer a sprinkling of cinnamon in there for some warm sweetness, and maybe a touch of powdered ginger. mmm...

50g unsalted butter. 

400g Mascarpone Cheese.

Punnet of Strawberries.

200ml Double Cream

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Castor Sugar

grease and line the tin with baking parchment (a springform tin and parchment makes removal and presentation SO much easier)

Crush down the biscuits to a fine crumb, and melt the butter. 

Combine the biscuit crumbs and butter, add to the tin and press down, evenly. 

Chill it down in the fridge until nice and solid.

hull the strawberries and reserve some for decoration (around a dozen or so for decoration should do) 

Blitz down the remaining strawberries with some sugar, adding a teaspoon at a time until the puree is sweet enough for you. pass it through a sieve to remove the bits, and you will have a nice fine coulis :)

In a seperate bowl, combine the mascarpone, vanilla extract and cream, and once combined, add the coulis a bit at a time and stirring, until you get a nice pink, strawberry flavoured mix. 

Keep in the fridge if the base is not yet set, then add to the tin, smoothing down with a palette knife.  Chop the strawberries and decorate the top. Serve with fresh cream, and decorate the plate with some coulis. Drink recommendation, Fruli strawberry beer for the guys, a strawberry bellini for the girls (you may have to make more coulis!)

The other is my brownies, which I may have left in the oven too long to be gooey, but are lovely and crumbly, and very receptive to cream :)

115g/4oz unsalted butter

170g/6oz caster sugar

2 eggs (i suggest large ones, as my mix was not as wet as expected, but 3 would be overkill)

40g/1½ oz plain chocolate (I used a bit more chocolate than this, but i was being wicked. Green and Blacks' cooks chocolate is fantastic for this, and for making chocolate sauces etc.)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp instant coffee granules

1 tsp baking powder

55g/2oz plain flour

55g/2oz cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 180c, and grease and line an 18cm square tin, or similar. 

cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Dissolve the coffee in a couple of tablespoons of warm water, add this, the vanilla, and chopped up chocolate into the mix, and combine well. 

Add the baking powder, then sift in the cocoa and flour. 

Mix it all up very well, then spoon into the tin, and flatten off.

Bake for 30-40 mins until cakey but still soft, then allow to cool in the tin for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack. 

dust with cocoa or icing sugar, depending on your whim, and serve with some cream, in chunks. 

The results should hopefully look like the pics above :)

Lodz x.