How much do I love thee reader? A lot apparently, making 3 batches of fudge, in order to find a good, reliable recipe that anyone, anytime could produce. After writing about the delicious Crème Brûlée fudge we had in Arrowtown, New Zealand, I had readers asking for a recipe and I was also curious to have some for myself. What I didn’t realise is that the sugary stuff is more temperamental than a macaron. I think I’m a moderately skilled cook but when my first two batches failed I started to get despondent, then angry. I’m sure that alongside 7 stages of grief, there are 7 stages to fudge failure and I can really understand why the word “Fudge!!” is uttered as an expletive to some. Apparently, the weather can affect fudge making and canny experienced fudge makers will not bother to make it if the weather is humid or rainy. And even then there’s no guarantee that it will work. And I am living proof. I even bought myself a sugar thermometer to aid me in my pursuit of Creme Brulee fudge.

“Patience dear” is an oft repeated phrase around me. I am the most impatient person that I know. For me, it has to happen right now, then then and right there. I often have the Veruca Salt song “I Want It Now” ringing in my ears. One thing that forces patience on me is fudge making. Waiting until all of the sugar has dissolved on a low heat to stirring it constantly instead of running off to check your computer, the waiting for the soft ball stage to materialise-all things that requires a measure of patience that I don’t seem to have.

1st lot, delicious but unset

Like Goldilocks (or should I call myself Ravenlocks?), my first batch wasn’t right. With orders to test for soft ball using iced water (which I did, much like when I did it for the marshmallow) and orders to beat it straight away from Nigella the whole thing turned out grainy due to the partial crystallisation of the sugar when I stirred it during the crucial cooling process and it didn’t set properly due to the humid weather although I have to admit, flavour-wise, it tasted great.

My second lot once I bought the sugar thermometer was creamier, due to waiting for the temperature to drop to 40C which took 1.5 hours. It also didn’t set. And I know people will say that it’s because I didn’t reach the soft ball stage but I disagree, I did as I watched the thermometer like a hawk. This fudge however was gorgeously creamy and ungrainy so had it set, it would have been perfection.

Gathering myself together I came across a food proof, weather proof and method proof recipe for fudge which involved using marshmallows. It’s easier and quicker and miraculously set pretty much straight away, Even better was that it had a gorgeous creaminess. Flavour-wise I do think I preferred the first two but only by a small amount. The relative ease and reliability of this recipe means that it’s the winner for me.

I’ve also given you the recipe for the other two fudges should you wish to try them. Perhaps given the right weather where you are and a certain planetary alignment and your astrological moon in the correct position, it may set for you (just consider yourself warned ). In any case, bruleeing the stuff is easy, in fact I don’t know why it isn’t done more often. Just sprinkle with a little sugar (fudge contains enough of the stuff anyway so only a bit is needed) and blowtorch to you heart’s content, being careful not to set the paper or oiled foil on fire. It’s not exactly like the Remarkable Sweet Shop stuff in Arrowtown, New Zealand but it’s fabulously good and will win friends and influence people.

Read More

With so many gorgeous Banana Breads to choose from my Banana bread Bake Off, I have no shortage of great recipes. One of them that caught my eye was Catherine from Clever Monkey Studio who made a Siamese Loaf aka a Curry Pineapple Banana Bread. It was fortuitous that I had a small amount of pineapple left, which was exactly the amount I needed to make this intriguing bread with the rest of the items already in my pantry with bananas being plentiful and inexpensive at the moment.

Another advantage to this is how gorgeously easy it is. Look at the method below and be delighted. There’s nothing more to it that some mixing. I don’t often push recipes on people but I do push this one only because I know that you might be weirded out by the addition of curry powder in a banana bread. But you will be duly rewarded with this unusual but gorgeous loaf.

Read More

My friend Kathy has awesome search powers. She flies through the internet scouring out things like a googling superhero and often brings me interesting things to cook/try. One of the things that she showed me was Shiitake Mushroom Bacon, where you transform the humble and healthy to taste like the delicious but let’s face it unhealthy bacon. I’ve spoken often of my love for bacon. It is what stands between me and vegetarianism and other religions, not that I’m particularly interested in joining any other groups. Another friend Carbon Debit has spoken of the Bacon made out of beef that she has tried in Jordan where the Muslim religion forbids the eating of pork products. I defy anyone to resist the smell of cooking bacon. But of course for vegetarians they must.

I was curious to try it because it sounded like such a crazy idea that it might just work. I sliced the mushrooms and soaked them for 10 minutes while the oven was preheating. I left the smaller stalks on as I thought that this would be fine as they were less than a centimetre long and popped the drained mushrooms in the oven for 8 minutes.  When I took them out, ignoring the fact that they were hot I eagerly tried one. The firs thing that hit me was the smokey flavour followed by the saltiness.

Too thick with stalk on the left, better thickness and crisped up on the right

Was it bacon? Perhaps not exactly but it wasn’t too bad. It’s like the Jessica Seinfeld Spinach and Carrot brownies, it’s pretty good but if you’re a diehard fan expecting the real thing you may be a tad disappointed. The thinner cut pieces got crispier and therefore more bacon like than the rest, certainly the ones with the small stalk end didn’t crisp up enough and just tasted like shiitake mushrooms with soy so I would suggest removing the stalk and cutting each piece about 3-4mms thick so that all of the pieces crisp up nicely. Also I found that after a while they lost their crispness and once they did, they transformed to salty Shiitakes again. I’d also suggest marinating them for a shorter amount of time as the saltiness is quite strong and the mushrooms act like sponges. As for a name? Perhaps I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bacon -of course advertised by Fabio.

Read More