Back home & already cooking

The winter break is already here and I'm back in Spain for a few days. London's a fantastic city in many ways but there's nothing like home - here I feel like I know how things work whereas in London sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by the many things that I'm not used to. Anyway, it feels great to be in the country of sun - not so much of heat as it's quite cold but that doesn't matter too much.

One of the things that  I love the most about Spain is the food - everything seems tastier, people are much more healthy in their eating habits and my mum's a great cook. So today I'll show you one of the many dishes that she makes: "Pescado a la Sal". It's basically a way of baking fish in salt and it's very very good - if you like fish, of course.

You'll need:

- 2 Seabasses
- 2.5 kg kosher salt
- 1 egg white


How to:

1. The seabasses should be cleaned (no intestines, etc.) but that's about it. Don't start cutting it or anything like that. They should be full. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with a thick layer of kosher salt.

3. Place the two seabasses on top of the layer of salt.

4. Paint the seabasses with an egg white, previously whisked.

5. Fully cover the two seabasses with the rest of the salt.

6. Bake for around 30 mins or until the outer layer of salt is quite hard.

7. Take out of the oven and break the layer of salt. Serve with salad, potatoes or anything you want! I like it with a little lemon on top pero para gustos, los colores...

¡Que aproveche!

Irish Soda Bread

I had never shown a particular interest for baking until I came to London. I must have mentioned it before - I think it's the cold and the darkness that just push you towards the oven. Anyway, today isn't about cakes or cookies, it's about Irish Soda Bread. Note that it's the first time I've made this so i'll perfection it over time! It was nevertheless very tasty.

Ingredients:

1. 400g self-raising flour

2. 300g buttermilk (alternatively, 300g whole fat milk + the juice of half a lemon)

3. 3/4 tsp baking soda

4. 3/4 tsp salt

5. Cranberries & cashew nuts (as much as you like, but bear in mind that the cranberries give a lot of flavour).

How to:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 C.

3. Mix the flour, the salt and the baking soda.

4. Add the cranberries & cashew nuts.

5. Mix in the buttermilk and make sure that the dough it well mixed but not overworked

6. Place in a baking tray with a little flour to make sure it doesn't stick to it.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes. It won't be fully cooked by then & what you need to do to make sure it's crusty when cooled is wrap it in a damp tea towel for a while (45 mins or so. Until cooled, basically).

8. Slice and enjoy with butter or any other spread!

I hope you like it!

Regina.

cxx

Lemon Upside-Down Cake

This is the simplest cake recipe you'll ever make, really. I tried it after reading it on one of my favourite blogs: The Londoner. There's pretty much nothing to it and it will surely taste like heaven, which is why we made it for my sister, who's invited us for dinner tonight. The blog's recipe doesn't use poppy seeds but I think they give it a nice touch.

Ingredients

To make the cake:

3 eggs

170g icing sugar

170g self-raising flour

170g unsalted butter

Zest of two lemons

3 or 4 tbsp poppy seeds

To make the drizzle:

Juice of two lemons (the ones you previously used)

110g icing sugar

How to:

1. Turn on your oven to 180C.

2. Put all the cake ingredients on a mixing bowl and mix.

3. Pour the mix on a silicon mould. I used one with an original shape but you can use any mould you like. Just be careful with the size.

4. Bake for 30 mins. While the cake is inside the oven, mix the drizzle ingredients until the sugar and the juice of the two lemons are well blended. If after 30 mins you insert a skewer and the cake comes out wet, leave it for another 5 mins. Otherwise, take it out.

5. Place the mould on top of an epty plate and place another empty plate, upside down, on top of the cake as it comes out of the oven (like a sandwich, basically). Then turn the whole thing 180 degrees and lift the plate and mould. You should then find the cake nicely on top of the plate.

6. Make holes with a skewer everywhere on the cake and pour the drizzle on top (while the cake's still hot).

And start eating!

Looks good, right?

Well, it tastes even better than it looks!

I hope you try it and like it!

Regina xxx.

PS. The sixth and last pictures are of another lemon cake - same recipe, of course, but without poppy seeds. You choose which one you prefer.