Sunday Outfit will be back soon

Where is the Sunday Outfit? Well we are taking a break until the 30 for 30 challenge is over. I didn't want to overwhelm anyone wit too many photos of this poser! 
The challenge has been pretty intense so far, it is more complicated than I initially thought but nonetheless definitely fun. I do think sometimes than I didn't chose wisely but hey what's done is done so we shall see...
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I finally made the apple pie I have been wanting to try for some time now! I saw that Danielle made it just before Christmas and it looked amazing so I asked her if she would mind sharing her recipe, she didn't! Thanks Danielle! I still can't believe I made the crust from scratch! 

Walnut cake beauty

I was looking for a pie recipe the other day and came across a pretty amazing foodie blog, Souvlaki for the Soul.  What caught my eye, besides the beauty of course, is the name, the Greek relation :) I went through some recipes in the archive and came across one for one of my very favorites greek deserts (my grandma also does it and it's delicious!) Karydopita, aka Walnut cake. Check out how pretty it looks, and trust me, give it a go, an absolute piece of heaven.

and if you like Greek food check out all his other recipes.

 

A black cake

I love baking (love eating cakes too but try to avoid baking just for this reason). But it was N's birthday last week and I thought it would be nice to bake a cake over the weekend and invite our closer friends. I picked the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book and decided on the Brooklyn Blackout cake. It looked so yummy!! Here is the recipe if you want to try it. 

Curious about the result?
Lots of chocolate!

Ps: I made the bunting myself using this template.

Recipe from the book
Preheat oven to 170 degrees (Gas 3). Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or a handheld electric whisk) and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt until well mixed. Add half the flour, then all the milk, and finish with the remaining flour. Mix well until everything is well combined.  Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 mins. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

For the chocolate custard: Put the sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and 600ml of water
into a large saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Mix in the cornflour with 120ml of water, then whisk into the cocoa mixture in the saucepan. Bring back to boil , whisking constantly. Cook until very thick, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Pour the custard into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until very firm.

Put one cake on a cake stand and spread about one-quarter of the chocolate custard over it with a palette knife.
Place a second cake on top and spread another quarter of the custard over it.
Top with the last cake and spread the remaining custard over the top and sides.
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Notes: There is a slight problem with the proportions I think. Waaaay too much custard and not enough cake...

Ottolenghi in London

On Sunday we went for lunch at our friend's house, we had lovely oven sea bass with boiled new potatoes, absolutely delicious. Desert? Before going N and I went over to the incredible Ottolenghi in Islington. Ottolenghi is a magnifique place to have breakfast on weekends (hello big queue though!) or a light lunch from an incredible buffet selection. Yotam Ottolneghi is the brain behind this restaurants (4 in London) I would definitely read this interview and check some of his amazing recipes. 

If you are in London, visiting or living, check it out. Plus it's really pretty inside with anton chairs and big communal tables. Unfortunately we were in a rush, the Formula 1 was about to start and ahem we couldn't miss it... (well N couldn't) so I didn't have time to take any photos but check some that I borrowed below. Nice?

Via: 1|2|3|4|5|6

Monday Outfit (and gazpacho recipe)

This weekend has been pure relax, so needed and so welcomed. We had some friends over on Friday, Saturday was all about relaxing and Sunday about making gazpacho. Have you tried it? I used to hate it (as I didn't like tomatoes) but decided to try it he other day and now I'm obsessed. I spent a good part of Sunday peeling and chopping what could be a small vegetable garden, but was sooo worth it! and of course we took some photos for my Monday outfit post. 

Dress: Chantal, my colleague bought it for herself at a market, and I bought it off her
Belt: Zara
Necklace: Whistles
Sandals: Zara, old


And a recipe!
Gazpacho in a bottle

In case someone wants to try to make gazpacho (vegetable cold soup) here is the recipe I use.

Ingredients:

- Yesterday's bread and croutons

- 6 ripe tomatoes

- 2 green peppers

- 1 red pepper

- 1 cucumber

- 2/3 slices of yesterday's bread

- 1 onion (its heart mainly)

- 1-2 cloves of garlic (optional, but it's nice for the kick)

- Balsamic vinagre, salt, pepper and some olive oil

How to:

- Put 3 slices of bread in a bowl with water and let it soak

- Peel the peppers (annoying but really worth it) and chop them 

- Peel the cucumber and chop

- Chop the tomatoes (no need to peel them really)

- Chop onion and garlic

- Put all the vegetables in a large bowl and add the wet bread and some water, add salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic (I do everything by eye, but maybe 2 Tbp of olive oil and 4 of vinagre will do?)

- Blend everything until creamy. I use our Braun Multiquick (a hand held mixer)

Serve cold. Which means put it in the fridge for... 4 hours? It can be eaten straight away but it's yummier really cold. Add some croutons or toasted bread. 


and Bon Appetit xoxo

Ree's mushroom bundles

I recently bought the Pioneer Woman's cooking book. I love her, I really really love Ree Drumond, she is probably one of the most talented and successful bloggers out there and an inspiration for many. have you seen her home? So when I got the book I really wanted to make something, we had lunch planned so I wanted a starter or desert. Starter it was when I found these mushrooms bundles. I'm going to be honest, YOU HAVE to make them, these are delicious!! Easy? mmm... so so, expect a messy kitchen, but trust me these are gorgeous (not mine hence the no photo + they didn't last that long either). And you know why I chose them? I love phyllo pastry, get the real deal, the greek one, I got a french copy and it wasn't what I expected. In Greece, we have tiropitakia, little feta bundles. have you tried them? If not, you must (too) :) Hope your weekend is fab so far, I'm visiting the Grace Kelly exhibition on Saturday, i'll let you know xoxo