I think I have a food hangover from last night. Thankfully I don't have a drink hangover as well because then the likelihood of getting any work done today would be somewhere between slim and zero.
Boyfriend and I went through a phase of regularly going to fancy restaurants and gorging ourselves silly on their tasting menus. Tasting menus may be smaller portions but by the time you're on course 12, you can't help but feel a little bit overwhelmed.
For whatever reason, we haven't been to one for a while so last night it was quite a treat to put on our fancy rags and celebrate Valentine's Day at Launceston Place. In the spirit of not being too unromantic, I'd already decided that I wasn't going to photograph the food or blog about it in any detail. Not least because then I don't really have the moral high ground to nag boyfriend about not checking his emails over dinner. And I like the moral high ground.
It was all delicious though. Pan-friend scallops with celeriac and apple were a light way to start the meal, followed by a truffle risotto with a perfectly poached duck egg on top. I struggled with the next course which was a hot smoked halibut with fennel pollen (and a vegetable that we failed to identify). I'm not a huge fish person (and the portion was massive) and anything too aniseedy gives me flashbacks to doing sambuca shots at my best friend's 18th birthday. Not a memory that I care to relive. I made, in my opinion, a valiant effort but was defeated about half way through. I was already filling pretty stuffed by this point so it was no bad decision.
For main course, I had roast chicken with leeks and spinach and rosemary. I always feel like it's a bit of a cop out to eat chicken in a restaurant - we eat it all the time at home after all - but when I eat perfectly cooked roast chicken, with its crispy skin and succulent meat, I'm reminded all over again just how good it can be. The only disappointment with pudding was the fact that we had to share when I could have quite happily polished off a giant chocolate souffle with chocolate sorbet, salted caramel ice cream and praline ganache by myself. Although I do eat much faster than boyfriend and this skill came in quite handy.
So that was that. All topped off with a glass of champagne, it was a rather lovely evening. Today, however, I do feel like staying away from anything rich or heavy. A salad for lunch will suffice I think and maybe something bright and fresh - a palatte cleanser if you will - like this cake in case I get hungry this afternoon.
This recipe from the Barefoot Contessa originally made a lemon yogurt loaf cake. For reasons that I'm sure where excellent at the time but which I now am struggling to remember, I decided to make it in a mini loaf tin but to fill the tins less than half full so they are more like little rectangular cakes than anything else. As is obvious from the title of this post, I also swapped the lemon for lime and threw in a handful of blueberries. Oh and I used olive oil rather than vegetable oil because the latter always squicks me out a bit.
Not only do you have a tangy lime glaze on top of these cakes but you also steep them in a quick lime syrup to ensure that you get maximum flavour and stickiness. I wonder if it was a desire for more of both the glaze and the syrup that accounted for my changing the shape? It sounds like something I would do but I don't think we'll ever know the truth. The quantities below are 2/3 of the original recipe and make 8 little cakes. If you want to make proper mini loaves, I'd probably suggest that you double what I used. If you want to make a normal loaf and can't be bothered to do the maths, head for the Barefoot Contessa.
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Lime and blueberry cakesAdapted from Barefoot Contessa
Yield: 8 mini cakes
Ingredients
- 110g plain/AP flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 120ml yogurt
- 150g + 50g caster/granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 60ml olive oil
- 45ml lime juice
- 75g blueberries
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 65g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line and grease a 1lb loaf tin or a mini loaf tin.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl, beat together the yogurt, 150g of sugar, the eggs, lime zest and vanilla.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined and finally fold in the oil.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes (mini loaves) or 40-50 minutes (big loaf) until golden brown.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack over a pan/some foil to catch the drippings and meanwhile, heat the lime juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Prick holes in the cake and pour over the syrup. Allow to cool.
- Whisk together the icing sugar and lime juice, drizzle over the cakes when cool.