Goats Cheese & Chive Soufflés

After all the talk on programmes like Come Dine With Me and Masterchef I really thought that it was going to be hard to get these to rise, however I was grateful to have no problems at all. They did start to sink gradually after they had been taken out of the oven, but it wasn't really a big problem for an everyday supper, and once I started tucking in it was the last thing on my mind. Before attempted them I read a tonne of recipes for the 'perfect soufflé' online, and this is the version I finally came up with - it's a lot simpler than many that I read, that add in extra steps such as a bain-marie, and various other different ways to get the soufflé to rise that extra inch such as breadcrumb-coated ramekins - by all means, add these in if you wish, but for me they weren't all that necessary.

Serves 2

Ingredients 

Butter

20g plain flour

20g butter

150ml milk

75g goats cheese, crumbled into small pieces

1 tablespoon chives

2 eggs, separated

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200c/fan 180c/gas mark 6.

2. Butter two ramekins.

3. Melt the butter slowly in a saucepan and mix in the flour to form a thick paste. Cook this for two minutes.

4. Add the milk bit by bit, stirring until smooth, and slowly bring the sauce to the boil. Once it has been brought to the boil, empty the sauce into a large bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes.

5. Add the cheese and the chives to the sauce and stir until smooth. Add the yolks one by one and continue to stir in.

6. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff (you should be able to hold the mixture over your head without it falling out!). Add a couple of spoonfuls to the sauce, and fold in with a metal spoon. Do the same with the rest of the egg.

7. Divide the mixture between the ramekins, they should be roughly 3/4 filled.

8. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes until risen and brown.

Calamari with Chorizo and Cannellini Stew

Squid's never something I've cooked before now, I've only really ever had it out in restaurants, thinking that, not only would it be hard to get right, but also that it was a bit on the expensive side for everyday. But, being in the middle of exams, I needed a little 'pick me up' and this is the result! I didn't want to deep-fry the squid, so I decided to just put a light coating on it and shallow fry instead, which, although I was a bit apprehensive beforehand, turned out to be delicious, and really let the flavour of the squid come through.The Chorizo and Cannellini stew goes extremely well, adding a touch of spiciness and keeping in well with the Mediterranean-y feel. Lovely!

Serves 2
Ingredients

For the Calamari

250g raw squid, cut into rings

4 tablespoons olive oil

Plain flour (as needed)

Salt

Pepper

For the Stew
2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion, finely chopped

50g chorizo, cubed

1 tin Cannellini beans

1 glass red wine

Method

1. For the stew, fry the onions in the oil over a medium heat until just starting to colour.

 

2. Add the cubed chorizo and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the cannellini beans, and cook everything together 2 more minutes, stirring thoroughly.

4. Add the glass of wine, and cook the stew until this has cooked off. Now take the stew off the heat while you cook the squid.

5. On a plate, put some plain flour, a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Roll the squid in this mixture until it has a light coating.

6. Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over the highest heat possible, when the oil is starting to spit, add the squid and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Once cooked place on some kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil.

7. Repeat with the rest of the squid, and serve with the stew.

Wahaca, Covent Garden

While I was in London, I took the opportunity to eat out somewhere a bit different, to sample something that I won't get near to where I live, so Mexican seemed perfect, and after doing a bit of research on the internet, the consensus seemed to be that Wahaca would be a wise choice, tasty food, and also importantly, affordable. We headed over to the Covent Garden branch at about, 5.15pm it must have been, thinking that we would be able to get a table almost straight away. How wrong we were! I thought that noone else in London would be eating that early, but surprisingly it was absolutely packed, and so we were told to come back in half an hour, which we did and then were promptly seated.

If you didn't already know, Wahaca has a kind of tapas-style menu, made up of lots of different small plates that are perfect for sharing. They recommend 2-3 dishes per person, and surprisingly I found that 2 plates was enough to fill me, but I think I was still a bit full from afternoon tea the day before! Having quite different tastes, me and my sister opted not to share, with her going just for one of the larger dishes, which was a perfect size for a main course.

We actually started off with some nachos and salsa, which were really nice. The salsa was really fresh, full of different flavours, definitely a thumbs up.

 

Then, the first dish I had was these Pork Pibil Tacos, which were so tasty! The meat was melt in the mouth and juicy, and for me the dish was flavoured just hot enough.

Afterwards, I went for this Chorizo and Potato Quesadilla. Chorizo is one of my favourite foods and Wahaca advertise that they make their own, so how could I not try it? What I normally love about Chorizo is the spicyness, the smokyness, the hit of flavour, so when I bit into these, I have to say, it was disappointing, pretty bland, and to be honest if it hadn't mentioned the sausage in in the name of the dish, I doubt I would have known it was there.

And, although the food in general was pretty good, for me the biggest let down of all was the Horchata, which for those of you who don't know is an almond and rice drink. As soon as I saw it on the menu, I knew I had to try it, as it was something I drank all the time when I was working in Spain, and absolutely loved it. Perhaps I had been spoiled, but to me what Wahaca was serving wasn't Horchata, it was so watery, chalky and overly cinnamon-y. Although I finished it I didn't bother to order another. All-in-all it was a pretty mixed bag, but that said, I probably would go again. Overall, the food was enjoyable, it's just not somewhere that I would rave about.