Ice, Ice Baby

I have been hacking the humble ice cube tray for years. Now the sun is furtively peeking out from behind the clouds, let me open your mind to a world of chilly wonder. Just follow my tips below and once fully frozen, stick the cubes in a ziplock bag and label/date contents clearly.

Coffee
Made a pot? Had 5 cups? Jazzed up like a monkey on speed? Heart palpitations? The last cold cup just going to be thrown away? HELL NO, SON! Pop that bad boy in your ice tray. You want a cheap-ass Frappuccino? Frappu-welcome, bitches.

Image source: Samantha's Brewed Awakening

Wine
Sometimes (rarely) I can’t finish a bottle of wine. When this happens I freeze it. Then you can plop them into sauces at the opportune moment. Or, more likely make sangria / wine slushies (I like pineapple juice and a handful of Chablis cubes - Summer in a freaking glass, home girl).

Image source: The Kitchn

Speaking from horrible, horrible experience, I cannot emphasise my introductory labelling point enough as we move from white wine to stock.

Stock
The best culinary results come from the best raw ingredients. In an ideal world we’d all be making our own stock from scratch. “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” I hear you screech. Well, actually it’s not that hard. Next time you have a roast just boil up the bones (and/or giblets) with a few veggies (check here for a good Jamie version if you don’t have a family recipe). Reduce by half to concentrate then when you want to use some just dissolve in boiling water. If stored properly, it lasts about four months and saves using up all your Tupperware.

Image source: Saucy Cuisine

Repeat for vegetable, fish and beef stocks. Also a good ‘ice lolly’ for the dog.

Spinach
Stay with me here, stud. Spinach + a bit of water blended and then frozen is a great way to save the leaves from going bad if you’ve bought a value pack. Add to smoothies for extra iron – hidden in a berry blitz or out and proud in an apple concoction it is delicious. Remember: if you eats your spinach you’ll be strong to the finish! I’ve always had a thing for sailors...

Image source: Rowdy Stroudy

Anyway…you can do the same with herbs or other green leaves for seasoning soups, etc.

The big finish
So this isn’t strictly sticking with the ‘leftovers’ theme but how great is this idea: tomato chili and cucumber basil cubes?! First seen for a DIY Bloody Mary bar but the cucumber ones would be lovely in Pimms.

Image source: Food and Wine

This got me thinking about other ‘ice’ combos. How about grapefruit and lime for Palomas, or mint infused water for juleps, lemon and rosemary for a jumped up Collins. Possibilities are endless. Maximum cool points (pun intended).


I recommend this silicone tray with holder from Amazon. It’s a beast.

Now go get your summer on!

Having a crêpey day

We all know that Tuesday is the worst day of the week (given its proximity to Monday and distance from Friday) but, thanks to some dude who rocked a lot of sandals back in the day, tomorrow will be the best Tuesday of the lunar year. I will once more be indulging in what is known as gastro-selective Christianity; I’m religious when there’s food and wine a-flowing but you know I’ll be citing my papa’s Judaist roots  on Weds as I do not roll with this whole Lent sacrifice shindig. Anyway, I digress...YES, it is PANCAKE DAY tomorrow!

This is a festival not celebrated in most other English speaking cultures, mainly because these wonderful fried batter discs are regularly consumed and do not need a special day to indulge. However, I have long been labouring under a misapprehension, as it seems, have the English populace at large.

Back in January I went on a day’s Dutch cookery course with (two) Michelin starred chef, Dennis Van Golberdinge. On the menu, amongst other things, were chocolate ganache filled crêpes. Whilst mixing up the batter he said something that blew my mind, “you don’t separate the eggs like you do for pancakes.” Hold up – what? – wait a second! My classmates and I exchanged looks and one brave woman piped up and admitted she didn’t know what he meant.

Lesson 1: A pancake is a pancake and a crêpe is a crêpe

He proceeded to whip up a batch of pancake mix alongside the crêpe mix, the difference being for crêpes the egg went in whole and in pancakes the whites were separated, whisked until fluffy, THEN combined with the batter.

The result was the crêpe was flat, thin and roll-able (akin to the lemon / sugar combo of every ‘pancake’ day memory) and the pancake was a thick but airy and light disc worthy of any Denny’s short stack, suited to supporting generous toppings but not fillable in the least.

Incidentally, you probably know that what should now be referred to as crêpe batter makes a Yorkshire pud but handy hint from Chef Dennis is that if you pop several small teaspoons of pancake batter into the pan you can make little blinis perfect for glam hostessing (pass the caviar, Jeeves).

Lesson 2: Butter me up

Now if you’re anything like me you try and make your sinful cooking less sinful by using oil instead of butter in cooking and you’ve wondered why your cocoons of deliciousness look a bit beige.

NEWSFLASH – it’s batter – you’ve lost the battle already and the calorie difference is negligible at this point. It's also known as Fat Tuesday. Have a salad tomorrow and you’ll be fine. It's what Jesus would've wanted.

Melt a little butter in the pan, not too much as you don’t want it to go greasy, and fry - that way you’ll get the lovely ‘tiger stripe’ browned effect AND it’ll be easier to flip. Why? Because oil creates a glue for the eggy mixture (incidentally I’ve been cooking my omelettes in butter since this class and they’ve not stuck once).

Pour in a small amount of batter and then swirl it for the crêpe to thin it out, pancakes are less viscous so just smooth into the appropriate size and thickness but try to keep it away from the edges for easy flipping.

Lesson 3: Catch you on the flipside

Ah, the aforementioned flip: nemesis of the weak-wristed and uncoordinated (me).

Where: Another handy hint from No 7. Catering School is to perform the flip over a clean work surface – that way if you fail it won’t fall to the flames or the floor where it will be rendered useless (or be pounced on by the pooch).

When:  Flip timing is key, but like most things is actually quite simple. You should wait until the top of your crêpe or pancake is dry. This shouldn’t take too long / burn if you cook over a medium heat. Give the pan a jiggle and it should loosen, if not run round the edges with a sharp knife and jiggle again (if it doesn’t jiggle then it needs a little longer).

We’ve covered where and when, now the how: Top tip is, after loosening with the jiggle, to give a slight forward and medium up thrust and follow the crêpe up with the pan so once it’s turned you catch it immediately. Alternatively just use the spatula, but this is way less cool and I know all my readers got game. It should just need 30 seconds over the heat to firm up and then transfer to the plate.

Now all that remains to ask is: how will you fill and / or top yours?

TGOC x