The Gooseberry Fool is hosting the Carnival of Cities for the first time next week. This is a weekly event celebrating cities (and midsize to large towns). My travel blog, Roaming Tales, has hosted the event twice before and it’s always an interesting trip around the world to different cities.

Submissions are accepted for any posts on the theme of cities but this week I am particularly keen to read any posts with a food related theme. Perhaps your city has a fantastic restaurant or farmers’ market? Or perhaps food featured prominently in your travels to more far-flung city destinations?

This week the event is hosted on Where Next?, the travel blog on Away.com, and it seems the entrants were channelling my interest telepathically because there is already a bit of a culinary theme happening, with posts on the Linwood Sausage Factory in Cincinatti and the Oyster bar in Grand Central Station in New York.

Please send the entries as usual via the carnival submission form. Entries received after Tuesday lunch time (British time) will be sent to next week’s host, so be sure to get your entries in early. Posts should be no more than a week old. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Cupcakes have been very chic ever since the Magnolia Bakery moment in Sex and the City. There’s usually a queue around the block at this unassuming bakery in Lower Manhattan. There’s a spin-off further uptown, not to mention a host of copycats like Little Cupcake Bakeshop in Brooklyn and the Buttercup Bake Shop in Midtown. London is right on trend with the famous Hummingbird Bakery in Notting Hill, which my friends in West London swear by, or Treacle in Tower Hamlets, near the Colombia Road Flower Market.

Cupcakes are everywhere in the blogosphere as well. In the past week alone, I have seen rich chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean icing on Love and Olive Oil, ice cream cupcakes and raspberry almond cupcakes with chocolate ganache on Joy the Baker, Persian love cupcakes on Gigi Cakes, and After Eight mint chocolate cupcakes on Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake.

I think one of the reasons they are so popular is that they are just so damn cute! See these coconut lemon curd cupcakes on Cafe Lynnylu to see just how photogenic they can be.

But to me, it’s totally a matter of style over substance. I am committing food blog heresy here but I think cupcakes are totally overrated. Surely I can’t be the only one?

They look pretty but they generally taste rather boring - dull and dry with excessive amounts of icing to compensate. I have had cupcakes from these famous bakeries and I have had well made homemade cupcakes and my attitude is the same. Give me real cake any time.

Proper cakes are far more interesting - they are usually much moister and have greater complexity of flavour and texture. Cupcakes have their uses - they’re great if you are catering for a fifth birthday party - and I’m not saying they actually taste bad (if I had to pick a favourite flavour it would be red velvet). However, there isn’t a cupcake on the planet that wouldn’t taste better as a full-size cake.

If you want individual serves then muffins, tarts or cookies are fine. But miniature cakes just defeat the purpose - assuming the purpose is to taste good, rather than look pretty, that is.

As well as blogging about food here at The Gooseberry Fool, I also have a travel site at Roaming Tales, which includes both a blog and my professional travel articles.

I have been surprised at how much more popular my food site has been than my travel site and I am trying to figure out why - is it something peculiar to my blogs, or is food simply a bigger niche? I am beginning to suspect the latter - if you want to know why, please visit Roaming Tales to read about my blogging experience, and my analysis of the UK magazine market.

I would love to hear your comments, either here or on Roaming Tales.

Twice-baked salmon and dill souffles

The first time I ever attempted souffle, the result was a rather nice frittata. It tasted great but it was flat as a pancake - and not a Scandinavian one. (In my defence, I would like to point out that we didn’t have an electric mixer and I was attempting to whisk egg whites to a satisfactory state of stiffness entirely by hand). So I was pleased that the Leiths course would be covering souffle.

In particular we made twice-baked salmon and dill souffles. The advantage with twice-baked souffles is that they are slightly easier and you can prepare them up to 24 hours in advance. We made white sauce and combine it with egg yolks, dill and salmon. We also whisked (with an electric mixer!) the egg whites and then folded it into the salmon mixture. We baked the souffles in ramekins (or teacups or your vessel of choice) in a baking dish with a few inches of hot water. (This stabilises the temperature so they cook more easily). Once we removed them from the over, we waited for them to cool, turned them out on to a baking tray and poured over the sauce (a cream dill sauce in this case) over the top. They then get returned to the oven for 10-15 minutes when it’s time to eat it. Salmon and dill was a great combination but there are plenty of others - cheese and chive is another classic for example.

Duck breasts with apple and blackberry sauce

However, the star of the evening was the duck. We made duck breasts with blackberry and apple sauce from a Viv Pidgeon recipe. We had large juicy duck breasts with the fat and skin left on and started by frying the duck, skin side down. It released an unbelievable amount of fat and we had to keep pouring off the excess fat into a bowl. It’s the first time that I have ever fried something in order to reduce the fat content! When the skin and fat was brown and crisp, we turned the duck over briefly to seal the meat. After this point it can be left in the fridge for up to two days or even frozen, before the final step, which is roasting it for 8-10 minutes. After the roasting, we let the duck rest for five minutes before slicing it on the diagonal and serving, along with a homemade blackberry, apple and port sauce and some lightly boiled green beans. It might not be the way to a healthy heart but this was absolutely superb. I would definitely love to make this for a fancy dinner party and I know just who I would invite for maximum appreciation too.

Next week (tonight actually - how the week has whisked by!) we are making chicken liver pate, melba toast, salmon fillets and broccoli with chilli and garlic.

This is my version of pasta primavera - food to celebrate spring. You could make this at another time of year using good quality frozen peas and broad beans, or you could vary the recipe by using other spring vegetables such as leeks, spring onions, asparagus, snap peas.

This is vegetarian but if you prefer, you could make it with bacon and omit the feta. I prefer it this way as it tastes fresh and wholesome.

Ingredients

Penne, 2 cups
Olive oil, 1 tbs
Onion, 1/2
Garlic, 2 cloves
Peas, 1/2 cup
Broad beans (fava beans), 1/2 cup
Zucchini (courgette), 2 medium
Feta cheese, 70g
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fresh mint, 2-3 tbs
Salt and pepper

Method

Cook the penne in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain. Transfer the penne to a bowl, stir in the lemon juice and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop the onion finely and crush the garlic. Top and tail the zucchini, then slice lengthways into thin, flat strips.

Heat the oil in a frypan, add the onion and garlic and cook on a low heat until translucent. Add the zucchini and keep frying on a low heat, stirring occasionally until it softens and browns. Add the peas and broad beans and cook for a few further minutes, until everything is warm and cooked. Mix the vegetables with the penne.

Chop the feta into cubes and chiffanade the mint (by rolling the leaves and then slicing to make long thin strips). Mix the cheese and mint into the pasta mix, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Serves 2-3 people.

It was Indian and Sri Lankan this week at Leiths but before I tantalise your tastebuds with descriptions of the yummy food, please permit me a short rant. If you don’t live in London, you might want to skip the next paragraph.

Leiths used to be fairly centrally located in Kensington. Unfortunately they needed bigger premises so they moved to the wilds of west London. It’s in the middle of nowhere, sort of wedged between Shepherd’s Bush Tube on the Central Line (which is closed right now anyway) and Turnham Green on the District Line. On Wednesday I was shopping in the West End and I left a little late, mainly because the glorious summer weather tricked me into thinking it was an hour earlier than it really was. I decided to get the Central Line to White City, the next station along from Shepherd’s Bush, and then get a taxi. I rang Leiths to say I would be about 10 minutes late and then went down for my Tube. I popped up in White City about a quarter hour later and found the roads in a state of traffic gridlock. I waited for a cab for over an hour and then the cab journey took nearly half an hour. I arrived at Leiths at 8pm - an hour and a half late. I was quite upset - it was a double whammy of the misery of getting there and the fact that I missed most of the class, which averages out at about £60 a night. So if you are thinking of taking a short course at Leiths, do be warned that it’s quite tricky to get to unless you work nearby.

Sri Lankan chicken curry, chana dhal, poori and raita
As a consequence of my late arrival, I expected I would be in time to pick up most of my ingredients to attempt the other dishes at home and maybe make one last dish. It turned out we were actually cooking in pairs so my poor partner had made everything without me (she kindly insisted that I still take half the food). I was in time to help make the cucumber raita (yogurt and cucumber condiment), and roll out and deep fry the poori (unleavened flat bread). I didn’t make the Kukul Mus Kari (Sri Lankan chicken curry), or the Chana Dhal (yellow lentil curry) myself, though I talked through the recipes with the instructors and feel confident I could attempt them on my own. The instructors also kindly showed me a few of the techniques that the class had covered earlier in the evening and explained how you would toast spices (although the spices came pre-prepared for the class).

I learned the following techniques: how to finely chop an onion (by cutting in half through the root and then criss-crossing with the root on) ; how to peel ginger (with the side of a teaspoon); how to cut chilli (lengthways and then scoop out pith and seeds with teaspoon); and how to toast spices (in a heavy frypan on low-medium heat with no butter or oil and then grind afterwards in mortar and pestle or in coffee grinder for large batches).

The chicken curry and the chana dhal were both quite mild and if I were making it, I would add more spice and chilli. This is a matter of personal preference. The chicken curry recipe used chicken thighs, which are more succulent than breasts (increase the cooking time if it’s on the bone), coconut milk and garam masala (a spice mix with coriander, cumin, fennel, black peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and fenugreek). The recipe also gave a few variations - the tomato and yogurt option sounds good to me. I’m not sure whether or not I would make the chicken curry again - I might attempt a different recipe instead. I do want to make the chana dhal though - the recipe used yellow lentils (the orange ones fall apart too quickly and brown lentils are for a different dish) and was cooked with spice and onion and tomato.

Poori is unleavened deep-fried bread. The dough was already made by the time I got there and had been sitting for 20 minutes under a tea towel. We took small lumps of dough and rolled it out thin with a rolling pin. We had a deep saucepan full of boiling oil and we used a slotted spoon to deep fry the bread. As soon as the dough started puffing, we turned it over and sloshed it about in the oil for a few seconds, then removed it from the oil, drain and sprinkled with salt. The poori was crisp around the edges and quite nice, though I like grilled or dry-fried flat bread just as much and it’s certainly healthier.

For the raita, we grated cucumber and then removed excess water, first by draining it through a sieve and then by wringing it out. We added salt and then mixed with yogurt, black pepper and mint. Raita is lovely and refreshing with spicy food, though it was a bit redundant with such mild curries.

Next week: Twice-baked salmon and dill souffles; and duck breasts with blackberry and apple sauce, and green beans. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

I am keen to try out more healthy and diet-friendly recipes and also expand my knowledge of vegetarian cookery. I also love lasagne and believe that a good vegetarian lasagne is an essential dish in any cook’s repertoire. This recipe for lentil, mushroom and ricotta lasagne comes from The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook by Dr Jennie Brand-Miller, Kaye Foster-Powell, Kate Marsh and Philippa Sandall. As the title of the book suggests, it’s both low GI and vegetarian. It serves six and the nutrition details per serve are: 1797 kilojoules (429 calories); 14g fat (saturated fat 6g); 7g fibre; 24g protein; 50g carbohydrate.

Lentil, mushroom and ricotta lasagne
Serves 6 * Preparation time: 20 minutes * Cooking time: 1 hour * Cooling time: 5 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
1 tablespoon tomato paste
400g (14 oz) can chopped tomatoes
400g (14 oz) can brown lentils, rinsed
400g (14 oz) button mushrooms, sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g (1 lb 2 oz) low fat ricotta
1 egg
125ml (4 fl oz / 1/2 cup) skim milk
pinch nutmeg
4 (30 x 16cm / 12 x 6 1/2 inch) fresh lasagne sheets
25g (1 oz / 1/4 cup) finely grated parmesan

1. Heat half the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes, or until the vegetables soften. Add the garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and lentils and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Heat the remaining oil in a large pan, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, or until slightly soft. Season and remove from heat.

3. Preheat oven to 180C (350F / Gas 4). Lightly oil a 2 litre (2 quart / 8 cup) ovenproof dish. Combine the ricotta, egg, milk and nutmeg in a bowl.

4. To assemble the lasagne, place a sheet of lasagne in the base of the prepared dish. Top with a third of the lentil mixture, scatter over a third of the mushrooms and smooth over a third of the ricotta mixture. Repeat these steps. Then top with a third lasagne sheet, the remaining lentils and mushrooms, then a fourth lasagne sheet, and finally the remaining ricotta. Sprinkle over the parmesan.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until top is golden and bubbling. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

Road test
A note on ingredients: I used vegetable oil instead of olive oil and substituted dried Italian herbs in place of fresh thyme. I also used full-fat ricotta and semi-skimmed milk rather than the low-fat ricotta and skimmed milk specified, so my calorie and fat count would be slightly higher than indicated on the recipe. I cooked French brown lentils from scratch instead of using canned lentils, omitted the tomato paste and added a teaspoon of miso paste to enhance the tomato vegetable sauce. My fresh lasagne sheets were small, so I had to use two sheets per layer instead of one.

Method: The recipe was very easy to follow and it didn’t take too long, even allowing for an extra 20 minutes to cook my dried lentils. Most of the cooking time is in the oven and doesn’t require close attention. I followed the metric measurements.

Result: This is a satisfying and tasty dish - it’s hard to believe it’s diet food. The portions were more than adequate, especially when served with a garden salad, and the leftovers were great for lunch or a quick supper throughout the week.

Verdict
It’s great to find vegetarian recipes that don’t rely on fake meat for protein but still taste really good. I have tried vegetarian lasagne recipes before and this is definitely my favourite so far. What a bonus that it’s also so healthy! I would definitely make this again. Next time I would probably still add the miso to give it a very full flavour but maybe only half a teaspoon as I found it quite strong (though my partner couldn’t taste it).

Spring is well and truly here in the northern hemisphere, which means that we suddenly have a whole lot more fresh, locally grown food to choose from. Here in the UK we are coming into asparagus season, which is very exciting. English asparagus has a worldwide reputation for its succulent texture and strong, fresh flavour. Its harvest season is very short but it’s worth gorging yourself on it for a couple of months and then not bothering with the imports at all, which may be inferior and will certainly be less fresh.

Right now it’s all about spring greens - as well as asparagus, there’s spring onion, peas and beans, and we’re still getting purple sprouting broccoli. I love the look of this spring ragout on 101 Cookbooks. It uses fava beans, which is what we call broad beans in the UK and Australia. Last year I got a lot of broad beans in <a href=”http://www.abelandcole.co.uk” target=”_new”>my organic vegetable box</a> so I’m looking forward to that.

The seasonal ingredients in April’s In the Bag event on A Slice of Cherry Pie were watercress, feta cheese and Jersey royal potatoes. There is a small but excellent round-up of creations on the site - my personal favourite is the watercress soup with feta, potato and thyme bread from The Pie Times.

I didn’t enter this month - I was away for half the month and have been really busy with work since my return. Instead I took inspiration from the event and used similar ingredients for a simple packed lunch. I didn’t find any Jersey Royal potatoes but I steamed some lovely new potatoes and served them cold with a thick fillet of spicy smoked salmon, a handful of watercress, a couple of spoons of natural cottage cheese, and salt and pepper. It was heavenly! It spent a couple of hours in my lunch before I ate it, which actually enhanced the flavours because it meant the juices had time to run into each other and marinate. I would definitely make it again - it would also work with smoked trout or mackerel and perhaps with different greens such as rocket or baby spinach.

My second week at Leiths just about kept me fed for the rest of the week! I had quail with peas for dinner both Wednesday and Thursday night and then took the cake to a friend’s dinner party last night.

Chocolate and ginger roulade

In the kitchen we started with dessert - a chocolate and ginger roulade. Also called a swiss roll, this is basically a cake layered with cream and other fillings and then rolled to make a log. We used whipped cream and ginger jam for the centre but the beauty of the recipe is that you can use anything - jam, fresh berries, chestnut cream - so the varieties are endless. The other nice thing is that it doesn’t include any flour - the cake is just eggs and chocolate and sugar - so it’s suitable for people on a gluten-free diet (though not a weight-loss diet unfortunately!).

To make the roulade, we melted chocolate and water over low heat. Apparently if you use a high temperature then the chocolate can acquire a bitter flavour or worse, separate. The only thing we needed to separate was the eggs - five of them. The Leiths teachers are full of useful tricks - for example, cracking the eggs on the bench rather than the side of the bowl helps prevent leakage of yolk into the whites or vice versa. You carefully transfer the yolk back and forth between the two halves of shell, letting the white run out into the bowl. The key is to make sure you don’t get any yolk in the egg white, though a bit of egg white in the yolk is not the end of the world.

We blended the yolk and sugar and then added the chocolate to make a lovely mousse. Separately we whisked the egg whites until they had stiff peaks and then gently folded the whites into the mousse, trying not to lose all the air. We spread the mixture out on a paper-lined tray and baked it in the oven, meanwhile whipping the cream and mixing it with ginger jam. When it was done we tipped it upside down on a rack to cool and covered it with a damp tea towel to prevent cracking. The final part, which we actually did at the end when we were done with the quails, was to spread it with cream and then use another sheet of paper to roll it, similar to the method for rolling sushi and taking care not to roll the paper up in the cake! Voila! It was very tasty too.

Quails with peas

The main was quails cooked with peas and pancetta. We used thick, old-fashioned pancetta so we had to cut the rind off and then dice it, but it would probably work with other varieties or with bacon. We browned the pancetta, the onions and garlic, and the quails (all separately) and then cooked it with sage and garden peas in stock and white wine. It was a little bit fiddly but it would be great for a small dinner party as the result was quite impressive - the meat was tender and juicy and the pea and pancetta sauce was incredibly flavourful.

I’m excited about next week - we’re making a Sri Lankan red chicken curry and Indian dhal.