Nutella, Speculoos and peanut butter cupcakes

My three favourite spreads incorporated into cupcakes. Nutella-and-Speculoos and Nutella-and-peanut-butter. I had minimal Speculoos left so only managed to make a couple with the Speculoos and was also running low on the peanut butter! The Nutella, however, was abundant in my kitchen so used this bad boy in both types of cupcake. I also used Nutella to frost them.

Unfortunately I can't exactly post a recipe for these on here, due to the fact that I actually guessed the quantities of each ingredient because there are no scales in my house in Leeds! I used a basic chocolate cake recipe for the cake mixture, then literally added a small spoon of Nutella with a smidgen of Speculoos or peanut butter. I then added a little more cake mix on top and baked until they looked as though they were done!

The filling of the cupcakes seemed to have sunk during the baking process, probably due to its high density compared with the cake mix. The first cupcake below is Nutella and Speculoos, the second is Nutella and peanut butter.

Speculoos has a stronger flavour than peanut butter, so although there was a smaller portion, there was still a significant taste. I think that personally, I preferred the peanut butter cupcakes, but loved both.

Perfect for an afternoon treat with your favourite cup of tea or coffee. Hazelnut coffee or Earl Grey for me, please!

This last photograph may seem completely unrelated to the rest of the post, but I made these cupcakes for my friend Hana's birthday and this was the card I bought for her.

Hahaha....!

Revision fuel

You may not believe this, but this tasty and nutritious lunch was made using 'leftovers'. I will be finishing my second year exams in a week (thank the lord) and will be moving out of my house in Leeds shortly after. I need, therefore to start eating up all my food that remains in the kitchen!
Here you have baked salmon on a bed of spinach mash topped with an olive, chilli and triple tomato pesto sauce. I say triple tomato because I baked my four remaining mini plum tomatoes with my salmon and mixed them with sliced sundried tomatoes and a tomato and chilli pesto. I happened to have some black olives that I bought a while ago which suited the dish perfectly. I had some mash and spinach in the freezer, so literally combined the two when defrosting in the microwave and....voila!
Lets hope that these omegas help my brain through these last three exams!

Why Chicken in a Cherry Sauce?

Since high school, I have frequently used the term "chicken" to call my loved ones. For many years, I have owned a long cherry-red coat. My lovely friend Andy Farmer, from high school, used to see me walking to school in my cherry-red coat, and with his knowledge of my passion for food (cherries in particular), he came up with the metaphor "chicken in a cherry sauce". It immediately became my MySpace screen name and after many years it remains. It would seem ridiculous not to use it as the name of my food blog!

Salvo's - Headingley, Leeds

I am so shocked that I have lived in Leeds for almost two years and have only recently experienced Salvo's. For some reason or another, any plans I had previously made to go to Salvo's had fallen through. I've wanted to dine at Salvo's even before it became famous by its well deserved win of 'Best Local Italian' on Gordan Ramsay's F word, which only adds further to my attraction.

My Grandparents happened to be in Leeds for the weekend and so we arranged to meet for dinner. Fortunately, they agreed to follow my recommendation of Salvo's.

We arrived on a very humid Friday evening just after 6pm and were preparing for about an hour's wait (because we were aware that Salvo's is exceptionally popular). We were warmly greeted and to our surprise we were seated immediately!

As soon as we were given our menus, three slices of freshly baked doughy focaccia drizzled with olive oil arrived at our table to nibble on while we contemplated every delicious dish on the menu. I had previously looked at the menu online before we went, (massive loser, I know) to try and speed up my decision making process. I always struggle to make choices in a restaurant, as I pretty much love everything!

As my family generally do, we agreed to sample each others dishes. This (you would think) should have helped speed up my decision... but after much deliberation, I decided on my choice.

As my Grandparents hadn't seen their eldest Grandaughter for three whole years, they decided to go all out (brilliant news!!). We ordered the pizza marinara for our 'pre-starter' - pizza style bread with tomato, garlic and oregano.

I chose my starter from the daily specials; seared scallops with pancetta, roasted red peppers and rocket.

The scallops were cooked to perfection, and there was a successful subtle balance in flavour combinations.

I also ordered my main dish from the daily specials; char-grilled venison with mash, creamed leeks and a red wine sauce topped with two grilled king prawns.

I can't remember the last time I ate red meat and have been dying to eat venison for years. This was the first time I had seen it on a menu so went for it! The waitress recommended I had it served pink. It was so tender and juicy - totally satisfied my craving!

After attempting to finish off my Granny's king scallop and langoustine risotto (truly stunning - how they can make something that looks so plain taste so divine is beyond me!), I truly felt the stretch in my stomach, however, there is always room for dessert!

To save deliberation, we ordered the dessert taster platter. This included the Sicilian lemon sorbet, amaretto-soaked cherries, Sicilian lemon cheesecake, dark chocolate truffle torte, panna cotta and tiramisu.

The Sicilian lemon sorbet had invigorating fresh and zesty flavours, it had a tanginess that made it unique compared with any other sorbet I have tried. The amaretto cherries are always a winner with me. Panna cotta would never be my first choice for dessert, however, this panna cotta melted into a luscious creamy vanilla puddle in your mouth - heaven! The moisture of the tiramisu was well balanced, not soggy and not too dry.

It's not hard to believe that Salvo's own the title of 'Best Local Italian' when every dish served was so well executed.

We topped off the meal with a spot of liqueur - Frangelico for me (hazelnut and herb flavoured liqueur flavoured with cocoa and vanilla berries) and Strega for Grandad (sweet and bold with strong minty notes).

The meal, the atmosphere and the company were faultless. It was exactly what I needed during the horrific stress time of summer exams. Thank you Gramps! :)

"Chocolate curry?!" "Yes - chocolate curry!"

Akmal's Tandoori Bistro is a fantastic student-friendly curry house, located on Hyde Park (AKA Woodhouse Moor Park) in Leeds. It can be easily recognised at night by its beaming blue lights.

Every time I have been to Akmal's I have ordered the 'Chocolate Delight' (with one exception that I deeply regret as it's actually the best curry on the menu!).

Every person I have told about the chocolate curry has been bewildered by the combination, chocolate and curry, together?!

The only way I can describe it is that it has a similar consistency and creaminess to a korma, yet has the added warmth of subtle spices and the distinctive flavour of chocolate. On first taste, it has the unexpected power to blow your mind. The exhilarating aromas and familiar chocolate flavour literally lift your senses and heighten your ambience.

The curry is made with chicken and comes with your choice of Tandoori naan or rice. I always choose the peshwari naan (contains coconut, sultanas and sometimes almonds) for ultimate indulgence.

Every person I know who has tried the curry has admitted that, surprisingly, it's absolutely stunning.

If you haven't tried it - get to Akmal's now! Nom nom nom!

Sukhothai - Headingley, Leeds

Sukhothai is a warm and friendly yet, classy Thai restaurant in Leeds. The authentic food and service has been to an exceptional standard of quality every time I have dined here.

We were warmly greeted with a bow and a "Sawatdee Kaaaa", seated and asked if we would like any prawn crackers. I find that serving a sauce with the prawn crackers dictates the altruism of a restaurant... fortunately for Sukhothai they served their prawn crackers with a pot of sweet chilli sauce. Well done! However, it was very small pot and I do like my sauce and didn't have any to go with my last 10 crackers! (Bigger pot next time please!)

My friend Hana and I ordered the Special Mixed Starter for two (no. 131) which included a selection of Satay Chicken (one of my favourite starters - marindaded chicken on skewers served with a peanut satay sauce), Pandan Chicken (marinaded chicken wrapped in Pandan leaves), filled Tung Thong (deep fried vegetable filled dumplings) and Chicken on Toast (marinaded minced chicken sprinkled with sesame seeds served on toast and deep fried - very similar to prawn toast that you may have had at your local Chinese). The starters were all served on a large plate with a beautiful salad garnish as well as a hand-carved vegetable rose and various dips including the satay, sweet chilli and soy sauces.

The Chicken Satay was delicately marinaded and the texture of the chicken was perfect - juicy and soft. The Pandan Chicken was again soft and lightly seasoned. The Tung Thong was probably my my least favourite part of the starter dish. The dumplings were a little bland and the vegetables were English rather than Thai (mainly peas and sweetcorn) however the vegetables were cooked well and the pastry was crispy. Finally, the Chicken on Toast was delicious. The flavours, again, were well balanced and the toast was crispy. If anything, the toast was a little too oily but this did contribute to its favourable richness.

For mains, I recommended that Hana choose the Weeping Tiger, sometimes known as Tiger Cry, as she is not a fan of spicy food. I would also recommend a Masaman curry to someone who wasn't keen on really hot food because it is quite mild and I would consider it Thailand's version of a korma - mild, creamy and nutty. The Weeping Tiger is a sirloin steak cooked to your liking. It is served on a hot sizzling platter with a special Thai sauce that they pour over the steak at the table in front of you, creating a huge bubbly steamy sensation of flavours and aromas.

Hana's Weeping Tiger was very moist and flavoursome. She ordered it medium-rare and it had an incredibly soft texture. The sauce had a delicate flavour that allowed the flavours of the meat to be released. The sauce was so delicious we mopped it all up with hand-rolled balls of Thai sticky rice.

I ordered my favourite dish from Sukhothai. This was the Gung Yang Rad Prik Gang (grilled shell-on large king prawns wok fried with red curry, coconut milk, lime leaves and fresh chilli).

To my disappointment, this dish did not live up to its original incredulousness. As you may have read from my "Southeast Asian Favourites" post, I have a deep obsession with large prawns cooked in their shells. This is one dish that specifically brings me to Sukhothai over any other Thai restaurant because I have never seen prawns the size of these on my plate in England before coming here! From previous experiences in Sukhothai, this dish has been served with absolutely mind blowing flavours. One unique ingredient that I discovered at Sukhothai was fresh green peppercorns. They were served on their stalks (photo shown below) in the curry sauce of this dish. The stalks look almost like mini versions of the brussel sprouts that are sold on their stalks in supermarkets around Christmas time.

The prawns, unfortunately, seemed to be a little undercooked to my liking. I prefer my prawns to be super-charred so that the shell is edible (some people believe it is a little strange to consume the shell and head of a prawn but honestly, they contain so much more flavour than just the meat alone). The shell was still quite chewy and the prawns didn't feel soft enough - with the exception of one of the prawns that had a considerable difference in taste and flavour (very odd). I wasn't sure that the prawns went down too smoothly but this may have been due to my fragile state in consuming excess alcohol the previous night... The prawn shells also looked a little grey which also indicated that they might have been undercooked. I wasn't too bothered about consuming the shells due to my hangover anyway, so didn't bother to complain. I did, however, enquire about the lack of peppercorns.

It turns out that the volcanic ash disaster had finally affected me. No holiday of mine was cancelled, yet I did not receive fresh green peppercorns in my Gung Yang Rad Prik Gang because they could not be imported from Thailand! It may seem ridiculous how much of a big deal I am making of this, but seriously, the psychedelic peppery-ness and aromatic herb-like flavours from the fresh green peppercorns are simply like nothing else I have ever experienced. Kaffir lime leaves, however, were in the dish and, I believe, they provide such an intense flavour that these leaves alone could potentially summarise the flavour of Thailand as one ingredient.

Overall, I generally enjoy every aspect of Sukhothai and it will remain in my heart for a very long time. I will continue to treat myself to an exquisite meal there when I have the funds to do so.

Khob Koon Kaa! (Thank you!)

Speculoos - the spreadable biscuit

Have you ever been to the hairdressers and been served your requested hot beverage with a little biscuit in a red wrapper on the side? If you have, then you will understand what this spread is! Speculoos was introduced to me by my wonderful friend Ant(honey) Cornish - in the photo shown below. When I was living at Bodington Halls in Leeds last year, I received a package from Anthony in an iPhone box. Inside was not an iPhone, but a new jar of this incredible spread and a note saying "Enjoy this spread onto warm crusty white bread, delicious."

Thanks honey :)

When I first tried it I was baffled. I had never tried anything like this before. Was it a sesame seed spread like tahini with caramelised sugar? Was it made from some sort of nut? No. It is an exquisite spread made from BISCUITS!

From those biscuits that I used to get with my hot beverage at the hairdressers.

The texture of Speculoos is very smooth, similar to that of smooth peanut butter. It has a caramelised sugary spicy flavour that reminds me, slightly, of gingerbread.

That first jar didn't last a week! I introduced it to many of my friends from my halls and it went down brilliantly with everyone. Most of the jar was consumed as it came, on my finger, yummy :)

Anthony had informed me that it was a Dutch spread made from those biscuits. He brought some back after visiting his family in Holland over Christmas and was incredibly generous in giving me this other jar! My mum recently went to Amsterdam and I requested she brought some Speculoos back with her. She did and also brought back some "De Ruijter" which are sprinkles that go on top on the Speculoos once it has been spread onto freshly toasted bread.

Here is a photo of my friend Hannah modelling how to eat Speculoos and De Ruijter on toast!

Hopefully at some point in the near future I will try using Speculoos in a recipe. Speculoos cookies, cupcakes, truffles....? Watch this space.