Week 3 - A full up week.

Last night, i decided on a recipe from the Wagamama's cook book. Duck with chestnuts, peas and noodles with a soy and sake sauce. Delicious. However with a trip out yesterday this recipe developed slightly. Me and Luke decided to take a trip to the oriental store and wow i was in heaven. Talk about a step back to China, they sold green tea sets, gowns and all sorts of sauces. I will certainly be going back.

I was unable to purchase the mirin needed for my duck recipe i decided to settle with a bottle of sake. Sake is the Japanese drink that is similar to mirin, although less sweet. I may have also gone slightly crazy in store purchasing some bamboo steamers, no idea how to use them but i'm sure i will learn. I also managed to buy some pancakes, so as mentioned the recipe changed.

I cooked the duck legs separately roasting them and shredding once cooked. We then ate them and the noodles on the side. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself, the aroma of the sake was strong and mixed with the soy was quite tart (i understand why mirin was often preferred as it is sweeter.) Luke prefers the normal ginger, garlic base. I am finding the book a delight and over the past year have been cooking my way through it.

This week i have also rekindled my love of home-made soup. At Christmas i received a gift of a soups & stews book. With the snow falling outside what better way to decide on a vegetable and bean soup. However, recipe's change and i used what i had in the fridge. Frying a onion, leek, carrots and some cauliflower until browned i added the chicken stock to cook the vegetables until soft. Then with my amazing hand blender i whizzed it all up to a thick soup. Served with a baked baguette it was delicious.

I think i might make soup more often.

The bake of the week was a coconut and cherry blondie. For some reason my baking is never perfect and i always find things that i need to improve. The dough was very thick, so it was always going to be a sturdy cake. There was not quite enough cherries but the coconut made up for it. When cooking with cherries i always favour a splash of almond essence however, slip of the hand meant slightly too much went in.

As i knew the cake would be quite dry i added an ameretto icing and toasted coconut to finish. The icing was just a little too sweet but after a day it was delicious. It certainly needs improvement, i'm not partial to a drier cake but with each recipe comes a new method to discover. Maybe next time i will transfer it to a cupcake.