Tea time!

http://quotesgram.com/tea-quotes-alice-in-wonderland/

Imagine a lazy Sunday morning, you wake up to the sound of rain tapping at your window and the world is covered in a sorta grey filter.

It's chilly inside, and everything is so silent and you slowly realize that it's almost noon but you don't have to Be anywhere, because it's Sunday.

Your stomach decides to growl at you for sleeping so late, so the next thought is breakfast.. or lunch.. brunch.

Too lazy to get properly dressed and go to the corner store to buy bread, you decide that this morningnoon will be a scone one.
Ah! Tea (or fresh coffee) and warm scones. Mouth watering thought, isn't it? With melty butter, or cream and jam if you follow English customs.

I have here for you, for this perfect little dreamy scenario, the best foolproof scone recipe, handed down by my late Grandfather. They can never fail, they're easy peasy to make and it takes next to no time at all.
Ready? Let's get a'sconing!

The Best Scones

• 4,5 deciliters of flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp bakingpowder
• 1-4 tbsp of butter *
• 1 1/4 - 2 deciliters of milk

* I always put more butter than the recipe says because they get yummier that way. Trust me on this!

How To

• mix all the dry ingredients
• add the butter and gently, using your fingers, work it in. I always leave some bigger pieces of butter so they'll melt in the oven. Adds to the yumminess.
• add now the milk and with a wooden spoon gently mix the dough. Don't work it too much, the consistency should be a bit sticky and barely keeping it together - that is perfect!
• divide the dough into two pieces, and on a gently flowered baking table make two flat round, sticky cakes.
• make holes in the scones with a fork and into the oven they go now!
• Bake at 200º Celsius for 15-20 minutes. They are done when they smell divine and look golden brown.

Tip! - this recipe is so versatile you can add whatever extra ingredients you want, from nuts to honey to cheese... the possibilities are endless.

If you decide to make a two flour scone, remember to divide the flours so they add up to the same amount as the original (either 4,5 one flour or 2 rye and 2,5 spelt or whatever) otherwise you'll have odd scones.

You can also top them with goodness. I used peeled sesame seeds, but anything yummy goes.

Look at these perfect scrumptiolicious scones! This is what they're supposed to look like.

Now add to the earlier Sunday scenario a kitchen that is filled with the delicious smell of freshly baked scones, coffee (or tea) and a feeling of pure tranquilité. Rain is still tapping on the window, a dog is barking and there you sit by table reading the morning paper in all your lazy Sunday glory.

Here comes the part where you add your good looking SO to keep you company, alas I have no such person in my life atm so I'll happily spend this time with my dear Grandmother (with whom I live at the moment).

Enjoy your life, enjoy the little things and bake these scones. You will not regret it!

-L-

Mandrake soup

'Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative,' said Hermione, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. 'It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed, to their original state.'

- Hermione Granger, The Chamber of Secrets

I'm not really going to talk about the mandrake root, even if I do find it fascinating, but rather about the Jerusalem Artichoke (helianthus tuberosus), also known as sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, that may at times bear a resemblance to that of the root.

Now this funny little chubby root has been the hot topic in the culinary industry for some time.
It has a fantastic underground nutty flavour and resembles the potato as far as starch goes. It's eaten like the potato in many parts of Western Europe and Mediterranean regions.

It is said to be one of the finest sources of dietary fibers, minerals and various vitamins. Basically this chubby, funny looking root is a health bomb, and rightly so because it is Delicious!

The other day I decided to make a rich, creamy soup for me and my grandmother with whom I am living nowadays. I always try to cook as healthy as possible as Gran is a fragile old woman who rarely cooks anything other than the usual potato-carrot food, so it does her good to eat healthy and nutritionally.
So, bombs away for my recipe for a super Jerusalem artichoke soup!

Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke-Potato Soup with Thyme 
...and spring onions, cream and grated grana padana cheese.

Recipe

• butter & olive oil for frying (about a couple of tbspns each)
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 semi-big yellow onion, chopped up
• 500 grams of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and diced
• ca 400 grams of potatoes (all around or soupy kind), peeled and diced
• roughly 1-1,5 of cream, depending on the consistency you want your soup to be
• ca 12 decilitres of water
• 1 vegetable buillon cube
• salt, pepper, thyme ...*
• Optional: a couple of decilitres of white wine, Chardonnay.

* As far as seasoning goes, I mostly go with the flow and add whatever I feel for in the heat of the moment.

For this soup I used dried thyme, a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper for warmth, aroma salt (without glutamate) and roasted garlic from a mill.

How To

• heat up olive oil and butter, add onions and garlic
• fry until the onion is pretty and glazed, then toss in the chokes and taters
• fry these for a little while (a couple of stirs, like chefs do on the tv)
• Optional: If you add wine, now is the time for it. One dl for the soup, one for you, one for the soup.. one for you..
• Add the water and the buillon cube, brig to boil then lower the heat to medium and let boil until the taters and chokes are soft and mushy
• Either pour it into a mixer or use a hand blender and puree the soup, along with the cream, into a smooth richy goodness. At this point you can also, if you want to, add a tbsp of butter.
• Put back on heat, season until you feel like it's the best you've made (perhaps add a drop of wine) and Violá! You have yourself a super creamy, rich, falvourful soup.

I served this topped with lightly whipped cream (try whip it with sherry or brandy), grated grana padano parmesan cheese and chopped spring onions. It also goes well with a grilled cheese or a light salad.

Grilled cheese sandwich with grilled aubergine and champignons. Omnom!

Enjoy your masterpiece, bon apetité!

-L-