Rick's Stein's "Mediterranean Escapes" is the first cookbook Mr J ever bought for me. He never bought me a cookbook before because I have the expensive habit of buying cookbooks as soon as I "need" them! A nice little Christmas surprise from him, two years ago. He bought this cookbook for me because he genuinely likes the recipes in it. He hoped I would like the recipes and cook some for him.
Yes, I like this cookbook very much indeed. Rick Stein's recipes are always workable, very reliable and the end results are often picture perfect. I have made Sicilian Orange Cake, Greek Style Pot-Roasted Chicken, Kefta Mkaouara (Spicy Egg, Meatball and Tomato Tagine), Blakava and I made this Cinnamon Churros with Real Hot Chocolate today.
Rick Stein has written a nice piece of story to accompany this recipe:
In the mid-sixties I spent about a week in a youth hotel in Seville just by the railway station. I shared a room with a Swedish chap called Jonas. He had the best pair of worn patched Levi's I'd ever seen, brown cowboy boots, a blue striped cotton shirt, a cool beard, a battered leather Gladstone bag and a tobacco pouch. I swear he did his rollies with one hand. He must have been all of 19 at the time. I had not a whisker of a chance with any of the girls in the hostel. Life just ain't fair. And the make matters even worse, as well as being so cool he was also very nice and introduced me to churros with chocolate sauce. You had to be up sort of early for a 19-year old to get the first of the day when the oil was clean and fresh. But I never forgot them, any more than I forgot about him. You don't, do you?
Cinnamon Churros with Real Hot Chocolate Recipe (Serves 4)
(Adapted from Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes)
For the Churros:
- Sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- 100 g plain flour
- 150 ml full-cream milk
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 50 g golden caster sugar
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
For the Hot Chocolate:
- 225 g good quality plain chocolate with at least 60% cocoa solids
- 200 ml full-cream milk
Method
- For the churros, heat some oil for deep-frying to 190C and preheat the oven to 150C.
- Sift the flour onto a creased sheet of greaseproof paper and set to one side. Bring the milk and 150 ml water to the boil in a pan, take the pan off the heat and add the flour all at once, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a thick paste - but don't worry about any small lumps. Leave to cool slightly and then gradually beat in enough of the eggs to make a smooth but still stiff, glossy mixture that drops reluctantly off the wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
- Hold the bag over the hot oil and gently squeeze out a few 10-cm lengths of the mixture. Leave them to fry for 4 minutes, turning them oven halfway through, until crisp and richly golden brown. Lift them out with a slotted spoon onto a baking tray lined with lots of kitchen paper and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remainder.
- For the hot chocolate, break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and rest it over a pan containing about 2.5 cm just-simmering water. Lave until completely melted. Bring the milk to the boil in a small pan. Remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and whisk in the hot milk. Pour into tall, narrow pots.
- Mix the caster sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow dish, add the churros a few at a time, and toss them gently until lightly coated. Pile alongside each pot of hot chocolate and serve while still warm.