Fast tahini bake

marmalade brownies, self-love, Soutine

marmalade-crusted brownies (recipe of the week, below)

Food news of the week:

Here’s my mini recipe for tahini blondies which I’ve been staying loyal to for years: whisk together a whole 300g of tahini with 3/4 cup or almost 180g of light brown sugar, and 2 medium eggs. Then fold in 3/4 cup or just 90g of plain flour and, if you want, a dash of cinnamon. Bake at 180C for 12-15 mins. A wooden skewer inserted into the middle should still come out moist at the 12-minute mark. Dead easy. I get requests for this recipe on my now-defunct food insta (@alexcrumb) or my personal insta (@alexlimzxz) so thought it would be easier to put it here once. There is still a recipe below for a different traybake… it’s the season for summer bakes! In other news, today’s review is on a very cute french find, and I won’t shut up about the Macau-style Portuguese baked rice at Aquila, of which creamy turmeric-tanned sauce, sizeable onion chunks and mushrooms hug pounded pale chicken, tender fatty edges nicely in tact, as they should be.

Science of the week:

Carrying on from the Med 3.0 series is more interest in gut microbiome research, and this paper re-emphasises the role of maintaining gut homeostasis to reduce inflammatory immune response that initiate diseases like cancer, and how probiotics can be considered for its treatment.

Insight of the week:

There’s a difference between selfishness (putting your needs above others) and self-love (appreciation and respect for oneself without external validation). Take care of your needs, and I’m learning this myself, but hold yourself accountable and look out for others, too.

Recipe of the week:

A classic brownie with a slightly chewy edge and jammy pearls. Tang, fudge, crunch!

Cream cheese marmalade brownies (serves 8-10)

Ingredients

For the brownies:

105g dark chocolate, chopped, or bittersweet chocolate chips

150g unsalted butter

1/2 tsp fine salt

2 eggs

70g brown sugar

130g white sugar

130g plain flour

For the topping:

60g cream cheese

10g sugar

6 tsp orange marmalade

Directions

Preheat your oven to 160C. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper so that two edges are longer and hang off the sides for easy removal. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave together the butter and chocolate or chocolate chips on high for a minute. Make sure your butter is at room temperature or slightly cold, and not rock-hard from the fridge. Remove the bowl from the microwave and use a fork or spoon to mix everything together until you get a dark, liquidy consistency and the butter and chocolate has melted together nicely. Microwave for longer if your butter is still a little hard. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes. In the meantime, add your two sugars and pinch of salt into a separate, larger bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and use a whisk to whisk it in well. Then crack and whisk in the 2 eggs. Finally, add the flour and use a rubber spatula to fold it in well, then pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add teaspoonful-sized dollops of the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter, then add teaspoonfuls of the marmalade just next to the dollops of cream cheese mixture. Use a knife to swirl the topping randomly into the batter. It should look slightly weird and messy. Sprinkle some coarse salt (like Maldon) on top if you’re fancy like that, but you can skip this step. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out with moist-to-slightly-wet crumbs. Leave the brownies to cool for 10 minutes before cutting. These keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, but you can freeze them if you don’t have many people to share these with!

Restaurant of the week:

This is where I’d like to think people like Timothee Chalamet and Brigitte Bardot (back in the day) escape to when Buvette is choked. There’s bread, and smiles, and both are warm. What a nice change from the sour Cecconi’s…!