Globe-cooking recipe : Cuttlefish-ink Paella (Spain)

Cuttlefish-ink and squid-ink are things that I have often seen contestants using on Masterchef but that never appealed to me. Who wants to eat black food? I don't even like licorice ! Blackberries and blackcurrants are perfectly acceptable but black rice and pasta? I'm not convinced ! It was therefore with some trepidation that I read the recipe card for Cuttlefish-ink Paella in my Spanish-themed Kitchen Trotter box. I wasn't at all sure that we'd like it but the whole point of signing up for the box was to discover new and unusual recipes - some of the ones that we've tried in the past that I was convinced wouldn't work have turned into family faves. (The South African Bobotie springs to mind - apricot jam in curried mince really shouldn't work but it's delicious !) In for a penny in for a pound, time to be brave and give it a try !

 Cuttlefish-ink Paella

ingredients :

150ml olive oil

500g white fish 

500g squid

500g king prawns (optional)

2 spring onions (or 2 onions)

red, yellow, green peppers (optional)

400g paella rice

2 doses of cuttlefish ink

fish stock

850ml water

1tsp paprika

The original recipe called for squid and white fish (monkfish)- I used smoked halibut instead and added some king prawns for extra colour and flavour.

I also decided to add some red and yellow peppers and substituted onions for spring onions because I couldn't find any at the supermarket. I chopped all these up and started off by gently frying them in some of the olive oil. (If using spring onions, they don't need to be cooked so just chop them up and sprinkle them over the finished dish.)

 Add all the fish, squid and prawns and continue cooking for a few minutes. (As I was using cooked king prawns and smoked fish, this was extremely quick to heat through but if using raw fish or seafood, make sure you increase the cooking time for it to be perfectly cooked through.)

This was my first time using proper paella rice, which is shorter and rounder than basmati rice. (That's what I usually use though and it works perfectly well.)

Push the fish and vegetables to the sides of the pan, add the rest of the olive oil and put the rice in the middle. Cook for a couple of minutes until the rice goes translucent.

I used a Knorr Fish stock pot so I just plopped it straight into the pan. If using granules, mix it up with some of the water before adding it to the pan.

Add the water (or the remaining water if you've already put water in your fish stock). Mix everything up.

Eek, time to investigate the cuttlefish ink.

It looks like thick black tar !

The moment of no return !

Give it all a good stir for the ink to permeate everything and leave to bubble away for 10-15 minutes for the water to be absorbed and the rice to cook. (If you run out of water before the rice is totally cooked, turn off the heat, pop on a lid and let it finish cooking in the steam.)

Now I have to admit, I thought it looked a bit dodgy at this stage, but tastewise, it was very nice indeed. I'm not sure the cuttlefish ink actually added much flavourwise, but it certainly turned the meal into a showstopper !

Linking up with the Spain round-up on Bloggers Around The World

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Globe-cooking recipe : Gazpacho Ajo Blanco (Spain)

Globe-cooking recipe : Malva (South Africa)

Globe-cooking recipe : Green Pepper & Caballitas Tapas (Spain)

Don't miss today's #Getcrafty Ravensburger Twitter Frenzy !

When you see the blue Ravensburger corner, I bet you instantly think of their enormous collection of jigsaw puzzles, but that's not all they produce - we've already reviewed some of their board games and creative kits too. Today (that's Wednesday 28th May in case you're reading this in a blog roundup, in which case, sorry, you've probably already missed it !), Ravensburger will be hosting a live twitter frenzy from 1pm to 2.40pm to showcase its brand new craft range.

The host account will be the Ravensburger twitter account @Ravensburgerpc and you can follow the action with the hashtag #Getcrafty. A number of bloggers have been trying out the range but, as well as seeing what we thought, you'll also be in the running for winning some great prizes yourselves if you pop along to say hi.

We received the Mosaic Romantic kit to try, which is aimed at children aged 7+. In the box, you get 4 sheets of pre-cut cardboard mosaic tiles and a tube of glue to stick them on with - I actually thought it was a bit of a shame that they weren't adhesive, which would have made the kit less fiddly and suited to even younger children. Juliette (aged 9) said that she preferred this kit to similar ones that we've used in the past with sticky tiles because she thought it was more-grown up though !

You get one printed board to make a pretty butterfly picture, showing you which colour to stick where.

And a printed cardboard trinket box.

They may not look very impressive when you get them out of the box but they really come to life when they're finished. This would make a lovely gift for fathers day or any other special occasion such as a birthday or Christmas. If you're already wondering what to buy as a present for your child's teacher at the end of the year, this could be a lovely option too, so that you end up with a totally personal and unique but also useful gift. It doesn't take too long - you could make the whole thing in one sitting, but we preferred doing one side at a time and standing it up for the glue to dry totally before moving onto the next surface, which meant that it took a whole weekend to finish, much to Juliette's delight !

This is just one of the kits available though. The complete range is below :

Mosaic Romantic - Age 7+

Mandala Designer Fashion. Age 6+

Doc McStuffins Junior Mandala Designer. Age 4+

Hello Kitty Mandala Designer - Age 6+

Outdoor Mandala Designer, Romantic Garden - Age 5+

Mosaic Romantic - Age 7+

So Styly Friendship Bracelets - Age 6+

Hopefully see you at the #GetCrafty twitter frenzy this afternoon when you'll get to discover the whole lot !

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Ravensburger Puzzle Club review #8 : Club Penguin XXL100

Board game review : Labyrinth

Aquarelle Watercolours Kit review

#alphabetphoto project : C is for ... crocodile teeth !

Into a new week of the alphabetphoto project and another letter - the letter C. Aha, I instantly had an idea for this one ... After spotting them on the shelf this week, Pierre has become totally fascinated by these crocodile teeth that we brought back from holiday a couple of years ago. He asked me how the tooth fairy managed to get in and take them without being snapped up by the crocodiles, then wondered what she left for them in place of the teeth because they wouldn't be able to use money !

I've just been showing him the photos from our holiday because he was too young to remember - this was the Crocodile Farm in Djerba, Tunisia, that the teeth came from. (If you want to see more of our Tunisian holiday snaps, they're here.) The park keepers handed out any teeth that they found in the enclosures to visiting children. We weren't lucky enough to get any but we did stumble across a man who was selling them for a handful of coins on the way out.

This also made me laugh because I'd forgotten all the fun we had on that holiday putting a little wooden doll that we'd named Jenny Woodenmum in various silly poses, such as these ones with the crocodiles !

She even had her own blog, which you can see in my sidebar - this is a great project for the kids to get involved in over the summer to keep them busy and bring out their creative side. Maybe we'll take her on holiday again this year and add some more posts !

My #alphabetproject so far :

A is for ... adventure

B is for ... bubbly bathtime

To see what everyone else found for the letter C or to join in yourself, head over to PODcast

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Our fortnight in Tunisia - Did you miss me ?!

Madhouse recipe : Ojja (traditional Tunisian dish)

Holiday Postcard Competition - Our Magical Holiday Memory from Morocco

Like Love Loathe linky - 28/5

This is only my second time of joining in with the like, love, loathe linkie but I love the chance to look back over the week and ponder on its highs and lows, for me and the others joining in. Without further ado, here are the tops and flops of my week.

LIKE - bonus days off

You can't beat a short week with a bonus bank holiday day off, especially when you also have an outing with one class and some exam invigilating with another to make the week fly by in the blink of an eye. Can't believe we're almost into June - where did May go ?! Only one month to go and it's the holidays - yay !

LOVE - homemade gifts

I absolutely LOVED all the homemade gifts that were excitedly thrust at me for mother's day - you can't beat watching a 4-year-old proudly rectiting, word perfect, a poem that he learnt at school for the occasion. Or a 9-year-old secretly beaming when you pick the mug that she made for you out of the cupboard when you put the kettle on ! 

LOATHE - petty vandalism

On Sunday night (or technically Monday morning) around 2am, I was woken up by a car alarm going off in the street outside our house. It went on for ages and I grumbled to Madhouse Daddy about the owners not coming out to sort it out before rolling over and going back to sleep. When I went to work on Monday morning, the whole car park was covered in foam and there was a totally burnt out car - eek ! Apparently kids had set fire to it and I totally missed the whole episode where the firemen came and put it out ! Talking to a friend who works at the local paper, she said that there had been a whole series of cars set on fire during the night. What is the point ?

If you fancy joining in, head over to this week's Like Love Loathe linkie here.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Like, Love, Loathe Linkie - 21/5/14

Scam alert : The phone call from Microsoft

I've been guest-blogging over on the Wilko Life Blog

Giveaway #393 : Win 5 x gorgeous aden + anais baby blankies - closed - winners Claire BBDiva Butler, Anthony Harrington, Kunai Shah, Vicky Cockett, Debbie Angel Godbolt

You may remember that last week, I tried out Dettol Laundry Cleanser - you can read my review here - and discovered the alarming news that running the washing machine on a 40° cycle is insufficient for getting rid of all the hidden nasties lurking in the water. Dettol explain : "It’s notoriously difficult to prise children away from their precious ‘blankies’ but research now reveals baby blankets could be harbouring nasty germs, even after they have been washed. Laboratory tests commissioned by Dettol - on washed blankets donated by volunteer Mums - show that baby ‘blankies’ carry a variety of bacteria even after a 40°C wash. In fact, a third of the washed blankets harboured coliforms – a group of bacteria linked to faeces." Yuck ! Luckily, adding 2 capfuls of Dettol Laundry Cleanser in the fabric softener drawer is enough to kill 99.9% of bacteria even at 30°C.

To celebrate the good news, Dettol have kindly donated a gorgeous prize that will keep your little ones happy - five lucky Madhouse Family Reviews readers will win one of these adorable cotton muslin musy mate blankies from aden + anais, which retail at £19.95. (More details here.) For your chance to win, enter your details in the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 10/6/14

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners. Madhouse Family Reviews cannot be held responsible for any prizes that go astray !

Other giveaways you may be interested in :

Giveaway #392 : Win a signed copy of The Judas Scar - closing date 8/6

Giveaway #391 : Win Lalaloopsy Ponies : The Big Show on DVD - closing date 6/6

Giveaway #390 : Win 3 x Angry Birds Toons: Season 1 Volume 2 on DVD - closing date 5/6

Giveaway #389 : Win a Disney Baby Minnie Soft Cuddly Toy - closing date 28/5

Globe-cooking recipe : Gazpacho Ajo Blanco (Spain)

The most surprising recipe in this month's Spanish-themed Kitchen Trotter box was for Gazpacho Ajo Blanco. The red tomato, pepper and cucumber version is widely known but this white gazpacho was a new one on me. I was very surprised when I turned over the card and saw that it contained principally almonds and garlic ! Hmmm time to see what we'd make of it !

Gazpacho Ajo Blanco 

ingredients :

100ml olive oil

100g almonds

2 cloves of garlic

150g toasted breadcrumbs

800ml cold water

30ml white wine vinegar

salt

Blitz the garlic and almonds in a food processer. Add a little water if necessary to stop it flying around. Add a good pinch of salt.

Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl with a little water until they start coming together. (The recipe card says a few drops but I needed a few spoonfuls.)

Mix the garlic/almonds and the breadcrumbs together until it makes a smooth paste.

Put it back in the food processer/blender and blitz it, gradually adding the oil and vinegar. I used the Spanish oil from the Kitchen Trotter box which comes in a very pretty tin.

Add the water gradually until you get a smooth liquid. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

The jury is out on this one ! It's not horrible but I found it quite bland. I'm not sure what it would need to perk it up - some extra garlic maybe ? (With this in mind, when I ate the remaining gazpacho the next day, I added a shake of garlic granules and a pinch of sea salt. I found it much nicer than the night before but I'm not sure if that's because of the last minute additions or because it had chilled for much longer in the fridge, which probably also helped.)

Served in a small ramekin alongside some Serrano ham and melon and the Green Pepper and Caballitas Tapas that I told you about at the weekend, it made a lovely light supper that is perfect for the summer.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Globe-cooking recipe (South Africa) : Durban Curry

Viva España for this month's globecooking box

Madhouse recipe : Peruvian Potato & Smoked Sausage Stew

Scam alert : The phone call from Microsoft

When I got in from work the other day, Madhouse Daddy told me that he'd had a very strange phone call. When he picked up the phone, someone said "Hi Mike" and claimed to be phoning from the Microsoft Corporation. Nothing overly strange, you may think, but they were phoning him in France and his actual name is Mickaël, even if everyone calls him Mike, so "Hi Mike" already had his bullshit-radar going into overdrive. Even more so because this person had a very strong Indian accent and he could hear that it was from a call centre because there were other people, with similar Indian accents, in the background.

The caller informed Madhouse Daddy that his computer had been infected and that he needed to hit the windows key and the "r" key to bring up a log that would show him all the errors and viruses on his computer. Madhouse Daddy did this (which I said he should never have done !) and sure enough, there was a log on his screen showing a load of errors.

At this point, he asked how the caller had got his name and number. She said she'd hand him over to her supervisor. The supervisor (also with a heavy Indian accent) again told Madhouse Daddy to hit windows and r and look at all the viruses on his computer. He then told him to type a prompt into a run command which Madhouse Daddy didn't do. Seeing that they weren't going to manage to scam him, things turned nasty with the caller saying "are you f***ing with me?", to which Madhouse Daddy replied, "no, are you f***ing with ME?". This was met with a parting shot of "f***ing a***hole" before the caller hung up.

I was a bit concerned about Madhouse Daddy having hit the windows and r key, in case this allowed them to do something to his computer, so I went to look on google. It doesn't - it just brings up the Windows Run box then they tell you to bring up the Event Viewer - but this did bring up zillions of other hits of people blogging about the scam.

If you play along, they ask you to log into paypal and pay a £75 fee (or whatever amount they decide on) for them to remotely fix your computer. For them to do that, you have to download a piece of software which allows them to take control of your computer. If you pay the fee, they'll be nice(ish) and fix the errors (which are always in the log, they're not anything to worry about). If you don't, they can basically do whatever they want - in this one, they started deleting files from his computer, including his ethernet card so he could no longer use internet. In this one - I wonder if's the same one as Madhouse Daddy?! - they just get very abusive.

Either way, it's very unpleasant and unnecessary. Microsoft have pointed out that they will never phone you, unless you ask them to, so if anyone from a Microsoft help centre rings, just hang up - it's always a scam.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Keeping children safe campaign - beware of the hidden dangers

Legit Tekkers for Dub Rents - Club Penguin help parents decipher online kidspeak

Show Them It's Cool To Be Sun Sensible !

Children's book review : School For Stars : First Term at L'Etoile - Holly & Kelly Willoughby

Juliette was delighted with her latest book from the Orion Story Stars reviewing panel - the first book in the School For Stars series by Holly and Kelly Willoughby (yes, that's THE Holly Willoughby and her sister), called First Term at L'Etoile. It features a group of ambitious and talented young girls aiming to hit the big time as singers, dancers or actresses, perfecting their skills at the prestigious L'Etoile School for Stars. Imagine a cross between Mallory Towers and Glee and you've hit the nail right on the head.

There are a few obnoxious "daughters of", relying on their parents' fame and fortune to open doors for them, but this first novel features the gifted but down-to-earth and fun-loving twins, Maria and Molly Fitzfoster, along with their new room-mate, Pippa Burrows, who is there on a scholarship and feeling a bit inferior.

When the girls are invited to show just what they can do at an end of term show, knowing that the biggest talent scouts will be in amongst the parents, one of the girls is willing to go to great lengths to remove the competition. The book gives great life lessons about friendship, loyalty and being upfront and honest so, as you'd expect, the underdogs come out on top.

Juliette loved the girlie high-jinks and adventures, and the tales of midnight feasts and childish super-sleuthing really reminded me of my own childhood reading. There was only one little thing that slightly annoyed me - the frequent comments from a strange, disconnected narrator, whose constant references to "story-seekers" always made me think of Alan Freeman's "pop pickers" and who seemed to dumb down the narrative, pointing out links and inferences that I'm sure even young readers would be quite capable of making all by themselves. A couple of quick examples to show you want I mean - " When Helen was younger, she'd narrowly missed out on her dream of becoming a world-famous singer/songwriter, having sacrificed her career to look after someone who was ill.  - It is from this fact alone, Story-seeker, that you can tell the kind, selfless character of the lovely Miss Hart." Is that added explanation really necessary? Or another one that seemed even more pointless and invasive, at a key moment in the story - "Now Story-Seeker, at the risk of annoying you by interrupting at such a crucial moment, we're going to give you a couple of guesses as to what happened next. Can you guess? No? Then we'll continue." I must admit, when I was reading the book aloud to Juliette at bedtime, I took to skipping over the annoying narrator parts altogether !

One final thing that Juliette wanted me to point out - she thought that it was very funny (and we still can't work out if it was intentional or not !) that the School for Stars students are referred to as L'Etoilett es, which is pronounced exactly the same as "les toilettes" - toilets in French!

I asked Juliette if she'd be interested in reading the other books in the series and she said yes, which just goes to show that it gets her seal of approval.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £4.99

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Orion Childrens (20 Jun 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1444008110
• ISBN-13: 978-1444008111
• Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2 cm

Disclosure : We received the book in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Children's book review : Back to Blackbrick - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

Children's book review : Deadly Factbook : Bizarre Beasts

Early Reader book review : Where Are My Lambs? - Francesca Simon

Brioche Pasquier for the Pasquier Family ! - review and recipe ideas

The Madhouse kids always get a kick out of spotting Brioche Pasquier products on the shelves at the supermarket and, when they were younger, all three of them innocently asked if the Brioche Pasquier company was founded by a member of Madhouse Daddy's family ! The reply was no, unfortunately, but we still love their products because they're so tasty.

Needless to say, there was much excitement when we received a selection of Brioche Pasquier products to (re)discover - Pains au Chocolat, Pains au Lait and Pitch chocolate-filled brioche.

 Pitch – gloriously soft, squishy brioche rolls filled with soft chocolate – are perfect for snacks on the go or packed lunches because they're individually wrapped. The Pains Au Lait are lovely for breakfast. Cut them in half, pop them under the grill for literally a minute (watch them closely – they go golden brown in no time at all and burn easily) then spread them with strawberry jam (Bonne Maman do a lovely one, if you want to keep the French theme going !) for an instant taste of France. Hmm the thought of warm buttery brioche spread with sweet jam has got my mouth watering just from typing this !

I must admit, I'd never thought of using them in cooking though (apart from using stale brioche in bread and butter pudding). Brioche Pasquier sent us through two lovely-looking recipes to try out though, so I may have to get inventive – if the kids stop finishing the pack before I get to them !

In the meantime, I thought you might like the Brilliant Brioche recipes to try out too.

Pain au Chocolate & Orange Pudding

ingredients :

75ml milk

100g dark chocolate

2 eggs

6 Brioche Pasquier Pains au Chocolat

300ml double cream

50g caster sugar

zest of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Cut each pain au chocolat widthways and pack them into an oven proof dish.

Add the milk, orange zest and 200ml of the creamto a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Add chocolate and stir until it has melted and become smooth.

Mix the sugar and eggs together in a bowl and pour the chocolate mixture over, whisking all the time.

Slowly pour the mix over the pains au chocolat, allowing the custard to be absorbed before adding more.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is lightly crisp and the centre still wobbly.

Serve warm with whipped cream.

Brioche & Wild Mushroom Stuffing

ingredients :

50g butter

500g mixed mushrooms

3tbsp brandy

1 pack Brioche Pasquier Pains au Lait

2 stalks celery

1tsp salt

250ml chicken stock

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Lightly butter a large baking dish and set aside. Melt 2tbsp butter in a pan on medium-high heat.

Finely chop shallots and celery and cook in butter until soft, about 3 minutes.

Add mushrooms and salt and brown, about 8 minutes.

Add brandy and cook until liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and toss with remaining ingredients.

Transfer to prepared dish, dot with remaining butter and bake until heated through and the top is golden, 30-40 minutes.

Disclosure : I received the products in order to write an honest review.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Globe-cooking recipe : Malva (South Africa)

What's Cooking at The Madhouse? menu plan 23/5/14

Grab yourselves a fab free Graze box

I've been guest-blogging over on the Wilko Life Blog

Wilko recently got in touch with me to say that they were working with a group of mummy bloggers to come up with some ideas for keeping the kids (and the rest of the family) entertained over the bank holiday. They asked if I'd like to put a guest post together for them. Well, if you've been following my blog recently, I give you one guess as to what the subject matter was !

Yep, you got it - I shared my top tips for geocaching with the kids, which is not only great fun, it's also totally free !

Head over to the Wilko Life blog to read my guest post : http://life.wilko.com/bank-holiday-fun-with-the-kids-lets-go-geocaching/

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Madhouse diaries : Geocaching at Gravelines Riding School

Madhouse Diaries : Geocaching in the dunes and bunkers

Madhouse diaries : Geocaching adventure in the Dunes de Cabourg !