So! I haven't posted anything for ages as have been so busy. I finished the year doing my MA but decided not to carry on. At the beginning of August I was searching for jobs and thanks to one of my amazing friends help and advice I landed a job in the food industry in new product development - YAY! So happy, but since have ended up being so busy that I've done so much less cooking than I had previously.
However, today I am getting back into yummy cooking at home so I whipped this pesto up as a mid-afternoon snack and was very happy with the results. It's so tasty and earthy with the kale, it's quick and goes with lots of other lovely food and all just thrown in a food processor.
Kale Pesto
100g Curly kale, storks removed
Half a pack of fresh basil (about 15g)
35g Parmesan or other Italian hard cheese, grated
25g Pinenuts
2 small or 1 large clove of garlic roughly chopped
Zest and juice of half a lemon
75ml Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
First, tear the kale up and wash then place into a microwaveable bowl (it doesn't have to be drained too much as some of the water will steam the kale). Cover the bowl and place in the microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on high until nearly cooked. Remove from the microwave and rinse under cold water. Squeeze out all the excess water and place in the food processor.
Then, place everything else in the bowl and blend until a coarse puree.
Spread on delicious seeded bread, as a canapé, in a sandwich, or (as I did) eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon.
Poor picture as my flash wasn't working, but you get the idea.
I had mine on some seeded rye bread with sliced tomatoes. Excuse the socks, I wanted to be comfy.
So there it is.
Hopefully there will be some more delicious recipes being put up soon.
So, I did my Bootea diet, which I actually liked doing and will be doing again before my friends wedding, but definitely went back to my old ways quite quickly (especially after my lovely but greedy boyfriend came home) and got right back into making creamy, fatty, yummy things.
This quiche is, again, a really simple dish that is satisfying and tasty and Ashley loves it. It's cheesy, sharp, oniony, and has a bit of bite in it from the mustard. I use Paul Hollywoods pastry recipe as it's the best one I've used so far - it doesn't crack or split and it keeps it's shape in the oven. I'm not a pro at crimping though so the photo is simplistic to say the least, but you get the idea.
One of the best things about this recipe is the ingredients can be changed and altered to suit different tastes. With the milk/egg base for the quiche so many different flavours can be added - to keep it traditional broccoli and stilton, or some ham or bacon, roasted peppers, or could put some char-grilled vegetables like courgette and aubergine in with some chillies and various herbs and spice to mix it up. However, this recipe is just a simple one that pleases many palettes.
Cheese, Onion, and Tomato Tart
For this you will need a 23cm loose-based fluted tart tin
Pastry
225g plain flour
120g unsalted butter
3-5tbsp ice cold water
Pinch of salt
Filling
Large knob of butter
8 small onions / 4 large onions, thinly sliced
200ml whole milk
4 medium eggs
2 egg yolks
1-1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped chives
50g grated mature cheddar cheese
1 large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper
Pastry First
Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter with the finger tips until it becomes a breadcrumb mixture.
Mix in enough cold water to bring it together. When it's brought together, knead into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or get pre-made pastry and put into a tin.....)
Preheat your oven to 180C fan.
Then:
While the pastry is cooling, heat the butter in a large, heavy bottomed frying pan and cook the onions on a low heat until browned - for around 30 minutes when sticky and brown.
Take the pastry out of the fridge. Lightly flour a surface and roll out thinly to fit the tart tin with a little bit hanging over the edges.
Fill the tart tin with the pastry then get a piece of baking parchment (a big square piece) with your hands and scrunch into a ball, then flatten it out into the middle of the tin and push it into the sides. Pour in the baking beans/dry rice/pasta that you choose to use, and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven, remove the baking beans and then put back into the oven and bake for a further 8 minutes.
Remove and begin to fill.
And then the filling:
While the pastry is cooking or after it's come out of the oven, mix the eggs, egg yolk, milk, chives, mustard, salt and pepper in a jug until well mixed.
Arrange the browned onions and grated cheese on the pastry, then arrange the tomato halves on top. Pour the milk/egg mix over the top - when I do this I try to pour it in between the tomatoes so they stand out when cooking but for flavour it doesn't matter. Also, if you're not confident at moving a full tart from the side to the oven, place the flan on a baking tray in the oven then pour in the milk/egg mix when while on the tray and slide into the oven.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing.
Serve with salad, jacket potato or coleslaw.
I only took one photo of this and it was a mini one I made on the side but I think it looks quite satisfying....
So the sound track for this one was a Kisstory so was a bit of a mixture but a couple of my favourites were the following:
I tired out the Bootea 14 day teatox as I'm a bridesmaid for my friend in August and rather than do a diet I wanted to try something that would allow me to eat certain things that I love and just cannot give up. So, rather than go on a conventional diet I've tried to combine the Bootea teatox idea with clean eating which I've been getting more interested in - mainly because you can eat hummus without restriction which is such a bonus. I absolutely love hummus and after I've finished my exams I am going to be experimenting with some yummy hummus flavours too, but for the moment time is a little tight.
I am not a great breakfast fan and am definitely not the type of person to sit down and have a bowl of cereal and I can't stand fry ups. Meat for breakfast is just one of those things I've never really enjoyed. So breakfast for me doesn't normally happen until 10/11 am and is some fruit or a massive mocha, which it has been for me lately. While doing the Bootea I'm starting off the day with a smoothie which I find really satisfying and does the job.
These are two of the smoothies that I've made which are so simple but tasty and satisfying.
Banana and Peanut Butter
1 ripe banana
1 heaped tablespoon peanut butter - I use crunchy for texture
1/2 pint/300ml coconut milk, almond milk, or other milk alternative
2 tbsp rolled oats (optional - I add it for extra source of fibre)
Runny honey (optional - if it's not sweet enough with just the banana)
So simple!
Very straight forward.
Put the milk, banana, peanut butter, and oats (if using) in a liquidiser or food processor and blitz until fully combined.
Have a taste and add some honey if you like. Serve in a large glass and enjoy.
*As it has been so hot, I've made some ice cubes from the milk alternative I've been using and just pop them in the top at the end without diluting it.
Sadly my photographic skills are still poor. However, this smoothie is delicious and energising, even though it doesn't look it....
Strawberry and Mango
1/2 pint/300ml coconut milk, almond milk or other milk alternative
1 big handful of ripe strawberries, halved
1 big handful of ripe mango, cubed
2 tbsp rolled oats
Again, super simple.
Put the milk, strawberries, mango and oats into a liquidizer or food processor and blitz until fully combined and becomes a smoothie consistency.
Same as the banana and peanut butter one, some clear honey can be added if you like it a bit sweeter.
Such a great alternative to a conventional breakfast.
As these are so quick to make I didn't have a specific soundtrack for making them but I had the radio on in the background and heard a couple of songs by Ella Henderson which I love - Mirror Man and Glitterball, which is a such a get up and go song, and seemed to go with the energising drinks.
I love soup and can eat it all year round and have never really agreed with the idea that soup is a winter food. I was doing some revision for my law exam and felt like I was going to fall asleep with boredom. I needed some energy and to eat something that would help me concentrate so, using some bits I had around the kitchen, I whipped up this butternut squash soup and I was so pleased with the results. It looked fantastic as it was bright orange. It was tasty, healthy, zingy, fresh and so easy to make, it is definitely something I will be making again.
Summery Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 red chilli, sliced
1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into cubes
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tin coconut milk
600ml vegetable stock
Juice of half a lime
1 Handful of sage leaves, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon of good quality honey
Salt and Pepper
In a large saucepan, fry the onion in some olive oil, or coconut oil if you have it, until softened.
Smash the garlic using the flat side of a knife and your palm or using jar then throw them in with the onion along with the chilli.
Add the butternut squash and carrot then sprinkle over the sage. Give it all stir.
Add the coconut milk and stock to the pan, bring to the boil and let it simmer for around 30 minutes.
Using a knife, test the squash and carrot to see if it is soft. If it is, add the juice of half a lime, the honey, salt and pepper. Stir it all together and then blend with a hand-blender or put it into a liquidizer.
I like my soups thick and smooth, but if you want it a bit thinner you can add some more stock.
I just served mine up in a bowl as I was starving so it didn't look fancy but if you were serving it, frying some sage leaves to put on top would give it a presentable finish. As people who may have read this blog before, I am not great at presentation but I am ALL about the flavour.
I needed some calming music while making this as I was feeling pretty stressed about my work. I've played the piano since I was 8 and have had the pleasure of playing and listening to so much wonderful classical music but Erik Satie's music is lovely and one of my favourites.
Last Sunday, I entered a charity cake competition in the very fine city of Norwich. I really enjoyed doing this as I haven't had a chance to bake for so long that I was starting to get baking withdrawal. The competition was at The Alexandra Tavern on Stafford Street, a lovely, comfy and traditional pub serving a great range of beers (I did sample a couple while the cakes were being judged which made a sunny afternoon even better).
I actually planned to make a delicious lemon cake with cream cheese icing, but on the Saturday night before, I did and it was a disaster! After about 15 minutes in the oven it completely collapsed and sank in the middle. So frustrating as I had made the recipe so many times and it has always worked so well. So, on Sunday morning I made my go to cake which I absolutely love - a coffee and walnut cake. Some people, I'm sure, find this cake traditional and boring but it is one of my favourite cakes when made well. I like really strong flavours, and do find when trying them out that they can end up being a bit bland, so my recipe really packs a strong coffee punch and I pulse walnuts in the food processor and put into the sponge mix which intensifies the flavour.
I only came third, which I am actually really pleased with as I made this cake in a bit of a rush and I have to say the winners three tiered chocolate cake with ganache, and in second place, the orange and almond polenta cake, which I am going to have a go at because it was delicious, were very good.
Anyway, I think my cake is delicious, and the judge said himself that it was so coming third out of twenty is not bad and I recommend making it as it's easy and delicious.
Look at all the yummy cakes ready for tasting. Was such a great afternoon and for a great cause.
Coffee and Walnut Cake
For the sponge:
8oz butter/stork
8oz golden caster sugar
4 eggs
8oz self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3-4 tsp instant coffee granules - using a strong coffee gives a more intense flavour, for example Carte Noire
2oz walnuts
For the butter icing:
12oz icing sugar
5 oz butter
3-4 tsp coffee granules
14 walnut halves
This is a simple sponge recipe, so you can do either an all-in-one method or a creaming method. I, personally, opt for the creaming method but cheated and did it in the food processor.
Heat the oven to 160C fan and pulse 2oz walnuts in the food processor until a desired size. I like mine really small but if you like yours a bit chunkier then pulse less. Tip into a bowl and set aside.
Place butter and sugar in the food processor and mix together until light and fluffy.
Once this is done, using boiling water, dissolve the coffee granules a cup with the smallest amount of water possible. I used 1 tsp of water for each tsp of coffee granules. Leave to cool.
Add in the eggs one by one until fully incorporated. I like to add my coffee now. Often at this point it the mixture can become speckled if perhaps the coffee is slightly too warm but it doesn't matter at all for the finished texture of flavour.
Fold in the flour and baking powder, then tip in the crushed walnuts.
divide between two greased and lined cake tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
Remove from the oven when the cakes start to come away from the side of the tins. Leave in the tins for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire cooling rack.
Butter icing
Again I do this in the food processor because it's so easy.
For the coffee, same as with the cake mixture. Pour boiling water over the coffee - 1tsp of water for 1tsp of coffee. Can add a little more if the coffee is not dissolving.
Ensure the butter is at room temperature and place in the food processor. Whizz for a minute on it's own as this will help the icing sugar to fully incorporate.
Sift the icing sugar in and mix until fully incorporated. It may look a little dry at this stage but it will be nice and moist after adding the coffee.
Add the coffee mixture to the butter cream and whizz until a lovely rich brown coffee colour.
Once the cakes have cooled, spread the butter cream evenly between the middle and the top. I like to toast my walnuts for 5 minutes before arranging on top as it gives the walnuts a deeper flavour.
Arrange the walnut halves on top - 12 round the edge an 2 in the middle.
This is the only photo I've got - post tasting. I think it looks yummy.
Serve to everyone. It's yummy.
The soundtrack for this cake making experience was a relaxing one. Due to the disaster of the night before I needed nice calm background music and for this I chose the Amelie soundtrack. I Absolutely love this film and the music is a personal favourite as I also play the piano. Always my go to piano music for a chill-out. If you like that sort of thing obviously.
I really love sushi and have done ever since my parents introduced me to it from a young age. After being at university, I remember thing how amazing it would be to have a go at making it myself, but at the time thought how crazy expensive it would be and so gave it a miss. A couple of months later, I returned home and a friend of mine's boyfriend (at the time) made my family and myself some and showed us how simple it was - the actual problem being that it was quite time consuming.
So, a few months later I had a go. The first time, I admit, was a bit of a disaster not least because I don't actually like completely raw fish (blergh) but later on I tried an angelcised version of the sushi and, using a recipe book I found at my mum's house as a base, I made the following sushi adapting the recipe as follows:
Wash the rice thoroughly, changing the water several times. If you're short of time, soak the rice in cold water for 15 minutes and rinse in a sieve and leave to drain for 15 minutes.
Once drained, place in a deep bottomed saucepan and fill with 500ml water. Cover, bring to the boil and leave for 5 minutes without removing the lid. Turn the temperature down and leave to simmer, covered for about 10 minutes. Don't lift the lid, then remove from heat and leave, still covered, for about 10 minutes.
Transfer the cooked rice to a large, shallow dish and sprinkle with the vinegar dressing. Using a large wooden or plastic spoon, fold and cool the rice as quickly as possible (I put mine in a dish, under a plate to cool and it worked a treat).
Once the rice has reduced to room temperature, get your nori and pass over a hot plate/hob or if neither of those things don't worry about it! Get a bowl of room temperature water and dip your finger tips in, then grab a couple of tablespoons and flatten 1/3rd on the nori. Once flattened place the fillings - cucumber/carrot/pepper/spring onion/avacado etc - and fill, then roll, tightly, running a wet finger along the crease of the nori to ensure the seal is made.
I have made a variety of sushi using the same method but with different ingredients in the middle, so I promise anyone who reads this, it is so easy and satisfying. Do it!!!
Finished product.
Loves x X x
I do love The Rolling Stones, and they helped me through.
It's been a long time since writing on my blog, and I'm sad to say it's because I have hardly done any cooking. I have been completely snowed under with work for my masters and feel that there just aren't enough hours in the day to get anything done.
Today, I procrastinated and spend a couple of hours in the kitchen whipping up these amazing little tarts, and I have to say for an experiment they were completely delicious, so simple, and I would absolutely recommend to anybody reading this.
I love using ground almonds in cooking because they add such a lovely texture and flavour and make a sponge mix beautifully moist. I had lots of almonds in my cupboard, and had lots of apples to use up as they were getting on a bit, so decided to mix it up and add the two flavours together to see what happened - I was so happy with the result and will definitely be making these again.
I used a Mary Berry recipe for the pastry (of course - who else?) and then made some stewed apple and then an almond sponge mix, or a bakewell mixture, to top it off. This recipe made 14 tarts as I rolled out my pastry very thin.
Apple and Almond Tarts For the pastry - this is my favourite sweet pastry, and I find that it doesn't crack when rolled even very thin, a problem I have had with nearly all other pastry recipes I've used in the past.
200g plain flour
125g butter, chilled and cubed
1 tbsp caster sugar (I use golden, but white is fine)
1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tbsp very cold water
I used a food processor to make my pastry as it is so much quicker.
Place the flour, sugar, and butter in the food processor and blitz until a breadcrumb texture. With the processor still going, pour in the egg and water mixture and continue to pulse until it comes together. If it doesn't quite come together after adding this, add another 1/2 or whole tablespoon of water just to make it bind together. Once it has formed a ball, tip onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball, making sure that it is not handled too much. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. It is then ready to use.
For the apple
3 apples - I used eating apples as I think they're sweeter and I like stewed apple to have some firm bits of apple in, but cooking apples would do absolutely fine. It depends who's eating them!
1 heaped tbsp granulated sugar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Peel and chop the apple into quite small cubes (0.5cm ish). Then place in a saucepan with the sugar and apple and a tsp of water and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, until you have a consistency that you like. As I said earlier, I like a bit of bite to mine, but if you like it smooth simmer for longer and then press on the bits of apple with the back of the spoon to soften them.
Leave this to cool in the saucepan until you need it.
For the almond sponge
100g butter
100g caster sugar
85g ground almonds
25g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs
A few drops of almond essence
For this, the easiest thing was to do an all in one method, so, if using a free standing mixer as I did, all you need to do is put everything in the mixing bowl and then beat together until everything is incorporated and there are no lumps. Use a hand mixer and mix everything together in a bowl if no free standing mixer, or beat together with a wooden spoon if you fancy a bit of a work out.
To assemble, I used 2 muffin tins (as it made 14....) and made sure they were well greased.
Lightly flour the side and roll the pastry out and cut out 14 circles. If you like your pastry a bit thicker it will probably make 12. I don't have proper cutters so I used a little bowl with a diameter of 11.5cm which cut the perfect size to fit into the tins. Once cut, press the pastry into the tins making sure that they're up the sides to the top of the tin. As you will see from the picture down the page, mine were not very neat so I wouldn't bother crimping or anything like that, but if you've got the skills then go ahead.
Once all the pastry has lined the tins, place a teaspoon of apple in each one. I didn't use all the apple, but again depends on how much you like. I found a teaspoon was a good amount.
Dollop the almond mixture on top of the apple and press down with the back of the spoon to make the sponge cover the apple and ensuring it touches the pastry round the outside.
Bake in a preheated oven fan 170C for 25 minutes until golden brown on the top.
Remove from the oven and leave in the tins for 5 minutes to cool a little bit. Then, using a pallet knife, go round the edge of all the tarts to loosen them and place on a cooling rack.
Waiting for them to cool!
Serve as they are or drizzle with some double cream or custard. Yum!
Still warm - they were so delicious!
As always, I have a lovely playlist going on in the background as I can't seem to cook without it. Today it was some Emeli Sande. A perfect accompaniment to this bake.
After a long Wednesday (hump day as it was called in my last job), a tasty, warming and filling meal was definitely needed and this one absolutely did the trick. It was easy, tasty, smoky, creamy, and I would recommend giving it a go. For this recipe, I made the bread and the pasta from scratch so it is time consuming, but not complicated. I really would recommend having a go though, if you have the time.
This particular recipe, for the creamy sauce, is adapted from Jamie Oliver magazine, but I changed the recipe and it has the added bonus of home made garlic bread and pasta. This pasta recipe can be used to make any pasta shape - lasagne, ravioli, spaghetti. Just shape into which ever is wanted, and off you go!
Pasta
400g '00' flour (or plain flour will do fine - I only buy 00 flour when it's on offer as it's more expensive than regular)
4 Free Range Eggs
1-2 tbsp warm water
To make the pasta, either place the flour into a mixing bowl or food processor and pulse with the eggs and water until it is combined, or place the flour on a work top and make a well in the middle. Crack in the eggs and water and whisk into the flour with a fork.
Once combined, with floured hands, knead the dough until it is shiny and smooth (around 5-8 minutes).
Shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. I leave mine out at room temperature, but it can be put in the fridge if it's particularly warm.
Once rested, I cut my ball of dough into 3 and rolled out each individually then cut into strips for tagliatelle.
I hung mine over the side of a large bowl or jug to stop them sticking together.
The pasta dough, after kneading.
Bread
This is a really easy recipe and makes simple white bread which can be shaped in any which way you like. It can be made either in a free standing mixer or by hand.
500g Strong White Flour
10g Active Dried Yeast
1tsp sugar
1tsp salt
350ml tepid water
Put the flour in a bowl with the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the salt and sugar on the other.
Pour in the water and mix together with a large spoon until combined.
Get your hands in and gather it all together, then knead it for 7-10 minutes.
Grease a bowl in olive oil and put the dough in, rolling it in the oil to make sure it's covered.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 1-2 hours, until it's doubled in size.
Once risen, turn it out onto a floured surface, knock it back and knead for a couple of minutes.
Cut up and shape - to make rolls, shape into balls. I got about 8 medium/large rolls from this batch so you could get 10 small ones or 6 large ones (if you've read this already, you know I like big ones)
Place the balls on a shallow baking tray that has been greased with olive oil. If making rolls, place the balls with a little space between them. As they rise they will fill the space.
Leave to rise for another 30-45 minutes or until they've doubled in size (this might take more time that that, but be patient - it's worth it).
Once risen, sprinkle with plain flour and place into a pre-heated oven at 200C and bake for 18 minutes. Do check on them as you go to make sure they're done to your liking.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack. Smother in butter, use as a burger bun, rip to pieces and dip in oil and balsamic, hummus, taramasalata, gravy, or make into garlic bread with the following recipe...........
Floured baps - always good.
To make garlic bread, mix 1 tbsp butter with 1 clove garlic crushed, and a sprinkle dried or fresh basil. Slice the rolls in half and spread the garlicky butter on, then bake in the oven (around 8 minutes) until golden and smelling delicious.
Smoked Salmon Sauce
The above pasta recipe.
1 tbsp butter
350g Creme freche (low fat if you prefer)
300g smoked salmon, sliced into small slices or chunks
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Handfuls of frozen garden peas
1 heaped tsp dried tarragon
salt, pepper and parmesan to serve
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add a glug of olive oil and the pasta. Leave to simmer while making the rest of the dish.
Melt the butter in a pan, add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes on a low heat.
Add the creme freche and heat until simmering.
Add the zest and juice of the lemon, tarragon and peas and make sure it's simmering.
Add the salmon and heat through until the peas are cooked.
Drain the pasta (it should be ready after about 8 minutes - add more or less times depending on how you like it) and add to the creamy mixture.
Dish up onto warmed plates, season well, grate over a generous amount of parmesan and serve with the garlic bread.
This is a massive portion but you won't want much less.
It will serve 4 people.....if you like small portions.
I really loved this dish and can't wait to eat it again.
The soundtrack to this meal was a variety as it was quite a long process (kneading, rising, kneading, resting etc) but Charlie XCX is one of my favourites at the moment.....
It's been a really busy week for us, and so we haven't made a huge amount of interesting food but one of my favourite dinners this week is one made by my boyfriend. After going to the Macedonia region of Northern Greece and staying at this beautiful, rural spot (if interested, here's the link to where he stayed. He said it was stunning http://viglatorashotel.com/en.html) and eating rustic authentic food he came back and made me some.
The meal he prepared was lovely and was a really simple bake style meal, but was absolutely delicious and is one of my favourite meals he has made.
Greek Lamb Bake with Pomegranate and Beetroot Salad
4 Lamb Steaks
4 vine tomatoes
2 medium waxy potatoes (important they're waxy to prevent them falling apart)
1 courgette
1 aubergine
2 garlic cloves
oregano
100g feta
Handful of olives (mixture of green and black)
Olive oil
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180 fan. Slice the potatoes, aubergine, courgette and tomatoes thinly and arrange in a baking dish. As you layer them in a dish scatter oregano, olives, garlic, oil and feta as you go (if you like more of one particular ingredient, add some more. We love feta, so we had lots in ours but it can be very salty so change to suit your tastes).
Bake in the oven for around 45-50 minutes, uncovered but if they become too brown cover with foil.
At this point they should have released some juice with is good and will help cook the lamb.
Rub the lamb steaks with a little oil and season, then place them on top of the vegetables. Put back into the oven and bake for another 20 minutes until the lamb is cooked to your liking.
Serve with the following salad and crusty rye bread.
So tasty and simple, this is one of my favourite meals.
On the side we had a stunningly fresh salad. This is quite a bit of effort as we used beetroot roasted 'en papillote' (Raymond Blanc recipe) which is a long process. It does give the salad extra flavour, but for an easier alternative pre-cooked beetroot will do fine.
1 Round Lettuce, chopped thinly
Pomegranate seeds (from 1 fruit)
1/2 Lemon
Olive oil
Pine nuts (1 handful)
Tzatziki
Salt and pepper
Beetroot (roasted 'en papillote' or pre-cooked)
First, you need to toast the pine nuts. I would do this in a heavy bottomed pan or skillet. Place them in the pan over a low heat and stir until they turn a light golden brown. This will take around 5 minutes, but you need to keep your eye on them as they can turn very quickly, and become bitter.
For the beetroot, if roasting we used a recipe from Raymond Blanc and it really does give the beetroot a special extra flavour but does take over 2 hours to prep, bake and cool so does add a lot of time to the meal. If you've got the time, I would recommend it. It is worth it. Here's the recipe.
4 beetroot (about 480g/1lb 1oz), washed and trimmed
For the beetroot, preheat your oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
Lay a double layer of foil (45 x 45cm/17½ x 17½in) onto a baking tray and top with the beetroot, oil, thyme, garlic and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Wrap the beetroot in the foil to make a sealed package and roast in the oven for two hours.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before peeling. To peel, wear gloves to stop the red staining your hands.
To arrange the salad, place the lettuce in a bowl and toss with the lemon, oil, salt and pepper. Place on a serving plate and sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds and pine nuts. Slice the beetroot and arrange around the place. Dollop the tzatziki on top of the beetroot or serve on the side if preferred.
Sadly I don't have a photo but there is one of this on my instagram account @lucyhenrietta.
The soundtrack for this meal was one my favourites at the moment, Clean Bandit. I enjoy their whole album A+E and picking a favourite is hard but a couple are the following.
This weekend my amazing baby turned 3 so we had to celebrate with a Frozen themed party. She loved every second. We had the soundtrack going, build an Olaf activity, Frozen balloons, and of course a Frozen cake. I am not very creative, as I have mentioned before, but I had a good go at doing fondant and some swirly patterns around the outside. To make it special for my girl, and to make my job easier, I bought a Frozen scene made from wafer card that stood up on the cake, which worked surprisingly well. It was an absolute bargain, so if you want a cheap way to excite some little children, I would recommend getting something like that (I got mine from an ebay shop).
As there were quite a few people coming and, therefore, lots of food to make I didn't do anything fancy with the cake, just made a standard chocolate sponge mix with chocolate butter icing. Simple, delicious and easy to make for a large group of people. I'm sure even Mary Berry would recommend a simple sponge for a children's party. So, here it is.
Frozen Birthday Cake
This recipe made a 3 layer cake, so obviously to make a 2 layer just made 2/3rds of the mixture.
Also, I know I usually put recipes in grams but I was always taught to make cakes in ounces by my mum so that's how I do it, and I think it's easier because then all you have to remember is 1 egg for every 2oz flour/dry ingredients.
For the sponge
12oz Butter or baking margarine (Stork is always good)
12oz Caster sugar
9oz Self raising flour
3oz Cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
6 eggs
For the decoration
750g Ice blue roll out/fondant icing
Ice blue food colouring (not liquid, paste or gel is best)
Wafer card cut out
Edible silver glitter
For the butter icing
250g butter
425g icing sugar
75g cocoa powder (this can be adjusted depending on how chocolately you want it, so for less increase icing sugar and decrease cocoa powder weight, and vice versa for more chocolately)
Preheat the oven to 160C fan, and grease and line (with baking parchment) 3 round cake tins (mine are 8in)
This is just a standard sponge with a little extra raising agent to ensure a good rise.
First, in a big bowl, beat the butter and sugar together really well until it's pale.
Then add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until fully incorporated before adding the next one.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder into the bowl and fold in using a metal spoon or spatula.
The mixture shouldn't be stiff, so if it seems too firm add a little milk.
Divide the mixture evenly between the cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, checking at 25 minutes. If they spring back and have slightly come away from the edge of the tin, they're done.
Turn them out on to a cooking rack and leave to completely cool before decorating.
To make the butter icing, beat the butter on its own in a mixer or food processor until it is soft with no lumps, and then sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Mix it for a few minutes to get rid of any lumps and to ensure everything is fully incorporated.
When the cakes are completely cool, spread 1/3 of the butter icing on the bottom layer, and 1/3 of it on the second layer of cake. I think it's easier to do this separately and then assemble.
Assemble the cake and press down on the top layer to make the butter icing come to the rim of the cake.
With the remaining third of the icing sugar, spread this around the sides of the cake, filling in the ridges between the layers to make the outside of the cake smooth. This will help create a smooth base to put the fondant on.
For the fondant/sugar paste/roll out icing, take it out of the packet and knead it. To do this, sprinkle some icing sugar on the work top, and rub some on your hands before kneading it. Keep going until it is soft, then shape it into a ball and roll out to the right size. (For the diameter of the icing = height of cake x 2 + diameter).
Lift up the icing and place over the cake. Rub down.
If you're not confident with fondant (which I am not), there's loads of videos on youtube to show how to do it. A couple of thorough ones I found were:
Once the fondant is on, add any decorations you want.
My finished piece was good. It wasn't perfect and had very amateur silver decoration round the outside but my daughter thought it was amazing, and at the end of the day that was what mattered with this cake. Next time though, I would use a stencil for the painting round the side but generally, everyone was really happy with this cake.
For a kids party, I think it was pretty good.
You wouldn't want a small slice, would you?
The soundtrack for this cake was some old school disco music, which I love and is always a good soundtrack to a long stint in the kitchen.
One of the reasons I got into cooking was my love of bread, all bread. It's one of my favourite things to eat and so versatile. It's fantastic in it's basic and simple form, and can be flavoured with nearly anything you like. I have to say I do enjoy traditional flavours in bread. A simple white farmhouse loaf, tomato, olive, caramelised onion, and a rustic granary topped with a huge smear of butter and pate. You can't beat it.
My friends and I get on well for many reasons, but one is our mutual love of food so whenever we meet we always have a feast. Last week we did absolutely that, each bringing something to devour together. We had crisps and dips, crab pate, vegetable crudites, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, a pasta salad of broccoli, garlic roasted courgettes and stilton, and one my favourite bread accompaniments to mezzes like the one we enjoyed, a huge focaccia with tomatoes and olives.
Focaccia is simple and delicious, lovely to have anything spread on top, and it can be dipped in most things too. My recipe is super simple and perhaps not what Paul Hollywood would be impressed with as the air bubbles weren't as big as I'm sure he would like to see, but it was a hearty and soft result.
Bigger is definitely better.
I also apologise for the cloth in the bottom right-hand corner,
but it is important to clear up as you go.....
Not a very good picture, as my flash didn't go off but
I still think it looked good.
Tomato and Olive Focaccia
I really do love this, and if you're good at making things look pretty (which I am not) it can work well as a centrepiece for a dinner table.
The following recipe does make 2 nicely sized focaccias, I just like things big. I cheated with this recipe as I did it in a mixer with a dough hook, but you can hand knead it. It makes a sticky dough, but if you smother your hands and the dough in more oil, it should be fine.
Ingredients
500g strong white flour
10g yeast
5g salt
1/2 tsp sugar
350ml water (room temperature I normally aim for, slightly warmer, slightly colder doesn't matter)
50ml oil (I used oil from a sun-dried tomato jar to add an extra flavour)
A hand-full of olives, black or green, whichever it available, and some cherry tomatoes.
First, put the flour in a bowl, and add the salt and sugar on one side and the yeast on the other. Pour in the oil and then the water and mix together.
- If using a mixer, just turn it on a slow speed and leave it mixing for 6-8 minutes until the dough is really stretchy and when the hook is lifted out the dough sticks to it and stretches without tearing.
- If mixing by hand, mix with a big spoon until it all comes together then tip it onto an oiled surface. It is quite sticky so if you rub oil on your hands and on the dough periodically while kneading it will be fine. Knead for around 8 minutes, or 10 if you can but it does get a bit tiring.
Once kneaded place in an oiled tub for an hour and a half or until doubled in size. Once risen, tip it out straight into an oiled, square baking tin (I actually used a roasting tin for this one as it is so big. If you're making 2, tip it out and cut it with a sharp knife and place the two bits of dough onto oiled trays. Leave to rise again for around half an hour to forty minutes until it has clearly risen. Once risen, you can add your toppings; I just placed the tomatoes and olives in alternate rows, but you can add them in whatever way you like, and grind some sea salt over the top. Bake in an oven at 200C for 20 minutes. or until golden on the top. Place on a cooling rack and serve hot or cold.
The soundtrack today was just the radio, but the best one I heard that I could listen to over and over again is this great one from Gorgon City ft. Jennifer Hudson - Go All Night.
It's been the first week back at work and it is painful!!!! Body shock compared to the three weeks I've had off with my lovely family and friends so I haven't been cooking as much as I would like. However, I did have a go at chorizo and cheese savoury muffins which I love and rarely make. I experimented with a new recipe which was absolutely delicious but I made the huge mistake of putting the mixture in muffin cases which they stuck to. When we attempted to get the muffins out of the cases, it ripped off most of the bottom. I have learned my lesson, so next time I will put the mixture in a greased silicon muffin tray which will make it easier to get the muffins out.
Although I had a bit of a disaster with this one, the mixture was so tasty I would recommend making again and I am certainly going to. I had some egg whites left over from making ice-cream and thought I would use them in this recipe as that would make them a bit lighter. I was surprised at how well that worked. If you don't have egg whites though, just use 2 eggs whisked into the milk.
They don't look like much, but they' are pretty tasty.
Cheesy muffiny goodness.
If anyone can give me tips on how to photograph food, I'd really appreciate it.
Pre-heat your oven to 170C fan, sift the flour and bicarb into a bowl, then add the spices, cubes of cheese, chorizo and courgette and mix so everything is coated in the flour. Whisk the egg whites until they're fluffy and make peaks. Pour the milk into a jug and mix in the mango chutney, then pour this into the flour mixture and give a could stir with a big metal spoon. Fold in the egg whites until completely incorporated. Spoon into a greased silicon tray, NOT muffin cases, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they can turn quite quickly.
And the soundtrack for this session was one of my favourite classics, Queen. One that I particularly love is this song, Too Much Love Will Kill You from the album Made In Heaven. Enjoy.
A significant lack of cooking took place this weekend as I was in London saying goodbye to a lovely friend who is going off travelling for nine months. To compensate for the lack of cooking, there was an abundance of beer, another one of my favourite things after food, and London does always offer a good pint. A particular favourite of mine from the weekend was Mad Goose, a pale ale brewed by Purity Brewing Co. If you ever see it on a pump, I would absolutely recommend trying it.
Watch out for this on a beer pump.
Delicious pint, and made better by being served in a jug.
The weekend was finished off nicely by having my favourite lamb and potato stew cooked by my mother. I am not normally taken with traditional English casseroles or stews and have preferred those with influences from other countries, and this one has a Greek character. This recipe uses neck fillet, a relatively cheaper cut of lamb, and is flavoured with lemon, herbs and feta. Plus, it's all made in one pot!
It was hard to get a good photo and, as said previously, I am not
any sort of photographer. If you like something with a twist,
I would recommend this as it's easy, warming and tasty.
Greek Lamb Stew
Olive oil
1.25kg lamb neck fillet, diced
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
450g Ripe tomatoes (or tinned tomatoes will do)
Half a lemon (or a whole one if you like it really lemony)
1 tsp dried oregano
600ml vegetable stock
750g small new potatoes
200g feta cheese
Preheat the oven to 170C fan then heat a glug of oil in a large casserole pan and brown the lamb (in batches). Once browned, place on a plate while the onions are softened in the fat and brown left by the lamb. Stir in the crushed garlic and put the lamb back in. Add the tomatoes, the lemon chopped up (leaving the rind on), oregano, stock and bring to the boil. Then put the lid on, pop into the oven and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Put the potatoes in and return to the oven for another 45 minutes. Once the potatoes are cooked, crumble the feta over the stew, put the lid back on and leave it to melt for a few minutes.
Serve with some crusty bread smothered in butter. Yum!
Of course, even though I was not cooking this one, there always has to be a soundtrack and for this it was the music from Frozen as my daughter was watching it while my mother was cooking us our dinner.
Welcome to my personal blog! As you can probably tell from the name, this is all about food: cooking it, eating it, sharing it, my inspirations, and those delicious extras that are so important when exploring food (mainly booze). I absolutely love trying out new things, so this will be treated as more of a personal food diary that I've decided to share, and will include recipes and photos of my attempts at new things, old favourites, and the places, people, and meals that inspire me to try it at home.
Having grown up in the Norfolk countryside with parents that were amazing cooks my love of eating has always existed. I totally admit I am completely obsessed about food and drink. By no means do I think I am any kind of connoisseur or gourmet and do not proclaim to have any technical skills or abilities, just a basic love for everything you can eat. This basic love and grown over the years after leaving home and has become my main hobby. So here I aim to share the real and unadulterated ups and downs, attempts and fails of my cooking and eating infatuation.
So today I have been trying out my new Kitchenaid, an amazing Christmas present, and was tasked with making a pudding for a family meal so decided on salted caramel ice-cream and Kinder brownies. Salted caramel, along with the rest of the world, has become a firm favourite for me and has been used in many dished. however I will admit that caramel is something I have always found hard to make and I usually end up burning it but today managed to avoid that but trying out a different method.
Salted Caramel Ice-Cream I adapted this recipe from an old Gary Rhodes book (More Rhodes Around Britain, 1995) which has some fantastic recipes in and, personally, I think a great ice-cream base recipe that is easily adaptable to make different flavours. To make this I used an ice-cream maker attachment on my Kitchenaid but it can be done by putting into a freezable container and stirring every half an hour until thick. For the ice-cream base: 300ml whole milk 300ml double cream 6 egg yolks 50g golden caster sugar (1 vanilla pod - optional) For the Caramel: 280g golden caster sugar 185ml double cream 2 tsp flaked sea salt (can be varied depending on how salty you like it)
I started by making the caramel by placing the sugar in a heavy saucepan and heating for a couple of minutes on its own, then adding the cream all in the go, giving it a good stir and then bringing it to the boil. I left this to simmer while making the ice cream base.
First, I separated 6 eggs and placed the yolks in the mixing bowl then added the 50g caster sugar and put on a medium speed to whisk them together until the mixture was light and fluffy. While the eggs were mixing, I placed the milk and cream in a saucepan and brought to the boil. (For this flavour ice-cream I didn't add the vanilla pod, but if one wanted to add this as a favour just cut the pod lengthways, scrape it out and put into the milk and cream along with the scraped pod while bringing to the boil. Remember to remove the pod one boiled).
I stirred the caramel periodically and when it began to darken in colour, to a darker beige, I added the salt and removed it from the heat. At this point it became a sandy consistency which seemed a bit weird, but actually made no difference to the ice-mixture so it didn't matter at all.
Once the milk and cream had been brought to the boil, I poured it into the egg mixture, with the whisk going, then added the sandy caramel mixture and whisked for 3-4 minutes to make sure it was all completely incorporated.
This then had to be left to cool to room temperature. I found this was speeded up by pouring the mixture into a glass dish and placing somewhere cold (a conservatory in the winter is great at cooling things down).
Once cooled, I placed it into the ice-cream maker and churned slowly for around 30 minutes until thick and came higher up the bowl. This was transferred into an airtight container and put in the freezer for another 4-6 hours or over night.
To serve, get out of the freezer 5 minutes before dishing up as it will be quite firm.
Churning churning. You can use this time to wash up or dance
around the kitchen to your favourite cooking playlist. I did the latter.
I'm no photographer but this was the finished product.
Looks pale, but was a deeper colour that what is pictured.
Brownies
Simple and delicious, always a crowd pleaser. The recipe I always use is one I slightly adapted from good food. I use kinder chocolate in this because I love it and it's lovely and creamy.
185g dark chocolate
185g salted butter
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 eggs
270g golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
100g kinder chocolate bars, chopped
20cm tin lined with baking parchment. Preheated oven to 160C fan.
Start off by melting the butter and dark chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat. This shouldn't take very long and the heat can be turned off before everything is melted as the residual heat will melt any remaining pieces. Once melted, it needs to be left to cool to around room temperature, it doesn't matter if it's a little warmer.
While this is cooling, whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy, and weigh out the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl.
Fold in the melted chocolate into the egg mixture being careful not to knock out the air, then sieve in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and again fold in. Once incorporated, mix in the chopped kinder, or other chocolate.
Pour into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes in the middle of the oven. I can normally tell it's done if the top of the brownie has cracked a little. It should not wobble.
Remove and cool in the tin.
Finished brownies. Yum.
I served these two together, the brownie slightly warm with a dollop of the ice-cream on top, with the chopped strawberries on the side and topped with crushed gingerbread biscuits.
It doesn't need to look good if it tastes good.
I'm not one for presentation.
Finally, every good cooking session needs some good background music. Today, the cooking soundtrack was the lovely, and missed, Amy Winehouse.
