Homemade gingerbread biscuits

This recipe came to me by way of my work colleague and fellow domestic goddess Katherine Welch. She brought a batch of beautifully shaped gingerbread people into the office for us all to munch on pre-christmas and I had forgotten how much I love them!

Biscuits aren’t usually a part of my cooking repertoire as those lovely people at McVities make them so well, and until today I hadn’t baked any since I was about ten years old. The best piece of advice I can give you is to space the biscuits far apart on the baking tray- they seem to double in size once under heat. Also, flour your cookie cutters well- I gave up on the people shaped cutters after producing three biscuits which looked like victims of an awful limb-loss accident and switched to just rolling them into rounds- see what you think, either way they are delicious.

The dough can also be made in a food processor. If you choose to do this (as i did) just chuck all the ingredients into the machine and blitz until they bind together.

Ingredients

• 350gms plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 100gms butter
• 4 level tbsp golden syrup
• 175gm soft brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade and oil and flour a large baking tray.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl then rub in the butter using your finger tips to form a breadcrumb-like mixture.
3. Combine the egg and syrup in a cup then beat into the flour mixture.

4. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface once it forms a ball and knead with a little flour until you have a smooth texture.
5. Roll out with a well-floured rolling pin to approx 1.5cm thickness and cut into shapes.

6. Place the shapes onto the baking tray (you may need to cook them in batches as they will need to be spaced at least 2cm apart) and bake for approx 10 mins- keep an eye on them, once they are golden around the edges they are ready.
7. Use a fish slice to transfer the biscuits to a wire cooling rack and bake the next batch.
8. Dredge with a little icing sugar and serve.

Pomegranate and clementine scented jelly

I found this recipe on the Guardian website a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be the perfect antidote to the feast-laden drowsiness that can spring upon you after a large Christmas dinner.

It is important that you buy proper 100% pomegranate juice and not a carton of juice drink as these are often chock full of sugar and it is the tartness of the pomegranate which makes this dessert so refreshing and fruity.

Ingredients

• 700ml pomegranate juice (I used Pom which comes in a strangely shaped and slightly bulbous plastic bottle)
• 4 strips of peel from a washed Clementine
• 1 tbsp rose water (optional)
• 2tbsp caster sugar
• 12gms leaf gelatine (it must be leaf not powdered or chances are high that it won’t set)
• A sliced Clementine and a few pomegranate seeds to decorate
• A pretty glass bowl or tureen

Method

• Pour the juice into a large saucepan. Add the Clementine peel and warm it over a low heat stirring from time to time.

• Bring the juice almost to the boil then switch off the heat and leave it to infuse for a few minutes.
• In the meantime, soak the gelatine sheets in a little bit of warm water. When they have softened and are squidgy (after 1-2 mins) drop them into the juice and stir well until they are dissolved.
• Add the sugar and rosewater and again, stir well until the sugar has dissolved.
• Pour the juice through a sieve to remove the peel and ladle into your choice of bowl.
• Add the Clementine slices and pomegranate seeds to decorate and place in the fridge overnight to set.

p.s. if you are using seeds from a fresh pomegranate to decorate, cut the fruit in half, hold it over a large empty bowl and bash the top with a metal spoon- the seeds will fall out and save you a lot of digging time! But please remember to wear an apron.

Bigger and better...

Now seems like a good time to point out a few new features which i have added to my blog as i strive to make it bigger and better :)

Many of you will have already seen the new Carly Cooks facebook page which has a link on the right hand side of the blog. there is also a 'like' button which you can click to tell your friends about the page and blog if you enjoy it.

Below each post there is also a choice of three buttons- like alot, like and dislike which you can use to rate recipes- let me know what you think and it will help me choose which kinds of recipes to post.

There is also a box on the right hand side of the page labelled 'receive email updates' if you enter your email address you will receive my posts directly to your inbox- never miss a tasty recipe again!

In addition, several people told me that they had to sign up to Google to comment on my posts- ive checked this out and lifted the restriction. Everyone can post now without signing up so please feel free to drop me a line!

frozen banoffee pie

For those of you who missed this recipe the first time around...

I got the idea for this recipe when watching Nigella’s Christmas series on TV a couple of years ago. She makes an icecream cake with a biscuit base, vanilla icecream filling and butterscotch sauce on top- so it seemed like a natural move (to me anyway) to add some bananas!!

The first time I made it was for Christmas 2008 and thanks to my over excitement and the lack of space in Sue’s freezer, we took it out too soon and were faced with a big, (but still delicious!) banoffee puddle for pudding. The second time around it was perfect. It’s incredibly moreish and the butterscotch sauce is heaven. In fact, you could make the sauce to go with any kind of icecream… or pudding really! If pushed for time you could use dulce de lech sauce from a jar, but the real stuff is amazing- try it just once.

By the way this cake cant be made all in one go, you have to freeze it for a few hours in between the icecream stage and topping it, so its handy for dinner parties, Christmas etc. when you want to do all the faffing around before hand and no hard work on the day.

Ingredients

• 2 packs of Maryland double choc chip cookies or equivalent cookies
• 4tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 big tub of good quality vanilla icecream or two smaller (ben and jerry sized) ones- I use Green and Blacks with Madagascan vanilla
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 200ml double cream
• 150gms unsalted butter
• 100gms soft brown sugar
• 2 heaped tbsp golden syrup
• 8inch springform tin

Method

1. About ½ hour before you want to make this get the icecream out of the freezer to soften- you want it to be spoonable but not liquidy.
2. Grease the springform tin then crush the packets of biscuits to crumbs. I get a rolling pin, and leaving the biscuit packets closed, bash the hell out of them- don’t do it too hard or they’ll explode!
3. In a large saucepan melt the 4tbsp butter and once melted, stir in the biscuits until well coated

4. Pour the biscuits into the tin and press down with the back of a spoon to make a base (almost as if you were making a cheesecake).
5. Spoon in the icecream on top of the biscuits, smooth down until the biscuits are fully covered and put the tin back in the freezer. It can stay there until you need it- probably up to a week if you cover it with some cling film.
6. Then make the butterscotch sauce. Again this can be kept for up to 4 days in the fridge until you need it. Just put the butter, cream, sugar and syrup into a saucepan on a medium heat, once it has all melted bring to the boil and simmer for around 3mins stirring occasionally then leave to cool completely before refrigerating. Be careful- this will be hotter than Daniel Craig’s backside- you will get third degree burns if you get molten sugar on yourself and certainly do not lick the spoon!! Nick nearly learnt that lesson the hard way!
7. When you’re ready to serve the pudding, take it out of the freezer 20mins beforehand so the icecream can soften up.

8. Peel and slice the banana and arrange it on top of the icecream. Either take the butterscotch sauce out of the fridge an hour beforehand or warm it up for 10 seconds in the microwave.
9. To serve, lift the cake out of the tin and on to a plate (keep the base in place or it will all go tits up) then pour the sauce over and cut everyone big slices.

p.s. try and eat it all, or return it to the freezer once you’ve cut a few slices, you can’t refreeze icecream once it has melted.

Colin's pulled pork chilli- part two

Well, i finally did it. Sunday nights pulled pork became chilli on monday and i must say, i was rather pleased with it! The only ingredient that i couldnt get hold of was the tin of salsa de chipotle (apparently Tesco's in Hemel doesnt stock Discovery foods products either) but it was still tasty and has provided me with two lunches worth of yumminess too.

It was warm and spicy, without being mouth burningly hot, smoky and tomatoey but not overwhelmingly so, and there was just the right amount of kidney beans (some chillis are swamped by the damn things) could this be the perfect chilli recipe...?

For those wishing to recreate it see  http://www.shizzling.com/2010/02/shredded-pork-in-chipotle-chile-salsa-recipe.html 

Cupcake extravaganza

I had to share this with everyone. It was my cousin Sophie's birthday the weekend before last and her best friend and baker extraordinaire Eimear Hurley, made her this stunning cupcake tower for a birthday cake!

There were even four different flavours- plain chocolate, chocolate and peanut butter, black forest gateaux and oreo cupcake- and i can vouch that they were ALL delicious!

You have seen true greatness my friends, now go bake!

Chocolate and guinness cake



the last slice!

 I made this in honour of a friend who was leaving work recently and it went down a treat! Although the thought of adding Guinness to a cake put me off a little at first, and really, the mixture doesn’t look very pleasant at the butter melting stage, it doesn’t make the cake taste of beer at all. It just adds a rich tangy flavour to the chocolate and enhances it perfectly.
The cream cheese icing is to die for. I could eat a whole bowl on its own if I’m honest!

Ingredients
Cake:

• 400gms caster sugar
• 250gms butter
• 75gms cocoa powder
• 275gms self raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 250ml Guinness (there is 440ml in can- don’t use all of it!)
• 2tsp baking powder
• 2tsp vanilla essence
• 142ml (small pot) sour cream

Icing:

• 150gm icing sugar
• 300gm (1 pot) philadelphia cream cheese
• 125ml double cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Grease and lightly flour a deep 8inch cake tin.
2. Put the butter and Guinness into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter is melted. Put this aside to cool for a few minutes (it will look a bit gross at this stage but bear with me).
3. In a bowl or a food processor, mix together the sugar and cocoa then slowly pour in the butter/beer mixture and sour cream and beat well.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time then fold in the flour, baking powder and vanilla essence.
5. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and place in the oven. Bake for 15mins then turn the heat down to 150 degrees centigrade and bake for 1- 1½ hours. Check after an hour by poking a knife into the centre. If the knife comes out clean its ready. If there is still uncooked batter on it, return the cake to the oven for a bit longer.
6. When cooked turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
7. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the cream and cream cheese until it is fluffy and looks like American style cake frosting (approx 2-3 mins). Add the sugar and mix well.
8. When the cake has cooled, top with the icing (it should look a bit like a pint of Guinness) and serve.

Colin's pulled pork chilli- step one

My friend Colin made a scrumptious authentic chilli for a mates 50th birthday celebration a few months back and as i was feeling the need to keep out the bone chilling weather a week or so ago with good food i asked for the recipe.

It is made with slow-roasted pulled (shredded) pork instead of the usual mince meat, which has to be be cooked first. At Colin's suggestion i bought a big piece of pork, made the pulled pork yesterday and had half for dinner, then saved the other half to make the chilli tonight.

I shall report on the full results tomorrow however, i can tell you that the pulled pork made for a meltingly tender, juicy, smoky flavoured sunday roast and im looking forward to stage two immensely!

The recipe for both the pork and the chilli can be found on Colin's blog Schizzling! http://www.shizzling.com/2010/02/shredded-pork-in-chipotle-chile-salsa-recipe.html

Festive cheer!

I must apolosise for the lack of blog posts over the last two months. Im afraid that work (the paid kind) and a string of pre-xmas parties have left me feeling a bit deflated and extremely short on time. But the christmas season is here hurrah!! and with that comes ten days of holiday, a chance to re-coop and a flurry of delicious recipes which i shall be making for various celebrations.

These will include- frozen banoffee pie (see recipe from August), pecan pie and scented pomegranite jelly among others- lots to look forward to then! I hope your Christmas is as delicious as mine! love to everyone cx 

Fiery jerk chicken with rice and peas

To my amazement this dinner was nick’s suggestion! He had been watching Nigella’s new Kitchen series on TV (something to do with the suggestive way in which she bastes her chicken breasts I’m sure!) and asked if we could look up the recipe online. Thanks to BBC iPlayer I was able go one better and watch her whip it up on one of my lunch breaks last week, and this was the result- juicy pieces of chicken crusted in a fiery chilli spice paste and tempered by the creamy, coconut softness of rice and black eyed beans. A delicious winter warmer that was just what I needed on a powder snow-coated Saturday night!

Serves 2-3 people

Ingredients (jerk chicken)

• 3 chicken breasts without the skin
• 1tsp ground all spice
• 1tsp dried thyme
• 1tsp cayenne pepper
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 garlic clove peeled
• 2cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1tbsp dark muscavado sugar
• 2tbsp dark run (I used Bacardi because it was all I had lurking in the cupboard and it tasted fine)
• 2tbsp lime juice
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 60ml cider vinegar
• 2 fresh whole red chillies, stalks removed but seeds left in (you can remove the seeds if you’re chilli-phobic)
• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade
2. Put all of the ingredients except for the chicken into a food processor and whiz to a paste (you could also use a hand blender for this.)
3. Slash the chicken breasts 3-4 times each, about halfway through to let the spice paste penetrate the meat and place them in a small baking dish.
4. Pour over the paste and massage in well until the breasts are coated.
5. Bake in the oven for approx 40-50 minutes. Use the skewer test to make sure the chicken is cooked.
6. While the chicken is cooking make the rice to accompany it….

Ingredients (rice and peas)

• 1x 400gm can of black eye beans (if you can’t get those any kind of beans will do)
• 1 small onion peeled and finely chopped
• 1tsbp olive oil
• 1 red chilli de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 400gm basmati rice
• 1x 400ml can coconut milk (I used low fat)
• 600ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• Pinch of salt

Method

1. Drain and rinse the beans in a sieve, then heat a tbsp of olive oil in a deep heavy based saucepan which has a lid.
2. Fry the onions in the oil for 3-4 mins over a low heat until softened but not brown, then add the garlic and chilli and fry for another minute.
3. Tip in the rice and stir well to coat all the grains in the oil, then add the beans, coconut milk, stock and thyme.
4. Bring the mixture to the boil then turn down the heat, clamp on the lid and let it cook gently for approx 15 mins. Give it a little stir every now and again to check that the rice isn’t sticking. It should be ready when the stock is nearly all absorbed and the rice is tender.
5. Serve with the chicken immediately.

Chocohotpots

Because there’s not always a store nearby which sells those little Gü chocolate soufflés when you need them!... gooey chocolatey goodness in just ten minutes

Ingredients

• 150gms caster sugar
• 125gms butter
• 125gms plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 125gms dark chocolate
• 5 ramekins

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C or gas mark 6
2. Grease the ramekins with a little butter and place on a baking tray
3. Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave- this should take about 2mins but you will need to take it out and stir roughly every 30secs (you don’t want the chocolate to burn.)
4. In a bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, flour and melted chocolate/butter mix until smooth- just chuck it all in together.
5. Pour into the ramekins and bake for 15mins.
6. Eat immediately with a big dollop of cream, yum!

Bacon, butternut squash and taleggio risotto

Risotto is one of those gorgeous, warming comfort foods which I crave when the weather turns cold. We had a few leftovers in the fridge and Nigel Slater always bangs on about how lovely taleggio cheese is so I decided to whip this up for dinner. In hindsight, it’s probably better to buy the cheese from a deli- I got mine from Tesco and was decidedly underwhelmed by its subtle creamy flavour but full frontal cheesy pong! On the other hand you could just substitute it for some parmesan.

I added some chestnut mushrooms to this mix as well but quite frankly they were surplus to requirement. This makes enough to feed four averagely hungry people but because Nick can eat a colossal amount of risotto I made this for just two.

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, peeled deseeded and chopped into small cubes.
• 100gms unsmoked bacon chopped into strips
• 100gms taleggio cheese with the rind removed and cubed
• 250gms Arborio rice
• 3 pints chicken stock (I use 1 stock cube to 3 pints hot water)
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• Small handful of fresh lemon thyme washed and chopped finely
• Salt and pepper
• 1 glass white wine (any kind will do)
• 2tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a big saucepan or wok over a low heat. Add the bacon and onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 2-3 mins until the onions have softened and the bacon has cooked through.
2. Pour in the rice and stir well to coat with the oil. Add the wine, turn up the heat and allow the wine to bubble off. It’s important that you keep stirring the risotto from now onwards. This is what makes it creamy and prevents it from sticking to the pan.
3. Once the wine has been absorbed by the rice, start adding the stock one ladleful at a time, only add the next ladleful when the one before has been absorbed. Add the squash, lemon thyme and seasoning at this point as well. You may need to reduce the heat a little so that it just simmers gently.
4. It will take a good half hour or for the rice and squash to cook so be patient and keep stirring. You may not need all of the stock, but when you’re about two thirds of the way through the jug start tasting the rice to see if its cooked- you want it to retain a little bite and not get too mushy. When you think it’s starting to near readiness stop adding the stock but keep stirring until the liquid in the pan is absorbed.
5. When the risotto looks like a rice pudding-type consistency add the cheese and stir through, keep stirring until it has melted. Check the seasoning and serve immediately.

p.s. this would also be really nice if you roasted the squash before adding it as well. It would enhance the sweetness and give it a softer texture.

Banana bread

This is the most heavenly banana bread I’ve ever come across. The recipe was given to me by a kiwi chef named Lawrence. At the time I was working at the YMCA gym in Abbots Langley. We had various facilities there, one of which was a day nursery. Lawrence was filling in for the nursery’s usual chef while she was on holiday.

At approximately 5pm every evening the kids would have their tea and any leftovers would occasionally be offered to the reception team. I remember being given beautiful curries, hand made profiteroles, cakes, stews… the kids ate really well.

One day the chef had made banana bread and the leftovers (enough for three people at least) were brought out to me. Needless to say I gobbled them all down and asked for the recipe, and here it is. Even people who claim not to like bananas enjoy this cake!

Ingredients

• 125gms butter or margarine (I use flora margarine)
• 125gms soft brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 4 medium very ripe bananas- even black or bruised ones which have been hanging around for weeks will do
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2tsp baking powder
• 250gms self raising flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease/line a 500gm loaf tin (I use the same one which I bake regular bread in)
2. In a big bowl or a food processor, beat together the sugar and margarine until pale and creamy. Crack in the eggs one at a time and beat well.
3. Peel the bananas and, in a separate bowl, mash them with a fork (this stage isn’t necessary if you’re using a food processor, just peel and chuck them in) then mix into the batter.
4. Fold in the flour bicarb of soda, baking powder and vanilla essence then pour the batter into the cake tin.
5. Bake in the oven for 50mins to 1 hour. Check after 50mins by sticking a knife into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean its ready, if not leave it a little longer.
6. Turn out of the tin onto a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before eating.

Nigella's moonblush tomatoes

Having made tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato salads and a myriad of other tomato-based recipes in response to the glut of fruit I found myself with come September this year, I was stumped for ideas (and frankly low on enthusiasm) on how to use up my excess tomatoes until I found this.

They aren’t quite sundried tomatoes- you know the ones that have a chewy, slightly tough texture- they’re more sunblush. They last about 1-2 weeks in the fridge and are much softer, just with a sweet, concentrated tomatoey flavour.

Apparently Nigella adds them to pasta dishes and salads but I found them to be very good in sandwiches and particularly with cheese-on-toast. Yum!

By the way, the tomatoes in the photo are pre-roasting, they will look slightly mushier and a bit crinkly once they are cooked.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes- lots of them! These can be any kind and any quantity. You will see from the photo that I had approx 500-750gms but you can adapt the seasonings to match the quantity you have.
• Salt and pepper
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1tsp dried thyme

Method

1. Switch your oven on to its very highest setting (mine manages 250 degrees C) and leave it to warm up for ½ hour.
2. In the mean time half your tomatoes and lay them cut side upwards in a baking tray, sprinkle over a pinch of salt and pepper, the oil and the thyme.
3. When the oven is up to temperature, put the tomatoes in and turn the oven off.
4. Leave it like this with the door closed (don’t even open it to peek!) overnight or for around 8 hours. This dries them out slowly and concentrates their flavour.
5. After this time remove from the oven, scoop into an airtight container and use as and when you fancy.

Homemade bread

Another product of my mass bake up a couple of weeks ago! This bread is delicious and freezes really well. I tend to double the recipe and freeze a loaf so that there’s some bread on standby- you could also just make one big loaf though.

I found the recipe in Nigella Lawson’s book How to be a Domestic Goddess. It’s actually a lot less hassle than I thought making bread from scratch would be and fills the house with the most delicious smell when baking!

Ingredients

• 500gms strong white or wholemeal flour, plus some extra for kneading
• 1x 7gm sachet of easy blend yeast
• 1tbsp salt
• 1tbsp caster sugar
• 300ml warm tap water
• 1tbsp butter

Method

1. In a big bowl mix together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the warm water gradually- you may not need the full amount or you might need a little more if it’s too dry (it all depends on the type of flour you use) and mix until all the flour is combined and the bowl is clean. You will now have a big shaggy mess of dough.
2. Add the butter and fold in.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and begin to knead it. This will be very messy at first but the dough will gradually begin to get smoother and more elastic as you continue (this part is very good for toning bingo wings!)
4. Once you have a nice smooth ball after about 10 mins take another big clean bowl, grease it well and put the dough inside. Cover with cling film or a tea towel and leave to rise for two hours. It will double in size.
5. Then comes the fun part- knocking back! Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and punch it very hard with the heel of your hand all over. This removes the excess air and prevents you getting great big hollow bits in your bread. The dough will shrink a little but don’t worry.
6. Flour a baking tray or 500gm loaf tin and place the dough on/in it. If it’s on a tray make it into an oblong or round loaf shape. If you want a soft loaf sprinkle the top with flour, or if you want a crusty loaf, brush the top with a little beaten egg.
7. Put the oven on to 220 degrees C or gas mark 7 to heat up and leave the dough to rise for ½ hour.
8. Bake the bread for 35mins after which time it should be golden and will sound hollow if you knock on the base of the loaf.
9. Leave to cool and either freeze or eat as appropriate.

Apple and almond cake

I booked a Friday off work a couple of weeks ago and finding myself at a loose end in the afternoon (a very rare event) I decided to make a cake. However, one was not enough and somehow it turned into a giant bake up! I made two loaves of bread, a cake and some of Nigella’s moonblush tomatoes (recipe to follow shortly!) It was a bit of a Pringles ‘once you pop you can’t stop’ kind of scenario! Nick was naturally delighted with the results and this cake was scoffed within a matter of hours.

Mum has been making apple and almond cake for as long as I can remember and its one of my favourites- not too sweet and satisfyingly dense and fruity. It’s a must have teatime accompaniment and a refreshing change to a regular sponge.

You can substitute the fruit as you see fit- for the one in the photo I used two ripe nectarines and added vanilla essence instead of almond essence- that was just what I had hanging around in the fruit bowl at the time and I couldn’t be bothered to go shopping for apples! It turned out just as delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 5oz margarine
• 8oz self raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 3oz caster sugar
• 12oz eating apples (not bramley cookers)- any kind you like, peeled, cored and sliced thinly into half moons
• 1 tsp almond essence (you can get this from any supermarkets)
• 2tbsp flaked almonds to decorate the top
• A deep 8inch round cake tin- this cake cant be made in two shallow tins and sandwiched so do try and find a deep one.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C or gas mark 3, then grease and lightly flour the cake tin
2. In a food processor or a big bowl beat together the sugar and margarine until pale and creamy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time then fold in the flour, almond essence and baking powder.
4. Pour half of the cake batter into the tin and scatter over the apple slices, then top with the remaining cake mix making sure all the apples are covered. This will look like there isn’t enough cake mix but be patient and spread it about a bit. It will rise and cover the apple properly in the oven.
5. Scatter the almonds over the top and place in the oven. Bake for 1-1.5 hours. Checking periodically to make sure that the cake doesn’t burn. When you think its ready stick a knife into the centre- if it comes out clean its ready, if not pop it back into the oven for another ten mins.
6. Turn the cake out on to a wire baking rack to cool and eat as and when you’re ready.

BBQ pork chops

I think this is another recipe for which I must thank my aunt Debbie! My friend Alexis informs me that she is trying to expand her cooking repertoire and so it was with her in mind that I made this dinner on Monday evening!

This marinade is fantastic with pretty much any meat and is really useful come barbeque season. I’ve used it to coat chicken drumsticks, breasts, kebabs, and lots of different cuts of pork.

I’m a bit lazy and stopped using exact quantities of the ingredients years ago, but try making it according to the list below and then adapt it to your taste as you feel necessary- there’s no right or wrong way to make the sauce, as long as you like it. I also like to add chilli or cayenne pepper for an extra zingyness but I know that not everyone likes it hot!

I feel it necessary to point out here that I really don’t like brown sauce but in this marinade you don’t taste it- it just melds with the ketchup and give it a yummy BBQy boost- if I didn’t tell you it was there you would never know from the taste of the dish. Anyway, if you don’t like it either, don’t let its inclusion put you off!

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 4 pork loin steaks or chops- I prefer loin steaks because there’s no bones and they cook quicker but go with whatever you like
• 1tsp butter
• 1tsp light brown sugar
• 4 big tablespoons of ketchup
• 2 big tablespoons of brown sauce (it doesn’t really matter how much of these sauces you use as long as you aim for roughly two thirds ketchup, one third brown sauce)
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Optional- 1tsp dried chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
• Your choice of accompaniments- I like rice, green salad or baked potatoes (see photo) but you can use anything you like

Method

• Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C or gas mark 6 and line a baking tray with tin foil (you don’t have to line it but it does make the washing up easier!)
• In a small sauce pan melt the butter over a low heat and add the brown sugar, stirring well until the sugar dissolves- this will only take a minute
• Then add the ketchup and brown sauce plus the seasonings. Taste to see what you think, you can add a bit more of either sauce if you like.
• Cook for 5 mins just to warm the sauce through then place the chops into the baking tray and coat well with the sauce on both sides.
• Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins (check the chops for pinkness) or until done. Then serve immediately with your choice of accompaniments, I like to pour a bit of the sauce over the chops from the pan too.

p.s. if you are having a barbeque you can make the marinade in advance, allow it to cool, then cover the meat in it and put it in the fridge to marinate for up to 24 hours making it even tastier!

The perfect chocolate brownie?

the guardian- chocolate brownies

I am undecided, while these sound good i still reckon Debbies chocolate cake mix makes the best brownies (still a good read though)- what say you my baking gurus?

Quick and easy roasted tomato sauce

After complaining about my slow ripening tomatoes last week on The Garden blog (the link is on the main page) I found myself faced with a glut of the damn things at the weekend- isn’t that always the way!?

So, in an attempt to be resourceful, I decided to make my own pasta sauce which we used for dinner last night. For a recipe which was made up on the spot, I must say it was delicious! I gently fried up half an onion and a clove of garlic until softened and caramelised which I then added to the sauce before mixing it through the pasta, but it’s delicious as is too. The sauce has a sweet, smoky quality about it, thanks to the natural sugars in the tomatoes and isn't at all vinegary like some shop bought ones can be.

If you too have grown some over-enthusiastic tomato plants this year or just fancy something different, give it a go. It could also be used as a base for a lasagne or would be nice stirred through rice for a lunchtime treat. It would jazz up roasted chicken breasts for an evening meal- serve with green salad, new potatoes or roasted Mediterranean-style veg, or can be frozen for use at a later date.

Ingredients

• Approximately 500-750gms of ripe tomatoes- try to use a mixture of varieties. I had beef tomatoes, tigerella, cherry and plum.
• 3tbsp good quality olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Big handful of fresh thyme (I used lemon thyme)
• 2-3 tbsp double cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and find a big baking tray with sides (see the photos for rough sizing)
2. Wash the tomatoes and chop them into halves or quarters depending on their size, you may need to remove the cores from the beef tomatoes if they are still a little green.
3. Place cut side up in the baking tray so that they sit together snugly and drizzle over the olive oil.
4. Season and place the thyme sprigs over the top, don’t bother removing the leaves from the stalks.
5. Bake in the oven for 20 mins or until the tomatoes have gone all squidgy and caramelised in places. Remove and allow to cool for 15 mins.
6. Remove the thyme from the tray then pour all of the tomatoes and their juices into a blender. You can scrunch the thyme a little over the mouth of the blender to release some of the crispy leaves but don’t let the stalks fall in. Add the cream and blend until smooth.
7. Check the seasoning and divide the sauce up into pots for whenever it’s needed. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days.

A warming leek and potato soup for autumn days

Despite the blue skies and warm glow from the sun, there was definitely a chill in the air this weekend; a sure sign that autumn is on its way early this year. The nights have started to draw in earlier and when I woke up this morning at 6am the darkness sat like a blanket over the moor. We very nearly got the fire going on Sunday night and that prompted me to make some warming dishes to help lift our spirits.

Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love wrapping up in woolly jumpers and snuggling down on the sofa of a Sunday evening with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a BBC costume drama. I love watching the leaves change colour, from vibrant greens to the more burnished tones of autumn, and I love going for walks when it’s cold and crisp outside and I can come home to a big log fire and a proper hearty dinner.

Halloween and fireworks night are probably my favourite events of the year- there’s something magical about gathering outside with friends to watch the crackle and sparkle of fireworks, swaddled in hats scarves and boots, or the smell of a pumpkin as the tea light singes the moist flesh of the jack-o-lantern lid.

In tribute to the coming of my favourite season, I decided that soup was just the thing I needed for lunch this week. My mums’ tried and tested leek and potato recipe did just the trick…

Ingredients
Serves 4 people for dinner or makes 5-6 work-sized lunches (see photo)

• Three large leeks
• 3-4 large baking potatoes- any kind
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2.5 pints chicken or veg stock (I use 2 stock cubes)

To serve

• Handful of grated cheddar cheese
• Crusty bread and lots of butter (real butter, no spreads please!)

Method

1. In a large saucepan heat the olive gently
2. Prepare the leeks by chopping off the root and all of the green leaf end to leave the white part- leeks can be very muddy so I find that chopping off the leaf end down to the first split in the outer leaf is a good guide for how much to remove. Make a shallow slit down the length of the outer leaf and remove just one layer to get rid of any grit. Rinse and chop into rough rounds.

3. Chop the potatoes roughly- don’t bother to peel them (its going to be liquidized no-one will know) just scrub well
4. Add the leeks to the pan and sweat gently over a low heat for 5 mins until slightly softened
5. Add the potatoes and the stock, cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 mins.
6. After this time remove the pan from the heat and liquidize the soup- I do this using a little hand blender but you can use a regular blender or a food processor. Just remember that the soup will be hot so cover the lid with a tea towel if you go for the latter options.
7. Taste the soup and season well with black pepper, serve with the grated cheddar on top and big hunks of liberally buttered bread.

Chicken paprika

This recipe belongs to my auntie Debbie. After having had it for dinner several times at her house I had to recreate it at home and it has since become a staple in my repertoire. It is both delicious and thrifty, and saw me through my three years as an undergraduate at Brighton University in style.

Ingredients
Serves 3-4 people for dinner

• 6 chicken thighs skin on and bone in
• ½ a jar of paprika (I use regular paprika in those little supermarket jars, but Debbie says you can use ½ smoked paprika and ½ regular for an extra kick)
• 2 small onions roughly chopped
• Approx 200gms chopped pancetta, lardons or bacon bits
• 500gms closed cap or chestnut mushrooms roughly chopped into large chunks
• Big handful of pearl barley
• Roughly 1 pint chicken stock
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tbsp crème fraiche or sour cream
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Rice or green salad to serve

Method

1. Preheat the over to 175 degrees C and find a big casserole pan with a lid- the kind you can put on top of the stove as well as in the oven.
2. Warm the oil in the casserole pan on the hob over a low heat and add the onions. Fry for 2 mins until softened then add the pancetta to cook through.
3. After another 2 mins remove from the heat, add the mushrooms and pearl barley and stir well.
4. Pour the paprika into a small bowl and add the chicken thighs one at a time, rubbing well to coat them all over in the spice. Place the thighs on top of the onion mixture.
5. Stir the tomato puree into the stock and pour over the chicken to just cover the thighs, you may not need all of it
6. Put the lid on and place the pan in the oven for 1 hour to cook, then remove the lid and cook for a further 40mins to an hour depending on the size of the thighs. Alternatively, you can cook the whole dish on a lower heat- say 100 degrees for 3-4 hours with the lid on if you’re going out or have guests over.
7. Remove from the oven and lift the thighs out on to the awaiting rice/plates. Stir the crème fraiche into the sauce (to avoid curdling, mix the crème fraiche with a ladle full of sauce first then add to the main pan and stir) and season to taste

8. Add some sauce and a spoonful of bacon and mushroom mix to each plate and serve

Lemon drizzle cake

Mum was on the quest for the perfect lemon drizzle cake earlier this year and after several promising, but disappointingly un-lemony results from cookbook recipes, she conjured up this little gem.

Ingredients:

• 6oz margarine
• 6oz caster sugar
• 6oz self raising flour
• 3 large eggs
• Zest and juice of 1 large, unwaxed lemon
• 2-3tbsps caster/granulated sugar for topping

Method

1. Preheat the over to 150-175 degrees C. Grease a small loaf tin (I use cake release http://www.lakeland.co.uk/cake-release!REG/F/product/4198 it’s expensive but gives perfect results every time) and sprinkle with a little flour. This will help prevent your cake from sticking to the tin.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar, either by hand or in a food processor until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time then fold in the flour using a big metal spoon and a figure of eight motion (if you’re using a food processor don’t worry about the folding, just mix)
4. Grate in the zest of the lemon and add one half of the juice. Stir well and pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin.
5. Bake for approximately 30 minutes (may need a little longer depending on your oven) or until a skewer or knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes in the tin, then mix together the remaining lemon juice and sugar in a bowl, poke a few holes in the cake using a knife and drizzle the mixture over the cake. It will sink it and make it all nice and tangy and moist.
7. After half an hour or so turn the cake out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

back from the seaside!

Just got back from a week in Cornwall so there will be a few new posts to come in the next few days.

We stopped in at Margot's restaurant in Padstow last tuesday (I say stopped in, we had to book 2 months in advance to get an evening table!!) and had an epic feast in the form of their taster menu. Five courses of Michelin starred food (six really- they threw in an extra as were regulars!), plus a couple of drinks each came in at under £80 for two people- that is what I call value for money! the service was outstanding and the atmosphere warm and welcoming as always.

We had espresso sized portions of creamy fish soup; fat, sweet juicy scallops with crisp parma ham and a lemon dressing; a gorgeously mild, yet smoky, risotto of wild mushrooms, spinach and bacon; I had a huge portion of tender roast guinea fowl with spring onion mash plus fresh vegetables for mains; the worlds best sticky toffee pudding; a local cheese board with homemade bread; and finally coffee and hand made petit fours.

 If you're down that way, book in for lunch or dinner (see my favourite links), I cant recommend this place highly enough.

We also made a few visits to Bre-Pen farm which is situated on the headland between Watergate bay (where Jamie Oliver has a restaurant) and the little village of Mawgan Porth- Bre-Pen farm. Having spent nearly every summer in the area for the last 25 years, I feel well qualified to say that Jill makes the best cream teas in Cornwall. Her scones are meltingly soft and served warm, the strawberry jam is homemade and just the right side of soft set, and the clotted cream is from the farm up the road. The best bit is that you can buy all of the elements separately from the farm shop as well, in case you would like to take home a little slice of holiday.

Frozen banoffee pie

I got the idea for this recipe when watching Nigella’s Christmas series on TV a couple of years ago. She makes an icecream cake with a biscuit base, vanilla icecream filling and butterscotch sauce on top- so it seemed like a natural move (to me anyway) to add some bananas to that!!

The first time I made it was for Christmas 2008 and thanks to my over excitement and the lack of space in Sue’s freezer, we took it out too soon and were faced with a big, (but still delicious!) banoffee puddle for pudding. The second time around it was perfect. It’s incredibly moreish and the butterscotch sauce is heaven. In fact, you could make the sauce to go with any kind of icecream… or pudding really! If pushed for time you could use dulce de lech sauce from a jar, but the real stuff is amazing- try it just once.

By the way this cake cant be made all in one go, you have to freeze it for a few hours in between the icecream stage and topping it, so its handy for dinner parties, Christmas etc. when you want to do all the faffing around before hand and no hard work on the day.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ packs of Maryland double choc chip cookies or equivalent cookies (you may not need all of them
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 big tub of good quality vanilla icecream or two smaller (ben and jerry sized) ones- I use Green and Blacks with Madagascan vanilla
• 2 large ripe bananas
• 200ml double cream
• 150gms unsalted butter
• 185gms soft brown sugar
• 8inch springform tin

Method

1. About ½ hour before you want to make this get the icecream out of the freezer to soften- you want it to be spoonable but not liquidy.
2. Grease the springform tin then crush the packets of biscuits to crumbs. I get a rolling pin, and leaving the biscuit packets closed, bash the hell out of them- don’t do it too hard or they’ll explode!
3. In a large saucepan melt the 4tbsp butter and once melted, stir in the biscuits until well coated
4. Spoon the biscuit mix into the tin and press down with the back of a spoon to make a base (almost as if you were making a cheesecake).
5. Spoon in the icecream on top of the biscuits, smooth down until the base is fully covered and put the tin back in the freezer. It can stay there until you need it- probably up to a week if you cover it with some cling film.
6. Then make the butterscotch sauce, again this can be kept for up to four days in the fridge until you need it. Just put the butter, cream and sugar into a saucepan with a medium heat, once it has all melted bring to the boil and simmer for around 3mins stirring occasionally then leave to cool completely before refrigerating. Be careful- this will be hotter than Daniel Craig’s backside- you will get third degree burns if you get molten sugar on yourself and certainly do not lick the spoon!! Nick nearly learnt that lesson the hard way!
7. When you’re ready to serve the pudding, take it out of the freezer 20mins beforehand so the icecream can soften up.
8. Peel and slice the banana and arrange it on top of the icecream. Either take the butterscotch sauce out of the fridge an hour beforehand or warm it up for 10 seconds in the microwave.
9. To serve, lift the cake out of the tin and on to a plate (keep the base in place or it will all go tits up) then pour the sauce over and cut everyone big slices.

p.s. try and eat it all, or return it to the freezer once you’ve cut a few slices, you can’t re-freeze icecream once it has melted.

Green thai curry

This isn’t a traditional thai curry but I make no apologies for that! It’s my version which I think I pilfered from a Nigel Slater book about 5 years ago. I’ve tweaked the ingredients to my taste- I like it hot so feel free to cut down the chilli content or use larger milder varieties if you prefer milder curries.

I’ve included a meat and vegetarian version at the request of Sophie- hope its useful! Call me if you decide to use it and need clarification on anything. This serves 2 really hungry people or 3-4 normal people

Ingredients
For the paste

• 2 sticks lemon grass roughly chopped
• 5cm piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4-6 green birds eye chillies (depending how hot you like it!) deseeded
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• Big bunch coriander (I use the large one from the supermarket herb section) roughly chopped

For the curry

• 1x can of coconut milk (400ml) can use low fat if you like
• Either- 400-500gms chicken (I use 2 large breasts but thighs are really tasty too) or the equivalent weight of vegetables. Use a mixture of peppers, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts (both can be bought canned) pack choi, baby sweetcorn, mange tout, courgettes- whatever you fancy really! You could also use a mixture of both.
• basmati or thai fragrant rice for 3-4 people

Method

1. Put the rice on to cook, I use a rice cooker which makes it perfectly every time but do it whichever way you are happiest with.
2. Put all the ingredients for the paste into a food processor and mix until a smooth paste, or if you have a hand blender, put it all into a bowl and blend until smooth. You may have to stop and stir a few times to get all the coriander in properly.
3. Chop the chicken or veg into bite size chunks. If you are using chicken, heat a little vegetable oil in a wok and fry until sealed on all sides then add the paste. Cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly until fragrant (if you are using veg add the oil and then the paste right away.)

4. Add the veg if using and stir to coat well.
5. Add the coconut milk, mix well and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the veg is tender, the meat is cooked and the sauce has thickened a little.

6. Taste the sauce and season with a little extra fish sauce if necessary.
7. Serve with the rice

Spaghetti Carbonara

This is a brilliant dinner which only takes ten minutes to whip up and tastes like you’ve gone to loads of trouble making it, when really it’s very easy! I think the recipe originally came from a Nigella or Jamie Oliver book but to be honest it’s been so long now I can’t remember.

It's also one of Chloe (my nearly sister in law)’s  favourite dinners. I passed the recipe on to her a few months ago when she went to uni and it is to her that I dedicate this now…

Ingredients

• 200gms pancetta, bacon or lardons- I use the little packets of pancetta lardons that you get in the cooked/cured meats section of the supermarket.
• 2 egg large yolks
• 1-2 big handfuls of freshly grated parmesan (please don’t use that saw dust that comes ready grated in cardboard pots, it’s worth buying a block of the cheese and doing it yourself)
• 150ml double cream- the smallest pot you can get in supermarkets
• 1 garlic clove
• Pasta/ spaghetti for 2-3 people
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Get a saucepan of water on to boil and when its ready add the pasta.
2. While this is cooking start warming up a frying pan on the hob with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Chop the bacon/pancetta if that’s what you’re using (remember to remove the rind if you’re using a proper block of pancetta) and add to the pan, or if not just empty in the lardons.
3. Fry the pancetta and after about 2 minutes crush in the garlic clove. Fry until the pancetta is golden and crispy (about 3-5 mins) and remove from the heat.
4. In a little bowl mix together the egg yolks, cream and parmesan.
5. When the pasta is ready, drain it and return to the saucepan. Add the pancetta and give it all a good stir then pour in the cream mixture and mix quickly for a minute until the pasta is well coated with sauce. The heat from the pasta will cook the eggs so don’t worry about eating them raw, although you should always choose fresh, free range eggs. Make sure you stir the pasta as soon as the cream goes in, if you leave it to sit the eggs will scramble!
6. Season well with lots of black pepper and serve, the pancetta is quite salty so don’t add any extra salt until you taste it.

p.s. make sure you eat it all, this dish doesn’t reheat well for some reason! Also, it’s really nice if you add some finely diced courgette while the pancetta is cooking.

American style banana pancakes

I have much love for pancakes and believe their consumption shouldn’t be confined purely to Shrove Tuesday. Both American hotcakes and crepes make a fine pudding as well as a weekend-worthy breakfast and are actually very quick to make.

This recipe was the result of listening to Jack Johnson’s Chasing Dreams album. In one of the songs he sings about banana pancakes, and, as this was shortly after my experimental foray into making banana bread (one of the most heavenly cakes ever devised) and Nick had decided that bananas weren’t actually public enemy number one after all, I whipped up a batch American-style and was pleasantly surprised!

You can make these and stack them on a plate under tin foil to keep warm so that you don’t have to gobble them straight from the pan (unless you want to of course!) they wont stick together. All you need is lots of maple syrup, maybe some chocolate ice cream too if you’re having them for pudding.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 300ml milk (any kind)
• 2tsp baking powder
• 250gms plain flour
• 1tsp caster sugar
• 2tbsp butter, plus 2tsp for frying
• 1 very ripe banana (even black ones are fine)
• Toppings of your choice

Method

1. Put all the ingredients except the 2 tsp butter in a blender and blitz until smooth.
2. Heat a heavy bottom frying pan on the hob until very hot and get a plate and some foil ready to receive the pancakes.
3. Add 1 tsp butter, roll around the pan and dollop on 2-3tbsp of batter per pancake- you should be able to cook two or three in the pan at the same time, see photos.
4. When the batter starts to bubble and looks golden underneath flip the pancakes over with a spatula and cook for 1 minute on the other side. They will cook a lot faster as the pan gets hotter so be vigilant or they will burn!
5. Once cooked, transfer to the plate and cover with foil to keep hot. Repeat until all the batter has been used. You will probably get 15 pancakes from these ingredients.
6. Smother with toppings and eat while hot!

kitchen garden (up the road)

I have just acquired a lovely garden to grow my own fruit and veg via the Landshare scheme website http://www.landshare.net/ I plan to get digging this weekend and will add a "whats growing" page to my blog as soon as its up and running

The perfect cupcake

My mum has used this recipe for making cupcakes/ fairycakes and sponge cakes for as long as I can remember. I think she may have got it from the recipe book which came with our old food processor. She inherited both from my grandmother Barbara in the late 80s early 90s and from what I can understand Barbara also had the book and machine at least 10 years so it’s a miracle it wasn’t lost at some point really (we only got rid of the processor two years ago when it finally packed up!)

Still, the recipe has endured, and it's really very easy to remember- I can make it off by heart now, as can my sister Nikki. It makes approximately 12-16 cupcakes depending on how generous you are with the batter and the quantities can be doubled to make a Victoria sponge or 30 cupcakes if you like.

A lot of people balk when I say that the recipe uses margarine instead of butter- do not fear!!- The margarine is lighter than butter and has less saturated fat which gives the cakes a melt-in-your-mouth ethereal quality. I promise you will never taste a lighter or fluffier cake. I have always used Flora (just the normal stuff) but I know Nikki has used supermarket own brand marg before and had perfect results.

You can either make these in a food processor, in which case you will have a perfect bowl of cake batter in literally 5 minutes- just add the ingredients in the same order as below, processing and scraping round the edges with each addition, or you can do it by hand using a spoon, or with a hand mixer which takes a few minutes longer but works just as well.

Either way, make sure you scrape the bowl and lick the spoon once its empty, it’s the best bit!

Ingredients

• 4oz/ 200gms self raising flour
• 4oz margarine
• 4oz caster sugar (don’t use granulated it just doesn’t work)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract/ essence
• If you would rather make chocolate cakes replace 1-1.5oz flour with cocoa powder
• Cupcake cases

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, or175 degrees C if you have a fan oven, or gas mark 5-6 if you have a gas oven.
2. Get a baking tray ready and lay out your cupcake cases. You can either use a tray with hollows for the cakes to sit in like those used for Yorkshire puddings, in which case just use one case for each cake, or if you’re using a flat baking tray double up on the cake cases to avoid spillages- I have ended up with a big cake puddle in the past!
3. In a large bowl cream together the caster sugar and margarine until pale and fluffy, this will take a few minutes, start slow until they’re well incorporated or the sugar will go everywhere, you can beat harder once there’s no loose sugar in the bowl.
4. Add the eggs one by one, beating hard, don’t worry if it starts to look a bit like curdling at this point once the flour’s in it will all be ok.
5. Fold in the flour using a big metal spoon. Do this in a figure of eight, running the spoon around the edge of the bowl occasionally until it looks well mixed and smooth. This is the part where you are getting lots of air in to the mixture so don’t be tempted to beat the batter or over mix it or your cakes will sink and go soggy during baking.
6. Fold in the vanilla essence and divide the mixture between the cases. I would suggest 1 ½ tsps of mixture for each case so you don’t end up with giant hefalumps of cakes. You may need to fill 12 cases then bake a batch before retrieving the tray and putting the other four into bake- this is fine the batter will keep ok for ½ hour. If you’re using two trays and baking the cakes on separate shelves in the oven, be aware that those higher up will cook faster, you may need to rotate them halfway through cooking.
7. Bake for 12-15mins until golden and springy to touch. If in doubt, poke a knife into a cake (you will just have to eat this one yourself) - it will come out clean if it’s cooked. If not give them a few more minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack and ice with buttercream icing or icing sugar (made up according to instructions on the packet) and sprinkle with your choice of decorations while still wet.

p.s. im afraid i cant take credit for the beauties in the picture above, but this recipe will make ones almost identical- i will post my own pics very soon

Cannellini bean salad with lemon and tuna

Another packed lunch hero! I found this recipe, albeit a slightly different version, in Jo Pratt’s book “In the mood for food”. It’s a really excellent read (it will make you hungry though!) and the recipes work perfectly.

I added a few changes: swapping the cherry tomatoes for sundried, omitting the rocket, changing the dressing a little… it’s not far from the original, just adapted to my taste, as I’d advise you to do. It makes enough for three lunches and keeps very well.

The nice thing about this recipe is that if you can’t find a particular ingredient or if you want to add extras you can. There’s been a few occasions when I couldn’t find cannellini beans and so substituted butter beans or kidney beans (it was Sunday night and there was nothing else in the cupboard!) and they worked surprisingly well.

You can use pretty much any flavour olives you like- black or green- just not those hideous, flavourless little rings of olives in brine that you get from a jar- urgh! I’ve also forgotten to buy a lemon before and added a handful of finely chopped coriander instead (see photo) and it was still good.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of cannellini beans (normal sized can)
• 1 small can of tuna chunks in sunflower oil
• 8-10 sundried tomatoes (the kind that come in a jar in oil- sometimes labelled antipasti)
• ¼ of a cucumber
• Handful olives, stones removed (any kind you like)
• 1 lemon
• 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Open the cans and, using a sieve, drain the tuna and beans (you can chuck them both in together it doesn’t matter)
2. Chop the cucumber in to quarters lengthways and dice
3. Remove the tomatoes from the oil and chop in to bit sized pieces
4. Throw all in to a big bowl with the olives and mix!
5. Dress with the oil and season to taste (go easy on the salt). Grate in the zest of the lemon then slice it in half and squeeze out the juice in to the salad
6. Mix and check it tastes nice. Divide between three lunchboxes and refrigerate until needed.

Salad version of the chicken tagine

I loved the chicken tagine so much that I decided to make a salad version of it for my lunch box!

I am on the never ending quest to find interesting things for lunch, and having spent most of my school years with sandwiches (plain tuna mayonnaise please, no butter) in my Forever Friends packed lunch box I have somewhat gone off of them- there are some very nice ones out there and I certainly wouldn’t say no to an M&S special occasionally- but sandwiches are fairly low down my list of preferred lunch time meals.

The result is that I usually end up carting in leftovers to work from dinner the night before, or whip up a salad from whatever’s hanging about in the fridge. I also resent having to spend ages of an evening making things for lunch the next day and so tend to make food in batches. It does mean that I end up eating the same thing two or three days in a row, but if it’s tasty enough this can be a bonus!

With this in mind I’ve given quantities which will make approximately three servings. I keep those little plastic tubs that Chinese takeaways come in, dishwasher them then use them to carry food for lunch, so it will make you about three of those.

There’s also no garlic in this recipe as I didn’t want to breathe it all over my colleagues but, as always, the addition is your choice! Just put a finely chopped clove in at the roasting phase should the urge take you. Some olives would also be nice.

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken thighs, skin on or off- whatever you prefer
• 1 bulb fennel
• 2 small onions
• 2 preserved lemons (deseeded and finely chopped)
• Small bunch of fresh coriander finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 200gms couscous
• 250ml chicken stock at boiling temperature

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175-200 degrees C depending on the ferocity of your particular model.
2. Chop the fennel bulb in to eights lengthways then in to bite size chunks if any pieces are too large. Peel and quarter the onions and place all the veg in to a roasting tin.
3. Place the chicken thighs on top, season well and drizzle with a little olive oil.
4. Bake in the oven for 40-45mins or until the juices run clear when you pierce the chicken. Leave to cool completely (you can leave it overnight if this helps and assemble the salad the next morning, just make sure to cover the food with a clean cloth while its cooling)
5. Put the couscous in to a bowl, pour over the boiling chicken stock and cover with some clingfilm or a plate for 10 mins. Then give the couscous a stir to fluff it up and leave to get cold.
6. Mix the fennel, onions, lemons and coriander in to the couscous. Pull all the meat from the chicken thighs in to bite sized pieces and add in.
7. Have a taste, season if necessary and drizzle over the remainder of the oil. Put in to pots and refrigerate until required (mine kept in the fridge for four days)

Photos!

Apologies that I haven't got my act together with photos yet! I know its much nicer when you can see a dish. Will do my best to get some up soon

Chicken wrapped in proscuitto with pesto sauce

I issue this recipe to you at the request of one Miss Alexis Goodkind- she asked me for it ages ago and I’d completely forgotten about it until now!

The recipe came to me from my mum. I think she may have pulled it from a magazine or newspaper about ten years ago with the intention of using it for a dinner party. It is my Dads very favourite meal which we wheel out on every special occasion- Fathers day last week being one of them, which was what got me thinking about it!

It’s very easy to make and can be left to putter away on the stove while you get the veggies etc ready. I would suggest serving it with new potatoes and green beans, or a green salad, although for those of you who like your dinners plain and simple (Leck I’m referring to you!) some rice would also do nicely.

It can also be put in the oven to bake at 175 degrees C once the chicken and pesto has been added, instead of cooking it on the stove top if you need to go off and do other things. This is particularly useful if you're in friends-over-for-dinner-mode, just transfer the onion/ pesto mix to a snug sized baking tray, put the chicken on top, stick it in the oven before they arrive and 30-40 mins later- hey presto! Its one of those dishes which tastes like you’ve put a lot more effort in to it than you really have (and we all like those don’t we?!)

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 8 strips of prosciutto (the ordinary kind you get in packets from the supermarket as its going to be cooked)
• Two small onions sliced in half moons (doesn’t need to be too fine)
• 1 jar red pesto
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 ball mozzarella

Method

1. Start by chopping the onions as directed then warm the olive oil in a big frying pan. Add the onions and cook on a low heat to soften, but not brown them, for ten minutes.
2. Trim any skin off the chicken and on a chopping board, lay out two slices of the prosciutto side by side. Place the chicken on top and roll it up in the prosciutto to make a little parcel. This doesn’t need to be too neat as you are going to cover it in sauce later anyway!
3. Repeat with the other three breasts and place them all in the pan with the onions, give them a good wiggle around so that the chicken touches the pan.
4. Keep the heat on low and cook the chicken for five minutes on each side to seal and brown it (I find a set of tongs are very useful when cooking this dish.)
5. Next pour the pesto on top and give it a good stir in with the onions around the chicken to make a sauce.
6. The chicken pieces will now need to be cooked approximately 15 minutes on each side, maybe twenty if theyre big ones. This is the point at which the whole thing could be transferred into a baking pan and put in the oven if you wish. Give it a stir every ten mins or so to make sure it doesn’t stick or burn, if it does turn the heat down lower. The onions will caramelise somewhat but don’t worry this just adds to the flavour.
7. When the chicken is ready (test with a skewer or knife- if the juices run clear you’re good to go) heat up your grill and place the chicken breasts in a little pan. Slice the mozzarella and place a big piece on top of each breast. Place in the pan under the grill for three- five mins until the cheese starts to melt.
8. Remove from the pan and serve each piece of chicken with some of the onion/pesto sauce and vegetables as above.

p.s. if you make too many of these or cant finish all your dinner the breasts make a very fine sandwich filling if left to cool and slice them the next day. (don’t put the pesto in though!)

Chicken and preserved lemon tagine

Made this scrummy tagine at the weekend which comes courtesy of Jamie Oliver’s new tv series: Jamies does… I think this is from the Moroccan episode, i found it on the Times Online website. It sounds like a bit of a faff when you look at the ingredients list but it was well worth it.

I don’t have a traditional tagine dish to make this in (although id like one!) so I used a big casserole pan with a lid. I cooked it for longer than the recommended time because I was out and about- Jamie says 1 ½ hrs on the hob at a low heat, I put mine in the oven at 100oC for more like 4hrs, and it worked perfectly. Actually, this would be really handy for a dinner party as all you would need to do at the last minute is the couscous!

I also omitted the olives because Nick doesn’t like them! But if you want to add them in its 100gms black and green olives, make sure they’re stoned, and put them in at the same time as the lemons.

Jamie says this serves four to six people and if you only like small portions it would probably do, but in reality it served one mildy hungry girl and a boy that eats enough for two!

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5kg) jointed into four pieces
• Olive oil
• 1 large bulb of fennel
• 2 small onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• A small bunch of fresh coriander
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• 2-3 small preserved lemons, deseeded and chopped
• A good pinch of saffron
• 500ml hot chicken stock

For the spice rub

• 1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds, bashed up
• level teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. 1.Mix all the spice rub ingredients together in a bowl with the chicken and olive oil. Massage well and leave to marinate for a couple of hours or over night.
2. When you’re ready to cook, heat some olive oil in a tagine or casserole dish on the hob and fry the chicken pieces over a medium to high heat, skin side down first, for about 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
3. While the chicken fries, chop each fennel bulb into 8 wedges, and add these to the pan along with the onions, coriander stalks and garlic. Stir well and fry for a couple more minutes, then mix in the preserved lemons and saffron.
4. Pour in the hot stock, give everything a good stir, then cover with a lid or foil and simmer on a low heat for 1½ hours on the hob, or 4hrs in the oven at 100oC, until the meat starts to fall away from the bone.
5. Halfway through, have a check and give it a stir. Add a splash of water if it looks dry.
6. Stir in the chopped coriander leaves and serve the tagine with some couscous cooked according to the instructions on the packet (should only take 5 mins).

Pasta with pancetta and parmesan

A quick, tasty week night supper which can be made in ten minutes and easily multiplied to feed extra people.

Ingredients:

• handful of spaghetti or enough pasta for two people
• small packet of lardons or pancetta approx 200gms- can be substitued with 6 slices of unsmoked bacon finely chopped if you cant find pancetta
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• good glug olive oil
• big handful grated parmesan

Method:

1. Put a large saucepan of water on to boil, salt generously and once it has reached a rolling boil add the spaghetti to cook.
2. In a frying pan warm the olive oil and add the pancetta/ bacon and the garlic. cook for 2-3 mins until the pancetta is brown and crispy but be careful not to let garlic burn.
3. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and return to the pan. Tip in the garlicky pancetta with oil and mix well to coat.
4. Season well with fresh ground black pepper and sprinkle over the parmesan before serving.