HALF A POT OF CREAM

Chocolate Chip Muesli Bars

2012-01-24T17:01:00.000Z

This month the We Should Cocoa challenge is being hosted by Chele from the Chocolate Teapot blog and the theme is "Health Conscious".

Chocolate and healthly don't often feature in the same sentence, at least not when I'm talking about them, so this was a bit of challenge as the usual things I would usually associate with chocolate - cookies, brownies, cheesecakes - were out of the running straight away. In the end I decided to combine chocolate with lots of good stuff like oats, seeds and dried fruit to make a pretty healthy, and tasty, muesli bar. Ok, the ratio of chocolate to everything else is not particularly high but it's definitely there so I think it just about qualifies for the challenge!

Chocolate Chip Muesli Bars
(adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger)

350g/12oz porridge oats
30g/1oz dessicated coconut
50g/1 3/4oz flaked almonds
30g/1oz sesame seeds
35g/1 1/4oz sunflower seeds
55g/2oz chopped dried apricots
185ml/6 fl oz honey
55g/2oz soft brown sugar
125ml/4 fl oz vegetable or sunflower oil
100g/3 1/2oz chocolate chips (milk or dark)

1) Preheat the oven to 130c/250f/ gas mark 1. Line a 35 x 25cm tin with greaseproof paper. Put the oats, coconut, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and apricots into a bowl.

2) Put the honey, sugar and oil into small pan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Pour this over the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix together until everything is well combined.

3) Mix in the chocolate then press into the tin. Bake for 50 minutes or so until golden brown. Cut into bars while still warm.

Makes 16

Pasta with Bacon & Vegetable Sauce

2012-01-22T18:20:00.000Z

This recipe comes from Tana Ramsey's recent cookbook, which I picked up on a whim for the bargain price of £3 in one of the discount bookstores. I really shouldn't have but at that price I just couldn't resist.

I'm welcoming my weak will on this occasion, though, as it is a very nice book with lots of great-sounding recipes suitable for all the family. This one is the first I've tried so far and on the whole it was a success (my eldest was a bit sniffy about the aubergine). The best part of the dish for me was the bacon as this one of my favourite things to pair with pasta. It effortlessly adds bags of flavour and texture. This is a great everyday pasta recipe that I'll definitely be using again.

Pasta with Bacon & Vegetable Sauce
(adapted from Tana's Kitchen Secrets by Tana Ramsey)

2 tbsp olive oil
150g/5 1/2oz fresh breadcrumbs
50g/1 3/4oz parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
400g/14oz spaghetti, or pasta of your choice

For the sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 courgette, cut into half moons
1 small aubergine, diced
8 rashers of smoked bacon, diced
400g can tomatoes
12 button mushrooms, halved
salt and pepper

1) First make the sauce. Put the oil into a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion, chilli (if using) and garlic. Fry gently for 5 minutes, until the onion has softened but not coloured. Add the courgette, aubergine and bacon and cook for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms and basil and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

2) Bring a large pan of water to the boil ready for the pasta. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small frying pan over a high heat and toss in the breadcrumbs, stirring constantly until they are toasted a light golden brown. Remove from the heat and mix in the parmesan and basil. Set aside.

3) Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the pack. Drain and drizzle over a little oil.

4) Serve the pasta in warmed serving bowls or plates and spoon the sauce over the top, then top with the toasted breadcrumbs and a little more chopped basil.

Serves 4

Another year, another look!

2012-01-17T20:56:00.001Z

Yes, I know I changed the design of this blog just a couple of months ago but while I did like some aspects of the new design I also missed some of the features from my old blog.

So, I decided to start afresh with a new design. The green theme still remains, but with a bit more colour, and I've now been able to put back the ingredients list on the right hand side and other elements such as links to Facebook and Twitter and my followers list. I've added some new links at the top which take you to my About Me page and Recipe Indexes and hope to add some more in the near future. These pages were included in the previous design but, for some reason, were showing up on some computers and not others. Another reason I decided to make the change.

So, I hope you like the new look. Tell your friends!

Fusilli with Glorious Green Spinach Sauce

2012-01-16T18:02:00.000Z

Look at this for a colourful dinner! I was trying to decide what to do with a tub of mascarpone that was speeding towards its use-by date when I came across this recipe that I'd pulled out of an edition of Good Food Magazine some years ago.

Now I've made it I don't why I waited so long as this is a lovely dish. I guess the sound of a green spinach sauce isn't particularly appetising but don't be put off. There's enough mascarpone to make a really creamy sauce that isn't overpowered by the spinach (although if you really hate the stuff this may not be the dish for you) and the parmesan adds it's usual cheesy flavour. It's surprisingly child-friendly too, considering the colour - I had one complete plate-clearance and one half finished which, for a new dish, is pretty good going!

And, of course, it's easy to make. As you can see from the instructions below, it's just a two-step job with minimal chopping and faffing involved.

Fusilli with Glorious Green Spinach Sauce
(from BBC Good Food Magazine)

400g/14oz fusilli pasta
225g/8oz bag baby spinach
1 garlic clove
250g tub mascarpone
juice of 1/2 large lemon
30g/1oz grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
55g/2oz pine nuts, lightly toasted

1) Cook the pasta according to the instruction. Meanwhile, put half the spinach in a food processor with the garlic, mascarpone, lemon juice and parmesan, then whizz to a smooth sauce.

2) Drain the pasta thoroughly and return to the pan over a low heat. Stir in the sauce, pine nuts and remaining spinach, until the spinach has just wilted. Season and serve with extra parmesan.

Serves 4

Caramel Salmon

2012-01-12T19:32:00.000Z

I have to confess that up until now I haven't been a big fan of salmon as I find the flavour a bit too rich, although I do try to cook it from time to time as it's so good for you. However, following the discovery of this recipe salmon will definitely be making a much more regular appearance in my shopping basket in future.

This is an incredibly simple dish from Bill Granger's book, Every Day, that takes just minutes to cook and you end up with the richest, stickiest sauce with an amazing salty sweet flavour. There was quite a bit of sauce left over but I couldn't bear to throw it away so ended up mopping it all up with a slice of bread - heavenly!

I've changed the original recipe as it suggested using 800 grams of salmon for four people, or about 2 fillets each, which seemed like way too much to me. I just used a pack of two fillets from the supermarket for two of us (and halved the other ingredients) and this was just the right amount.

Caramel Salmon
(adapted from Every Day by Bill Granger)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 salmon fillets
1 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
115g/4oz soft brown sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lime juice

1) Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Cook the salmon, skin-side down, for 2-3 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon until nicely browned. Turn it over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes or so until the salmon is cooked but still has a line of translucent, darker pink flesh in its centre, then remove from the pan.

2) Reduce the heat to medium and a little extra oil to the pan if needed. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar and fish sauce.

3) Return the salmon to the pan and cook for 1 minute, or until the sauce is rich, dark and syrupy. Season with black pepper and lime juice.

4) Serve with rice and green with extra lime wedges on the side.

Serves 4

Meal Planning Monday - 9th January 2012

2012-01-09T12:01:00.000Z

It's been ages since I last did a meal-planning post but after a short spell of post-Christmas exhaustion my meal-planning mojo has returned and the coming weeks are beginning to be filled with lots of new recipes.

So the next few days look something like this...

Monday

Pasta with my go-to Tomato and Pancetta sauce

Tuesday

Caramel Salmon with rice

Wednesday

Smoked Mackerel Salad

Thursday

Chicken Breast Baked in a Bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White Wine & Thyme

Friday

Some sort of quiche and salad

Saturday

Lemony Chicken

Sunday

Stir-fried Pork with Hoisin and Greens

I'll do my best to report back about any successes.

As always, if you'd like to share your plans for the week either leave a comment or log your post on Mrs M's blog, At Home with Mrs M.

Gingerbread House

2012-01-06T16:27:00.002Z

I know Christmas has come and gone now but while we're still finishing off the Christmas Cake and the last handful of chocolates from the jar I just wanted to tell you about the Gingerbread House we made a couple of weeks ago. I've been meaning to try one for years now and this year I finally found the time to devote to it.

I used the recipe from Rachel Allen's book, Bake as it looked so pretty. It was pretty straightforward to put together but owners of the book should be warned that the template shown isn't correct as the roof dimensions are too small. The link below takes you to the online version of the recipe but still, while these revised dimensions do work, next time I might add an inch to the length and width of the roof sections to give the nice overhanging effect you can see in the book.

Assembling one of these houses isn't something you can do in a hurry however if you have a bit of time to devote to it, it's pretty straightforward. I ended up tackling it in two stages, making the gingerbread on one day and assembling it the next. This meant I had plenty of time to spend on making, cutting out and cooking the gingerbread and it was nice and cool for the following day's construction work.

Putting the house together was easier that I was expecting as the icing held the parts together nice and firmly and didn't take too long to set. We all then had lots of fun sticking on the different sweets and sprinkles.

All in all this was a brilliant way to spend a couple of afternoons in the run up to Christmas and both my children really enjoyed helping. I should point out that you will end up with LOTS of gingerbread (as well as the house I also had enough for lots of gingerbread men, angels, Christmas trees etc), so you'll probably need to enlist some help when it comes to breaking it apart and eating it.

You can find the recipe here.

East Anglian Food Events - January to March 2012

2012-01-04T16:31:00.000Z

Here's my updated roundup of upcoming foodie events in East Anglia over the next three months. A couple of Farmer's Markets are taking a break this month but everyone seems to be back to normal from February. At the moment I'm loving the sound of the Secluded Food Blogfest in March and I've also got my eye on the Elveden Estate Restaurant's Pudding Night which would be an ideal birthday treat!

If anyone has anything they'd like me to include then please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email.

JANUARY

Farmers Markets

14th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

14th & 28th - Woodbridge Farmers Market, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

21st - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

28th - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 car park charge redeemable against purchases)

Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events
25th - Elveden Estate Restaurant - Burns Night Dinner

29th - The Secluded Tea Party - Afternoon Tea with Unwanted Xmas Gift Swap, Cambridgeshire - 2pm to 4pm

FEBRUARY

Farmers Markets

4th - Snape Maltings, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm

4th - Jimmy's Farm Produce & Craft Market, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm

11th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

11th & 25th - Woodbridge Farmers Market, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

18th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

TBC - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 car park charge redeemable against purchases)

23rd - Snape Malting Christmas Market, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm

Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

5th - Top Secret Tea Parties - Afternoon Tea Party, Peterborough - 2pm to 4pm
11th - Elveden Estate Restaurant - Alternative Valentine's Night Dinner
16th - Snape Maltings - Children's Pizza and Pasta Making Workshop - 10am to 12pm or 2pm to 4pm

18th - The Secluded Tea Party - Afternoon Tea with Twitter Basics,Cambridgeshire - 10.30am to 12.30pm
25th - Elveden Estate Restaurant - Pudding Night

MARCH

Farmers Markets

3rd - Snape Maltings, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm

3rd - Jimmy's Farm Produce & Craft Market, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm

10th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

10th & 24th - Woodbridge Farmers Market, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

17th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

TBC - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 car park charge redeemable against purchases)

Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

2nd - 4th - Feast East Food & Drink Festival, Cambridgeshire
18th - Top Secret Tea Parties - Mother's Day Tea Party, Peterborough - 2pm to 4pm
24th - The Secluded Tea Party - The Secluded Food Blogfest,Cambridgeshire - 10am to 2pm

Review of 2011

2011-12-30T19:00:00.000Z

Phew, well that's Christmas over and done with for another year. As with most years it flew by in a whirlwind of shopping, present wrapping, tree purchasing and, of course, cooking. Lots of cooking! Not so much blogging though unfortunately as I just haven't had the opportunity to spend any quality time with my laptop. I plan to rectify that in the New Year, but in the meantime I thought I'd pick out a few of my favourite recipes from the past 12 months.

First up are these fabulous Blondies from Nigella's Kitchen book. This is one of the first recipes I posted about back in January and it's become one of my favourite traybake recipes.

Next up is another Nigella recipe that I made in March - Chocolate Key Lime Pie. This is a perfect dinner party dessert as you can make it in minutes the night before. Oh, and it tastes amazing.

This Tiramisu Trifle is a tried and tested recipe that I've used many times and, like the Chocolate Lime Pie above, it's great for gatherings. Again, it can be made in advance and it serves 8 to 10 easily so it's great for a family barbeque or a Christmas gathering.

At last, a savoury recipe! This recipe for Tortellini with Corgette and Lemon that I posted about in May is another that I make over and over. It's so simple to throw together and is light and (reasonably) healthy. A great after work dinner.

These Date Bars sound rather virtuous and boring. They're not! A bit like flapjacks but with a gooey layer of sweet, fudgy dates in the middle, these are a very moreish treat. I must make them again soon.

Another savoury recipe now that I made back in June. This Lamb Byriani with Cumin, Mint and Coriander Yoghurt comes from Bill Granger's book, Every Day, a great book full of light, healthy recipes. This was a great one-pot meal and I loved the addition of the spiced yoghurt.

I made Delia's Strawberry and Vanilla Pavlova in the summer right at the end of the strawberry season and, while I had a bit of trouble with the meringue part, in the end it turned out perfectly. I loved the combination of fromage frais and mascarpone instead of the usual whipped cream.

Now this is recipe worth mentioning again! These amazing Peanut Butter Squares come from Nigella's book, How to be a Domestic Goddess. Salty peanut butter, chocolate and a not-inconsiderable amount of sugar and butter are combined to perfection in these delicious little squares.

I made this Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade in October as part of a Pudding Club dinner and it was declared to be the best by almost all parties. The clue is in the title as the meringue truly does have a wonderful marshmallowy texture and is paired perfectly with tart rhubarb and soft whipped cream. Dessert heaven.

I'll finish with two savoury dishes that I posted about in November. The first, Nigella's Risotto Bolognese was a new discovery and definitely a keeper. It's rich and flavourful and probably the best risotto recipe I've come across.

Last but definitely not least is this Sausage Pasta Bake recipe. I came across this years ago in a food magazine and have made it countless times since then. It's undoubtably my favourite pasta bake by a long way.

Happy New Year everyone! See you in 2012.

Hotel Chocolat Competition....a new winner!

2011-12-12T19:58:00.002Z

As I have had a response from the previous winner I have had to rerun the draw. As as result I can announce that the new winner is...

Garden, Tea, Cakes and Me

Congratulations!

Please email me your address and I'll arrange for your prize to be delivered as soon as possible.

Thanks again to Hotel Chocolat for giving me the opportunity to run this great competition.

Banana & Chocolate Cookies

2011-12-02T21:10:00.000Z

If I ever write a recipe book I think I'll call it "Recipes to Make Your Home Smell Fabulous" and I've already got the first recipe right here.

The recipe in question comes from Hungry?, a book I reviewed earlier in the year and I'm still using on a regular basis. I've been wanting to try these for ages but, until this week, never quite managed to have all of the ingredients in the house at the same time. They were definitely worth the wait though.

They're quite unusual, being wheat and egg free, and have a more cake-like texture than normal cookies but don't be put off as they taste great, especially when they're still warm from the oven. Plus, as I mentioned above, while they're baking your kitchen will filled with the deliciously comforting aroma of banana and coconut.

Banana & Chocolate Cookies
(adapted from Hungry? from the Innocent Drinks people)

3 ripe bananas
100g/4oz butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 large handfuls porridge oats
100g/4oz ground almonds
100g/4oz unsweetened desiccated coconut
a handful of raisins or chopped dried apricots
a pinch of ground cinnamon
100g/4oz milk or plain chocolate, chopped into small bits (or just use a bag of chocolate drops)

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper (you may need two).

2) In a big mixing bowl, mash up the bananas with a fork then add the melted butter and vanilla and give it a good stir.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the chocolate, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate pieces. It probably won't look quite as firm as normal cookie dough but don't worry.

4) Spoon the mix onto the baking sheets, using about 2 teaspoons per cookie. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden. (The original recipe suggests leaving space for them to expand but mine didn't grow that much).

5) Leave to cook on a wire rack for a few minutes. They're best eaten while still warm but will also keep just fine in an airtight container for up to a week.

Makes about 25

Hotel Chocolat Giveaway.....And the winner is......

2011-11-30T20:08:00.001Z

Thanks to everyone who entered the Hotel Chocolat giveaway. I can now announce that the winner of the Hotel Chocolat Classic Christmas Selection Box is....

Beth S Paton

Congratulations!

Please email me your address and I'll arrange for your prize to be delivered as soon as possible.

Thanks again to Hotel Chocolat for giving me the opportunity to run this great competition.

We Should Cocoa - Chocolate & Caramelised Apple Cake

2011-11-24T13:22:00.000Z

It's been a while since I entered the We Should Cocoa monthly challenge, where bloggers make and share recipes that include chocolate and another ingredient suggested the challenge host for that month. I was determined to join in again this month but when I saw the theme I wasn't convinced I was going find a recipe to fit the bill.

This time the challenge is being hosted by Chele from the Chocolate Teapot blog and her chosen theme is apples, which is not something you automatically think to pair with chocolate. Pears, yes, but apples? After a bit of searching I found a few apple recipes you could add chocolate to but what I really wanted was the reverse - a chocolate recipe you could add apples to. In the end I settled on the idea for a really good chocolate apple cake and at about the same time it also occurred to me that I had the perfect cake tin for the job. Well, "tin" isn't quite the correct word as this is one of those flexible rubber cake moulds that I bought on a whim several years ago. I have used it a grand total of zero times since I decided I just had to have it and in the intervening years it's mostly been gathering dust in my cupboard and occasionally falling out on to my head.

As you can see, though, it's the perfect shape for this recipe and I loved the way the cake looked when it was turned out.

The cake recipe is more brownie-based than a standard sponge as it contains melted chocolate and cocoa powder which gives it a good chocolatey flavour and a wonderful, slightly gooey texture in the middle. The apple complemented the chocolate perfectly and all-in-all it was very well received by my most discerning critics (ie my family). I definitely be making this one again.

Chocolate & Caramelised Apple Cake

2 bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into approx 24 slices
1oz/25g butter
1oz/25g sugar

For the cake
4oz/115g butter
1 1/4 oz/40g dark chocolate, broken up
3/4 oz/20g cocoa powder
2 eggs, separated
4oz/115g caster sugar
3oz/75g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

2) Melt the 1oz of butter in a frying pan over a medium to high heat until it starts to bubble then add the apple slices and fry for a few minutes on each side until golden. Increase the heat and sprinkle over the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. When the sauce begins to turn golden, stir the apples in the pan until they are coated in the caramel.

3) Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then add the cocoa and chocolate and stir until melted. Remove from the heat.

4) Whisk the egg yolks until they are foamy then beat in the sugar. Add the chocolate mixture, slowly at first, then sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Add the milk and mix until smooth.

5) Whisk the egg whites in a separate, clean, dry bowl until stiff then carefully fold into the cake mix, being careful not to knock the air out.

6) Line the bottom of the cake tin with the sliced apples (you may not need all the slices) and any remaining caramel, then carefully pour the cake mix over the top and smooth the surface. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. At the end of this time the middle of the cake will still be unnervingly undercooked but try not to worry, this will set into a gooey fudginess in due course. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before carefully turning out.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.

Hotel Chocolat Classic Christmas Selection Review & Giveaway

2011-11-18T18:14:00.003Z

Despite the uncharacteristically mild weather there's no escaping the fact that Christmas is just around the corner. The shops are putting up their decorations, supermarkets are stocking up with Christmas goodies and sentimental adverts are appearing on the television (John Lewis will be receiving my bill for tissues shortly). I know some complain that the Christmas Season begins too early in this country but I say bring it on!

It's great to have a reason to brighten up the darkening days and last week a little sparkly ray of sunshine arrived on my doorstep in the form of a package from Hotel Chocolat. It's no secret that I'm a fan of their chocolates so I was delighted when they offered me the chance to review one of their Christmas Chocolate Boxes.

The package in question contained their Sleekster Classic Christmas Selection Box, a Christmassy version of their fabulous selection boxes containing 28 chocolates, including pralines, caramels and truffles, all spiced and flavoured with seasonal delights such as mulled wine, gingerbread, cinnamon and even chilli, to name just a few.

I couldn't possibly pick a favourite, but some of the highlights for me were the gorgeous, comforting flavours in the gingerbread truffle, the light and fruity Christmas Mess and the very festive Zesty Marzipan Star. All were delicious though and there's no doubt that one of these boxes would be very gratefully received by any chocolate lover this Christmas.

This box retails at £22.00, or you can currently buy 3 for £20, and can be found online or at one of Hotel Chocolat's many high street stores.

And now for the really good news. I'm delighted to be able to offer my readers the chance to win one of these fab boxes of delight just in time for Christmas. If you would like to be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is have a look at Hotel Chocolat's Christmas Gifts Collection and then leave a comment below, or on my Facebook page, telling me which one of the goodies on offer you would like to receive this Christmas. For an extra entry, you can also post the following message on Twitter

I've entered the @HalfaPotofCream competition to win a box of @HotelChocolat Classic Christmas Selection chocolates http://tinyurl.com/77u4c9r

The competition ends at midnight on Sunday 27th November and I'll announce the winner a couple of days later. Only UK entries allowed I'm afraid. Good luck!

Sausage Pasta Bake

2011-11-14T20:31:00.000Z

I've been meaning to write about this recipe for positively ages as it's my most favourite pasta bake but until this weekend I haven't been able to get a picture of it. This time, though, I was determined to get a couple of snaps before it was all devoured and, as you can see, I succeeded.

I've always loved sausagey pasta sauces and this one works particularly well with the addition of a layer of cheesy white sauce. The sauce itself has bags of flavour thanks to the addition of red wine and tomato puree, and the inclusion of carrot and spinach make for a pretty well balanced meal.

This isn't a one-pot meal by any means as there are a number of steps involved but it's perfectly fine to prepare it a few hours in advance and leave it covered up until you're ready to put it in the oven. The sausage sauce could also be made in advance and either frozen or kept in the fridge for a couple of days.

I found this recipe in the BBC Good Food Magazine many years ago and have made it over and over since then. The perfect Sunday night dinner!

Sausage Pasta Bake

(taken from BBC Good Food Magazine long ago)

For the sausage sauce

400g good quality pork sausages

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 large carrot, grated

150ml red wine

300ml vegetable stock

3 tbsp tomato puree

For the white sauce

50g butter

50g plain flour

600ml milk

freshly grated nutmeg

500g rigatoni or penne

200g fresh spinach

140g mature cheddar, grated

1) Slit the sausages and remove them from their skins, then chop them into small pieces. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes until softened and lightly browned. Stir in the sausages and fry until lightly coloured. Add the carrot, then stir in the wine, stock, tomato puree and season. Bring the sauce to the boil, the simmer uncovered, for about 15 minutes until thickened. Taste and season then set aside.

2) To make the white sauce put the butter, flour and milk in a pan. Gently heat, whisking, until thickened and smooth. Add a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg, season, then simmer for 2 minutes.

3) Preheat the oven to 190c/gas 5/fan 170c. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta, stir well then cook until tender. Remove from the heat, stir in the spinach and, when just wilted, drain well.

4) Tip half the pasta into a shallow ovenproof dish, about 2.2 litres/4 pints, and level. Spoon over the sausage sauce, then cover with the remaining pasta. Pour the white sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle with cheddar. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Leave for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6

Moroccan Fish Stew

2011-11-11T12:07:00.000Z

With the season of indulgence advancing steadily towards us, here's a gratifyingly healthy recipe that will help to balance things out a bit. This is another recipe from Bill Grainger's book, Every Day, and like many of the recipes in this book it was very light and fresh with lovely gentle flavours. Plus, as the main ingredients are fish and couscous you can have it on the table in under 30 minutes.

Moroccan Fish Stew

(adapted from Every Day by Bill Grainger)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 cinnamon stick

pinch cayenne pepper

400g tin chopped tomatoes

pinch of sea salt

500g/1 lb 2oz firm white fish fillets (such as cod, snapper or ling), cut into chunks

400g tin chickpeas, rinsed

2 teaspoons honey

freshly ground black pepper

To serve

fresh coriander leaves

flaked almonds, lightly toasted

1) Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.

2) Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric and cinnamon and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes more, or until fragrant.

3) Add the cayenne, tomatoes, salt and 250ml/9 fl oz/1 cup of water and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Add the fish and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the fish is just tender.

4) Add the chickpeas and honey and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Season to taste. Serve garnished with coriander and flaked almonds.

Serves 4

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

2011-11-06T20:33:00.001Z

One of the things that pains me the most about the rise in food prices in recent years is the dramatic increase in the price of chocolate. Dark chocolate appears in so many of my favourite recipes but where a couple of years ago 100g of decent 70% dark chocolate cost about a pound, these days you'll easily pay about 50% more than that and even more if you want organic.

So, when I use it I want to really make it count and this is a recipe that really makes you feel like you've got your money's worth. If you search for Rocky Road online you'll find a variety of different recipes and ultimately you can add pretty much anything you like - digestive biscuits, ginger biscuits, marshmallows and any sort of dried fruit that takes your fancy.

This time I've used Nigella's recipe from her book, Nigella Express, which is one my favourite of her books and contains lots of quick and easy recipes that I've used time and time again.

This is one of the simplest recipes for Rocky Road as it just contains crushed Rich Tea biscuits and marshmallows. Next time I might try adding a handful of raisins to the mix aswell. As this only uses dark chocolate it might not appeal to some children (mine weren't overly keen) so if you want to make a more family friendly version you might want to replace some or all of the dark chocolate with milk. Most adults, though, will love the dark, rich combination of crunchy biscuit and squishy marshmallow. I certainly do and I'm just wondering if I can justify having another piece already.

On a final note, the tin I used was a bit bigger than the one specified so I struggled to cover the whole of the top with the reserved chocolate. When I make it again I think I'll size down, tin-wise, rather than up.

You can find the recipe on Nigella's website here.

Risotto Bolognese

2011-11-02T20:10:00.001Z

When you think of flavours to add to a risotto, bolognese is not something that immediately comes to mind. However, when I saw that this recipe had been highly recommended on another food blog (Cooking the Books with Kelly Jane) and thought I'd give it a try.

The recipe comes from Nigella's recent book, Kitchen, and while making it I have to confess that I wasn't convinced it was going to work - sorry Nigella! The combination of the meat sauce and the stock seemed to me to be way too much liquid and I was worried it wouldn't all be absorbed by the time the rice had cooked. But I was wrong of course and it turned out just fine with the amount of liquid being exactly what I needed to cook the rice to perfection.

It is a fairly long-winded recipe so it's best saved for a Sunday afternoon or a day when you have lots of time on your hands. Having said that, though, you can prepare the meat sauce in advance and either keep it in the fridge for a day or two or freeze it. I froze half the meat sauce and used the rest to make a half portion of the risotto. This fed two adults and two children with a little bit left over for my lunch the next day.

This is a really delicious recipe which is just full of flavour and definitely worth the extra effort required to make it. 5 stars from me!

Risotto Bolognese

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

1 onion, peeled and quartered

1 carrot, peeled and halved

1 stick celery, halved

1 small glove of garlic, peeled

handful fresh parsley

75g rindless streaky bacon

4 anchovy fillets (optional)

50g unsalted butter plus 1 x 15ml tablespoon

1/2 teaspoon regular olive oil

250g minced beef, preferably organic

80ml marsala

1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes

1 x 15ml tablespoon tomato puree

2 x 15ml tablespoons full-fat milk

2 litres veal stock (500ml plus 1.5 litres), preferably organic (I used beef stock)

2 bay leaves

500g risotto rice

6 x 15ml tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve

salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat the oven to 150c/gas mark 2. Put the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, bacon and anchovy into a processor and blend to a fine mush.

2) Heat the 50g butter and 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil in a deep heavy ovenproof casserole with a lid (I don't have one of these so used a large frying pan then transferred everything to a regular, lidded casserole dish). Tip in the contents of the processor and cook for about 5 minutes until softened.

3) Add the meat and let it brown a little, breaking it up in the pan, then add the marsala. Process the tomatoes until smooth and add to the meat. Stir the tomato puree into the milk then add this mixture to the pan, along with the 500ml veal stock and the bay leaves.

4) Bring to the boil on the hob then put on the lid (or transfer to your dish of choice) and put in the oven for 1 hour. After this time, remove it from the oven and take out the bay leaves.

5) Heat the remaining 1.5 litres of stock in a saucepan and keep it warm over a low heat, then put the meat sauce on a low heat next to it.

6) Stir the rice into the meat sauce and then add a ladleful of the hot stock. Stir until the rice and sauce become thick again and then add another ladleful of stock.

7) Continue to add the stock as needed, a ladleful at a time, stirring all the time as you go. Check to see if the rice is cooked after about 18 minutes - you may not need to use all the stock.

8) When it's ready, turn off the heat and stir or beat in the cheese and the extra tablespoon of butter before before seasoning to taste. Serve in warmed, shallow bowls with extra Parmesan on the side.

Serves 6-8

The Secluded (French Fancy!) Tea Party

2011-10-31T20:16:00.000Z

You might remember my post a few months ago about The Secluded Tea Party and the literary-themed event I attended. Well, a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a second event hosted by Miss Sue Flay in a secret Cambridgeshire location. This time the tea party had a French theme and Miss Sue was joined by the lovely Cat from Cakes by Cat who gave us a masterclass in the art of decorating French Fancies.

When we arrived at the venue we were ushered in the bunting bedecked room with a large table in the centre of the room adorned with a pretty checked tablecloth and covered with an assortment of mouth-watering goodies. While we introduced ourselves to each other we enjoyed some sparkling elderflower cordial served in a variety of pretty vintage teacups.

Our first task of the evening was to prepare our flower decorations to add to our cakes later on. These were surprisingly simple to make but very effective as you can see in the pictures of the finished cakes.

Then it was on to the rather messy job of icing our cakes. Cat had provided three different cakes layered with buttercream in a variety of flavours, topped with marzipan and ready for us to cut into squares or circles. Once our cakes had been cut to size we then dipped them into bowls of pastel icing ready for the final decorations.

In between these activities we were also busy tucking into the various delights supplied by Miss Sue Flay. These included cucumber and egg mayonnaise open sandwiches, lemon madeleines with rose petal jam and luscious profiteroles filled with creme patisserie.

And of course a Secluded Tea Party wouldn't be complete without one of Miss Sue's fabulous layer cakes - in this case a Black Forest Gateaux-inspired cake stuffed with buttercream and cherry jam - delicious!

The final part of our decorating class involved icing and decorating our cakes. Cat showed us how to create little icing bags out of baking paper - a trick that required quite a lot of dexterity! These were then used to pipe lines and swirls on top of our cakes before we topped them off with our fondant flowers. When all the cakes were finished and placed in cake cases and boxes the effect was very impressive and I think we all felt rather pleased with ourselves!

Thanks again to Miss Sue Flay and to Cat for hosting such a lovely evening. If you would like to find out about upcoming Secluded Tea Parties then be sure to have a look at Miss Sue's website here and you can read her write up of the evening and see some more pictures here. Cat also runs regular cake decorating classes - have a look at her Facebook page here for more information.

East Anglian Food Events - November 2011 to January 2012

2011-10-30T18:22:00.001Z

Here's my second monthly roundup of upcoming foodie events in East Anglia (those that I know of anyway). There are a few exciting things coming up as we head towards the festive season - I'm particularly looking forward to La Hogue Farm's Christmas Tasting Extravaganza next week and I will shortly be booking my place at The Secluded Tea Party's blogfest.

If anyone has anything they'd like me to include then please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email.

NOVEMBER

Farmers Markets

5th - Snape Maltings, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm

5th - Jimmy's Farm, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm

12th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

12th & 26th - Woodbridge Farmers Market -East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

19th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

26th - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 carpark charge redeemable against purchases)

Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

5th & 6th - La Hogue Farm Christmas Tasting Extravaganza, Nr Newmarket

19th - Bite'n'Write Food Blogger Event, Birmingham

19th - The Secluded Tea Party - Blogfest - Cambridgeshire - 10am to 2pm

26th - Cambridge Cake Crawl - 2pm to 5pm

23rd - 27th BBC Good Food Show, Birmingham NEC

25th - 27th - Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre - 10am to 7pm (5pm on Sunday)

27th - Top Secret Tea Parties - Chocolate Themed Tea Party - Peterborough - 2pm to 4pm

DECEMBER

Farmers Markets

3rd - Snape Maltings. East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm
3rd & 4th - Jimmy's Farm Christmas Fayre, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm
10th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm
10th & 17th - Woodbridge Farmers Market - East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm
17th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm
17th - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 car park charge redeemable against purchases)
23rd - Snape Malting Christmas Market, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm
Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

2nd - Top Secret Tea Parties - Gingerbread, Gingham & Gifts Soiree - Peterborough - 7pm to 9pm

11th - The Secluded Tea Party, Grinch-inspired Xmas Tea Party - Cambridgeshire - 2pm to 4pm

JANUARY

Farmers Markets

14th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm
14th & 28th - Woodbridge Farmers Market - East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm
21st - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm
21st - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 car park charge redeemable against purchases)
Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

7th - The Secluded Tea Party - Murder Mystery Tea Party - 7pm - 11pm

Pudding Club Part 3 - Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade

2011-10-22T20:07:00.000+01:00

So here's the final installment in the Pudding Club series and I can now reveal that the dessert that I've placed at the top of the pile is the simply fabulous Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade. This recipe comes from Jo Pratt's book, In the Mood for Entertaining: Food for Every Occasion and was just as delicious as it sounds. The meringue was perfectly soft and marshmallowy, just as the title suggests, with just a whiff of crunch on the outside and the rhubarb and cream filling was heavenly. To top it all off, this was probably the easiest of the puddings to make. The meringue and the rhubarb can be prepared several hours in advance so all you need to do at the last minute is whip up the cream, fold in the rhubarb and assemble the roulade. I was a bit concerned that the meringue might be tricky to roll up but it was breeze.

This is a pudding to be eaten as soon as it's assembled if possible and it makes just about the right amount for six people (assuming you're not expecting them to get through three more puddings afterwards!). The leftovers the next day were more than edible but I wouldn't have wanted to keep it any longer than that.

All in all, this pudding was voted a winner by most of the people who tried it and there's no doubt I'll be making it again.

Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade

(adapted from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt)

for the meringue

4 large egg whites

175g caster sugar

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sifted icing sugar, for dusting

for the filling

400g trimmed rhubarb

50g caster sugar

200ml double cream

1/2 teaspoon rose water (I didn't have any so left it out)

1) Line a baking tray measuring approximately 35cm x 25cm x 2cm deep with non-stick parchment paper and lightly oil. Preheat the oven to 160c/fan140/gas mark 3.

2) To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then add half the caster sugar and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining sugar and add to the egg whites with the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk until you have a firm, glossy consistency, a bit like shaving foam. This will take a good few minutes. Spoon and spread into the prepared baking tray. Place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

3) In the meantime, cut the rhubarb into 3-4cm lengths and place in a saucepan with the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning a couple of times with a metal spoon and trying not to let all of the pieces become too mushy.

4) Remove the cooked meringue from the oven and leave to cook in the tin for a few minutes, then carefully turn out on to a piece of baking paper heavily dusted with the icing sugar. Cool completely.

5) Whip the cream with the rose water (if using) until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the rhubarb and then spread over the meringue, leaving a border of about 2cm. Carefully and loosely roll the meringue lengthways into a fat cylinder shape. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.

Serves 6

Pudding Club Part 2 - Rococoa Cake & Date & Orange Syrup Pudding

2011-10-21T17:00:00.002+01:00

In my last post I wrote about my dinner party/pudding club and the first of the recipes I used - the French Apple Tart. This time it's the turn of the two recipes that, I think, came in joint second place.

The first of these is the Rococoa Cake from Nigella's book, Feast: Food that Celebrates Life, a rather decadent chocolate cake layered with a zabaglione/mascarpone filling and heavily laced with rum. This one was probably the most divisive of the four puddings, with some people declaring it as their favourite and some putting in a definite fourth place. I personally loved it although it was definitely the richest of the puddings on offer and also the most complex to make. Having said that, it needs to be made the night before serving it which is always helpful. I will certainly be making it again and it would make a perfect dinner party pudding at Christmas time as the rum gives it a real festive flavour.

I'm afraid I won't be sharing the recipe for this one as the list of ingredients and instructions are pretty lengthy and it would take ages to reproduce it here. I do recommend you find yourself a copy of Feast if you don't already have one though as it's a great cookbook.

The other pudding that I've ranked in joint second place is a delicious Date and Orange Syrup Pudding that I found in Rachel Allen's book, Home Cooking. I love steamed puddings and this one turned out particularly well. For some reason I always half expect steamed puddings to be quite dense and heavy but this certainly wasn't the case this time. The sponge was light and fluffy and the orange mixed with the syrup gave lots of lovely fruity, sweet flavour. As you can see in the picture below the fruit all sank to the bottom (or top depending on how you look at it) of the sponge. I don't think it was supposed to do this but it didn't matter and actually made the sponge look quite attractive when turned out. And it still tasted great!

Date & Orange Syrup Pudding

(adapted from Home Cooking by Rachel Allen)

125g/4 1/2oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

50g/2oz pitted dates, sliced into 4-5 strips

25g/1oz raisins (small ones are best)

Finely grated zest of 1 small orange

75ml/3 fl oz golden syrup

juice of 1 orange

100g/3 1/2oz caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

140g/5oz self raising flour, sifted

2 tbsp milk

1) Lightly butter a 1.25 litre/2 pint pudding basin. Place the dates, raisins and orange zest in a small bowl and mix together. Mix together the golden syrup and half the orange juice and pour it into the bottom of the basin.

2) Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each one and adding a little of the flour if the mixture appears to be curdling. Stir in the flour, then the milk and the remaining orange juice, mixing them thoroughly.

3) Fold in the dried fruits and spoon the cake mixture into the pudding basin, taking care not to mix it in with the syrup at the bottom of the basin. The mixture should come about two-thirds of the way up. Flatten the mixture with the back of the spoon.

4) Butter a piece of greaseproof paper and fold a pleat across the centre. Cover the basin with the paper, butter side down, and secure with string under the lip of the basin. Place in a steamer with a tight-fitting lid and simmer on a low heat for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours or until the top of the pudding is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remember to top up the water if necessary.

5) Remove from the steamer or pan and slide a palette knife gently around the pudding to loosen it, then invert onto a warm serving plate (one that is wider than the top of the basin). Spoon over any remaining sauce and eat while hot, served with cream or custard.

Serves 6-8

Pudding Club Part 1 - French Apple Tart

2011-10-20T18:04:00.001+01:00

It's no secret that I'm a fan of puddings so when I was struggling to find inspiration for a main course for an upcoming dinner party it won't be much of a surprise to hear that I quickly abandoned the idea of a sensible, nutritionally balanced meal in exchange for something much more fun - Pudding Club! It's a theme I've come across in restaurants from time to time and the idea is simple - a light starter is followed by a selection of puddings for everyone to sample.

After much deliberating I finally settled on my four puddings (plus a plate of fruit to add a bit of balance and virtue!) and over the next three posts I'm going to share the details of each one with you. Not surprisingly there was a fair bit of debate about which pudding was the best and I don't think any pudding was singled out as the outright winner so I'm going to write about them in ascending order of preference based on my personal opinion.

So, in fourth place (which of course is relative as I was pretty happy with the way they all turned out) is the French Apple Tart. This is a classic recipe that I have made in the past and is, in fact, one of the inspirations for this blog (after making one of thee about three years ago I thought it looked so pretty that I took a picture of it. Then I had the idea of taking pictures of all the nice things I cooked and, well, the rest is history). This time, however, although it tasted nice I felt there was a bit too much filling and not enough sliced apple on top. Also, the pastry didn't stay a crisp as I would have like. This is the recipe I used but next time I might try out a different one.

French Apple Tart

(original source unknown)

Pastry

80z/225g plain flour

pinch of salt

6oz/175g unsalted butter

1oz/25g icing sugar

chilled water

Filling

2lb 4oz/1 kg cooking apples (approx five)

1oz/25g unsalted butter

grated rind of 1 lemon

2 dessert spoons lemon juice

1 medium-sized egg yolk

3oz/75g caster sugar

3oz/75g ground almonds

2-3 red dessert apples such as Royal Gala, washed

1 tbsp caster sugar

8oz/225g apricot conserve

1) Preheat the oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour using the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar then gradually stir in 15-30ml (1-2 tbsps) cold water to make a soft dough. Shape the pastry into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2) Peel the cooking apples, cut into quarters and remove the cores. Chop into small pieces then place in a pan with the butter, lemon rind and 1 dessert spoon of lemon juice and cook until the fruit is pureed. Take off the heat and stir in the egg yolk, caster sugar and ground almonds and set aside.

3) Place the pastry on a floured surface and roll out to a 30cm circle. Use a rolling pin to lift the pastry on to a 11 inch loose-bottomed, greased, flan tin. Gently press into the sides of the tin and prick the base using a fork. Line the base with greaseproof paper fill with baking beans, rice or similar and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes.

4) Remove the flan case from the oven, fill with the apple puree and smooth flat. Cut the dessert apples into quarters, remove the cores and slice very thinly using a sharp knife. Arrange over the puree in circles and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

5) Melt the apricot conserve and remaining lemon juice. Sieve into a bowl and use to glaze the flan. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from the tin.

Chocolate Rice Pudding

2011-10-13T15:40:00.000+01:00

Yes, Chocolate Rice Pudding! I found this recipe in the children's section of Nigella Lawson's recipe book Feast, but don't let that put you off. This will appeal chocolate, rice pudding and warm-stodgy-comfort food lovers of all ages.

It was a breeze to make too, although I did have a bit of a problem with the cooking time. The book advises leaving the puddings in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, however mine showed no sign of being ready at this stage and needed considerably longer. I think the book probably should have said an hour and 30 to 40 minutes so have amended the recipe below to what I think the correct time should be.

Oh, and I found I needed bigger dishes than suggested too. The first dishes I used measured exactly 150ml as specified by the recipe but were full to overflowing when everything was added so I switched to larger ones with a capacity of about 250ml.

It was all worth in the end though. While the absence of the cream and full fat milk you usually find in rice pudding meant that these weren't quite as rich as the traditional recipe, they were still delicious. The children loved them too and the small portion sizes made them easy to assemble for tea (assuming you allow enough time!).

Chocolate Rice Pudding

(adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson)

a knob of butter

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon boiling water (ie 4 teaspoons)

250ml milk

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

2 tablespoons pudding or arborio rice

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1) Preheat the oven to gas mark 2/150c, slipping in a baking sheet as you do so. Butter two small pudding dishes (see comment above).

2) Put the cocoa into a small measuring jug and dissolve with the boiling water then, stirring, pour in the milk. Add the vanilla extract and divide between the buttered dishes.

3) Add 1 tablespoon of rice and the sugar to each dish, stir then put them on the hot baking sheet in the oven and cook for one hour and 30-40 minutes. Let stand for a while before eating.

Serves 2 children or 1 hungry adult

Hungry? - A Recipe Book Review

2011-10-09T20:29:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I was offered a copy of Hungry?, a book by the people who make Innocent Smoothies, to try out and review and, not being a girl to turn down the offer of a free cookbook, I accepted.

The premise of the book is simple - a cookbook providing recipes for healthy, tasty, no-fuss food that all the family will enjoy. It contains over 100 different recipes, from family favourites to posher dinners, together with lots of quick ideas and suggestions.

This book appealed to me right from the start. The presentation is bright and colourful but without that "perfect family" vibe you can find in some other books. The emphasis is very heavily on getting your five-a-day with most of the recipes containing at least one portion of fruit or veg and, helpfully, the number of portions are also included in each recipe.

I also really liked the different hints and tips hidden among the pages. One page, for example, provides information on which fish come from sustainable sources, and which you should eat less often. Another is devoted to pesto and the different combinations you can use. Other subjects include when different fruit and vegetables are in season, types of pasta and recycling.

The book is divided into 10 chapters - breakfast, lunch, snacks, veggie, fish, meat, sides, pudding, makes and bakes and drinks - and each contains a number of recipes plus, as I mentioned above, lots of quick suggestions and alternatives. There are lots of family favourites included, such as macaroni cheese, cottage pie, fish pie etc, but in each case they have been adapted slightly to be make them just that little bit healthier or to sneak in an extra portion of veg. So, for example, the cottage pie is topped with a mix of carrots, potato and sweet potato and the macaroni cheese has added butternut squash and tomatoes, and is topped with a crunchy topping of broccoli and breadcrumbs.

We've already tried several recipes and I'm happy to report that they've all gone down very well with the whole family. These included...

Fruit Mess (recipe below) - A lovely take on a fruit salad that makes great use of the autumnal fruit around at the moment.

Chocolate Bran Flake Cakes - everyone's favourite chocolate crispy cakes but with a healthy twist. They also used more cocoa powder than my usual recipe which resulted in a darker chocolatey taste that I really liked.

Surfers' Pancakes - These are a great way to start the day. Light fluffy pancakes with sliced bananas and added oats. Guaranteed to keep you going until lunchtime!

We also tried the Veggie Burgers, Spaghetti Bolognese, Chicken & Bacon Pie and Banana Ice Cream but these all disappeared before I could take any photographs!

So, as promised, here's the recipe for the Fruit Mess. You'll also find three videos (which unfortunately don't quite fit on the page!) at the bottom of the post showing how easy this and two other recipes are to make and how they're a great way to get your children involved in kitchen.

Fruit Mess

4 ripe pears, cored and cut into chunks

8 victoria plums, stoned and cut into chunks

runny honey, for drizzling

a couple of handfuls of blackberries

8 tablespoons of plain yoghurt or creme fraiche

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract, or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod

1 good-quality shop-bought one-person meringue

1) Put the pears and plums into a pan with a squeeze of honey and a splash of water and simmer for a couple of minutes until slightly softened. Allow to cool, then stir in the blackberries.

2) Before serving, taste the fruit and cook for a couple more minutes with a little more honey if it still tastes a bit sharp.

3) Mix the yoghurt or creme fraiche with another drizzle of honey and the vanilla.

4) Divide the fruit between 4 bowls, top with the yoghurt and crumble over the meringue.

Serves 4

Fruit Mess

Veggie Burgers

Chop-Chop Salad

Chicken Paprika Casserole

2011-10-07T16:48:00.002+01:00

As I mentioned in my previous post this is one of my favourite casseroles mainly, and this will be no surprise, because it's easy to throw together and uses ingredients that I almost always have in the house. If you have trouble finding the Tomato Frito (I have found it in the past near the tomato puree but have had less success more recently) then plain tomato passata is a perfectly good substitute. Any leftover passata freezes well or can be used in a bolognese sauce. The casserole also tastes just fine without the creme fraiche too.

Another plus is that this recipe always generates more sauce than needed which makes for a really nice pasta sauce the next day.

Finally, the method below instructs you to fry the ingredients in a pan before transferring to a casserole. This is purely because I don't possess a stove-top casserole dish (I will get my hands on a Le Creuset one day) but if you have one then the whole thing can be made in the one dish. Just transfer the chicken back to the dish when you add the peppers and garlic.

Chicken Paprika

(Adapted from a recipe found on Delia Smith's website - www.deliaonline.com)

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 chicken thighs (or a combination of thighs and drumsticks)

6oz/175g roasted red peppers from a jar

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 x 560g jar Heinz Tomato Frito

5 fl oz/150ml dry white wine

1 level dessertspoon hot paprika or 1 level tablespoon ground paprika

2 rounded tablespoons creme fraiche

salt and pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a largeish saucepan or frying and fry on all sides until golden brown all over then transfer to a casserole dish.

2) Turn the heat down and add the onions to the pan and cook on a medium heat for about 10 minutes until softened and browned at the edges. Add the peppers, garlic to the pan then pour in the tomato sauce, the wine and the paprika. Stir together and bring to a simmer before transferring it to the casserole dish.

3) Cover the dish with a lid and cook in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the dish from the oven and swirl in the creme fraiche. Sprinkle with a little more paprika and serve straight from the casserole.

Serves 2

Meal Planning Monday - 3 October 2011

2011-10-03T21:38:00.000+01:00

What a lovely weekend we've had weather wise! Despite all the sunshine though, I'm still feeling in a very autumnal frame of mind when it comes to cooking and menu planning. The risotto and macaroni cheese I made last week are perfect comfort foods for those cooler evenings, as is one of my favourite casseroles, Delia's Chicken Paprika. This casserole also has the added bonus of having lots of sauce so I can get an extra meal out of it by serving the leftovers with pasta the next day. I'm also looking forward to trying the Cheddar Pie as it's a new recipe and sounds like a really simple but hearty dish which will hopefully go down well with the whole family.

So here's my line up...

Monday - Chicken Paprika

Tuesday - Pasta with leftover sauce from Monday

Wednesday - Jacket Potatoes

Thursday - Eggy Rice

Friday - Lemon Chicken with Rice

Saturday - Cheddar Pie

Sunday - Breaded Chicken

Stir-fried Rice with Bacon & Tuna

2011-10-02T18:19:00.000+01:00

I originally wrote about this recipe several months ago but annoyingly it somehow got deleted, along with the posts of many other bloggers. So if you think you've seen this before, you probably have!

Here it is again then, a recipe I came across in delicious magazine many years ago and have made many times since. There's nothing intricate or fancy about it, just a great dish for a weeknight dinner that's easy to throw together and tastes great.

Stir-fried Rice with Bacon & Tuna

(adapted from delicious magazine)

175g long grain rice

1 tbsp olive oil

2 rashers unsmoked back bacon, diced

1 garlic clove, crushed

80g frozen peas

198g can tuna steak in oil, drained

1/2 bunch spring onions, finely sliced

2 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce, plus extra to serve

1) Put the rice into a saucepan, cover with 450ml cold water and add a good pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until just cooked. Drain.

2) Halfway through cooking the rice, heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Add the bacon and fry for 4-5 minutes, until crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

3) Add the cooked rice and garlic to the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the peas, tuna, most of the spring onions, cooked bacon and soy sauce. Stir-fry until the rice is piping hot.

4) Serve sprinkled with the remaining spring onion slices and extra soy sauce.

Serves 2

East Anglian Food Events - October to December 2011

2011-09-29T11:06:00.000+01:00

I love visiting farmers markets or taking part in local food events but often have trouble remembering when they're on, what time etc. So, to help myself as much as anything, I've decided to start a monthly feature detailing all the upcoming foodie events happening in East Anglia, and bigger events further afield, that I've heard about. I'm sure there are many more events out there, farmers markets in particular, that I haven't included, but hopefully I'll be able to add more as I find out about them.

If anyone has anything they'd like me to include then please let me know.

OCTOBER

Farmers Markets

1st - Jimmy's Farm, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm

8th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

15th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

22nd - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 carpark charge redeemable against purchases)

Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

3rd to 17th - London Restaurant Festival, various locations

14th to 16th - London Cheese & Wine Festival, Southbank - 11am to 8pm (6pm on Sunday)

22nd - The Secluded Tea Party, Cambridgeshire - Vintage Tea Party - Brunch/Afternoon Tea/Midnight Feast

NOVEMBER

Farmers Markets

5th - Snape Maltings, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm

5th - Jimmy's Farm, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm

12th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

19th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm

26th - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 carpark charge redeemable against purchases)

Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

5th & 6th - La Hogue Farm Christmas Tasting Extravaganza, Nr Newmarket

19th - Bite'n'Write Food Blogger Event, Birmingham

19th - The Secluded Tea Party, Cambridgeshire - Blogfest - 10am to 2pm

23rd - 27th BBC Good Food Show, Birmingham NEC

25th - 27th - Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre - 10am to 7pm (5pm on Sunday)

DECEMBER

Farmers Markets

3rd - Snape Maltings. East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm
3rd & 4th - Jimmy's Farm Christmas Fayre, East Suffolk - 10am to 2pm
10th - Rickinghall Farmers Market, Mid Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm
17th - Aldeburgh Farmers Market, Village Hall, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 12.30pm
17th - Easton Farm Park, East Suffolk - 9am to 1pm (£5 car park charge redeemable against purchases)
23rd - Snape Malting Christmas Market, East Suffolk - 9.30am to 1pm
Every Saturday - Wyken Vineyards, West Suffolk - 9am to 1pm

Other Events

TBC - The Secluded Tea Party, Cambrideshire - Vintage Xmas Tea Party

Banana Rock Cakes

2011-09-27T20:53:00.001+01:00

This another great recipe for those times when you have some spare bananas sitting in the fruit bowl. I love rock cakes anyway as they are the perfect store cupboard bake and you can have them on the table in about 45 minutes, but adding some mashed banana to the basic recipe is an inspired idea. The banana adds an extra sweetness and they make your kitchen smell fabulous while they're in the oven.

The recipe comes from The Little Red Barn Baking book, an American book which I really should dig out more often as it contains some great recipes.

Being American, the measurements are in cups, which I've always found a bit of a faff to be honest, so I've converted the flour and butter into ounces and grams. I used cup measures for the raisins and chocolate but if you don't have these you can use something of a similar size as the amounts don't have to be exact. For reference, 1 cup = 250ml.

Banana Rock Cakes

(adapted from The Little Red Barn Baking Book by Adriana Rabinovich)

1 3/4 cups/250g/9 oz all-purpose (plain) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup/75g/2 3/4 oz unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate

1 cup ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 egg

1) Preheat the oven to 400f/200c. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2) Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter then stir in the sugar, raisins and chocolate.

3) In another bowl, mash the bananas then add the lemon juice and egg, and mix well. Combine the bananas with the flour mixture to make a sticky dough.

4) Spoon the dough equally into 10 lumps on the baking sheet, leaving some space for spreading. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 cakes

Meal Planning Monday - 26th September 2011

2011-09-26T17:54:00.001+01:00

No meal planning post for me last week as I wasn't feeling particularly inspired, although I did discover this fantastic recipe for Peanut Butter Squares. This week, however, I'm a bit more on the ball and have a few really nice things lined up. At the moment I don't have anything new on the agenda but, having said that, I might switch the Cottage Pie for something different depending on what I fancy on the day.

So here's the line-up as it stands at the moment...

Monday - Curried Sweet Potato Soup with a granary loaf from the breadmaker

Tuesday - Jacket Potatoes & Salad

Wednesday - Ricotta & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad

Thursday - Summer-in-Winter Chicken

Friday - Roasted Pepper, Pancetta & Mascarpone Risotto

Saturday - Delia's Souffled Macaroni Cheese

Sunday - Cottage Pie

As always, if you'd like to share your plans for the week either leave a comment or log your post on Mrs M's blog, At Home with Mrs M.

Peanut-Butter Squares

2011-09-22T13:44:00.001+01:00

This is why I love blogging. Because it gives me the opportunity to share fantastic recipes like this one!

This recipe has been on my (very extensive) to-do list for a very long time now but last weekend I finally found myself with all of the necessary ingredients AND an excuse to make it and boy do I wish I'd tried it sooner!

Peanut butter and chocolate make such a great pairing and this recipe brings them together in a simple but devastatingly effective way, with just the addition of sugar and butter to create a rich, sweet and very addictive mouthful. These squares take just minutes to prepare, especially if you have a food mixer to do the hard work for you. Even melting the chocolate in the microwave was quick and easy (why have I not tried this before?). I imagine they keep pretty well for a few days but I doubt a batch of these would ever last long enough to test that theory!

For another fabulous way to use up peanut butter have a look at this recipe for Snickers & Peanut Butter Muffins.

Peanut-Butter Squares

(adapted from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson)

For the base

50g dark muscovado sugar

200g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter

200g smooth peanut butter (if you keep it in the fridge, take it out well in advance for easier mixing)

For the topping

200g milk chocolate

100g plain chocolate

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1) Line a 23cm square brownie tin with baking parchment.

2) Stir all the ingredients for the base together until smooth and press into the lined tin. If some of the muscovado sugar stays in small lumps don't worry.

3) To make the topping, put the chocolates and butter in a large jug or bowl and melt in the microwave (this should take two to three minutes on medium). Once melted together spread over the base and then put the tin in the fridge to set.

4) When the chocolate has hardened cut into small squares.

Meal Planning Monday - 12th September 2011

2011-09-12T20:16:00.000+01:00

Well the summer holidays are over, everyone is back to school or work and I'm gradually getting used to the routine again. Hopefully that routine will include a bit more blogging that of late - my last post was on the 22nd of August (although I have fitted in a holiday between then and now) and I haven't done a Meal Planning Monday post since the 18th of July! Where has the time gone?

So let's kick things off again with my meal plan for this week. As always I hope to fit in some baking at some point but I haven't decide what as yet.

Monday - Spanish Omelette & Salad

Tuesday - Spaghetti with 5-minute tomato sauce

Wednesday - M&S Vegetarian Kievs with Rice and Veg

Thursday - Jacket Potatoes

Friday - Bacon and Vegetable Pasta

Saturday - Chicken Korma with Rice and Veg

Sunday - Nigella's BBQ Mince

If you want to share your foodie plans for the week just leave a comment below or post a link on Mrs M's blog, At Home with Mrs M.

Hotel Chocolate - Adventurous Chef's Collection Part 2

2011-08-22T19:52:00.000+01:00

In my previous post I told you about the arrival on my doorstep of a Hotel Chocolat Adventurous Chef's Collection hamper and my adventures with the sweet items included in the box. This time, it's the turn of the savoury items.

First up is their Cocoa Honey & Mustard Dressing, which is a classic mix of honey, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar with the addition of some crushed cocoa nibs.

I used this in a salad recipe I found on the label, which combined salad leaves with cooked chicken and peppers. This turned out really well and the dressing added great flavour to the dish, although it was quite heavy on the mustard.

Next up was a jar of Chocolate & Chiptole Chilli Sauce, a ready-t0-use sauce that be used in a number of ways - in hot dishes, as a salad dressing, in sandwiches etc.

I used this first of all as a dip to accompany some grilled pork steaks with roasted vegetables and potato wedges. The sauce had lots of smoky, spicy flavour and really added interest to an otherwise quite plain dinner.

I also added it to a marinade for chicken that I found in Thomasina Miers' book, Mexican Made Easy, together with a sprinkling of the cocoa bean shavings that were also included in the box. The marinade gave the chicken loads of delicious flavour and I could definitely taste the smoky chilli sauce in the background.

Chicken Adobado (Marinated Chicken)

(adapted from Mexican Made Simple by Thomasina Miers)

For the marinade

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

8 cloves of garlic, chopped

4 heaped tablespoons tomato puree

juice of 2 oranges

45ml red wine vinegar

2 chiles de arbol, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Chocolate & Chipotle Chilli Sauce

30ml soy sauce

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried

30g brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 tablespoon cocoa bean shavings

a few teaspoons of sea salt and some black pepper

1 medium-sized free range chicken, segmented, or 12 chicken pieces

1) Whiz all the marinade ingredients together in a blender and pour over the chicken pieces. Marinate overnight or for at least a few house in the fridge. Remove the chicken from the fridge at least half an hour before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature.

2) Either grill or barbeque the chicken until cooked through and nicely coloured (approx 6 minutes on each side).

Serves 4

Finally, I tried out the Chilli & Cocoa Glaze for Fish & Poultry. At first I thought this would be a sauce but it is simply unsweetened cacao chocolate with added chillies. It was very straightforward to use - I just added a tablespoon or so to the fish cooking in the frying pan and it melted away into a smooth sauce.

To be honest this was probably my least favourite item in the box as I found the flavour a little too dark and spicy for my tastes however my other half tells me he liked it.

Overall, this collection of goodies would make an excellent gift for any keen chef, especially one who likes their food with a bit of extra kick.

A big thanks to Hotel Chocolat for providing me with this fantastic selection to sample.

Hotel Chocolat's Adventurous Chef's Collection - Part 1

2011-08-19T20:36:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago I was very excited to receive a large parcel from Hotel Chocolat which contained one of their amazing hampers from their Cocoa Cuisine range. This particular hamper is their Adventurous Chef's Collection and contains a range of both sweet and savoury products beautifully presented in a large white box bound with black ribbon.

The first, and most intriguing, product I tried was their Penne Cocoa Pasta. This is just traditional penne with unsweetened cocoa powder added to it and can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. The uncooked pasta had a lovely chocolatey smell but when cooked I found the flavour a bit more subtle than I expected, hence the addition of the chocolate chips to the recipe below.

Not surprisingly I decided to use it in a sweet dish rather than savoury and created a dessert version of a pasta bake, inspired by a favourite Cheesecake Brownie recipe. This turned out really well and the chocolate pasta worked really well with the rich cheesecake topping and sharply sweet raspberries.

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Pasta Bake

125g penne cocoa pasta

handful chocolate chips

1 egg

200g cream cheese

75g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Handful of raspberries

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Cook the pasta as normal until cooked then drain and empty into a small oven-proof dish. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

2) Beat the cream cheese, egg and icing sugar together until smooth then pour over the pasta.

3) Top with the raspberries and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until just firm.

Serves 2

Next up was a packet of Pure Cocoa Bean Shavings. This is just pure cocoa, with nothing else added to it, and it can be used in sweet or savoury dishes.

These are ideal for adding to savoury dishes to add some depth of flavour or to sweet dishes for an extra chocolatey kick and were perfect for a smoothie recipe I tried out recently. Have a look here for the recipe. I also added some to a chicken marinade I made using another of the products from the hamper and the recipe for that will appear in my next post.

The third and final sweet item was a packet of 70% Dark Chocolate Drops. I've used these before and they are definitely one of my favourite Hotel Chocolate products, mostly because the chocolate drops are so practical for cooking with and they come in a generous 400g bag so will usually last for two or three recipes.

Most of this particular pack were used to create a fantastic marmalade version of the classic chocolate brownie. Have a look here for the recipe - this is definitely one of my favourite recipes so far this year!

As I mentioned above, the hamper also contained three products designed for savoury dishes and the details of these items will follow in a separate post in the next couple of days.

Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits

2011-08-14T17:58:00.000+01:00

I seem to be making a lot of biscuits at the moment. Mostly because they're just so handy for the large number of packed lunches and picnics I'm preparing on a regular basis, with it being the summer holidays. Oh, and of course they're yummy too!

The following recipe is an adaptation of my go-to biscuit recipe that I decided to try out following the discovery of these in Saisnbury's the other week.

For some reason I though they would be chewy and a bit fudge-like but they turned out to be quite crunchy - a bit like the middle of Daim Bars (can you still buy those? I must find out). Yum! In the absence of any chocolate chips they seemed like a good addition to a batch of biscuits together with some cocoa powder for an extra chocolatey kick.

They didn't turn out quite as I had expected as the butterscotch pieces completely melted, leaving small holes in the tops of the biscuits and little bits of butterscotch oozing out of the sides. Ignoring their slightly odd appearance though, they tasted delicious. The butterscotch pieces added lots of caramel flavour and I'll definitely be making a chocolate version again, maybe using white chocolate chips next time.

If you want to make regular chocolate-chip biscuits just substitute the cocoa powder for an extra ounce of flour and use a 100g bag of chocolate chips instead of the butterscotch pieces.

Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits

5oz/150g self raising flour

1oz/25g cocoa powder

3oz/90g butter at room temperature

3oz/90g brown sugar

3oz/90g caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

4oz/100g bag butterscotch pieces

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper.

2) Put the butter and sugar and beat together until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix in the flour and cocoa powder until well incorporated then fold in the butterscotch pieces.

3) Spoon dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the baking sheets and flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes. If you want chewy biscuits then it's important not to overcook them, in fact they should seem quite undercooked when you take them out of the oven. The edges should feel just done but middles will still feel quite soft.

Makes about 20, depending on the size of biscuit you make.

Delia's Strawberry and Vanilla Pavlova

2011-08-11T17:24:00.001+01:00

We've passed the peak of the strawberry season now (sadly, as they are my favourite fruit by a long way) but you should be able to get British ones in the shops for a few weeks yet. The following recipe is the perfect use for them.

This is another of those recipes created by Delia Smith for Waitrose and if you can't find the recipe card instore you can find all the details on the Waitrose website here.

I have to admit that I struggled a bit with the meringue at first as it was too runny and refused to stay in the neat and tidy peaks I was hoping for. In the end I realised that I probably hadn't beaten it enough so I just put it back in the bowl and set to it with the whisk for several minutes longer. Eventually it seemed to be the right consistency and I manage to achieve a reasonable shape.

I was quite sure what to expect from the mascarpone and fromage frais combination and was worried that it might not be sweet enough. I worried for nothing though as it turned out to be delicious and the balance of sweetness was just right.

The recipe says it serves 6, however I served it to 4 people and we devoured the lot with no trouble at all. If cooking for 6 or more you might want to consider scaling up the quantities!

Bill's Cafe - Cambridge

2011-08-08T17:34:00.000+01:00

So, following on from my post yesterday, the second no-cooking-required event I wanted to write about was a trip I took to Bill's Cafe in Cambridge. I'd seen it reviewed by a couple of local bloggers recently (The Secluded Tea Party, for one) and thought it sounded like a good destination for lunch during a rare, solitary shopping trip.

Bill's Cafe is located on one of Cambridge's lovely back streets, in a building that used to house a Slug & Lettuce pub, one of those slightly bland chain pub/restaurants that I never found particularly appealing. My first impression of the new occupant was a space full of colour with the walls lined with shelves and crammed with various tins, bottles, jars and bags of food (Bill's also sells a wide variety of foodstuffs, a lot of which are own-brand products such as jams, chutneys, salad dressings etc). It was only just noon but the place was already very busy and it wasn't long before they were turning people away.

I was sat at one of the communal tables, which was decorated with pots of red flowers and metal buckets providing cutlery, napkins etc. There was also a "menu" of the aforementioned foodstuffs so diners could tick off the items they wanted to take away with them and hand it to a member of staff. Their shopping would then be gathered together, with the cost added to the bill, ready to take away at the end of their meal - quite a clever touch I thought.

The menu offered lots of tempting choices (have a look here) and after much umming and ahhing I plumped for the Halloumi and Hummous Burger. You can't really tell from the picture below but it arrived on a smallish rectangular wooden board topped with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Quite a novel method of serving but not ideal for those of us prone to losing half the contents of their burger during the eating process! Luckily I managed to get through with the minimum of mess and I had definitely made the right choice as the burger was delicious. Slices of halloumi were sat on top of some nice, chunky hummous, with salad, mayo and sweet chilli sauce, all served in a brioche bun. The chips were served in a metal pudding mould which made the portion look a bit on the small side but looks can be deceiving and I had more than enough.

I'll definitely be back here when I'm next in Cambridge. If nothing else I have to try their Chocolate Brownie Milkshake, topped with a mountain of cream, which I enviously watched being served to someone else while I was there.

The Secluded Tea Party - March 2011

2011-08-07T19:08:00.001+01:00

You may have noticed that this is my first post in a while. A combination of the start of summer holiday season and a few days away resulted in me taking a bit of a break from blogging for while but I've still been cooking and have accumulated a fair number of new recipes to tell you about.

I'm going to start, though, by writing about a couple of occasions where I haven't been required to do any cooking at all.

First up is a shamefully overdue post. You've probably heard about the ever increasing number of supper clubs popping up around the country where enthusiastic food lovers invite people into their home and provide them with dinner in exchange for a small fee. Earlier in the year, though, I heard about a very appealing new variation on this theme - The Secluded Tea Party.

Instead of dinner, participants attend an afternoon tea party hosted by the creator of The Secluded Tea Party, the lovely Miss Sue Flay (say it out loud!) and held in a secret location somewhere in Cambridgeshire or the surrounding area. Tea parties are held on a regular basis and each has it's own theme and special, secret, location. The lucky guests are served with a fabulous selection of goodies as you can see in the pictures above and below. Some of the many things on offer were savoury red onion tartlets, a variety of sandwiches (ham with garlic jam were my favourite), fruit & spice scones with jam and cream, Oreo truffles (yes, they were as good as they sound) and finally, the most enormous Victoria Sponge stuffed with vanilla buttercream and jam. All of this was accompanied by a glass of zingy lemonade and a wide selection of tea. Needless to say I didn't need much dinner that evening.

The location for this indulgent interlude was right up my street, being one of Cambridge's hidden gems - Plurabelle Books. Sitting right in the heart of Cambridge, Plurabelle Books is a second hand bookshop and an absolute haven for any book lover. And best of all, when the guests had finished tea we were invited to browse the bookshelves and take one or two books home in exchange for one or two of our own books that we no longer wanted.

For more pictures and Miss Sue Flay's write-up of the the event have a look here.

Since I attended the book-themed party in March, Miss Sue Flay has been very busy hosting other parties - the Vintage Tea Party and Zombie Tea Party (which sounded huge fun), to name but two. And there are many more to come - have a look at The Secluded Tea Party website to read more and find out how you can join in. Alternatively, you might want to take advantage of Miss Sue's new offering - the Private Tea Party.

All in all it was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Meal Planning Mondays - 18th July 2011

2011-07-18T20:47:00.002+01:00

Two blog posts in one night - how about that! I'm getting a bit behind with my posts at the moment so while I'm in the mood I thought I might aswell make the most of it.

Last week's menu went almost to plan, except for Wednesday when I threw in the towel/apron and gave in to chips and curry sauce from the local Chinese. Boy they were good though. I was a day out from then on and never made the Barbeque Mince I had planned for Sunday so we had the mince for tea tonight instead.

I was very pleased with the two new recipes I made last week - the Harissa Lamb Tacos that I posted about earlier and the lovely Zucchini Bread I wrote about on Friday. Both turned out to considerably nicer than I expected which is always a happy occurrence in my world.

So on to this week. Apart from the Chicken Adobado, a recipe from my very underused copy of Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers, there's nothing hugely exciting on my list this week. There's a couple of new cake recipes I have my eye on though so watch this space.

Monday - Pasta Bolognese (not entirely homemade I'm afraid)

Tuesday - Chicken Adobado (marinated chicken)

Wednesday - Omelette and Salad

Thursday - Jacket Potatoes and Salad

Friday - Aubergine Pasta

Saturday - Don't know yet

Sunday - Cottage Pie

Harissa Lamb Tacos

2011-07-18T20:20:00.001+01:00

I came across this recipe recently in the July edition of delicious magazine, in the Shortcut Suppers section. It certainly was quick to make however whether the portions sizes are enough for an evening meal is up for debate. The original recipe called for 250g of lamb mince but I decided to put in the whole 400g pack and put any leftovers in the freezer. It was all polished off by the two of us pretty swiftly though, together with 3 tacos each rather than the 2 listed in the original recipe, and we both agreed it would have been nice to have something extra on the side. I would say this definitely falls into the light supper category rather than proper dinner.

Having said all that, though, these were really nice. The jar of harissa (which I've never used before) had three chillis on the side so I was worried it would too spicy but the flavour turned out to be quite understated with hardly any heat. The addition of the lime juice and the mint yoghurt finished off the tacos beautifully. I'll definitely be adding this one to my list of quick mid-week dinners.

Harissa Lamb Tacos

(adapted from delicious Magazine July 2011)

1 tbsp olive oil

400g good quality lamb mince

1 red onion, chopped

1 heaped tbsp Belazu Rose Harissa or similar, or more to taste

1 lime, cut into quarters

6 taco shells

small bunch of fresh mint, chopped

200g greek-style natural yoghurt

1 little gem lettuce, shredded

1) Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the lamb mince and season well. Fry, breaking up with a wooden spoon, for 5 minutes over a medium-high heat.

2) Stir in the onion and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring, until the lamb is nicely browned and the onion is softened. Stir through the harissa and cook for a couple more minutes, then pour over 350ml water and simmer for 10 minutes until sticky. Squeeze over 2 of the lime quarters.

3) Meanwhile, heat the taco shells according to the pack instructions and stir the chopped mint into the yoghurt.

4) Spoon the harissa lamb into the warmed taco shells and top with shredded lettuce. Serve with the mint yoghurt and remaining lime wedges.

Serves 2 - 3

Zucchini Bread

2011-07-15T19:37:00.000+01:00

Well look at that. I managed to grow a proper sized courgette! I haven't much success with courgettes in the past - they usually to grow to about the size of a chipolata before shrivelling up - but finally I have a winner (mine is the one at the front).

I like using courgettes in savoury dishes and also in baking, with Nigella's Courgette Cake with Lime Curd being an absolute favourite. I also love Tortellini with Courgette and Lemon but I'd made that just a few days earlier and I really wanted to try something new.

I found this recipe in Rachel Allen's book, Bake. It sounds quite plain and, in some ways, it is, but please don't let that put you off. The courgettes make it deliciously moist and the spices give it just enough flavour. I liked it best thickly sliced and spread with butter or marge, but it also went down very well for pudding with a bit of ice cream on the side.

Zucchini Bread

(adapted from Bake by Rachel Allen)

400g/14oz plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves (I didn't have any ground cloves and didn't fancy trying to grind up whole ones so I substituted them for the same quantity of mixed spice)

300g/11oz caster sugar

100g/3 1/2oz demerara sugar

3 eggs, beaten

200ml/7 fl oz sunflower oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

380g/13oz courgettes, grated (with the skin left on)

75g/3oz walnuts, chopped (I didn't have any in the house so left them out)

1) Line two 13 x 23cm (5 x 9inch) loaf tins. Preheat the oven to 150c/300f.

2) In a large bowl, sift in the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and spices. Add both sugars and stir well to mix.

3) Add the beaten eggs, oil, vanilla extract and grated courgettes to the dry ingredients and mix well until combined. Add the walnuts (if using), mix in and divide the mixture between the two prepared tins.

4) Bake in the oven for 1-1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tins for a while before turning out onto a wire rack.

The loaves will keep well for up to 10 days if tightly wrapped in clingfilm.

Meal Planning Mondays - 11th July 2011

2011-07-11T20:03:00.001+01:00

So here we are again, another Monday and another Meal Plan. Last week went pretty much to plan with the exception of the Chicken Risotto which got switched with a Chicken Casserole at the last minute. I'm pleased to report that the Sainsbury's Beef Burgers went down very well and I'll definitely be making them again. I didn't manage to get any photos of them unfortunately, but you can find the recipe here.

Last week I was also very happy to appear as the Friday food blogger in the Voucher Codes online lifestyle magazine, Most Wanted. Have a look at my fantastic Chocolate Marmalade Brownie recipe here.

On to this week and I have a couple of new things planned together with some tried-and-tested favourites. As always I'll try to report back at a later date.

Monday - Chicken & Vegetable Stir Fry

Tuesday - Puff Pastry Tarts with Salad

Wednesday - Fish Cakes with Rice and Veg

Thursday - Harissa Lamb Tacos

Friday - Pork Steaks & Veg

Saturday - Gnocchi & Pesto

Sunday - Nigella's Barbeque Mince with Tortilla Chips

If you'd like to share your menu for the week feel free to leave a comment or put a link to your post on Mrs M's blog, At Home with Mrs M.

Meal Planning Mondays - 4 July 2011

2011-07-04T20:19:00.000+01:00

Last week I mentioned that I was planning to try out the Sainsburys Feed your Family for £50 plan - a meal plan that pledges to provide three meals a day, for four people for just £50.

So is it possible? Well, yes...

....and no.

Technically it is possible, however you need a family that is prepared to change the way they eat quite considerably and go without a lot of the little extras such as snacks between meals or any kind of drink that isn't water. It's also worth noting that the meal plans aren't designed for small children and I did make a few changes to accommodate their needs. The main example being breakfast as the options were toast and jam or muesli and yoghurt and none of my family were prepared to stray from their usual selections of cereal.

Having said all that, it was really interesting to try some of the economy options, some of which I'd happily buy again (the mozarella and the bag of muesli) and some I wouldn't (the 18p jar of pasta sauce and the economy Rice Krispies I decided to try). I also discovered some great new recipes that I'll be using again in the future.

Cheesy Bolognese Bake - this was really nice and made absolutely loads. I liked the addition of the bread on top which added a nice crunchy texture.

Sausages with Potato Wedges and Creamy Greens - the creamy greens were a real revelation in this dish. Just a simple mixture of softened onion slices mixed with cooked beans and peas and some cream cheese. So simple but really delicious.

Salmon fishcakes - I don't have a picture for these but again the recipe made loads and I still have another meal's worth left in the freezer. They were very simple to make and tasted great.

I ended up chopping and changing my meal plan last week so the Chicken Risotto and Burgers have reappeared on this week's plan and I'll try to report back about these at a later date.

So how much did I spend in the end? Well, all in all my total weekly shop came to about £70 - more than the £60 I was trying to keep to but still considerably less than I'd usually spend. Plus, as the portion sizes were more than we needed I still have some leftovers in the freezer for another day. You can find all the details and recipes for this plan, and the two preceeding ones on Sainsbury's website here.

So on to this week's meal plan. I've quite enjoyed the challenge of keeping to a budget so while I don't intend to be as restrictive as last week I'm concentrating on using up items already in my cupboard and freezer.

Monday - Sausages with Potato Wedges and Creamy Veg

Tuesday - Pasta with Aubergine and Tomato Sauce

Wednesday - Tortellini with Courgette and Lemon

Thursday - Chicken Risotto

Friday - Out

Saturday - Fish Cakes with Rice and Veg

Sunday - Barbeque Mince or burgers

Mocha Banana Smoothie and Food Blogger Connect 2011

2011-06-30T19:35:00.000+01:00

Every year food bloggers and writers from all over Europe and beyond have the opportunity to attend Food Blogger Connect, which is the largest food blogging conference in Europe and gives like-minded bloggers the chance to meet and listen to a number of high-profile guest speakers. This year the conference is being held in London on the 11th to 13th August and of course I would love to go but sadly I don't have the funds to take me there.

Luckily though, I might still be in with a chance of going as Cuisinart, one of the sponsors of FBC11, have launched a competition that will enable the two lucky winners to get free entry to the full weekend conference, including an opportunity to participate in the cooking demonstration with Celebrity Chef Anjum Anand.

Sounds good to me!

All I have to do is post a smoothie recipe of my own making or from any recipe provided by Cuisinart or Anjum Anand's books.

My recipe was inspired by a desert I used to have when I was little - ice cream mixed with Camp Coffee Essence. I love the sweet coffee flavour it lends to anything you add it to and it tastes great mixed up with bananas, ice cream and a little bit of dark chocolate.

Mocha Banana Smoothie

2 bananas

2-3 scoops of vanilla ice cream

1 tablepoon Camp Coffee Essence

1 tablespoon finely grated dark chocolate plus extra for sprinkling

a splash of milk

whipped cream for decoration

1) Pile everything bar the cream into a blender and whizz until combined.

2) Serve in a tall glass and top with cream and a sprinkling of grated chocolate.

Serves 1

Ricotta and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

2011-06-29T20:37:00.001+01:00

Does anyone still use sun-dried tomatoes? You hardly ever see them in recipes these days and the once-popular deli counter staple seems to have been almost entirely eclipsed by the sun-blush or semi-dried tomato (which I love by the way). I've had a jar of the sun-dried version sitting in my cupboard for ages and I finally got round to digging it out a few days ago to make this, one of my favourite pasta salad recipes. I haven't made this for ages but now I've been reminded how good it is I think it's going to be my staple BBQ pasta salad recipe for the rest of the summer.

As you can see below the amounts used are not set in stone and can be adjusted to suit your own tastes. I love this when it's freshly made and the pasta is still warm however it still tastes great the next day and any leftovers are perfect for lunch boxes.

Ricotta & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Approx 400g/14oz pasta

250g tub ricotta cheese

7-10 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped or snipped with scissors

grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

1) Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the pack instructions

2) When cooked, drain the pasta and tip into a large bowl. Mix in the ricotta until the pasta is well covered then stir in the sun-dried tomatoes. Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste.

Serves anything from 2 to 6 or 8, depending on greed and portion sizes

Meal Planning Monday - 27 June 2011

2011-06-27T20:02:00.000+01:00

I've decided this week to try out the Sainsburys Feed Your Family for £50 plan. You might have seen the adverts or read about it on their website - apparently the plan provides meal ideas for 3 meals a day, for four people, for 7 days and all for a cost of just £50. Hmmm. Considering I usually spend double this and then some this seemed like quite a challenge but we're all trying to save money these days so I thought it would be interesting to give it a try. Not surprisingly, cutting the budget this much will involve some compromises so many of the products on the shopping list are from the Sainsburys economy range and there's nothing of the free range or organic variety. I usually aim for the mid-range products rather than the economy lines so it will be interesting to see if I notice a difference.

As the menu is not aimed at small children and because there are a few items I'm not willing to cut out altogether I've actually decided to try and keep to a budget of £60 and to only make changes or additions to the plan using things I already have in the house.

You can find full details of the plan on the Sainsburys website here. I'll try and report back with the results over the next week or so.

So here's my menu for the next week and a bit. I get my shopping delivered on Tuesdays so my week using the plan will run from Wednesday to the following Tuesday.

Monday - Baked Aubergines with Potato Wedges

Tuesday - Pork Chops with Veg

Wednesday - Chorizo & Chickpea Stew

Thursday - Chicken Risotto (Sainsburys recipe)

Friday - Burgers & Potato Wedges (Sainsburys recipe)

Saturday - Out

Sunday - Cheesy Bolognese Bake (Sainsburys recipe)

Monday - Sausages with Potato Wedges and Creamy Greens (Sainsburys recipe)

Tuesday - Salmon Fishcakes with Salad or Veg (Sainsburys recipe)

Date Bars

2011-06-26T20:05:00.001+01:00

Wow, these were a surprising hit. If there was an award for Best Use for an Old Bag of Dried Dates this recipe would be a winner for sure. Recipes using dried fruit don't always generate a great deal of enthusiasm for me but these little lovelies defied all my preconceptions and were so much nicer that I was expecting. Cooking the dates reduces them to a sweet, sticky, almost toffee-like goo which is then surrounded by the buttery, crumbly base and topping. They remind me of fig rolls in a way but sooo much nicer!

Date Bars

(adapted from Bake by Rachel Allen)

250ml/9 fl oz water

200g/7 oz dates (stoned weight), chopped

175g/6 oz plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

175g/6oz soft light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar with no trouble)

100g/3 1/2 oz porridge oats

good pinch of salt

175g/6 oz butter, diced

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) cake tin.

2) Place the water and chopped dates in a medium-sized saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, uncovered, on a low-medium heat until the date mixture is very soft and thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

3) Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add the sugar, oats and salt and mix well. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub it in until moist clumps form.

4) Press half of the oat mixture evenly over the base of the prepared tin. Spread the cooked date mixture over this, then sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture. Press gently with the palm of your hand to flatten it on top.

5) Bake in the oven for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown at the edges and set in the centre.

6) Allow to cool completely in the tin, then cut into bars and serve.

Makes about 16 bars

Hotel Chocolat - The Summer Desserts H-Box Selection

2011-06-21T20:34:00.000+01:00

Hotel Chocolat contacted me recently to tell me about their new Birthday Gifts Collection - a tempting array of chocolatey goodies packaged in a variety of ways and suitable for a range of budgets.

From this little Happy Birthday Message Box.....

...to the guaranteed-brownie-points-earning Summer Picnic Hamper....

...and lots more in between.

Also included in the range are a number of Hotel Chocolat's H-Box Selections, which I'm already a fan of, so I was especially happy when they sent me their Summer Desserts selection to test, taste and review.

This box contains thirteen chocolates all inspired by classic desserts, and at 11 pounds is, I think, reasonably priced. For your money, you get one or two of each of the following:

Eton Mess - Very creamy with a mild hint of strawberry

Coconut Bombe - Smooth and chocolatey with a coconut flavour that wasn't overpowering

Summer Pudding - Very smooth and fruity, I could really taste the raspberries in this one

Chocolate Brownie - A delicious combination of chocolate and praline

Red Berry Mousse - Nice gentle fruity flavours

Chocolate Mousse - Very dark and rich - one for the dark chocolate lovers

Neapolitan - Somehow they managed to capture that slightly fake-but-in-a-good-way strawberry flavour you get in neapolitan ice cream - lovely

Lemon & Passion Fruit Tart - This had a lovely lemony flavour, however I wasn't so keen on the layer of dark chocolate hidden underneath.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed sampling this selection and would happily recommend them as a present for chocolate-loving friends or family.

Thanks to Hotel Chocolat for sending me this sample to review.

Meal Planning Mondays - 14th June 2011

2011-06-14T19:48:00.000+01:00

Oops, I know this was supposed to be yesterday (the clue is in the title!) but I just didn't quite manage to get down to the task. Yesterday's dinner was a bit of a hurried affair anyway and not worth mentioning however from today onwards it gets a bit more interesting.

So here's my menu for the rest of the week...

Tuesday - Pomegranate Marinated Chicken and Couscous (but without the aubergine in the recipe)

Wednesday - New Potato, Bacon & Blue Cheese Salad

Thursday - Duck, Orange and Honey Stir-Fry

Friday - Pasta with Spicy Sausage Sauce

Saturday - Lasagne

Sunday - Roast Chicken

Nothing new on the savoury front this week however I'm hoping to try out some new strawberry recipes as we head towards the peak of the season.

As always, if you're planning to cook something exciting this week feel free to leave a comment here or on Mrs M's website, At Home with Mrs M, the original home of Meal Planning Mondays.

Lamb Biryani with Cumin, Mint and Coriander Yoghurt

2011-06-06T19:59:00.000+01:00

No Meal Planning Monday for me this week as I'm off on holiday on Thursday and the rest of the week is very much unplanned at the moment! Instead, though, I'll tell you about the Lamb Biryani that appeared on my meal plan a couple of weeks ago.

This recipe comes from Bill Grainger's book, Every Day, which I like more and more as I try new recipes from it. It has a great variety of recipes, most of which are very fresh and healthy, which are great for weeknight dinners or for serving to friends and family.

This is a lovely, gently spiced rice dish that was very easy to assemble. Once you've done the initial browning and frying it will look after itself in the oven while you get on with something else. I halved the recipe and this was about right for two of us, however you could stretch it to three if you served some naan bread on the side.

I nearly didn't make the spiced yoghurt but I'm glad I did as it was a lovely accompaniment to the curry and was no trouble to assemble. I'm not too keen on using whole chillies so I substituted it for a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes which added just enough background warmth for me.

Lamb Biryani

(adapted from Every Day by Bill Grainger)

1kg/2 lb 4oz boneless lamb leg, trimmed and diced

1 tablespoon garam masala

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

300g/10 1/2 oz basmati rice

750ml/26 fl oz chicken stock

small handful fresh coriander leaves

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas 6. Put the lamb in a large bowl with the garam masal, cumin and turmeric and toss to coat the lamb in the spices.

2) Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a flameproof casserole over a medium heat, and the lamb in batches and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until browned all over, adding a little more oil if necessary. Remove and set aside.

3) Add the remaining oil, onion, garlic and ginger to the casserole and cook over a medium heat until the onion is soft and pale golden. Add the rice, stir together and cook for 2 minutes.

4) Return the lamb to the casserole in a single layer and carefully pour over the stock. Put the lid on the casserole and put in the oven. Cook for 35-45 minutes or until the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid. Top with coriander leaves before serving.

Serves 4-6

Cumin, mint and coriander yoghurt

(as above)

300ml natural yoghurt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander

2cm/1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 long green chilli, seeded and finely chopped

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

lightly toasted cumin seeds

Serves 4-6

Fairy Cakes

2011-06-05T19:16:00.000+01:00

Why don't I make fairy cakes more often? And I don't mean enormous cupcakes, or anything involving a piping bag. Just dinky little fairy cakes with a bit of glace icing on the top and scattered with sweets or sprinkles. They are so easy and quick to make and taste fabulous, yet somehow I only end up making them for birthdays and children's parties.

I decided to rectify that today though by making a huge batch to take to work tomorrow. This was inspired in part by the cupcake party my daughter recently had for her birthday (run by The Suffolk Cupcake Company, who did a fab job) as the lovely lady hosting it left me all the unfinished tubs of sprinkles and I've been waiting for an excuse to use them.

Here's the recipe I used...

Fairy Cakes

2 eggs

4 oz self-raising flour

4 oz sugar

4 oz butter or margarine

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsps milk

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Line a bun tin with cake cases (I use the smaller fairy cake cases for this recipe)

2) Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3) Add the eggs and beat in thoroughly. Don't worry if it curdles a little.

4) Add the flour, vanilla and milk until you have a mixture with a soft, dropping consistency.

5) Spoon into cases and bake for 12-15 minutes until the cakes spring bake when lightly pressed.

Makes about 18 cakes.

For the icing you just need to follow the instructions on the back of the icing sugar packet. Don't hold back on the quantities though - the more the better in my opinion. Then add any colour you like and use any decorations that take your fancy.

Go forth and bake!

Spaghetti with 5-minute tomato sauce

2011-06-04T19:33:00.002+01:00

This is a delicious pasta recipe that's just perfect for this time of year when you want something a bit fresher and lighter than a heavy pasta bake. The lovely summery flavour comes from the fresh tomatoes so it's definitely worth trying to make the most of the British varieties as they arrive in the shops over the next few weeks. The soft tomatoes are complimented by the hint of garlic and salty pancetta in the background and the whole dish is finished off perfectly by the bright, tangy goats cheese.

I should say that the title, "5-minute tomato sauce" is a little misleading as it doesn't account for the fairly lengthy and messy process of skinning, deseeding and chopping the tomatoes. It's a bit of a chore but definitely worth the effort and when done you are just minutes away from putting your feet up with a delicious dinner.

Spaghetti with 5-minute tomato sauce

(adapted from Good Food Magazine, September 2005)

5 large ripe tomatoes

140g/5oz spaghetti (This never seems like much for two so I use 6oz)

3 tbsp olive oil

100g/4oz diced bacon or lardons (the little plastic tubs of pancetta work really well)

2 garlic cloves, chopped

50-85g/2-3oz soft fresh rindless goat's cheese

handful basil and/or snipped chives

1) Pour boiling water over the tomatoes to cover, leave for 1 minute, then drain and slip off the skins. Quarter and seed the tomatoes, then chop the flesh.

2) Bring a large pan of salter water to the boil, add the spaghetti and give it a stir. Cook as per the instructions on the packet.

3) Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan, add the bacon and fry until starting to crisp up. Add the garlic, tomatoes, the rest of the oil and pepper and salt if using. Heat through for 1-2 minutes until just simmering.

4) Drain the spaghetti and add to the pan, tossing in the sauce until lightly coated. Divide between two warm soup plates, crumble over the cheese and scatter over the herbs. Serve with crusty bread and a glass of red wine.

Serves 2

Meal Planning Mondays - 30th May 2011

2011-05-30T18:25:00.000+01:00

Well here we are again - another Monday and another meal plan already!

Last week went pretty well meal-planning-wise and I managed to make everything on the list on the day I'd planned to make it, with the exception of the Cottage Pie which got scooted off the menu yesterday and on to today's in favour of a quick dinner of pasta with tomato sauce. I've already done a write-up about the Crustless Pizza that I made last Monday and I'll post about my two favourite meals from last week, the Spaghetti with 5-minute tomato sauce and the Lamb Biryani, later on this week.

So on to this week's plan...

Monday - Cottage Pie

Tuesday - Beefburgers and Salad

Wednesday - We're off to the Suffolk Show so will probably take a trip to Pizza Express on the way home

Thursday - Moroccan Fish Stew

Friday - Spanish Omelette and Salad

Saturday - Ricotta and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Sunday - Fish Pie

Feel free to share your meal plan by leaving a comment here or on Mrs M's blog, At Home with Mrs M.

Forever Nigella - Salad Days

2011-05-27T19:50:00.000+01:00

I haven't been able to participate in the last couple of Forever Nigella challenges but when I saw the theme this month I was keen to take part. The theme for this month's Forever Nigella challenge is "Salad Days" and is being hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen. The weather is warming up (or at least it was until this weekend!) and salads are becoming more appealing so it was great to have the opportunity to try out one or two new recipes.

The first one that caught my was the Chinatown Chicken Salad, which is tucked away in Nigella's latest book, Kitchen, among a selection of recipes for using up leftover chicken. It's well worth cooking some chicken from scratch just for this recipe though. I really loved all of the different elements that made up this salad, in particular the crunchy tortilla chips and peanuts and the delicious gingery soy/lime dressing. All of the ingredients came together perfectly to make a delicious dish which was a complete meal in itself.

I had some tortilla chips and lettuce left over from the previous recipe so I decided to try out the Quick Chick Caesar Salad, also in Kitchen. This is a slightly speedier version of the classic Caesar Salad which replaces croutons with tortilla chips (although Nigella also suggests using cubes of garlicky roast potatoes, which sounds delicious). While it didn't quite have the wow factor of the Chinatown Chicken Salad it was nevertheless a really delicious filling tea. I've never made a proper Caesar Salad dressing before which, in this case, includes a raw egg, so I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out. It was lovely though, although next time I might use a little less lemon juice.

As before, one of the principle rules for participating in the Forever Nigella challenge is that we're not allowed to reproduce the recipes we use on our blog posts. The aim is encourage our readers to go out and buy Nigella's books and reap the benefits as we have. I really would recommend Kitchen to anyone - it's a great book containing some truly fantastic recipes.

Crustless Pizza

2011-05-26T20:08:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to try out this recipe ever since I received Nigella's newest book, Kitchen, at Christmas. I think the simplicity of it appealed to me most, as is so often the case, and on that score it certainly didn't let me down. Taste-wise, though, it got a bit of a mixed reaction as I quite liked it but my other half wasn't so sure. Ultimately it's just like the squishy bit you often find in the middle of a yorkshire pudding, so quite plain and in need of help from other ingredients to add flavour and make it more interesting. I used regular cheddar but next time I think I'll use a really strong one. The chorizo, of course, adds it's own flavour, but as Nigella suggests you can add anything else that takes your fancy - ham or sweetcorn or maybe some sliced tomatoes.

So I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. It was nice and filling (the whole thing served two of us, with a side salad, without us feeling like we were being greedy) and the overall lack of effort required to throw it together means that I'll almost certainly make it again.

If you try it I'd love to hear what you think.

Crustless Pizza

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

1 egg

100g plain flour

sea salt flakes or pouring salt to taste

250ml full fat milk

butter for greasing

100g grated cheddar cheese

50g small chorizo or pepperoni slices (optional)

1 x round ovenproof pie dish, approx 20cm diameter

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Beat the egg with the flour, salt and milk to make a smooth batter.

2) Grease the pie dish then stir half the grated cheese into the batter, before pouring it into the dish.

3) Bake for 30 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and add the chorizo or pepperoni (if using) - or anything else - now, too. Return to the oven and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.

4) Once the cheese top is melted and looks burnished gold on the crustless pizza, take it out of the oven and serve cut into slices.

Serves 2-4 depending on age and appetite.

Meal Planning Mondays - 23rd May 2011

2011-05-23T19:11:00.001+01:00

I didn't manage to post my meal plan last week as life had conspired against me and I was still working through the preceding week's meal plan well into last week. I did manage to make almost everything I'd planned though, with the Chinatown Chicken Salad and the Tortellini with Courgette and Lemon being particular highlights. The rest of the week was very much unplanned and included a few too many meals of the pizza and takeaway variety.

Back to normal this week though and I've got several interesting things planned together with a couple of old favourites. Nigella's Crustless Pizza is on the list again as, up until today, I still hadn't made it. However, it is now safely in the oven as I write and I'll hopefully be able to report back later this week.

So here's my plan for this week...

Monday - Crustless Pizza & Salad

Tuesday - Curried Lamb Meatballs

Wednesday - Spaghetti with 5-minute Tomato Sauce

Thursday - Lime, Paprika and Honey Glazed Chicken

Friday - Lamb Biryani

Saturday - Breaded Fish & Chips

Sunday - Cottage Pie

If you'd like to share your menus for the week then feel free to add a comment below or add a link on Mrs M's website - At Home with Mrs M - the home of Meal Planning Mondays.

Tortellini with Courgette and Lemon

2011-05-17T19:31:00.002+01:00

I can't believe I haven't posted about this recipe before considering how many times I've made it over the past few years. It's wonderfully simple and really quick to throw together, I mean really quick. The tortellini I used was cooked in 2 minutes, the same time as it takes to cook the courgette, garlic and lemon.

It sounds like a fairly healthy dish however the amount of butter used bumps up the calorie count a fair bit. 50 grams is a lot of butter (for me anyway) so I tend to use about half of that with no adverse effects on the dish.

Tortellini with Lemon and Courgette

(adapted from a recipe found in Delicious Magazine)

25g pine nuts

250g tortellini (I used Sainsbury's Goats Cheese and Pesto)

50g butter

1 large courgette, roughly grated

1 garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Small handful of basil leaves

1) Put a large pan of water on to boil. Gently toast the pine nuts in a hot, dry frying pan until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

2) Tip the tortellini into the boiling water and cook according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and set aside.

3) Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the grated courgette and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes then stir in the lemon juice and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.

4) Add the cooked tortellini and mix well. Season to taste. Divide between two plates and scatter with the toasted pine nuts and basil leaves to serve.

Serves 2

Lemon Creme Brulee

2011-05-15T20:24:00.001+01:00

While searching for some interesting recipes I came across this recipe for Lemon Creme Brulee in Falling Cloudberries - a beautiful book by Tessa Kiros (as is her other book that I have - Apples for Jam). I love creme brulee and fancied an opportunity to dust off my blowtorch, however I have to admit that this recipe came a bit close to being a disaster as I had trouble with it every step of the way! Luckily it tasted fantastic (I loved the syrupy lemon hiding at the bottom) and I will definitely be giving myself another opportunity to fine-tune it.

To start with, when making the lemon syrup I don't think I left it long enough before I added the lemon segments and they dissolved to mush before the syrup had thickened enough. I nearly binned it and started again but it tasted great so I persevered with what I had.

Secondly, I cooked the custard for ages but it never quite thickened up as much as I would have liked. Even though it firmed up in the fridge a bit, the heat from the blowtorch turned it almost to liquid again (as you can see in the picture below). Next time I think I'll try baking it in the oven rather than cooking it on the hob (see the link below for an alternative recipe).

Finally, the first couple of attempts to create the brulee with the blowtorch were stressful to say the least as the sugar insisted on going from raw to black in seconds. The next day I did what I should have done at the start and searched on google for some precise instructions. I found a video that gave me all the information I needed and finally I got the result I wanted on the last pot. The suggestion to put the sugar on in two layers is a stroke of genius and that, together with being a bit less heavy handed with the blowtorch, gave me a perfect layer of crunchy caramelised sugar.

You can find the link to the video here.

Lemon Creme Brulee

(adapted from Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros)

2 lemons

3 tablespoons caster sugar

Custard

500ml double cream

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways

8 egg yolks

125g/4 1/2oz caster sugar

Brulee Top

100g/3 1/2oz caster sugar

1) Finely grate the zest from one of the lemons and set aside. To fillet the lemons, cut the top and bottom from both of them. Sit the lemons on a board and, with a small sharp knife, cut downwards to remove the skin and pith. Remove the segments by slicing between the white pith. Remove any pips and discard the lemon "skeleton".

2) Put the 3 tablespoons of caster sugar in a small saucepan with 125ml/1/2 cup of water and the lemon zest. Bring to the boil and boil for a few minutes until the syrup thickens and becomes lightly golden. Add the lemon fillets and simmer for a few minutes more until thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Divide among six 185ml/3/4 cup ramekins and put in the fridge.

3) To make the custard, put the cream and vanilla bean in a heavy-based saucepan and bring to just below boiling point. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes, then remove the vanilla bean, scraping the seeds into the cream with the point of a knife.

4) Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl for 2 minutes until thick and creamy. Whisk a ladleful of cream into the yolks. Then pour in all the cream, mixing it well, and return the whole lot to the pan, over the lowest possible heat. Whisk almost continuously to keep moving the heat around for about 10 minutes, or until you notice the custard thickening. It should make ribbons when you whisk. Take care not to let the custard get too hot or the eggs will split - if they do quickly take a hand-held mixer and puree on full power for a couple of minutes.

5) Pass the custard through a fine sieve into a cold bowl (I left out this part) and continue whisking to prevent the eggs cooking further. You can also hold the bowl in a sink filled with cold water while you whisk. When the custard is quite cooled, ladle it into the ramekins, not filling them too full and trying not to send the lemon syrup everywhere. When they are completely cool, cover with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

6) Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over the surface of the custard so it is just covered. Put under a hot grill or use a kitchen blow torch to carefully melt the sugar without it burning. Leave to cool for a few minutes then repeat with another layer of sugar.

Serves 6

Meal Planning Mondays - 9th May 2011

2011-05-09T21:02:00.000+01:00

Right then, here's my meal plan for the week. My menus have been a bit unexciting lately but I've included a couple of new recipes this week to spice things up a bit (Chinatown Chicken Salad and Crustless Pizza, both from Nigella Kitchen). The others are old favourites than I make on a regular basis, in particular the Courgette and Lemon Tortellini which I can't believe I haven't posted about yet.

As always I'd like to fit in some baking too but only time will tell whether I'll actually manage to fit it in!

Monday - Chicken with Boursin & Parma Ham, served with Jersey Royal potatoes and veg

Tuesday - Jacket potatoes & salad

Wednesday - Griddled Halloumi with Spiced Couscous

Thursday - Chinatown Chicken Salad

Friday - Crustless Pizza & Salad

Saturday - Courgette & Lemon Tortellini

Sunday - Chicken Chow Mein

If you want some more ideas, check out Mrs M's blog, At Home with Mrs M, for some other meal-planning blog posts.

Creamy Bacon and Mushroom Pasta

2011-05-03T20:46:00.000+01:00

I do like it when I come across a recipe that fits in with the title of my blog! If you happen to have a bit of cream to spare then this is just the thing if you want to rustle up something simple for tea. It's a lovely variation on the creamy, carbonara theme that I discovered in Rachel Allen's recent book, Home Cooking, a really good book full of great ideas for family-friendly meals. Salty bacon and mushrooms are fried and mixed with cream, gruyere and parmesan cheese to make deliciously flavoured pasta sauce which I'll definitely be making again.

Creamy Bacon and Mushroom Pasta Sauce

(adapted from Home Cooking by Rachel Allen)

1 tbsp olive oil

175g/6oz back bacon (about 6 rashers), chopped

250g/9oz button mushrooms

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

250ml/9 fl oz double or regular cream

75g/3oz gruyere cheese, grated

25g/1oz parmesan cheese, grated

1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Squeeze of lemon juice

1) Pour the olive oil into a frying pan on a medium heat, add the bacon and fry for 3-4 minutes or until crisp and golden.

2) Meanwhile, blend the mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped, or chop by hand. Add to the bacon and saute for a further 3-4 minutes or until softened. Season with a little salt and plenty of pepper

3) Reduce the heat, add the cream and simmer gently for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the Gruyere and Parmesan, followed by the parsley and lemon juice and check the seasoning. Pour the sauce over cooked pasta (I do about 100g per person), tossing together to coat evenly, and serve.

Serves 4

Tiramisu Trifle

2011-04-25T20:10:00.000+01:00

No Meal Planning Monday for me today as I've had a busy couple of weeks and feel all cooked out. I know that tonight we're having Souffled Macaroni Cheese and tomorrow it's the Roasted Pepper, Pancetta and Mascarpone Risotto that I never got around to making last week but beyond that it's anyone's guess!

Instead, though, I can tell you about this fantastic Tiramisu Trifle that I made at the weekend. This is just perfect for high days and holidays at any time of year. I've made it many times at Christmas and it went down very well at our outdoor barbeque yesterday.

The custard and mascarpone make it rich and creamy and the Amaretto/coffee combination make it smell amazing and taste even better. Oh, and of course it's easy to make too!

Tiramisu Trifle

(adapted from Good Food Magazine, January 2003)

1/2 pint/300ml strong coffee

6 fl oz/175ml amaretto

500g tub mascarpone

500g fresh vanilla custard

9 oz/250g sponge fingers

3 oz/85g dark chocolate, chopped, plus extra to decorate

4 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

1) Pour the coffee and Amaretto into a wide dish.

2) Whisk the mascarpone and custard together using a hand whisk or blender.

3) Take a third of the biscuits and dip each one in the coffee/Amaretto mixture and then place in the bottom of a 2 litre serving dish.

4) Sprinkle a third of the grated chocolate over the biscuit layer and then follow with a third of the mascarpone and custard mixture. Repeat this process twice more to create three distinct layers.

5) Place the trifle in the fridge and leave for at least two hours or overnight.

6) Just before serving, sprinkle the trifle with the almonds and extra chopped chocolate.

Serves 8 - 10 generously

Meal Planning Mondays - 18 April 2011

2011-04-18T21:00:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post this week. As I mentioned last week I had accumulated enough recipes on my to-do list to last me a couple of weeks so it didn't take too much time to put together my meal plan for this week.

Hopefully I'll find the time to fit in a bit of baking too. I've already made a banana loaf today and no doubt Easter Nests will be part of the program at the weekend.

Monday - Cottage Pie and Veg - meant for yesterday but we enjoyed a lovely day by the sea which included an excessive amount of fish and chips for lunch and so the pie was put in on hold until today

Tuesday - Chicken and Leek Pie and veg

Wednesday - Asparagus, Ham and Cheese Tarts with Salad and Potatoes followed by Lime and Passionfruit Meringue Pie

Thursday - Roasted Pepper, Pancetta and Mascarpone Risotto

Friday - Toad in the Hole with onion gravy

Saturday - Tomato Pasta

Sunday - Easter Sunday so Roast Dinner and lots of chocolate!

So what are you cooking this week?

Meal Planning Mondays - 11 April 2011

2011-04-11T18:05:00.001+01:00

Ever since Mrs M began posting her weekly meal plans on her blog, At Home with Mrs M, I've been intending to follow suit, however life, as always, has got in the way and this only my second post on the subject. I meant to post my meal plan last week but I'd just returned from a few days holiday and was still in that "really wish someone else was doing the cooking" phase and my foodie mojo was nowhere to be seen. I've since spent some quality time with a generous pile of cookbooks and now have a to-cook list that should last me a couple of weeks.

So, the plan this week is as follows:

Monday - I am out having dinner cooked for me - hurrah

Tuesday - Vegetable Enchilladas

Wednesday - Smoked Mackerel & Salad

Thursday - Out again to celebrate my husband's birthday and my parent's visit - double hurrah. I think we've decided to go to The White Horse in Whepstead, just outside Bury St Edmunds

Friday - Potato, Bacon and Blue Cheese salad - stolen, I confess, from Mrs M's meal plan last week. I made this week last week and liked it so much that I intend to make it again already.

Saturday - Gnocchi with pesto, chicken and tomatoes

Sunday - Cottage Pie and Veg. After a lot of searching I finally have a go-to recipe for this which I must blog about sometime soon.

I will also do a pudding at some point but I'm not sure what yet. I loved the Lemon Meringue Pie I made on Saturday so much (please don't ask how much of it I ate) that I may make it again, or maybe the Chocolate Key Lime Pie I made a few weeks ago. Or maybe I'll just find something new!

What are you planning on cooking this week? Do let me know by leaving a comment or, if you've done your own blog post, add it to the bottom of Mrs M's weekly post.

Lemon Meringue Pie

2011-04-09T20:32:00.001+01:00

Wow, the weather here in Suffolk has been fantastic for the last few days and today we even dusted off and fired up the barbeque. I was looking for a light springtime pudding to follow the burgers and sausages and decided that a meringue pie would be the way to go. I considered one of my all-time favourite desserts, Rhubarb Meringue Pie, but in the end decided to try the classic lemon version instead as I've never actually made this from scratch before. I don't know why as it's another one of my favourite desserts with it's wonderful mix of flavours and textures.

I searched through a few cookbooks and eventually found a recipe I liked the look of (I found one in the Hummingbird Cookbook but it used 8 lemons - 8!). The following recipe only needs 3 lemons (which was handy as that was all I had) and produced a pie that served four generously with almost half of the pie left for later.

I was really pleased with how this turned out. The lemon filling stayed nice and firm, even when the pie was still warm, and the generous layer of sugar on top of the meringue, which gave it a wonderful crunch, was an inspired touch. Perfect for a sunny day in the garden.

Baking Beans

Lemon Meringue Pie

(adapted from The Art of the Tart by Tamasin Day-Lewis)

Pastry

140g/5oz plain flour

70g/2 1/2 oz butter, cut into small cubes

Cold water

Filling

Juice and zest of 3 unwaxed lemons

300ml/10 fl oz water

45g/1 1/2 oz cornflour

3 large egg yolks

60g/2oz butter, cut into small pieces

80g/2 1/2 oz vanilla caster sugar (I just used regular caster sugar)

Meringue

3 large egg whites

120g/4oz vanilla caster sugar (as above)

1) Grease a 23cm fluted tart tin and preheat the oven to 190c/375 fan/gas mark 5.

2) Make the pastry by rubbing the butter and flour together until you have fine crumbs, or blitz them together in a food processor. Then gradually add the cold water until the dough begins to clump together. You should need approximately two tablespoons of water. Once you have a single ball of dough wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

3) Roll out the dough on a floured surface (or use my no-mess-no-stress method and roll it out between two sheets of cling film) and use to line the tart tin then put the tin back in the fridge for another 20-30 minutes.

4) When you're ready to bake the pastry, line the tin with baking parchment or foil and fill with baking beans (see picture above), or dried rice or lentils, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Then remove the parchment/foil and beans and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Leave to cool.

5) Make the filling by putting the lemon zest and juice in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler). Add the cornflour and whisk in with 2 tablespoons of the water until you have a smooth paste. Bring the remaining water to the boil, add to the lemon mixture and keep whisking over simmering water until the mixture is thick and bubbling (my mixture thickened up as soon as I added the water). Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs yolks, sugar and butter. Leave to cool slightly.

6) Make the meringue by whisking the egg whites until stiff and then adding a third of the sugar. Whisk again until stiff, fold in another third of the sugar and fold it in with a metal spoon. Spread the lemon mixture over the pastry, top with the meringue and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving (and it is just as good when cold).

Serves 6 generously

Egg and Bacon Pie

2011-04-05T20:45:00.001+01:00

Look at this for a great weeknight supper. A tortilla/frittata of sorts but cooked in the oven rather than in a pan on the hob. There are a few stages to the recipe so it takes a little while to prepare but once all the component parts have been prepared you can just put it in the oven and relax. I should point out, though, that this did NOT take the 20 minutes to cook stated in the recipe, not even close! This one was in the oven for 40 minutes and still wasn't set in the middle (and my tin was definitely the right size). In the end I gave up and put it under the grill for a few minutes to finish if off.

Don't be put off though, this is a great, filling dish with a good balance of carbs, protein and veggies so you could serve it just as it is if you wanted to. Otherwise a nice salad on the side would be great too. Just make sure you all some extra cooking time when planning your evening!

You can find the recipe here on the the Delicious Magazine website.

Hotel Chocolat - Easter Egg Review

2011-04-03T20:26:00.000+01:00

I was very excited to find another delicious parcel on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago - a fabulous Hotel Chocolat Easter Egg.

This particular specimen goes by the name of The Eggsibitionist, which is one of Hotel Chocolat's fantastic range of Extra Thick Easter Eggs. Wrapped up in a handsome, sturdy box and bound with black ribbon, it consists of a chunky milk chocolate Easter Egg cleverly hiding a dozen dinky little miniature eggs. The mini eggs come in six varieties...

Caramel Egg - Liquid caramel in a 50% milk chocolate shell

Milk Praline Egg - Smooth hazelnut praline in a 40% milk chocolate shell

Mousse au Chocolat Egg - Dark and rich chocolate ganache in a 70% dark chocolate shell

Strawberry Egg - Sweet white chocolate shell covering a delicious strawberry ganache

Vanilla Custard Egg - Soft and custardy vanilla ganache in a smooth milk chocolate shell

Chocolate Brownie Egg - Milk chocolate shell surrounding hazelnut praline and cocoa crispies

Don't ask me to pick a favourite - they were all equally gorgeous!

The egg itself is a wonderfully thick shell made from Hotel Chocolat's classic milk chocolate. which I think is fast becoming my favourite. It's milk chocolate without a doubt but with just a hint of darkness in the background to counterbalance the sweetness.

This egg was a real hit with me and my husband (I generously shared some of it!) and, although not the cheapest egg on the market, with 400g of chocolate in the box you do get a lot for your money. If you're looking for something special to buy someone who loves chocolate this Easter then this would fit the bill perfectly.

You can find details of the full range of Hotel Chocolat's Easter Eggs and Easter Gifts here.

Total 0% Greek Yoghurt Split Pots

2011-03-23T20:40:00.001Z

Look at this lovely parcel of goodies that arrived for me a couple of weeks ago!

Last year I really enjoyed sampling and reviewing a selection of Total Greek Yoghurt so when they contacted me again to see if I would like to try out their new range of 0% Greek Yoghurt Split Pots I was more than willing to give them a try.

So, as you can see, I was sent a great selection of different flavours, all neatly parcelled up in a little cool bag (which will come in very handy for our summer picnics!). The split pots are available in four flavours - Honey, Blueberry, Strawberry and Tropical Fruits and combine Total's natural, fat-free Greek yoghurt with a side portion of honey or fruit compote. These yoghurts are higher in protein than other varieties and contain fewer than 130 calories, except for the honey which has 167 calories.

These definitely get the thumbs up from me. I found the fruit compotes to be very sweet, especially the strawberry and blueberry, however in contrast the yoghurt, which has no added sugar or artificial sweeteners, is very tart and, when mixed with the fruit or honey, creates a perfect balance.

Overall I preferred the tropical fruits and honey to the strawberry and blueberry (I've always preferred these two fruits in their natural state), although they were all really nice. The portions are very generous and they definitely kept the hunger pangs away for quite a while. The only small "issue" I had with the honey pots is that the honey was solid when I came to eat them, presumably from being kept in the fridge. I didn't mind too much as I love honey like this, however some people might get frustrated at having to dig the honey out!

If you're interested in giving these a try you can find them in most Waitrose stores for 79p per pot (usual price 1.09)

Thanks to Total for sending me these samples to try.

Meal Planning Mondays (21st March 2011)

2011-03-21T19:37:00.002Z

Last week I came across a great idea posted by Mrs M of At Home with Mrs M - Meal Planning Mondays! Each week she will be posting her meal plans for the week and has invited other likeminded bloggers to the same.

I'm a great believer in meal planning for two reasons. Firstly I hate waste so pretty much everything I buy has to be bought with a use for it in mind. Secondly, after a busy day I don't want to be spending time trying to decide what to cook. Not that I don't have days when I'm out of ideas of course - that's why I keep oven chips in the freezer and a few jars or pasta sauce in the cupboard.

So how do I decide each week's menu? Hard to say really as it can vary quite a lot. Sometimes I'll grab a big armful of recipe books or my file of pages ripped out of food magazines and choose a few new recipes to try out. Or I might revisit some tried and tested ones. Other weeks I might rely on leftovers from the freezer. And of course a lot of the time it's a mix of all three!

So this weeks menu looks like this...

Monday - Go-to tomato sauce and pasta (garlic oil, pancetta and tinned tomatoes)

Tuesday - Steak & Ale Pie from local producer, Woodwards Farm, with mash & veg

Wednesday - Goats Cheese-topped ratatouille (from the freezer) with garlic bread

Thursday - Chilli Mince with rice & veg

Friday - Tomato & Thyme Cod with Potato Cakes & veg

Saturday - Lasagne

So what are your plans for the week? If you fancy blogging about it too go and check out Mrs M's blog and add your post to the bottom of hers.

Chocolate Key Lime Pie

2011-03-13T19:44:00.001Z

This is recipe has gone straight into top ten favourite dinner party desserts, ticking every box along the way - it's super easy to make, you can prepare it the night before, oh and it tastes fantastic too!

I chose to make this recipe as part of this month's We Should Cocoa challenge. Each month, participants have to make a recipe that includes chocolate and another pre-selected ingredient.

This month's challenge is being hosted by Chele of The Chocolate Teapot and the extra ingredient is lime which was a fantastic choice. I love cooking with limes and immediately thought of two chocolate lime recipes that I'd come across recently in Nigella's Kitchen book. I ummed and ahhed for ages but eventually settled on this one and I am so glad I did (the runner up was Chocolate Lime Cake with Margherita Cream). It really is so straightforward to make (I think it took about 30 minutes tops) and I absolutely loved the lime/chocolate combination. A 5 star recipe for sure.

Chocolate Key Lime Pie

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

300g/10 1/2 oz digestive biscuits

1 x 15ml tablespoon cocoa powder

50g/1 3/4 oz soft unsalted butter

50g/1 3/4 oz dark chocolate chips

1 x 397g can condensed milk, preferably chilled

4 limes to give approx 2 x 15ml tablespoons finely grated lime zest and 175ml juice

300ml double cream

1 square best quality dark chocolate

1 x 23cm x 5cm deep fluted tart tin with loose base

1) Put the biscuits, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate chips into a food processor and process to a dark, damp sandy consistency. Tip into the tart tin and press on to the base and up the sides. Place in the fridge to chill.

2) Pour the condensed milk into a bowl (and if you're using a tin be VERY careful when you lick the lid - which you will). Zest the limes into another bowl and reserve for decoration later. Add the juice of the limes to the condensed milk, whisking to mix.

3) Pour in the double cream and whisk together - in a freestanding mixed or with a hand-held one - until thick, then spoon the mixture into the chilled biscuit crust and use the back of the spoon to finish off the top in a swirly fashion.

4) Chill the pie in the fridge for 4 hours (if the condensed milk was chilled), until firm or, ideally, covered overnight. When you are ready to serve, unmould the pie from the tart tin, but leave it on the base.

5) Grate the chocolate to give a light dusting to the top of the pie then sprinkle with the lime zest. Serve immediately, as it will become soft if kept out of the fridge for too long.

Serves 6-8

The pie can be made 1 day in advance. When chilled and firm, tent with foil (try not to touch the surface of the pie with the foil as it will leave marks) and store in the fridge. Store the zest in a bowl, tightly covered with clingfilm. Decorate with zest just before serving. The pie with keep for a total of 2-3 days in the fridge.

Pasta with Pancetta, Parsley and Peppers

2011-03-09T19:56:00.000Z

For some reason I was expecting this dish to be fairly plain and understated in the flavour department but that turned out to be emphatically not the case. Nigella, as always, sums it up perfectly...

"This may be an off-the-cuff standby but it really sings for our supper. The salt of the bacon, whichever way you cut it, is balanced fruitily by the sweet softness of the charred peppers. Against the fire of the chilli, there is the bright freshness of lemon...."

I really enjoyed this and, as suggested above, it uses ingredients that I keep in my store cupboard or fridge most of the time so it's perfect for those evenings when you're lacking in inspiration. (If parsley isn't something you always have to hand then not to worry - this dish will work just as well without it).

Pasta with Pancetta, Parsley and Peppers

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

1 teaspoon garlic oil

1 x 140g packet pancetta cubes or 1 x 200g packet smoked lardons (or approx 150g streaky bacon, snipped)

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 x 15ml tablespoons cold water

190g (drained weight) chargrilled or flame-roasted peppers, from a jar

20g (supermarket bunch) parsley, chopped

250g spaghetti

salt and pepper to taste

1) Put a big pot of water on to boil for the pasta

2) Heat the oil in a medium-sized heavy-based pan (one you can toss the cooked pasta into later). Fry the pancetta cubes or lardons (or bacon) until they start to crisp, then add the dried chilli, grated lemon zest and juice, and 2 tablespoons of water.

3) Let this mixture bubble for a minute. Scissor the drained peppers (still in their colander) into bite-sized pieces, then add these to the pan with half the chopped parsley.

4) Salt the pasta water once it is boiling and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Fish out a small cupful of pasta water just before you drain it. When the pasta is cooked, drain loosely and tip into the waiting pan of sauce.

5) Toss everything together well, and add more pasta water if you need it, then season and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

Serves 2, generously

Blue Cheese Macaroni Gratin

2011-03-06T19:29:00.001Z

This recipe for Blue Cheese Macaroni Gratin comes from Jo Pratt's In the Mood for Entertaining. I love Macaroni Cheese, both the traditional version and varieties with a bit of twist. This definitely falls into the latter category with the inclusion of blue cheese, wine, roasted peppers and spinach.

In her recipe notes Jo describes this dish as not being too stodgy or rich. Hmm.....I'm not sure you can say that about any dish that includes pasta (and plenty of it), cheese and cream. Not that I'm complaining mind - if you're looking for a hearty, warming dinner then this definitely ticks all the right boxes. It provides the comforting carb-richness of your usual macaroni cheese but with an extra hit of flavour from the blue cheese and pepper and a bit of balancing greenery from the spinach. For me it didn't quite beat the 5 star fabulousness of Delia's Souffled Macaroni Cheese but I still enjoyed it very much and will definitely make it again.

Blue Cheese Macaroni Gratin

(adapted from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt)

250g macaroni

20g butter

1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced

1 sprig of thyme

20g plain flour

200ml white wine

125ml single cream

150g blue cheese, such as Cashel Blue, Gorgonzola, Danish Blue or Stilton

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 roasted red pepper (from a jar), cut into strips

2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves

olive oil, for drizzling

1) Start by cooking the macaroni until tender. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the spring onions and sprig of thyme. Cook for a couple of minutes until the spring onions are softened. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or so, stirring most of the time so the flour doesn't burn.

2) Gradually pour in the white wine, stirring continuously. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes to thicken slightly. Remove the sprig of thyme.

3) Thinly slice half the blue cheese and keep to one side. Crumble, break or chop the rest and stir into the sauce. Season with a small pinch of salt and a good twist of black pepper. Cook until the cheese has melted.

4) Drain the macaroni well and mix into the sauce. Finally, stir in the red pepper and spinach leaves. Spoon the mixture into two individual shallow gratin dishes or one larger one to share. Lay the sliced blue cheese on top, add a twist of black pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the surface.

5) Heat the grill to the highest setting. Place the dish or dishes on a baking sheet and grill for about 5 minutes until the top is lightly golden and bubbling. Serve straight away just as it is or with a nice green salad.

This dish can be made ahead of time. Just place the dish/dishes in the fridge and when you're ready to eat, bake in the oven (180c/fan 160c/gas mark 4) for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Serves 2

Forever Nigella - Seduced by Chocolate

2011-02-18T10:29:00.003Z

This is the second Forever Nigella blogging challenge, a monthly blogging event using recipes from Nigella Lawson's many books based on a different theme each month. You won't find the ingredients or instructions for the recipe selected here as the aim of this event is to encourage people to go out and buy Nigella's books which I'm more than happy to support - I think every kitchen should have at least one of Nigella's books on the bookshelf.

This month's theme is "Seduced by Chocolate" and I found selecting a recipe particularly tough this time. Frankly, you could win me over with a slab of Dairy Milk, however I thought I should make the effort to find a recipe with that little extra something. But which one of the many, MANY chocolate recipes that Nigella has written about over the years should I choose? I spent a lot of time searching through all of her books and narrowed down the field to maybe half a dozen. I then agonised over the shortlist and made my decision. Then changed my mind. Then bought the ingredients I needed. Then changed my mind again.

I was going to use one of my favourite recipes that I've used many times before (her Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies in How to be a Domestic Goddess, if you're interested) but, in the end, and at the very last minute, I decided to make the Devil's Food Cake from her latest book, Kitchen:Recipes from the Heart of the Home. I have been salivating over this recipe ever since I saw her make it during her recent television series and this was the perfect excuse to try it out.

The method for making the cake is quite unusual. The cocoa powder and brown sugar are mixed with boiling water before being added to the cake mix at the end. This gives a particularly runny cake mix but it's this that gives the cake it's dense, moist texture. Making the icing is also an exercise in faith as Nigella explains in the recipe. While still warm the icing looks delicious but way too runny to be spread onto the cake. As promised, though, when left for an hour or so it firms up and becomes perfectly spreadable. Be warned though, left too long and the icing becomes quite stiff. I left mine for over two hours and it was almost too stiff to spread.

And the verdict? Well this cake is unquestionably delicious. Rich and incredibly chocolatey. There is a lot of dark chocolate in the icing (350g) which results in a correspondingly dark, intense flavour so if you're looking for something sweet and sugary this might not be for you. I thought it was fabulous and a real indulgent treat.

Griddled Halloumi with Spiced Couscous

2011-02-15T20:31:00.000Z

If you want a simple, quick, inexpensive and filling weekday dinner then you can't get much better than this. I actually tried this several years ago and wasn't too impressed but I think that was because I'd never tried halloumi before and was a bit bemused by it's unusual texture and flavour. Fast forward to this year and my taste buds are now accustomed to the squeaky cheese and I was happy to give this recipe another try. I'm really glad I did as I enjoyed it much more this time. The spices add a subtle flavour to the otherwise plain couscous and the halloumi adds texture and a hint of saltiness.

Griddled Halloumi with Spiced Couscous

(taken from Good Food Magazine January 2005)

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

handful of sugarsnap peas

175g/6oz couscous

1/2 tsp each cinnamon, cumin and coriander

300ml/1/2 pint hot vegetable stock

handful cherry tomatoes, halved

250g pack halloumi cheese

juice of half a lemon

olive oil

1) Steam the broccoli for 6 minutes, add the peas and steam for 2 minutes more.

2) Mix the couscous with the spices in a bowl, pour over the hot stock, then cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

3) Heat a non-stick frying pan or griddle pan. Cut the halloumi into 6-8 slices and cook quickly on each side for 2 minutes until lightly tinged brown.

4) Mix the vegetables and tomatoes into the couscous, fork in the lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Pile onto plates and top with the halloumi.

Serves 2

Blackberry & Plum Streusel Tart

2011-02-13T19:09:00.000Z

This is a lovely autumn/winter pudding to warm you up on a cold evening. I know blackberry season has come and gone but if you happen to have any stashed away in your freezer then I recommend you give this a try. The plums were a nice combination with the blackberries but I think pears or apples (softened in a pan a little before adding to the tart) would work just as well. This is wonderful served with just about anything - cream, custard, ice cream, yoghurt - whatever you like best.

Blackberry & Plum Streusel Tart

(taken from Good Food Magazine September 2003)

375g pack dessert shortcrust pastry

250g/9oz blackberries

300g/10oz plums, halved (or quartered if large) and stoned

85g/3oz golden caster sugar

1 tbsp fine semoline, polenta or dried breadcrumbs

For the streusel topping

200g/8oz plain flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

85g/3oz golden caster sugar

85g/3oz butter

1) Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured board to form a circle large enough to line a 23cm round metal flan tin, about 2.5cm deep. Prick the base with a fork, then chill for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5.

2) Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper or foil, and weight down with baking beans. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the beans and paper or foil then return to the oven for about 8-10 minutes to dry out.

3) Toss the blackberries with the plums and sugar. Sprinkle semolina, polenta or breadcrumbs over the bottom of the pastry case. Pile in the fruit and smooth down.

4) To make the topping, mix the flour with the cinnamon and sugar. Melt the butter and pour over the flour mixture while still hot. Using a knife, cut the mixture repeatedly until you have a mass of lumpy crumbs. Scatter thickly and evenly over the fruit, so that it is completely covered. Bake, still at the same temperature, for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Serves 8

Rock Cakes & Hot Chocolate

2011-02-04T11:54:00.000Z

When I received my delicious box of treats from Hotel Chocolat last year they also included a jar of their Liquid Chocolat drinking chocolate.

Not surprisingly I have thoroughly enjoying putting this to the test over the last few months. I was sent the Classic Milky version which has lovely rich, but not overly sweet, chocolatey flavour. Dark Chocolate fans might prefer the Classic Dark version, or, if you have a sweeter tooth, the Caramel might be the one for you. This has done a great job of warming me up through this chilly grey winter served, as you can see below, with the obligatory squirty cream and marshmallows.

I've served it here with one of my favourite afternoon teatime treats - the humble rock cake. If I fancy something quick and easy to rustle up I often turn to these, using a recipe from my old reliable Dairy Book of Home Cookery.

I'm not so fond of the traditional raisiny recipe and more often than not substitute them with the more indulgent chocolate chips.

Rock Cakes

(adapted from The Dairy Book of Home Cookery)

225g/8oz self raising flour

100g/4oz butter

75g/3oz caster sugar

100g/4oz mixed dried fruit

1 egg, beaten

10-20ml/2-4 tsp milk

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Grease or line a baking sheet.

2) Sift the flour into a bowl and rub the butter into it until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3) Add the sugar and fruit (or chocolate chips) then mix to a stiff batter with the beaten egg and milk.

4) Place 10 spoonfuls of mixture, in rocky mounds, on the baking sheet, allowing room between each one as they spread slightly).

5) Bake for 15-20 minutes then cool on a wire cooling rack.

Thanks again to Hotel Chocolat for supplying me with these lovely samples to try out.

Chorizo & Chickpea Stew

2011-02-02T20:00:00.001Z

This recipe is a lovely winter warmer for a grey winter's day and is another winner from the latest addition to my cookbook shelf (ok...bookcase), Nigella Kitchen. This is turning out to be a great book, full of loads of accessible, inventive and, most importantly, tasty recipes.

This particular recipe was a breeze to make. Once I had prepped the ingredients it only took 15-20 minutes to cook, and much of that was hands-off.

The chorizo, tomatoes and apricots provided lovely colourful and contrasting flavours and the chickpeas added substance and turned it into a really filling meal (the portion sizes are generous to say the least). I have to admit I was a little mystified by the fried spaghetti as they didn't really add much to the dish flavour-wise but they looked quite nice!

Chorizo & Chickpea Stew

(adaped from Nigella Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

2 x 15ml tablespoons regular olive oil

50g spaghettini or vermicelli, turned into 3cm lengths (I used regular spaghetti)

500g bulgar wheat

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons sea salt flakes or 1 teaspoon pouring salt

1 litre water

2 bay leaves

250g chorizo, cut into coins and then halved

4 x 15ml tablespoons amontillado sherry

100g soft dried apricots, snipped into pieces with scissors

2 x 400g cans chickpeas or mixed beans, rinsed and drained in a sieve

2 x 400g cans cherry tomatoes, plus 1 1/2 cans water

salt and pepper to taste

fresh coriander to serve (not in this house!)

1) Warm the olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan on a medium heat. Fry the pasta bits in the oil for a minute, stirring, until they look like slightly scorched straws

2) Add the bulgar wheat and stir for another minute or two. Stir in the cinnamon and salt, and then pour the water into the pan. Add the bay leaves and bring to a boil, then turn down to the lowest heat, add a lid, and leave for 15 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.

3) Put another thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat, add the chorizo pieces and fry until the orange oil runs out. Then add the sherry and let it bubble away for a minute before adding the apricots, chickpeas and canned tomatoes. Half-fill each empty tomato can with water and swill out into the pan. Put on a high heat to bubble for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) Serve with the bulgar wheat and chopped coriander if you're that way inclined.

Serves 4 (generously)

Blondies

2011-01-28T18:46:00.002Z

I came across this recipe one Sunday afternoon when I was looking for something to satisfy my baking urge. It was the first recipe I found that I actually had the ingredients for and it had been on my to-do list since I unwrapped my cookbook du jour, Nigella Kitchen, at Christmas. I've never made Blondies before partly because, for some reason, I had always thought they would be a bit plain and uninteresting. How wrong I was!

These ones in particular turned out to be so delicious that I've already made another batch since I made the first one. The recipe includes a whole tin of condensed milk which gives them a lovely toffee-sweetness, porridge oats add substance and chocolate chips complete the picture. These come highly recommended from me!

Blondies

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

200g/7oz porridge oats

100g/3 1/2 oz plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g/5 1/2 oz soft unsalted butter

100g/3 1/2 oz light muscovado sugar

1 x 397g can condensed milk

1 egg

170g packet dark chocolate morsels or chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4 and line your square cake tin with foil.

2) Combine the oats, flour and bicarb in a bowl

3) In another bowl mix or beat the butter with the sugar until pale and creamy, then beat in the condensed milk followed by the oats, flour and bicarb mixture

4) When these are well mixed, beat in the egg, and into this relatively thick mixture fold the chocolate chips

5) Dollop the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth it down with a spatula, then cook in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes. When ready it will be quite a pronounced dark gold around the edges and coming away from the tin. It will look and feel cooked on top, though just beneath it will seem frighteningly squidgy. But it firms up as it cools in the tin, so to end up with the requisite chewiness you have to take it out of the oven while it feels a little undercooked.

Makes 16 pieces

Forever Nigella - A New Blogging Event

2011-01-15T15:27:00.009Z

Well here we are, two weeks into the new year already. I've taken a couple of weeks off from blogging while I tidied away all the seasonal bits and bobs and generally cleared my head ready for the year ahead but now I'm ready and raring to go again.

So, I'm kickstarting the new blogging year by participating in a new blogging event. While looking through the UK Food Blogger Association forums I was delighted to discover that Sarah from Maison Cupcake had made the excellent decision to start up a monthly challenge to celebrate Nigella Lawson's recipes called Forever Nigella.

It's no secret that I am a big Nigella fan and one who loves her books AND her television programmes. OK so a lot of people think that her shows are just too OTT for words and I admit that a black satin dressing gown wouldn't be the first choice of kitchen attire for most people but who cares? Her recipes WORK.

Each month a theme will be set, and for the first month of this blogging challenge the theme is "Seasonal Sensations". Hmmm, well I discovered the Forever Nigella challenge about a week ago so unfortunately my desire to bake something Christmassy has been packed away with the tinsel and all the leftovers have been eaten. No matter though - I have stuck to the theme by taking two recipes from Nigella's Christmas book but they are just the sort of thing I want to eat at this time of year when excess is something I'm trying to avoid.

The first recipe is a fairly simple one - Antioxidant Fruit Salad. Sometimes simple is good though and this combination of mango, blueberries, pomegranate and lime juice is wonderfully refreshing and full of flavour. This is delicious for breakfast with some natural or greek yoghurt or with something a little more substantial, which leads me on to my second recipe.

The second thing I made (and I decided to make both as they are both simple recipes but go so well together) is a Cranberry, Almond and Honey Granola. I love granola and make it often and this one caught my eye I because of the dried cranberries which are my favourite dried fruit. The warm flavours from the cinnamon and honey are complemented by the slight sharpness of the dried cranberries and the almonds and seeds provide great texture.

Now I'm afraid that the rules of this challenge are such that I'm not allowed to post the recipes being used unless I've changed more than two of the ingredients (which I haven't). This is to encourage as many people as possible to go out a buy Nigella's books - an idea I heartily endorse!

Thanks again to Sarah for hosting this new challenge. I'm already looking forward to next month's.

Happy New Year! - My 100th Post and a Review of The Year

2010-12-31T19:30:00.000Z

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2010 was to hit the 100 post mark on my blog - and I've just managed it with a few hours to spare!

Rather than post about one recipe I thought it would be more fitting to look back over the year and pick out some of my favourites, new and old. It was pretty hard to narrow it down, and the following is by no means a definitive list, but here are some of my personal highlights.

Old Favourites - the following recipes have been made many times but haven't appeared on my blog before this year.

Chocolate Snowballs

These really are an old favourite. I've been making them for years and with good reason - they taste great!

Souffled Macaroni Cheese

This is a Delia classic - rich, cheesy pasta but with a souffle lightness.

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake

This is one of my most favourite cake recipes which has never failed me yet.

Snickers & Peanut Butter Muffins

The perfect muffin recipe - enough said.

New Discoveries - these are just a small sample of the new recipes I added to my collection of favourites this year.

Chocolate & Cobnut Meringue Pie

I had been meaning to try out this recipe for years and I finally got the chance when I took part in the I Should Cocoa challenge in October. I can't wait for a chance to make it again.

Tomato & Thyme Cod

I loved the light, fresh flavours in this dish and have made it again more than once since I first tried it in May.

Pomegranate Marinated Chicken

This dish is positively bursting with flavour thanks to the Pomegranate Molasses and was a lovely dinner on a sunny summer's evening.

Lamb Tagine with Pomegranate & Red Onion Relish

Another dish full of flavour and the relish was a triumph.

Happy New Year everyone and hears to a fantastic, food-filled 2011!

Mince Pies

2010-12-12T21:24:00.001Z

Mince pies are without doubt one of my favourite things to make in the run up to Christmas - up until the big day I can't get enough of them. This year in particular I've been on a huge mince pie baking spree, helped largely by my new discovery - freezing them! It sounds obvious but it's just not something I've ever really done before. I am truly converted though - mince pies are undoubtably at their best fresh out of the oven and by freezing them you can keep a constant supply on hand ready for baking.

There are, I've discovered, two options when it comes to freezing. Firstly you can cook your mince pies and then freeze them once cooled. This is fine but when you come to eat them you need to defrost them for several hours before reheating them in the oven. Not good for those urgent mince pie cravings. The second option has proved to be much more successful. Simply make up your pies in their tins and freeze them as they are. Once solid they can be removed from the tin and stored in the freezer in plastic bags. When you fancy one (or two...or three...) just remove from the freezer, return to the tin and bake as normal for 15-20 minutes. You can have a warm mince pie in your paw in under an hour - it's all good.

I have also had great success with a new recipe for pastry that I came across recently on the blog Jam and Clotted Cream. The recipe is as follows but please do check out this blog as you'll find loads of great ideas on there.

Mince Pies

200g plain flour

75g ground almonds

40g caster sugar

125g butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten

Milk or beaten egg to glaze

Approx 350g mincemeat

1) Put the flour, ground almonds, sugar and butter into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2) Add the egg slowly (you may not need all of it - any spare can be used to glaze the tops of the pies) and pulse until the mixture starts to come together. Then tip out onto the work surface and knead together briefly until you have a smooth ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3) If cooking straightaway preheat the oven to 200c.

4) Roll out the pastry and cut out circles slightly bigger that the bun tin holes and press lightly into the tin. You can then cut out slightly smaller circles or stars for the tops of the pies. Fill the pies with mincemeat before placing the tops on.

5) If freezing put the tin in the freezer until the pies are solid then pop them out of the tins and into freezer bags.

6) When you're ready to cook the pies brush the tops with a little milk or beaten egg and, if you like, sprinkle with a little caster sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the pies are just turning golden. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out on to wire racks.