Maple Spice

I've Moved!!

2010-02-26T21:49:00.001Z

Hello! I no longer post to this blog as I've started a new all vegan blog over at www.maplespice.com please go have a look! :)

Mushroom Bruschetta with Rocket

2007-10-06T13:26:00.007Z

Well this is another hit from my Gate Easy Vegetarian Cookbook . The flavours are so good and it makes a really nice light dinner or brunch. We used chestnut mushrooms as they were recommended as an alternative to the wild mushrooms the recipe called for which we are not fans of. It also called for fresh thyme but I could only find fresh lemon thyme in the shop so used that. Glad I did as the lemon hit is lovely with the mushrooms. The recipe also makes a side salad with rocket, cherry tomatoes and parmesan (not shown).

'Wild' Mushroom Bruschetta

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 sprig each of rosemary and thyme, chopped (highly recommend lemon thyme)
1 shallot, finely chopped
500g wild mushrooms (or chestnut as shown)
dash of white wine (I actually used 120ml, probably a bit more than a dash!)
1 loaf ciabatta
salt and black pepper
250g rocket leaves
225g cherry tomatoes, halved
25g parmesan freshly shaved

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil gently in a large frying pan, and add the garlic, rosemary and thyme. Infuse together for 30 seconds before adding the shallot and mushrooms. When the mushrooms begin to sweat and exude water, add the white wine. Continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated from the pan and the mushrooms have a light oily sheen: about 6 - 8 minutes.

While the mushrooms are cooking, cut the ciabatta into quarters. Brush the cut sides lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lightly grill until golden, about 1 -2 minutes, on the cut sides.

Dress the rocket with the remaining olive oil and toss with the halved tomatoes and parmesan shavings (I saved a bit of parmesan to sprinkle on top of the bruschettas). Place a handful of rocket leaves on top of each piece of bread then sprinkle with the mushrooms. Serve with the salad on the side.

Serves 4 at 369 calories each.

♥

Gnocchi with Spinach and Ricotta

2007-10-06T13:11:00.001Z

This was absolutely delicious and dead easy to make but I urge you to click on the link to BBC Good Food's recipe for it here for the MUCH better photograph where you can actually see the gnocchi! The only changes I made to their original recipe was using ricotta instead of mascarpone (way less calories and I felt the taste would go better with the spinach and tomato sauce, they recommended it too) and I used almost twice the amount of pasta sauce, but that may be personal taste. In any case it is so good, quick and easy.

My version:

500g pack ready made gnocchi

500g jar tomato based pasta sauce

100g spinach, washed

250g ricotta

50g parmesan (vegetarian of course!)

Cook the gnocchi according to packet instructions and drain. Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce in a saucepan and add the spinach, stirring until wilted. Add the gnocchi, stir then tip into an ovenproof dish. Spoon blobs of ricotta over the top and scatter with shavings of parmesan and a few grinds of black pepper. Grill until bubbling and golden.

Serves 4 at 383 calories each.

'The Gate's' Roasted Tomato Soup

2007-10-02T20:09:00.001Z

This is hands down the best tomato soup I've ever had. I should start off explaining that I have a very poor camera and this soup really was red, not orange! Truthfully, even if I did have a good camera I wouldn't know what to do with it, but that's another issue. We have only had the pleasure of eating at The Gate once years ago. It's probably London's best vegetarian restaurant and it has remained my best meal out ever. We would love to get there again but distance and having a child now make that difficult. They came out with a cookbook years ago but it did seem a little complicated for simple cook me. So I was very excited when they came out with the 'Easy Vegetarian Cookbook' and received it for my birthday a few weeks back. So far we have made two things and both have become staples for us, so I highly recommend this cookbook!

Roasted Tomato Soup

1.5 kg fresh tomatoes
1 bulb garlic
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 red onions, finely diced
40g sun-dried tomatoes, pureed (I used a store bought tube of sun-dried tomato puree)
1 Tbsp caster sugar
1.2 litres (2 pints) vegetable stock (I made mine with marigold granules)
fresh basil, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

To skin the tomatoes, score the underside lightly with a knife, then place in boiling water for 10 seconds. Transfer them immediately to cold water. The skins should now slip off easily. Cut the tomatoes in half and put them face up on a baking tray with the whole garlic bulb. Drizzle with a little of the olive oil, sprinkle with the salt, and roast for about 40 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven. Trim the top end of the garlic bulb and squeeze out the soft puree out into a saucepan. Add the onion and remaining olive oil, and saute on a low temperature for about 10 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, sugar and stock to the saucepan, mix in, and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Blend - but do not make it too smooth - and garnish with chopped basil.

Serves 4 at 244 calories a serving.

Both cookbooks available here .

The Original Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine - RE-RELEASED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-02T19:34:00.001Z

Oh.My.God. My beloved childhood toy has been re-released in it's original form!! This will of course be major news to a lot of us born in the 70's. I actually still have my original one, my parents back in Canada under strict orders to never throw it out. (That still applies too if you're reading!) I will definitely be getting this for Finn, hopefully it will be as much fun for a child these days. I mean what's not to love? Shaved ice with super sweet flavoured syrup poured over.....shame I only discovered this now that summer is over. I was equally shocked to discover it's available over here in the UK - but there it was in a cataloge I got through the post......it's like it was searching for me!

Available from Hawkins Bazaar

Mature Cheddar Cheese Bread

2007-09-27T12:02:00.002Z

It's a shame I never took any photos of the inside of this bread as it turned out really light and airy with great texture. I really am just learning when it comes to yeast breads as I don't make them often but I was really pleased with this, cheese bread being one of my favorites. Recipe comes from my often used Purity cook book, circa 1967 (you gotta love that!)

1/2 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp shortening
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/2 Tbsp dry yeast
1 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded extra mature cheddar
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups flour

Scald the milk, pour into a large bowl and add 1 Tbsp sugar, salt, shortening and 1/4 cup water. Stir until shortening melts. Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile dissolve 1/2 tsp sugar in 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Over this sprinkle the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes keeping lukewarm. Then stir briskly with a fork. Add yeast to the lukewarm milk mixture - stir. Beat in 1 cup flour and the cheese, then add the rest of the flour adding the last bits with a rotating motion of the hand. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 - 7 minutes. (I used my mixer with the dough hook here) Shape into a smooth ball.

Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and grease top slightly. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk - about 1 hour. Punch down the risen dough and turn onto a lightly floured board. Form into a ball. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Shape ball into loaf size you desire, I made a round loaf or you can place in a greased loaf pan. Grease the top, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Bake in preheated 400F (200C) oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Top should be golden and bottom sound hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack - best eaten still warm with lots of butter!

Pasta Salad

2007-09-27T11:43:00.001Z

Another yummy summer salad ( I will try to get these on season next time!)

250 grams pasta, bow ties work well as do tricolore rotini

2 spring (green) onions, chopped

30 grams sun-dried tomatoes

25 grams pine nuts

40 grams sliced black olives

basil leaves, chopped

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1 clove garlic, pureed

black pepper

First rehydrate the tomatoes for 30 minutes in near boiling water (unless using oil packed tomatoes). Rinse well under cold water then slice into short strips. Meanwhile put water on for pasta. While that is coming to a boil, lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until golden. Drain pasta and run under cold water until no longer hot. Tip pasta into a large bowl and add onions, tomatoes, pine nuts, black olives and basil. In a separate bowl add olive oil, slowly whisk in vinegar till incorporated. Whisk in garlic, salt and black pepper. Pour over pasta salad, toss well and chill. Salad tastes best after hours in fridge or the next day.

Total calories: 1402, serves 6 as a side dish at 234 calories each or 3 as a main dish at 467 calories.

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

2007-09-27T11:37:00.002Z

Ok, yes, this is out of season now but this is a great summer salad. I got this recipe from a Canadian Living magazine years ago and it's become a staple of mine.

1 cup couscous
2 Tbsp each olive oil and lemon juice
1/3 cup chopped spring (green) onions
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup red kidney beans (from a tin, drained and rinsed)
125g feta cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp each finely chopped mint and oregano (I omit the mint)

Cook couscous in 1 cup of water, following directions on package. Cool to room temperature. Whisk together lemon juice and oil. Pour over other ingredients, combining well. Season with fresh pepper. Serves 4 at 453 calories a serving.

Banoffi Muffins

2007-09-27T10:36:00.001Z

Ok, I know these don't look like much but they are delicious. I first made this recipe as it appeared in my Robin Hood Baking Festival 1998 booklet as Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins using chipits peanut butter chips. However they were so good I didn't get a chance to photograph them! I still had a bag of 'Skor' chipits left and thought they would go really well with the banana muffins and they do. This is such a good 'basic' banana recipe that any flavour chips will go well, I can't wait to try them with white chocolate chips and just regular plain chocolate too.

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, melted (or margarine)

1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 3-4)

1 package (300g) Skor bits (or peanut butter, white chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate etc...)

Combine first 5 dry ingredients in large bowl. Beat egg, melted butter and mashed bananas together thoroughly. Add banana mixture to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Stir in chips. (They reserved some to sprinkle on top but I found the peanut butter chips burnt slightly this way so didn't do it with the Skor bits.) Fill 12 muffin cups sprayed with nonstick spray or brushed with melted butter. Bake at 375F (190C) for 20 - 25 minutes or until tops are firm to touch.

Calories: 271 per muffin made with skor bits.

Decadent Raspberry Brownies

2007-09-27T10:27:00.001Z

Well I finally got to make something using my haul of unsweetened chocolate I brought back from Canada. These are fantastic, chocolate and raspberry being a particular favorite of mine. Recipe comes from the Bakers Chocolate website.

Source: here

Caramelized Onion and Mature Cheddar Galette

2007-07-28T19:56:00.000Z

This is so, so good, I seriously could have ate the whole thing but then would have needed to fast for 3 days to make up for it. It was featured in Canadian Living's Holiday Baking 2006 magazine but can't seem to to find it on their website. Now it may not seem very seasonal to be making this in high summer but I ask you - have you seen the weather in England this summer? Trust me, this IS seasonal!! I did take some photos of the inside when cut but they were too blurry so will try again tomorrow with the leftovers.(Edit - have included inside photo but ignore the burnt bits, it's only because this slice was reheated leftovers). Do make sure you use a very good strong cheddar in this one. I used a Davidstow extra mature - white of course (for those in North America). I don't think the onions matter too much, I had a large bag of tesco value onions and just used them. It is just so full of flavour and the richness is cut very nicely with an ice cold lager although I imagine a good ale would be fantastic too!

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup each cold butter (55g) and lard (vegetable shortening)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
Ice water

In bowl, whisk flour with salt. Using pastry blender cut in butter and lard until mixture resembles fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. In liquid measure, whisk egg yolk with vinegar or lemon juice. Add enough ice water to make 1/3 cup (75 ml). Drizzle over flour stirring briskly with fork until ragged dough forms. Press into disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. (Can be made ahead for up to 3 days)

Filling:

1 Tbsp each butter and vegetable oil
6 cups thinly sliced onions (halve first)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg yolk
1 cup shredded extra mature cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream (125ml)
1/2 tsp dried sage or herbs de provence (I used sage)
1 egg yolk (extra for brushing on pastry)

In large pot or skillet, heat butter and oil over medium-low heat; fry onions, sugar, salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until very soft and light golden, about 30 minutes. Scrape into bowl and let cool. Add egg yolk, 3/4 cup of the cheese, sour cream and herbs; stir to combine. Set aside.

On floured parchment paper and using floured rolling pin, roll out pastry to a 15 inch circle, leaving edges ragged. Spoon filling into centre of pastry leaving a 4 inch border uncovered. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Fold up pastry border making evenly spaced pleats. Transfer the galette with the paper onto a baking tray. Whisk egg yolk with 1 Tbsp water and brush over pastry. Bake in bottom third of 220c (425f) oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 190c (375f) and bake for about 30 minutes or until pastry is golden. Let cool on pan for 10 minutes.

Recipe said it serves 8 at 357 calories a serving. This might be fine if you were having this with other veg - potatoes would be nice, we had it as a main course so served 4 at 714 calories a serving - but sooooo worth it!!

Jam Tarts

2007-07-28T19:27:00.002Z

These are so simple but very, very good. They are great for cooking with kids and Finn made the batch above. It's just a regular jam tart, pastry base, store bought jam spooned in and a bit of design on top. I added the almond glaze to drizzle on and it really complements the flavours well. They really remind me of these little pastry 'fingers' my Danish grandmother used to make whenever she had leftover pastry dough. She would roll them out, cut them into long strips, place jam over half the stip, fold it over (like a long finger) then bake them, and drizzle with a glaze once cooled. Yummy!

225g plain flour
115g cold butter
1 tsp caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1 - 2 Tbsp cold water

12 tsp raspberry jam

1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp almond extract

Mix flour, sugar and salt together. Cut in cold butter until like breadcrumbs. Mix egg yolk with 1 Tbsp cold water, drizzle over flour and mix with fork - add more water until mixture just comes together. Form into a ball, pat down into a disc and refridgerate for about 1/2 an hour.

Roll dough out and cut out circles to fit your tart pan. Spoon in raspberry jam (or whatever you like) making sure not to over fill, a small tsp each is enough, they will spread out while cooking. Using pastry scaps either lattice or cut out smaller shapes for the tops. Bake in 200c oven for about 12 minutes or until pastry is golden. Let cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Mix together icing sugar, milk and almond extract and drizzle over the top.

Makes 12 at 135 calories each.

'Skor' Toffee Crunch Blondies

2007-07-27T12:42:00.001Z

Finally, another post! You'll have to excuse my frequent long absences but this flippin lupus keeps knocking me down! Anyway, made these ages ago and only finally getting them on. I mentioned when I was back home in Canada I bought loads of chipits and one was skor as I keep coming across recipes I want to try asking for them. Only recently did I discover that 'Daim' bars over here ARE Skor bars...anyway, the large bag of skor chips does make it easier and cheaper than chopping up tons of little chocolate bars. It's also nice that you can add your own chocolate this way. Now, as I'm still fighting a cold with virtually no immune system you'll have to excuse my laziness in only posting a link to this recipe as opposed to typing it out! Hopefully I'll be up and running proper soon....

Source and Recipe: here

Nigella's 'Courgette and Chick Pea Filo Pie'

2007-06-24T20:15:00.000Z

I so want to call this 'zucchini and chick pea filo pie' - not just to be pompously north american you understand, I just don't believe there are enough 'zed' words in the world, at least not in active use in the English language... it's a thing with me. However, as this is Nigella Lawson's creation and recipe I will stick with the original title.... I got this recipe from her book "How to be a Domestic Goddess" and have wanted to make it ever since. It's one of the few vegetarian savoury dishes in the book, which is mostly baking, and as I'm a huge fan of all the ingredients was pretty sure I would like it. I do - it's very good and surprisingly so simple to make -using ready made filo (of course! who would make their own???) and canned chick peas (again, I have no time to soak...) it's dead easy and very good. The sesame seeds on top was my own addition, I figured they would go well with the flavours and look good, although it did prompt my son to ask me if I was making a 'giant burger'...

Courgette and Chick Pea Filo Pie

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 small onion or 1/2 a large onion, diced

2 Tbsp olive oil ( I used a chili infused oil as I had some -worked nicely!)

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander ( I, um, omitted this 'devil spice' - not my thing at all!!)

3 plump courgettes/zucchini

125 g basmati rice

500 ml veg stock ( I made mine with 1 veg oxo cube)

2 x 425 g cans of chick peas, drained and rinsed

100g melted butter ( I barely used half of this amount, you may want to melt 50 first and see)

200 g filo pastry ( My pack was 270g and I used it all)

22 cm springform tin

Preheat the oven to 200C and put in a baking sheet. Gently fry the cumin seeds and onion in the olive oil until the onion is soft. Add the turmeric and coriander. Dice the courgettes (unpeeled), add them to the onion mixture, and cook on a fairly high heat to prevent the courgettes becoming watery. When they are soft but still holding their shape, add the rice and stir well, letting the rice become well coated with the oil/liquid. Add the stock 100ml at a time, stirring while you do so. When all the liquid has been absorbed the rice should be cooked, so take it off the heat, stir in the chick peas and check the seasoning.

Brush the insides of the tin with some of the melted butter. Line the bottom and sides with about 150 grams of the filo, buttering each piece as you layer. I laid one piece in and out of the tin then turned the tin and put the next piece the other direction. Leave a little filo overhanging the sides and keep 3-4 sheets for the top. Carefully put in your slightly cooled filling, and then fold in the overlaps. Butter these down then scrunch up the remaining sheets as a topping. Brush with a final coat of butter, sprinkle with sesame seeds if using and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filo is golden and the filling is hot. Check this by inserting a metal knife which should feel hot when removed.

Serves 6 - 8

391 Calories per serving for 6

Chocolate Mint Nanaimo Bars

2007-06-18T10:59:00.000Z

I'm back!! We've all been on holiday back in Canada and had a fantastic time, needless to say I brought an empty suitcase which came back filled up with all my favorite Canadian goodies. One of which was Chipits chocolate mint chips, chipits really are the best and come in so many flavours you can't get here. I wasn't sure what to do with them so had a look on chipits web site and saw these. Now you may remember my disaster with veering from the normal nanaimo bar with the 'grand marnier' bars and my vow to never change the flavour again....Well, hubby wanted these for father's day and I'm glad I tried them as these are delicious. Usually when the flavour is changed in nanaimo bars it's just the icing filling which changes. These had the chocolate mint chips in the base and top as well as mint extract in the filling. At first I thought that would make them way too minty but it doesn't. Very yummy and I may just try other flavours now.....Cappuccino first on my list!

Source and Recipe: here

Rhubarb Streusel Pie

2007-05-15T13:53:00.000Z

I love, love, love rhubarb and just could not resist all the fresh in season stalks on the shelves right now. Of course what to do with it is always the question and crumble or pie is usually the answer. Husband wanted pie and I wanted crumble so imagine my joy coming across this recipe - a perfect hybrid! Technically of course it's not a crumble topping as there are no oats but it's still very good. I was worried that the amount of sugar wasn't going to be enough for the amount of rhubarb in this but it was, although if you find rhubarb very bitter you may want to add more. The large scoop of Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream partially melting down is of course mandatory.....

500g pack shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen
1kg rhubarb, trimmed, or 750g/1lb 10oz ready trimmed
3 rounded tbsp plain flour
85g caster sugar

Topping:

85g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g demerara sugar
50g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
50g butter

Roll out the pastry and use to line a deep 23cm/9in flan tin. Chop the rhubarb into 3cm/1in lengths and tip into a large bowl with the flour and sugar. Mix well, then tip into the pastry case, spreading the rhubarb to level it.
To make the topping, mix together the flour, cinnamon, sugar and nuts. Add the butter, cut into small pieces, and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the rhubarb. Set aside until ready to bake, up to 6 hours.
Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5/fan oven 170C. Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes until the topping is crisp and golden and the rhubarb is tender - test by spearing a piece of fruit through the topping with a knife. Serve warm or cold with single cream or vanilla ice cream.

Source: here

Crunchy Pappardelle Pasta

2007-05-14T13:07:00.000Z

This was featured in the observer newspaper a few weeks back and the photo looked so good I had to try it. It's by the chef Yotam Ottolenghi and is very good, the topping of toasted panko breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon and garlic is a nice change from the standard sprinkling of parmesan and the tenderstem broccoli works very well. The recipe says it serves 2 but I easily got 4 out of this.

250g tender stem or sprouting broccoli
250g button mushrooms, halved
50ml olive oil
100ml white wine
1 bayleaf
3 thyme sprigs, chopped
½ tsp sugar
150ml double cream
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp chopped parsley
20g Panko breadcrumbs, or another
250g pappardelle

Clear any leaves from the broccoli and cut into 4cm-long pieces (stalks and florets). If the stalks are thick, cut along the centre. Blanch in boiling salted water for two minutes and drain.

In a large saucepan, sauté the mushrooms in the hot oil until they start taking on colour. Add the wine, bayleaf, thyme and sugar, reduce to a third, then add the cream. Season to taste and keep warm.

Mix together the lemon zest, garlic and parsley. In a hot pan, toast the breadcrumbs until golden, stirring occasionally.

Cook the pappardelle in salted water. When just ready, add the broccoli to the cream sauce to reheat. Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce and half the parsley mix. To serve, mix the rest of the parsley with the breadcrumbs and garnish generously.

Serves 4 at 578 calories a serving.

Source: here

Chocolate Buttercream Cake

2007-05-07T14:31:00.000Z

So it was my step son's birthday this weekend and I wanted to do a chocolate layer cake. After searching around for ages I settled on BBC Good Food's ' 'Dead Good Chocolate Cake' , after all, it sounded good! It turned out well but as you can probably see from the texture in the picture, it's essentially a brownie cake - not that there's anything wrong with that of course, it's delicious and just melts in the mouth, but I was really looking for a lighter, moist layer cake. For the frosting, they covered it with a dark chocolate ganache but I wanted to try a chocolate buttercream recipe using melted dark chocolate as opposed to cocoa powder. I finally found a recipe that called for dark chocolate and not unsweetened (as you can't buy it here) and it's really, really good.

I gave a few photos to show it decorated - the strawberries really went well with it, and also plain. I think if I wasn't making it for a birthday I would add more strawberries on top. Altogether a success!

Chocolate Buttercream Cake

250 grams butter

300 grams light muscovado sugar (or dark brown)

100 grams plain flour

100 grams self raising flour

5 eggs

300 grams dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)

Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Butter and line a 20cm cake tin or 2 round sandwich tins. Using an electric whisk, beat together butter and light muscovado sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Measure out plain flour and self-raising flour. Beat in 5 eggs one at a time, adding 1 or 2 tbsp flour if the mixture starts to split. Pour 300g melted and slightly cooled dark chocolate into the mixture, beating as you do so. Fold in the rest of the flour. Spoon into the tin and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes; (I cooked mine in 2 layer tins and it only took 45 minutes and even that was slightly overcooked so watch if you are doing two) - the cake should be risen with a crust on top. Cool and then take out of the tin. Split the cake horizontally if using 1 tin.

Chocolate Buttercream

500 grams icing sugar

250 grams soft butter

90 grams dark chocolate (at least 70 % cocoa solids)

about 2 Tbsp milk

Cream butter and sugar until soft and light. Add the melted slightly cooled chocolate and enough milk until frosting is of spreading consistency. Place one half of cake onto serving plate and spread with 1/3 of the frosting. Spread rest over sides then top - decorate as you wish.

Serves 16 at 640 calories a slice (just have it for breakfast!).

Coffee Buttercream Cake

2007-05-01T19:46:00.000Z

Wow, this is good! I really should put coffee in quotation marks here as this recipe uses the fantastically kitsch 'Camp' coffee (or Irel if you're in Ireland - it's the same thing). For those unaware Camp is a thick sludgy syrup of 'chicory and coffee essence', and at 26% chicory, 4% coffee and the rest sugar and water, not really coffee. I would say I would never drink this but I have to say it does make a mean Irish coffee - I think it's the sugar. Anyway, I wanted to make a really good, moist coffee cake and remembered the bottle of Irel my in-laws had featured a recipe on the back for a coffee sponge cake, so got out my bottle of Camp but - no recipe. Thankfully a quick search on-line directed me to one of Ireland's best chefs, Darina Allan, and her recipe for coffee cake using Irel.

This turned out so well, a really moist excellent coffee flavoured cake, just what I was looking for. The only change I made was I used golden caster sugar instead of regular - I had more of it and thought the flavour would go well with the coffee, and frosted the whole cake with the buttercream - her version used a glaze on top, but with a frosting that yummy there was no way I was going to skimp!

"Camp" Coffee Cake (aka - Ready Aye Ready Cake!)

225 grams butter
225 grams golden caster sugar
225 grams flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, room temperature
2 Tbsp Camp or Irel

Frosting:
225 grams butter - room temperature
450 grams icing sugar
1 - 2 Tbsp Camp or Irel (I used 1 1/2)
I also needed a few drops whole milk to get just the right consistency

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Line the bottom of sandwich tins, with greaseproof paper, brush the bottom and sides with melted butter and dust with flour.

In mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter until soft, add the caster sugar and beat until pale and light in texture. In a seperate bowl whisk the eggs. Add to the mixture, bit by bit, beating well between each addition. Sieve the flour with the baking powder and stir gently into the cake mixture, finally add in the coffee essence and mix thoroughly.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared sandwich tins and bake for 30 minutes approx. in a moderate oven (mine only took about 22 minutes so watch it). When the cakes are cooked the center will be firm and springy and the edges will have shrunk from the sides of the tin. Rest in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto the wire rack, remove the greaseproof paper from the base, then reinvert so the top of the cakes don’t get marked by the wire rack. Cool the cakes on the wire rack.

When cold sandwich and frost with the coffee buttercream frosting. To make frosting simply beat the butter until soft, gradually add the icing sugar and Camp/Irel until light and whipped.

Serves: 16 at 462 calories a serving.

Cheesy Bean and Veg Burgers

2007-04-29T17:37:00.000Z

Well as it was practically summer here this weekend I quite fancied a good burger and some fresh watermelon for dinner, always puts one in the spirit! I wanted to try this recipe from the BBC Good Food website and am so glad I did, this will definitely be our regular burger from now on. The flavour is incredible and it turned out really well. Only gripe is that they stayed quite soft so that when you bite down it squishes all out, but really, burgers should be all drippy and messy shouldn't they?

*Update - when I fried up the leftover burgers (which fry up great, just defrost in the fridge first) we put them in whole wheat pita breads and they were perfect. No mess oozing out and the flavour went better with the burgers - most recommended.

Cheesy bean and veg burgers

2 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, sliced
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 tbsp seasoning *
1 tbsp soy sauce
300g can pinto beans drained and rinsed
100g cheddar, coarsely grated
200g (about 4 slices) granary bread torn into pieces

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a shallow saucepan over a medium flame. Tip in vegetables, seasoning and soy sauce, then cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 mins until soft. Tip veg into a food processor with the beans, cheese and bread, season, then pulse to a thick paste.

With wet hands, mould mix into 8 burgers. These can be kept in the fridge for 2 days or frozen, stacked between greaseproof sheets for up to 2 months.
To cook, heat remaining oil in a frying pan and fry 2-3 mins on each side until crispy.

Serve with toasted sesame seed buns, lettuce, mayo and good slices of tomatoes. (or preferably in whole wheat pita breads - see update above)

* recipe called for using Schwartz morrocan seasoning which doesn't seem to exist anymore. I used Schwartz season-all but reduced the amount to 2 tsp due to salt content. I found this worked really well although any seasoning mix would probably do.

Per burger patty: 177 kcalories, protein 8g, carbohydrate 21g, fat 7g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 4g, sugar 5g, salt 2.13g

Source: here

Cream Scones

2007-04-28T19:54:00.000Z

These are so, so good. I have been searching for the perfect scone recipe for so long and these fit the bill for me perfectly. Really light and fluffy (no hockey pucks here!) slightly sweet and crisp on the outside. The recipe comes from (again) the Joy of Baking website and called for sprinkling on some icing sugar after they cook and popping them under the grill just until the sugar melts and turns golden brown. This gives them an extra sweet crispy topping and will be how I always make these now!! Serve with what you like but we had them for breakfast this morning with blackberry jam, Rodda's clotted cream and tea. Don't worry that I was skimpy with that cream either judging by the top photo, I like to 'spread and bite' you understand....

Source: here

note: only recipe change I made was I used whole (full fat) milk in place of the cream in the scones, slightly salted butter and I made 4 rather huge scones instead of 8.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

2007-04-26T20:24:00.000Z

I've been wanting to try this recipe from the 'Joy of Baking' for awhile now, and when I got a bundt pan from Ikea thought I would have a go. Although it is a muffin recipe it's made more like a cake and turned out fine in the larger pan although I had to cook it for 10 minutes longer. It's very good, the addition of pouring on a lemon glaze while the cake is still hot is essential. In fact I found the cake itself not that sweet and ended up making some lemon butter frosting to spread on to the cake slices - decadent but good!

Apple Crisp

2007-04-25T09:51:00.000Z

So it's not very seasonal but I had some apples to use up and do love apple crisp. We had this a lot growing up and mom always used the recipe in the purity cookbook which I have followed here. I remember it always being best with the apples from our tree but even better I think was the peach crisp mom used to make with our own peaches - gorgeous! Just replace the apples with skinned fresh peaches and of course serve with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Crisp

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup (115g) cold butter

about 4 cups peeled and sliced apples

Preheat oven to 350C. Mix flour, oats, sugar and cinnamon together, cut in butter with a pastry cutter until crumbly - set aside. Wash, peel and slice apples and place in a buttered baking dish with about 1/4 of the crumb mixture. Cover with remaining crumbs and pat down slightly.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until apples are tender and crisp is golden. Serve hot with cream or ice cream. Serves 8 at 327 calories each (without cream).

Back Again!

2007-04-07T16:39:00.000Z

Sorry for the disappearing act but I ended up in hospital for 3 weeks with my lupus. Still weak but hopefully will be blogging again in the near future, albeit a lot less frequently!

Until then......

Light Lemon Asparagus Pasta

2007-03-02T11:10:00.000Z

I really love asparagus with pasta, although usually with heavy cream and tons of cheese and outrageous calories. I found this recipe on-line ages ago and it really works well. It's only 360 calories a serving and the only fat per serving comes from 1 tsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese. The sauce is made by pureeing the asparagus stems with the olive oil and lemon zest and some cooking water. End result is very light and fresh and 'creamy' - not in the traditional way of course, but very good.

Lemon Asparagus Pasta

150 grams asparagus - tough stems removed (I generally don't weigh this, just use a large bundle)

1 1/2 tsp salt (don't worry - it's for the cooking water!)

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp lemon zest

black pepper

150 grams pasta (any type, I usually use penne, but used linguini in the photo as that's what i had)

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Snap tough ends off asparagus. Cut stems into 1 inch pieces and reserve tips separately. Add salt and asparagus stems to the boiling water. Cook stems until very tender, 6 - 8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and refresh under cold running water. Reserve.

Add asparagus tips to boiling water and cook until just tender, 3 - 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and refresh under cold running water. Reserve, still keeping them separate from stems.

In a food processor, combine asparagus stems, olive oil, lemon zest and just under 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Process until smooth and set aside. Return the remaining water to the boil and add pasta and cook until almost al dente (check package instructions). Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot with the sauce, asparagus tips, 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Cook, stirring over high heat until pasta finishes cooking and sauce is thickened, about 3 - 5 minutes. Add more pasta cooking water, a little at a time if sauce gets too dry. Stir in most of the parmesan cheese, leaving some to sprinkle on top of the dishes.

Serves 2 at 360 calories a serving.

Source: here

Raspberry Almond Bars

2007-02-23T18:12:00.000Z

So I was scouring the cupboard trying to see what I could make using up some ingredients I already had - mostly leftover from Christmas. I had some marzipan and flaked almonds then saw this recipe in my 'Canadian Living Holiday Best' magazine from 2005 for 'Black Currant Almond Bars'. They mentioned that you could replace the black currant jam with raspberry so that's what I did, not being a huge fan of black currant. I suppose most jams would go with this but I happened to have raspberry in the fridge, blackberry I was thinking would be nice. They are really, really good, especially with a big mug of hot tea. They have a super light, buttery, shortbread like base, then jam, then a soft oozing filling of almondy marzipan. For some reason I had to cook them much longer than the recipe stated in order to get the filling set, I think my 9" pan might actually be 8" and that's why. Regardless, they are very good!

Raspberry Almond Bars

1/2 cup/ 115g granulated sugar
1/2 cup/ 170g marzipan
1/3 cup/ 75g butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
Pinch salt
1/3 cup/ 40g flour
2/3 cup/ 60g slivered almonds (I used flaked as that's what I had)
Base:
1 cup/ 130g flour
1/4 cup/ 35g icing sugar
1/2 cup/ 115g cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Line a 9-inch square metal cake pan with parchment (baking) paper and set aside. Base: In large bowl, mix flour with sugar; with pastry blender cut in butter until mixture is moist and crumbly. (mine never went moist, I had to press it into the pan whilst still dry crumbly but it turned out in the end). Press firmly over prepared pan. Bake in centre of 350F /180C oven until light golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool; spread with jam.

Filling: In food processor, mix together sugar, marzipan and butter until smooth. Pulse in eggs, vanilla, almond extract and salt. Add flour, pulse just to combine. Spread over jam and sprinkle with almonds. Bake in centre of 350F / 180C oven until set and light golden, about 30 minutes. Again, mine took much longer and I had to cover the pan so the almonds didn't burn. Let cool on rack. Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze up to 1 month. Makes 24 bars; 185 calories per bar. I only got 16 out of this as I found them hard to cut that small, calories therefore huge!

Source: here

Happy Pancake Day!!!!

2007-02-20T20:41:00.000Z

Well yes, it's shrove tuesday - aka pancake day. I don't recall this ever being done much in Canada, but it's a well honoured tradition here. At this time of year the supermarkets all get their 'pancake day' displays up selling lemon juice, caster sugar and pancake mixes. You'll notice from the pictures that these aren't pancakes in the Canadian way, these are much more crepe like, although technically a little thicker than crepes. They traditionally have them with lemon juice and caster sugar, and being a huge fan of anything lemon I thought I would love these - and do. We already have Canadian fluffy pancakes every saturday with maple syrup and butter so every shrove tuesday I do 'traditional British' and make these. I really should make them more often!

I've used Delia's recipe here . It always seems to work out well and the pancakes have great flavour, you just have to experiment with the first one for how much batter will just coat the size of pan you are using. I had to double her quantities to 1/4 cup batter for my 9" pan. Sorry not to type the recipe out but there is no way I could word it all better then Delia!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2007-02-19T19:55:00.000Z

These are really lovely cookies, they stay crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. They call for light brown sugar but this was the first time I made them with light muscovado sugar and it's made them even better. Those of you following my blog will remember me trying this sugar with my butter tarts at Christmas and it's very quickly been replacing my regular brown sugar in the cupboard. Delia's website here gives a good explanation of muscovado sugar as I don't recall seeing it in Canada. Clearly I'm converted though!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 cup (108 grams) light brown sugar (do use light muscovado if you can!)
1/2 cup (100 grams) caster sugar (or granulated)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (140 grams) plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups (130 grams) rolled oats
1/2 cup (100 grams) golden raisins (this was probably a 'heaped' 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment (baking) paper. Set aside. Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. In bowl of electric mixture with the paddle attachment cream the butter with sugars until creamy - about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add flour and mix until incorporated (I did this stage by hand with a wooden spoon). Stir in raisins. Place about 1 tbsp of dough onto prepared sheets about 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly with your hand. I got 27 smallish size cookies out of this. Bake for about 10 -12 minutes or until golden brown and set around edges. Will take longer for larger cookies. Cool on tray for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Calories - 111 per cookie for a quantity of 27.

Lemon Curd and Champagne Syllabub

2007-02-14T20:46:00.000Z

So I had planned a fantastic Valentine's Day menu several days in advance. I always knew I wanted this for dessert as I've made it before and it's amazing, creamy and lemony, really nice for a romantic meal end. I didn't however anticipate it becoming the main course. I decided to make 'beetroot ravioli with sage burnt butter' for the main. We usually opt for pasta for a special meal and this one was unique and, well, pink! Perfect for valentines day. Absolute disaster, not to get into too many details but my ravioli never stuck together, I followed the instructions, then tried force - never a good option. Then held on to some blind faith that, no, they really will stick together once I plunge them into boiling water. I'll post the shocking photo in a while although be warned it looks like a crime scene photograph what with all the water turning beetroot red.

Never mind, I'll happily have this syllabub for a main course, and at 604 calories one actually can! It's a recipe by the chef James Martin and was featured on his stately suppers series. The first time I made this I did find the ginger biscuits went a bit bitter with the champagne and decided to try a different one this time. One does need a fairly crisp biscuit so I went with a hob nob (sorry to north american readers who don't know these, think crisp crumbly oaty cookie) It worked well but was still a bit bitter. The filling is so amazing that it really doesn't matter much though although maybe next time I'll sprinkle a little less champagne on them. Anyway, here's the recipe:

8 Ginger Nut biscuits (or any hard biscuit/cookie)
100 ml Champagne or sparkling wine (I used Wolf Blass red label sparkling - very yummy drinking leftovers!)
284 ml double cream
4 Tbsp icing sugar
8 Tbsp lemon curd (I used tesco finest)

To serve:
2 Tbsp flaked toasted almonds
fresh strawberries
both optional, I just sprinkle more biscuits over top

Crumble the biscuits into the bottom of 4 glass serving dish and moisten with half the champagne. Begin whipping the cream with the sugar and when it reaches soft peaks, fold in the remaining champagne and fold in the lemon curd. Original recipe left this marbled but I like it fully mixed. Spoon mixture over the crumb mixture and place choice of toppings on top. Serves 4 at 604 calories each.

Source: here

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2007-02-11T19:09:00.000Z

Well I'm up and running again! Last November when I had to do some baking for my son's school's bazaar I was looking for recipes that would be easy to make and easy for them to sell. Cupcakes are an obvious choice for such an occasion and I liked the idea of individual carrot cakes as opposed to the normally seen layer or flat square cake. I used the recipe from the fantastic Joy of Baking website, changing it from a layer cake to cupcakes and omitting the nuts. I have made trays and trays of these and they turn out perfect every single time and are absolutely unbelievable - light as air yet really moist - perfection.

I didn't however use the cream cheese frosting recipe that came with the carrot cake. Instead I used the recipe from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese website. The balance of cream cheese and icing sugar seemed better to me in this one as I do like a sweet frosting and as I wanted a plain cream cheese frosting i.e - no lemon added. Together these make just the best carrot cupcakes.

Makes 3 dozen small(ish) cupcakes

340 grams raw carrots, about 2 1/2 cups finely grated
280 grams/ 2 cups plain flour
1 baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
300 grams/ 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used caster)
240 ml/ 1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a cupcake tray with baking papers (I used the smaller sized papers). Mix all dry ingredients together and set aside. Grate the carrots finely and set aside. In bowl of electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light coloured (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Remove the bowl from the mixer and hand fold in the flour mixture until incorporated, then fold in the carrots. Fill cupcake papers until almost full and bake for about 20 - 22 minutes until golden, spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave in tray on rack to cool for 10 minutes then transfer cakes to the rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

226 grams / 8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
450 grams / 16 oz/ 4 cups icing sugar

In bowl of electric mixer with the paddle attachment cream the cheese, butter and vanilla on medium speed until mixed well and soft. Gradually add the sugar mixing well and scraping down sides of bowl now and again. When all the sugar is added up the speed to high and whip until really creamy. If necessary add more sugar if too thin or a bit of milk if too thick. (I usually need to add a couple Tbsp of sugar).

When cakes are completely cool frost generously with the frosting. These will keep out for the day they are made then need to be covered and refrigerated. Makes 3 dozen cupcakes at 210 calories per cake.

I would post but....

2007-02-07T11:24:00.000Z

I can't get rid of this flippin' cold!!!!! Or flu, whatever it is....I hope to be up and blogging again soon, had this for nearly 2 weeks now. Hopefully I can get some Valentine's Day blogs in but until then, I'm going back to bed and drinking Canada dry. (sorry, I know that's an old used up joke but I do like it!)

-back soon!

Peanut Butter Squares

2007-01-28T22:07:00.000Z

So again with the chocolate and peanut butter combo! Saw this recipe on the Kraft Website and thought they looked good. They are surprisingly un-like reese peanut butter cups but still as good. I followed the recipe using the larger 13 x 9 inch pan which makes a lot - 48 squares. The only change I made was instead of using only semi sweet (plain) chocolate on top I did a mixture of milk chocolate and plain. Nigella did this in her recipe for peanut butter squares and I thought it would go nice with the peanut butter, after all, reese cups aren't covered in dark chocolate. Definitely a hit, Finn loves them as does my husband - someone not a fan of reese cups.

1/2 cup butter
2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (digestive crumbs)
1 cup smooth peanut butter
12 oz (325 grams) semi -sweet chocolate (plain) - I used about 200 grams milk and 125 grams plain/semi-sweet

Line a 13 x9 inch pan with foil so that it goes over the edges. Melt butter and add the sugar, crumbs and peanut butter - mix well and spread into pan. Chill slightly. Melt chocolate and spread over base. Let cool then score out the squares. Chill in fridge then cut through fully. Makes 48 squares.

Creamy Pesto Penne with Button Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomatoes

2007-01-21T19:45:00.000Z

I absolutely love pesto, probably my favorite pasta sauce but until this recipe only had it on it's own. It really works well this way, despite all the sour cream the pesto flavour still comes through quite strongly. The mushrooms and especially the sun dried tomatoes add great flavour as well.

190 grams penne pasta

1 tsp olive oil

100 grams button mushrooms, sliced

93 grams sour cream

65 grams pesto

20 grams sun dried tomatoes, rehydrated

20 grams Parmesan cheese (for topping)

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, drain - reserving some of the water and rinse in cold water. Return same pan to heat and add olive oil and cook mushrooms with some salt and freshly ground black pepper for about 4 minutes. Put the lid back on now and again to help them 'sweat'. Reduce heat to minimum and add the tomatoes, sour cream and pesto. Cook gently for 2 minutes, stirring. Add pasta and cook stirring for 1 minute or until hot. At this point you may need some of the reserved pasta cooking water if it gets too dry. Serve each dish with 10 grams of Parmesan cheese. Serves 2 at 671 calories a serving.

Tiffin

2007-01-18T21:02:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea' by PJ Harvey

I first heard of 'tiffin' in my 'Baby and Child Vegetarian Recipes' book by Carol Timperley, as this is a British cookbook I rightly assumed it is a British treat. I still don't know where the name tiffin comes from, wikipedia only have it down as "Tiffin is an Indian and British term for a light meal eaten during the day. The word became popular in British India, deriving from tiffing, an old English dialect or slang word for taking a little drink or sip." So, no connection to the above chocolate square. I did find this site which explains it as "Tiffin, Chocolate Concrete or Refrigerator Cake, this teatime treat is universally popular, and much easier to make than caramel shortbread. Originally invented to economically use up broken biscuits and the crumbs from the bottom of the biscuit barrel, these days no such excuse is needed to make a batch. "

Regardless how it came about it is very yummy, broken digestive biscuits and raisins are crammed into a soft chocolaty base then melted chocolate is poured over top and chilled till set. As this was my first time making it I followed the recipe to a 'T' but may next time do a mixture of half plain (semi-sweet) and half milk chocolate for the topping, or even swirl in some white chocolate for a marbled effect. It is very good with the dark chocolate, just maybe a bit too rich. Finn loves it though, although I really think he just likes saying the word 'tiffin'!

225 grams digestive biscuits or graham crackers, crushed. You want some good size pieces as well as crumbs, don't pulverize them!

150 grams raisins (about 1 cup)

100 grams butter

25 grams brown sugar (I used light muscovado sugar)

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

4 Tbsp golden syrup

225 grams milk or plain (semi-sweet) chocolate

Place the crushed biscuits and raisins in a large bowl. Melt the butter, sugar, cocoa and syrup together in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Combine the butter mixture with the biscuit crumbs and raisins. Press the mixture into a buttered 8 inch square tin and leave to cool. Melt the chocolate (I used the microwave) then spread it over the top of the cooled biscuit mixture. Chill. Mark into squares before fully set then refrigerate until fully chilled. Makes 16 squares, 228 calories each.

Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie

2007-01-18T11:02:00.000Z

This is such a nice dish this time of year. I love savoury pies and have been trying to perfect this one for awhile now. I think it's there, it has a nice selection of veg in a nice onion and herb cheese sauce. Originally I was making my own pie crust but have switched to ready rolled puff pastry which works better in my opinion. I would just like to find some individual pie pots that are just the right size for this. Haven't had any luck yet but I would prefer to cook them in individual pots as it would be much easier to serve - no spilling out of the filling as you can see in the pic above. Serves 2.

100 grams broccoli, cut into florets (about 1/2 a medium head)

100 grams carrots, sliced and halved (about 2 medium)

100 grams potato, diced (about 1 medium)

50 grams frozen peas (about 1/2 cup)

50 grams frozen sweetcorn about 1/2 cup)

28 grams butter (2 Tbsp)

1 small onion, finely diced

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp dried mixed herbs

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp dry mustard

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup shredded extra mature white cheddar

lots of freshly ground black pepper

ready rolled puff pastry (I needed about 110 grams, depends on size of pot)

Boil carrots and potato together in salted water until just fork tender. Scoop out with slotted spoon and set aside. Add rest of veg to water, bring to boil and cook until the broccoli is just fork tender. Do not overcook or the broccoli will just turn to mush. Drain and set aside.

Mix the flour, herbs, mustard and salt together. Set aside. In a saucepan melt the butter then add the onion and cook on a low heat until soft. Add the flour, stir and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add the milk in batches stirring constantly. When all the milk has been added turn heat up and let mixture bubble for 2 minutes until thickened. Stir in cheese until melted. Pour sauce over cooked veg and gently stir with a rubber spatula turning and folding over until incorporated.

Tip into buttered casserole dish (3 cup capacity) or 2 individual pot pies levelling top. Roll out the puff pastry and cut out to fit the size of your dish. Brush top with an egg and milk wash. Cook in a preheated 220C degree oven for anywhere from 10 - 25 minutes. (Just until the pastry is puffed and golden.) 667 calories per serving.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Linguine

2007-01-14T20:26:00.001Z

Click HERE to go to my new blog for the vegan version of this.

I got this recipe from somerfield's free monthly magazine and it has become a favorite of ours. It called for using the large cherry tomatoes on the vine that you can get here, not the traditionally tiny sized cherry tomatoes. Roasting them just gives this dish a wonderful flavour and the lemon gives this a nice fresh lightness. The recipe called for the tomatoes to be roasted while still on the vine but I find they can be difficult to get off after roasting and tend to take them off, then roast. I'm sure this makes no difference to the end product.

175 grams linguine

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

250 gram pack of large cherry tomatoes on the vine

1 clove garlic

1/2 lemon, juice

25 grams sliced black olives

1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

20 grams grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 200c. place the tomatoes in a roasting tin with the crushed garlic, ground salt and pepper and 1/2 Tbsp of the olive oil. Brush the crushed garlic around until evenly coated. Place in preheated oven for 15 min.

Meanwhile, cook the linguine, drain and return to the pot. Toss in the remaining olive oil (1 Tbsp) and lemon juice and stir well. Remove skins from the tomatoes and using a rubber spatula scrape all the oil, juices and garlic into the pot with the linguine. Add the black olives and basil, stir well and heat until hot and most the tomatoes are crushed. (Sometimes I find the skins are difficult to remove and I don't bother, just throw them in, once they are stirred in the skins fall off and are easy to remove.)

Serve with 10 grams of parmesan sprinkled on top. Serves 2 at 479 calories per serving.

Sesame Orzo with Charred Onions

2007-01-11T21:36:00.000Z

I love orzo but up until now have had troubles finding it here. Now my local tesco stocks it and hopefully always will! I really had no idea what to do with it though, I can happily eat orzo simply boiled, drained with a dollop of butter and some salt and pepper. I do think it's the type of pasta that calls out for the simplest of flavours. However I felt like trying something a tiny bit more complicated than a bit of salt and pepper and found this. It was posted on the recipezaar website but was originally from Gourmet magazine. It's nice, simple, light and I do love sesame seeds. Only thing I found was that it was maybe a bit strange as a main dish which is how we had it. The magazine had it as a side dish alongside a meat dish and I think it probably would work best that way, or on it's own as a small lunch. Still, it was nice and I'm now eyeing an 'orzo with brown butter and parsley' recipe from Bon Appetit magazine that may be next.

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups orzo pasta
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 bunches green onions (spring onions)
salt
pepper

In a dry skillet toast sesame seeds until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl.
Boil orzo in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Add to sesame seeds.
Slice scallions on diagonal into 1 inch pieces.
Heat oil in non-stick skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking and saute scallions, stirring occasionally, until lightly charred and tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir scallion mixture into orzo and season to taste with salt and pepper. (I added the orzo back into the pan and heated it up again with the onions). Serves 4. Calories, 318 per serving.

Chick Pea and Veg Curry

2007-01-11T21:22:00.000Z

So, again with the healthy, this is quite nice, it's mild yet still very flavourful and so chock full of healthy veg and chick peas, great for banishing the 'nanaimo bar guilt'! It's also very adaptable, use what veg you like or whatever spice heat level you like.

1 Tbsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp mild curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp dried chili flakes
1 clove garlic
200 gram can of chopped tomatoes
150 ml whole milk
130 grams cauliflower florets (about half a head)
130 grams zucchini (about 1 medium)
60 grams carrots (about 1 medium)
100 grams diced potato (about 1 medium)
200 gram tin of chick peas, drained and rinsed
100 grams basmati rice

Heat the oil and fry the onion until soft. Add all the spices and fry for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and milk, mix well. Add all the veg and chick peas and salt to taste. Cover, bring to the boil then simmer for about 20 minutes or until veg is tender. Keep the temperature down or the mixture can get too dry, if this happens add some water. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to package directions. Serves 2 very generously. 491 calories per serving.

Mushroom Risotto

2007-01-11T21:02:00.000Z

Well, it's the new year and the baking has got to slow down a bit! So it's on with the light healthy recipes, at least for the most part. This risotto is not very traditional in that there is no butter or white wine added but that was the intention, a lighter risotto, and at 397 calories per serving I certainly don't miss anything.

Risotto always reminds me of a story Rick Stein told on one of his shows. I absolutely adore Rick Stein, there is something so fantastically soothing about him that I can happily watch him slaughter cows all day despite being vegetarian myself. Personally I think there's nothing better than curling up on the sofa with a mug of hot tea and watching some Rick Stein. Ok, gushing over.... he was talking about how many restaurants these days have gotten just too creative with their risotto's, like ingredient lists a mile long and 'offbeat' flavour combinations and how that was really not his thing. Then he told the story about when he was in Italy (the risotto area, forgive me I've gone blank) and was in a nice family cafe and asked the hostess what was in her risotto today, to which she replied, 'well, we've got a nice stock'. I love that, says it all really!

This recipe is not that of course but still nice. Although, I think a very simple risotto, done properly, with a spectacular home made vegetable stock may be my next quest.

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 fat garlic clove, pureed
150 grams arborio rice
25 grams Parmesan
500 ml hot vegetable stock, made with 1 oxo veg cube
100 grams chopped mushrooms

Gently fry the onion in the olive oil with lots of freshly ground black pepper until soft. Stir in garlic. Add rice and cook for 2 minutes, ensuring each grain gets coated in oil. Add a little stock, cook, stirring until absorbed. Add the mushrooms and some salt and cook until dry again. Keep adding the stock in small batches until all gone, stirring very often until rice is al dente. You may have to add some more water. Stir in almost all the cheese, saving some for sprinkling on top. Serves 2. 397 calories per serving.

Nanaimo Bars

2007-01-07T14:01:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Hymns of the 49th Parallel' by K.D. Lang

Well I can't really be Canadian with a food blog without these, especially a west coaster! I've always been quite purist when it comes to my nanaimo bars, religiously against any different flavours or adaptations. So it came as quite a surprise to me that I found myself very eager to make some 'grand marnier nanaimo bars'. I mean I had the grand marnier and chocolate and orange is almost perfection, so why not? Oh my god, thankfully the recipe for the base was almost identical to my mom's because the filling was disgusting! I can happily drink grand marnier straight being as it is such a sweet drink and here I was adding 2 cups of icing sugar to 1/4 cup of grand marnier and it turned very, very bitter. I don't really understand but it only went to confirm what I already knew - don't mess with perfection! Obviously I ditched the filling for the grand marnier bars and finished these off normally.

Mom's Nanaimo Bars:

Base:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups graham wafer crumbs (or digestive biscuit crumbs here in the UK, just put them through a food processor)
1 egg
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
1/4 cup soft butter
3 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp Bird's custard powder
2 cups icing sugar

Glaze:
4 ounces (115 grams) semi-sweet or plain chocolate (dark)
1 Tbsp butter

Base - Place butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and egg in a bowl over boiling water, stir until like custard. Combine crumbs, coconut and pecans in a large bowl. Add chocolate mixture to this and stir well. Press into a 9 inch square pan and chill. (I only have an 8 inch square pan and it's fine, just higher bars as you can see from the picture)

Filling - cream butter then add the milk and custard powder. Blend in icing sugar then spread over base. Chill in fridge for 15 minutes.

Glaze - melt chocolate and butter together until smooth. I just do this in the microwave as opposed to the bowl over water method. Spread over squares and chill. Makes 25 squares, do cut small as they are quite rich. 210 calories a square.

Notes: good idea to either score the squares while the chocolate is semi set OR bring the pan out of the fridge and bring them to room temperature before cutting otherwise the chocolate will just crack and you won't have nice slices.

Ginger Noodle Stir Fry

2007-01-04T20:05:00.000Z

Recommended cooking soundtrack: 'Hot Fuss' by The Killers

I got this recipe from BBC Good Food Magazine and it is such a nice, light, fresh dish, perfect for this time of year after all the excess of Christmas. It originally called for 150 grams of egg noodles that you then cook and add. I just used 300 - 350 grams of straight to wok ready dressed fresh noodles and it was perfect quantities - even easier too!

Ginger Noodle Stir Fry

150g pack medium egg noodles OR 300 - 350 grams fresh straight to wok egg noodles
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
100g mangetout
2 spring onions, finely chopped
85g bean sprouts
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp white wine vinegar
sesame seeds - optional, for garnish

Cook the noodles according to pack instructions. (ignore if using straight to wok fresh noodles)
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, then stir-fry the ginger, garlic, carrot, pepper and mangetout over a high heat for 2-3 mins.
Drain the noodles and add to the pan with the onions and beansprouts, then stir-fry for 2 mins. (if using straight to wok noodles then also add them at this stage)
Mix together the soy sauce and vinegar, stir into the pan, then cook for 1-2 mins. Divide between individual plates or bowls and serve immediately.
Serves 2, about 439 calories a serving (depending on noodles used).

Source: here

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-01-02T15:50:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Doolittle' by The Pixies

I've always been a fan of peanut butter cookies but have never tried them with chocolate chips in, which seems crazy as obviously peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven. So I had a search online and liked the look of this recipe which I have adapted slightly. They turned out beautiful and are so, so good!

1 1/2 cups flour (200g)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (240g)
1/2 cup peanut butter, heaped (60g)
1/2 cup sugar (I used caster) (50g)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used light muscovado sugar) (50g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups plain chocolate chips (350g)

Preheat oven to 375/190 degrees. Line pans with parchment paper. Combine flour, soda and salt; set aside. Beat together butter, sugars, peanut butter and vanilla until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in the flour mixture a little at a time until all combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon onto prepared pans then press down slightly with a glass dipped into granulated sugar. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until edges are set and centre still looks soft. Leave on pan for 4 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool. Makes 36 large cookies.

Happy New Year!!

2007-01-02T15:39:00.000Z

Sorry for the late greeting but I had a few too many of these New Year's Eve and have only just started to feel human enough to start blogging again. (they are good though!)

Cosmopolitan:

1 1/2 oz vodka
1 oz cointreau, triple sec or grand marnier
2 oz cranberry juice
1 oz lime juice (fresh only!)
lime rind on cocktail stick (optional)

Pour all over ice in a martini shaker, shake well till very cold, pour into martini glasses. Garnish with lime rind. Serves 2 in small martini glasses. 125 calories each.

Grand Marnier Hot Chocolate

2006-12-29T23:54:00.000Z

First, I must (again) apologize for the blurry picture here but I was much too eager to drink this to bother with the tripod!

I used the recipe for this from the Grand Marnier website but added the whipped cream, which it really needs. Their portions made a very boozy drink and the cream softens that considerably. I made mine with the luscious Charbonnel et Walker drinking chocolate, making it slightly stronger than normal to account for the Grand Marnier and whipping cream. It turned out very good, quite strong, but that's how I like it!

40 ml warmed Grand Marnier
100ml Hot Chocolate
Whipped cream

If using the Charbonnel et Walker chocolate, mix 5 heaped tsp chocolate into pyrex jug. Pour a small amount of boiling water over top and mix until chocolate is melted and you have a smooth paste. Add hot milk and whisk until smooth and frothy, whisk in warmed Grand Marnier and pour into glass mugs. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle on some grated dark chocolate (or some of the drinking chocolate flakes).

Turtles!!

2006-12-29T23:40:00.000Z

Wahey!!! My mom sent me some Turtles for Christmas!!! Thanks!!! I guess I should take them off the junk foodie wishlist but, considering they are almost gone I'll keep them listed! I realize that mostly everyone reading my blog are friends and family in Canada, (who all know damn well what turtles are!) however, I thought I would blog them anyway for anyone reading in the UK here or elsewhere who have yet to discover these. They are so good, chopped pecans and cashews with caramel and milk chocolate, and for some reason always make me think of Christmas back home, even though you can buy them all year long. Oh, and I've noticed they now come in dark chocolate too......hint, hint!

Creamy Lemon Basil Linguini

2006-12-29T23:27:00.000Z

I love this dish, it was thrown together after craving some lemony pasta and I just happened to have these things in the house. It's so light tasting despite having double cream in it and just has a wonderful flavour. I also sometimes add chopped fresh parsley if I happen to have some on hand.

200 grams linguini (I always use de cecco brand)
zest of 2 lemons
juice of 1 lemon
large handful of fresh basil, chopped
35 grams parmesan, finely grated
4 Tbsp double cream

Cook pasta in salted water until tender. Reserve some of the cooking water before draining, set aside. Return linguini to the pan and add the zest, lemon juice, basil, parmesan (save a handful for sprinkling on top after) cream, and some grinds of black pepper. Stir over low heat until cheese melts and the pasta is hot. Add some of the reserved cooking water if it starts to get too thick, I always add some but never more than a couple tablespoons worth. Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top and some more freshly ground black pepper. Serves 2. Calories: 549 per serving.

Rosemary Garlic Focaccia

2006-12-29T23:20:00.000Z

Ok, this one is a bit of a cheat as it came from a mix, but it turned out so well I thought I would blog it anyway! Very yummy and I'll certainly use the mix again, nothing like fresh focaccia from the oven dipped into nice olive oil....

Chocolate Dome Cake

2006-12-27T20:20:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Different Class' by Pulp

I was trying to decide what to do for dessert for Christmas dinner this year and have had my eye on this cake for awhile now. I didn't have the right cake pan, a 4 cup stainless steel bowl, and couldn't find any information if all stainless steel bowls are oven safe. If anyone knows, please let me know! I had a hard enough time finding that size bowl, then none stated if they were oven safe. I ended up deciding to go for it with my 4 cup glass Pyrex bowl. As you can see it turned out fine. The only problem was the flour, it calls for cake flour which I thought you can't buy here but I did find some. Only after I used it did I notice it was self raising....needless to say my cake rose out of the bowl while cooking but this didn't make much difference in the end. The cake is a white genoise cake soaked in a grand marnier/orange juice syrup then layered with chocolate mousse and finally covered in a rich chocolate ganache. Oh and absolutely amazing!

This cake is by the chef Michel Richard and was originally featured on Julia Childs lessons with master chefs series on PBS. The recipe has been altered slightly on the utterly fantastic Joy of Baking website, and it is mostly this recipe that I have followed.

Original recipe WITH video of the cake being made here.

Adapted recipe that I followed here.

Brussels Sprouts and Petite Pois in Lemon Hazelnut Butter

2006-12-27T19:25:00.000Z

I had actually never had sprouts before, they are so universally condemned I never had any desire to try them. This year however my husband bought some just for me to try/torture me. I didn't want to make them for Christmas dinner in case I really hated them so made them tonight to go with the leftovers. I found a couple recipes that really appealed to me and basically made my own recipe by combining the two. The end result was absolutely fantastic, I can safely say I love sprouts now, I even went back for seconds! The ultimate praise though has to come from my husband who said, "they don't even taste like sprouts!"

170 grams raw brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed and halved
2 tsp butter
1/4 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
1 Tbsp chopped hazelnuts, toasted
40 grams frozen petite pois (the smaller sweeter peas)

First toast the chopped hazelnuts by dry frying them until golden and fragrant, set aside. In large saucepan of boiling salted water, cover and cook the prepared sprouts until tender-crisp, about 6 minutes. Drain and plunge into ice water, when cool drain and pat dry then place them in a bowl in the fridge. When ready to cook, melt the butter in a frying pan (use the same pan you toasted the nuts in, unwashed) then add the sprouts, lemon zest, peas and some generous grinds of salt and pepper. Fry on low to medium heat until heated though and peas cooked, tossing gently with rubber spatula for about 6 minutes. At the end toss in the hazelnuts and serve. Serves 2, about 90 calories a serving.

Sources: here and here

Aebleskiver

2006-12-26T22:49:00.001Z

Click HERE to go to my new blog for the vegan version of this.

Aebleskiver every Christmas morning has been a tradition for me as long as I can remember. After opening the presents dad would get to work in the kitchen and we would so look forward to them. They are a uniquely Danish food, and just one of the many Danish traditions my family has continued. When my Great Grandmother left Denmark for Canada she obviously couldn't take much on the long journey, but she brought her aebleskiver pan! A great nod to just how good these are.

Aebleskiver pan:

The best description of these are from Wikipedia:

"Æbleskiver (Danish, meaning apple slices in English (singular: æbleskive)) are traditional Danish cakes, somewhat similar in texture to American pancakes. Æbleskiver are cooked in a special æbleskive pan, a cast-iron pan with several hemi-spherical indentations in the bottom of the pan. Batter is poured into the indentations and as it begins to cook it is flipped with a skewer to give the cakes their characteristic round shape. They were traditionally cooked with bits of apple (æble) or applesauce inside but these ingredients are not normally included in modern Danish forms of the dish. Æbleskiver are not sweet themselves but are traditionally sprinkled with powdered sugar, accompanied with raspberry or sometimes strawberry jam, and served with gløgg."

Here is the recipe I use and it comes from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas -the same place I got the gingerbread house recipe from. I like this one as it is traditional in that you fold in stiffly beaten egg whites, but also that it uses regular milk and not buttermilk, although buttermilk is more traditional. If in Canada I would use buttermilk but over here I find it odd, too thick and tastes funny! I've also never had any problems with this recipe, a rather 'never fail' recipe.

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup melted butter
3 large eggs, seperated
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Heat the milk to lukewarm. Whisk in the butter, egg yolks and sugar. Turn into a bowl and add the flour, salt and baking powder, whisking until well blended and no lumps remain. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture with a rubber spatula.

Heat aebleskiver pan over medium heat until water sprinkled on sizzles. Put about 1/2 tsp butter into each hole and brush around until melted. (I just brush in melted butter). Spoon batter in filling up the holes. When ready to turn, the best tool is a knitting needle, I have a special 'aebleskiver' turning needle, but it's simply a wooden knitting needle. You turn each skiver onto its side, let cook for a little bit then turn again onto to another side, then finally turn over. The needle does make this part quite easy.

I then keep them warm in the oven until all cooked. We eat them with jam, applesauce, but more commonly these have been 'Canadianized' in our house and we lather them with butter and warmed maple syrup.

Almond and Sesame Nut Roast

2006-12-26T22:05:00.001Z

Click HERE to go to my new blog for details on how to veganize this.

Merry Christmas!!! So I have finally gotten around to posting the Christmas feast. Please excuse the blurry picture but I had already started on the wine before taking this and wasn't about to set up the tripod during Xmas dinner! We have been on the search for a really good nut roast to have at dinner which would always be the tradition. The problems I find with a lot of roasts is that they taste just like stuffing, which I already have a great recipe for. This one is perfect, great flavour and quite nutty. The book I got the recipe from included a mushroom gravy to serve with this and they go together wonderfully. We always serve it with mashed potato, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing and veg.

Almond and sesame nut roast:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped finely

60grams/ 1/4 cup risotto rice

300ml/1 1/4 cups vegetable stock made with 1 veg oxo cube

1 large carrot, grated

1 large leek, trimmed and chopped finely (only use white part)

2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

90 grams/ 3/4 cup chopped almonds

60 grams/ 1/2 cup ground almonds

90 grams/ 3/4 cup white extra mature cheddar, grated

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Toast the chopped almonds and sesame seeds in a dry non stick frying pan until golden and fragrant. Set aside. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion gently for 2-3 minutes. Add the rice and cook gently for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the stock, bring to the boil and then simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Add a little extra water if necessary. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Add the carrot, leek, sesame seeds, almonds, cheese, beaten eggs and herbs to the mixture. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a 500gram/ 1 pound loaf tin. I lined this completely in parchment paper so that it overhung the edges (so that I could just lift the roast out later). Level the surface and fold over the overhanging parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven for about 1 hour, until set and firm. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes.

Mushroom Gravy:

30 grams/ 2 Tbsp butter

1 small onion, chopped finely

125 gram/ 1 1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped finely

30 grams/ 1/4 cup plain flour

300 ml/ 1/ 1/2 cups vegetable stock made with 2 veg oxo cubes

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and fry the onion until dark golden brown. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the flour, cook gently for 1 minute and then gradually add the stock. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, until thickened and blended. Add more water if too thick.

Turn out the nut roast, slice and serve with the gravy. Recipe says it serves 4 but we get 8 servings out of the roast as they are still good size slices and quite hearty.

Source: here

Stuffing:

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 pound white bakery bread - make breadcrumbs. (I dry mine out in the oven then put through the food processor coarsley - you want some 'chunks'.

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1/2 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup vegetable stock made with 2 oxo cubes

Melt the butter, add onions and cook until golden, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, mix in everything but the stock. Gradually add the stock until stuffing is moistened but not soggy. Amount will depend on how dry the crumbs are. Place in a buttered oven proof dish and drizzle a little more stock on. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook for a further 10 minutes to brown.

Marzipan Mince Pies

2006-12-23T20:30:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'The Best Christmas Album In The World Ever' - Various artists (well, it had to be included at some point!)

A few weeks back I had to bake some mince pies for my son's school bazaar. I decided to try this recipe from BBC Good Food magazine as it had a couple twists on the traditional. First, the pastry has some lemon zest added and the best of all, a good size slice of marzipan hidden underneath the mincemeat. The flavour of rich almond goes so well with the mince, and the lemon adds a nice light freshness to the pastry. They were a hit, Finn loves them and so do I even, someone usually not too keen on mince pies!

Makes 12 mince pies

100 grams plain flour
100 grams self raising flour
100 grams cold butter, cut into cubes
1 Tbsp caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
about 85 grams marzipan
about 250 grams mincemeat (just over half a jar)
icing sugar for dusting.

Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180. Put all the flour in a mixing bowl, add the butter and cut in with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar and lemon zest, then add 3 - 4 Tbsp cold water stirring with a round bladed knife until it just comes together. Work the dough gently into a ball and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll out the pastry thinly and stamp out 9cm fluted rounds, reserving the excess pastry. Use to line a 12 hole mince pie tin. Take some marzipan, roll it into a ball then flatten out with your hands to a flat circle shape that will fit the bottom of the tarts.

Then spoon 1 heaped tsp mince into each tart. Roll out the reserved pastry trimmings and cut out 12 stars and place them on top of the mincemeat. (Up to this point, the mince pies can be frozen for up to 2 months). Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve, (and loads of whipped cream of course!) 211 calories per tart.

Source: here

Butter Tarts

2006-12-23T19:46:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Hymns of the 49th Parallel' by K.D. Lang

I do love butter tarts, as is required by Canadian law, and I know there are so many recipes out there for these and everyone has their favorite. With raisins and nuts, just raisins, just nuts, neither, runny or not etc.. My favorite was always my mom's and she used the recipe from the Purity cookbook, mentioned in previous posts. However, they require corn syrup which you cannot buy here. Also, to anyone in Britain or Ireland who may be reading, corn syrup cannot be replaced by golden syrup, no matter what anyone says. I tried it one year and my butter tarts ended up as liquidy as water after cooking for like 40 minutes. So I had to search for a recipe that didn't call for corn syrup. Of course there are a lot out there, after all it is the more original recipe than the ones calling for corn syrup. I found this one on the BBC Good Food website and was keen to try it as it called for the very yummy light muscovado sugar. I don't recall ever seeing this in Canada but it's a common unrefined brown sugar here and so good. I thought it would be perfect for butter tarts as after all, the sugar and butter are the standout ingredients, so one should really use the best. I omitted the walnuts as for me butter tarts should only have raisins, but again that's personal taste. I also included the step that the purity recipe does of pouring boiling water over the raisins and letting them sit until the edges turn white, then draining. It makes for a softer raisin in the tart. Further,this recipe called for using bought ready rolled shortcrust pastry but I used the purity pastry recipe. Again, just personal taste.

Pastry:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening (Trex)
4 to 5 Tablespoons cold water

Blend the flour and salt together. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter until it resembles crumbs. Sprinkle with the water a tablespoon at a time until all the flour is dampenend. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a flattened ball. Roll out and cut out circles with a fluted cutter. Size depends on the size of your tart/muffin pan.

Filling:

2 large eggs
175 grams light muscovado sugar
100 grams golden raisins
1 tsp vanilla
50 grams butter, room temperature
4 Tablespoons single cream

Preheat oven to fan 170 celsius/190 non-fan. Pour boiling water over the raisins and let sit until their edges turn white. Drain and set aside. Beat eggs in a large bowl and tip into a saucepan with all the other ingredients. Stir continuously for 3-4 minutes until the butter melts, and the mixture bubbles and starts to thicken. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Don't overcook, and be sure to stir all the time as the mixture can easily burn. Spoon the filling into the unbaked tart shells so it's level with the pastry. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until golden and set. Leave in tin for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool. serve warm or cool.

For 12 tarts, calories are 200 each. Depends on your size of tart pan though, as you can see from the picture mine are quite shallow as I used a mince pie tart pan so I got 23 out of this.

Gingerbread House

2006-12-22T20:37:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'We are the pipettes' by The Pipettes

So I decided to tackle a gingerbread house for the first time. Well, technically my first time, Mom and I did make one when I was younger but all I did then was decorate. I do remember it being great fun so thought Finn would enjoy doing one as well. Everything turned out alright, I used a gingerbread house recipe from 'The Great Scandinavian baking book' by Beatrice Ojakangas. She described the dough as being "very spicy, so it will add a fragrant aroma to the area in which you place the house". Although she also says it is 100% edible, I do find it a little too spicy. However I really had no intention of eating it and the thought of it giving out a great spicy holiday scent in the room made me choose this recipe. Glad I did because it is also a very firm dough, essential when constructing a house out of cookies! This was my first time using royal icing, I didn't use the recipe which came with the house recipe as over here you can buy ready to mix royal icing, it has the meringue powder already in it and all you have to do is add cold water. Easier and no health risk with raw egg whites. Next time I may make it a bit thicker, also I learned too late to put the frosting on, wait till it gets a little sticky, THEN add the sweets. As you can see from my roof, the M&M's started to slide down as I put them on too soon, in fact I lost a whole row! Decorating is the fun part of course, I kept mine fairly simple, the trees are just upside down pointy ice cream cones covered in green frosting. All in all it was fun, something Finn will surely remember!

Makes 1 house

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, well packed
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup boiling water
5 cups flour

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, 1 Tablespoon at a time. (I didn't need to, her quantities were perfect, cleaned the sides of the bowl). Chill 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut patterns out of cardboard, or use those house cutters you can buy now. Roll the dough out and cut out shapes (note - it starts out being really hard to roll out but keep it at, it will get there!). Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the cookies feel firm. Leave to cool on baking sheet. Frost with royal icing, propping up sides etc. with cans while they dry.

House measurements:
1 bottom 9 x 4 in
2 roofs 10 x 5 in
2 sides 9 x 4 1/2 in
2 ends 4 in wide at base, 5 in wide at widest point, 8 inches high from triangle point to bottom.
chimney is impossible to describe without pictures!

Hot Toddy!

2006-12-20T21:38:00.000Z

I first had a hot toddy in Ireland while spending Christmas with my husband's family. They would make these after dinner when we were all huddled in front of the fire and the wind would be howling outside. They are so lovely and warming and have become a holiday staple; even when we are not sadly in Ireland. It's really getting cold here now and pretty much as soon as the tree went up we started making them again. So go on, get yourself some Irish whiskey, put on The Pogues 'Fairytale of New York' and relax.

1 1/2 ounces Jameson Irish Whiskey
1 tsp sugar (I use golden caster sugar)
1 slice lemon
whole cloves
hot water

Measure the whiskey and sugar into a glass, stir and leave the spoon in (will stop glass from cracking). Fill with hot water, no measure here, just to taste. Stud the lemon slice with the whole cloves (I put a clove in every segment). Drop this into the drink, remove spoon and enjoy.

Tagliatelle with Lentil Bolognese

2006-12-18T20:17:00.001Z

This is a great basic sauce recipe that is not confined to pasta, anywhere you would use a meat sauce you can use this: in lasagna, in baked potatoes, shepherds pie etc.. It's very versatile and so yummy. This is one of Finn's favorites, I first gave it to him years ago with rotini pasta and I guess the stripes of the rotini and the brown/orangy sauce made him think of tigers as he instantly dubbed it 'Tiger pasta' which it is now of course always referred to in our house!

I actually got the recipe from 'Baby and Child Vegetarian Recipes' by Carol Timperley a cookbook I still use a lot and found indispensable when Finn was younger. It's basically a standard bolognese sauce recipe replacing the meat with brown lentils. It's then pureed till smooth although you can leave it chunky or just puree half the recipe. We like it smooth and topped with parmesan. The recipe makes a lot, 8 adult servings, which is really handy as it freezes really well making it an easy dinner standby.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Pinch dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped (optional – use 2 carrots if not using)
175g button mushrooms, quartered
2 tablespoons tomato puree
150ml red wine or water (I use water when Finn is having it...which is always!)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (make sure to use dark, should say dark on the label)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large tin (400g) chopped tomatoes (recipe called for a half tin, I use a whole as I find it needs it)
2 x 400g tins brown or green lentils, drained and rinsed (can't find 'brown' lentils here, the tins labeled 'green' are actually brown in colour inside)

Heat the oil, add the onion, basil, oregano and bay leaf and cook till onions are transparent. Add the garlic, stir, then add the carrot, celery and red pepper, cook for a few minutes then add the mushrooms. When the mushrooms begin to wilt, stir in the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, remove bay leaf, transfer to a food processor and blend coarsely. Reheat before serving on top of pasta with a generous amount of grated cheese on top. For Finn, I also stir in some grated white mild cheddar till melted then some parmesan on top as well. Just serve with no cheese on top for a vegan version.

Makes 8 adult portions, 16 child size portions.

Calories: 1254 with red wine or 157 per 8 servings (sauce only)
1164 with no red wine or 146 per 8 servings.

Thank You Ikea!!!

2006-12-18T20:03:00.000Z

Yes! I can finally get dill chips here!! Without having to order from Canada or on-line shops!! These are available from our local Ikea and are by kraft nordic, they are so good, I dare say even better than Old Dutch or Lays. As you can see they are dill and chives and ruffled, I love them, just bought 7 bags on our last trip to Ikea, that should do me over the holidays! Strange you can't get dill chips here, considering you can get flavours like prawn cocktail, pickled onion, lamb & mint and marmite, you'd think good old dill would be a basic, but no.

Hazelnut Coffee Truffle Tart (allegedly)

2006-12-14T10:30:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Don't try this at home' by Billy Bragg

I urge you all to take a good look at the recommended baking soundtrack this time, for I mean that literally. I further urge you to click on the cd link and look at the first track on the album as it's really good advice in this case.

Yes, this was a disaster! I realize the picture may look ok but it is so far removed from what it should look like I almost don't need to post the sources. So, this was supposed to be a Hazelnut Coffee Truffle Tart which is featured in (again) the Canadian Living Holiday Best magazine from 2005. I have wanted to make it since then and finally got around to it, oh how little I knew then! I even bought the specially shaped tart pan and some frangelico for these. They have a hazelnut cookie like base, then are supposed to have a white chocolate coffee layer, then a dark chocolate hazelnut layer. As you can see from my picture that did not work out.

First the recipe didn't say to grease the pan which I didn't as there was a lot of butter in the base and the pan has a removable bottom. Then it never said when to actually remove the bottom of the pan i.e - while the base was cooling, once it was cool, after all the filling was put in.....I ended up trying to remove it after it had cooled because it looked pretty much solidified in there at that point and I thought trying to get it out once all the filling was in would be a mess. Glad I did, because it was very difficult to remove, I ended up having to trim the edges quite a bit, then jamming a ruler through the hole in the bottom of the pan and trying to lever out the tart. Nightmare.

Then, the filling -first was the white chocolate. You are to bring whipping cream just to the boil with 1/4 cup of whole coffee beans, turn off the heat and let steep for 1 hour. Then sieve the cream into a bowl with the white chocolate, place over a pan of just hot water and stir until melted. Then whisk in some butter. When I got to the melting part the chocolate just seized up and separated on me. I didn't have the water too hot and no water got into the chocolate so I don't know what happened. I had to dump that lot and try again. (Keep in mind, this chocolate is not cheap!) This time I thought I'll keep it even lower in temp and was even more careful that everything was clean and dry and free from water drops. Same thing happened again. So at this point as I am close to resembling the persona of Gordon Ramsey on a bad day I decided to forgo that layer and just stick the dark chocolate layer in. Thankfully this worked beautifully. I'm thinking as it used the method of boiling the cream and pouring it over chopped chocolate, whisking till smooth then adding the butter and liqueur.

So, after that set, I was thinking as I still had half the required amount of white chocolate left I would try again. I didn't have the time (or patience!) to steep the coffee beans into the cream for an hour so I just boiled what whipping cream I had left, poured over the chopped white chocolate and whisked in the butter and some coffee extract. It didn't seize this time and I spread that over the top and left it to set.

Next morning, these looked alright, sure it doesn't have the nice more natural coffee flavour from the infused beans and the white chocolate layer is half what it should be, but I'm thinking it's ok now. That is until I tried removing the sliced tarts from the removable bottom. Only half the bottom crust is actually showing in those pictures, the rest is still stuck to the pan, which is a shame as the crust is really yummy and it's nuttiness counters the sweetness of the truffle wonderfully.

Overall, they are still delicious, as they should be as they only contain nuts, chocolate, butter, cream, coffee and booze! But what a nightmare! I welcome any advice on what went wrong here as I won't be making these again, at least not while sober.

They said to slice these in 1 inch fingers but I found them so rich that cutting the fingers in half again was nice. Recipe to follow.... (if you dare!)

Cranberry Almond Bread

2006-12-10T19:41:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'No Need to Argue' by The Cranberries

Well it was sunday baking day today and as I had a lot of leftover dried cranberries from the tarts below thought I would use them up. Now I didn't have craisins as you can't buy them here but they were the same thing; sweetened dried cranberries. So, thought I would look at the craisins website for some recipes and had mostly everything to make this. It turned out wonderful and is so yummy! (Especially with a mug of hot tea!) I made a few changes, 1. I didn't have sliced almonds to sprinkle on top so used chopped, and 2. The recipe didn't call for the almond glaze drizzled on top but it was included on another recipe on the site and I thought it would go well. It does.

Cranberry Almond Bread

2 cups (260g) flour
1/2 cup (120g) caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1/2 cup (110g)butter, melted
2 teaspoons almond extract
175 g (6 oz)sweetened dried cranberries
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup chopped almonds

GLAZE:
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

DIRECTIONS:Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
Combine egg, milk, butter, almond extract and sweetened dried cranberries in a medium mixing bowl. Add to dry ingredients; mixing just until the dry ingredients are moist(I folded). Spread batter in loaf pan. Sprinkle with sugar and almonds.
Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. I had to cover with foil with about 15 minutes remaining. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes then remove from pan to cool completely on rack. Combine all glaze ingredients until smooth then drizzle back and forth on top.

Makes 1 loaf.

Sources: here and here

Coffee Cupcakes

2006-12-08T19:44:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Time Being' by Ron Sexsmith

I always use this recipe for my cupcakes which comes from the below mentioned Purity cookbook as they always turn out so light and moist, really delicate. Usually I make vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting or change the extract to almond in both the cake and frosting for a lovely almond version. This time I was really feeling like something coffee flavoured and picked up a coffee extract at the grocery store. It doesn't really work in the cake itself, somehow replacing the vanilla with coffee extract made the cakes a little bland. Next time I would either just make them vanilla or experiment more with using freshly brewed espresso. Possibly increasing the coffee extract would work too.....I'll have to mess around with this one. The frosting is yummy though, although I think I made it a little dry as it didn't spread on very smoothly, but that's not a problem.

One Bowl Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk (second measure)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond (or any flavour you want to try!)

Place all dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer. With the paddle attachment beat in the shortening and the first measure of milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the second measure of milk, eggs and flavouring. Beat for 1 minute. Divide batter between muffin cups. Bake for 16 - 18 minutes or until golden and cakes spring back when touched.

Coffee Buttercream:

3 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp coffee extract (or vanilla or almond etc.. depending on flavour desired)
few grains salt
2 cups icing sugar
2 to 2 1/2 Tbsp warm milk.

Beat butter until smooth, add some icing sugar and beat till incorporated. Add extract then keep adding sugar and milk until smooth and spreadable. Will frost 18 cupcakes.
Preheat oven to 350/180 degrees. Line 18 muffin holes with paper linings (I use the small ones)

Banana Bread

2006-12-06T22:20:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: The Velvet Underground and Nico (what? you didn't think I would recommend Bananarama, did you?)

There are so many recipes for banana bread out there and I do like mine plain - no nuts, no spices, chocolate etc.. This is the recipe my mom always used and comes from the utterly fantastic Purity Cook Book. A Canadian classic from 1961 so redeemed it has recently been re-released in it's original form. I make quite a lot out of it, only thing to remember is that it was written before baking powder was double acting so quantities of it in the recipes are double what you need, simply half the baking powder and everything will still rise and without that bitter taste too much baking powder can leave.

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup sugar

2 well beaten eggs

1 cup well mashed banana (must be very ripe, the blacker the better, also don't be exact about that measurement, I used more like 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350/180 degrees

Blend together all the dry ingredients and set aside. Cream shortening and gradually beat in sugar. Add eggs and combine well. Add dry ingredients alternately with mashed banana, folding in each addition with a rubber spatula. Pour into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack then transfer bread to rack.

Thanks Jen!!

2006-12-06T22:16:00.000Z

I just received in the post this beautiful ornament from my friend Jen in Canada, thanks so much! It's stunning, even our curtains are light purple on either side and look great with it. I love it!

Dumpling Stew

2006-12-06T20:52:00.000Z

Recommended cooking soundtrack: 'Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant' by Belle and Sebastian

Well, it's finally starting to get a bit colder here and when it does this is lovely. Nothing like dumplings on a cold day. Now these are made with vegetable suet which I understand will be hard if not impossible to get in Canada. I'm thinking regular shortening cut into the dry ingredients should work but i'll have to read up on it. This is what I use and it does make super light dumplings.

1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 onion chopped

450 ml vegetable stock made with 1 oxo cube

125 grams carrots, sliced and halved

125 grams potatoes, diced largely

125 grams zucchini, sliced and quartered

2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

62 grams red lentils

213 gram can of red kidney beans

1/2 tsp paprika

62 grams flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

1 Tbsp vegetable suet

First combine the last 6 dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mark x's on the bottom of the 2 tomatoes and cover with boiling water, leave for a few minutes, remove and peel skins, roughly chop and set aside. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion for 3 -4 minutes or until just soft. Pour in the stock, carrots, lentils and potatoes. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the zucchini, tomatoes, kidney beans, paprika and some salt to taste. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Meanwhile bind together the dumpling dough with 3 - 3 1/2 Tbsp water to form a soft dough. It should form in to a ball and clean the sides of the bowl. Transfer to a floured surface and cut into 4 sections, roll each section into a ball.

Uncover the stew, stir well, then add the dumplings, pushing them slightly into the stew. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes until the dumplings are risen and cooked through.

Serves 2

464 Calories per serving

White Chocolate Cranberry Tarts

2006-12-04T16:22:00.000Z

Recommended baking soundtrack: The Cranberries, Everyone else is doing it, so why can't we?

These are from the Canadian Living Holiday Baking 2006 magazine, and I figured as I had some white chocolate left over from making the lemon sandwich cookies it would be a good use. Does it not count as being frugal that I had to buy an entire bottle of Grand Marnier for this? Suppose not, but they are worth it!

Pastry:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup each cold butter (55 grams) and lard, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
ice water

Filling:
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp orange liqueur or juice
2 Tbsp whipping cream
60 grams white chocolate, finely chopped
2 tsp butter, softened

In bowl, whisk flour with salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter and lard until mixture resembles fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. In liquid measure, whisk egg yolk with vinegar or lemon juice; add enough ice water to make 1/3 cup (75ml). Drizzle over dry ingredients, stirring briskly with fork until ragged dough forms. Press into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. (can make ahead and refrigerate for up to 3 days)

On floured surface, roll out pastry to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thickness. Using 2 1/2 inch round cutter, cut out 24 circles, re-rolling scraps. Fit into 2 cm deep mini tart tins. Prick with a fork; cover and freeze until firm. Bake in centre of 350 degree (180) oven until golden, 25 minutes. Let cool in pans on rack. (Watch them cook though, mine only took 20 minutes.)

Meanwhile, in saucepan, cover and heat cranberries with liqueur over medium-low heat until steaming; let stand until softened. Finely chop. In small saucepan, heat cream just until boiling. Remove from heat; whisk in chocolate and butter until melted and smooth.

Divide cranberries among tart shells; top with chocolate mixture. Refrigerate until set, 2 hours. (make ahead - cover and refrigerate up to 2 days) Makes 24 tarts, 84 calories each.

Notes: In this recipe they didn't say what to do with the leftover liqueur after cooking the cranberries but it didn't matter in the end as the cranberries absorb virtually all the liquid (another reason to buy some grand marnier!). Also, I actually doubled the chocolate filling and it was just enough, I would highly recommend doing the same as you can see from my picture, it's just enough and they are not big tarts.

Tricolore Panini

2006-12-04T16:03:00.000Z

When I first moved to London 8 years ago and was working in Harrods I used to take my lunch breaks at these fantastic Italian cafes close by. I always ordered these tricolore sandwiches, generally on focaccia bread but sometimes ciabatta or panini, and cooked in a panini press. They are called tricolore after the Italian flag, the green white and red represented by the avocado, mozzarella and tomato. Rather shockingly I had never had one before, a huge surprise as they are so simple. Since then they have become my absolutely favorite sandwich. No real need for a recipe here, I just mash the flesh of half a hass avocado, spread it on with some grinds of salt, top with slices of good quality mozzarella, grinds of black pepper, then top with the slices of tomato and fresh basil. I don't have a panini press so i place a plate on top of the sandwich as it cooks on a dry non stick frying pan. Done when golden and the cheese lightly melts. They left the avocado slices whole in the cafe but i find mashing also acts as a spread, also don't forgo the salt and pepper in this, it makes a huge difference.

Lemon Star Sandwich Cookies

2006-12-02T18:16:00.000Z

My camera does do macro!! Click on above pic to view in all it's macro gloriousness!!!

Recommended baking soundtrack: 'Heart' by Stars

These cookies were featured in the 'Canadian Living Holiday Best' magazine from Christmas 2005. My mom sends me these mags every year before Christmas when they come out and I love them! (thanks mom!) I've been wanting to try these cookies for the past year and finally came around to it. They are basically a lemon flavoured sugar cookie sandwiched together with a mixture of white chocolate and lemon juice. In the magazine they did one smaller circle on top of a larger circle but I didn't have the cutters for that so thought stars would be nice and seasonal and glittery.

Lemon Sandwich Cookies

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (must be granulated, not caster)

2 Tbsp finely grated lemon rind

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

White Chocolate Lemon Filling

60 grams white chocolate, chopped

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Line rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or grease; set aside.

In food processor, pulse sugar with lemon rind until pale yellow. Transfer 1 cup to mixing bowl; reserve remainder in sealed plastic bag. Beat butter into lemon sugar until fluffy then beat in egg and vanilla.

In seperate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir just until combined. Divide in half; shape into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be refridgerated for up to 2 days)

On lightly floured surface, roll out each disc to 1cm thickness Using small ( 1 1/2 inch) cookie cutters, cut out shapes. Reroll scraps and continue cutting. Place on prepared trays 1 inch apart. Press remaining lemon sugar through a small seive onto cookies. (I only did this on the cookies that were going to be my tops) Bake in centre of 350/180 degree oven for 8 - 10 min. Transfer to a rack to cool.

In heatproof bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate; stir in lemon juice until smooth. Here they say to use within 20 minutes so the filling doesn't stiffen but I had to wait at least 20 minutes for the filling to be thick enough to use as it was like a glaze. I'm thinking 1 tsp of lemon juice would be enough, but it did work just waiting a bit for it to thicken. Spread over bottoms of half the cookies, place sugared cookies on top. (make ahead: layer between waxed paper in airtight container and store at room temp for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 weeks) Makes about 50 cookies, 59 calories per cookie.

Cute tea mugs!

2006-12-01T14:06:00.000Z

I just got my latest cooks kitchen catalogue and am loving these 'feuille de the' glasses by LaRochere. I think they would be perfect with this ginger tea recipe I've been using to annihilate this nasty cold I got from Finn. Really, with the tea and that soup it just doesn't stand a chance!

Mugs: http://thecookskitchen.com/browse_7834

Tea: http://www.thimble.ca/?p=123

Spinach, Potato and Garlic Soup

2006-12-01T12:39:00.000Z

A few weeks back when I was feeling ill I had a search online for a homemade soup that was easy and I could make with what little veg I had in the house at the time. Being sick I certainly did not want to go shopping or deal with any complicated recipes. So glad I found this, cannot for the life of me remember which site I found it on, but it's lovely. First it has to be the easiest homemade soup ever, with the exception of peeling and slicing about 2 potatoes and the garlic there's no chopping involved. Second it's full of great things when you have a bad cold like spinach and lots of garlic. As a bonus it's very low in calories, which is essential for me as soup is always eaten with fresh bread rolls lathered with tons of real butter. Actually, I usually don't even bother with a spoon, I mean that is what the bread is for isn't it? Now obviously if you are not sick and have the energy and time by all means use fresh spinach and onions, and if calories are not an issue then fry the onion first in butter and use cream. However, for me, this works as I almost always have all these ingredients in the house.

142 grams (5oz) frozen spinach
255 gram (9oz) potato (weigh before peeling) peeled and thinly sliced (about 2 medium)
1/3 cup heaped frozen chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, pureed
2 ¼ cups water
1 veg oxo cube
Grinds of pepper
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup whole milk (full fat)
1 tsp butter

Add all ingredients up to milk in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to the boil. Stir well then reduce heat to med-low and simmer until potato is tender, about 15 min max. While this is simmering go back to the sofa and watch Oprah. Stir now and again, keep lid on or askew. Cool slightly then puree in blender. Return to pan and heat through with the milk and butter. Serve when hot and butter is melted. Serve with toasted crusty white bread and butter.

Serves 4, 110 calories per serving. (probably about 1000 with the bread and butter)

Moroccan Couscous

2006-11-30T11:41:00.000Z

I really don't think this is 'moroccan' at all but it makes it sound more interesting than couscous and veg. Always enjoy this after having days of too much junk as it's nice, light and simple.

1 Tbsp Veg Oil
1 Small Onion
1 Carrot, sliced
1 ¼ Cups Veg stock, made with 1 oxo cube
1 Zucchini, sliced
½ Red Pepper
63 grams Green Beans (I use frozen)
½ cup Couscous
¼ tsp Turmeric

Heat oil and fry onion and carrot together for 3-4 mins. Add veg stock, bring to boil and cover and simmer for 20 mins. Add zucchini, pepper and green beans to pan. Simmer for 10 min. Meanwhile cook couscous in 6 ounces of water with a pinch of salt for 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spoon couscous evenly onto plates then spoon veg on top then drizzle with stock. Serves 2.

311 Calories per serving.

Car Cakes

2006-11-29T23:24:00.000Z

I made these car cakes from the Betty Crocker website for Finn's 4th birthday last March and they turned out alright. The recipe called for yellow cake mix but we can only get the chocolate here and that worked fine, actually they were very good - Finn loved it and still talks about them! I later thought about writing his name on the other car after the majority of the pics were taken. I think next time I would try and use paste food colouring as opposed to the liquid to get more vivid colours (it is supposed to be a red car) and also to stop the bought frosting getting too soft as it got a little tricky to work with.

Halloween

2006-11-29T23:13:00.000Z

Ok, so I'm a little late with the halloween stuff but as I didn't have a blog then we'll just overlook that! These were our pumpkins this year. The surprised one was a transfer that came with a kit and I was quite happy with it. The other just a freehand 'scary' face for Finn.

Somewhere.....

2006-11-29T22:25:00.001Z

So this is supposed to be my very own food blog, well mostly food anyway, primarily baking. I just love food blogs so thought I would try my own. However, I have a severe lack of photos of my culinary experiments at this point so here's a pic of a rather lovely rainbow taken from our bedroom window. Welcome!