Book & Bake Club

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I must begin by giving myself a slap on the wrist for the unplanned hiatus. Life has been busy and I just haven't had a proper chance to sit down and write (and edit photos). After a fantastic week in Barcelona I am back, refreshed and ready to take on July. Tonight I headed off my monthly Book & Bake club where this month's reading book was Jilly Cooper's Riders (fantastic poolside reading) & we baked from the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book.

We were treated to some seriously retro delights including an avocado mousse, Bakewell puddings, a Black Forest gâteaux & a pineapple upside down cake. The Book & Bake ladies are seriously skilled! I kept it simple as I had very limited time to bake and made Chocolate Viennese Fingers which were incredibly fragile but tasty.

    

Photos from Barcelona are on their way, I just need to get through and edit them down.

Plate Lickers #2

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After much planning Jo & I are very happy to announce our next Supper Club. The next event will be on Friday 13th July (we won't let the superstition worry us) at a secret location in the centre of Cambridge. It will consist of a 5 course Middle Eastern menu including a welcome drink.

The evening will kick off at 7.30 with a welcome drink and canapés and we plan to sit down for dinner at 8.00.

A Supper Club is a very sociable event and everyone will be sat together so its equally fine to come with a group of friends or on your own.

To reserve a place just drop an email to platelickersanonymous@gmail.com with your names and any allergies or dietary requirements you have.

There is a suggested donation of £30 and we invite you to BYO and a hearty appetite.

The location & other details will be emailed to attendees a few days before the event. Space is limited so we suggest reserving as early as you can. But of course, if for any reason you need to cancel, please let us know as far in advance as you can so that we can give your place to somebody else & save on food waste.


To see photos from the last event have a look here

Kitchen How To- Lining a Cake Tin

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I have been toying with the idea of doing a series of Kitchen How To posts for a while now and thought I would start with lining a cake tin. Lining your cake tins saves you the worry of your cake sticking to the tin and helps the cake to rise well whilst baking. I have always lined the base, but I recently learnt how to do the sides. I had never attempted it before as I assumed it was tricky so I thought it was the perfect tutorial to start with as once you know how to do it, its so quick and easy to always do.

To line the base of your cake tin you can either cheat by buying pre-cut liners or make your own. To do this, firstly cut your paper to the correct width. Now keep folding in half till you end up with a small strip of paper. Place the pointed part in in the middle of the cake tin and then trim off the excess. You may need to unfold, check and trim a little more off.

To line the sides you need a strip of greaseproof paper double the height of the sides of your cake tin plus 3 cm. Firstly fold it in half and then fold over the bottom, cut edge at the 3 cm length. Next, using scissors cut little tabs up to the fold you just made all the way along at 2-3 cm intervals. Finally, with the scissors cut along the top fold till you are left with 2 separate strips. Place these in the cake tin under the base circle you just made and then you're ready to get baking.

Ricotta Gnocchi Part 2

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I first posted a recipe for ricotta dumplings last year (here) after seeing them on the Two Greedy Italians and fell in love with them immediately. Recently I helped out Ursula Ferringo with one of her demonstration supper clubs where she made Ricotta Gnocchi. I loved her technique of very lightly mixing the ingredients till they just came together and then spooning rough balls of them rather than rolling into perfect cylinders. This way they hold all the delicious flavours of your sauce so much better. In this recipe I use all fresh ingredients but they would be amazing served with the tomato sauce from the other gnocchi recipe. 

This is another one of those dinners that come together so quickly. The other day I got in from work and had these ready in just 5 minutes, before heading outside to enjoy them in the sun, with a nice glass of white wine.

Serves 2

You will need-

• 150g ricotta cheese
• 43g Italian 00 flour
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 large egg yolk
• Salt & Pepper
• A small pinch of grated nutmeg

And the rest...

• A handful of wild rocket
• 1 clove garlic, crushed - leave this out if you're not a fan of raw garlic
• 1/2 chilli deseeded and finely chopped
• A small handful of freshly grated parmesan
• Salt & Pepper

In a bowl mix together all of your ingredients until they just come together. Using a tea spoon scoop out small mounds onto a plate and place in the freezer for a few minutes. If you weren't in a rush then you could just place them in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes. You could of course make these in advance and just keep them in the fridge till you needed them.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and then add your gnocchi. As soon as they start rising to the top remove them onto a plate with a slotted spoon.

Mix gently with the rocket, garlic, chilli, parmesan, salt & pepper and a drizzle of olive oil then eat straight away.

Pictures of Recently Enjoyed Food

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I am thoroughly enjoying a day off today. The morning was spent doing some retail therapy and this afternoon I am playing catch up on all the things I have been putting off the last few days. I have even managed to schedule some posts and there is a new one coming tomorrow! Hope you all have a fantastic Jubilee weekend, here's hoping the sun comes out again.

Taking inspiration from ohdeardrea's recently enjoyed things series.
1. Roasted Squash Wraps from River Cottage Veg 2. Salad on a very hot day 3. Jamie Oliver's Courgette Carbonara 4. Beetroot 5. Chargrilled Chard with a honey and Tapatio dressing