Fig & Feta Salad with a little indulgence

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They always say the simplest things are the best and when it comes to food that couldn't be more true. Don't get me wrong, I love to submerse myself in a complicated recipe that takes days of planning but when you have amazing ingredients you really don't need to do much. I recently discovered truffle honey at a new bar, 196 on Mill Road in Cambridge and ever since have been day dreaming about it... I even had a dream one night where I was attempting to make my own with terrible results. I randomly found a jar of the honey on a recent trip to Marks and Spencer and have been trying it out with different things ever since - my favourite being on crackers with some comte cheese. That was until today anyway. Only last night I was talking to Tim about how figs are my favourite fruit. I think it stems from my summers in Croatia as a child where we would steal figs straight off a tree before tearing them open and eating the insides. I digress, today whilst at the supermarket I quite surprisingly found some beautiful looking figs on offer and knew they had to be mine. I initially planned to bake with them but I also wanted to eat some fresh. After a very quick scan of the fridge I knew what had to be done. This would make a fantastic starter or side for a dinner party but would also make a very sophisticated canapé if placed onto a cracker or bruschetta.

I won't bother with an ingredients list as I'm sure you know whats in it by now but to assemble place some rocket on your plate, top with wedges of fresh figs and crumbled feta, sprinkle with a little salt and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil. Finally, drip some honey over the whole thing and there you have it. If you were wondering, the honey is currently £3.99 and I am planning to stock up before everyone else gets in there and buys the whole lot!
P.S This isn't a sponsored post, but if any truffle companies wish to send samples, my door is open.

Courgette & Mint Soup

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This soup makes a fantastic quick, healthy and tasty lunch or dinner and is so easy to make too. The mint and lime bring a lovely freshness whilst the courgette and feta bring the creaminess. Its definitely worth making a double, triple or even quadruple batch and freezing it for a rainy day. Its all done in 1 pan so the washing up is minimal and the only special kit you need is a stick blender which you can get for cheap in most supermarkets. This is the perfect summery soup, but if you're in England I recommend googling photos of sunshine and clear blue skies as I think we've all forgotten what those look like!

You will need-

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
• 500g courgette
• Salt & Pepper
• 300ml water
• 2 wedges of lime
• Small handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
• Feta cheese

Put a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the oil. After a few minutes add the garlic and chilli and cook for a minute. Now add the courgette and simmer for 20 minutes or till they are really soft. Add the water, half of the mint & season well. Simmer for another 10 minutes then remove from the heat and leave to stand for a minute or 2. 

Carefully blitz the soup till smooth and adjust the seasoning if needed before adding the lime to taste. Serve in bowls topped with the remaining mint and some crumbled feta cheese.

Enjoy x

Gluten Free Hazelnut & Dark Chocolate Blondies

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To me hazelnuts & chocolate are the best combination. Ever. Put a bowl of anything containing the two infront of me and watch them disappear in minutes. I knew if I were to make these they would need to have a home to go to. So with a friends birthday coming up and a big family meal planned I knew this would be the perfect opportunity.

I recently bought some gluten free self raising flour and decided to try it out, after all, I didn't want to leave any family member out. For this recipe you will need a round oven proof dish measuring roughly 25cm. If your dish is bigger then reduce the cooking time and if smaller increase the temperature slightly and cook for a little longer.

Recipe inspired by The Kitchn
You will need-

• 1 + 1/4 cups gluten free self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4oz unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Camp coffee essence or espresso coffee powder
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup of chopped dark chocolate- roughly 150g
• 1/2 cup of peeled chopped hazelnuts (how to peel hazelnuts)

Begin by preheating your oven to 170C and buttering your baking dish. In a bowl combine your flour and salt then put to one side. 

In a saucepan melt your butter and then add the sugar and stir till it has melted into the butter. Pour the butter mixture into the bowl with the flour and add the vanilla extract, coffee & egg and mix with a spoon. Finally fold in the chocolate and hazelnuts and transfer to your baking dish.

Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake as you still want that gooey centre. Leave it to cool completely before slicing.

Salted Peanut & Caramel Macarons

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I have been eager to have a go at making macarons for a long time, but was always really put off by all the horror stories I had heard and read. Today is my only day off this week so I decided to grab the bull by the horns and jump in to making macarons head first! I did a bunch of research last night reading Deepa's and The Pink Whisk's blogs as well as my Ottolenghi cookbook. I decided that I wanted to try the filling in Ottolenghi's book but with the method from The Pink Whisk. I had read in many places that I should age my egg whites so I left them overnight to do their thing. I had to use my tiny food processor which meant blitzing together ground almonds & icing sugar in 2 parts. I ended up with some quite sold lumps of the mixture which I had to break with my fingers so I sifted it twice and left it in a bowl. As this was my first go I tried to be as careful as I could when it came to the folding but I think I did overdo it a bit. I had drawn circles on my greaseproof paper for the piping but I came to realise really early on that they were way too big.

They spread quite a lot and looked a little too flat for my liking but I carried on and sprinkled them with the peanuts (stupidly the whole lot instead of just half) and left them for 30 minutes for the outsides to set. My oven is ridiculously hot so I heated to 130 ready to get baking. Once they went in I kneeling on the floor infront of my oven, shining a torch in checking for the precious 'feet'. When it got halfway through cooking and I decided to turn the tray, knowing how unevenly my oven cooks that was when I discovered disaster! My macarons had spread so much they were touching and to add insult to injury had cracked like mad. I finished cooking them as I still wanted a taste. Whilst they finished off baking I did a little more research and decided that
1. I had piped them too big
2. I had over mixed
3. My oven was too hot, hence the cracking.
I really didn't want to give up there as I had the feeling that otherwise I probably wouldn't attempt them again in the future so I washed everything up and started again using Ottolenghi's recipe.

 

This time around I didn't have aged eggs so just got going with some I had bought the previous day. These seemed to work fine and as you can see from the following photos I had a much better result the 2nd time around. I'm so glad I didn't give up! I don't think that the Pink Whisk's recipe is wrong I just think that I had learnt my lesson a little from round 1. I piped them a lot smaller, Ottolenghi recommends no bigger than a £2 coin and also left a lot of space in between. The recipe called for a lot more peanuts and caramel than I used so I have reduced the quantities in my recipe.

To make 12 you will need-

Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi The Cookbook

• 60g egg whites from free range eggs (around 2 eggs worth)
• 40g caster sugar
• 60g ground almonds
• 110g icing sugar
• 10g roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

For the filling

• 15g roasted peanuts
• 50g dulce de leche/caramel made from condensed milk
• A pinch of salt

Pour your egg white and caster sugar into a clean bowl of a stand mixer (or use an electric hand whisk) and whisk on the highest speed until you have a thick but not dry meringue.

Next, sift together the ground almonds & icing sugar into a separate bowl. Add a third of the meringue into it and fold it in really gently until it is all mixed together and then added another third and kept folding and adding till you have used it all up. Fold till you have a 'smooth and glossy' consistency but be really careful not to overdo it as it will cause them to spread lots and be really flat. 

Dot a little of the mixture in the corners of your baking tray to hold the paper down and then using a piping bag with a large round attachment pipe your small circles. (I actually just used my bag with no attachment as mine were all too small. You could also use a sandwich bag with a corner snipped off)

Bang the tray down a couple of times to make the macarons spread and smooth out a little and then sprinkle half of them with the chopped peanuts. Leave to one side for 15 minutes so that they get a little skin over them. Whilst that is happening preheat your oven to 140C fan assisted. If your oven is really hot reduce it further. I baked mine at 120C and for a few minutes longer than instructed.

If baking at 140C bake for around 12 minutes. To check if they're done use a palette knife to check if they easily lift off the paper. If they don't cook for a little long, just be careful not to over cook them though.

Once they're ready remove them from the oven and leave to cool completely. To make the filling just combine the peanuts and caramel together and then add the salt to taste. You want there to be a good balance of salt and sweet.

When the macarons are cool pipe or spoon on a pea-sized amount onto the macaron halves that don't have the peanuts on then place the tops on and gently press them together. Leave them to set for a few hours if you can manage it or just dig in straight away like I did!

I was ao pleased with this batch, that I baked another lot that afternoon to use up the caramel and ensure I had plenty for mothers day. I am feeling really excited about trying out some other flavour combinations very soon!

Mexican Corn on the Cob

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Tim and I have been day dreaming a lot about going back to New York recently. One of the main reasons is to eat, eat and eat some more. The last 2 times we went we didn't venture off the beaten track too much and were a little clueless about all the amazing food on offer. The three places we did eat at a lot though were Balthazar's, Cafe Habana and John's -I think the first time round we spent half of our spending money on brunch every day at Balthazar's.


At Cafe Habana we first ate this corn/elote. Its barbecued corn rolled in butter, cheese and other goodness. We finally got round to making some of our own tonight by cooking the corn under the grill and it turned out great. Of course, it would be amazing cooked on the barbecue but considering that the England summer is about 6 months away (and lasts about 3 days) cooking it under the grill is a great alternative. This corn would be great served as a starter or side but also makes a fairly decent lunch if you eat a couple. If you can't find cotija cheese don't stress too much, parmesan makes a great replacement. If anyone does know where I can buy it in England please let me know!


Recipe adapted from All Recipes
Serves 4
You will need-

• 4 corn on the cob
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup grated cotija or parmesan
• Chilli Powder
• 4 wedges of lime

Barbeque or grill the corn for 10 minutes or until its hot and charred. Next, roll the corn in the butter and brush all over with the mayonnaise. Finally sprinkle with the cheese and the chilli powder to taste. Serve with wedges of lime and eat straight away.

Chocolate Roulade

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The week leading up to Christmas we had a Christmas meal with my husband's family as we were all off doing our own thing on Christmas day. So I made this chocolate roulade for pudding as a couple of my family members are wheat intolerant. I saw this chocolate roulade being made on The Great British Bake Off and even though it looked delicious I was slightly put off by seeing how they all struggled with making it. I am happy to report that it came out much better than expected and as long as you stick to the recipe you shouldn't have any problems. If you ignore the cream in the middle this roulade is pretty healthy for cake standards, no flour or butter and is still super rich so it doesn't leave you feeling cheated in the slightest!

Recipe from Mary Berry

You will need-

• 175g plain chocolate broken into pieces
• 175g caster sugar
• 6 eggs separated
• 2 tbsp cocoa, sieved
• 300ml double cream (heavy cream)
• Icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180C then begin by lightly greasing a 33 x 23 cm swiss roll tin and line it with greaseproof paper. Make sure you push the paper into the corners.

Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water and then leave it to cool slightly.

In a large bowl add the sugar and egg yolks and whisk with an electric hand whisk until it goes light and creamy. Next add the cooled chocolate and stir until everything is blended.

In a separate large bowl whisk your egg whites until they are stiff but not dry then fold in a large spoonful of the egg white into the chocolate mixture. Now stir in the rest of the egg whites folding carefully so as not to knock too much air out of the mixture. Finally add the cocoa and mix in gently.

Pour the mixture into your tin and bake for around 20 minutes or until its firm to the touch.

Remove the cake from the oven but leave it in the tin. Mary suggests that you place a cooling rack over the cake and then lay a damp tea towel over it. This will stop the cake from drying out whilst it cools. Leave it like this for a few hours or overnight but be sure to re-dampen the tea towel if it dries out. The cake will also sink slightly during this time.


When the cake is cooled whip the cream till it just starts to hold its shape. Next dust a large piece of greaseproof paper with icing sugar and then turn the cake out onto it so its face down. Remove the greaseproof paper from the underside and spread the cream out over the whole surface.

Start at a short ends roll the roulade up starting tightly at first use the greaseproof paper that the roulade is laying on the help you. The roulade will crack in places but don't worry Mary assures its part of the charm!

Sprinkle with some more icing sugar if needed then serve with fresh fruit.

Enjoy

Aubergine Parmigiana

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I have recently joined the library so that I can manage my addiction of cookbooks without spending a fortune. One of the books I got recently is Jamie's Italy. It is full of lots of inspirational recipes and this is the first one that I have made from it. Aubergine Parmigiana is great on its own as a meal or alongside roasted meat. I love it on its own but I would love to make it as part of a big meze meal.

Recipe loosely adapted from Jamie's Italy

Serves 2

You will need-

• 1 large firm aubergine (or 2 small)
• Olive oil
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano (I ran out so used rosemary)
• 1 tin of good quality plum tomatoes
• A drop of wine vinegar
• A small handful of fresh basil chopped
• 1-2 handfuls of freshly grated parmesan
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (I mixed mine with a little olive oil and rosemary and baked in the oven till golden before using)
• Handful of chopped kalamata olives (optional)
• Buffalo mozzarella (optional)
• Salt & Pepper

Begin by slicing the ends off the aubergine and then slice it into 1cm thick slices. Heat a griddle pan to the highest temperature and then in batches grill the slices until they are lightly charred.

In a saucepan heat a little olive oil on a medium heat and then cook the onion, garlic and oregano for around 10 minutes until the onions are soft and the garlic gets a little colour on it. After 10 minutes add the olives and then plum tomatoes. Break them up with a wooden spoon and give the whole lot a good stir. Place a lid on the pan and simmer on a low heat whilst you finish grilling the aubergine.


Pre-heat you oven to 190C.


Once the aubergine is grilled and then tomato sauce has been simmering for at least 10 minutes add a little splash of wine vinegar to the sauce and the fresh basil then set to 1 side.


Now its time to assemble everything. Begin by putting a small layer of tomato sauce in a baking dish then scatter lightly with parmesan. Top that off with a layer of aubergine slices and keep repeating until you use all of the ingredients up. Finish with a layer of tomato sauce topped with parmesan and the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for around 30 minutes or until golden and crisp. Top with crumbled buffalo mozzarella.

Eat right away. Enjoy x

Chocolate Fudge

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I made this fudge over the weekend as a present for a friends birthday and was so pleased with the outcome that I decided to share it on here. Its like the middle part of a chocolate brownie or a super thick chocolate frosting, you really can't just eat 1. I plan on making more and combining with other treats for Christmas hampers for friends. Next time I will also sprinkle some chopped hazelnuts on top for a bit of a crunch.

Recipe from Lorraine Pascale

You will need-

• Vegetable oil for greasing
• 70g unsalted butter
• 300g soft light brown sugar
• 125g evaporated milk
• 225g marshmallows
• 300g chopped milk chocolate
• 75g chopped dark chocolate (at least 60%)

Begin by greasing a 20cm square tin (I used 2 smaller tins) and then line it with greaseproof paper. Make sure you cut the paper longer than you need so it goes up the sides of the tin and  makes removing the fudge easier.

Put the butter, sugar and milk in a pan over a low heat and melt gently.

When the sugar has dissolved add the marshmallows. Turn up the heat to a medium and then boil the fudge for 5-6 minutes

Finally take the fudge off the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until it all melts and combines then pour into the prepared tin. Leave to set for a few hours and then cut into bite sized squares.

Coconut & Sweet Potato Daal

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I discovered daal fairly recently and since then I haven't been able to stop eating it. Whether its a garlic or spicy spinach once I start I can't put it down. This was my first attempt at making it myself and I am so please with how quick and easy it was. I didn't plan on blogging this recipe, hence the lack of step by step photos but it was so tasty that I couldn't not share it. Its perfect served with some boiled rice and sprinkled with fresh coriander. Why order takeaway when you can have a much healthier (and quicker) home made variation.


Recipe adapted from Rose Elliot Vegetarian book
Serves 2 but can easily be doubled tripled etc.


You will need-

• 275g peeled sweet potato cubed into 1cm squares
• 88g split red lentils
• 1 green chilli deseed and thinly sliced (This will give the daal a bit of a kick, it you would prefer use 1/2)
• 200ml coconut milk (I used reduced fat)
• 225ml water
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• salt & pepper
• Fresh coriander for sprinkling
• Boiled pilau rice

Add the sweet potato, lentils, chilli, coconut milk and water to a saucepan and bring to the boil on a medium heat. Simmer gently for around 15 minutes or until the sweet potato & lentils are soft and the mixture is thick.

Now add the ginger, cinnamon & turmeric then season to taste. Leave it to simmer on the lowest heat for a few minutes so it gets a chance to absorb all the flavours.

Finally serve with the cooked rice and a good sprinkle of fresh coriander.

Enjoy x

Polenta & A Creamy Mushroom Sauce

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I think its the approaching cold weather that automatically makes me want to cook and eat comfort food. Whether its a stew with dumplings, a chunky soup or polenta with roasted vegetables, I love being able to get extra vegetables into my diet. Its such a simple and satisfying way of cooking. Leaving things to stew for an hour or 2 till they melt in your mouth and fill the house with delicious smells.

Last week I made a very simple polenta and roasted vegetable dinner but decided to make double the amount of polenta that I needed so that I could use the other half with a creamy mushroom sauce that I was planning on making.

I apologies for the lack of measurements in this post but its worth just following the cooking instructions on the packaging for the polenta. You can use quick cook or just regular polenta, there doesn't seem to be any difference in them apart from the cooking time so for ease I would recommend the quick cook. When your polenta is ready its nice to stir in some cream cheese or parmesan for a little extra flavour. I then separated the polenta into 2 dishes so that I could put 1/2 aside to set and use later in the week (leave to cool in the dish and then cover with foil and keep in the fridge) With the other half I baked it in the oven for around 15minutes at about 170C just so that it went slightly firm as I don't like polenta when it is really runny then served with my roasted vegetables on top. 

 

For the mushroom sauce, peel and finely chop some shallots and garlic, this depends on how much you want to make. I made quite a large batch and I wanted some stock piled for the week. Saute in some olive oil until translucent. Whilst that is cooking chop your mushrooms. I used a mix of fresh chestnut and forestiere mushrooms plus a pack of dry wild mushrooms that I rehydrated in some water. 

Add the mushrooms to the garlic and shallots along with the liquid that the dried mushrooms were sitting in season to taste and cook on a medium low heat for around 15-20 minutes till the plan is filled with a lovely mushroom juice. You can also add herbs when you season, I added a Mediterranean mix of dried herbs but you can use whatever you fancy. When the mushrooms are cooked turn the heat to the lowest setting and add the cream so it just covers the mushroom and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes till the cream starts to turn a little brown. Whilst that simmering remove the polenta from the fridge, cut into slices and fry for a few minutes on each side. Serve the mushrooms on top of the polenta for a great starter or alongside the rest of your meal. We ate it with homemade burgers and a cabbage salad. If you have any mushrooms left over they are great eaten on toast or with some nice bread.

Enjoy x

note- This mushroom sauce is the thing that finally got Tim into eating mushrooms so, even if you're not a huge fan of them give this a go, you'll never know!