Ruby Red & Florida Orange (Chilli Jam!)

So simple but delicious! I started with Nigella's recipe, but then the idea of 1kg sugar seemed a little (!) excessive, so went with 400g peppers, 100g chilli peppers, 400g sugar & about 400ml vinegar (a mix of cider vinegar with apple balsamic vinegar)

Served with quinoa, peas, leeks, spinach, lightly fried tofu & toasted almonds.

 
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{ all photos by me}

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Tilapia en Croute

 #iseefaces (*ahem*)

 bit rustic looking! next time, i'll cut the pastry a little neater..

I popped over to Audrey's blog a few days ago & loved the idea of this recipe! I substituted thin yoghurt instead of cream, & added some red chilli to the sauce as well. I also decided, being fussy, to remove the skin of the fish fillets (I chose tilapia as there was no bass easily available, but it worked well) - by hand! This isn't necessary of course, but it makes for easier eating, ha!

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{all photos by me}

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Austrian Poppy-Seed Cake!

 

Last month, I baked an Austrian poppy-seed cake in celebration of Dad's 60th. I used this recipe. 

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{1 & 2 by me, 3 by Grandpa}

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Breakfast Lunch Tea

Banana loaf is pretty much an all-rounder really.. 


I used this recipe, with the addition of a teaspoon mixed spice. Fresh from the oven, I pricked the top with a cocktail stick & then drizzled over a mixture of honey & brown sugar.


Served with some fresh pomegranate, fruit tea, & the morning's papers. A great start to any day!


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{all photos by me}

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Lasagne - With Blue Cheese & Pimento Stuffed Olives

It's such a classic meal, in all-in-one dish... Lasagne!

I went to Jamie for some guidance, & pretty much followed his cooking narrative through step by step. I love the simplicity & speed of his recipe, it was really easy to work with.

I didn't have any butternut squash to hand, so decided to experiment with adding a couple of layers of sliced hard boiled egg (as tested by a friend's mother's recipe!), & some pimento stuffed olives. For the cheese sauce, I used low-fat Greek yoghurt, adding a mixture of blue cheese & parmesan to make it really tasty.

Comfort food at its best.

{all photos by me}

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Tea & Chat & The First Blackberries Of Autumn

Sunday afternoon was tea & cakes & chat at our little flat. Hannah made some fab scones, bringing strawberries, jam, & limoncello laced thick cream. happy stomaches, happy times :)

I made some cupcakes using a basic recipe for vanilla cupcakes by The Hummingbird Bakery - replacing vanilla essence with mint, adding some chocolate chips, some mint cream butter-icing, & topping with a chunk of Green & Black's chocolate..

these were sour cream & apricot, baked from Ming Makes Cupcakes (link below).

i picked some olive focaccia to make basil, tomato & mozarella sandwiches.

walnut bread seemed a good one to go for with the avocado, mango, rocket & lime sandwiches.

a little sugar pot, using a tea-light candle holder, plus a tiny espresso spoon for serving. glittery stars also decorated the table.

walking in the late afternoon sunshine to burn off that excess sugar. the blackberries are starting to ripen!

dad has a thing (like most men?!), where he doesn't smile into the camera, he grimaces into the sun instead. mum looks lovely in her ray-bans & whites. I'm wearing ray-bans too, plus a skirt from Zara & a T by Topshop.

ming makes cupcakes.


{all photos by me}

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Summer Supper: Corn & Burgers

Burgers make up one of my super-easy, super-yummy suppers. I season some minced beef with sea salt & crushed black pepper, add a generous helping of crushed garlic, a herb (usually rosemary), a spoonful of Dijon mustard, & an egg white. Once shaped into patties, I lightly fry them, turning sides halfway through. (I used to grill them with the Lean Mean Grilling Machine, but I realised that, given I buy 5% lean beef, it's good to keep some of that fat sealed in the burger! Using olive oil & a good pan will give a great taste).

2 small burgers, one toasted roll, & some corn salad on the side - salad inspiration from Heidi of 101cookbooks.

Couldn't resist snapping a few shots of my kitchen contents, having sorted through various tins, jars & foodstuffs today that were crying out to be organised! Look how neat my spice jars look! My fridge looks pityingly empty as I am heading off to Berlin this week, but there are a few staples that survived: Dijon mustard, extra low-fat mayo (seriously, this is genious, 14 cals per tablespoon, & less gloopier than the full-fat stuff), Spanish olives & some Tilapia fish to cook the evening before travelling. 

Oh, & I couldn't throw out the chick, a remnant from Easter decorations. She seemed pretty content to hang out with the herbs & spices ;)

{all photos by me}

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Weighing Up The Options

Retro kitchen equipment is the cutest.


Picked these up on a half-price sale, only 12GBP!


Do you use ounces, cups or grams? I prefer to work with grams, I just like the accuracy & comfort of tradition. Since sourcing a lot of recipe ideas online, I've branched out to cup measurements, & I have to admit this makes things incredibly easy & uniform. I do love using grams for baking cakes though..


coming up: a recipe for a "healthy"(ish) alternative chocolate & apricot cake!

{all photos by me}

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Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: Dairy-Free Flapjacks With Toasted Marshmallow

Sticky marshmallow & less-than-industrial strength nail polish do not make for harmonious bedfellows. Lesson learned.

You may be able to find non-dairy condensed milk in your local WholeFoods/super-trendy organic/pretentious aspirational food store, but I decided to dive in (not literally) & make my own. Whilst time-consuming, it was ultimately a successful venture, reaping a sweet, caramel sauce that could be used in many desserts (or indeed, drizzled over porridge, ice-cream, yoghurt, & cet. & cet..) You can of course substitute this for regular condensed milk: they taste almost identical.

Makes approx 16. Recipe based on one found here.

Recipe:

~ 1 litre soy milk

~ 1/2 cup sugar

~ pinch of salt

~ 5 cups rolled oats

~ 1/2 cup honey

~ 3 tbsp coconut oil

~ large bag of marshmallows

1. First, make the soy milk into condensed a good few hours before beginning the baking. Empty the soy milk, sugar, & a pinch of salt into a large pan. Place over a low heat for about 2 hours, checking regularly, & whisking every 20 mins or so. You will need to come & remove the skin that forms over the milk every now & then - this can also be achieved by a final sieve through at the end to remove any lumps that may have formed. 

The liquid should reduce by just over half in volume, thicken, & become the colour of caramel. There isn't an exact science required here, as long as it tastes sweet & fairly heavy, it will bind the flapjacks together well.

2. Mix the condensed milk with the oats, sugar, honey, coconut oil & another pinch of salt, & press into a medium-sized greaseproof-paper lined square tin. Bake in a moderately heated oven for 18 mins, until lightly golden on top.

3. Cut the marshmallows horizontally 3 times, so that you end up with oval strips. Layer over the flapjack, & return to the oven for another 5 mins.

4. Remove from oven & leave to cool on a cooling rack. Using the overhang of greaseproof paper, carefully lift from tray, set on a chopping board, & cut into squares. Make sure to clean the knife between each cut, as the marshmallow will be particularly gooey!

5. Convince yourself that these are almost healthy, eating one for breakfast & never looking back...

{all photos by me}

Barely Prepared Supper: 5 Minute Pasta

Sometimes I just buy packet food. Lazy, I know, but I haven't yet mastered the art of making pasta.* This is ravioli from Waitrose, filled with spinach, goats cheese & mozzarella. I lightly fried some torn green cabbage in a spoonful of butter, added some chilli, sea salt & black pepper, a squeeze of lemon & a drizzle of balsamic. Topped with parmesan, because what is pasta without cheese?

*watch this space, I saw a pasta roller for only £25 in a store at the end of our road. The tag reads "Dear Katie, please try me.."

{photo by me}

Veni, Vedi, Fishy - I Came, I Saw, I Fished (Or, Fish Tacos)

plate by Rob Ryan.

I made these tacos twice, first with baked fish (cod), & secondly with grilled chicken. My dinner companion from the first round suggested avocado would be a welcome addition to the mango salsa, & I also thought to add some heavily roasted cherry tomatoes in brown sugar & balsamic. These tacos should be generously loaded with filling, served bursting at the seams - a cocktail stick pinning the lot together helps keep the food in place, adding a little diner-chic to the plate. Play around with the quantities & combinations of fillings - I started with a Baja Fish taco recipe from The Family Kitchen, knowing that I wanted to add my own version of healthy 'refried' beans, & plenty of low-fat mayo & tomato sauce.

Recipe for 2, based on Julievr's recipe found here.

Recipe:

~ 2 fillets white fish

~ 1 tsp cayenne pepper

~ 2 tsp cumin

~ 1 tsp rosemary or oregano

~ sea salt & black pepper

~ 2 x tortilla wraps or tacos

for the salsa:

~ 1 mango

~ 1 red bell pepper

~ 1/4 of a large cucumber

~ juice of 1/2 a lime

~ 2 spring (green) onions, chopped

~ small bunch of chopped coriander

other garnishes:

~ torn white cabbage

~ cherry tomatoes, roasted in brown sugar & balsamic

~ low fat mayo

~ 1 can black beans, simmered in chicken bouillon,

~ 1 cup sweetcorn

1. Season the chicken or fish with the cayenne pepper, cumin, rosemary or oregano, salt & pepper, & either grill or oven-bake. Cooking times will vary depending on size. Fish fillets usually take 17 mins in a medium oven, or small chicken breasts might take about 12-15 mins in a grill machine.

2. Chop the mango, pepper & cucumber into small chunks, season, add lime juice & coriander, & toss together with the spring onion.

3. Prepare the beans by draining from the can, cover with chicken bouillon dissolved in hot water, & simmer for 30 mins over a low heat. Drain any excess water, & then mash with a fork, add 1 tsp cumin, a squeeze of lime or lemon juice, plenty of sea salt & black pepper, & some chilli or cayenne pepper to your taste.

4. Heat the tortilla or taco wraps as indicated on the packaging guidelines. I went with wholemeal chapatis, they have a great flavour & are soft enough to roll up with the fillings.

5. Assemble the wraps: chicken or fish, beans, mango salsa, tomatoes, cabbage, mayo, corn.

{all photos by me}

Elegance & Grace: Simple Salmon

As the evening sky faded from a salmon colour to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, & how gray he was, & how I named him Flint.

~Jack Handy

Random, huh? But sort of poetic too..
.
You can't really go wrong with this oily fish, particularly if you poach it. I usually prefer to lightly roast it instead, being careful not to let it cook too long so that it retains its succulence. Here, I seasoned it with sea salt & crushed black pepper, some chilli flakes, a few strips of Sage, a little Dijon mustard, & baked in the oven for about 17 mins on a medium heat.

I dished it up with some brown basmati, red carmague & wild rice (Waitrose sell these grains in one packet, they're delicious & each take the same amount of time to cook) - boiled in chicken bouillon, & then liberally dowsed with some balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, & a good squeeze of lemon. Walnut halves & Spanish olives also graced the plate.

I went for the slightly more expensive salmon at the fish counter, organic fillets from the Duchy of Cornwall (hey, the Prince may have some contentious views on architecture, but he sure can bake some good shortbread & catch some good fish!) - the colour when uncooked was a paler pink than usual, but the flavour, & perhaps more importantly the texture, was wonderful. Worth those extra pennies.

{all photos by me}

...Cheesecake Tuesday!

{oh, those aren't bugs on my dessert plate, they're from the botanical range at Anthropologie}

This past weekend, in tribute to the Euro-tastic Eurovision Song Contest that took place across the continent, we hosted a party honouring the various cuisines of Europe. (Disclaimer: I'm not usually the most enthusiastic proponent of Eurovision, but when cooking & baking & chef-ing were brought into the equation, I was persuaded). I picked Germany, coming from such ancestry on my mother's side, plus Germans know how to do cakes (& custards & liquors & marzipan). & so, on to introduce the Black Forest Cherry Cheesecake (I also baked some Lebkuchen cookies). This variety comes from My Own Sweet Thyme, & rather wonderfully uses goats cheese as the base (a friend is intolerant to cow dairy, so this turned out pretty handy), with honey as a natural sugar, rather than the addition of others. One amendment I might recommend is adding a teaspoon of ground ginger to bring out the spiciness of the crust as it mellows somewhat with the butter & baking. Alternatively, chocolate & cherry is another superb combination, worth experimenting with by using chocolate biscuits in place of the ginger snaps.

Oh, & by the way, no fancy dinner posts tomorrow: Wednesday means cinema, means popcorn & a large glass of vino (- I'm giving Pirates 4 a chance...)

Recipe

~ 2 cups ginger biscuits, crushed

~ 1/4 cup melted butter

~ 8 oz goats cheese

~ 4 tbsp honey

~ 1 tsp lemon juice

~ 1/2 tsp vanilla

~ 3 large eggs, separated

~ 1 1/2 tbsp flour

~ icing (powdered) sugar for dusting

~ 1 can cherries, plus juice/syrup

~ 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

~ 1/4 cup honey

1. To crush the ginger biscuits, place in a sealed sandwich bag & crush with a rolling pin into large crumbs.

2. Mix with the butter & then press into a spring-form or removable-base tart pan. Bake in a medium heat oven for 5 mins.

3. Mix the goats cheese, honey, vanilla & lemon juice. Add the egg yolks gradually, & then the flour. Beat well until fully incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly fold into the cake batter, & then pour into the crust.

5. Bake in a medium heat oven (180 degrees) for 40 mins until set.

6. Allow the cake to cool fully, & then generously dust with sieved icing sugar.

7. Heat the balsamic vinegar, honey & juice/syrup from the cherries until they caramelise, about 10 mins. Allow to cool completely, & then mix with the tinned cherries.

8. Pour the cherry & syrup mix over the top of the cheesecake.

9. Slice, serve, & enjoy!

{all photos by me}

Meatball Monday!

Meatball Monday!

I don't eat a huge amount of meat, swapping it for fish, seafood, vegetables or grains. However, 5% fat - lean beef - is one of my regular supermarket stables: Mexican chilli, homemade beefburgers, bolognese, or, yep - meatballs! I like to work with what I have in the pantry & the fridge; a bunch of sage leaves was leftover from the weekend. A quick google, & I discovered that there were some Spanish recipes which play around with beef & sage. Ergo, the sage was plucked from its stalks, finely trimmed, & found its way into this evening's meal! I created a sweet, caramelised balsamic glaze to compliment a piquant cherry tomato sauce, on which rested 4 lovely meatballs. Enjoy.

Serves 2. Created by me.

Recipe:

~ 400 g lean beef

~ 1/3 an onion (white), grated

~ 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

~ 1 tbsp chopped chilli pepper

~ sea salt & black pepper

~ 1 tbsp dried rosemary

~ 1 egg white

for the tomato sauce:

~ 20 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped

~ 4 tbsp tomato puree

~ sea salt & black pepper

~ lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon

~ 1 tbsp brown sugar

~ about 10 tbsp cold water

~ 1 tsp pureed garlic

for the glaze:

~ 5 tbsp balsamic vinegar

~ 1 tbsp brown sugar

~ 2 tbsp chopped walnuts

~ 4 sage leaves, finely chopped

1. Pre-heat the oven to a medium heat.

2. Mix together all the ingredients for the meatballs, & then mould into decently sized patties. Lay on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper & bake for 25 mins, rotating the tray halfway through cooking time.

3. Empty the tomato sauce ingredients into a saucepan & simmer over a low heat for about 20 mins, until the meatballs are done. If the sauce reduces too quickly, add a little more water plus tomato puree.

4. Prepare the glaze 5 minutes before serving. Heat the balsamic & sugar on a low heat until it caramelises, this should happen fairly quickly. Add the walnuts & sage to the pan so that the sage can lightly crisp.

5. Serve the meatballs in a shallow dish, resting on the tomato sauce, & drizzled with the balsamic & walnut glaze.

{all photos by me}