Apple, Walnut and Cranberry Santa Hats

"My God they taste Christmassy!" declared Southern Chap when he bit into his first Santa Hat. So, just about the reaction I was hoping for!

Apple, Walnut and Cranberry Santa Hats

150ml oil

175g light brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp apple juice

1 eating apple

50g dried cranberries

50g walnuts, chopped into small pieces

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp mixed spice

pinch nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder

Spiced Brandy Buttercream

150 butter, softened

300g icing sugar

7- 8 tsp brandy

1 tsp mixed spice

red food colouring

Pre-heat the oven to 180C, 160c fan, gas 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tray with 12 festive cupcake cases.

In a large jug mix together the oil, sugar, eggs and apple juice. Core the apple and chop into small dice (I had a lovely red apple, so left the skin on, but you can peel it if you'd prefer), then stir into the oil mixture with the cranberries and chopped walnuts.

In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir together then spoon into the prepared cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, until the cakes are risen and golden. Leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack.

While the cakes cool, whisk the butter with an electric mixer, then add the icing sugar and about 6tsp (2tbsp) of the brandy. You may need more brandy, as I did, but if you're not keen on the alcohol, or want less brandy flavour then use water. Remove just under 1/3 of the creamy mixture and decant to another bowl, then add the mixed spice and enough red colouring to make a deep red to the remaining 2/3.

To decorate, spoon the red buttercream onto the cakes and smooth into a hat shape. Place the white buttercream in a piping bag with a smallish star nozzle and use to create the fur trim and bobble! I then scattered over some edible glitter, for that truly over the top festive look.

Chestnut Choc Chip Cookies

December has been unusually busy and all the plans I had for festive baking have gone right out of the window. However I'm officially on my Christmas holiday, so am trying to catch up and these Chestnut Choc Chip Cookies are my first offering. I've been planning this recipe for a while now, ever since I saw a chestnut biscuit recipe and thought I could make it better!

The cookies are very crisp and the chestnut gives them a real bite (a bit like ground rice in shortbread actually, but these cookies aren't crumbly like that is). Southern Chap describes them as "grown up" biscuits because of the dark chocolate chips I've put in them. If you encounter quite solid choc chips when cutting out the cookies, then get through them by tapping the cutter down with your rolling pin. This makes quite a lot of dough, so I've put a little into the freezer to use in January when we need a little warm cookie cheer!

Chestnut Choc Chip Cookies

200g cooked peeled chestnuts

275g golden caster sugar

200g unsalted butter, softened

225g plain flour

1/4 heaped tsp baking powder

100g chocolate chips (I used Bourneville chips, but any will do)

Whiz the chestnuts and sugar together in a processor for a few minutes, until the chestnuts are completely broken down and it looks like a granular paste. Add the butter and whiz again until completely incorporated, then do the same with the flour and baking powder. The dough should come together nicely. Take the dough out of the processor and place on a sheet of cling flim, then gently knead in the chocolate chips. Wrap up in the cling film and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 150C, 130C fan, gas 2 and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Dust a clean work surface with a little flour and roll out the chilled dough to about 1cm thick and cut out with cookie cutters (I used snowflakes, but of course any will do!), the remaining dough can be mashed back together and re-rolled or it can also be formed into a cylinder and rounds sliced off if you don't have cutters. Bake for 25 minutes, then cool on a wire rack, and nibble with decadent hot chocolate, or just a nice hot cuppa.

Miso Marinated Lamb

We often eat Japanese food at home, but I very rarely blog about it because it's usually snaffled the minute it's cooked! Today though, before Southern Chap could get his hands on the grub, I took a quick snap. It's not the best picture, but it'll have to do!

What I love about Japanese food is that it is healthy, extremely delicious and actually quite simple to make, especially the kind of food that the Japanese eat at home (case in point, Japanese people don't make their own sushi, it's usually bought in, or eaten at a restaurant). There are basic Japanese ingredients that I always have in the house so that I can cook up some "nihon ryori" when the urge takes me. These are:

Soy Sauce

It has to be Kikkoman soy sauce! Most of the ones available in the supermarkets are Chinese soy sauces, that are not totally pure and often coloured using caramel. If you go to a Japanese shop you'll find that there are a few different Kikkoman soy sauces, but I find the most common one, that's in quite a recognizable bottle works well for most things.

Sake

I like to have a little bottle of sake in the fridge. I like it small because it gets used up quickly and doesn't really have time to start tasting funny (though being no kind of sake expert, I probably wouldn't know when it was tasting funny anyway).

Mirin

Mirin is often called Cooking Sake, as it is a kind of rice wine, but one that has a high sugar content, though still contains alcohol. This is used a lot in marinades for fish and to add sweetness to savoury dishes.

Rice Vinegar

Not only is this one of the main components of rice for sushi, but it's also a lovely light vinegar to use in salad dressings.

Miso

Currently my fridge contains a tub of red miso and some stronger darker hatcho miso, which looks much like marmite and has as similar strong salty taste. I think miso is really interesting, as the different colours have different flavours and uses and Japan is divided regionally by miso preferences. There, I've said it, I'm a miso nerd. Miso is not just for soups either!

Japanese Rice

If you're in a supermarket this will be called Sushi rice. It's similar to the fat rounded rices used in Europe for risotto and paella and a bit like pudding rice. I think it has a nice nutty flavour all of its own and if you want a true taste of Japan buy your rice from a Japanese supermarket, where they have real Japanese rice from Japan.

Wasabi

This comes either in a tube or powdered. The powdered kind that you make up into a paste with water is supposed to be the best, but I much prefer the convenience of the tube wasabi. I like this in salad dressings too and it can't half liven up some tuna mayo.

Nori sheets, sesame seeds and sesame oil can also come in handy, but are not quite as essential. If you're in London everything is a available at both the Japan Centre in Piccadilly, or Arigato in Soho. If you're not in London though, the Japan Centre has a website for your convenience: http://www.japancentre.com/ Anyway, back to Sunday's dinner!

The apple mint sauce is a Japanesey take on traditional mint sauce. I thought the savoury lamb would be good with just a little extra zing.

Hatcho Miso Marinated Lamb with Apple Mint Sauce

2 heaped tbsp hatcho miso, or red miso

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp soy sauce

knob ginger, peeled and finely grated

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely grated

2 tbsp vegetable oil

About 450g lamb, cut into chunks (I cut my pieces from a shoulder, but any cut would work)

Apple Mint Sauce

1 apple (I used a Cox's), grated

large bunch mint, leaves picked and chopped

2 spring onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sake

1/2 tsp wasabi paste (or to taste)

In a small bowl mix together the miso, sake, soy sauce and mirin, making sure the miso is completely dissolved (you might need a small whisk for this). Stir in the ginger, garlic and oil. Place the lamb in a re-sealable bag, or a bowl and cover with the miso marinade. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 2 - 3 hours.

Make the Apple Mint sauce, by mixing all the ingredients together. Taste and add extra wasabi if you like a little more heat!

To cook the lamb, heat a griddle pan until very hot. Place the marinated lamb pieces on the grill and cook for about 2 minutes each side (this will depend on the size of your chunks, if they're thick you may want to cook then for a minute or so longer, ditto if you don't like your lamb pink). Serve the lamb on rice and top with some apple mint dressing. I made leek and shitake mushroom rice, but plain rice is just as nice. You could even served this in a more Korean style, with a spicy dipping sauce and small lettuce leaves to wrap the tasty lamb up in.

The little green sparkles you can see on the picture were a random addition; wasabi tobiko (wasabi flavoured fish eggs), that a friend gave me on Saturday. Quite a way out ingredient, but since I had them I though I should use them up, because I love them!

Golden Syrup Gingerbread

I made this yesterday on 5th November especially for Bonfire Night. However, we ended up going out for a burger and to see some fireworks, so didn't eat it on the day in the end. I think it does benefit from a night spent developing its stickyness in its tin though, so just as well really!

I absolutely love ginger and since this cake doesn't use black treacle the ginger flavour really comes through, but because I substituted golden syrup for the treacle it still has that gorgeous moist sticky crumb that you want in a ginger cake. I fancied adding the stem ginger for a little extra oomph, but it isn't intrinsic to the recipe and some did sink to the bottom, so you don't have to add it if you don't want to.

For me this cake tastes just like bonfire night and is the perfect treat on a chilly November day with a nice cuppa and maybe even a little spreading of butter, if you're feeling extra indulgent!

Golden Syrup Gingerbread Loaf

110g golden syrup

110g demerara sugar

110g butter

150ml milk

1 large egg

2 balls stem ginger, drained of syrup and thinly sliced (optional)

170g plain flour

2tsp ground ginger

2tsp cinnamon

1 well heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pre-heat the oven to 150C, 130C in a fan oven, gas 2. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with baking parchment.

In a small pan heat together the golden syrup, demerara sugar and butter over a low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring all the time until everything is mixed together and the demerara seems to have melted. At this point the mixture will be quite thick and look like caramel. Allow this to cool.

Beat together the milk and egg and stir into the cooled golden syrup mixture along with the sliced stem ginger. Mix the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl. Gradually pour the golden syrup mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring well until it is all completely mixed, then pour into the prepared tin. Bake in the oven on the middle shelf for 45 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. The cake should look dark brown and crusty on the outside. Allow to cool in the tin and leave overnight, if you can, for an extra sticky cake!

Stop! Pumpkin Times 2

As promised here is a recipe for pumpkin cakes. I'm not sure if the cake mix should be classed as a cupcake or a muffin. When I wrote the original recipe it was a cross between a muffin and a carrot cake and this is just that recipe re-worked with pumpkin. I called those Carrot Cake Muffins..... I think these can just be Pumpkin Cakes, as they are pumpkin in every way! Make sure you get an eating pumpkin for these (and I guess if you make any other pumpkin recipes) since the ones for carving tend to have softer watery flesh (easier for carving, see?) and are all seeds and fibers, so you're essentially paying for air!

*Please note that no Pumpkin Cakes were harmed during the photo shoot for this blog! All cakes were safely placed onto glasses or ramekins and at no point did any actually come into contact with the earth at all, though a blade of grass did touch one and a leaf stuck into Dracula briefly.

Pumpkin Cakes

200g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

150ml vegetable oil

juice and zest 1 orange

200g soft light brown sugar

3 medium eggs

200g edible pumpkin (or squash), de-seeded, peeled and grated

Pre-heat the oven to 200C, 180C in a fan oven, gas 6. Place cupcake cases in a 12 hole muffin tin. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Measure the oil into a jug then beat in the orange zest and juice, sugar and eggs, to combine completely. Pour the oil mixture into the dry ingredients with the grated pumpkin. Stir together to combine and divide between the cases. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until well risen and brown. Allow to cool before icing, or leave out the icing and devour as a breakfast muffin.

Icing

I'd like to say that this icing was made with a proper recipe, but alas, it wasn't. I beat together 125g softened butter with about 200g icing sugar (all that I had in the house, or else I'd have used 250g) and 2 tsp orange juice. I then added a large pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg and proceeded to colour the icing in a rather haphazzard manner.... I don't have an orange colour, so used yellow, red and brown. Eventually I hit upon the colour I was after, which was lucky! The faces are done with black writing icing and the stalks with white marzipan coloured green.

Stop! Pumpkin Time

I'm not really into the whole Halloween trick or treat thing, but I do like a nice project and tend to carve a pumpkin every year. Some years are better then others, but I think this year was reasonably successful! So, Martha Stewart eat your heart out. I've carved a delightful pumpkin and though that one wasn't for eating I did have half a squash to use up so I also made this rather tasty soup. All I need now to be the next Martha is a pumpkin cake (which I may do later this week if I can be bothered) and some kind of sewing project!

This soup is another of frugality; I'd already used the other half of the squash for a risotto, the chicken thighs were accidentally removed from the freezer and needed to be used and the coconut milk was left over from heaven knows what. DW loves soup too, so I made this because I thought he'd like it, and he did.

Red Curry Squash Soup with Chicken

1 tsp groundnut oil

5 thai shallots (or use half a red onion), finely chopped

3 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into small dice

2 tbsp red curry paste

1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

300ml coconut milk

600ml chicken stock

1/2 a butternut squash, deseeded, peeled and cut into small dice

handful green beans, cut into 2cm pieces

dash fish sauce

juice 1/2 a lime

pinch sugar

handful coriander leaves to garnish

In a large pan, heat the oil over a low heat and cook the shallots for a few minutes until softened then add the chicken and brown lightly. Stir in the curry paste and ginger and cook very briefly before adding the coconut milk and stock, stir everything together and then tip in the squash. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, until the squash is softened.

When the squash is soft, with a slotted spoon scoop out a little more then half of the squash, place it in a processor and blend it with some of the soup liquid. Now this is a bit fiddly and if you don't mind blending the chicken as well you could just scoop out half of the soup and puree it, but I didn't find it too much of a bother getting just the squash out and I liked the deep orange colour it created. Return the blended soup to the pan and heat for 5 minutes, then stir in the beans, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and heat for another few minutes until the beans are done to your liking.

My soup didn't need any more seasoning, but if you feel your soup does then add a grind of salt and pepper. Spoon into bowls and scatter over coriander leaves to serve. Serves 2 very greedy people with a bowl leftover for the next day, or 4 normal people!

Maple Pecan Apple Crumble

I still have apples left from our apple picking fest in East Grinstead and as the weather seems to be becoming increasingly chilly I thought it a good idea to cheer us up with a crumble.

Can't think of why I decided on maple pecan as a flavour choice, other than that I love maple syrup and DW loves pecans. We have a bag of them on top of the fridge that he is slowly (and he thinks secretly) devouring! The maple syrup does make the whole thing very sweet, but it also gives a lovely sticky toffee consistency to the apples that I really liked. I made these just for 2, and after a roast dinner they were rather large portions, luckily for me DW was on hand to finish mine off.

Maple Pecan Apple Crumble

4 smallish bramley apples. peeled, cored and cut into chunks

1 tsp lemon juice

1 heaped tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp maple syrup

handful broken pecan nuts

For the crumble

100g plain flour

60g cold butter, cut into small pieces

25g caster sugar

pinch cinnamon

Pre-heat your oven to 200C (180C fan oven), gas mark 5. Place apple pieces, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, 1 tbsp maple syrup and nuts in a pan. Cook over a medium heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the apple is softened and the mixture sticky. If you would prefer your nuts to be at their optimum crunchyness then stir them into the apple mixture at the end. Spoon into a baking dish or dishes and drizzle over the remaining maple syrup.

To make the crumble, put the flour in a bowl and rub in the cold chunks of butter until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon and layer over the apple mixture. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. At this point have a look and see if your crumble is crisped and bubbling to you liking, if not return to the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes, then devour with cream or ice cream!

Frugal Food: Hariraish Soup

So this is the third day in a row that we're eating lamb.

On Sunday I cooked a gorgeous roast shoulder of lamb, yesterday I made some lovely bubble and squeak cakes to serve with the majority of the left-over lamb and gravy (not home made I must confess, but an Oxo packet gravy, that was actually very nice!) and today the last few little bits of lamb have become a lovely warming soup. I feel very proud of my frugality!

This is loosely based on Harira, a Moroccan soup made with lamb, spices, lentils and chickpeas, that is traditionally eaten to end the fast of Ramadan. I used a red and a green chilli because I like the combination of the 2, but two red or two green would work just as well. We ate this with my filled focaccia, but it would be great with flat bread or lovely soft pitta (particularly the ones from Damas Gate on Uxbridge Road).

Hariraish Soup

1tbsp olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped quite small, but not too finely

1 clove garlic, crushed to a paste

1 red and 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

large pinch each ground cumin, ground ginger and ground cinnamon

1tbsp tomato puree

Left-over roast lamb and gravy (I had about 2 handfulls of lamb, but the more the better!)

1.25 litres stock

1/2 can chopped tomatoes

2 handfuls red lentils

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

To serve

lemon juice

handful roughly chopped fresh mint and coriander leaves

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat then add the onion, garlic, and chopped chillis and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes until the onions are softened, but not browned. Stir in the ground spices and cook for another minute, then stir in the tomato puree, the left-over meat and gravy, stock, tomatoes and lentils. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 45 minutes, after which add the chickpeas and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Before serving stir the lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon should do, but add as much or a little as you feel) into the soup and season to taste. Spoon into bowls and top with the fresh herbs.

East Grinstead Pie

As far as I'm concerned there's nothing better than free food and if it's food you've picked yourself all the better!

Last weekend we were at my boyfriend's parent's house to celebrate his Grandad's 90th birthday. It was a lovely weekend, but best of all we came away with a tub full of plump juicy blackberries that we'd plucked ourselves from the hedgerows of East Grinstead and a huge bag of bramley apples picked from the tree in their back garden.

When I was small my Grandad had a garden full of apple trees, and I've not been apple picking since then, so I must admit that I was a little out of practise and managed to have an accident. Nothing serious, but a rather large apple fell right onto the end of my nose, which was quite a shock and a little painful, I was stunned into silence in fact! Lucky it was the squishy part of my nose and not the bridge, or the weekend may have turned out very differently.

When we got back ot London I made some apple and blackberry turnovers, which I must admit, were quite lacklustre. So this weekend I vowed to make something that would do these fine ingredients justice. I love experimenting with pastry and have recently come across some cream cheese crust recipes, so I decided to give it a try and make a pie.

I was really pleased with the result. The pastry cooked well and was light and crispy. It really did do justice to the delicious softened apples and blackberries within.

East Grinstead Pie

1.3kg bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

85g demarara sugar

1tsp cinnamon

juice and finely grated zest 1 lemon

150g blackberries

Cream cheese pastry

290g plain flour

1/2tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

170g cold butter, cut into cubes

125g cream cheese

1tbsp white wine vinegar

2tbsp cold water

1 egg, beaten

2-3tbsp demerara sugar

Place the prepared apples, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice in a large pan. Cook over a medium heat, turning gently until the apples are softened and the juices are sticky, about 10 minutes. Put aside to cool.

Mix together the plain flour, baking powder and salt and put in the freezer, along with the butter in a seperate container, to chill for 20 minutes. When they're cold put the flour mixture and the cream cheese in a food processor and whiz until the mixture looks like fine sandy crumbs. Add the chilled butter and whiz again until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs.

With the motor running tip in the white wine vinegar and cold water. The mixture will not come together like normal short crust pastry, but will look more like lots of little balls squashed together. Once it is like this remove it from the processor and knead briefly to bring it together fully. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Grease a 23cm spring form cake tin and pre-heat the oven to 210C/190C fan, with a baking sheet placed on the bottom shelf. Roll out about 2/3 of the pastry to fit the base and right up the sides of the tin. Line the tin with this and chill for another 15 minutes. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into thick strips, chill these too.

After 15 minutes mix together the apples and blackberries and spoon gently into the pastry case. Place the strips of pastry, leaving a space inbetween each, over the top of the fruit and under the edges of the sides, press the strips and the edges together firmly. Chill this for another 30 minutes.

Next brush the pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle over the demerara sugar. Place onto the baking sheet at the bottom of the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. After this time cover the tin with foil and cook for another 25 - 30 minutes. The crust should be golden brown.

Enjoy nature's bounty with cream or creme fraiche!

Choc choc chip no case cupcakes

A while ago I tested a recipe for a choc chip cake. It was pretty nice, but I immediately thought it would be nicer as a cupcake (as you do). So since I was asked to make some chocolate cakes for a friend's birthday I thought I'd have a bit of an experiment and see what happened.

I changed the original recipe, as I thought it was too runny, but then when they were baking I worried that the cakes might turn out too solid. Luckily they're not and though the cakes have a good crust on the outside, within they're moist and fudgey. Paired with the moussey icing it is chocolate heaven!

But one question remains - why when I took them out of the muffin tin, did the paper cases fall off the cakes?! I'd actually ordered some snazzy spotty cases especially for these cupcakes, but they didn't turn up in time and since they were pretty expensive I'm glad they didn't! Next time I make these I won't bother with the cases.

Choc choc chip cupcakes

175g butter, softened

175g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

140g self raising flour

30g cocoa, sieved

150g dark chocolate, melted (either in a bain marie or in a microwave in short blasts)

3tbsp milk

1tsp vanilla essence

100g milk chocolte chips

Moussey icing

150g butter, softened

150g icing sugar, sieved

1tbsp cocoa, sieved

1tsp vanilla essence

100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C in a fan oven.

In a bowl cream together the butter and caster sugar until light an fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, beating each in completely before adding the next. Beat in the self raising flour and cocoa, then add the melted chocolate, vanilla and milk, the mixture should be quite loose now. Fold in the chocolate chips and divide the mixture between a 12 hole miffin tin. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until risen a little and firm to the touch.

For the icing cream together the butter, icing sugar and cocoa. With the beaters running mix in the vanilla and chocolate. Pipe onto the cakes as you like, or smooth on with a knife for a more rustic effect!

I made these on an extremely hot day and my icing started to melt as soon as it was mixed, so I popped it in the fridge to set up before I used it. I ended up having to keep the cakes in the fridge, which is not ideal, but otherwise they would have been sitting in a pool of melted icing!

Cakes for Karen

After ranting somewhat about cupcakes when I started this blog I actually seem to have become increasingly obsessed with them. They are all I want to make at the moment and I'm loving experimenting with cake mixes, flavourings and techniques.

These raspberry cakes are my latest experiment. I like the gooseberry and elderflower ones I made a few weeks ago better, but these are good and hit that raspberry spot!

My friend Karen has just had another baby - a little boy called Samuel. So I went off yesterday to see her and her two little ones, taking some of these with me. They've got no artificial colours or flavourings in them, so they're perfect to give to little people without having to worry about feeding them anything bad.

Before I packed them up to take I took a few pictures. I was most put out that the minute my goodies were boxed and sealed the sun came out and it was a beautiful day, perfect for taking pictures of cakes.... So my pics aren't the bright jewels I'd have liked, but oh well, you can't win em all!

Raspberry cupcakes
125g butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest 1 lemon
140g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
juice 1/2 lemon
milk to loosen
12 raspberries

Raspberry buttercream
125g unsalted butter, softened
225g icing sugar
100g raspberries
1 tbsp lemon juice

Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Fold in the flour and baking powder. If the mixture is stiff then add a couple of tablespoons of milk, until the mix falls off a spoon easily. Spoon a little into the bottom of each case, place a raspberry in each and cover with more cake mix. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, til risen and golden.

For the icing, whiz together the raspberries and lemon juice in a small food processor then press through a fine sieve to remove the pips. Beat together the butter and icing sugar with the raspberry juice. Place the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe onto the cakes.

Dinner in the garden

My lovely boyfriend has gone away for over a week and so I am alone. To send him off I decided to cook us up a feast.

I lived in Japan for 5 years and was lucky to be able to travel all round Asia while I was there. The amazing tastes and flavours have always stayed with me and I tend to cook lots of Asian food at home, since I've usually got some of the base ingredients like ginger, garlic and chilli in the house. This meal was no exception and on the spur of the moment I decided to make some Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and then some Oriental style steamed trout, since I picked up a couple of gorgeous fresh trout at the supermarket for hardly any thing.

It was a warm evening, so we sat outside with dinner and a bottle of prosecco. Divine!

Vietnamese fresh spring rolls
This is a really simple version of a really mouth tingling starter.

1 bundle rice noodles
4 round rice paper wrappers
1 tbsp sesame oil
large handful cooked prawns, about 100g
2 tsp nam pla fish sauce
2 spring onions
handful each, whole mint, coriander and basil leaves

Place the rice noodles in a bowl, pour over boiling water and leave to soften (or do as instructed in the packet). After 5 - 10 minutes when the noodles are softened, drain and refresh in cold water. Place in a bowl and toss through sesame oil and grind over black pepper.

In a small bown mix the prawns with the nam pla.

Cut the spring onions into julienne strips about 5 - 7 cm long, using the green bits as well.

Fill a shallow bowl or baking dish with hot water and one at a time dip in the rice paper wrappers to soften. Cut in half carefully, pressing the knife down onto the wrapper rather then dragging it over, as this can tear them.

On each half arrange first a small bunch of spring onion, so that strips are poking over the edge of the wrapper. Top with a bundle of rice noodles, a few prawns and an assortment of the herb leaves. Roll one side of the wrapper over the bundle of goodies, tuck the bottom up and over then roll up completely. This should create a tube that is sealed at one end.

Serve with dipping sauces and enjoy!



Oriental style steamed trout
I served this with some fragrant rice and stir fried mange tout.

2 rainbow trout, cleaned and gutted
1 double thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and cut into julienne strips
4 spring onions, green and white parts cut into julienne strips
125ml shaoxing rice wine (or use dry sherry)
50ml soy sauce
groundnut oil
1 red chilli, thinly sliced diagonally
2 -3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
handful coriander leaves

Pre-heat an oven to 180C/ 160C fan oven. Lay out a large sheet of tin foil and place the 2 fish in the centre. Divide the ginger strips and the green parts of the spring onions between the 2 fish, putting some in the chest cavity and scattering the rest on top. Fold the sides of the foil up and pour in the rice wine and soy, then fold the foil together to seal completely. Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Pour the groundnut oil into a small pan, to come to about 2cm up the sides. Heat over a medium high heat then shallow fry the chilli and garlic until they're golden and crisp (I slightly over did mine.....). Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

When the fish is done, remove from the oven and plate up. Drizzle over some of the soy and rice wine juices, top with the white stips of spring onion, the crispy garlic and chilli and scatter over coriander leaves.

Green summer omelette

The weather is still pretty rubbish (who would know it was already August, it's more like March out there!) but we did get a brief visit from the sun on Sunday, which was lovely after a rainy and chilly week. We took the Sunday papers and breakfast outside to the garden to make the most of the little sunny patch while it was still there and it made a change to have the sun streaming through the lounge windows, instead of them being battered by rain drops!

My parents were over for the weekend, so we didn't have a huge amount of food in the house, since we'd pretty much eaten what I'd made for their visit and we'd been out for dinner on Saturday night at a great local Thai place called Esarn Kheaw (which is incidentally one of Matthew Norman from The Guardian's favourite restaurants. See his review here).

By Sunday tea time Southern Chap was starving and I was rummaging through the fridge to find something that would make a nice meal for a sunny day! A handful of ingredients later we were tucking into a thick omelette and some left-over "Katy bread" (artichoke focaccia that I make all the time, which though I say so myself is gorgeous!).


Green Summer Omelette
The omelette itself isn't actually green, just full of good green stuff! If you don't have baby broad beans use peas instead and it doesn't have to be feta cheese, but that was what was lurking in my fridge.

glug olive oil
large handful frozen baby broad beans, defrosted
4 spring onions, sliced diagonally and using as much of the green stalks as you can
large handful mint leaves (used almost a whole pack)
6 eggs, beaten and seasoned
small piece feta cheese

Turn on your grill to high and heat the oil in an omelette pan over a medium heat. Toss in the spring onions and cook for a minute or so, keeping them moving and not letting them brown at all, until their lovely fragrance reaches your nose. Add the beans and mint and stir together to just wilt the leaves and coat everything in the oil.

Tip in the eggs, stir around a little to bring the already cooked bits to the centre and then crumble over the feta. Leave to cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until you can see the sides are done and starting to puff, then pop the pan under the grill and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes, until the top is puffed and lightly browned. Eat straight away with ketchup if desired!

Spiced Soup

We were lucky enough to get free tickets to a day of racing at Ascot yesterday (did you know the Queen owns Ascot?!). Though it is a gorgeous lush green track with a very stylish modern grandstand there is little to be said about the food available there. Obviously I'm not talking about the exclusive restaurants, but the kiosks for the hoi poloi.

The sandwiches looked OK, some pre-packed and some freshly filled (though the odd radioactive colour of the Coronation Chicken filling made my stomach turn a tad), but were pretty expensive, at £3.50 - £4, for what you got. We ended up sharing a doorstep of a gammon sandwich, the meat freshly cut from a lump of hot gammon and slathered with piquant piccalilly. It was good, but at £6.50 it ought to have been!

After a pretty abysmal day (we didn't have one winner, or even a placed horse between us - bloody lucky we didn't have to pay for the tickets, is all I can say) we returned home feeling chilly and knackered. First things first - cup of tea, but then we needed something savoury. I really didn't want to eat more bread, so had a look in the larder and seeing what I had I decided to put together a nice warming spiced soup. We ate it watching Top Gear and felt all the better for it.

Spiced Soup
1tbsp oil
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1tbsp tikka curry paste
1/2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1.5cm chunks
1/3 block creamed coconut
750ml hot stock
2 small potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1tsp mustard seeds
1tbsp green cardamoms
pinch chilli flakes

Topping
Small handful coriander leaves
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
1 or 2 spring onions, cut in half lengthways and sliced

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan, add the onion and garlic and cook over a low heat for a few minutes until softened slightly. Stir in the curry paste and sizzle for a minute before adding the squash. Cook for another couple of minutes then add the cremed coconut and pour in the stock. Stir to dissolve the coconut as much as you can then add the potatoes, mustard, cardamom and chilli. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes have broken down into the soup to thicken it. Season to taste and serve in warm bowls with a scattering of the fresh topping.

I'd post a picture, but we ate all the gorgeous warming soup before I could even think of taking one!

Gooseberry and Elderflower

I feel terrible because I've not blogged for so long. I've just been so busy though! Not only have I moved in with the lovely Southern Chap, but I've been on a trip to France to look at some Florette lettuces in their fields and been slogging my guts out testing loads of recipes for a huge new cook book.

The move was so hard, but we're settled in now and have even had a succession of people over for dinner. Which has been a great way to get to know my new oven (which I'm rapidly warming to after an initial worry when I found out that it was only a fan oven). First A friend of SC's came and I fed him a pot roast chicken with tarragon gravy, then my pal Ruth came and I made a huge veggie pizza and finally this weekend we entertained 3 boys! A BBQ was planned, but we had 2 problems with this, 1) the weather is crap and 2) we actually don't have a BBQ yet..... so I had to change my menu. I was flicking though the Ottolenghi cook book and came across their gorgeous recipe for roast belly pork with a gooseberry and elderflower sauce. I had a punnet of gooseberries in the fridge, and had just bough a bottle of elderflower cordial, so decided this would be what I'd try out.

Now, I realise that the last recipe I wrote about cooking was also for pork belly, so I'd like to say that I do actually eat other things, but obviously I'm having a fatty phase.

Anyway it was all pretty easy to prepare: the gooseberries cooked down slowly in a pan with elderflower cordial, sugar and a little muslim bag of sliced fresh ginger and mustard seeds. Eventually becoming a sharp, sweet mixture that was actually reminiscent of apple sauce!

Meanwhile I heated the oven up to 250C (230C in my new super hot fan oven), smeared the underside of my huge bit of pork (2.5kg)with a blitzed mixture of rosemary, thyme, garlic and oil, then turned it over and lightly salted the skin that my butcher had beautifully scored. My piece of meat then needed only 40 minutes for the skin to crisp nicely, before turning the oven down, adding a bottle of wine to the bottom of the pan and cooking for another 2 hours. All the while we sat outside and salivated at the gorgeous smells coming from the kitchen!

I must say that this is the best piece of roast pork I have ever eaten. Though the meat had a long cooking, the liquid in the bottom of the pan meant that the meat didn't dry out. It was not only moist, but had the very best crackling ever, which was crispy, salty and perfect! I served it with some simply boiled new potatoes, tossed in a little butter and lots of chopped mint, as well as some stir-fried runner beans, that I dressed with a little red wine vinegar (which sounds a bit odd but was really good, especially since the sharpness of the vinegar cut through the fattyness of the pork a little).

It was a great meal and to keep the perfectly seasonal tip going I offered my gooseberry and elderflower cupcakes as dessert!

Master-stock pork belly with black vinegar dressing and prawn salad

Last weekend I happened to have a spare piece of belly pork at my disposal. When trying to decide how to cook it I remembered that I'd seen a recipe that looked right up my street in Pete Evan's book My Table; Master-stock pork belly with black vinegar dressing and cuttlefish salad.

I dug out the book and found the recipe straight away as it has a divine picture with it. Pete says it's the most complicated recipe in the book, but actually I wouldn't consider it complicated, just time consuming, since you have to poach the pork in the master-stock, press it over night, chop into chunks then deep fry it, as well as making 2 dressings, one for the cuttlefish salad you have to make and the other for the deep fried pork itself. Phew, no small list of things to do!


The master stock was delicious (I used the leftovers to marinade some chicken thighs that we threw on the BBQ the following day) and filled the kitchen with a heady smell of soy and star anise, something akin to a Chinese noodle house. So far so easy, the pork poached beautifully, I allowed it to cool in the pan and then as instructed, pressed it between 2 plates over night.

Unfortunately the next day I went to the pub and got drunk. Not just a little bit drunk, very drunk. When I got home and finally proceeded to continue with the 2 dressings and the salad I not only had some time consuming work on my hands, but the beginnings of a hangover....... Southern Chap to the rescue though! He picked me mint leaves, grated palm sugar, juiced limes, grated ginger and helped me pound the ingredients for the nam jim salad dressing in my granite pestle and mortar- he makes an excellent commis chef!

Finally when all dressings were ready I heated the oil for deep frying. My flatmate, who up to this point had endured the pounding of the pestle and mortar and the wails coming from the kitchen, retreated upstairs as soon as the pork hit the pan and started spitting all over the place. In our drunken state it's a wonder there wasn't a serious accident, and I'm not sure that the reason there wasn't was because of my superior skills, or just luck. Eventually, after much fat spattering, all the pieces of pork were cooked. I dressed them with the black vinegar dressing, we dressed the salad (cuttlefish replaced by little prawns as I am too skint to go to the expense of getting squid good enough to be eaten raw, as Pete's recipe states) with the nam jim and sat down to eat with some plain white rice.

Even if I do say so myself, it was AMAZING! Absolutely one of the best meals I've ever made. Everything tasted fresh and vibrant, and the nam jim dressing was just the right blend of hot, sweet and sour and the perfect foil for the sweet, fatty softness of the pork. The only thing that marred the meal is that I was too drunk to truly appreciate it. I will definitely make this again, but next time I will be sober...... well more sober than I was on Saturday anyway!

Cypriot Courgette Flowers

Just got back from the most glorious 10 days in North Cyprus. I'm so lucky, my parents have got a lovely flat there, so it's just a case of getting a flight and finding some spendo!

It's a funny place North Cyprus, neither Greece nor Turkey, a kind of diluted mixture of both. The supermarkets burst with gorgeous foods; the most delicious baklava, oozing with honey and nuts, soft pillowy pitta bread that bears no resemblance to any pitta I've seen in the UK, fresh creamy hummous and a brilliant array of spices. Whether you're in the shop or at the Wednesday market in Kyrenia the veg seems to have been only just pulled from the ground and the fruit is fresh and perfectly ripe. More to the point, it is so cheap, I bought about 1 kg of cherries for around £1 and they were divine!

My favourite find from the market this holiday were some Courgette flowers, which I've never cooked, but have always wanted to. I ate them once at Dehesa in Soho, where they were served stuffed with goats cheese, deep fried and drizzled with honey. I really wanted to try them like this but I couldn't find goats cheese (my Turkish food vocab leaves much to be desired, but I'm working on it!).

I spent far too long standing in front of the cheese isle of the supermarket, and eventually chose some strange cheese that looked a bit like cottage cheese as well as a block of easily identifiable feta. When I got home the cottage cheese turned out to be much softer and tasted like milk, but this was fine, as it mixed nicely with the feta cheese, making it a better consistency to stuff the flowers with. I added chopped mint, plenty of crushed garlic and lots of freshly ground black pepper, until the cheesy minty mixture tasted just right.

I stuffed the flowers, made a quick batter with plain flour 1 egg and ice cold water, heated the oil and then lightly battered the flowers and fried a couple at a time. They were delicious! The flowers where sweet and a little floral, and were really complimented by the minty cheese. Though fried they were much lighter then expected and made an excellent early summer dinner with some cold wine and an Efes beer!

Rhubarb Meringue Pie for Gregg Wallace

(I wrote this before I went away, but forgot to post, thought I would anyway)

An unusual and out of the blue request yesterday from a lovely PR company I sometimes work for; please make us 2 rhubarb meringue pies from Gregg Wallace's recipe for the man himself to take along to a radio interview tomorrow! Apparently Gregg is too busy to make the pies himself, but the radio show has requested a taster, so Northern Lass to the rescue!

The almond pastry is lovely and unlike other recipes that I've had from chef types it worked perfectly. Go Gregg, so far so good! The rhubarb and orange mixture was not quite so easy though. The fruit cooked so quickly and then when I stirred in the huge amount of cornflour it thickened in superfast time and I'm sorry to say there were lumps..... But I rescued it and I think it's OK, I just hope Gregg does. The meringue of course was fine and I made some nice swirls, one looked slightly better then the other, but then that's often the case.

This is actually making me very nervous and anxious. I flippin' hope they're OK. The PR just told me that Gregg says it's a tricky recipe, so cheers for that Gregg.



My mum listened to Gregg on the radio and apparently the pies were declared delicious! Phew!

Bunz bonanza

I've just iced my buns for the girls with yummy white chocolate buttercream. It is sooooo delicious. Unfortunately there's a bit left over and I'm currently compulsively spooning it all into my gob. I'm particularly pleased with the chocolate decorations that I made yesterday. I was worried, when I pipped them, that they'd break up when I took them off the baking parchment, but joy of joys, they didn't! I think they're better then a new home card, I just hope the girls do too!


White Chocolate Buttercream

100g white chocolate (I used Green and Blacks because I like the vanilla flecks in it)
150g softened butter
150g icing sugar, sieved

Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, making sure you stir the chocolate after every 30 seconds. Leave to cool slightly.
Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the white chocolate.
Ice your buns and decorate as desired!

A little moan about flippin' cupcakes

Don't get me wrong, I love making cupcakes, they're probably my favourite things to make ever, since they're so easy and people always like them. What really bothers me though is that we've all taken to calling them bloody cupcakes. Lets face it they're buns, fairy cakes, or at a push just little cakes. Everything now seems to be a cupcake. A couple of years ago in a kitchen I was looking for the bun cases. The others in the kitchen (a South African and various Southern Poshos) laughed at me because they had no idea what a bun case was.... "Ah, cupcake cases!" they said. No not bloody cupcake cases BUN CASES. I'm not that old and they were bun cases and buns when I was a kid. It is am Americanism and if you don't believe me the dictionary says so here.

Anyway today I'm making some BUNS to take over to a couple of friends who have just moved into new flats in the same building, which is convenient for us all. I'm completely jealous of them because I can't imagine a time ever when I'll be able to afford to even buy a 40% share in my own home. But I digress. I made Jane's chocolate drop cakes, but I'm not mad about the results as they're really pale. Should have made my own recipe (one I wrote when I was at Prima) and will know better next time. Pah! Am going to ice them with white chocolate buttercream and then top with some appropriate little chocolate decorations that I'm just about to make.


Yep, they could actually do with being a bit more blimmin' brown!