Make/Bake 13: Lemon, Parmesan & Pine Nut Pork Escalopes with Speedy Roasties

Monday's are always a bit depressing to me. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job but I also love my weekend lay-ins and baking fests so Mondays are always an evening that I like to get out of the way so I can get on with my week. What better to cure the Monday night Blues but a bit of new make/baking...

Today's attempt: Lemon, Parmesan & pine nut crumbed pork escalopes with Speedy Roasties, served with lemon wedges and a side salad (lettuce, tomato and balsamic glaze).

The pork escalopes were a new recipe but we've had pork escalopes in breadcrumbs a few times, so I'm not really counting that, although they were delicious (anything with pine nuts is a winner in my book). The new make/bake was the speedy roasties. For these I oven baked a packet of ready-made Gnocchi (found with pasta in most supermarkets) with a few splashes of rapeseed oil. I also crisped them up in a frying pan as my oven was going a bit slow today and they just weren't golden brown enough for my liking!

M doesn't like Gnocchi in its more traditional serving method (boiled like pasta), he thinks they taste bland and rubbery and I can see what he means, they are quite an acquired taste, but personally I love them! I think they are like little potato dumplings, perfect smothered in a lovely pasta sauce and loads of cheese and are one of my favourite comfort foods so I always have a packet in the cupboard. They also freeze well and you can cook them from frozen so are great for mid-week meals. Because M doesn't like them, I didn't tell him what they were until after he had tried one and said he thought they were lovely - sneaky? me?! They tasted a bit like little roast potatoes and had a lovely crispy shell with a light fluffy potato filling. Very quick and easy and definitely one to have again.

Make/Bake 12 - Meringue Chocolate Cheesecake

On Saturday M and I went out for a meal. Our lovely hosts made Fajitas (yummy) and I offered to make a pudding. I know I should really make things which I know work and have tried before but I do love a challenge so any excuse to make/bake something new and I'm there!

For a long time, M and I's Sunday morning ritual is to watch the BBC programme "Something for the Weekend" with a cuppa and breakfast in bed. I'm currently gutted that it's being cut (fingers crossed another channel picks it up!) but until it's off the screen I'm making the most of it!

A few weeks ago they make A Meringue Chocolate Cheesecake which looked lovely so I thought I'd give it a whirl as a Baked Cheesecake was on my 2012 New make/bake "to do" list. The recipe by Simon Rimmer can be found here. It  looked lovely in the pictures and as I'd seen it being made live on a sunday morning, I though it looked perfect.

I made two mistakes (although I don't think anyone noticed) I crumbled the meringue up a bit too small as it all seemed to melt away and I personally didn't really notice it was there. I also made the fatal error of mixing the just melted chocolate into the still rather cold ricotta, egg and cream cheese mix and ended up with flecked  chocolate cheesecake rather than a lovely smooth chocolate colour - whoops! Note to self - next time, let the chocolate cool down a bit if you're mixing it with chilled ingredients!! 

Still, topped with a chocolate sauce (mixture of milk and dark chocolate, double cream, golden syrup and vanilla extract), whipped cream and fresh blueberries, it was lovely. Even M, a self confessed Cheesecake hater,  had a large helping of the leftovers the next day. The bourbon biscuit base was lovely and I really liked the baked texture so I think I'd be quite happy to give a baked Cheesecake another try. It was very rich but also rather tasty and plus it has fruit so personally I'm counting it towards one of my five a day!!

Make/Bake 11: Chocolate Malteaser Cake

This year is quite a special one - this is the year I turn the dreaded Three-Zero. I'm not looking forward to turning 30 at all, so much so that I'm having nothing to do with organising an event to "celebrate" (leaving it to M and my friends) and I am referring to it as being 29+1. The only thing that is making it slightly more bearable is that I'll hopefully be getting a lovely shiny new Kenwood mixer/processor. There's nothing wrong with my old one, it's just getting a lot of use  at the moment so I want to get one which has a larger capacity!

As it's the year I turn 30, it's also the year lots of my friends turn 30 so I'm planning and making lots of cakes! The first of my old school friends to turn 30 is the lovely Jo who has two gorgeous kids and a bump on the way. As a birthday treat I said I'd bake her a cake of her choice and being a typical female she asked for anything with copious amounts of chocolate. I'd spotted a chocolate cake section in the Nigella Book "Feast" and thought I'd give them a sample so picked out the rather delicious sounding Chocolate Malteaser Cake. It was made by whipping up eggs and sugar initially and I typically make cakes through the creaming (mixing butter and sugar first) or all-in-one method so I thought it would be good to see which I preferred. I think it could be a winner! I found the batter was quite runny but it rose beautifully in the oven and produced a lovely moist cake.

Preheat the oven to 170°C and lightly grease 2 sandwich tins (20cm). The Cake involves whisking 150g Soft Light Brown Sugar, 100g Caster Sugar and 3 large eggs together until light and frothy. In a saucepan you melt 175ml milk, 15g butter and 2 tbsp horlicks until it's all melted but not boiling and then mixed in with the eggs and sugar. You then fold in 175g plain flour, 25g cocoa, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda. Divide between the tins and bake for about 25-30 until the cakes are springy to the touch.

What really intrigued me was the way Nigella made her buttercream - she mixed icing sugar (250g), horlicks (45g for the Malteaser taste) and cocoa powder ( 1 tsp) in a food processor until it was all uniform and powdery and then adds 125g butter and whizzes it back up again. The final step is adding 2 tbsp boiling water until it becomes a smooth buttercream. One huge positive was the fact I didn't need to sieve the icing sugar (my most hated task). I did find the buttercream wasn't very light and fluffy though so maybe I'd just use the processor on the icing sugar and follow my usual method next time.

A sandwich of chocolate malteaser buttercream and a sprinkling of Malteaser finished the cake off perfectly and it made for a perfect belated birthday cake!

Make/Bake 10 - Fakeaway Southern Fried Chicken Burgers

For Christmas I bought a lot of people the same present, not because I'm lazy but because I found the most amazing cook book which I just had to share as I though it was so incredible.

A few months ago I read about a book on the Money Saving Expert website called "The Takeaway Secret" by Kenny McGovern. The book has some brilliant recipes which show you how to recreate some of the most popular fast food take away dishes at home. The reviews on the site were fantastic, particularly for the Lamb Doner Kebab. Of course that is the first thing I tried once it arrived and according to M (I've never had one from the Kebab shop before) it was absolutely identical but better as you knew it was actually lamb meat in it and it wasn't as greasy.

The next thing I made was the American Sausage Patties (which I had with a muffin, cheese and fried egg) to help my young sibling recover after his Xmas party, and they were delicious and I would even say better than the original fast food breakfast delight which is was based on.

Today's make/bake was from this book and I decided to make Southern Fried Chicken, the finger licking good ones :). I'm not a fan of chicken pieces so I used chicken breast and made burgers instead. The recipe also calls for deep frying the chicken and as we're trying to be more healthy, I oven baked mine.

I pre-heated my oven to 200°C and mixed plain flour, onion powder , garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper in a freezer bag. I then beat an egg with some milk in a bowl.  I flattened two chicken breasts slightly and then dipped them in the egg mixture and then the flour and then repeated so they were nicely coated. I poured 2 tbsp of oil (I used rapeseed) into a baking tin and then baked the chicken in the oven for about 30 minutes, turning halfway, until they were golden and crispy. I served it with a toasted burger bun with lettuce, mayo and a cheese slice, chips and BBQ beans (baked beans with some BBQ sauce mixed in) on the side. According to M it was almost identical and has to be made again soon. Next time I think I'd add a bit more paprika (my favourite) just for my own preferences but it was a quick and simple dish with maximum taste. One to try again.

Make/Bake 9: Homemade Granola

Sunday was a sleepy day, M woke up with the dreaded Man Flu and I had a nasty backache which necessitated a day on the sofa watching TV. After a hectic Saturday I hadn't had time to make anything new and that I was feeling glum as baking is one of my favourite things to do on a weekend so I set about to think of something to make which didn't involve too much effort.

I struggle to eat breakfast most mornings as I never really feel like eating first thing so I thought I'd make something which might tempt me to be more healthy rather than grabbing a cereal bar or bag of crisps so Granola it was! for this new make/bake I adapted a recipe from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food. I've only tried one recipe from the book and thought it deserved another whirl!

I preheated the oven to 180°C and then I mixed 200g of Porridge oats (mine had added wheatgerm) with 100g of mixed seeds ( an Omega mix which includes pumpkin seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds), 100g dessicated coconut , 1 tsp cinnamon, 5 tbsp Rapeseed Oil and 5 tbsp runny honey and spread it all out on a baking tray. The recipe only had 50g of the seeds and coconut and 150g of mixed nuts but as we rarely have nuts in the house (M is "sensitive" to peanuts so we try and avoid them if we can) I upped the other ingredients.

I then baked this mix in the oven for 25 minutes, making sure I stirred it about to stop it burning, every 5 minutes or so.

When it was lovely and golden I took it out of the oven and then mixed in 200g of dried mixed fruit. My selection was rasins, dried cranberries and dried apriots. I then left it to cool and stored it in an air tight jar where it should last a few weeks, if I can stop myself snacking on it that is!

It barely had time to cool before I had to give it a try, mixed in with some natural yoghurt - yummy!

My 1st Novelty Cake - Mickey Mouse

Not a new make/bake - this post is about the first Novelty Cake I made.

After a few months of making sponges and things for people, I was asked to make a Novelty Cake for M's Cousins little boys 2nd Birthday. M's Aunt wanted it to be a surprise and as he was a huge Mickey Mouse clubhouse fan, she wanted it to be along that theme. As it was my first ever attempt at a proper novelty cake I wanted to keep it fairly simple so decided I'd make Mickey's Face. After hours of research online I decided to go for a Vanilla Maderia Sponge. I made one 9 inch cake and 2x5 inch ones for the ears. I wasn't brave enough to try sugarpaste icing so decided to pipe the cake with buttercream.

I greatly over estimated how much mixture I needed but the quantities I used were as follows:

Maderia Sponge Cake
Divided between 9" round tin and 2x5" round tin (plus had some spare!)

450g Unsalted butter (at room temperature)
450g Caster Sugar
8 Large Eggs (room temperature)
450g Self Raising Flour (sifted)
175g Plain Flour (sifted)
1.5 tsp Vanilla Essence
2tsp Glycerine

I creamed the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and creamy and then added the vanilla and glycerine and 1 egg at a time with a tbsp of sifted flour until they were all combined. I then added the rest of the flour and folded it in until it was combined.

I added the mixture to my times feeling quite panicked, until I was reassured by my mum that Madeira cake was a very different consistency to sponge and it was supposed to be a "heavy" mix! I then made a well/dip in the middle of the mixture and baked at 160° until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake came out clean. They were then left to cool on a wire rack.

I made tonnes of buttercream and coloured it in black and ivory and left a small amount plain. For future reference I'll stick to buying the extra strength black icing paste as I used up an entire tub! To make the ears look darker I crushed up a packet or Oreo cookies (with the middle icing removed) and then rolled and covered them black areas. I then used a large writing nozzle to ice the details (in black) and then a small star nozzle to pipe the rest of the face and the finishing touches.

I was actually really impressed with the final result seeing as it was my first attempt and more importantly so was the Birthday Boy!

The order list for cakes for birthdays seems to be increasing since this one!

Make/Bake 9: Crustless Pizza

Today I was feeling quite lazy mostly because it was Wednesday, but I still wanted to try a new recipe, just a fairly quick one! In times like this there is only one solution - Queen Nigella. Now I know many people feel like this about Mary Berry and Delia and to an extent I do agree with them, but for me the queen of all things culinary will always be Nigella. I adore her books, they are not only full of lovely things to make and bake but I find them well written and full of useful information and not in a show-off chef way. On more than one occasion I've taken one of her books up to bed with me as a night-time read. The other reason I think she is one of my food idols is because I've never had a recipe of hers fail me, even ones that haven't gone to plan have all tasted lovely. The following new make/bake is one of those.

"Crustless Pizza" from Nigella's Kitchen

Serves 2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

First make a basic batter (250ml milk, 100g plain flour, 1 large egg and some salt), beat until smooth and then mix in 50g of grated cheese. I then greased a 20cm dish (Nigella suggests a pie dish but I only had a cake tin so mine was a little deep) and pour in the batter. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until it starts to puff up and has a nicely golden top. I then made a tomato sauce to use (mixed some tomato puree, tomato ketchup and a splash of worcestershire sauce) which was my only addition to the recipe. I then topped this with some sliced salami  (any sliced meats or vegetables would do) and another 50g of grated cheese. I then baked it in the oven for about 4 -5 minutes until the cheese was all melted and oozy. I served it with a little side salad just mixed leaves and cherry tomatoes) and some chips from the freezer that needed using up.

Not the best of presentations! It was a slightly doughy texture, much more sponge-like than your usual pizza (that could have been because I used a cake tin rather than a pie dish) but it was really very tasty. A definite thumbs up from M - success!

Ice Cream Cone Cakes

Obviously, given the fact it's not really ice cream weather, these are not a new make/bake!These cakes are one of the things that started me on my baking journey/obession. I had a days annual leave to use up last summer and decided to spend it baking. I'd been making odd sponge cakes and Banoffee pies but I wanted to try something different. I'd seen a few recipes for Ice Cream Cone cakes and they looked amazing! It's basically cupcakes baked in ice cream cones and decorated to look like Mr Whippy's - perfect for allowing you to eat "ice cream" without all the coldness!

I used my favourite never-fail sponge recipe. Weigh the eggs in their shells ( I used 3 large ones to do 12 cones) and then use the same quantities of flour, butter and sugar. I creamed the butter and sugar first until they were pale and fluffy and then added in the eggs one at a time with a tbsp of flour and then mixed in the rest of the flour (sifted) and 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract.

I preheated my oven (I tend to go for 180°) and then got myself ready!

You need to use the flat-bottomed ice cream cones (otherwise they won't stand up) and I loosely wrapped them in tin foil and then filled them three quarters full with the cake mixture. I then baked them for about 20-25 minutes until they were golden and then left to cool for a few minutes in the tin before removing and cooling on a wire rack.

They looked fairly messy and a bit soggy initially and I was worried that I'd gone wrong, however once they cooled, they firmed up and I stopped panicing!

To decorate them I made some buttercream icing by mixing unsalted butter (140g) and sifted icing sugar (280g) with some vanilla extract for about 10 minutes using an electric hand mixer. Sometimes if its too stiff I add a few splashes of milk to loosen the mixture.

I then piped "Mr. Whippy" swirls on the top of the cakes using a large star nozzle (I use one I got from a set from Lakeland) and then added a flake (I had large ones so cut them in half) and sprinkled them with edible glitter! I was very impressed with the results...

I gave one to my friends little boy and he was very confused that they weren't frozen and that they were actually cakes! They were lovely and very cool. Not something I'd make everyday but a  great idea for a party.

Make/Bake 8: Roasted Butternut Squash Spaghetti Lasagne

Today in an attempt to be healthy (after yesterdays HUGE pudding) I made something from a little booklet of Weightwatchers meals which came free in one of my parents newspapers. The recipe is orginally from Tana Ramsay but I have tweaked it a bit by adding meat for M :)

Ingredients ( I halved the original recipe so the following served 2)
250g Butternut Squash, peeled and diced
2 Garlic Cloves, sliced,
Few sprigs Rosemary,
5g Butter
1tbsp Rapeseed Oil (or Olive oil)
85g Spaghetti
1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
1tbsp Soy Sauce
1tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1tbsp Chopped Fresh Basil
1 Leek, sliced,
90ml Vegetable Stock,
100g Ham Hock Meat (I got mine in the Ham and Meat section in Sainsburys but an ham or bacon would be lovely too)
25g Pine Nuts
100g Ricotta
100g Baby Leaf Spinach (I'd have had more but M's not a huge fan)
50ml Single Cream
50g Grated Cheddar Cheese

Method:

Preheat the oven (190°C or Gas 5). Roast the Squash with the garlic, rosemary, butter and oil for 20 minutes. The remove the rosemary and any burnt garlic and mash.
Wilt the Spinach (I put mine in the microwave for a minute) and allow to cool.
Meanwhile cook the spaghetti as per the packet instructions.
Heat the tinned tomatoes, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and basil and any seasoning. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes.
Fry the sliced leek until starting to brown and then add the squash and vegetable stock. Simmer until the liquid has all absorbed (mine only took about 5 minutes).
Toast the Pinenuts (unless you've already got the ready toasted ones).
Mix the wilted spinach, cream and ricotta together.
Layer the squash mixture in an oven proof dish and sprinkle with half of the pine nuts. Top with half of the spaghetti and spread on the tomato sauce (I found this sauce was lovely and may even use it again with other pasta dishes).
Top with the remaining pasta and cover with the spinach and ricotta mix. Sprinkle on the grated cheese and remaining pine nuts and bake for 30 minutes.

Before going in the oven

After

Still need to work on those presentation skills but it was lovely. I don't think it needed the meat at all and I almost got M to agree too!

Make/Bake 6 and 7 : Baked Turkey Meatballs with Broccoli and Crispy Potatoes with White Chocolate and Berry Pudding

Sunday evening was a night for entertaining as we had M's mum over for dinner so I thought I'd attempt a brand new main course and pudding! I'm not sure if that was brave or stupid...

For my main course I made Baked Turkey Meatballs with Broccoli and Crispy Potatoes and then we had White Chocolate and Berry Pudding with custard.

I found that whenever I've made meatballs in the past I've struggled to get the seasoning right. So to try and stop that I fried off a tiny bit of the mixture before rolling the meat into balls and gave them a taste. Personally I found them a bit bland so I added a (large) dash of Worcestershire sauce, some extra garlic, seasoning and a handful of grated Parmesan to the meatballs. I  also browned them off in a pan before I baked them as sometimes I just think they look too anaemic if you just bake them in the oven. The potatoes were really similar to those I made on my NYE feast and I used skin-on Rooster potatoes (one of my favourite all rounders). I added some Asparagus Spears to the broccoli which I steamed as I sometimes get bored of just one vegetable. We also had garlic bread in a tin thanks to some "Jus-Roll" Garlic Pizza Bread which I bought a few weeks ago. Wow, it was lovely!! The only downside was that the juice with the meatballs was a little watery so I think I might try passata instead of a tin of cherry tomatoes if I made it again. It was also quite healthy due to using Turkey Mince and M's mum said she'd never had guessed and also asked for a copy of the recipe :)

Pudding was a variation of my favourite and most successful dessert - microwave sponge pudding. I vaguely followed the recipe in regards to using frozen berries, white chocolate chips and light brown sugar but I ignored the quantities. I  follow the same principal for my sponge cakes (as described earlier here) that is I weigh my eggs in their shells ( for this case I used 2 large ones) and then mix the same quantities of flour, butter and sugar. Once I'd mixed this all together then I folded in 300g of mixed frozen berries (my mix had cherries, grapes, raspberries and blackberries) and then 85g of white chocolate chips. I found it needed longer in the microwave than the recipe said (probably because I had more ingredients!) and cooked it for about 14 minutes but it was really delicious. The sponge did start to turn a slightly strange colour due to the fruit melting a bit but once it was drenched in custard you couldn't really tell.

No pictures I'm afraid but I definitely had a very full belly!!

New Years Eve - 3 Course Meal for Two

Ok, so not a new make/bake but I'm keen to back date this blog so that I can really track my journey over the last year as that is when I really started to get into cooking (plus I took photos). I've only ever attempted a three course meal once before but I thought NYE was a good a time as any to give it another whirl!

Starter: Brie and Parma Ham Filo Parcels with Cranberry and Caramelised Onion Chutney

I always have difficulty menu planning when I'm cooking for M as he's so fussy! He'll argue he isn't and I know we all have foods we don't like and that we'd rather not eat but it's just his list is quite long which tends to exclude quite a lot of typically dinner party type dishes. M doesn't think any meal is complete without meat so all courses (except dessert) need to be suitable for a carnivore. He also hates all fish, except tinned Tuna, so anything for pescatarian's are off the list.  With this in mind, I wanted something I could prepare before hand and pop into the oven when we were ready so I decided to make something up to use up the leftover Xmas Brie and Chutneys! I wrapped chunks of Brie with Parma harm and then wrapped in them layers of filo pastry. I then baked them in the oven for about 15 minutes and served them with the chutney (not home made sadly) and a dressing of watercress and rocket. They were really nice, very salty from the Parma ham, but still very tasty.

Main: Rib-Eye Steak with Chilli Butter and Home-made Chips

For this course I more or less followed a recipe from the BBC Good Food Site here

I don't do spicy food, so I made my butter with garlic instead of Chilli. As it was a special occasion I bought finest steak. M nearly keeled over when I told him I'd spend over £8 on two bits of steak but it was really worth it. I've only ever bought cheaper cuts before and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to it. I let the steak come to room temperature and seasoned before frying on a griddle pan. I cooked mine for about 4 (Medium to Medium Well) minutes per side and M's for about 5 (Well done) and then let it rest for about 5 minutes. It was lovely, definitely the best steak I've ever cooked. The chips were also lovely, so much better than oven chips and I've actually made them again on thier own since as M said they were nicer than chips he'd had in some restaurants.

 The cat also fancied the look of M's steak by the look of it...

Pudding: Chocolate Fondant with Boozy Cream

For this course I used a recipe from one of my Xmas presents (a signed copy of) Home Bake by Eric Lanlard. I've never attempted a Chocolate Fondant Pudding but it's something I always order if I see it in a restaurant as it's so lovely, chocolatey and gooey. I made the Fondants along with the starter in  the afternoon and kept them ready in the fridge until after we'd finished the main course. The recipe was really easy to follow and Eric recommended making extra puddings so you could check to see if the middle was ready. The recipe I used served 4 and as there was only 2 of us I cooked extras as I couldn't be bothered to half the quantities! I'm glad I did becuase when I checked a pudding after the recommended 8 minutes I found it was a bit too gooey. I gave them 10 minutes in total and they turned out perfectly! I served them with some whipped cream with some booze added: Amaretto for me and Irish Cream for M.

All this topped off with some Champers and a cosy night watching the fireworks on the telly, made for a lovely NYE.

Make/Bake 4 and 5 Lemon Cupcakes and Jam Doughnut Muffins

Today I decided to make two things - Lemon Cupcakes and Jam Doughnut Muffins. The oven was on for the cupcakes which I wanted to make to use up the  Buttercream icing left over from helping my friend make her sons 2nd birthday cake and I've been dreaming about the muffins since I read about them in Nigella's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". I've lusted over that book for ages and after hinting at several people to buy me it for the last two years I eventually gave in and bought it myself! 

The Lemon Cupcakes were just my standard sponge mix - same amount of eggs, butter, sugar and flour - but with the zest of 1 lemon and some lemon juice. I always start by weighing the eggs still in their shells (always free range, always large) and then use the same quantities of the other ingredients. Since I started using this method (thanks mum) my sponges have NEVER failed (so far). I usually add vanilla or perhaps a few spoons of cocoa or melted chocolate to vary them but today I fancied lemon.

I wanted to practise my icing technique as well, I'm more confident with the more complicated small star work often used to cover cakes but after some successful attempts over Xmas I thought I'd give cupcakes another go. I also wanted to try using two different colours of Buttercream in the icing bag. They also had a lovely sprinkling of glitter and were topped with a slice of jelly lemon.  As I'd kept the Buttercream in the fridge it was far too hard so I warmed it up in the microwave, perhaps a bit too much as it was quite loose which meant my icing wasn't very defined. They did however taste very nice.

I didn't have enough Buttercream to ice all of the cupcakes so I made some into mini lemon drizzle cakes by making a syrup by missing some granulated sugar and the juice of a lemon and then  poured it over the top  of the cupcakes. I used silicon cupcake cases so the syrup was contained!

The Jam Doughnut Muffins can be found on p220 of "How to be a Domestic Goddess". I've never had a lot of luck with muffins, I tend to over beat them and they end up rubbery and sinking. I followed Nigella's recipe exactly and she says to only just mix the ingredients together and not to worry if there are lumps (I had loads). Apparently her recipe does enough for 12 muffins. Either I have HUGE tins or I really overfilled mine as I only managed to make 6. They were huge but they were really delicious. We had them almost straight out of the over after dipping them in melted butter and rolling them in sugar - YUMMY! They tasted like the doughnuts you can buy at the fair. I wonder if they'll be as nice when they are cool.

New make/bake no 3: Mustard Chicken and Quick Dauphinoise

After a rubbish weekend of being ill, my resolution was in danger of failing and we're only 11 days in! To resolve that concern (and now I'm feeling a bit better) I decide to attempt a recipe from Jamie Oliver's "30 Minute Meals". Today was  Mustard Chicken and Quick Dauphinoise The recipe also has a pudding to go with it but as I'm trying to lose some of the extra Xmas weight (isn't everyone), I thought I'd leave it out.

M bought me this book ages ago and it sits with some of the other cook books in the kitchen and although I frequently read it, I've never actually cooked anything from it! I really liked the concept of 30 Minute Meals and watched them all on TV - it appealed as it's quick and lovely sounding food. One of the many reasons I used to use to explain my lack of cooking was a lack of time. To be honest, I still don't think I have enough time but at least I enjoy myself and don't see it as a chore like I used to.

The main problem I found with this recipe is that it isn't laid out in a linear fashion e.g how to cook the chicken separate to the potato dauphinoise. The recipe runs in the order you should follow each step, leading towards everything being ready together. As I decided to leave the dessert out, it seriously effected the timings as it has cooking time for the chicken and potato whilst you're making the dessert - whoops! I'm sure if I did the full list then it probably would have been easier. I think I'll just have to sacrifice the diet next time...

I also didn't read the recipe fully before cooking (I just read each step as I went along) and my spinach ended up tasting very lemony and very wet and soppy as I cooked it too soon - not good. Otherwise the only changes I made was that I swapped the olive oil for rapeseed, used dried rosemary and used Worcestershire Sauce instead of Anchovies - I love them but M won't touch fish hence why I left them out. Oddly he likes Worcestershire sauce though! The final result was that the Mustard Chicken and Quick Potato Dauphinoise was lovely, not sure on the greens but I think that was more down to me rather than anything else.

I've never made Potato Dauphinoise before so I impressed myself with how it turned out. It was a fairly quick option and no more difficult than any other type of potato prep, less scary than mash as I always end up with lumps. I used the food processor attachment on my mixer to slice the onion and potato (also a first, I've only used it for chopping until now) and I don't think I'll ever chop or slice a vegetable again!

I did find that this recipe generated load of washing up.  I ended up with 2 saucepans (as I have an induction hob I couldn't heat my potatoes in the roasting tin as the recipe recommends), a frying pan, garlic crusher, 2 knives, a roasting tin, a chopping board and my food processor attachment. I did feel very busy and very chef like whilst doing this recipe and the feedback was that it's a definite one to make again. M especially liked the mustard chicken with the creamy leek sauce.

The finished result once dished up:

Still need to work on those presentation skills...

Right, now off to watch the Fabulous Baker Brothers on Channel 4 - hmmm lovely!
 

New make/bake no 2: Barney's Monday Night Rice

Okay, I'm doing well so far as we're three days into 2012 and I've made 2 new make/bakes!

We had a fair bit of left over chicken from the Roast Chicken & Sticky Carrots which I made on Sunday.  Last night I used up most of the white meat in a cheat's Korma (thank you mr Patak for your yummy paste) but I still had some of the leg and thigh meat left. In my attempt to be less wasteful (yet another new years resolution) I thought I'd try to make a fried rice.

I've never tried to make a proper fried rice before, unless you count reheating yesterdays takeaway leftovers!  M is not a fan of Chinese food so we don't ever have any rice to use. He won't touch a Chinese takeaway at all (which I'm gutted by as Chinese is my favourite) as they make him feel ill. I've managed to get him to eat home made Chinese stir-fries which is a step forward towards introducing my favourite cuisine to him.  Another factor is that I rarely have left-over rice as it is one of those dishes that I just can't seem to master. I've tried cooking rice every way possible and it always ends up a gluey sticky mess no matter what I do. After disaster after disaster I have now accepted defeat and I use boil in the bag or microwave rice. Sadly I cheat a bit today and I did use microwave rice for this dish but it did use up the left over chicken so I think that outweighs it!

The recipe I used was from the BBC Good Food (possibly my favourite site ever) and I attempted Barney's Monday Night Rice as found here

Okay, so today is Tuesday and I've made Monday Night Rice but never mind!

At first glance the ingredients sounded a bit unusual (Curry Powder and Tomato Ketchup?!) and I really wasn't sure how it would end up but the reviews were good so I thought I'd give it a try. I added a chopped yellow pepper, a handful of frozen sweetcorn and some chopped smoked ham to the ingredients but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.

My conclusion was that it was lovely and even M rated it as "delicious"! The mild curry powder (I'm a complete spice wimp) I used gave it a very slight spice and you couldn't even tell it had tomato sauce in it - it made for a lovely fusion of Asian flavours. The egg mix was a bit too watery so I ended up with scrambled egg instead of an omelette so I think I'd leave the water out next time. Quick, easy and tasty and quite healthy considering - a success and definitely one to make again.

I think I'm going to have to try and make all my favourite chinese dishes at home :)

Things I want to make/bake in 2012

It has occurred to me there is a very long list of foods and types of baking which I've never attempted so I've decided to make a list of some of the different things which I want to attempt to make/bake in 2012 which I can then virtually tick off and record via my blog.

Some of them I am quite ashamed to admit that I've managed to last 29 years without ever making or baking but here goes, my list of things to make/bake in 2012

1. Shortcrust pastry - Sweet = Done - Make/Bake 17
2. Macarons
3. Fudge  Done - Make/Bake 16
4. Bread/Rolls  Bread - Done Make/Bake 18
   
5. Meringue
6. Cake Pops
7. Choux Pastry
8. Roast Lamb or Beef (I've only ever roasted Turkey, Chicken or Pork so I think a red meat should be attempted at least one)
9. Yorkshire Puddings
10. Chutney
11. Pizza Dough
12. Baked Cheesecake Done - Make/Bake 12
13. Curry from scratch (not from a jar!)
14. Ice Cream
15. Pulled pork (The BBQ kind looks yummy)

If I think of any more then I'll add them into this post as I go and I'll also link to my achievements as I (hopefully) complete them!

New make/bake no 1: Roast Chicken & Sticky Carrots

OK, so one day into 2012 and I'm doing well so far with my resolution to make/bake at least one new thing a week. Today I attempted "Roast Chicken & Sticky Carrots" from probably my most used website: BBC Good Food. The recipe I used today is here. Follow the link for pictures and information etc.

Up until I moved into the new kitchen (not literally but you know what I mean) I had never attempted to make a proper Sunday Roast. I was a complete Aunt Bessie and preprepared food addict. I used frozen roast potatoes, preprepared and frozen veggies, ready made Yorkshire puddings and trimmings like stuffing etc.  I used to buy little roasting joints in a tin in the chiller section of the supermarket rather than buy and prep the meat myself. I'm not sure if it was because I was too lazy or too scared to cook from scratch. I know we all think it, but my mum does the most amazing roast dinner, I didn't think I could really match it, so perhaps it's why I didn't bother?

One of the first things I made in my lovely new oven was proper roast potatoes. I was so nervous; "what if they aren't crispy enough", "what if they are too fluffy" and so on. I quickly learnt that the type of potato used does make a real difference (favourites are Maris Piper or Red Potatoes) and to rough them up a bit before they go into the oven. I don't know why I was so worried as I appear to have inherited the crispy potato gene thankfully. This fact was proved by the fact I did Christmas Dinner 2011 for the family and my mother proudly proclaimed "It was as if I cooked it myself but without the stress or washing up!" Now if that's not a compliment then I don't know what is!

As it was new years day and it happens to fall on a Sunday this time round, I felt the need to start the year of with a lovely Roast dinner. After cooking a three course meal yesterday for M and I to celebrate the end of 2011 (I'm aiming to blog this achievement at some point with pics!), I was feeling a bit lazy so I admit that I did cheat a bit with my Yorkshire puddings - Bless you Aunt Bessie! Yorkshire Puddings I've made Toad in the hole but not proper Yorkshires) are on my try to make myself at some point this year list which I'm also looking to blog soon. I also used frozen broccoli and parsnips and some of those lovely new tubes of gravy but I did the rest myself I promise!

I also treated us to a free range chicken for the first new make/bake of 2012. I buy free range or freedom endorsed meat as often as the budget allows, as a former veggie it's how I appease my guilt of becoming a complete carnivore over the last few years.Vegetable accompaniments to today's new bake/make were were roast potatoes, steamed broccoli and roasted maple parsnips. The roasties were treated to a coating in flour (I must buy some semolina to try them al la Nigella) and a crumbled chicken Oxo Cube which I found gave them a very yummy taste and is definitely something to do on a regular basis. I also roasted the potatoes in Rapeseed oil in an attempt to wean myself of a rather expensive olive oil addiction...

So onto the new recipe. M wasn't keen on the carrots (I used baby ones and also added two halved onions). He felt the carrots were too sweet for his liking. I wasn't overly keen on the cumin used (I only had ground instead of the seeds the recipe suggested) but I'm not a huge fan of it anyway so wasn't too surprised. I had too much juice in my pan so the carrots didn't really go very sticky which was a shame and I think could be why we weren't overly impressed. I think if I did it again then I'd drain off the juices and roast the carrots for a while longer whilst the meat rests. The chicken itself was lovely, very moist and juicy, with a small hint of garlic and lemon and thyme which I used instead of parsley. I think it's one to try again with a few minor tweaks.

As it was just for the two of us I have loads of chicken left, so I'm now trying to think of something new to do with the leftovers!

Welcome to me and my new hobby!

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved baking. Mostly cakes, cookies, brownies and pretty much anything which makes you put on weight just by looking at it. One of my favourite memories when I was little is my mum and I baking fairy cakes. I always thought it was magic how the bowl of ordinary things could turn into these lovely little bites of cakey goodness. But the best part for me was licking the bowl - to be fair it is still my favourite part. 

At some point, I stopped doing any baking or cooking. I've no idea why, probably teenage angst and laziness. But when I moved out and lived on my own for the first time just over 4 years ago I had a steep learning curve. Up until that point my signature dish was cheesy beans on toast! I couldn't even boil an egg without the aid of a kitchen gadget to tell me when it was done. It took me a while to "get" the act of cooking as being anything other than reheating things other people had made. The first few months I think I pretty much survived on anything that went 'ping' or could be chucked in the oven. I didn't really see the point of cooking a proper meal just for me and I always thought it would be too stressful to come home after a long day at work and then spend hours slaving over a hot cooker. Then one day I was bored and decided to reread one of my old long forgotten student cook books. Suddenly I was inspired, somewhere between beans and pulses and so I decided to cook myself something. Being quite rusty, I did one of my favourite meals, Spaghetti Bolognese. I didn't follow a recipe, I just chucked in some ingredients which I already had in the house: Beef mince, tinned tomatoes, onion (copped roughly due to my poor knife skills) and as much garlic and Oxo cubes as I could take. I simmered away for a while and served it with spaghetti and a sprinkling of grated cheese and I tucked in. It was heavenly, it was like my taste buds been awoken and had rediscovered what real food was like. Not to blow my own trumpet though as I'm pretty sure that after a few months of microwave ready meals anything was an improvement!

The biggest shock was that I actually found it fun, I'd enjoyed adding things and tweaking the flavours to make the taste change. And that is where my journey started, my love of food and cooking was evoked. At first I mainly stuck to things like pasta, fajitas and various things from the freezer with chips. Over time my cook book collection grew alongside my courage and I dared to cook my first ever three course meal (Cheesy onion toasts, mustard stuffed chicken with potato wedges and salad and warm brownie cake for pudding just in case you were wondering) to cheer my boyfriend up he'd had after a hectic week at work. 

Cooking for someone (or lots of people) is one of my favourite things in the world, I love to see people happy or full-up after eating something I made. I am what most people would class as an "enthusiastic" cook rather than an "excellent" one but I want to learn new skills and try new things. I am extremely clumsy - I tend to spread as much of the ingredients over myself and the kitchen worktop as I do cook with and I cut myself at least once or twice a week on various implements. Personally I think my biggest downfall is always my presentation, this is half due to my lack of patience and rushing things and half due to the cackhandedness that I just can't seem to avoid. The food might taste great (most of the time) but it looks nothing it probably should and is a rather sloppy mess on the plate. Something to work on this year!

I live with my mental cat and gorgeous boyfriend M who is my (usually) willing Guinea pig for my new cooking exploits. He likes the eating but he's not so keen on me boring him about new recipes and critiquing a first attempt. We have a lovely shiny new kitchen  which I, I mean we, designed (mostly around my hobby/obsession). M's input was the induction hob (which is very cool once you get used to it) and the integrated dishwasher. The rest was all down to me. I now have a huge double oven which is ever so clever (it cleans itself as well as having a special function just for pizza), two huge shelves dedicated to my favourite cook books (the rest are piled up in the spare room waiting to be shelved) 2 pull out spice rack cupboards and 2 whole cupboards for baking ingredients and equipment. For my birthday last year I received a food processor/mixture from my parents which sits out on the worktop to remind me to use it more and I always wonder how I ever coped without it!

I've tried a food blog before but I got bored after 2 posts, so I clearly need a motivation to keep going. This year I've set myself a New Years Resolution - I will bake or make one new dish or recipe a week and will blog the results, with pics where possible. I have a huge pile of cookbooks which I don't use often enough (add to that I was bought about 10 new ones for Xmas) so I want to try something new, either sweet or savoury, from them each week. The recipes I use won't be my own and so I'll credit the original source/book/website as I go.

Wish me luck, I think I may need it!