Cooking the Books with Kelly-Jane

One Sweet Cookie – Review and Recipe

2012-01-27T06:57:00.000-08:00

This book has an author who is new to me, One Sweet Cookie Celebrated Chefs Share Their Favourite Recipes by Tracey Zabar published by Rizzoli in 2011. With thanks to Lucy and Rizzoli for my copy.

I should start off by staying that I had this one on my wishlist for ages before it was published, I buy a good number of books but my wishlist is always full to bursting! Anyhow, when I was offered the chance to review it - I grabbed it! J

It’s a clean and fresh book, lots of white and many tempting pictures to help you on your way to the kitchen and get baking. Chapters are *Brownies, Bars and Cakey Cookies *Nuts, Chips and Oatmeal Cookies *Pastry, Petit Fours and Chocolate Cookies * Meringues, Macarons and Macaroons * Biscotti, Spice Cookies and Seed Cookies * Sugar Cookies, Shortbread and Doughnuts. There is also a couple of pages at the back called ‘Tracey’s Bookshelf’ which I found interesting to read through.

The chefs who have given their favourite recipes are many and varied, for example: Florian Bellanger and Ludovic Augendre give a recipe for Raspberry French Macarons, Eli Zabar of E.A.T. gives Eli’s Mother’s Best Cookies, Lidia Bastianich of Lidia’s Italy gives Orange Cookies, Maida Heatter gives Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate Covered Mints, plus a Bali Hai variation which I have made before and loved . These are just a handful of the many contributing chef’s and their recipes, Tracey herself also gives some recipes including Wicked Chocolate Biscotti and Sugar Valentines.

I have really enjoyed reading through this book and compiling my own list of to-make recipes. I find it fascinating to see the differences in what one person and another thinks of as their favourite cookie. Like a lot of Mums I had a number of school things to bake for in December, and I did something that I’ve not done before, I made three recipes from this book to go to events without testing them for just us first. It’s a perilous strategy, but for one reason and another December was a difficult month. Still I am really pleased to report that all three worked out perfectly first time! The three I made are below, and I have kindly been given permission to share one of the recipes with you, it was a hard choice I tell you!

The Baker Man’s Classic Thumbprint Cookies from Seth Greenberg of Seth Greenberg’s Just Desserts

These are delicious little mouthfuls, rich shortbread-y cookies filled with jam. I used the end of a spurtle to make my thumbprint holes. This is the first thumbprint cookie I’ve made but it won’t be the last, that is for sure.

Back-to-School Raspberry Granola Bars from Karen DeMasco of Locanda Verde

A really easy bar that is full of oats, pecans and raspberry jam. These were very good and have the bonus of being filling too.

Todd’s Favourite Triple Chocolate and Walnut Cookies from Todd English of Olives

Chef English devised this recipe to incorporate what his children like and also himself by adding the walnuts. These were outstanding chocolate cookies, and they had the bonus of still tasting good when cold the next day. Note: I have given you Todd’s recipe here, the only change I made was to substitute the peanut butter chips for more chocolate chips, as I didn’t have any, I also used less salt. I baked mine in a fan oven @ 170^oC for 14 to 16 mins. I have also found the recipe halves perfectly.

Todd’s Favourite Triple Chocolate and Walnut Cookies

From Todd English of Olives, with many thanks to Rizzoli for permission to post the recipe here from One Sweet Cookie by Tracey Zabar 2011.

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup milk chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

¼ cup peanut butter chips (optional)

½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350^oF. Set out three ungreased half sheet pans.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix until incorporated. With a silicone spatula, fold in the semisweet, milk, white, peanut butter chips (if using) and walnuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto the pans. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned. Cool completely on wire racks. Makes about 36 cookies.

Next up: Home Cooking Made Easy by Lorraine Pascale

Tiramisu Cake - Cake Slice Bakers January 2012

2012-01-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn’t mean to skip two Cake slice bakers cakes, but that was the way life went in November and December last year. I’m back this month, even though I just missed the main post date of the 20^th of the month. Short and sweet this month, but better late than never!

This month’s cake is from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle published by John Wiley and Sons 2006. A Tiramisu Cake, a nice ‘pick me up’ (what tiramisu means) cake for the New Year. I’ve changed it and simplified the recipe a little.

Sweet coffee syrup soaked sponge, layered with a mascarpone and rum cream.The cream was very light in texture despite containing 500g mascarpone! The rum was a background note and the cream was set with a little gelatine, which probably helped the nice lightness, and meant there was no danger of the layers sliding apart. I tried to make it look like a cappuccino lol!

I liked this one, and am pleased I tried it even if I am late, it’s pretty for a dinner party and can all be done before hand. Do have a look at the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll to see how other members have made it

Next Review Up: One Sweet Cookie

Stilton, Bacon and Dried Cranberry Salad

2012-01-11T00:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you all! It seems like a long time since I last posted, although in actual fact not soooo very long ago. Time always seems to go by too quickly in December, and last year was no exception. Christmas came and went, and I hope it was a good one for one and all.

The New Year has also been and gone and here we are in January, fairly chilly and in need of comfort food. Thoughts of a healthy eating regime is in my mind, I’m only willing to downscale a bit. Perhaps in the long run that will work better, no severe cutting back, so no big binge on sweet stuff when I fall off my chosen dietary wagon. I’m definitely upping my exercise though. We will see how it goes.

I have a lot of bits and pieces to use up after the festive period - stilton, dried cranberries, nuts and I do seem to have amassed a number of boxes of pancetta cubes in my fridge. I was wondering what to make with them all, and remembered a salad of Ina Garten’s that I saw in her second last cookbook Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics published in 2008 by Clarkson Potter. I’ve made a couple of recipes from the book:

Tuscan Lemon Chicken and Oven Roasted Vegetables.

Both of which were also good (click on recipe titles for recipes at The Food Network). The salad here is a variation on Ina’s Cape Cod Chopped Salad and was delicious and we all enjoyed it a lot. Dried cranberries, crispy warm bacon cubes, blue stilton for us (cheddar for little peeps), toasted walnuts and fresh apple plus an orange-maple dressing. I thought it was a fabulous mix of tastes and textures, one that I’ve been asked to make again, and not just to use the Christmas leftovers!

Stilton, Bacon and Dried Cranberry Salad

I’ve upped the add ins, down scaled the dressing and changed the lettuce from rocket to romaine, for Ina’s recipe look here. We still had some dressing left over, but I’m good with having some of it in the fridge for later in the week. This makes three to four main course salad plates.

½ cup walnuts,

130g Pancetta cubes

1/2 cup dried Cranberries

2 Romaine Lettuces

½ cup Blue Stilton cheese (or cheese of your choice), crumbled

1 Pink Lady Apple

Dressing

1 ½ tablespoons Cider Vinegar

½ teaspoon Orange Zest

1 tablespoon Orange Juice

1 slightly rounded teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon Maple Syrup

Salt and pepper

80ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Dressing: Whisk everything together in a bowl and set aside.

Salad: Heat a sauté pan and toast the walnuts in it for one to two minutes, stirring to prevent them catching. Dry fry the pancetta until cooked and crispy, drain the cubes on kitchen paper on a plate. Peel, core and chop the apple. To assemble tear or chop the leaves and arrange on plates, scatter over the apple, walnuts, cranberries, bacon and blue cheese. Finally whisk the dressing again and drizzle a little over the salads, I used about a tablespoon per person.

Next review up: One Sweet Cookie

How to Be a Domestic Goddess, Review and one copy to give away

2011-12-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

Now for a post about a book that is dear to my heart. How to Be a Domestic Goddess Baking and the art of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson first published in 2000 by Chatto and Windus. This was Nigella’s second cookbook (after How to Eat). I was asked a little while ago if I’d like to review this book, which of course I would! I have a copy from when it first came out, so I asked WH Smith if they would be ok if I gave away the copy I was sent to a reader on here, and they said yes, so thanks to WH Smith for the paperback copy to give away. Just leave a comment to be entered for the draw, first name out of the hat on 22^nd December 2011. Closing date for comments to go in the draw is 21^st December 2011 at midnight. THIS IS NOW CLOSED.

Pink Wafer Rose Bud Fairy Cakes

When this book came out I cooked from it obsessively for a good number of months. It’s a great book, a baking book to entice existing bakers, but with enough of a modern edge to appeal but the new bakers too. The book is nicely presented, although do be aware this is not a book where every single recipe is pictured, but the pictures are all tempting. I still love it today, all these years later. The main chapters are: * Cakes* Biscuits* Pies* Puddings* Chocolate* Children* Christmas* Bread and Yeast* and The Domestic Goddess’s Larder*.

Dolly Mixture Fairy Cakes

I have baked a lot from this book, it was in my pre-blogging days that this book came out, which is a shame, as I could have had some pretty pictures of cakes and cupcakes on here! I have been particularly taken with the cupcakes in Domestic Goddess and some of the recipes I have made are: Burnt Butter Brown-Sugar Cupcakes (which were a lot nicer than the title makes them sound), Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, Blueberry Muffins, Baklava Muffins, Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes, Espresso Cupcakes, Night and Day Cupcakes, Cappuccino Cupcakes, Jam Doughnut Muffins, Chirstmas Morning Muffins and Christmas Cupcakes which are very beautiful as well as delicious.

Cake wise I’ve made a few too, Nigella’s Victoria Sponge is my go-to recipe, Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake is fabulous too - I sometimes make it as cupcake sponges too, Flora’s Famous Courgette Cake, Butterscotch Layer Cake, Boston Cream Pie, Marzipan Fruit Cake, Coconut Cake, Chocolate Marsala Cake – one of my favourite cakes and Chocolate Pistachio Cake. The Strawberry Shortcakes definitely need a mention too as do the Peanut-Butter Squares which are like home-made Reese Peanut Butter cups. This is not an exhaustive list of all I’ve baked from this book – but you get the picture, there is a lot to tempt the baker and eater!

Butter Cut Out Biscuits

I made these for a party a while ago.

Fairy Cakes

I’ve made these often, and here are three ways I’ve decorated them for parties.

Store Cupboard Chocolate-Orange Cake

I’ve made this one a few times too, if you use marmalade you get a bitter-ish orange taste, I prefer it with jam for a sweeter fruity vibe.

Banana, Cherry and White-Chocolate Cupcakes

These are very easy, a quick mash and stir is all that’s needed. I think these are super comforting. A number of years ago I made these when my hubby had a friend round, they were not that long out of the oven. Every time I have seen his friend since he sees me and thinks of these cupcakes!

Good luck with the draw if you enter and hope you win (NOW CLOSED), but if not WH Smith have a great cookery selection here.

The winner is the second commenter Aby Wilson - well done Aby, I'll be in touch and you'll soon have your book :)

Next up: One Sweet Cookie by Tracey Zabar

Monday Morning Cooking Club, Review

2011-12-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

Ever since I read the information about this book I was itching to get my hands on it! Monday Morning Cooking Club by Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel, published in 2011 by Hardie Grant Publishers. With thanks to Caroline and Hardie Grant for my copy.

It was worth the wait too. I would have to start off by saying that I’m not Jewish, but for some time now I’ve been buying and looking at books searching for ‘the’ book on Jewish food. I don’t know exactly what I was looking for only that I had not managed to find it, but let me tell you, for me - this is it!

So what is the Monday Morning cooking club? Well it is a Monday morning meet up for the six authors of this book, where they have hunted out recipes, tried and ditched, or tried and kept the recipes. The recipes in the book are the keepers, all accredited to their family owners, and there is a little information about each family, and how they came to Australia – the country where they all now live. I love the little snippets of family history, particularly as I get older where recipes come from their provenance and how they have evolved is ever more important to me.

Chapters are: *Our Story* Who we are* The cooks, their stories, the recipes* plus a glossary. The book is nicely laid out, with lots and lots of pictures, and they in turn are very doable and look like they have been cooked in a family kitchen.

There are so many recipes I’d like to try over the next while like: Chocolate Almond Florentines, Bienenstich, Mediterranean Fish Stew with Couscous, Sophie’s Orange Cake, Mamoul, Chicken Persian Pilau, Lauren’s Tuna Salad, Almond Kifli, Israeli Couscous Soup and Mum’s Crumb Cookies (date bars), Gina’s Hair Raising Honey Cake – to name but a few.

A lovely book all round, worth keeping an eye out for - interesting for the cook, but also the cookbook reader too. Here are the three recipes I’ve tried so far:

My Own Red Chicken

This is an oven bound sort of sweet and sour chicken. It’s punchy and loud, but I loved this recipe.

Perogen

These are suggested as accompaniments to soup. Little yummy savoury beef puff pastry morsels, well actually not so very little! Beef mince cooked with red wine, tomatoes, kecap manis and Worcestershire sauce, then encased in puff pastry and baked. They would be nice for supper with a good salad too.

Ginger Snaps

I love ginger snaps, but have never got round to making them myself until now, very easy and results in a good crisp gingery biscuit. A lovely biccie to have in your cookie tin or jar.

Next Review Up: One of Nigella’s classics - How to Be a Domestic Goddess with one copy to give away.

Rachel Allen Easy Meals - Review

2011-11-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Bacon and Potato Gratin with Buttered Cabbage

First off I didn’t mean to go awol, but we have been having problems with the computer, which I do hope are all fixed now. No Cake Slice Bakers today either but do have a look at the blogroll to see what my fellow bakers have baked.

I’ve been a fan of Rachel Allen for a number of years now, and in the past few years it’s with much anticipation that I’ve looked forward to her new books. Her latest one this year is Easy Meals by Rachel Allen published by Harper Collins Publisher in 2011.

It’s full of easy meals and a good number of them are fast too. Lots of picture of the finished dishes, you know really attainable ones. It has a clean layout, not as girly as some of her previous books. The chapters are: *Store Cupboard,* Fast and Fabulous,* Five Ingredients or Less,* One Pot, * No Cook, * and Fuss-Free Extras and Sides*.

I must confess when it first arrived I felt a bit underwhelmed, but I nipped down to our nearest shop and bought the ingredients for bacon and potato gratin and buttered cabbage (see below), and was converted!

A lot of photographs of the dishes, though not every single one is pictured. The book has a very clean, simple layout and for this reason it’s not my favourite Rachel book – I prefer the more feminine and embellished books she has. However, all the recipes I’ve tried have been good, and the book has grown on me.

I feel it’s a sort of follow on from Home Cooking, and that’s no bad thing for the family tea table. There is a TV series on UKTV Food to go with the book ‘Rachel Allen’s Easy Meals’ so that’s a bonus too! There are plenty more recipes I’d like to try, next on the list are: Vanilla Buttercream Squares, Chicken Skewers with Carrot and Apple Salad, Coconut Macaroon Meringue, Fish en Papillote three ways, Honey Mustard Pork Chops, Provencal Beef Stew and Coconut and Cardamom Pannacotta.

As well as the recipes below I’ve also made Rachel’s caramel rice pudding which was lovely, no picture to share here though, plus a couple of her quesadilla options and they were good too, likewise no picture.

Bacon and Potato Gratin with Buttered Cabbage

I made this one the day I received the book, to be honest I might not have made it, but it had to be something my local shop would sell, and this fitted the bill perfectly. Really tasty and well partnered with the cabbage. Even the little one liked it, and of late she has been so fussy. I’m making this again this week.

Carrot, Ginger and Coconut Soup

A great soup this one, smooth, creamy, carroty and a bit spicy from the ginger too, a keeper for sure.

Chicken and Chorizo Rice

This one is hearty and satisfying, I added in some cooked peas and sweetcorn for a few extra veggies and colour.

Chicken Biryani

This was another winner, lovely with a few dishes of bits and bobs, yum!

Little Banoffee Pots

These were yummy too, cream, bananas and toffee – what’s not to like?!

Chocolate Toffee Peanut Squares

I’ve been quite resistant in the past to using salted peanuts in my cooking, but here they do work, giving something familiar a new dimension, mmm.

Stir Fried Steak with Kale

Made this for hubby and I one night, and we both liked it, not cheap, but worth it for a midweek treat.

Pork Stir Fry

Or Rachel’s sweet and sour pork, enjoyed this, would add in a few more veggies next time.

Mediterranean Pasta

This is a one pot pasta dish where the pasta is cooked in with the sauce. I wasn’t sure about this method at all, but I overcame my prejudices and the resulting dish was fast and really delicious.

Next Review Up: Monday Morning Cooking Club

Cake Slice Bakers October 2011 – Apple Cake with Maple Frosting

2011-10-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

It’s October and in the Cake Slice Bakers that means it’s the month when we welcome new members and start baking from our new book, which we continue to bake from once a month for a year. I’m pleased to tell you that our new book is The Cake Book by American author Tish Boyle published by John Wiley and Sons 2006. I’ve owned this book since it came out and although I have a lot bookmarked I’ve not managed to get round to baking from it until now, but I’m very much looking forward to trying some of the lovely cakes from this book.

Our starting cake is a really nice one for this time of year – Apple Cake with Maple Frosting. It’s a slightly spiced cake batter which has peeled and chopped Granny Smith apples and chopped walnuts folded through it before baking. The frosting is a cream cheese number that is again lightly spiced and also has some maple extract.

I liked the cake and the frosting, the maple extract gave a sort of butterscotch Angel Delight taste to it, or at least the one I remember as being so beloved from my childhood. I had the maple extract in my cupboard having needed it for another American recipe, that I’ve not managed to get round to yet, but I will… I ordered it from Ebay one day a little while ago.

Can’t wait to see what next months’ one is, but in the meantime I’m off to see some of the apple cakes from my fellow bakers here on the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll.

Next Review Up: Rachel Allen Easy Meals

A Month in Marrakesh – Review

2011-10-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

Well we had a Moroccan night chez moi last week, courtesy of recipes from a new cookbook - A Month in Marrakesh by Andy Harris published by Hardie Grant Books 2011, with thanks to the Publisher for my copy. The author has a background in food and is currently editor of Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’ Magazine.

I think it has a masculine edge, it’s nicely done. Loads of pictures of food and absolutely fabulous scene setting pictures of Morocco and life in Marrakesh by the great photographer David Loftus.

Chapters are: Breakfast, Salads and Vegetables, Street Food and Snacks, Soups, Savoury Pastries, Tagine, Roasts, Desserts and Condiments. There is also a Glossary of Moroccan Spices, Moroccan Grains and Pulses then finally Moroccan Ingredients.

There is slow food, fast food, vibrant and different salads and unusual desserts. There is also a real deal couscous recipe in the Glossary section of the book, no boiling water and 10 minutes in a cling covered bowl here! This needs steaming, cooling, fluffing with butter and more steaming, cooling and fluffing… This method gives a fabulous couscous, but it does take time. Something to make one day when you have a relaxed timetable and feel like showing your friends and family a little love and great couscous!

Having dipped my little finger into the food of Morocco I’m sure I’ll be trying out some more soon. Some of the dishes on my list from Andy’s book are: Seffa with Stewed Fruit, Chorba, Sept Legumes with Couscous, Lamb and Prune Tagine and Mahallabia (milk pudding). Here are the three dishes I tried out:

Chicken Tagine

I took a gentle introduction to Moroccan food with this tagine, it should have been rabbit, but, I swapped it for chicken instead. I deliberately chose a mild mannered tagine, and it was nice, the flavour delicate and aromatic, the meat so tender.

Date Compote and Greek Yoghurt

This was a very unusual dish, a compote of dates and almonds flavoured with thyme, and rose. I have honestly never tasted anything like it before. The compote was layered with Greek yoghurt which should have had lemon juice folded through, but my yoghurt was pretty sour already, so I omitted this step. I served this with shortbread, which was totally misplaced, but good!

Avocado, Persimmon and Mango Salad

This was a fabulous salad - unusual, sweet, gentle but full of delicious tastes, we had this dish one lunch time with some cold chicken and it was lovely.

Next Up: Cake Slice Bakers

Next Review Up: Rachel Allen's Easy Meals

The Great British Bake Off - How to Bake, Review

2011-09-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

I was very pleased to see a second series of the Great British Bake Off this year, having enjoyed the first series a lot and a new book too - The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and other Baking Secrets by Linda Collister published by BBC Books in 2011.

This one is different from last year's book and a lot more of a `tie in' companion to the 2011 series. A good amount of pictures (though not all recipes are photographed by any means), well presented and easy to follow. Chapters are: *Cakes* Biscuits & Teatime Treats * Bread * Pies and Savoury Pastry * Tarts & Sweet Pastry* Patisserie * Puddings & Desserts *Celebration Cakes*.

The first seven chapters have a 'Technical Challenge' by Paul or Mary, and there is also a number of `How to Make the Perfect' recipes. For example, the Biscuits and Teatime Treats chapter has Mary's Brandy Snaps for the technical challenge and the How to Make the Perfect recipe is for Almond Tuiles.

There are also coloured pages from the contestants with their recipes. It doesn't say who each recipe belongs too, but they are certainly easily identifiable as Bake-Off recipes, in the introduction to the book these bake off recipes are described as `the most successful recipes from the bakers'. There is a code to enter online to be able to upload the recipes from the final.

As well as the step by step recipes mentioned above there are a good number of pictures of the finished bakes, they are not all pictured, but there are plenty for me. The layout is good, clean and easy to follow. If I'm being picky, I would say I would have liked to have known who each of the contestants recipes came from. I’ve jotted the names down beside the recipes while watching, but would have liked them to have been credited to their respective contestants in the book as well. It's a good baking book, relevant for a new or inexperienced baker who is looking to learn; but equally so for experienced and keen bakers on the look out for new recipes.

EDIT: This is the day after the bake off final, and the booklet from the publishers (all 27 pages) is an excellent addition to the main book. It gives all the recipes from the final and also tells you who all the bake off recipes in the book are from.

Next on my list to try are: Mary's Coffee and Walnut Battenburg, Keith’s Earl Grey Cupcakes, Sticky Maple-Apple Traybake, Sticky Chicken Pasties, Warm Cherry Crumble Pie, Jo’s Limoncello and White Chocolate Croquembouche, Stilton, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie, Jason’s Pina Colada Macaroons, Stem Ginger Shortbreads, Sticky Orange Marmalade Cake, Mary-Anne’s Chocolate Orange Mousse Cake and Holly’s Mint Chocolate Macaroons! ’d be surprised if I don’t get round to a second post from this book in the future!

Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes

The first recipe I tried before it was even on TV was Holly’s cherry bakewell cupcakes, they were very good too, almond-y sponge, lemon icing and a cherry on top. I used old fashioned dyed red cherries, as my Mother and Hubby tell me in no uncertain terms that the natural ones don’t taste the same! Hubby was especially taken with these, and the cake dome was empty very soon. Click here for the recipe.

Cranberry Cooler Macaroons

This one was Jason’s recipe, one of a trio of ‘mocktail’ flavours, or cocktails without the alcohol. Almond shells filled with a sort of cranberry and orange cream fool mixture. I overfilled these because I wanted to serve them as a dessert with *more* filling. They’d be lovely at Christmas when cranberry season is in full swing. Really looking forward to trying his Pina Colada macaroons too.

Rum and Raisin Cheesecake

I reckoned I wasn’t going to bake another cheesecake, as we generally do prefer an unbaked one. However, when I saw Jo make this on the bake off it had to be made! It’s creamy with just the right amount of rum. Click here for the recipe.

Next Review Up: A Month in Marrakesh

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake – Cake Slice Bakers September 2011

2011-09-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

Well, in the Cake Slice Bakers group we bake one recipe per month from the same book for a whole year. This month is the last month for our current book Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman published by The Taunton Press 2009. Usually we vote on a few options to select the cake for the month, however this month as it was the last one from this book we all got the opportunity to choose the cake to make ourselves.

That was quite hard I can tell you! I was torn between three: cranberry walnut bundt cake with maple espresso glaze, dulce de leche coffee cake and the one I made Nutella Swirl Pound Cake. I thought about baking two, but I always seem to have a longer list of want-to-bakes than I have opportunities and calories to eat them!!

So Nutella cake it was. This was an unusual cake, tight tender crumb and big swirls of nutella. The swirling was a bit difficult, and maybe I didn’t swirl enough, but then again mine looks pretty much like the picture in the book, so maybe this was the kind of swirl that was aimed for, who knows! It was a nice cake, my lot liked it especially spread with a little butter, and right enough the butter seemed to draw out the very essence of the nutella, which must be a good thing.

If any readers would fancy joining the Cake Slice Bakers please email your Name, Blog Name, Blog URL and the email address you use to access the your blog site to: appleandspice[AT]hotmail[DOT]co[DOT]uk with 'New Cake Slice Member' as the subject. Spaces are limited, but if you fancy joining do drop Katie an email.

If you'd like to have a look at the other recipes made by our members this month do have a look here for the Cake Slice Bakers Blogroll. Can’t wait till next month to reveal our new book!!

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

From Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups plain flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
8 oz / 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 x 400g jar (13 ounces, about 1 cup) Nutella

(1) Preheat oven to 325oF / 17o C (I did 160 oC in my fan oven). Line a 2lb / 9 x 5” loaf tin with baking parchment.

(2) Combine the eggs and vanilla in jug and beat lightly. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

(3) Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until fluffy. Turn mixer to low, add egg mixture in slowly, scraping down sides as necessary.

(4) Add flour mix 1/2 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Beat 30 seconds after last addition.

(5) Scrape 1/3 of batter into pan and smooth with a spatula. Spread half of the Nutella over batter and smooth the top. Add another 1/3 of batter, then the rest of the Nutella, topping with final 1/3 layer of batter. Swirl by running a knife through the mixture.

(6) Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until cooked. Let cool in tin for 15 minutes, invert onto wire rack and cool completely.

Next Review Up: British Bake Off How To Bake

JME Power Dressing Review

2011-09-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I was sent the Power Dressing set from JME, Jamie Oliver’s range. They came packaged in a cardboard box together, a sort of cute wine bottle box, but bespoke for the JME bottles. The great play on words really appeals to me, drawing parallels between power dressing for a business meeting and power dressing your salad =)

A great pair for salad dressings they are too, good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil that is bright, green and fruity. Nice idea for a gift or a little luxury for your own kitchen.

One of my friends often brings a great bottle of oil when invited to a dinner party, as well as the more usual wine. Being the kind of cook I am, that really appeals to me, the oil lasting a lot longer than the wine! With thanks to JME and James for my review set. Click here for stockists.

Next Review Up: The Great British Bake Off How To Bake

Nigella Kitchen… Another Helping

2011-08-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

Coffee and Walnut Cake

First off, apologies, I didn’t manage to do the Cake Slice baker recipe this month, but I’ll be back again next month for the last recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes.

Kitchen Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson published 2010 by Chatto and Windus. I’m still cooking from this the most recent Nigella Lawson cookbook – and here is my next instalment.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

Moist sponge and creamy icing. Rich, but good.

Spring Chicken

This chicken dish was very light, not a favourite. I did use the leftovers in the pasta sauce suggestion in the book, and it was nicer with the touch of cream we thought. Won’t do this one again though.

Turkey Meatballs

We liked this one – all of us. Maybe not Nigella's most spectacular meatballs, but still a good midweek supper.

Mixed Meat Pilaf

I’ve made this one a number of times, it’s really good. You do need some pine nuts and pomegranate seeds, but it lifts leftover lamb into a wonderful dish worth dreaming about in its own right.

Devil’s Food Cake

A very moist and delicious sponge and a really dark icing. Instead of 300g dark chocolate in the icing I used 200g dark and 100g milk chocolate, but it was still too dark for us. I think sometime in the future I’ll try this sponge and the icing from the chocolate cake in Nigella Bites. Have very high hopes for that =) At its best two days after making we thought.

Chorizo and Chickpea Stew

This is a store cupboard recipe, and quite quick to boot, but it’s good, chorizo sausage, chickpeas, apricots and tomatoes. The couscous with a bit of pasta in it and scented with cinnamon is quite unusual, but also good.

Not Quite Sl@t’s Spaghetti!

Not least because the one in my picture is not of spaghetti!! I bought this square pasta from M&S, cute don’t you think? Also not quite the recipe in the book because I reduce the anchovies to 1 for a half quantity. I like it though, light, quick and full flavoured.

Korean Prawns

The recipe in the book is for calamari, but I’m allergic to it so I used prawns. Spicy and good. Actually it’s on the very edge of my chilli tolerance, but still I like it. Beautiful colour too.

Grasshopper Pie

I’ve saved the best for last here, oh my goodness this is fabulous! It’s not cheap to make the first time as you need two liqueurs, but we really, really loved this! It’s cool, minty, creamy and so light too. Of course now I have the liqueurs - crème de cacao blanc and crème de menthe I can make it anytime. Whether that is a good this or not I don’t know!

Next Review: JME Oil and Vinegar

Next Book Review Up: The Great British Bake Off How to Bake

Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

2011-08-14T13:43:00.001-07:00

This book came out last year, and a lovely one it is too. Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas published by Kyle Cathie Limited in 2010. I had this one pre-ordered, and have looked through it often, but it was only at the beginning of this summer that I started cooking from it. I’ve never been to the actual Primrose Bakery itself in London…well yet anyhow, one day I hope. Until then I am happy – more than happy to have their cookbook on my shelves and to be able to cook from it in my kitchen.

The book itself is a nice pale primrose yellow in colour, a nice touch I thought. Its chapters are ~Basic Cupcakes~ Basic Icings~ Festive and Seasonal~ Special Occasions~ Weddings~ Beyond Cupcakes~ Decorations~ and finally Techniques and Equipment~. There is also a handy stockists page at the back for UK shops and websites. The book is full of mainly cupcakes, but with a few cakes at the back too. Beautiful pictures that just make you want to pick them up off the page and eat. It is undoubtedly a good thing that I can’t eat a bit of each of them in one go! Cute little line drawings throughout as well.

Here are some of the cakes I have marked to try: Orange Cupcakes with Orange Blossom Icing, Ginger Cupcakes with Ginger Fudge Icing, Caramel Cupcakes, Vanilla Cupcakes with Lime and Coconut Buttercream and the one I’m going to try next, Chocolate Orange Cupcakes.

I tried three out and they were all great, but if I had to play favourites it would be the Raspberry and White Chocolate cupcakes they were very good indeed!

Strawberry and Cream Cupcakes

Strawberry flavoured sponge, strawberry jam filling and vanilla icing. I added some strawberry extract to the icing and made it pink, but I am a tinkerer. Lovely, very Summery.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Icing

A good lemon hit and cute too. I made these as mini cupcakes.

Raspberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Delicious. Raspberry filled and white chocolate icing, just perfect. The world is a better place with a batch of these under your cake dome, or in your tins!

Raspberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Adapted Slightly from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas published 2010.

110g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

180g Caster Sugar

2 large Eggs

125g Self-raising Flour, sifted

120g Plain Flour, sifted

125ml milk at room temperature (semi skimmed)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons raspberry jam (I like Dalfour)

(1)Preheat the oven to 160 F fan / 180 F / 350 C / Gas mark 4. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with big cases.

(2) Cream the butter and sugar (I use my mixer with the paddle attachment) until light, pale and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, mixing for a few minutes after each goes in. Meanwhile sift the flours into a bowl and in a jug mix the milk and vanilla.

(3)Add one third of the flour to the butter mixture, then one third of the milk mixing just to incorporate each. Do this twice more with each until all the flour and milk is used. Fold in the raspberry jam (stirring the jam first to loosen if you need to) to give a good rippled effect. Spoon or scoop the mixture into the 12 waiting cases. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked.

(4) Leave in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

30g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

15ml Milk, also at room temperature (semi skimmed)

Drop or two of Vanilla Extract

125g Icing Sugar, sifted

100g good white chocolate (I use Lindt)

3 tablespoons Double Cream

Filling for cakes, 1 teaspoon raspberry jam per cake

Final Topping: Fresh Raspberries 12 to 24

(1)In a food mixer with the whisk attachment (for ease) whisk the butter, vanilla, milk and half the sugar for a few minutes until smooth. Gradually add the remaining icing sugar, beating well between each addition.

(2) Melt the white chocolate, either in short (20 second) bursts in the microwave or on top of a pan of barely simmering water on the cooker top – take care that the water does not touch the bowl. Leave to cool a bit.

(3) Once cooled add the chocolate and cream to the vanilla icing that you have made to turn it into white chocolate icing.

(4) Make a hole in the middle of each cupcake big enough to take the teaspoon of raspberry jam, then top with the white chocolate icing. Finally place a raspberry or two on top.

Note: if you make this icing ahead it will need to be kept in the fridge due to the cream, beat well before using if you do this.

Next Up: Another helping from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson

Next Review Up: The Great British Bake Off How To Bake

Taste Le Tour - Review

2011-07-30T07:10:00.001-07:00

This is a lovely little cookbook. Taste Le Tour Regional French Cuisine by Gabriel Gate published by Hardie Grant in 2011. It’s pretty – look at the cover, it looks like a pretty box

from an exquisite French patisserie shop. The cover is a little puffy too and this emphasises the luxury effect. It’s called Taste le Tour, as it is a book that travels through the different regions in France that the actual Tour de France bicycle race travels to. The difference being that you don’t need to be able to tackle the big race itself, you get to travel via your own cooker!

I think it’s a charming book, not only because I like pink things (!), but also because of its layout and charming illustrations by Francophile artist Antonia Pesanti. There are no photographs of the finished dishes, but there are some drawings of sweet dishes at the back. Antonia’s drawings give a delightful backdrop to the book.

Gabriel Gate is a Frenchman who trained as a chef in France before moving to Australia. He is now a cooking teacher, author and TV presenter. The food is presented in a classic format with chapters being: *Soups, Entrees and Vegetables* Fish and Seafood* Poultry and Rabbit* Beef, Lamb and Pork* and *Cakes and Desserts.

Now is the perfect time to cook from this book as July is the month of the Tour de France race. Though it would be a shame only to use it for one month of the year! The food is classically French and Gabriel’s recipes are easy to follow, I made three dishes (see below) and we liked them all. He tells you on each recipe which area it comes from. Some of the other dishes I have marked to try are: Silverbeet Gratin, Provencal Vegetable Bake, Chicken Casserole cooked in Reisling, Lamb Casserole with Green Olives, Summer Fruit Mousse and Raspberry Tartlettes. Here are the three I tried:

Raspberry Trifles

I made this as one big trifle. It comprises a cooked custard (crème patisserie), trifle sponges, raspberries and a little orange and Cointreau. The custard and cream are folded together for an easy trifle topping - and a delicious one too.

Prawns the Parisian Way

This should have been scallops the Parisian way, but when I went shopping there were no scallops… so prawns it was. A veloute sauce enriched with cream, egg yolk and cheese. It did indeed taste very chic and Parisiene. It was fast too. I’m going to make it again soon.

Apricot Compote

I love apricots, but they taste a whole lot better if they have been cooked. The sweet poaching liquid was flavoured with lemon, orange and vanilla. I took out some for little one, and then more or less followed the recipe by adding in a little Amaretto (instead of Armagnac). They were really delicious with or without the alcohol.

Next Review up: Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

Zebra Cake - Cake Slice Bakers July 2011

2011-07-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

This months cake is still from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman published by The Taunton Press 2009. It’s something I’ve been meaning to try for ages, so was pleased to give it a whirl.

Short and sweet from me this month! It’s vanilla cake and chocolate cake mixtures dropped into the pan in spoonfulls, to give a bulls eye effect, which looks stripey when the cake is cut into. Mine wasn’t perfect by any means, but there was a definite stripe in it, wavy like a zebra’s coat. It was fun to give it a whirl, and now that I’ve at long last tried the technique, I must get round to giving a stripey cheesecake recipe I have been meaning to try a go too.

Do have a look at the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll, some of the zebra cakes are really awesome!

Next review up: Taste le Tour

Custard Cream Button Biscuits

2011-07-10T06:22:00.001-07:00

Custard Cream Buttons

I’ve been following Ed’s blog for a while now. He won the British Bake Off competition on TV in 2010. He also has a cookbook due out later this year. A few weeks ago he posted about custard creams that he had made, and they looked fabulous. Now, I have made custard creams before but they included cheap white fat, and I really didn’t like the mouth feel that this gave at the end of the biscuit. Ed used all butter in his, and I thought why not? – I’ve been meaning to play around with the white fat issue for ages now, because I do like a custard cream. In fact just typing this I fancy making them again – right this minute!

In Ed’s pictures the biscuits look like little button discs, one of the commenters on his post said so, and I thought so too. So I took this one small step further and marked them to look like actual buttons with a round cutter and a cocktail stick (pick) for the ‘holes’. The following recipe is the one Ed has on his blog, with the exception of some milk that I added to the filling. To see Ed’s neater piped filling, and quite honestly better pictures than mine do have a look at his post here. We really enjoyed these.

Custard Creams

225g plain flour

50g custard powder

30g icing sugar

175g unsalted butter, chilled and diced

1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Filling

50g unsalted butter, room temperature

200g icing sugar

2 tablespoons custard powder

25ml milk

(1) To make the biscuits place the flour, custard powder, icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add in the butter and vanilla bean paste and pulse until the mixture begins to come together. Tip the mixture out onto the work surface and bring together into a uniform mass with your hands. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

(2) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll to a thickness of 3-4mm. Cut out small rounds about 3cm in diameter, place on a Place on a baking parchment lined baking tray. Next mark half of them with the tines of a fork two or three times, not going all the way through. Now, to make the ‘buttons’ take a smaller circular cutter and press into the unmarked rounds, again not going all the way through. Finally take a cocktail stick and make 4 button holes in the center of the ‘buttons’. Refrigerate the trays for 15 minutes or until firm. Whilst chilling preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F. Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes or until just starting to colour around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

(3) For the filling place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy about 5 minutes then slowly incorporate the icing sugar and custard powder and beat in high until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the 25ml of milk, if you think it needs it. To make it smooth and spreadable

(4) Spread the butter cream with a knife onto half of the biscuits, the plain half! Sandwiching them together with the top ‘button’ biscuits. Or Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small plain and pipe the filling instead.

Next Review up: Taste Le Tour

The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days - Review

2011-07-04T02:09:00.000-07:00

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

After the success of their first cookbook, last year, here is the second offering on the cookbook front from the famous bakery. The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days by Tarek Malouf and the Hummingbird Bakers published by Collins in 2011.

A very nice book it is bigger than the first one. Plenty of pictures of the finished baked goods too. It has a good layout, with different colours used in pretty ways. Cupcakes, cakes, loaf cakes, savoury muffins and more. This book takes you through a year at the bakery, and this is clearly reflected in the flavours of the baked goods in the various chapters. The chapters are: Valentine’s Day* Spring Weekend Bakes* Mother’s and Father’s Day* Easter* Summer afternoon Tea* Birthdays and Celebrations* Rainy Day Treats* Halloween and Bonfire Night* and Christmas.

I couldn’t wait to get baking from this one! They say the cupcake is waning in its popularity; well not in my heart, head and kitchen it’s not!! Sticky Toffee Cupcakes were my first bake, and they were closely followed by the next two here that I’ve tried. My friend Kate made and gives the thumbs up to the apple and walnut cupcakes too.

Some of the other recipes I have marked to try are: Apple Blosson Cupcakes, Caramel Cupcakes, Rose Cupcakes, Lemonade Cupcakes, Pea, Ham and Feta Cheese Muffins, Gingerbread Cupcakes and Apple Crumble Cupcakes – to name but a few..

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

Goodness these are so good they are dangerous! Hubby has declared this as his favourite cupcake ever, ever, EVER! Mind you it’s with good reason, moist sponge with the gorgeous mejool dates I used providing contrast and a dulce de leche buttercream frosting. I topped them with a few more chopped mejools. There was a lot of icing left over, and I’d halve it next time. There will be a next time, I think these might become hubs ‘birthday cake’ this year. I didn’t work out how many calories these have, and I definitely don’t want to know, it would spoil the joy! What I will say though is that I would have bought the book for this recipe alone.

Malteser Cupcakes

As if to contrast the success of the first one, this one didn’t do it at all for us, the cake was neither chocolate-y or malt-y enough and the frosting was just not sweet enough. Can’t win them all.

Banoffee Whoopies

This one however was another hit. I’ve been working myself up to making whoopie pies for some time now, and they are fabulous. They are really filling so small to medium in size would be better than large – well that’s what I think anyhow. Cakey, creamy, moist – delicious!

Next Up: Custard Creams

Next Review: Taste Le Tour

Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chips - CSB June 2011

2011-06-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

It’s the twentieth of the month – Cake Slice Baker time!

This cake, again, comes from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman published by The Taunton Press 2009. For the first time when the Cake Slice members voted on which cake for us all to bake there was a draw. Two choices to bake: Lime Chiffon Cake or Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chips.

I chose to make the latter and it’s a very seasonal one for this time of year, when our strawberries are at their brightly coloured, juicy, delicious best. I bought four lots of strawberries before I managed to make the cake, we just couldn’t help ourselves eating the rest just as they were =)

Anyhow, the strawberry cake comes from the snacking cake chapter. It has some sour cream in the cake batter to give a little tang and it made for a moist fruity cake that felt quite decadent by the addition of the white chocolate chips. I use chopped up white chocolate, because that is my preference here.

We liked this cake, it’s not a wow-after-dinner-cake, but it is a very nice cake to have with a cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon. The author tosses the sliced berries in some flour to stop them dying the whole cake pink, and this worked well. Do visit the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll, and see how everyone else has done their cakes, and maybe the lime one too.

Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chips

From Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman 2009. I’ve re-done it slightly to make it easier for UK bakers. I’ve put the US measurements in italics where I’ve changed them.

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

150ml pot sour cream ½ cup

½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ cups plain flour – divided 1 ¼ cups and ¼ cup

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda baking soda

Good pinch salt

3 oz unsalted butter, softened 6 tablespoons / ¾ of a stick

1 cup sugar

8 oz strawberries, weighed after hulling and slicing

150g white chocolate chips (or chopped white chocolate) 1 cup

(1) Preheat the oven to 180 ^oC. Line an 8 inch square baking tin with baking parchment paper.

(2) Combine the egg, egg yolk, sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla in bowl and mix together.

(3) Mix together the dry ingredients, the 1 ¼ cups flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

(4) Mix the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 3 minutes, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides as necessary. Add in the sour cream mixture, slowly. Add the flour mixture in three lots, with the mixer on low speed. Mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.

(5) Combine the sliced strawberries with the ¼ flour you have left and toss lightly to coat. By hand with a spatula gently fold in the berries in flour plus the white chocolate chips. Mix well, but lightly. Scrape into the prepared tin. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

(6) Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, peel off the paper and let cool completely on a baking rack. Cut into 9 or 12 squares.

Next Up: Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days

Olives Et Al, Product Review and Quick Halloumi Recipe

2011-06-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

I was recently sent some samples from Olives Et Al (thank you), a British company who are purveyors of fabulous olives and much, much more, do have a look at their website here. They also have a big selection on the Amazon UK website I liked everything I tried here, and would certainly buy from them in the future.

The Sunshine Olives were perfect before a Mediterranean dinner. I had plans for the leftovers, but alas there were none! Another pair of pre-dinner nibbles were Wasabi Flaming Rice and Cajun Spiced Nuts. The wasabi crackers were little bombs of fire - the hot wasabi packing a real punch. The Cajun nuts were also spicy, but in a more rounded way – a lovely mix of almonds, cashews and peanuts.

Finally was the Beetroot and Thyme dressing / marinade. I had this for lunch one day, but it could equally be an easy first course for dinner. The sweetness of the beetroot in the dressing played really well with the halloumi cheese that I served it with. If you’d like to make it here is the recipe, although method is probably more accurate, as there isn’t much to it!

Fried Halloumi Cheese with Beetroot and Thyme Dressing

1 packet Halloumi cheese

1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Bag Rocket leaves

Cherry tomatoes, about 8 per person

Olives Et Al Beetroot and Thyme Dressing / Marinade

(1) Slice some halloumi (I get 8 to 10 slices per pack of halloumi) put about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a sauté pan and heat, when hot fry the halloumi slices for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until browned and crispy on the outside.

(2) Meantime place some rocket leaves on plates and halve the cherry tomatoes.

(3) When the cheese is ready place 2 to 3 slices on top of the waiting rocket leaves and scatter over the cherry tomatoes, finally drizzle everything with the dressing.

Serves 2-3 as a light lunch or 4 as a first course.

Next Up: Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days

Rose Petal Jam, Review and Interview

2011-05-31T02:44:00.000-07:00

I had this book on my wishlist, even before I was asked if I would like to review it, so I was very pleased to do so! I know very little about Polish food, or Poland itself for that matter; and the time has come to redress this.

Rose Petal Jam Recipes and Stories from a Summer In Poland by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target published by Tabula Books 2011. With thanks you to the publishers for my review copy.

It was with facination that I read Beata's writing about her home-land. Poland is and intersting, cutlural, musical, beautiful land. The book is a memoir with recipes, really well done and is fully illustrated throughout. Beata is a lady from Poland who by twists of fate is now a Doctor in Australia. Simon, her husband took the many pictures of Poland for the book. Between them both - Beata's words and Simon's picutres it is east to see and 'be there'. Well as much as is possible through a book!

Cool and perfect for Summer, cucumber salad

The pictures are wonderful, beautifully composed but in a way that you actually see what is there. This book would sit happily on a coffee table to be picked up and read at will, but it is also a cookbook - and you know me - I love a spot of cookery travel to serve at my own table at home. Beata's writing is so evocative I can imagine clearly being her as a child in her beloved Grandmother Jozefa's kitchen.

Poland has had much sorrow, but much to celebrate too. Here in the UK we know that Spring is here and Summer is on the way when our beautiful swallows return, in Poland they eagerly await the return of their storks. I found that really facinating, just a subtle little difference between countires. A beautiful book all round.

Chapters and Rose Petal Jam, Return of the Stork and Summer in Poland. I have tried a couple of recipes and liked them both, and I'm looking forward to trying (amongst lots of others) Beef Goulash and the Kissel that Beata mentions in the interview below. I have the potato flour needed - just waiting for some gorgeous Summer berries to be ripe now.

Potato pancakes with sour cream (and smoked salmon), a gluten free delicious morsel.

Here is my interview with beata Zatorska.

KJ: I’ve really had my eyes opened to Poland as a beautiful country, when you are in Australia and think of Poland what do you remember first.

Beata: I remember the sound of the wind in the linden tree outside my grandmother's house. Sometimes the tall gum trees outside our house in Sydney make a similar noise, and suddenly I am back in Poland. I also remember fireflies lighting up the garden on a warm June night. (In Oz the evening begins with the tropical roaring of cicadas - but no fireflies.

KJ: Which dish do you cook that takes you back in time?

Beata: Pierogi ruskie (Russian pierogi - a giant ravioli like pasta filled with cheese and potato) is something our kids love and that takes me back to my childhood as soon as I start rolling out the pastry (as I did for my grandmother when I was only 5). In our family today in Australia there is often a competition to see who can eat most. The record stands somewhere around 40 (they are teenage boys after all). I am not sure why these are called 'Russian' but they are known as such at every cafe and restaurant in Poland. You can also make pierogi filled with meat, cabbage even fresh seasonal berries.

KJ: What would you like to tell readers about Polish food?

Beata: The food I describe in this book is traditional Polish food, sometimes for special occasions, but often for ordinary meals during the week. It is simple and delicious and hopefully won't be re-invented as 'modern Polish' (just one pierogi on a bed of pesto etc) too soon!

KJ: Do you have a favourite savoury and sweet recipe from the book?

Beata: I love the herring in sour cream recipe on fresh rye bread with or without cold vodka (preferably with). My favourite sweet recipe is kisiel - a sort of jelly made with fresh fruit - its fruity fragrance and deliciously gooey consistency reminds me of long summer days in my grandmother's house.

Thank you very much Beata.

Next Review Up: Olives Et Al.

Orange Almond Caramel Upside Down Cake – Cake Slice Bakers May 2011

2011-05-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

The cake
It’s cake Slice Baker time again! It has been a very fast month, and has just flown by, I only managed to bake this yesterday, which is a bit last minute for my liking, but I made it in time just!

The toffee drizzled with honey and sprinkled with toasted flaked almonds.
Our cake this month comes from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman published by The Taunton Press 2009. The cake this month is an Orange-Almond-Caramel Upside-Down Cake, from the Round Cakes chapter.

Ready to go.
The bottom layer is an orange and vanilla flavoured cake, tender due to a little sour cream in the batter. Topped off with a sticky, gorgeous, honey toffee flaked almond topping. Yum yum! We liked this one, I’d have been really surprised if we had not – caramel, orange, honey and almonds all go down well here. Teensy bit of whipped cream and dessert is served.

Mmmm!
Now, I’m off to see how my fellow Cake Slice Bakers got on with it. Here is the link for the blogroll if you would like to as well.

Next Review Up: Rose Petal Jam Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland.

One More Slice by Leila Lindholm, Review

2011-05-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

Waffles with raspberries and maple syrup.

Leila Lindholm is back with a follow up to her previous baking book “A Piece of Cake”. This second volume “One More Slice” published by New Holland Publishers (UK) in 2011 is an expansion on the first covering new (mainly) baked goods.

The style is similar to the first with beautiful yet rustic photography – scenery, food, shops and Leila herself plus friends too. Chapters are: Pizza Amore * Say Cheesecake* Pancakes and Waffles * Ciao Tortano * Brownies and Blondies * I Scream for Ice Cream * Boulangerie * American Pie and * Pasta Pronto.

Many of the chapters have a master recipe and variations from it (like the previous book, which I must get round to reviewing…). For example nine variations of brownies or New York Cheesecake seven ways. There are also others like the American Pie chapter, that are all individually done. Plenty of pictures to inspire you too.

I can’t eat yeast, but if you can I think the “Nine Kinds of Baguette” would have you in the kitchen baking bread as fast as you can don your apron! One kind has beetroot and feta cheese in it; I wish I can tell you! There is also a beautiful pink spiky Ice Cream Bombe with Raspberry Meringue. Some more tasters of the recipes are : Moist Coconut Slice with Lime * Tortano with Goats Cheese and Salami* American Pancakes * Belgian Waffles * Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake * Calzone * Stars and Stripes Pie* and American Caramel Pie.

A few years ago now I bought an electric waffle maker, convincing myself that I really needed it. It’s not something I use every day by any means, but when I do use it everyone loves a hot waffle. My favourite chapter in this book is “Pancakes and Waffles”. We loved the classic waffles and I’m looking forward to trying others like “World’s Tastiest Crispy Waffles”. At the moment I’ve got some ricotta in my fridge to try Leila’s ricotta pancakes, the question is do I do them plain, with mixed berries or with pecans and chocolate? Decisions decisions!

Brownies with After Eights

These were good, strong and a bit minty. They didn’t quite pip Dorie’s (Greenspan) ones, but they were nice with ice cream. My only niggle really is that the brownie recipe doesn’t give a tin size – I guessed at 13 x 9 inches.

Waffles

These were lovely, light sweet and a bit crispy.

Waffles Recipe

My adaptation of Leila Lindholm’s recipe from “One More Slice” published by New Holland Publishers (UK) 2011. I’ve halved the recipe and added some sugar too. You’ll need a waffle maker.

Makes 8 to 10 waffles, depending on the size of your waffle maker.

175g plain flour

Good pinch salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup caster sugar

400ml milk

40g butter

2 large eggs

Cooking oil spray for the waffle maker

(1) Mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a batter jug if you have one (or bowl), whisk in the milk to make a smooth batter.

(2) Melt the butter and add to the batter beating well, then beat in the two eggs.

(3) Leave the batter to sit for 30 minutes.

(4) Warm up your waffle iron and spray with oil for each batch and cook until golden and lovely.

Next Review up: Rose Petal Jam, Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland.

Gran's Kitchen - Review, Interview and Recipe

2011-04-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

Before my post proper, I'd like to say that today is the royal wedding day for Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton, it's lovely to see a young couple in love. They both looked fabulous today, congratulations and wishing them all the best today and in the future :) Now onto the post!

Gran's Kitchen Recipes from the Notebooks of Dulcie May Brooker by Natalie Oldfield, published by Hardie Grant Books (UK) 2011. With many thanks to the publisher for my copy. This is just the kind of cookbook I like, a bit like the Hairy Bikers Mum's Know Best, except the book is all from one lady's recipe jotters.

The layout is good, fresh and mixed with a reflection on Dulcie's lifetime in pictures. Good food photography too, and plenty of them. Chapters are *Breakfast* Morning Tea* Cakes* Fred's Dinners* Desserts* and Preserves and Sauces* There are savoury dishes, but many more sweet and in particular baking recipes.

Dulcie was born in 1913 in New Zealand, and passed away in 2009. The book is written (co-authoured) by Natalie Oldfield, who is a Granddaughter of Dulcie. She in turn has a cafe and bakery in Aukland, New Zealand and sells a range that is based on her Gran's recipes.

Dulcie would have been about the same age as one of my own Grandmas (sadly now also gone), and how happy I would have been to have a book of her recipes! Still, I'm very happy to be reading and cooking from Gran's Kitchen. Dulcie was obviously a great cook, and her recipes are accompanied by pictures, which are done with a retro feel, really fitting the book well.

This is a lovely book to give someone who can cook, most recipes do not give cake tin sizes, but if you can bake you'll be able to choose the right kind of tin - the pictures help here too. Well, I managed anyhow!

Some, though not all of the recipes I have marked to try are: Ginger Lime Loaf, Cream Crackers, Cheese Straws, Neenish Tarts, Passion fruit Sponge Cake, Winter (savoury) Slice, Caramel Hazelnut Pudding and a beautiful Mint Jelly.

Here is an interview with the author Natalie Oldfield:

KJ: Do you have a favourite recipe from the book?

Natalie: This would have to be cheesecakes, it is something that I always LOVED to share with Gran, and she loved to bake with me!

KJ: Did your Gran get to see her book before she passed away?

Natalie: Yes the book released in NZ in Feb of 2009 and she passed away in March 2009.

KJ: What did she think?

Natalie: Gran loved to see her recipe's compiled into one book although she had so many more. She also wondered what the fuss was all about as for her these recipe's were just part of her daily life and nothing 'extra special' - she did however enjoy some competition and as the book climbed the top 10 on the best sellers book here in NZ she loved to hear where it was standing each week, right up until the night before she passed away this was part of our conversation.

KJ: What is your happiest memory of being in your Gran’s kitchen?

Natalie: Being together with friends and family, the smells and of course the eating! It was a place where everyone congregated - centre point of the home really.

KJ: Which recipe do you make that takes you back to your Gran’s kitchen?

Natalie: Probably Party Cheese Scones - always made for a special morning tea for a birthday etc or Peanut Brownies - these were always on the go in Gran's Kitchen as she would always give a batch away in a tin for your birthday. Dulcie never forgot your birthday even at the age of 95 she was the first on the phone to celebrate the day with you and remind you that your Peanut Brownies were waiting. She had many friends and family so this recipe was a well worn looking one!

Thank you Natalie. Here are some of my first makes:

Porridge

A really classic, old fashioned recipe - we loved it, it reminds me of my Mum's porridge, except now I have a recipe! I have made this so many times now.

Cheese Cakes

I remember these from when I was little, layers of pastry, jam and sponge on top. The real advantage of making them at home is you can put in plenty of jam. Yum.

Luscious Lemon Slice

A delicious lemon and buttery slice.

Ciss's Sponge Cake

Such a light cake this one, made mostly with cornflour as the flour part, I did it in a 9" tin, a 10" one would have been fine too. It makes a big cake and I had a bit leftover. We thought it was even better the next day when the cornflour had calmed down a bit. Sandwiched with jam and cream, mmmm.

ANZAC Biscuits With permission from Hardie Grant Books - thank you!

1 cup flour

1 cup Sugar

1 cup rolled oats

pinch salt

1 cup coconut

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 lb (115g) butter

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon boiling water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Melt the butter and golden syrup, then add baking soda dissolved in water. Mix wet into dry ingredients.

Spoon onto greased oven tray and bake at 320 oF (160 oC) for 15 minutes.

Next Up: Leila Lindholm's One More Slice

Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake - Cake Slice Bakers April 2011

2011-04-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

With raspberries and whipped cream

It’s Cake Slice Baker time again, and our cake comes from the book that is being cooked from for this year (October 2010 to September 2011) Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman published by The Taunton Press 2009.

The cake calls for cake flour which we don’t have in the UK. A substitution here is either ¾ cup plain flour and ¼ cup cornflour or 1 cup plain flour less 2 tablespoons, and replace the 2 tablespoons with cornflour. I made this cake twice (see below) and I thought measuring out one cup, taking out 2 tablespoons, and replacing them 2 tablespoons with cornflour worked best. This gives a substitution for one cup of cake flour.
In the making

This months cake is a cold oven cream cheese pound cake, unusual because you don’t pre-heat the oven. The purpose of this is to give a good crust, but still a tender crumb. I’ve certainly got a good crust, I was a bit alarmed by how dark is was when it came out of the oven, but it tasted fine and had a definite crust with a very tender, moist crumbed cake inside.

Cake and its silicone mould

I had to make this cake twice, the first one I made was resolutely stuck to the tin, and the cake came out tasting well, but looking a real shambles! I couldn’t have greased it well enough, but I’ve never had any issues with turning out cakes before, oh well, sigh. It didn’t go to waste though, as I put it out for the birds, and they along with three of my neighbours cats were seen tucking into it. Cats eat cake?! I hope it didn’t upset their tummies! Still I managed to bake a second one yesterday, I only made a half quantity and used a smaller silicone bundt cake mould. I’m very happy to say this second cake turned out of the mould with no problems.

The flavour in the cake was some grated ginger, lemon zest and vanilla extract, this gives an unusual but very pleasant flavour. I served mine for dessert tonight with raspberries and whipped cream. Mmm.

Do have a look at some of my fellow cake bakers cakes on the Cake Slice Bakers blog roll.

Next up: Gran's Kitchen

The Skinny French Kitchen – Review and First Makes

2011-04-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Before the main review of this post I’ll start with the winner of Audrey Gordon’s Tuscan Summer draw: the second comment from Loving Food from the Humble Home Cook - please email me to arrange delivery. Well done!

J’adore The Skinny French Kitchen! Well, I am a bit of a Francophile where food is concerned; there is no getting away from it.

The author had co-authored two Cook Yourself Thin books, one in the UK and one in the US. This is her second solo cookbook, the first being Red velvet, Chocolate Heartache which I have recently been cooking from (more on that one another day though). When I first saw the title for pre-order I smiled – French food that I could slip into my cooking routine and know the calorie count of for the healthy eating plan- oh yes! Ah, le regime - see I took it all in when reading David Lebovitz’s wonderful blog.

The Skinny French Kitchen by Harry Eastwood published by Bantam Press 2011. It’s a very nice book, with a distinct French and more specifically Parisienne feel from the photography. There are Paris shots, food shots and recipe shots too. I would have liked more savoury recipe pictures, but this is my only little moan here.

Harry does a good introduction to the book to set the mood for skinny French cooking. She also has little appendages to her recipes called “Skinny Secrets” where she tells us about how the recipes are skinny. Calorie count per portion on each recipe page as well. Chapters are *Aperitif* Sides* A Table for Two* Dejeuner sur L’Herbe* Cold Comfort * and finally * Les Desserts*. I like the layout, and each recipe has a nice intro from Harry.

No crème brulee recipe, Harry says she tried hard but it wouldn’t be made skinny, despite her best efforts. Maybe it could have had its own chapter at the end – the once a year blow out recipe (!), but that wouldn’t have been in keeping with the book at all.

I have bookmarked 61 recipes – which is more than half the book!! I couldn’t wait to get cooking, so here is my first round up of recipes. I have managed to find a link for the profiteroles recipe, so have posted it below. Here is a taster of the recipes I've tried so far, but do expect another post about this book!

Coq au Vin Blanc with Light Mashed Potatoes

Light and brightly flavoured chicken, liked it a lot. Served with the mash from the book which is less rich, but still yummy.

Chocolate Truffles

Small, but absolutely packed with flavour. I have kept some of mine in the freezer for emergencies!

Profiteroles au Chocolate

The choux pastry is made with Harry’s lighter recipe, and it really works. The lighter crème patisserie is a good consistency, but not sweet enough for me. I made this for our Mother’s day dessert, and we all enjoyed it. I’ll make it again but add a bit more sugar to the crème next time. Recipe link here.

Carrot Salad

This was light and delicious, a definite keeper.

Salmon in a Paper Parcel

Another keeper, the salmon is just gorgeous cooked in its own paper parcel. Another light and fresh dish. I added some prawns because I had some left over. The fussy little one will not touch salmon, but prawns go down well, so I did an extra parcel without wine and herbs and with prawns, and it still worked!

Crème Caramel

I liked this one, it isn’t rich at all, but a nice end to a slimmers midweek meal.

Ratatouille

A bit of work, but a lovely reward of beautiful vegetables afterwards.

Crepes Suzette

A light version of the original, the sauce was particularly good, and we poured what was left into small glasses, hic!

Croque Monsieur

I’ve not quite followed Harry’s method here, (1) I’ve used soda bread (no yeast for me) and (2) I’ve not made them double deckers. Fabulous recipe, lighter than the normal one, but in a good way, not fatty, just cheesy, creamy and good.

Next Up: Cake Slice Bakers

Next Review Up: Gran's Kitchen

Audrey Gordon's Tuscan Summer - Review, Interview, Recipe and Giveaway

2011-04-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

My cheesy gnocchi

Now for something completely different!!! It is true to say that this cookbook is different to any I already own.

Gnocchi in the making

Audrey Gordon's Tuscan Summer with Audrey and Philip Gordon published by Hardie Grant Books 2011 in the UK. It's a cookbook, it has recipes, it's a coffee table book with some breath taking photography of Italy, but... it has been written with a real comedy slant - see the herb on Audrey's teeth on the cover! Some of the funny parts are a little biting to say the least, but others are really funny, on more than one occasion I laughed out loud. There are comedic parts all the way through the book - Audrey is one formidable woman! She puts me in mind of some of the Masterchef and Food Network Challenge judges. You know the kind I mean - they can move the contestants to tears of misery or joy depending on their comments.

The recipes are seasonal Summer recipes, the book is a Summer in Italy memoir with recipes woven through it. I am what I am though, and I wouldn't have reviewed it if the recipes weren't any good, but the two I tried were very good. The recipes are all accompanied by a colour picture. Chapters are *Maggio / May*, Giugno / June*. Lugio / July* and *Agosto / August*. Layout is clean, but embellished to give a little bit of Italian flair. It's colourful, vibrant, beautiful pictures of Italy and many of Audrey herself too.

Here is a short interview I did with Audrey (thank you!):

KJ: What made you choose Tuscany for your destination? Audrey: I’ve always loved Italy. It’s the home of great artists like Michelangelo and Mussolini, as well as some of the world’s finest cooks. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of Giacomo Brunetti? I spent several months under him when I was an apprentice chef. What that man can do with a fava bean is simply extraordinary.

KJ: Did you have fun cooking and writing the book? Audrey: I actually never cook and write simultaneously, ever since spilling beef ragout onto my laptop computer’s keyboard. But it was a joy working on new recipes. Every one of them has been fully tested of course, mostly on nursing home residents (so it’s hard to get clear feed-back) and I look forward to my readers trying them out themselves.

KJ: What are your favourite sweet and savoury dishes from the book? Audrey: My favourite sweet dish actually came from my grandmother. It’s a cherry-chocolate cake and I re-printed the recipe from one of her cooking diaries that she kept during the war. Obviously I had to replace the powdered egg and get rid of a few of the more stridently anti-Germanic sentiments scrawled in the margin, but it’s otherwise completely authentic. As for my favourite savoury dish, I think it would my Super-Super-Super Slow Roasted Pork. It’s worth every one of the 73 days it takes to cook.

KJ: Your book has a real fun slant to it, what made you choose to do that? Audrey: I think we sometimes take food and cooking a little too seriously. Has the perfect tomato and basil salad ever changed the course of history? Quite possibly yes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it too.

Thanks to Hardie Grant Books for my review copy and also for an extra copy to give away to one of my readers. To enter leave a comment on this post by Tuesday 12th April 2011 11.59p.m. Name out of the hat, winner to be announced with my next post.

Pumpkin Risotto

The recipes I chose to try were Gnocchi di Ricotta con Pomodoro or Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce and Risotto alla Zucca or Pumpkin Risotto. The risotto was lovely, some of the squash melted into the sauce, the bacon and broccoli florets added extra layers of flavour. The ricotta gnocchi was really good too, my first home-made gnocchi, and totally different from shop bought - much better in my opinion. I really enjoyed making these little cheesy dumplings, it may have been my first gnocchi but it won't be my last, it was oddly therapeutic, a fabulous stress buster. Some other recipes I have marked to try are Eunice's Chocolate and Raspberry Cake, Cherry Pie and Roast Vegetable Salad.

I have been given permission to share a recipe on my blog, so here is the gorgeous gnocchi so you can try too if you like.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

My recipe notes: Hope Audrey won't be too cross with me but I used Parmesan instead of Pecorino cheese, as I couldn't get any when I went shopping. I also didn't puree the sauce as we like chunks. Here is the recipe as per the book:

GNOCCHI DI RICOTTA CON POMODORO / RICOTTA GNOCCHI WITH TOMATO SAUCE

From Audrey Gordon's Tuscan Summer, Printed here with permission by Hardie Grant Books - thank you.

Some people say that they ﬁnd gnocchi a little ‘stodgy’. They have obviously never eaten the homemade variety and should, therefore, refrain from commenting on things they quite clearly know nothing about. These gnocchi are as soft and pillowy as a freshly made bed.

250 g ricotta

250 g pecorino romano, freshly grated

1 egg

pinch of nutmeg

salt 1 cup plain flour, plus extra for dusting

extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 × 400 g cans Italian tomatoes, juices retained

1 bunch basil, leaves picked

pinch of sugar

freshly ground black pepper

freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, to serve

1. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, pecorino, egg, nutmeg, a pinch of salt and half the ﬂour. Mix to create a dough then add the rest ofthe ﬂour.

2. Roll out the mixture onto a lightly ﬂoured surface and shape into six tubes. Cut each tube into about 20 pieces, then press the tines of your fork into each piece to create the ‘ribbing’ effect typical of gnocchi.

3. To make the tomato sauce, heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic until lightly cooked.

4. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes

5. Pass the mixture through a food mill to remove the tomato seeds, then add the basil leaves and sugar. Season as necessary.

6. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the gnocchi in batches. Remove each one as it rises to the surface, usually after about 2 minutes.

7. When all the gnocchi are cooked, top with the tomato sauce and serve with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Next up: The Skinny French Kitchen by Harry Eastwood

Baked New Fronteirs in Baking

2011-03-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

Peanut Butter Crispie bars

I had pre-ordered this baking book in 2008. I reckon that in Jan 2009 I must have tidied it into the baking pile of books, and then forgot about it. I was having a book trawl online and found the sequel volume from this bakery and went and dug out the first one from my pile (it is a pile having long overflowed the shelves).

I can hardly believe I put this book away without giving it a fair trial - my loss I tell you!

It's a fabulous book, I really love it. Baked New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang in 2008 . This is a bakery cookbook, as the authors have a bakery "Baked" in Brooklyn, New York. It's done in a very masculine way, brown, orange and white being the main colours used, though they do have a very handsome stag motif too. The layout is good, decent introductions to recipes and also a "Baked Note" with hints and tips for recipes. There are also a number of eat-me-now pictures, but not one for every single recipe by any means. Chapters are *A Field Guide to Baking* Breakfast* Cakes and Cupcakes* Pies and Tarts* Brownies and Bars* Cookies* Chocolate Candies and Confections* and finally *Drinks*.

My first three makes were The Baked Brownie, Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce and Peanut Butter Crispy Bars.

Baked Brownies

These were truly faultless. Dense, fudgy, moist, rich, dark and just screaming CHOCOLATE!!

Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce

You do need to be comfortable making sugar caramel, but I loved this quite compulsive sauce. It uses light corn syrup, but golden syrup could be substituted.

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

These would normally be no-cook kind of bars. They are too excepting that you need to make a sugar caramel, add a little butter and toss the rice crispies in it to give a really crispy rice crispie layer. They stayed crispy for as long as mine lasted too, even in the fridge. Another success, crispy, creamy and balanced by a dark chocolate topping.

I'm looking forward to cooking more from this book and the next volume, but more on this another time. Some of the recipes on my to make list of 25 (!) are: Brewer's Blondies, Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks, Maple Walnut Scones (I've ordered extract from the US), Butterscotch Pudding Tarts and the recipe featured on the cover of the book Lemon-Almond Meringue Tarts.

Matt and Renato have very sure baking hands and excellent palates, all three of the recipes I tried I loved, and would make again. Now what to make next...

Next Up: Audrey Gordon's Tuscan Summer - review, interview and a copy to giveaway.

Chocolate Cream Pound Cake - Cake Slice Bakers March 2011

2011-03-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

This months bake is an easy cake from Lauren Chattman’s Cake Keeper Cakes. Chocolate Cream Pound Cake from the Loaf Cakes chapter.

A simple plain loaf cake. Plain only because it is unadorned – the taste is great! I’ve tried a lot of different chocolate cakes and this is a good one. The cream in the title refers to some double (heavy) cream added to the batter, which gives the cake a tight, tender and moist crumb.

Adding cream to a cake like this was something that dairy farming families did to use up extra cream in days gone by.It was delicious served for pudding warmed with some butterscotch sauce, think sticky toffee pudding but with chocolate cake.

It didn’t really need to be gussied up though – it was perfect spread with a little butter. I’ll be making this one again for sure.

Do click here to see some other cake slice bakers cakes.

Next up: Baked New Frontiers in Baking

Baking Made Easy

2011-03-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

I Can't Believe You Made That Cake

I had pre-ordered this book, as you know me I have a bit of a liking for baking books! Baking Made Easy by Lorraine Pascal published by Harper Collins 2011. It accompanies a TV series shown first on BBC2 here, and she is worth watching. She is a former model and now runs Ella’s Bakery in London. Lorraine is very enthusiastic and conveys how to do things in an easy and laid back way.

She has her feet firmly planted in classic baking, but she is also creative and adds modern touches here and there. The recipes all have a little introduction to set the scene. The layout is white and clean, good photography too. There isn’t a picture to go with every single recipe. I must tell you that the recipes are not all sweet either, there are lots of sweet recipes, but there are also many savoury ones.

Chapters are: * Breads * Cakes* Savoury Baking* Desserts and Patisserie* Dinner Party* Sweet Treats* and *Basics. The recipes from the series are in the book, which is good, as last year I was annoyed when a tie in cookbook didn’t have the recipes I bought the book for (but that’s another story…).

It’s a good book, and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve made so far. Next on the to make list are Mini Tiramisu (cupcakes) and they look very good indeed I can tell you (!) and also her Big Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

A little taster of recipes are: Victoria Sandwich, Stout and Stilton Bread Rolls, Pear Tart Tatin, Pork Pies with Cider, Gluten Free Irish Cream Coffee Cake, Mojito Genoise, Sun Dried Tomato and Rosemary Palmiers, Banana Loaf with Rum and Pecans and the only non baked recipe White Chocolate and Amaretti Cheesecake.
Here are my first makes:

I Can’t Believe You Made That Chocolate Cake
I sourced the cigarillos online, and I have to tell you they are not for everyday, as they are pricey, I was £18 (including P&P) for the amount I needed for the cake. Lorraine says you could use Cadbury Flakes too which would be another option. Though, even if you didn’t bother with the chocolate curl collar, this cake would still be good and worth making with just the cake, icing and raspberries on top. A great little chocolate cake recipe, moist and delicious. Recipe here.

Pumpkin and Rosemary Muffins
I made these to go with soup, and I just put them in cupcake cases which they stuck too! This is not what was suggested, and is my own fault. Pretty muffins, and a sweet- savoury pull from the honey, pumpkin and rosemary. Recipe here.

Flapjacks
Hubby is the main flapjack muncher in our house and he liked them a lot, there is a little bit of ginger and lemon zest in them which adds a little depth of flavour without overtaking the actual flapjack. Recipe here.

Quick Chicken with Lemon Thyme and Butternut Squash
Quick, easy, and good. The gravy was really very delicious.

Macaroons
This is the only recipe for macaroons that I have made where you have not been instructed to blitz the sugar and ground almonds in a processor. I think the cooked shells looked a little rough because of this, but the flavour was good. I coloured mine dusky pink (and the colour came out ok!) and sandwiched them together with strawberry jam and whipped cream. Mmm. Recipe here.

Next Up: Cake Slice Bakers
Next Review: Baked New Frontiers in Baking

Hairy Bikers’ Best-Loved Recipes Mum’s Still Know Best

2011-03-03T07:47:00.001-08:00

Grandma Sindy's Ginger Snacking Sponge
It was with much excitement that I took delivery of my pre-ordered new cookbook. The Hairy Bikers’ Best –Loved Recipes Mum’s Still Know best! by Si King and Dave Myers. I enjoyed the first series and cookbook a lot, and hoped this one would be one to love too.
This second book is done in much the same style and layout as the first. Mixture of recipes from Mums up and down the country, plus others from Si and Dave. Recipes from home and also further afield. Nice introductions to the recipes, to set the scene. Almost every recipe is illustrated with a picture too. There is a good mixture of stapes recipes, like spaghetti bolgonese, steamed sponge pudding, macaroni cheese mixed with others that are a little different.
I was hoping for more biscuit recipes, as my very favourite recipe from the first book was Mrs Miller’s Empire Biscuits. I was looking for another fabulous biscuit in this one, and my only criticism of this new book is that although there are numerous cakes, I would have liked to have seen more biscuits.
Chapters are:* Comforting Food * Al Fresco* Taste of Home* Lazy Weekends* High Tea* Distant Shores* Posh Nosh* and *Family Classics*.
This one is definitely worth a whirl if you liked the first book, but you wouldn’t need to have the first to enjoy this second one. Lots of recipes to feed the family, maybe get a few new recipes into your routine.
I’ve picked out a lot more savoury recipes in this book to make, but having said that I was true to form and tried a pudding first – Eve’s Pudding. Gorgeous it was too. I’m also looking forward to trying Mom’s Hockey Puck Meatloaf - I couldn’t help but laugh! and a divine looking Italian Pear and Chocolate cake. Everything I’ve made so far we have enjoyed – and I’d make again.

Eve’s Pudding and Custard
A very nice recipe for this classic. You don’t need to cook the apples first, just bake altogether, this has the bonus that the apples are soft, but chunky at the same time, and I liked that. In the intro to the recipe Si and Dave intimate that neither they nor the biblical Adam could fail to be tempted by this apple pudding. I would have to say my hubby, who it would be fair to say sees a fairly wide ranging array of puddings (being married to a cook like me) was very pleased with it – and seconds were required! If I wasn’t counting what I’m eating I’d have had seconds as well. Custard was good too, good taste and excellent texture, will add a little more sugar next time though.

The Jones Boys’ Favourite Chicken & Mushroom Crumble
This was something quite different for me, a savoury crumble. It has a tin of condensed mushroom soup in it. I’m ok with this as an ingredient in a recipe now and again , but if you are sniffy about it, maybe best avoid this one. Still, the soup is just one of the things in the sauce and the overall effect is a creamy mushroom chicken dish topped by a savoury crumble with cheese. A yummy comforting tummy filler.

Grandma Sindy’s Ginger Snacking Sponge
A very simple recipe this one, the batter is really runny, but the cake is really lovely. Nice rise, airy texture – but oh so sticky and gingery, yum! I remember when I was little my own Gramdma used to serve a ginger cake with a creamy filling. I’ve been looking for a recipe for a long time, but they have never been right. I’m going to bake this one in sandwich tins and see how it goes – I’ve got high hopes. This one is good the day it’s baked, better after a day or two. Low fat too if that’s of interest to you.

Tomato Soup
Another really easy recipe, particularly as I blended it with a stick blender. Not quite the famous tinned tomato soup taste, but it’s definitely going down that road. We loved it. I used fruit sugar, and thought this worked well.

Meatballs in Gravy
These were good - a blast from the past, but only better. The gravy is more appealing to adults than children due to the red wine, hubby and I loved them. I’ve made the recipe easier, by oven baking the meatballs. This works for me on three levels: (1)keeps the meatballs round, (2) really moist and (3) saves me pan frying them, a kitchen job that I do not like. Worth a go. Mash and a vegetable are the obvious choices for this dish. I went with new potatoes and veg, to keep the eating regime in check, as I can go a bit mad with good mash!

Meatballs in Gravy
My adaptation of Si and Dave’s recipe from The Hairy Bikers’ Best –Loved recipes Mum’s Still Know Best published 2011 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. I use plain scone crumbs instead of breadcrumbs, as I’m intolerant to yeast – but do revert it back to breadcrumbs if that suits you better. I also used two tablespoons of Heinz tomato sauce instead of 1 tablespoon of tomato puree in the gravy.

Serves 4
Meatballs
250g lean steak mince
250g minced pork
1 small onion very finely chopped
a squeeze of garlic puree (or 1 garlic clove finely chopped)
25g scone crumbs (or breadcrumbs)
2 teaspoons mixed dried herbs
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
Heat the oven to 180. Mix all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl, until really well blended. Then roll the mixture into about 20 similar sized balls. Place onto an oven proof tray or dish. Drizzle over the oil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cooked.

Gravy
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon plain flour
150ml red wine
300ml beef stock made with 1 beef stock cube
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (like Heinz)
Meanwhile, to make the gravy, heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion over a low heat for 5 minutes to soften. Stir often. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for about 1 minute, stirring all the time. Slowly add the red wine, followed by the stock and tomato sauce, stirring all the time. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the meatballs into the gravy and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes until all is piping hot – still stirring now and then. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if it needs it .

Next Up: Review and first makes from Lorraine Pascal’s Baking Made Easy

Coffee and Heath (Dime) Bar Cake - The Cake Slice Bakers February 2011

2011-02-20T01:49:00.001-08:00

Yum!

I am very excited to have been able to join The Cake Slice Bakers group! Thank you for having me. It’s a fabulous idea, the group chooses a cookbook and bakes something from it every month for a year. Given my tendency to ‘cook’ books, it just sounds just perfect for me.

Ready to go.
The book that the group is baking from now until September this year, is Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. A book brimming with lovely American cakes.

Ready to bake in the oven.
The chosen cake this month comes from the Crumb Cakes chapter and is a Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Cake. Now, some US coffee cakes don’t have any coffee in them, but are meant to be served with a cup of coffee. This one actually does have a coffee sponge cake with a streusel topping on top. Grinding the coffee and Daim (Dime) Bars for chopping
I made a couple of substitutions, I can’t take shakey caffinated coffee at all, so de-cafe coffee granules, which I ground in a pestle and mortar to powder – instead of espresso powder, and also 5 Dime (Daim) bars for 4 American Heath bars. They will always be Dime bars to me! Lovely cake, very moist and the crunchy topping of toffee and chocolate was fabulous. A couple of days later the little bit that was left became even more moist and the topping less crunchy, but when leftover slices were heated up in the microwave brifely the topping became nice and gooey. My cake was eaten for a pudding and some eaters wanted cream with it and some didn’t. I preferred it without, to let every bit of the coffee-toffee-chocolate flavours come through.

The crispy bits fround the edge were so delicious.

Do check out the Cake Slice Bakers Blogroll for more gorgeous takes on this lovely cake. Can’t wait for next months one!

Care for a slice?
Next post: Book review and first cooks from The Hairy Bikers Mum’s Still Know Best.

Third Helpings of Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen

2011-02-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

Red Velvet Cake

Next instalment of cooking from Kitchen Recipes form the Heart of the Home by Nigella Laswon. I’m still happily cooking from it, so do expect more in the future!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
I’ve made this one several times now, it a fast route to sweet and sour chicken, easily done on a busy weeknight. This is not least because the sauce is just stirred together in a jug before actually cooking it. It’s not the same as Ching-He Huang’s one that I make, but then it in turn isn’t as easy for a weeknight either – so they both have their place in my kitchen

Baked Seafood
I just did this with prawns, because that as what looked best on the day I made it, think I’ll add in some salmon next time too. It was good, the pan juices really made it.

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake
Well I don’t suppose it’s much of a surprise that we loved this one given our liking for the pairing of chocolate and orange. It disappeared quickly – not even a slice left for next day.

Cheesy Chilli
Wouldn’t make this one again. It didn’t work for me on three levels, the chilli itself was not flavourful enough, the cheese was bland here, and it in turn made the whole chilli a bit water-y. Can’t love them all.

Bolognese Risotto
This one by contrast was absolutely superb. The mix bubbles ferociously when the meat sauce is added, and do watch it doesn’t spark you, as I got a little burn. Still, it is so worth making, I used beef stock and missed out the anchovies- and it was so just so good.

Risotto Cakes
I had a bit of leftovers so made the risotto cakes appended to the recipe, and although they weren’t as good as the initial risotto (but that would have very hard really), they were a nice supper to use up what was left.

Bacon and Egg Salad
I’ve been making this for ages, a go to lunch. Nigella’s method for boiling eggs works a treat, they are a good texture. I do my boiled eggs a la Nigella now.

Franks in Blanks
Don’t make these if you are on a diet – they are oddly compulsive. Nigella does warn us of this in her introduction, and it’s true. I’ve made (although assembled is more like it) these so many times both with full fat puff pastry and also the lower fat puff that has appeared in the shops recently. Both were good. We did try the mustard dipping sauce, but it blew my head off with its fiery intensity. On two or three occasions I did try watering the heat down a bit, but in our house Heinz tomato ketchup is the order of the day apparently!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cheesecake
This is very very rich. Too rich for my tastes, and I’m not averse to butter and cream. It did have a lovely texture though. Hubby really disliked it, so won’t do this one again.

Korean Keema
Oh how I’m addicted to this. I’ve surprised myself, being a self confessed chilli wimp. If I haven’t made this for a couple of weeks I feel I must have it again. Pretty healthy too.

Chorizo and Chicken Bake
This one is very easy and full of flavour. A green vegetable and your are set for a feast.

Red Velvet Cake
I’ve posted about this recipe as cupcakes before, and this is it in cake form. I made for a Birthday cake, as was requested, and it’s just as good in cake form. You can really see the red this way. I decorated it with sprinkles and edible glitter, would be nice as a Christmas time party cake too. I thought it was beautiful!

Next Up: Cake Slice Bakers, very excited to be baking with this group!
Followed by my Next Review : The Hairy Bikers new one: Mum’s Still Know Best by Si King and Dave Myers. I've made a few recieps from this one already, and looking forward th sharing with you.

Macarons by Annie Rigg – Book Review

2011-02-02T06:25:00.000-08:00

I seem to have a bit of a macaron obsession going on at the moment, this is my 9th macaron cookbook (!) and a lovely little one it is too. Macarons Chic & Delicious French Treats by Annie Rigg, published by Ryland, Peters and Small in January 2011 (64 pages).
Annie Rigg is a new author to me, and I found this one after being given her Gifts for Cooks in December. I’ve followed it up with her Holiday Cupcakes (fabulous ideas there, will come back to the one later in the year) and have also pre-ordered her ‘Fabulous Brownies’ book due out in April 2011.
This book is done as many macaron books are – with a basic recipe at the beginning that is used throughout the main flavour variation recipes. There is a step by step with this main recipe. It’s for macarons made by using an electric whisk and processor, but doesn’t need the sugar syrup that some other books recipes do. You’ll need a piping bag too.
Pages are very nicely done, and there are pictures of all the main macarons recipes. Annie gives some more ideas of mix and match combinations of shells and fillings from throughout the book which are not pictured. Measurements are metric and U.S. The only thing I think the author should have done that she hasn’t in this book is to say that when you are colouring the macaron mixture that you need to make it darker than you want it to be when baked.
Chapters are: The Basics * Fruit & Flowers * Coffee, Caramel & Chocolate * Nuts & Spice and all Things Nice.

The first one I’ve tried was her mint and dark chocolate macarons, which I changed by adding some peppermint extract to the filling as it wasn’t quite strong enough for us with just a mint infused syrup mixed with chocolate. It was a delicious macaron though, and something a little different to have after dinner either with or instead of chocolates. I didn’t colour the mix a strong enough green, so my macarons were a mild green colour, but I live and learn.
The author provides some gorgeous sounding recipes for example: Blueberry and Vanilla, Cappucino, Coconut and Mango or Violet creams.
Next up on my list are Chocolate and Passion Fruit macarons, Strawberries and Cream macarons and Blackberry and Apple ones which have two different coloured shells, violet and green with a crème patesserie and fruit filling.

A little note for regular readers. I’m still doing my multiple pictured usual format posts, but wanted to find a way to include lots of books that I like - and still be able to fit my clothes! So you’ll now also find review posts like this one, with just one or two pictures, as well as the norm.

Next up: Third helpings from Nigella Kitchen.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year

2011-01-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

New Year dawns,
With its cold Winter light.

But that doesn’t matter,
The future can be bright.

Life is fleeting,
Grab onto it with both hands.

If that is too much,
Just do what you can.

I had intended to post this earlier, but at least it’s still January ! Hope you all have a Happy New Year.

New post next week about Annie Rigg’s Macarons.

Lotte’s Country Kitchen

2010-11-23T01:23:00.001-08:00

Dodie's Chocolate Torte

Lotte’s Country Kitchen by Lotte Duncan. This is a new book which came out at the end of the Summer this year, and I’d been looking forward to it for ages. Some of the ladies and myself, from a food forum we all belong to, helped to test a few of the recipes for Lotte, and it was fun to do so.
Anyhow, I would have been looking forward to it even if I hadn’t helped, as I’ve looked before online for a number of years to try and find a book by Lotte. Anyone who used to watch Good Food show on the food channel as it was will remember Lotte, she always made dishes that I thought I’d like to give a try and seemed like a fun and vivacious girl into the bargain.
Lotte’s food is primarily from this country, and it’s refreshing I think to see someone pioneer British or English cooking. Not that she is the first to do so, by any means; but she is really good at making traditional dishes suitable for our tastes now, while giving more than a passing nod to what is good about our traditional food and cooking.
The book is presented divided into months, and is therefore pretty seasonal. There isn’t a lot of baking recipes, but the ones that there are look lovely. What there is though, are loads of main courses, lunches and glorious puddings to get your taste buds watering. Lotte has a fun writing style, and my family were in stitches when I read aloud the bit about her two cats! Anyhow it’s a great book, and one that I have a feeling will creep it’s way into my favourites with ease. I’m certain there will be a second helping post about this book in the future.

A lovely gift too for a food loving friend. Well, in my opinion anyhow, and you know me, I do love a good cookbook!!
Here are some of the dishes I’ve cooked so far. I’ve also made fish pie with the girls, lamb with plums and rosemary dumplings and smoked haddock & spring onion stuffed potatoes. Lovely and divine they all were too.

Cheeky Olives
These are tasty little savoury morsels, just the thing to nibble on.

Cheesy Biscuits
Seriously addictive! I like them best just cooled, fresh, out of the oven. I tried to make mine look like sand dollars, but sprinkling them would also be just the thing. I’m not sure what came over me…

Autumn Chicken Pie
You would not believe the difference the butternut squash made to this pie, yum!

Daisy’s Banana Bread
A classic banana bread.

Dodie's Chocolate Torte
Rich, but delicious, I needed to put my chocolate cream in the fridge before spreading it onto the bottom layer.

Annie's Rose Chicken
Creamy, subtle and good.

Chocolate Mess
What a cheat this one is, as Lotte freely admit, but honestly it didn’t taste like it! Mmmm.

Nigella Kitchen, Second Helpings

2010-10-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

Salty Crunchy Peanut Bars
Here is the next Nigella instalment, cooked from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen, Recipes from the Heart of the Home. Having fun cooking through this huge book.
Are you watching the TV series? I am and liking it a lot. Looking forward to this weeks episode, where Grasshopper Pie is on the menu, can’t wait to try that one. Also have my liquid smoke (from Ebay) to try the Texas Brisket and the silicone cheesecake mould for the chocolate peanut butter cheesecake (£4.99 in Lidl). Not had much success with the sweet Korean chilli paste. Tried to get it on Ebay, but as far as the seller and myself could work out, it seems to be illegal to post it to this country. My local shop is currently out of stock, so will have to wait until it comes back in, ah well, that much be the Nigella effect for you!

Blondies
These ware somewhere between a blondie and a flapjack, the chocolate chips gave them an extra flavour burst, lovely!
Lime Pie
Hubby loved this pie! It was good, I liked it best a couple of days after making, the flavours all melded together so well by then. Also added a half cup of sugar to the filling, and it still had a real lime-y bite to it.

Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup
Really healthy and so filling!

Apricot Chicken
I changed this about a bit – added more jam and less mustard, and we liked it.

Coconut Rice
This didn’t come out quite as I’d expected it, bit stodgy, will give it another go in a different pan.

Swedish Summer Cake
You have to make this on the day you serve it, but it’s a real winner, we all loved it. I split the cake in two as opposed to the suggested three, as it just seemed too high stress to try and get a thin-ish cake cut into three, maybe that's just me though. This will be a Summer event for us now, much like a buche de Noel at Christmas time.

BBQ Mince
Another winner. A different but yummy way with mince for tea.

Strawberry Crumble
We were divided on this one, half loved and half weren’t so sure!

Teriyaki Chicken
Good, quick weeknight supper this one, I thickened the sauce a little with cornflour, as we like a thicker sauce.

Salty Crunchy Peanut Bars
I used half 70% and half milk Lindt (I’m not being given anything to say this!!) and liked the result. It is a weird combination, but it works on a few levels, chocolate – peanut, chocolate – Crunchie (or Violet Crumbles) and an amazing sweet – salt pull in your mouth as you munch. It works. Don’t make this one if you are on a diet, it just finds it’s way into your hands to eat!!

Nigella's Red Velvet Cupcakes and Tate & Lyle Sugars

2010-09-27T07:00:00.001-07:00

Red Velvet Cupcakes

A little while ago I was emailed and asked if I would like a sample of some of Tate and Lyle’s Fairtrade sugars. I have used this brand for years, and love the quality of their products – so ’m very happy feature them here.

The batter This is the sample package I received, Icing Sugar, Caster Sugar, Fondant Icing sugar and Granulated Sugar. The only one I’ve not used before is the fondant one, but I have a friend who has had great success with it, and I’m looking forward to trying it. Thank you to Tate & Lyle for my samples.

Sugars and Baked Cupcakes I chose to make Red Velvet Cupcakes from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen, Recipes from the Heart of the Home. This is not the first version of red velvet I’ve made, but it’s the one I’m going to stick with. I love it when I find a ‘best of its kind’ recipe, and this is certainly that for me. This has been requested as a bithday cupcake already! If Nigella cooks this on her TV programme I’ll edit this post and link the recipe for you. It used some of my Caster Sugar and Icing Sugar very nicely thank you.

Half frosted Anyhow Tate and Lyle have a great website here and a new Facebook Page here called We Love Baking, which looks good – I’ve ‘Liked’ it for sure.

Ready to eat!

It's Here! It's Here! - Nigella Kitchen

2010-09-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

Fuss Free Fruit Tart

Well the wait is over, Kitchen, Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson is here! I have so anticipated this new book, that at times I’ve wondered if it would be possible for it to live up to the thing I have built it up to in my mind. It does though, more than even. So many recipes, so many pictures, even some step by step ones and many of Nigella too. The book is divided into two parts Kitchen Quandries and Kitchen Comforts. The recipes are really varied, and there are so many of them. Loads of writing too, so it’ll be a book to read as well as cook from.
I don’t want to give you a blow by blow book review here, I’d rather leave a lot to the imagination, so that if you do buy it, or get it as a gift – it’ll still be a wonderful surprise for you. I hope you understand, I’ve not gone all lazy, I’m trying to be considerate! If you like How To Eat or Feast, then you’ll like this one, it’s similar, but a whole lot more too.
I was going to hold off a little while before posting about some of my first makes, but I couldn’t. Particularly since the forum has gone on Nigella.com I need to share my joy =) In my 'Books Cooked from So Far' column at the side I'm listing this as "Nigella Kitchen", and that's how I think of it. I’ll do a little project of this book, looking forward to it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

About an hour hout of the oven these are just perfection, crispy on the outside and cooked, but chewy on the inside. Mmmm.

Marmalade Pudding Cake
This is a dish-bound pudding cake, that is baked in the oven, but tastes like a light steamed pudding. I wouldn’t have believed a baked sponge could taste like a steamed one, but it does, there is no denying it. I used a mild mannered marmalade (golden shred) and it was really very delicious indeed! Leftovers can be used for a plate trifle… next time. Mine became quite dark on the top, but there was no burned taste, just in colour. I’ll cover it next time though, so it’s more golden. Recipe here at the Daily Mail.

Date Steak

Oh my goodness! This was incredibly delicious. I’d have bought the book for the recipe for this alone. I made it with fillet steak, as that is our preference, hubby said he would have paid £20plus in a restaurant for it. It was a super treaty Saturday night supper for us. I don’t expect Nigella reads my blog, but thank you for a truly fabulous recipe Nigella anyway!

Salami Pasta
This was ok, not a wow for us, apparently we don’t like beans with our pasta! Mind you it’s the only one form this batch of pictures I wouldn’t make again.

Sunshine Soup
Or sweetcorn and roasted pepper soup. Sweet, savoury and a little bite with some sweetcorn kernels. My little one emptied the soup bowl. I have some more in the freezer too, result.

Fuss Free Fruit Tart

Very pretty this one, we thought there was a bit too much biscuit crust, but the filling is gorgeous will use it again, either on the cheesecake base from Express or an M&S tart base, to be inkeeping with the ease of the recipe.

Crustless Pizza
This is a fast filling little number. A crustles pizza seems to be somewhere between an oven baked pancake and cheesy Yorkshire pudding. We all liked it, and I am avoiding yeast just now, so it was nice for me to have a sort-of-pizza. Will top it differently next time. A perfect quick weekend just us lunch with some salad.

The bits and pieces

The chicken and veggies plus warmed tortillas
Chicken Fajitas
A good family supper, nice as everyone can pick and choose. I made this last night, on a busy Monday night, half hour of preparation for much reward. I even managed to use my party set which I was given as a birthday gift last year. I used a red onion to have a little extra colour, although I only did this because I happened to have one.

Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream
A lovely zingy spin on a flour less chocolate cake, it’s almost unbelievable how one juicy lime can give such a lot of flavour to a cake. The margarita cream was divine, and I say this as someone who wouldn’t drink the cocktail. The cream would make a glorious pudding in a pretty glass with a biscuit on its own. Recipe here on Nigella.com.

Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack and a Stunning Blackberry Clafoutis Recipe

2010-08-24T03:26:00.000-07:00

Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack by Miranda Gardiner. I stumbled across this book by accident online. I’m getting good at not buying absolutely every single cookbook that takes my eye now, but this one made me click the add to basket button. The cover to me is sort of serene, but still pretty with the fish drawings and also says fun with the cute moose and snail cookie cutters. There are two new designs to look out for! Image of book cover via courtesy of Amazon.co.uk
A few years ago I wouldn’t have been keen at all to admit I’d bought a book on the basis of it’s cover. As I’ve become older though, I’ve come to appreciate that a good cover, particularly on a book by an unknown author is key if the marketing department at the publishers is to entice the target audience.
It’s somehow a Summery book, even thought there are several recipes suited to colder weather cooking. The recipes I’ve been most drawn to so far are the baking and salad-y ones. Maybe that’s down to the time of year and warmer weather.
The book came into being when the author’s Mother passed away, leaving her Father widowed and not very able to feed himself. Miranda gathered together recipes to give to her Father, to help him look after his daily food needs, and so the book took shape.
The chapters are eclectic and include ‘Mid-week Morsels’ and ‘Well Loved Food’. Simple layout, the recipes are intercepted by text about life from the author, most of which is a pleasant enough read.
There are lots of very calming pictures of the food with pretty and atmospheric scenery. I like that there are some real time real cooking pictures too.
Some of the other recipes I’ve book-marked are: Beetroot, feta and clementine salad, Finnish salad with orange blossom dressing, Pumpkin soup with black olive and feta quesadillas, Mum’s Danish apple charlotte, Zesty pistachio & polenta cake and Rose petal and buttermilk cake.
As always here are some of the dishes I’ve cooked, I also made Jean-Christophe Novelli’s lemsip - it definitely helped the sniffles away!

Porridge
First class porridge, I made it with Channel Island Jersey milk, and it was so good. Blueberries and honey or agave nectar – the best! I got this honey locally and it’s delicious.

Dreamy Prawn Gnocchi
An unusual prawn dish with the comfort of gnocchi and cream, but also interest from mixed seeds and spinach.

Naked Broad Bean Salad
A beautiful salad, both to eat and look at too.

Chocolate Caramel Muffins
Chocolate muffins made with ricotta and Cadburys caramel as the chunks. I wasn’t keen on these the day they were made, but the day after they were good – the tastes all melded together then.

Chewy Flapjack
An ultra sweet and chewy flapjack, the flapjack lover in my house was very pleased indeed!

Caramel Salties
Blondies with dulce de leche, white chocolate and sea salt. The smell in the kitchen was so delicious the day I baked these. I used less salt though – just a slight sprinkle of Maldon instead or the 2-3 teaspoons suggested in the recipe. Good the day made and the day after too.

Blackberry and Sour Cream Clafoutis
This is a seriously fabulous pudding, easy fruity and delicious. I’ve made clafoutis many times before, but this recipe is the keeper, and hands down the best of any I’ve made or tasted.

This is my slight reworking of Miranda Gardiner’s recipe from Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack, published by Hardie Grant Books (London) Limited in 2010.
Serves 4

350g blackberries
2 tablespoons plain flour, slightly rounded
4 good tablespoons caster sugar
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
125g sour cream (weighed)
icing sugar to decorate, optional
thick double cream to serve

1.Preheat the oven to 170oC fan/ 180oC/ gas mark 4.
2.You’ll need a round baking dish of about 20cm – 25cm. Butter the dish and arrange to fruit over the bottom of the dish.
3. In a bowl whisk together the flour, caster sugar, vanilla extract and sour cream to make a smooth batter.
4. Pour the batter carefully over the fruit, then bake for 20 to 35 minutes, or until cooked. It should be golden, puffy and beautiful. I cook this in my fan oven for 20 minutes, your oven might need the longer cooking time, check after 20 minutes though. Dust with icing sugar if you like and serve with cream.

Jamie's America and Peach Cobbler

2010-08-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Peach Cobbler

Last years Jamie Oliver's offering in the cookbook line was Jamie’s America. It accompanied a TV series on Channel 4, I didn’t manage to see all of it, but what I did see was good, although some of it was disturbingly thought provoking. I hope they re-run it, as I would like to catch the episodes I missed. My only criticism of the series would be that I’d have liked to see some more cooking.
This is definitely not an issue for the book, because it’s jam packed. It is divided into Chapters covering the six areas visited by Jamie on the TV: New York, Louisiana, Arizona, Los Angeles, Georgia and Wildwest. I love American (and Canadian) cookbooks, and was really interested to see what Jamie’s take on American food would be. I expected some glitzy, glamorous, you know, restaurant style food for part of the book; but not a bit of it, all good home cooking.
My favourite section of the book is hands down Wildwest, it just suits how I cook. Don’t let that put you off the rest though, as there are recipes in all the chapters that I would fancy trying.
I seem to recall reading last year somewhere (although I can’t remember where) that Jamie’s book last year was to be a Christmas one. Well that was obviously nonsense! Although, if the standard of his Jamie’s Family Christmas episodes in 2009 were anything to go by he has it in him to do a fabulous Christmas cookbook…doesn’t look like it’ll be this year either, ah well maybe next year!
Mind you at the moment Jamie has two new books out this year, firstly one from Spring time Jamie Does, another travel cookbook, covering six European countries, armchair – or rather cooker – adventuring without even getting on a plane for those of us who buy the book. Later in the year he has a fast cooking cookbook coming out, I can hardly keep up!
Back to the current post though, I’ve enjoyed cooking the recipes here, not least because I do like a bit of travelling in my cooking, and I’m not talking about out of season goods travelling round the world, although sometimes I succumb to them. I like to do traditional dishes from here, but also like to make things that hail from thousands of miles away. For me it keeps food and cooking interesting and alive. For some reason I was particularly taken with the fruity puddings in ‘Jamie’s America, but everything was good.

Waldorf Salad
Fruity, crispy, fresh, light, zingy and yummy!

Hipp’s Pudding
A spin of Eve’s pudding named after one of Jamie’s cowboy friends that he met. It’s a tough life, the life of a cowboy – I had no idea. Well, that’s not strictly true, I had an idea, but it was way off base! I made this when we were in need of some serious comfort food, and this hit the spot, with a splash of cream.

Southern Pecan and Apple Salad
The pecans here are caramelised, and they are tremendous in this salad, perfect partners for the apple and there is a orange dressing.

Peach Cobbler
The base of this with its juicy peaches, lime, ginger and vanilla was really gorgeous. Complemented by the crispy topping and spongy bit.

Peach Cobbler Recipe
From Jamie’s America by Jamie Oliver published by Penguin Michael Joseph in 2009.
My Notes: I’ve upped the soft brown sugar a little to 55g, but Jamie’s recipe suggests 40g. I often substitute vanilla extract for seeds, but here the seeds are really worth the money. He also cooks it at a higher temperature, preheat to full blast, and turn down to 190oC / 375oF/ Gas 5 when the peaches go in. My oven would burn it at that high heat! You’ll need a food processor.

Peaches:
8 ripe peaches, halved, stoned and cut into slices
1 vanilla pod, halved and seeds scraped out
zest of 1 lime
55g soft brown sugar
zest and juice of 1 orange
2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated finely

Topping:
40g pine nuts
100g self raising flour
50g caster sugar
pinch salt
100g unsalted butter, from the fridge

For serving:
Icing sugar for dusting
Cream or ice cream

1. Preheat your oven to 190 oC / 375oF/ Gas 5. Toss the peaches with the vanilla seeds, lime zest, sugar, orange juice and zest and ginger. Take care not to break up the peaches. Place in a baking dish and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until softened a bit.
2. Meantime make the topping. Into the bowl of a food processor place the pine nuts, and whizz briefly. Leave them in the bowl and add the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Whizz again briefly. Add in the butter cut into small cubes, and pulse in short bursts until it looks like breadcrumbs. Tip into a bowl and add about 2 tablespoons of water and mix to a firm dough.
3. When the peaches have cooked take out of the oven and add 2 to 3 fl oz of water, mix round gently, taking care not to break up the peaches or burn yourself! Dollop 6 spoonfuls of the dough (use it all) ontop of the peaches and return the dish to the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bubbling and the cobbles are golden.
Dust with icing sugar, if you like and serve.

Fay’s Family Food and a Lovely Quick Summer Side Salad Recipe

2010-06-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

This is a cookbook from Fay Ripley (remember the fantastic Cold Feet?) the actress - Fay’s Family Food which came out in 2009 published by Penguin, Micheal Joseph. It is indeed a family cookbook, as the title would suggest. You may think that is a funny point for me to make, but I have found a lot of 'family' ’recipes in books are way too spicey for me, let alone any children I am trying to feed! Not this one though, lots of ideas for feeding the family, and the recipes are all geared towards feeding young children and adults alike as the food is unseasoned in cooking, then you season on your own plate.
I’m beyond the unseasoned food point (fortunately!), but it is good to have the pointers, if you are trying to feed the whole family the same food. Chapters are: Breakfast at Ripley’s, Red Meat, White Meat, No Meat, Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic Puddings and It’s my Party and I’ll Eat Sugar if I Want Too.

I have always thought of Fay as being a very funny woman, and it comes across in some of her writing, I was laughing out loud several times at her witty prose. The tale of the bluebottle in the introduction to the No Meat chapter springs to mind.
I’ve enjoyed most of the things I’ve cooked from this book with two exceptions – the quick steak stroganoff and creamy boursin salmon pasta, I’m not saying they are bad recipes, but these two were not my family’s thing. Having said that though, there is plenty that we have enjoyed, and indeed I’d have paid the price of the book for her Chicken Soup recipe alone, which is top notch and so good. It’s nothing like my Mum’s chicken broth, but still I crave it. Parker’s Cheese on Toast also went down very well, no picture of the toast though.

Here are some of the things I’ve cooked with pictures.

Sausage Rolls
What a revelation these were, uncooked sausages, wrapped in bought puff pastry and baked in the oven, best sausage rolls ever!

Made up Tuscan Sausage Stew
I loved this, made it when it was very cold outside, and it was filling and comforting - lovely.

One Pot Lemon and Thyme Chicken Casserole
Another good one - chicken, veggies and brown basmati rice.

Cobbled salad
I went with Fay’s recommended selection here, but you could easily alter it to suit your family. Very pretty for supper in the garden.

Creamy Lemon Pots
This one looks lovely, but it wasn’t one of our favourites.

Warm Chicken and Pesto Salad
A simple filling tea time dish.

Chicken Soup
First class, excellent! If you make nothing else from this book – make this!! It’s so comforting and good, yet bright and sprightly with the addition of lemon.

Cheats Tomato and Bacon Risotto
This is such a cheat of a recipe, but it delivers a comforting rice dish with lots of flavour.

My Normal Pasta Bake
Liked this one too. My Hubby doesn’t like tuna, or sweetcorn off the cob. Did I convert him? No, made it one night when he was away. I’ve tried at least four tuna and sweetcorn pasta bakes, and this is the best so far, easily.

Nutty Pomegranate Salad
This is lovely. Nice for this time of year, but good in Winter too when it’s a blast of fresh light salad. We like this with the home-made sausage rolls above.

Nutty Pomegranate Salad – A simple, refreshing light and delicious salad
Fom Fay’s Family Food by Fay Ripley published by Penguin, Micheal Joseph 2009. I add the seasoning to the salad and also peel the cucumber, but do leave the skin on as in Fay’s own recipe if you like. Note: contains nuts. Obviously, do not add the nuts if your child is not old enough to cope with them! I have made this recipe lots, and don’t always remember to add the nuts, it’s good with or without them.

50g cashew nuts
1 smallish cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
¼ of a red onion, peeled and finely chopped
pomegranate seeds from 1 pomegranate or 1 or two boxes of ready to use seeds
2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro) leaf, chopped
2 ripe avocados, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ to 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180 oC and toast the nuts on a baking sheet for 8 to 15 minutes, keep checking as they burn easily. Let cool.

Place the nuts, cucumber, onion, seeds, coriander and avocados in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Giada at Home

2010-05-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Cheese Stuffed Dates with Procuitto

I’m a big fan of Giada, she is up there in kitchen stars category with Nigella for me. So it was with much anticipation that I read my copy of Giada at Home By Giada de Laurentiis was in its way. This is her fifth book – and I love it! Sometimes Italian, sometimes Californian maybe even a bit of a mix of the two in some recipes too. The recipes are fresh, delicious, often healthy and all with a little Giada touch.
Those of us in the UK can now watch her on the Food Network channel here (262 and 263 on Sky). I would so like to see her programmes on in the evening, when they’d be easier time wise to watch. Most of the recipes from the programmes Giada at Home (although certainly not all) are here in the book. It’s nicely laid out, beautiful pictures mostly of food, but with a number of Giada and her family too.
I have SO many recipes in this book marked to try, and here are some of the first batch.

Picture at top of post
Cheese Stuffed Dates with Procuitto
These are so beautiful to look at, and they taste, well creamy, cheesy, sweet, a little sharp from the goats cheese and salty from the procuitto. I’m going to try these with another cheese too, just haven’t quite worked out what yet…

Pasta Ponza
Tomatoes and capers make this oven baked sauce just burst with flavour, yum.

Gorgonzola and Porcini Risotto
A nice mushroom risotto, didn’t have quite as much punch as I thought it would.

Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun Dried Tomatoes
The turkey here is quite strong, but my little people were very keen indeed. All the add-ins make it a moist and delicious meatloaf.

Grilled Asparagus and Melon Salad
This salad of grilled asparagus (I used a ridged non stick grill pan for the top of the cooker/stove) mixed with the juicy melon, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts and a lemony dressing was really, really delicious.

Lettuce, Basil and Mint Salad with Parmesan Butter Crostini
Unusual this one, but we liked it a lot.

White Chocolate Dipped Almond and Lemon Biscotti
Lovely, and they kept ages in the cookie jar. I double dipped them as I had lots of chocolate left.

Chocolate Honey Almond Tart
I’ve made this one a few times, I love the taste and almost soft fudge texture the honey gives to the chocolate. Needs a bit of cream, and also great with pomegranate seeds. I’ll make it again in the Summer when I'll use raspberries as an accompaniment.

Penne with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Creamy and gentle this one, little peeps loved it.

Olive and Sundried Tomato Vegetables
This was a great side dish combo, I cut the olive oil in the recipe considerably, and it was still fine for us.

Nonna Luna’s Rice
Oh my. I love this recipe, I’m not sure how many times I’ve made it now. The first time I was a little worried about the Tabasco, as I’m a real chilli wimp. It was as hot as I can go, but still I absolutely love it, crave it even! I tend to reduce the creamy sauce a bit, just to coat the prawns, but this is a matter of taste depending on how thin / thick you like your sauces.

Nonna Luna’s Rice
From Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis published 2010 by Clarkson Potter. Giada says to use parboiled rice like Uncle Ben’s, but I used Uncle Ben’s long grain rice and it worked out well for me. Serves 2 to 3.
2 ounces unsalted butter
1 cups long-grain rice, like Uncle Ben's
14 fl oz chicken stock, hot
Good pinch salt
1 clove garlic
12 oz to 1 lb raw prawns, peeled and deveined
2 fl oz lemon juice
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce, divided into 2 x half tablespoons
4 fl oz double cream
Freshly ground black pepper

1.In a medium nonstick saucepan, heat 1 oz of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the rice salt and ½ a tablespoon of Tabasco sauce then cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 6 to 7 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes to 15 minutes until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and rest covered for 5 minutes.
3. In a large frying pan, melt the remaining 1oz of butter over medium heat. Add the whole clove of garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes until aromatic. Add the prawns, lemon juice, and remaining ½ tablespoon of Tobasco sauce. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Stir in the cream and heat through, bubble and reduce for a few minutes if you’d like a thicker sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Using a fork, fluff the rice and arrange on a platter. Spoon the shrimp cream sauce over the rice and serve.

Nigella's Feast

2010-04-13T05:14:00.001-07:00

There is nothing I like more than a weekend morning potter around the kitchen with Feast by Nigella Lawson on the cookbook stand cooking up something delicious for my family later that day or throughout the weekend. I can’t tell you how often when I do this the weather is sunny and there is a little breeze coming in through the window, and I give thanks to God I can tell you =)
Feast is most definitely one of my very favourite cookbooks. When it came out I cooked from it relentlessly for a long time. Just before my obsession came to an end I started blogging, and I sometimes think it’s a shame that I didn’t blog at that point, as I’d like to look back at all of what I’ve cooked from Feast, and also to share with you.
I’ve recently started to cook from Feast again, and have taken new pictures of the same recipes, but where I’ve liked the older pictures better, I’ve gone with them. This is the first of a couple of big Feast picture posts I’m planning. Now is a good time, as I’m guessing I may have a new favourite soon. In the form of Nigella’s new one, officially announced (last week) as due out in the UK in September – "Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home". There is to be a 13 part TV series too I’ve read =)
In the following pictures you’ll see six from the Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame chapter, I’ve cooked all except one (the chocolate chestnut one). I’ve always meant to cook the last one on my list to, but somehow have never gotten round to it, well not yet anyhow.

Chocolate Fruit Cake
An extremely moist fruit cake, fruity with the usual fruit and prunes (which I love) too. Not overtly chocolate-y and doesn’t taste of the Tia Maria coffee liqueur in it either, it just all adds to the depth of flavour this cake.

Chocolate Honey Cake
A really intense chocolate his this one, very small portions! I very mich enjoyed making the marzipan bees, mine are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I still like them a lot. I couldn’t force myself to dot the bees all over the cake, I’m far to ordered for that (!), so a bee ring it was.

Chocolate Orange Cake
A simple chocolate and orange cake, low fat and flour free, so perfect if you have issues with flour. I had to decorate it a bit, so I melted a little milk chocolate and dotted spots round the cake, which I toped with candied orange slices. Overnight the moisture from the chocolate seeps into the candied orange and makes them taste better and look like little jewels to boot.

Chocolate Raspberry Heart
Chocolate, cream and raspberries. A classic cake, and very pretty in real like too.

Old fashioned Chocolate Cake
A plain iced chocolate cake. I made this cake first the day of Prince Charles and Camilla got married, five years ago. I’ve kept the picture though and never see this cake without thinking of them. I’m not even royalist, maybe just very sentimental, with high hope for love and romance.

Rigatoni al Forno
This make a huge dish of pasta, but then it is for feeding a crowd.

Cornbread topped Chilli Con Carne
We love the chilli, and I’ve made it lots of times, but alas the cornbread topping was really not our thing. The guacamole is fabulous too.

Chocolate Cheesecake
Smooth, smooth, smooth and chocolate-y!

Rococoa Cake
I was so chuffed with myself the first time I made this, it is so pretty, tastes great too.

Easter Egg Nest Cake
This is another pretty one. The chocolate cream made it too rich for us, I’d rather just have simple whipped cream on top of the cake.

Holiday Trifle
Apricot and pandoro trifle. No alcohol, so fine for all the family. Flavoured with cardamon and topped with honey, pistachios and almonds.

Georgian Cherry Rice
Goodness, I love this rice! Fruit and rice, oh yes!! I have often made this in a pan as an accompaniment to other dishes, it doesn’t have the depth of flavour of being cooked inside the roast chicken, but I like it either way.

Georgian Stuffed Chicken with Beetroot Puree and Green Beans in Herbed Yoghurt
Lovely, I like a bit of pan juices-gravy with this too. A real feast.

Kedgeree Risotto
This is gorgeous. I don’t often do fishy risotto, don’t know why because the two I do make I just adore.

Malteser Cake
I’ve kept the best till last. One of my all time favourite cakes, moist and tender sponge, malty frosting and a few Maltesers for good measure. I have made this one for so many different things, a family tradition in our house now. I know from reading on food forums and Nigella.com that this cake and the Chocolate Guinness one have people really divided. They both seem to be loved or loathed, I dislike the Guinness one with a passion, but love this one in equal measure. I’m sure there is a chocolate cake to please everyone in the Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame.

Feed Me Now

2010-04-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

This posts book Feed Me Now by Bill Granger (Quadrille Publishing) came out last year in 2009. I am conscious of neglecting my Bill books a bit, I guess it happens when you have, ahem – well too many cookbooks, don’t tell anyone I said that now will you? Recently though, I got my new Bill off the shelf and we have enjoyed a number of great family meals from it since.

The chapters are Rise and Shine, Midday Fuel, Afternoon Treat, Family Fare, The Dinner Dash, On a Shoestring, Freeze Me, Friends Over and Sweet Dreams. The layout is clean and bold, but softened too by very good use of colour in the text. This book is a bit bigger in page size than most, loads of fresh, light and gorgeous looking pictures and all the recipes I’ve tried have worked really well.

The book is as the title would suggest for feeding yourself and your family right now, when you haven’t long to linger over the prep and cooking, the results are fresh and delicious though, and good for busy days cooking.

Some more recipes I have on my list from this book are Italian Onion Soup, Melt and Mix Lemon Slice, Grilled Beef with Sweet Chilli Relish, Fettuccine with Asparagus Pesto, Pork Steaks with Cashew Nut Salsa and Gooey Chocolate Cake with Raspberries.

Porcini and Pancetta Risotto
I did use Bill’s recipe here, but varied it a little by using 2 leeks instead of onions, Marsala instead of white wine and stirring through one tablespoon of mascarpone at the end. I only did this really to use up bit and pieces I already had, but I’m sure Bill would not mind, he seems a very easy going cook on TV. It was delicious.

Baked Chicken with Lemon, Potato and Green Olives
Quick, tasty and kind of comforting too, what more could you want for a quick midweek meal?

Spicy Prawn Stir Fry
This is at its most basic a Thai red curry, it’s quick because it uses a bought paste, but it’s a lot lighter than many of its kind as there are lots of vegetables and not too much coconut milk. I love this one a lot.

Chicken and Shitake Stir Fry
Great family friendly Asian stir fry, but then I really adore kecap manis. I thickened up the juices at the end, by adding one teaspoon of cornflour (mixed with some water to make a smooth paste) at the end. Have made this one a number of times.

Grilled Pork with Warm Cranberry Dressing and Pistachios
This was just gorgeous, my family are big fans of meat and fruit together, and this was right up our street. Very nice supper indeed.

Blueberry Tea Cake
I tend to think of Bill for savoury recipes more than sweet, I’m not sure why this is. After trying this cake though I’, going to try more of his sweet ones, it’s really knockout. The blueberries are juicy, the sponge moist, the icing a perfect crowing glory.
For the recipe for this wonderful cake click here.

Orange Tian Daring Bakers March 2010

2010-03-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

A quick post here as I’m late, I did make the challenge in time, but didn’t manage to post yesterday.

Sablee and marmalade
This months Daring Baker choice came from Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. A dessert that she first made while she was at the Alain Ducasse Cooking School in Paris. It is a baked pate sablee, home-made marmalade, set gelatine cream and orange-caramel soaked orange segments and some more of the sauce on the side. It’s moulded upside down and turned out, I made it family style in one bid (8") cake tin as that suited how I was serving it best. Individuals moulds would be lovely too though.

Orange segment lined cake tin
It’s a dessert with numerous stages, but well worth it we thought, it was a gorgeous, creamy, fruity, treaty dessert. The gelatine set cream is one of the very best I’ve come across, a member of the Daring Bakers, Heidi (who doesn’t have a blog) did it with strawberries in heart shaped moulds, they were absolutely gerogeous! Will give that a go in the Summer-time, I just know it’d be delicious.

Ready for the set cream to be mae and the whole dessert assembled
With thanks to Jennifer for choosing a fabulous dessert. Recipe and blogroll here on the Daring Kitchen website.

And the Winner of Eat Me Is

2010-03-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Smartie Cookies, after baking

The winner of Eat Me! The Stupendous, Self-Rising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton is Carla of Four Foodies. I’ll be in touch about sending it to you! Well done Carla, and thank you to everyone who entered.
Here is a couple more recipes I’ve made from this excellent book:

Snowdrift Shortbread
I take on Millionaires shortbread, just with white chocolate and coconut on top, very good, best on day made we thought.

Before baking
Smartie Cookies
I’ve tried a few Smartie cookies in the past, and this one is the clear winner. I suspect it’s the chopped white chocolate that is enclosed into the balls of uncooked cookie dough before being studded with the colourful smarties. I made this for my little one and a friend who came to play on Friday. The friend said she had tried (bought) smartie cookies before, and refused a taste! Isn’t it always the way? Best laid intentions and all that. Cookie Girl says these are just as loved by adults as children, and it’s true; the little friend must have been the exception to the rule - everyone else has loved them and my batch has all but disappeared!
Think I’ll do Easter cupcakes and Easter cookies next. Mmmm.

Cook in Boots

2010-03-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

Banana Pancakes with Caramel Sauce

Sometimes when browsing the net in search of new books -be they newly published, or an author that has so far gone unnoticed – it is possible to stumble across someone who fires up your interest. This happened to me a last year when I found Ravinder Bhogal’s Cook In Boots for pre-order, it came out in May 2008. It was presented in an upbeat modern manner with amusing chapter heading and subheadings.
In due course it arrived, and it is just the very epitome of an upbeat modern girls (boys too perhaps) cookbook. Before I started cooking from it I saw Ravinder on the Good Food channel (UKTV as was then) cooking a recipe from her book (Oreo Cheesecake if you’re curious). I warmed to her immediately, she’s a pretty, well dressed, well spoken, fashion journalist and home cook. She won a search by Gordon Ramsey to find a new Fanny Craddock, and the blurb at the back of the book say she beat off over 8,000 other entrants to take the crown.
It’s a fashionable book, nicely presented with good humoured text and fun play on words in parts. It’s got some lovely pictures including shoes and boots in the chapter heading pictures, if that’s your thing. More than this though, it’s a good cookbook, one I feel actually comes from the heart of the author, and obviously essential to a good cookbook, the recipes work.
I read online that she is currently working on her second book, I scan the book sites regularly to see what it will be and when it’ll come out, it’ll be going in my pre-order basket for sure.
Back to the present though. Here is a selection of some of the recipes I’ve made from the book. I should have perhaps posted a shorter post sooner, but I want my blog to be true to how I cook, and it’s good to be able to say that 10 months on it’s still in my current cooking and reading pile. Indeed, post two about this book is currently percolating away!

Afternoon Tea Pudding
This was my first try last year, when I was just desperate for a quick, comforting, sweet pudding. This fit the bill nicely, basically a bread and butter pudding made with scones and jam. I don’t recall now why I needed a comforting pudding, but what I do remember is that this one did comfort.

Couscous and Roasted Vegetable Salad
I liked this, but would fiddle a bit next time, more pomegranate molasses to up the flavour stakes.

Spicy Shepherd’s Pie
Minced lamb and subtle spicing; think keema with mash on top. Spiced but although there is chilli in it, it’s not too hot – or at least it wasn’t with the chilli I used, we liked this one.
Hot Sausage Roast with Sweet and Sour Gravy
I did the sauce separately in a pan, which made it not what it was intended to be, as I knew the little people wouldn’t like the sauce. This was ok, but I prefer some of other dishes of this type that I already make better.

Double Chocolate Orange Brownies
As a confirmed lover of orange and chocolate together, I have no idea why I’ve not thought to turn the flavour combo into a brownie myself. Works very nicely indeed.

Turkish Delight Rocky Road
The Turkish delight is great in the rocky road. I’ve actually been thinking about trying this myself for ages, when on Nigella dot com someone asked for ideas for marshmallow replacements in one of Nigella’s rocky roads and I suggested Turkish Delight.I’d put a bit of golden syrup in the chocolate mixture next time, as even with the Turkish it needed it I thought.

Pasta, Chorizo and Bean Soup
This is a very very good soup. Veggies, pasta, beans and the essential chorizo sausage. What’s not to like there?!

Left Over Roast Chicken Paella
A good use of the leftover meat from a roast chicken. A nice one to add into your reportiore. It’s not real paella, but it is a good dish.

Dill Crepes with Green Vegetables and Feta
These were a bit of work, crepes, bechamel and vegetable filling, but I thought they were worth it, incredibly filling too.

Banana Pancakes with Caramel Sauce
I made these for pancake day (Shrove Tuesday), they were great! A proper caramel sauce is just what the bananas and pancakes needed, I had some blueberries so added them to the plates when serving, and a worthy addition they were too!

Eat Me Review and Cookbook Giveaway

2010-03-06T01:36:00.001-08:00

I can hardly believe that it is the Third Anniversary of my blog. Time flies and all that… and of course my interest in food, cooking and cookbooks is as vibrant as it ever was.
To celebrate the Third Anniversary of Cooking the Books I’m giving away a new copy of a cookbook which I bought for myself months ago on pre-order and which arrived last week.
It’s by Xanthe Milton - Eat Me! The Stupendous, Self-Rising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl. How is that for a title? A fabulous book on baking cupcakes and cookies. I really like it, it’s just my kind of book- girl-y, a little whimsical and a whole lot tempting. Not to mention indulgent, and I love to indulge my family and friends with little sweet things, especially when it’s things that will give a lift to one’s heart and soul. There is something about baking for someone else, or having them bake for you that is special far beyond the sum of the time and ingredients involved. I want to make half the book, right now, this very minute!
Xanthe took a sabbatical from acting and started baking and delivering bakes to offices, this led to a stall at Portobello Market, cupcakes being sold by Selfridges amongst others and she also writes Cookie Girl columns for The Grove magazine regularly, her website is here. She has an obvious real love for cake, cookies and baking. With chapters including recipes for cupcakes and cookies charting the four seasons plus a party chapter too. A taster of some of the delicious recipes are: Easter Egg Cupcakes, Lemon Finger Cookies, Bounty Cupcakes, Blueberry Clouds, Orange Polenta Cookies, Snowdrift Shortbread, Jack Daniel’s Cupcakes, White Christmas Cupcakes and Banoffee Cupcakes.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes

The picture above is of the one I’ve baked first, and I had a very hard time pinpointing the first one I can tell you; but pinpoint it I did and white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes were soon baking in my kitchen. Vanilla sponge with fresh raspberries, filled with white chocolate ganache and topped with a fresh raspberry buttercream icing. They are lovely, the ganache really works so well and takes a raspberry cupcake to another level.
To enter the competition please leave a comment saying you’d like to enter. It is open until 12.00 p.m. on the 20th of March 2010. The winner’s name will be drawn from a hat and I’ll post the winner on the 21st of March 2010. Good luck!

Daring Baker February 2010

2010-02-28T07:25:00.000-08:00

This months Daring Baker is Tiramisu. It was chosen by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate about Baking, thank you both for hosting. Now I love tiramisu and have made probably about 10 versions over the years, but last year I found one of Gino D’Acampo’s that everyone that tried it just swooned for. Now, maybe that put this months challenge at a big disadvantage from the outset, and I wouldn’t have tried another after Gino’s had it not been the chosen challenge.

The challenge was in three parts: mascarpone, saviordi biscuits and the tiramisu, including pastry cream and zabaglione. I started with the mascarpone, which came out like a brick, I’m sure I could have broken something with it had I dropped it, ice puck anyone?! The taste, well it was vile sour cream and lemon. Here is the picture of it out of the fridge, but it was too awful to put in a dessert even if I’d managed to get it to soften a bit, so in the end although I tried it I bought the mascarpone that went into the tiramisu.

The sponges were lovely, would make them again, as was the zabaglione and lemony pastry cream. I duly assembled the tiramisu and set it in the fridge overnight. It tasted good, not light as I was expecting, but still respectable. Gino has not lost his Tiramisu crown though!

More Daring Baker posts through the blogroll. Recipe here.

In the Mood for Entertaining, still cooking

2010-02-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

Maple, pecan and sultana swirls, ready for the oven
I’ve continued cooking from Jo Pratt’s In the Mood for Entertaining, and still loving this book. Doing more of the cold weather food now. I think mostly everything I’ve made from this book has been good, and lots more planned. If you are new to my blog do go to the books title in the ‘Books Cooked from so Far’ column on the right hand side and see other things I’ve cooked from this book.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Macaroons
I’ve developed a real passion for macaroons, they are just so delicious. These were hazelnut ones sandwished together with a little Nutella. Lovely.

Sweet Potato Hash Browns with Sausage and Tomatoes
This is more cooking than I can cope with of a morning, so we had this for supper one night instead.
Harissa Salmon with Minted Bulgar Wheat Salad
This was really good, not sure which bit was best, the salmon or the bulgar wheat. Either way they were fabulous together.

Chocolate Cookies
If you are anything like me you’ve probably tried a lot of chocolate cookies (and cakes too, but that’s another story) looking for the ‘perfect’ one. These cooled a bit but still warm and gooey from the oven are really perfect. Easy too!

Pork, Stilton and Port Pie with Root Vegetable and Mustard Mash
I made this for the gorgeous Hubby, because as Jo says boys do love their pies. It was a glorious pie, I liked it just as much as Hubby, the root mash complemented it very well, leaving only a little green vegetable to think about for a great meal.

Pimm’s and Strawberry Ripple Creams
I made these loads of times last Summer, we loved them. Very easy to leave the alcohol out of if you like, and for a portion of it I did so, so Missy wouldn’t get any booze! I topped hers with a little grated chocolate so I could tell the difference.

Lazy Tray Baked Chicken
Good Mediterranean inspired chicken bake, peppers, rosemary, garlic. Also has potatoes and carrots in it with a little honey to sweeten it up at the end. Yum.

Plum, Apple and Almond Crumble with Amaretto Cream
This one was lovely too. More complex flavour wise than you might expect, orange zest with the fruit, cinnamon in the topping and then the Amaretto cream. I added a bit of sugar to the cream to soften the alcohol, as is my wont.

Creamy Sausage and Mustard Casserole
I really wanted to make this when this book came out last Summer, but this was just to hot for the warm days of that time of year. Just perfect though for when there is snow on the ground and a nip in the air. Very good, so well complemented buy the salad.

Winter Salad Bowl
One of the things I really like about Jo’s food is she gives you treat food, but she usually also incorparates lots of vegetables as well, and this salad is a case in point. Five a day is easy with this sort of salad. It has a little chilli in it, but it’s easy to take out the little peoples portions before adding it.

Maple, pecan and Sultana Swirls
These are very easy indeed, primarily because they use bought puff pastry. You cut the puff pastry sheet into strips, then top with the filling mixture, roll up and bake. Easy as that. They were good hot but I actually liked them best cold, had a real Danish pastry feel to them like that.

Feta, Pea and Mint Tortilla
I didn’t plan to make this one, but happened to have the bits needed so went with it, really yummy, more so that the list of ingredients would suggest.

Granola
We are especially enjoying my take on Jo’s granola just now (recipe below). It’s so fruity, nutty and oaty with a lovely honey taste. This is the first granola I’ve tried without extra added sugar in it – just the honey here, and although I sort of missed it on first tasting, I’ve come to love it for what it is, a gorgeous breakfast, that is actually sweet enough. Our favourite way with it is atop Greek yoghurt, but I tell you it is good even just by the spoonful, both hubby and I might just be addicted to it!

Cranberry, Pistachio and Honey Granola
My spin of Jo Pratt’s recipe from In The Mood For Entertaining

175g runny honey
100g unsalted butter
325g rolled oats
100g flaked almonds
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
25g desiccated coconut, unsweetened
200g dried cranberries
125g pistachio nuts
(1) Put the oven on and preheat it to 160oC /140oC fan / gas 2-3.
(2) In a big pan melt the honey and butter together, take off the heat.
(3) Add the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and coconut. Mix well and spread out on a big (non stick is easiest) baking tray. Cook in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring up every 10 minutes ( I use a non stick fish slice here) for even browning.
(4) Once cold place in a bowl and add the cranberries and pistachios. Will keep for up to a month in an airtight container.

Hairy Bikers’ Family Cookbook – Mums Know Best

2010-02-01T03:15:00.000-08:00

Well, Si King and Dave Myers aka the Hairy Bikers have a new book and TV series of the same name: Hairy Bikers’ Family Cookbook – Mums Know Best! The TV series started before the book was out, and it's a good one, Mums, families and their recipes, plus recipe fairs, it’s great to watch.

I’ve always been interested in other peoples’ food, and their family recipes, you know the ones that will pass from generation to generation. Si and Dave are the perfect pair to go on this journey of discovery, they have stuck to their guns and been true to the family recipes, instead of trying to jazz them up. I like that, something that was good fifty years ago should still be good now. Some are Dave and Si’s family recipes and some are from families that they have visited on the show. It’s not all British either, of course there are British recipes, but also from further afield, families from other countries, with different foods that are now cooked as family food here. I can’t wait to try Yasmeen’s Spinach, Carrot and Potato Pakoras, they look like the real deal, and so good.

The book is divided up into six chapters: Family Favourites, Show-off Food, Good Simple suppers, Birthday Treats, Sunday Dinner and Picnics. I’ve always liked the hairy bikers, and have enjoyed all their books, but this is the one I’ve cooked from. I’m enjoying the book a lot, and I was given it as a belated Christmas present from my own little one, she has been watching the programmes with me, and has been very interested herself!

Anyhow down to business, here’s the first batch of what I’ve been cooking from this book. I’m sure there will be a second post from this book in the future!

Cheese Pie
I couldn’t believe how much cheese was in this! It was soooo rich. It’s a good idea though, and since I made the one in the book I’ve brought life to leftover mash by adding some grated mature white cheddar cheese and baking it in the oven. I used considerably less cheese though!

Traditional Rice Pudding
We as a family love rice pudding, and this one made a huge dish of it. It was good, although I’ll add a bit more sugar next time as I have a big sweet tooth!

Mushroom Risotto
A milder mushroom risotto, where the chicken stock is paramount to the end result. Lovely.

Cottage Pie with Cheesy Mash
This was gorgeous, just the thing for the cold January night I made it on.

Rocky Road
These are not rocky road as I know them, but sort of mars bar crispies with crumbled shortbread and marshmallows added in for the bumpy effect. The shortbread was really good here, unexpected buttery, almost creaminess it added to the bars. Quite compulsive, I could have eaten a lot more than was good for me!

EDIT: I've made this a few times since, and now make it in a 7 inch aquare tin and top with 200g melted milk chocolate.

Sweet and Sour Pork Hong Kong Style
This was good, mine didn’t look like the picture in the book, but the pork was tender and the batter crispy, mmm. I added in some skinned peppers for a veggie element.

Key Lime Pie
We didn’t like this one that much, the filling was way too sour, the sweet base and meringue topping just couldn’t cope with the sour middle for us.

Millionaires Shortbread

A classic. I cooked the shortbread a bit too long, so it is darker than normal, but still very good.

Pork BBQ Ribs
At last a BBQ sauce that doesn’t have chilli in it! These were lovely, I’ll try the sauce with chicken too.

Steak and Ale Pie
This was really delicious. Loved by all.

Empire Biscuits
I so wanted to make these the minute I saw the picture in the book. We used to have these when I was little, I know them as Sailors’ Hats. I’m not sure why they were called sailors hats though! Anyway they were beautiful little biscuits, both to look at and to eat, yum!

Here are the recipes for Rocky Road and Empire Biscuits in a link from the BBC (Scroll down).

Daring Bakers Nanaimo Bars January 2010

2010-01-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

This months Daring Baker recipe was chosen by Lauren of Celiac Teen. She chose home-made graham crackers, to be transformed into Nanaimo bars, a special Canadian bar.

I should come clean and tell you that I’ve not tasted a graham cracker out of a package before, so I don’t know if mine were in any way realistic! (in either looks or taste). We liked them though, crispy and good, really delicious warm from the oven. I halved the recipe for the crackers, but we would have eaten the rest, so maybe I shouldn’t have, next time I’ll know.

I have always substituted our UK Digestive biscuits for graham cracker crumbs when I’ve seen them in US or Canadian recipes, but our Digestives have a different taste. The crackers were easy to make, the dough was a bit sticky, but not badly so.

The Nanaimo bars themselves were lovely. I’ve made them before from a Marcy Goldman recipe, so I knew we’d be in for a treat! Lauren had suggested doing them a s a gluten free treat, I used wheat flour, but only because I was determined to do this months challenge and it was really snowy and icy, so I just did them with the flour I had in the cupboard, I didn’t fancy a white knuckle ride on the icy roads that day!

Anyhow, they are a chocolate-y coconut biscuit base, a custard flavoured a butter cream middle and a chocolate top.
Thanks to Lauren for choosing a lovely bar, and click here for the recipe for the graham crackers and here for the for the Nanaimo bars. Finally click here for more Daring Bakers sites to visit.