The hot hot dog

After a couple Man V Food marathons my friend and I were getting massive cravings for slow roasted, gut busting, meaty and cheesy American grub. Last Sunday turned out to be the perfect time to fulfill those meaty urges when we decided on some delicious chili hot dogs. To get the slow cooking element in to the recipe we chose to cook the chili in the oven for a few hours, until all the flavours had really mingled and the meat was almost melting. The recipe which follows is actually more of a guide because I made it up as I went along and it was down to personal taste. I think next time I would do more of a savoury, meaty chili as the one we ended up with was quite sweet and had a rich tomato flavour. We got some nice Polish frankfurter type sausages which had turkey and pork in them and some soft fresh buns. It definitely was man vs food when it came to serving up the chili dogs but this time, man won.

Chili Hot Dogs

Chili:
300g beef mince (or a mixture of beef and pork if you want a really nice chili)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 tsp chili powder or to taste
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp hot paprika (if you want a really hot chili)
1 tsp cumin
a sprinkle of chili flakes
1 beef stock cube
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes (add the whole tin if you like it to have a bigger tomato flavour)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp cocoa powder (trust this, it works!)
salt & pepper to taste
dark sugar if sweetness is need

Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas Mark 2/3. Start by browning the meat off in an oven proof pan or casserole dish, then add the onions and cook down until they become soft. Add the crushed garlic and all of the spices and fry them all for a couple of minutes. Add the stock cube mixed with a little hot water and the chopped tomatoes and mix in until you have the consistency of watery porridge, adding more water if necessary. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and the rest of ingredients and cook for about 5 minutes. Give the chili a taste now and adjust the ingredients depending on what you think is needed. Don't be afraid to use a fair bit of salt to prevent the chili tasting bland. Once you are happy with the taste, pop your lovely chili in the oven and leave to cook down for as long as you can wait.

Once ready, boil the sausages for 3-4 minutes and serve the hot dog and chili in a nice, soft bun with grated cheese, American mustard and some chopped onions. Meaty heaven!

Giant Raspberry Cupcake

The other week my mum asked to borrow my giant cupcake mould to make a cake for a couple of her friend's for their birthday lunch. Instead, seeing as I love a good old bake, I proposed that I would go home and bake the cake for her. When talking over what flavour I should do, a few different options came up but we decided on doing some kind of strawberry cupcake creation with fresh strawberries in the center. So off we went to Waitrose only to find they had no strawberries in stock. They did however have a nice deal on fresh raspberries so that is what we came home with. I made the recipe up as I went along and the outcome seemed to work, especially from the feedback I got form my mum's friends. I did cheat slightly and used some jam and some lovely raspberry sauce from M & S. It was a lot like a raspberry coulis so could be made by hand if you were that way inclined. The cake ended up being a vanilla sponge with a mascarpone and raspberry filling topped with raspberry icing. Lovely as an unusual birthday cake for a child or an adult!

Giant Raspberry Ripple Cupcake


Sponge:

340g butter, softened
340g caster sugar
6 large free range eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
340g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder

Filling:

1 small tub mascarpone
1 tbsp raspberry jam
raspberry coulis/sauce to taste
1 punnet of fresh raspberries

Icing:
(recipe taken from british bake off book but modified slightly)

125g butter, unsalted
400g icing sugar
1 tsp milk
3-4 tbsp raspberry coulis/sauce

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Cream together the butter and sugar for the sponge until light and fluffy. While mixing, gradually add each egg and the vanilla until fully combined. Then carefully but firmly fold in the flour and baking powder until just mixed in. Spray the mould with cooking spray or grease with some butter. Add your mix to about 2/3 full, being careful not to over fill. Cook for 1 hour but check on it at 40 minutes to be sure you don't over cook the sponge. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

Next combine the mascarpone, jam and sauce in a bowl making sure it isn't too runny or too sweet. Then carefully fold in the raspberries and set aside.

To make the icing, cream the butter until smooth then add the rest of the ingredients and mix for at least 5 minutes. The icing should be light a fluffy and hold its shape if you plan on using a piping bag.

When the cakes are cool you can assemble the top and the base. I cut out a small well in the top of the base and spooned the mascarpone mixture in to it There is an extra part to my cake mould that you can use to make a well already but I find you don't get a good bake on the bottom sponge. The filling then acts as a sort of glue for the lid to sit on top of. Then you can pipe the icing all over the top and decorate with more fresh raspberries or sprinkles.

Mammoth dinner/picnic menu part 4

 Finally I have reached the pudding part of the epic meal I made for my parents to take for their upmarket picnic. I thought that the best bet would be to have individual puddings for each person rather than have something to share out between everyone. Saves on extra plates and cutlery! As I have mentioned before, I love trying out new and strange flavour combinations and when I found this recipe by Nigel Slater I definitely wanted to try it. It turned out to be rich and luxurious, perfect for those chocoholics out there looking for something a little different.

White Chocolate and Cardamon Mousse

Serves 6-8


8 plump green cardamom pods
100ml milk
3 bay leaves
250g white chocolate
300ml double cream
3 free range egg whites
best-quality cocoa powder for dusting


Break the cardamom pods open and extract the seeds. Crush them lightly, then add them to the milk and bay leaves in a small saucepan. Warm the seasoned milk over a moderate heat until it approaches the boil. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a bowl balanced over a pan of gently simmering water. It is best if the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Overheating the chocolate will cause it to go lumpy, so as soon as it starts to melt, turn off the heat but leave the bowl in place.

Whip the cream so that it forms soft mounds rather than peaks. In other words it should not be too stiff. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

When the chocolate is completely melted, remove from the heat and pour the warm milk on to it through a sieve. Stir the chocolate and milk together till velvety.

Scoop the mixture on to the stiffly beaten egg whites and fold gently together with a large metal spoon (a thick wooden one will knock the air out). Now fold into the softly whipped cream. Scrape into a serving bowl or espresso cups and refrigerate for three or four hours till set. Dust with cocoa or serve with a jug of chocolate sauce.

Mammoth dinner/picnic menu part 3

 Now I have finally got round to continuing the picnic menu I started in the summer. I doubt any one will remember but I managed to get up to the appetisers and starters. This post is the recipe for the main course which was a beautifully sweet rack of lamb. I found the recipe in one of my mum's cookbooks which is from Ottolenghi. It wasn't really a cookbook which had a lot of recipes that jumped out at me but my mum had only just got the book and said she had only tried a few recipes from it. It was for this reason I wanted to make sure I included a recipe from the book and it turned out to be the perfect one. When it came to planning the main course, I had difficulty finding something interesting and meaty that would be nice to have cold. When flipping through the ottolenghi cookbook, I stumbled across this recipe which said it would be perfect hot or cold. From then I was sold and I'm glad I made that decision. I was lucky enough to try the end result too as some of the lamb came back from the picnic and it was delicious!


Ottolenghi Marinated Rack of Lamb with Coriander and Honey

(serves 4)

1kg rack of lamb, french trimmed

20g flat leaf parsley, leaves and stalks

30g mint, leaves and stalks

30g coriander, leaves and stalks

4 garlic cloves, peeled

15g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

3 chillies, seeded (I actually deseeded the chillies and I think the heat was perfect, any more and it would have been too much)

½ teaspoon salt

50ml lemon juice

60ml soy sauce

120ml sunflower oil

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons water

Make sure most of the fat is trimmed off the lamb, leaving a uniform thin layer that will keep the meat moist and add to the flavour. Use a very sharp knife to separate the rack into portions of two or three cutlets. place in a non-metal container.

Blitz together all the remaining ingredients in a food processor, pour them over the lamb and make sure it is well covered for a night in the marinade. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200c and heat up a griddle pan.

Remove the meat from the marinade, shaking off the excess. sear well on all sides, about 5 minutes in total. transfer to a baking tray and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, depending on the size of the racks and how well cooked you want them.

Meanwhile, heat the marinade in a small pan and simmer for 5 minutes.

I served with some lovely herby couscous and roasted peppers, perfect for a warm evening.

September is for soup

As I write this post the weather could not be more different to the other week where it seemed as though winter was drawing in along with the wet and cold evenings. However now the sun is shining and the air is warm outside so this post seems a little silly. Upon arriving home from work late the other evening, all I was craving was something small but warming and thought a soup would fit the bill. I had some onions, a butternut squash and a couple lonesome sweet potatoes and decided to roast them off to make a nice silky soup. I wasn't disappointed with my creation and if the weather turns bad soon as I'm sure it will, whip this up to warm your cockles.

Butternut Squash Soup


1 butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped in to small chunks (and any root veg you have that needs using up)
1 onion, peeled and cut in to 8ths
6 garlic cloves left whole with skins on (I love garlic but feel free to add more or less to this)
2 tsp mixed spice
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
Butter
Chicken stock (or veg if you don't eat meat)
Sour cream to serve

Preheat oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3. Prepare the veg, onion and garlic and then spread out in a baking tray and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with some oil and sprinkle over the mixed spice then give it all a good mix up. Put in the oven for about 20 mins or until the squash is soft and starting to go a bit crispy and brown. Put a little butter in a saucepan, add everything from the tray after squeezing the little gems of garlic out their skins. Fry off for a couple minutes and then add the stock so that it covers the squash. Bring to the boil and then simmer for a few more minutes. All that needs doing now is to blend with a hand blender until its silky and smooth. If you find the soup too thick just add some more stock and blend again. Serve with a nice dollop of sour cream to offset the sweetness.

All American Breakfast

Ever since my epicmealtime adventure I have wanted to make candy bacon without burning it to a crisp and for it to be presentable enough to share with the world. Last Saturday turned out to be the perfect time to recreate the sweety and meaty treat along with some delicious all american pancakes. It was the first Saturday I've had off work in a while and was the perfect day for a relaxed brunch with the boyfriend. I used a Nigella Lawson recipe for the pancakes that I quickly found on the internet as it was fairly simple and I had all the ingredients. The only set back I had was the lack of griddle pan which meant using my big saute pan. Annoyingly I could only make one pancake at a time but I just stacked them up and kept them warm in the oven. Serve with bacon or without but it is a must to have warm maple syrup. Enjoy!



American Pancakes


225g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
30g butter, melted and cooled
300ml milk 

butter for frying

Weigh out the dry ingredients and put together in to a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add your wet ingredients, making sure the butter is cool enough not to cook the eggs. Whisk from the middle outwards to ensure no lumps are missed. Leave your batter for at least 20 mins and then pour in to a jug ready to pour out your pancakes. Put a little butter on a heavy bottomed pan or if you're lucky a nice griddle pan. Make sure the pan is nice and hot, then pour out the little circles of joy. Leave to cook until the pancake starts to bubble in the middle, don't be tempted to flip too soon or your pancake will fall apart. It should only need a minute on the other side to get some colour and then you're done! Serve with warm maple syrup (if your maple syrup is in a plastic bottle don't put it in the microwave or it will melt. Luckily I realised this before the bottle totally melted.)

Candy Bacon (easiest recipe so far)

Streaky bacon

brown or muscovado sugar (caster or any light sugar won't be as good)

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 4. Line a flat tray with tin foil and lay out the bacon in strips. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the bacon and then put in to the oven. Cook for about 10 minutes or until it starts to go golden. Then flip your bacon and sprinkle some more sugar on the other side. Continue cooking until the bacon has crisped up and there is a nice caramel colour to the sugar. Serve warm or wait to cool and blend to create powdered bacon sugar!

Back with a zesty bang!

I realise it has been a while since I last posted and there isn't much of a good reason other than being busy with work and now I have a week off, having a lot of fun. There has still been time for some good baking though so there will be a lot of posts coming your way. I'm going to start with the most recent and most amazing of them all. My friend from uni has been staying this week and when it comes to food and probably most other things we are soul mates. We were happily watching The Great British Bake Off (probably one of my favourite tv shows) and they were making some delicious meringue pies. We decided to make one ourselves and somewhere along, during our brainstorming, we came up with making a key lime meringue pie! We followed the recipe for a key lime pie and then I thought the best meringue to use was Italian meringue as it has become my favourite and is far superior to the french version. Its so light and fluffy as well as not being too sweet either. The key lime pie recipe we used was by Jamie Oliver and meant we didn't have to use any gelatin which is always better. The result was lovely and actually surprisingly easy. Lovely for a dessert, especially now we're having some nice summer weather.

Key Lime Pie

Filling:

4 egg yolks
400ml condensed milk
6 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 5 limes’ worth)
200ml double cream
Lime zest (optional), to serve

Crust:
12 digestive biscuits 

45g caster sugar
135g melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 175C/gas 3. For the pie crust, lightly grease a 22cm (across the top) metal or glass pie dish with a little of the melted butter. Blend digestive biscuits, caster sugar and remaining melted butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Transfer to pie dish and spread over the bottom and up the sides, firmly pressing the mixture down. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place dish on a wire rack to cool.
For the filling, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl. Gradually whisk in condensed milk until smooth. Mix in lime juice, then pour filling into pie crust and level over with the back of a spoon.
Return to the oven for 15 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

Italian Meringue

200g caster sugar

75ml water

4 egg whites

You'll need a sugar thermometer too

Start by putting the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat. Leave to simmer while you whip up the egg whites in a big clean bowl. Whip until they make soft peaks and make sure you keep an eye on the syrup. When the syrup reaches 120°C or the soft ball stage, take off the heat and then with the electric whisk going, slowly pour in to the egg whites being careful not to hit the side or the whisk. Keep whisking until the side of the bowl is cool again and you have a nice thick and glossy meringue. That is all the cooking the meringue needs, leaving it nice a smooth and fluffy. 

We spread the meringue on to the pie and then put under the grill to get some nice colour and a bit of crunch on top. Delicious!

Summer comforts

Last time I checked it was meant to be august and we should have lovely summer weather but as I'm sure most of you have realised the weather isn't exactly matching the season. When it gets cold, wet and windy all I crave is home cooked comfort food and chicken, leek and bacon pie fits the bill perfectly in this case. When it comes to pies I think most of the time you can get away with using ready made pastry as it's just as good as home made stuff. Of course if you wanted to make special pastry like cheese pastry then i'm all for making it from scratch but in times like this then its the shop bought stuff for me. I found this recipe in Cook in Boots which has a whole chapter on comfort food which is amazing and perfect for this weather. I served the pie with some sweet potato mash and all together it was a hug on a plate that was much needed. Below is the original recipe but I added some bacon in with the chicken because everything is better with bacon.

Cock-a-leekie Pie
Serves 6

8 chicken thighs, skinned, boned and chopped into bite-sized chunks
salt and pepper
1 large knob of butter
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped into thick chunks
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
leaves stripped from 4 bushy sprigs of thyme
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp plain flour
1 glass white wine
200ml double cream
3 tbsp flat leaf parsley
375g ready made puff pastry


Preheat oven to 200°c/gas 6. Season the chicken and fry in the butter until sealed on all sides and it has some colour on it. Add the leeks, mushrooms, thyme and lemon zest. Once the mushrooms are nutty and brown, sprinkle in the flour and keep stirring for a minute, then pour in the wine. When the wine has nearly evaporated, pour in the cream and lemon juice, mix and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and put in the bottom of a large pie dish. Leave to cool.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 1cm thick and drape over the pie dish. Cut away the excess pastry and go around the edge with a fork pressing it down. Brush with beaten egg or milk and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Serve with mash and enjoy.

My First Culinary Creation

Looking back on my posts I have realised that all of them involve recipes from other chefs or people so I wanted to try out one of my own creations. I love unusual flavour combinations and trying out new things so when I discovered a white chocolate and cardamon mousse which tasted fantastic, I immediately wanted to try making some cupcakes in the same flavour. I looked about on the internet for some white chocolate cupcake recipes but they are a little hard to come by. I eventually did some mashing together of different recipes to ensure I had the right components in, especially milk so that i could infuse the cardamon with it. I also wanted to try out a new kind of icing that I discovered and I'm really glad I did. It is the most amazing icing I have ever had and is definitely worth the effort. Its called Italian meringue butter-cream and you can find the recipe on thepinkwhisk which is a blog by one of the runners up in the first Great British Bake Off (best program ever?) I'm glad to say the cakes turned out nicely and so did the icing though it was a little runny to start with, I just added some extra butter and 70g of melted white chocolate and it stiffened up to perfection. I have yet to get feedback from people at work but the boyfriend says they are my best cakes ever (he says that about all my cakes though because he is lovely.)

White Chocolate & Cardamon Cupcakes

100g butter, softened

170g caster sugar

2 eggs

200g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

125ml milk

8 plump cardamon pods (green cardamon)

100g white chocolate

• Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/160°c. 
• Take your butter and sugar and beat together until pale and fluffy then add in your eggs and mix until combined. 
• Put the milk and cardamon in to a saucepan and gently heat through until it simmers and the milk has taken on the flavour of the cardamon. 
• Whilst doing this put your chocolate in a Bain-marie or a bowl over a saucepan of water (make sure the water isnt touching the bottom of the bowl or the chocolate will burn.) Heat until the chocolate is half melted and then take off the heat and keep stirring. The residual heat will finish melting it. 
• Strain the milk through a sieve in to the melted chocolate and stir together but make sure the milk isn't boiling or the chocolate will burn. 
• Once this is done combine a third of the flour with the egg mix and then add a third of the chocolate milk once mixed in. Repeat this until everything is fully combined. 
• Fill your cupcake cases 2/3 full and put in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Once cool, top with your choice of icing. 

Happy Birthday Next Starbucks!

On the 13th August it was my store's first birthday and to celebrate my boss asked me to make some cupcakes. She had ordered some edible cake toppers from top your cake with the Starbucks logo, for me to put on top of them and let me have creative freedom on the flavour. To suit every one's tastes I went with a pretty neutral flavour of caramel cupcakes as who doesn't like caramelised sugar? I have a lovely recipe by the hummingbird bakery which I have used before for my boyfriends birthday cakes. They went down really well the first time so I chose to redo the recipe which is always a good sign for me. The only difficult ingredient is the tinned caramel but most big supermarkets do it even if your small local shop won't. A great bake for something special or even just for a Saturday afternoon baking.

Hummingbird Bakery Caramel Cupcakes


For the Sponge:

280g caster sugar

80g unsalted butter softened 

240g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

240ml whole milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 large eggs

150g tinned caramel or dulce de leche

For the Frosting:

500g icing sugar

160g unsulted butter

50ml whole milk

100g tinned caramel or dulce de lech plus extra to decorate

I find this recipe a little backwards as i'm so used to beating the butter and sugar, then the eggs and then adding the dry ingredients carefully but it does work!

1.  Preheat the oven to 190 C (375 F). Gas mark 5 and line a muffin tin with muffin cases

2.  Using a hand-held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, whisk together the butter, sugar , flour, baking power and salt on a low speed until crumb-like in consistency.

3.  Place the milk and vanilla essence in a jug with the eggs and whisk by hand until combined.  Pour three quarters of this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together on a slow speed, then increase the speed to medium and keep beating until smooth and thick.  Scrape down sides of the bowl, then add the remaining milk mixture and the tinned caramel and continue to mix until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth.
4.  Divide the batter between the muffin cases, filling each by two-thirds.  Any remaining batter can be used to fill one to four more cases in a separate tin (there will be loads left over).  Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until well risen and springy to touch.  Leave to cool for a while in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool down fully while you make the frosting.
5.  Using the electric whisk or freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the icing sugar with the butter on a low speed until combined and still powdery in texture.  Slowly mix in the milk, and once it is incorporated, increase the speed to high and whisk until light and fluffy.  Add the caramel and beat in well.
6.  Spoon the frosting on to the cupcakes once they have cooled, smoothing it on with a palette knife and swirling the frosting.  If you want to decorate the cakes, spoon some tinned caramel or dulce de leche into a piping bag with a small nozzle and pipe on to the cakes in little hearts, or whatever shape takes your fancy.

Sweet Sundays

For the last few weeks my friend and partner in crime from work have been meeting up every Sunday to bake some delicious creations. It started off with him wanting to try out a recipe for sweet potato pie which he had in America and fell in love with. It was always something on the foodie list so I said we should give it a try and my god am I glad we did. It sounds a little weird but it goes on the same principle as using carrots to make cake, sweet vegetables do work in dessert. We used ready made shortcrust pastry to save on time and effort and in fact it worked out really well. I was worried that the savoury pastry would not go with the sweet filling but it actually balanced the pie out nicely and any sweet pastry would be too much. We found the recipe here and it is so easy to follow. What you end up with is a pie with similar taste to an egg custard tart but with the lovely added flavour of the sweet potatoes. Really good little pudding which can be whipped up in a hurry or really nice if you are craving a little Christmas cheer, even if it is August.

Epic Meal Time

So since I'm a total food slut, when I discovered the youtube videos by epicmealtime I obviously fell in love with them instantly. Most of their meals include the staples; meat, cheese and bacon. A lot of bacon. Upon watching many a meaty video, my friends and I were inspired to create an epicmealtime of our own. We took our inspiration from the Meatball Deathstar but in the end it was more like a meatloaf of joy. There isn't much of a recipe list as the basic ingredients are simple. This is more of a guide and hopefully inspiration for other people to create bacon and cheese filled meat dishes.

Epic Meal Time

1kg beef mince
500g grated cheese
1 egg
Salt & pepper
1 packet of Tortellini
1 jar tomato pasta sauce
1 packet of garlic bread

Start by putting the mince, most of the cheese (hold some back to make a couple layers in the meatloaf), egg and any herbs you choose. I went with oregano. Mix up together and then add some seasoning. Put a layer of the meat mixture in the bottom of a loaf tin or big ovenproof dish. Cover the sides too. Then put a layer of cheese down. As you're doing this, you should have the pasta boiling and cook for about 4 mins. Add this next once you've drained the water. Next put a final layer of cheese and the rest of the mince to enclose your little cheesy meat package. We magically had the right amount of everything, hopefully you will have the same kind of luck. Bake in a moderate (190°c/gas mark 5) for about 45 mins or until firm to touch. Turn it out in to a serving dish and pour the heated tomato sauce over the top. Serve with the cooked garlic bread and enjoy!

We also made some candy bacon but were a little overzealous with the heat in the oven so most of it burnt. The bits we rescued were absolutely delicious and I would recommend any one who likes bacon and sugar to try it! Just put some streaky bacon on a tinfoil covered tray and sprinkle with soft brown sugar (it must be dark sugar!) Put in a medium oven (190°c/gas mark 6) until nice a crispy but not black like us! 

Margarita Cupcakes

I stumbled across a dream of a food blog the other day which has filled me with envy and a whole new list of things I want to try. I still had an excess of Mexican ingredients including a lot of limes and a tiny splash of tequila that somehow got missed so when I spotted a recipe for margarita cupcakes I just had to try them. The recipe from the amazing food blog is here but sadly the measurements are in the American system so I had to do a little conversion of all the ingredients. Luckily for you I wrote these measurements down and will now share them with you. This recipe makes really lovely cakes and I've been told by the boss and chums at work that they are my best lot yet.

Margarita Cupcakes

Margarita Cupcakes:
makes 12-16

110g softened butter
225g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 limes, grated zest and juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 fl oz buttermilk
225g self-raising flour (I think you're meant to use plain but self raising gives more air in your cakes)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp tequila, for brushing the tops of the cakes

The recipe tells you to mix the batter in a different way to how I did mine. Its just the way I know best and means you can get a lot of air in the eggs before adding the dry ingredients.

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 3/160°C
2. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy then add the eggs and continue to mix on medium speed so that you get some air in to them. After doing so add the lime zest and juice and the vanilla. Give it a little mix but don't worry if it separates, it will all come together.
3. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and then slowly fold in a third to the egg mix. Next add a third of the butter milk. Continue like this until both have been added fully and it has just come together. You don't want to over mix the flour or beat out the air. 
4. Divide in top cupcake cases and fill about 1/2 or 3/4 full. You don't want them to over flow during baking as mine did.
5. Bake for 20/22 minutes until firm to touch and a skewer comes out clean. Don't be alarmed if they are quite pale on top, mine were like that too. Just ensure they are cooked through. Let them cool on a wire rack but while they are still warm brush the tops with the tequila.

Tequila-lime Frosting

225g butter

375g icing sugar

1 1/2 tbsp lime

1 tbsp tequila 

pinch of salt

Mix the butter and sugar with an electric whisk for about 5 minutes to get it really light and fluffy (I've never actually taken the time to do this apart from for this recipe and it really makes a difference! The icing came out amazingly!) Once this is done add the lime, tequila and salt. Give it a taste and add more tequila if you think its needed.

Once the cupcakes have cooled either spread the icing on top or use a piping bag. Garnish with a little grated lime zest.

Yes you MexiCAN

I've decided to distract myself from the news with my food blog as I'm just getting too angry at what is going on in London at the moment. Last week was definitely Mexican week for me as pretty much every meal had a Mexican theme to it. I even hosted a Mexican evening with friends from work which was meant to involve lots of food and drink but ended up with more of the latter. I did manage to make some Quesadillas and nachos in between blending up batches of makeshift margaritas but of course the idea of taking photos of them didn't pop in to my head at the time. However I did have extra of the ingredients left over then next day so when it came to finding a hangover cure I decided to remake the quesadillas and hoped they would do the trick. And that they did! Those lovely toasty cheese filled pockets are perfect for when you're feeling a little low and need a pick me up. They are also perfect for using up things in your fridge as you really can put anything you like in them! I'm going to put a very basic recipe here but really it can be changed to whatever ingredients you choose. All you need is the tortillas and some cheese and then the world is your oyster.

Quesadilla:
Makes lunch for 2 or 1 hungry person

2 tortilla wraps
Half a red pepper cut in to little pieces
Some finely sliced spring onions
Some freshly chopped coriander
Fresh chopped chili to taste
Lots of lovely grated cheese, whichever is your favourite (cheddar and red Leicester are good, try mexicana cheese too)
Any meat of your choosing, I had some roast chicken in the fridge so used that but you could use anything or nothing!

The best way to do this is mix all your ingredients, except the tortillas of course, in a bowl and then pile them on top of the first tortilla to create a nice layer and then top off with the other tortilla. I chose to put the first tortilla in the pan already and then top it so that I didn't have to try and move the quesadilla once assembled. Then all you need to do is put the lovely little parcel in a pan over a medium heat. You want the cheese to melt so that it gets stuck together inside but also for the tortilla to brown and crisp up on the outside. Once the tortilla reaches a nice golden colour on the first side, you need to be skillful and flip it without all the filling falling out. Cook the same way on the second side and once all the cheese has melted and you have a nice crispy quesadilla, remove from the pan on to a chopping board. Cut in to quarters that you can pick up with your hands and eat easily. Serve with a little sour cream, salsa or guacamole. Whatever takes your fancy!

Death by chocolate

I'm taking a break from the mammoth menu as even I'm bored of it so god knows what you guys think. As I said at the start of my blog, I have a lot of nice foodie things that I want to share stored up and as I have a free evening I'm trying to catch up a little. I think this recipe will go down really well and is really good for many occasions; birthdays, Easter or just for when that craving for something really rich and chocolatey kicks in. I made mine at Easter so made it in to some kind of nest creation with eggs in, however you can easily just use fresh berries to cut through the richness of the cake. This recipe is also really good for Celiacs or people who can't have gluten as it doesn't have any flour in at all, making it a really light cake. 



Death by Chocolate
makes 1 medium cake


For the sponge:
300g good-quality dark chocolate
150g unsalted butter, diced
5 medium free-range eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g caster sugar


For the topping:
200g good-quality dark chocolate
100ml double cream


You will also need a 22cm springclip tin greased with butter and the base lined with greaseproof paper.


Preheat the oven to 180°c/350°F/gas 4. Break up the chocolate and put it into a heatproof bowl with the butter. Set over a pan of steaming hot but not boiling water and leave it to melt, stirring frequently. Don't let the base of the bowl touch the water either or your chocolate will burn. Once melted, remove from the heat and let it cool while you whisk up the eggs. 
Break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk with the vanilla briefly to break up, then add the sugar and whisk on full power until pale, very thick and mousse-like and about 5 times the original volume. It will take about 5 minutes and once ready will leave a ribbon shape when the whisk is lifted out the bowl. Add the melted chocolate to the eggs and gently but thoroughly fold in with a metal spoon. 
Pour in to the tin and bake for 35 to 45 minutes until firm to the touch. Make sure it is still slightly moist in the centre as its hard to cut if over cooked. Remove from the tin once cooled (you may need to cut it out) and invert on to the plate so the flat bottom becomes the top. Melt the chocolate and cream together in the same way as before to make the topping but only until half the chocolate is melted. Once you get to this stage take it off the heat and beat until glossy. Pour over your delicious chocolate cake and decorate. I added some finely grated chocolate to get the nest effect. 

Mammoth dinner/picnic menu part 2.5

 So here we have the second part of the starter and now you might be beginning to see why it is called the mammoth picnic menu. The second step was a cured salmon side called gravadlax which is originally a Nordic dish and is particularly famous in Sweden (you may have seen some in the food market of Ikea.) It is a lot like eating smoked salmon but without the obvious smoked flavour. It is a good way to ease someone in to eating raw fish as it is raw but cured so doesn't have the scary property of getting ill from raw fish. This Jamie Oliver recipe uses beetroot in the curing process too so the salmon ends up a beautiful deep pink/purple colour on the outside. It takes 2 days to cure the salmon but once cured, it will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks so you can make this well in advance leading to a stress free dinner party or picnic. Serve the gravadlax in thin slices (exactly the same as smoked salmon) with some watercress or lettuce leaves and the sour cream sauce. The recipe makes quite a lot but I think its nice to put some effort in to something that you can keep in the fridge which is delicious but doesn't involve cooking. An easy lunch or light dinner, ready in an instant!



To make it easy for me and probably better to follow for you, here is the link for the recipe of Beetroot Gravadlax

On another note, as I write this I'm watching a food programme (I told you I was obsessed) and the chef has just made his own gravadlax and recommended it for picnics. What are the chances?!

Mammoth dinner/picnic menu part 2

For the starter of the epic menu I did two dishes, a consomme and some cured salmon. This post is going to be about the consomme and the first bump in the road on the journey to picnic heaven. The dish is a tomato consomme and is basically a clear soup/drink that tastes of tomatoes and in this case a small amount of vodka (my parents like their drink and I wanted to play more on the idea of Bloody Marys.)

The recipe is again by Jamie Oliver (I find his recipes are very easy to follow and would recommend any of his books for beginner chefs) and involves blitzing all the ingredients and straining through some fine muslin or he also suggests a tea towel. So upon reading the recipe I decided to go for the cheaper option and used one my mum's nice clean tea towels to strain the soup. The recipe is very easy but has quite a lengthy process of letting the liquid drip through the bag for about 7 hours. If you squeeze it through then you don't end up with a nice clear soup so its best to let it drip for as long as possible. I was very organised and made the soup on the Tuesday and let it drip overnight, so it would be ready well ahead of Friday morning. So when it came to tasting the delicious tomato flavoured soup on Wednesday morning, imagine my disappointment when it had a rather strong hint of Lenor. What the lovely Jamie doesn't tell you is that if you use fabric softener on your tea towels then your soup will end up tasting of that.

Luckily I had enough time to remake but it definitely wasn't the cheaper option in the long run as I had to buy a load more tomatoes and a jam strainer with a special little stand. I'm really glad I did retry the recipe though because the results were wonderful. Its the perfect soup for a lovely hot summer evening and great to have with a meal or as a starter by itself because it's so light! If you can be bothered with the effort and have a love for tomatoes then give it a try.

I have photos of both attempts including the evil tea towel, my soup came out rather pink because of the beetroot so don't put too much in.

Tomato Consomme

1 Bunch of fresh basil, including stalks. Save the baby leaves for a garnish in a small bowl in the fridge

2 Kg Fresh tomatoes, make sure they are really ripe and tasty as they make the dish

1 x 5cm Piece of fresh horseradish or 3tsp of grated horseradish in a jar but not creamed!

1/2 Clove garlic (I added a little more as I love garlic)

1-2 tbsp Red wine vinegar

Measure of Vodka (again this is to taste)

1 small slice of beetroot for colour

Sea salt and black pepper

Start by taking all of the ingredients except for the seasoning and blitzing them up in a food processor until smooth. You may need to do this in batches as I did and empty it all in to one big bowl. Once blitzed give it a try and season to taste. You should be able to taste the horseradish quite strongly so don't be afraid to have quite a punchy taste to your mixture. Make sure the pepper is seasoned correctly because if you add after straining you will have little black bits in your lovely clear soup. Put your muslin over a bowl and ladle the mix in to it. Gather up the corners and tie in to a bag shape. Somehow hang your bag in the fridge over a bowl to collect your beautiful soup. I just used the jam strainer over a bowl and left it on the side in the kitchen as by this point I had run out of fridge space. Leave for as long as you can or until the bag stops dripping. You will be left with a dry tomato mush which you can throw away. Once fully strained, give it a taste and adjust any vinegar for tartness or vodka for alcoholics. Keep in the fridge so its nice and cold. When serving dot the pretty little basil leaves and a couple drops of oil on top.

Mammoth dinner/picnic menu part 1

I have decided to bite the bullet and begin to write about my little project I had last week. Basically my parents were going to glyndebourne last week, which is a rather posh affair where people go to see some opera and take 4 course meals to picnic on in the gardens during the intervals. There is a restaurant there also but my parents prefer to take their own food when the weather is okay, which thankfully it was! They had only just got back from holiday the night before they had to leave for the opera so the task fell on me to cater for them. Of course I was excited at the idea of coming up with a menu and doing my first proper dinner party, even though I wouldn't be dining on the results. However as the week went on and I hit a few bumps in the road I began to regret saying yes! I will come to that though. Today I start with the canapes and one of the most successful dishes from the menu, a chicken liver parfait. For those who don't know, parfait is a smooth and silky version of pate which is absolutely delicious. If you're afraid of trying liver but want to give it a go, eat something like this. You have the lovely flavour of the liver plus a lot of butter and booze which will make anything taste good but you don't have the strange consistency that most offal tends to have. Plus its quite cheap to make and will make a lovely starter or light lunch, perhaps not with the amount of brandy I used but you can always replace that. I got the recipe from one of Jamie Oliver's book and he suggests using rabbit or duck livers as well if you can get them. Plus you can play around with the herbs you use and of course the alcohol. I do like to use recipes which you can change to your own tastes and Jamie's recipes do tend to offer that.

Chicken Liver Parfait:

Serves 4-6

400g Butter
Olive oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, minced or chopped
455g Chicken Livers (Rabbit or Duck if you can get them) trimmed (cutting out the tough white stringy bits)
1 Bunch of Thyme, leaves picked and chopped
1 Large Wineglass of Brandy
Salt & Pepper
Sage leaves to decorate

You begin by taking 150g of the butter and clarify. I actually did mine in the oven at a very low heat of 110 degrees so that I didn't have to keep checking on it and worry about it burning. Put some oil in a frying pan and gently fry off the onions and garlic for about 5 mins or until soft but don't let them colour. Then put them on a plate and give the pan a little bit of a wipe. Turn up the heat and add a little more oil and the livers and thyme, fry on one side until the livers begin to brown off, then give the pan a little shake so they flip and add the brandy. If you have a gas hob it will light so watch out for your eyebrows! If not you can light them so you can see when the alcohol has burnt off. You need to make sure the livers don't over cook or your parfait will be grainy. Take them off the heat the flames go and when they are still pink, even if they are a little under cooked they will finish cooking from the heat when you blend them up. Put all the onions, garlic and everything in the pan in a food processor and blend until smooth. Give it a taste and season with the salt and pepper. Then slowly add the leftover butter from your 400g in cubes. Once it is totally blended together, pass through a sieve (I did this twice and gave what was left in the sieve to the dog and cat which made them very happy indeed.) Pour your parfait in to one big bowl or individual ramicans. Next just lightly fry off your sage leaves in oil until they are slightly crispy but be careful not to burn as I did with the first batch! Add the leaves to the top of the parfait and then pour over the clarified butter. Put in the fridge until its set which will take at least 3 hours. It will then keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge as the butter seals it. Enjoy with some crusty white bread or toast.

Short and sweet.

Sorry for the lack of posting after my very short run as a blogger. I've been at home on holiday and had a mammoth task of preparing a dinner party for my parents. It was very exciting and I got to try lots of new things which makes for an interesting read but along with that, as well as a few heavy days of socialising, I have been somewhat kapoot (if that is even a word?) I decided to do a short entry before bed just to keep my sparse group of readers entertained.
So the recipe of today is chocolate cookies! Always a favourite with any normal folk but this recipe (or recipes) has a nice little twist to spice things up a bit. Excuse the pun. My boyfriend and I made a batch of these each, I went for the chilli and he went for the ginger. As much as it pains me to say I think the ginger ones were better but that was only down to them being a bit sweeter. The kick from the chilli goes really well with the chocolate and would go down well with people who don't usually have a sweet tooth. When I make these again (they were that tasty) I will probably use milk chocolate with the chilli to sweeten them up a touch.
The cookies were delicious warm but also good for the few days they lasted after baking. We were super cool and took them warm in a bag to the midnight showing of Harry Potter. Hey I know how to live life on the wild side.

Chocolate & Chilli Cookies:
Makes 12

100g plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I actually used ground ginger in both recipes)
50g muscovado sugar
50g butter
1/4 tsp mild fresh chilli (I used dried chilli flakes and lots of them, the flavour may have been better with the fresh chilli however)
2 tbsp golden syrup
100g plain dark chocolate, finely chopped

Stir up all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the butter and chilli. Rub together as you would a crumble mix until you have a mixture that resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add the syrup and mix with a spoon and then your hand until you have a ball. Knead in the chocolate and then shape the dough into a sausage shape. Slice your sausage (hehe) in to 12 and then roll each little chocolate lump in to a ball and arrange on greased or lined baking trays. Cook them off in batches at 180 degrees, gas mark 4 for 8 to 10 minutes or until they crack on top. Leave for as long as you can for them to cool before moving them or in my case eating them.

Chocolate & Ginger:
Make them in the same way as above but replace the chilli and cinnamon with 2 tbsp of chopped stem ginger, I added a little ground ginger to make them even more delicious!

Simple Sushi

Seeing as my blog is fairly new, I obviously have a few exciting and delicious meals that I can write about saved up so I'm going to gradually get them on here. To start with I thought I would go with the one I have the best photographs of seeing as the visuals are half the fun of a food blog. I have a slightly sad habit of taking photographs of nice meals I make or when I order something that looks amazing in restaurants. I'm beginning to think that this unusual habit will come in handy, what with me starting a food blog and all.
So the other day I found I had a spare afternoon and a complete kit to make sushi and thought I would give it a go. I have made sushi in the past but found I never got the rice quite right which is the basis of good sushi. This time I followed a simple recipe of equal parts rice and water which is as follows.

Sushi Rice:
(serves 4 as a starter)

300g Sushi Rice
300ml Water
2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 tbsp Mirin (rice wine)
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt

Firstly you must thoroughly rinse the rice under a running tap to remove excess starch, you should do this until the water runs clear or you'll have a sticky mess on your hands, which is never good of course. Then add the washed rice and water to a heavy bottomed pan, cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then reduce the heat so that it comes to a simmer and leave it for 10 more minutes. After this take off the heat and leave to stand for 10 more minutes. Don't take the lid off at any point of the cooking process as you will lose the steam! While you leave the rice to steam, heat the rest of the ingredients in a pan or, if you're lazy like me, the microwave. Once the rice is finished, add the heated dressing and gently fold in. Now you should have light but slightly sticky rice ready for sushi fun!


I took the rice and spread it on nori (dried seaweed) to make some maki. I added cucumber and avocado to one sheet and cooked salmon and avocado to another and then rolled them up using a bamboo mat. I would normally use raw fish but I couldn't find any fresh fillets in the shops in my immediate area. The last of the rice was used with some more salmon to make rather sad looking but tasty nigiri. I served the sushi with a little soy sauce mixed with wasabi which is not the Japanese way though I prefer it. You are meant to add the wasabi to the sushi as you make it but I find you get a better ratio of sushi to wasabi when it is added to the soy. All I needed was some miso soup and it would have been a perfect meal. If you're inspired at all to make sushi after reading this then you should! Its very easy, quite fun as you get to be a little messy and most shops stock the basic ingredients needed. You can also have some fun with it and put your favourite things inside, even chicken or pork if you have a fishaphobe to cater for. So don't be shy and try something new!

Hello blog world....

So I have been thinking for a while that I should put my obsession with food and cooking on record and start to share what I have discovered and what I hope to continue to discover with the world.

I will start with something simple to ease myself into this somewhat foreign idea of writing down my thoughts and actions. Today I have finally made my first batch of mayonnaise. To some this may be no great challenge but it has been a culinary adventure I have steered clear of, for fear of splitting and what not! It turns out it is actually quite easy, either that or I had beginners luck. You start with an egg yolk, whisk it with some mustard and then slowly whisk in a disgusting amount of oil. In the recipe I used it was recommended for beginners to use part olive oil part vegetable oil to avoid the dreaded splitting, which I followed. You then add lemon and salt and pepper for seasoning. I found I needed a lot of salt to get the mayonnaise tasting 'normal' but I would think that would be down to preference.
Once finished I took a small amount (the recipe makes quite a lot of mayonnaise) and added some minced garlic. I then served this delicious creamy garlic mayonnaise with some pan fried smoked salmon fillets, new potatoes, salad and corn on the cob. It was an easy addition that made a boring dinner a little more exciting.

Mayonnaise Recipe:

1 organic or free range egg yolk
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 pint Olive oil (or for beginners 1/2 olive 1/2 veg/sunflower oil)
1 Fresh lemon
Salt and Pepper

In a bowl, whisk (either by hand or with an electric whisk) the yolk and mustard together. Once combined begin to add the oil a tiny drop at a time. Only whisk in more oil once the previous drop is fully combined. After adding about 3 tablespoons of oil you can begin to drizzle the oil in as you whisk but remember to take it slow or your mayo will split. Apparently if it does split you can sometimes save it by adding a small amount of warm water but it is recommended to start again. This is why the part olive part vegetable oil trick is suggested so you don't waste lots of expensive olive oil as a beginner. Once you have your extra thick mayonnaise, add lemon juice and seasoning to taste. This will loosen the mix up a bit and make it really nice and creamy. After that you can add any herbs or spices to make it go with loads of different types of food, or of course enjoy as it is!

So this is my first post! Hope its not boring and is slightly helpful in some way. Feedback would be lovely though please be nice to this new blogger.