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!