A perfect 'pick-me-up'

The translation of the word tiramisu is pick-me-up. What an apt meaning for such a beautiful dessert. It is also known as the Tuscan trifle, which again describes it so perfectly. The mixture of the layers you get when you dig that spoon in all the way to the bottom is like heaven. Sponge soaked in bitter coffee laced with the taste of almonds and balanced perfectly by the sweet creamy marscapone custard. My mouth is watering as I type this.

This has probably got to be N's favourite dessert. He tells me his addiction started some years ago on a family holiday to Barcelona. They were at a cafe on La Ramblas having coffee when he was coaxed into having something sweet to eat by his sister. He was reluctant as he was going through a healthy phase but he soon succumbed to the peer pressure and picked the tiramisu from the photos on the no-doubt laminated menu. And there started his love affair with this Italian dessert. N tells me that he has never had a tiramisu as tasty as the one he had that day. And boy has he tried. He orders one in every restaurant that serves it and has bought it in every supermarket we've shopped at, yet there is always something wrong with it. His usual complaint is that the taste of alcohol is too overpowering.

I'd never really thought to try making it until I saw Rachel Allen making some individual versions on TV recently. It inspired me to add some marscapone cheese on to my next supermarket delivery. I liked the thought of an almond flavour which Rachel achieved by using almond liquour but I decided that rather than risk putting too much alcohol in it I would skip the alcohol all together. I achieved the same flavour by using a few drops of almond extract. These desserts were beautiful. They took 15 mins to make and they tasted divine. N said he'd finally found one as good as La Ramblas, I suspect he was just being nice but even I have to admit they tasted pretty amazing!

Ingredients (serves 2)
70g marscapone cheese
30g caster sugar
1 egg (separated)
Bowl of strong coffee
Amaretti biscuits
Almond extract
Cocoa powder
Chocolate sprinkles
Method:
- soak the ameretti biscuits in the coffee until they soften
- place the egg white in a bowl and whisk with a hand whisk until it produces soft peaks
- place the marscapone cheese, caster sugar and egg yolk in another bowl and mix with an electric whisk
- fold the egg white into the marscapone mixture to make the custard. Add a few drops of almond extract and stir in
- in a glass put a layer of softened biscuits with some coffee and then a thick later of custard on top. Dust cocoa powder on top
- repeat with another later of coffee and biscuits and custard and top with more cocoa powder
- finish with chocolate sprinkles
- put in the fridge for a few hours to set before serving

Recipes for a summer party

Summer's here! What absolutely glorious weather. It makes me want to do nothing but sit in the garden and drink Pimms. Sadly that's not a possibilty as even though the weather is wonderful, life still carries on. You have to go to work, chores have to be done and the worst thing of all is that I am studying for an exam! Saying that, I have had a few days off in the last couple of weeks so I really shouldn't complain.

I have been meaning to publish this post for a while now but I've just been so dazzled by the sun I couldn't do it (lame excuse eh?). However, in order to make up for my tardiness I have made this a double post with a savoury and a sweet recipe, both of which are perfect for a summer party or afternoon tea in the garden. And that is exactly what I made them for. A few weeks ago (well five weeks to be precise - ok stop judging, I told you the heat is making me slow!) we had a garden party for all the houses in the development I live in. One of my neighbours thought it would be a great way to get to know everyone. At first I thought she was completely mad! The party started off being for about 18 houses and soon enough we had invited well over 100 people! I thought it would be chaos. What if it rained? Who would bring what? But I needn't have worried, it was a wonderful afternoon. The sun came out, we had gazebos up, barbecues fired, drinks on ice and a bouncy castle for the children. My neighbours did a wonderful job organising it, so if they happen to read this I'd like to use this opportunity to say a massive thank you. I can't really take much credit for it myself, except of course for my yummy culinary contributions.

These fritters are perfect for a large party. They can be eaten with your fingers and can be served hot or cold. They are also a perfect way to hide vegetables for children who are not so keen to get their 5 a day. I have only used sweetcorn but feel free to add grated courgettes or carrots for an extra veggie boost. And these madelines are one of my favourite things to make. As a bit of a Francophile these little boat shaped cakes remind me of my wonderful holidays in France with N. And dipping them in chocolate just makes them even more luxurious!

Sweetcorn Fritters

(serves 20-30 depending on size | total prep and cooking time approx 45 mins-1 hour)

Ingredients

300g plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

seasoning and herbs (eg. parsely)

3 eggs

200-300ml milk

2 small cans of sweetcorn - drained

1 large potato - grated

1 large onion - grated

100-150g grated cheese

Method

- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl

- Add the eggs and whisk

- Add the sweetcorn, onion, potato, cheese and herbs and mix well

- Slowly add the milk. The batter should be thick enough to hold its shape in the frying pan but runny enough to slowly drip off a spoon. You may not need all the milk, it depends on how much water has released from the vegetables

- Heat approx 1cm of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat and using a large spoon place the mixture in to cook. You will need to cook the fritters in batches and will need to add more oil as it gets soaked up. You may also need to reduce the heat as the oil will get quite hot towards the latter batches

- Cook the fritters for apporximately 2-3 mins on each side until the batter is cooked and the fritters are golden brown

- Transfer to a piece of kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil

- Serve hot or cold with sweet chilli dipping sauce

Chocolate Dipped Madelines

(makes approximately 36 | total prep and cooking time approx 40 mins depending on how many batches you make them in)

Ingredients

6 eggs

One and a half teaspoons vanilla extract

One and a half teaspoons lemon zest

375g icing sugar

300g plain flour

Three quarters of a teaspoon of baking powder

375g butter - melted and cooled

150g bar of plain chocolate - melted

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan

- Grease the madeline moulds

- Beat the eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest for 5 mins with an electric hand whisk

- Beat in the icing sugar for 5 minutes

- Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold. It is best to fold in batches

- Mix in the cooled melted butter

- Bake for 10-12 mins until slightly brown and springs back on touching. Remove and cool on a wire rack

- While baking, melt the chocolate in a bain marie. Once they have cooled dip the madelines into the melted chocolate and leave on baking paper for the chocolate to harden













Eton Mess - A 5 minute dessert

 

This has probably got to be one of the quickest desserts ever. Granted, from the photo it just looks like strawberries and cream but I can promise you there's a little more in there. Eton Mess - it's fresh, simple and perfect for summer barbecues and dinner parties. Or like me, you could just make it for a random Saturday night in when you fancy something sweet after dinner. And it really does take five minutes, which means it's great if you have people round at the last minute or if you just don't fancy spending the whole day preparing for your dinner parties. If making it for other people I would probably suggest serving it in something more elegant that a white bowl - which means I really should put some glass dishes on my wish list!

And now for the recipe. All you need is some shop bought meringue nests (you could make them yourself but trust me it would no longer be a five minute dessert!), fresh strawberries, strawberry jam and fresh cream (I used a spray can). Crush up the meringue nest into a bowl and top with a tablespoon of good quality strawberry jam or conserve. Hull and quarter the strawberries and place on top. About 5-6 strawberries per person works well. Top with cream. And that's it! It really is so simple that I almost feel like a fraud giving it its own blog post!

Easter Treats

Happy Easter everybody! I hope you have all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. I have really enjoyed having four days off. I've managed to catch up with family, some friends and some house stuff as well as catch a few moments with my elusive hubby whom I seem to have hardly seen recently. The only draw backs to this weekend have been the ridiculously cold weather and the change of clocks. Both of which have made me a bit tired and a bit grumpy. To still be wearing my winter coat, wollen scarf, gloves and ear muffs in April is just a joke. In fact I donned all the above mentioned items just to go out to the garden for 5 minutes to water some plants that were looking about as miserable as I was feeling.

The good thing about the arctic weather is that it made me stay indoors a bit more. N and I managed to catch up with some chores we had been meaning to do since we moved in almost a year ago like hang some mirrors. Finally I will get to check my reflection before I leave for work, I'm sure my work colleagues will all breathe a sigh of relief tomorrow! I also managed to spend some time in the kitchen. Yesterday I cooked a lovely roast dinner for my in-laws. Roast chicken, roast potatoes and home-made yorkshire puds, just perfect for Easter Sunday. I used my trusted roast chicken with lemon, garlic rosemary and thyme, but this time I left out the new potatoes and cooked some separate roast potatoes.

Roast potatoes are the easiest thing to make. Just preheat some oil in an oven proof dish in an oven set to 180 degrees fan. Peel and quarter some large floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edwards. Bring these to the boil in a pan of salted water and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and shake in the pan to make them look a bit more 'rustic'. Tip them into the hot oil, sprinke with sea salt and shake them around carefully to make sure they are well coated will oil. Place in the oven for about 1hour checking and shaking the tray half way through.

Yorkshire puddings are even easier. I was planning to buy some ready made ones as I was feeling a bit lazy but fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Tescos had run out. So I made my own. They really are so simple. I just used the batter recipe from my Toad-in-the-Hole post. That quantity of batter makes 6 yorkies. Place a teaspoon of oil in the bottom of each hole in a muffin tray and heat at 180 degrees till the oil is hot. Remove from the oven and quickly pour in the batter till the case is 2/3 full. Return to the oven and cook for about 40 mins until the yorkies have risen and turned brown. You may want to increase the temperature of the oven to 200-210 degrees for 5 minutes at the end to make them crispy.

And finally, Easter cupcakes! I just used my heavenly vanilla cupcake recipe but instead of just decorating with chocolate sprinkles I sent N to the shops to buy me a pack of Cadbury's Mini Eggs. They went down an absolute treat!

And now after all that eating I guess I'd better go for a walk. Mustn't forget the ear muffs though! Roll on summer...

Chinese Sea Bass

It's so nice when people make your recipes. Last week I had text messages from three people to say they had made some of the dishes on my blog and they had all come out well. One was about the vongole, one for garlic bread and one for the roast chicken. It reminded me that I really must put something else on here even when life takes over and I can't seem to find five minutes to spare. So here it is.

My friend Kaj is probably my biggest blog fan. And as she is a 'fishitarian' I promised her some good fish recipes. This is my absolute favourite fish recipe (and Ns). It's so quick and very healthy. Have it with some stir fried veg in soy sauce and some egg fried rice (or plain rice if you're being particularly virtuous). So please try it and let me know what you think. I hope it becomes one of your favourite fish recipes too!

Sea Bass with Ginger, Chilli and Coriander

(serves 2 | total prep and cooking time 30 mins)

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

2 boneless seabass fillets

1/2 mild chilli - finely chopped

2 inch piece of ginger - finely chopped

1-2 tablespoons chopped coriander

2-3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

 

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan

- Place the sea bass fillets in a shallow oven proof dish

- In a bowl mix together the ginger, chilli, coriander and sesame oil

- Pour evenly over the fish fillets

- Cover the dish with foil and place in the oven for approx 20 minutes. The fish should be flaky and opaque all the way through

 

 

 

 







Pinewood Cookery Club Charity Event (Banana Cake)

This weekend was the first time I made cakes that were eaten by people other than my family and friends! It was a scary but fantastic experience! I recently signed up to the Pinewood Cookery Club, a community club started up by a lovely couple, Roger and Lorna. It's based at Pinewood Nursery in Slough and they run regular coffee mornings and supper clubs. If you're from the area do look at their facebook site to find out about upcoming events: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pinewood-Cookery-Club-Stoke-Poges/463515693685735.

This weekend they hosted a cake and recipe book sale to raise money for BucksVision, a charity supporting people with sight impairment within Buckinghamshire. As an optometrist I work with people with vision impairment on a daily basis so this is a charity very close to my heart. It was a great honour to be able to combine my love of baking with helping a great cause. I made the vanilla cupcakes I posted recentley, as well as my many times tried and tested recipe for banana cake. They both seemed to go down a treat. This banana cake is the easiet cake recipe I have ever made and it is a fantastic way to use up those overripe bananas that seem to always end up sitting on my kitchen counter looking rather unattractive! Plus it tastes amazing with a cup of tea!

Banana Cake

(prep 20 mins, baking 1 hour 10 mins)

 (the banana cake is the one in the middle, at the back!)

 

Ingredients

4oz butter

4 oz sugar (demerera works best)

8oz self raising flour (sifted)

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

2 tablespoons honey or golden syrup

Method

- Heat the oven to 180 degrees fan

- Grease a 2lb loaf tin

- Mash the bananas 

- Cream together the butter, sugar and eggs. This can be done with a wooder spoon or with an electic whisk on a low setting. If using an electric whisk mix it until the ingredients are just combined but not too smooth

- Stir in the mashed bananas

- Mix in the flour

- Stir in the honey or golden syrup

- Scrape the mixture into the loaf tin

- Bake for 40 minutes

- Lower the temperature to 150 degrees and cook for another 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean

- Leave to cool on a wire rack
- Enjoy with a cup of tea!





Heavenly Vanilla Cupcakes

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful time over the festive season with lots to eat and drink and lots and lots of presents. I for one had a great Christmas. It was the first year N and I had hosted and for some reason I thought hosting Christmas Day and Boxing Day would be a good idea! I enjoyed every minute of it and made some great food but by the end I told N that I didn't want to cook anything again for another week! The look of horror on N's face was priceless! I did assure him I was only joking but I'm not sure he was convinced as I have somehow managed to avoid cooking dinner since Boxing Day. I think N is very concerned about where his next meal is coming from!

Although I haven't cooked anything for the last few days yesterday I did do some baking. One of my presents from a friend at work was The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book. It is definitely one of the most beautiful recipe books I own. Every single page is full of the most exquisite cakes. Unfortunately most of them require a little planning as they use ingredients I don't really keep at home. But I did manage to find a recipe for some vanilla cupcakes that didn't require me to head out to the shops. I vowed to myself that I would follow the recipe to the letter as I wanted to see what all the fuss was about but I just couldn't bring myself to do it! Firstly, the recipe indicated the use of full fat milk, which I never keep at home and if I did buy it specially the rest would just go to waste. So I took the risk of substituting it for semi-skimmed. Secondly, was the huge amount of sugar the recipe required. As I started to pour it in to my mixing bowl I just couldn't do it. I reduced it by about a qaurter in the end and it tasted just fine. For the frosting, I made only half the quantity suggested and it was plenty. The cupcakes were still covered well and the ratio of cake to frosting was perfect.

When I started out baking the cakes I wondered what all the fuss could be about. Why are Hummingbird cakes so famous. After tasting it I know why. These are probably the best cakes I have ever eaten and I felt so chuffed that I had made them myself. I distributed a few to friends and family and when you get a text back saying 'Oh my god the cupcakes are absolute heaven! I have just eaten two!' you know they must be pretty good!

Heavenly Vanilla Cupcakes

(makes 12 | Total prep and cooking time 1 hour + 30 mins cooling time)

Ingredients for the sponge

- 80g unsalted butter, softened

- 210g caster sugar

- 230g plain flour (sifted)

- 1 tablespoon baking powder (sifted)

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 240ml semi-skimmed milk

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or powder

- 2 large eggs

Ingredients for the frosting

- 225g icing sugar

- 80g unsalted butter, softened

- 25ml semi-skimmed milk

- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or powder

- chocolate sprinkles

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan and line a deep muffin tin with muffin cases

- Using a hand-held electric whisk or fresstanding electric mixer slowly beat together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt until all the ingredients are well mixed and resemble fine breadcrumbs

- Mix together the milk, eggs and vanilla by hand in a jug. With the whisk still on a low speed, pour three-quarters of the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well to make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the rest of the mixture and beat again on a medium setting until the batter is smooth.

- Spoon the batter into the muffin cases up to about two-thirds full. Put the in oven for 20 minutes. Check they are springy to touch and a skewer comes out clean, if not put in for a bit longer. Do not be tempted to open the oven door within the first 20 minutes. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack

- While the cakes are in the oven make th frosting. Whisk the icing sugar and butter on a low speed using the electric whisk until fully combined and sandy in consistency. Add the vanilla to the milk and pour into the butter and icing sugar while still mixing on a low speed. Increase the speed to high and whisk the frosting until light and fluffy

- Once the cupcakes are cool, add the frosting, smoothing with a palette knife. Decorate with chocolate sprinkles