No Milk Nellie

Chicken and pea soup

2011-11-06T20:41:00.000Z

I've been working a little too hard recently, and as ever, I've come down with a nasty cold. It's also getting quite chilly outside (although the leaves are looking beautiful), and so a tasty and warming soup was in order. As I've been doing lots of travelling recently, I had to raid my freezer for these ingredients, which always makes me feel as if I've saved money somehow!Feeds 4.4 chicken thighs1.5 litres chicken stock1 bay leaf1 chilli2 garlic cloves200g frozen peasrosemarythymeIn a large pan, cook the thighs with the stock, the garlic and the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and leave for about 40 minutes until the chicken is well cooked through. Remove the bay leaf and bin it.Add the peas and the chilli, and about a teaspoon of dried rosemary or a couple of fresh sprigs, and about twice as much time. Blitz for a minute or so.Season to taste, and enjoy :)I'm certainly feeling a lot better now, and even better, I can refill the freezer with soup for when I come home to tired to cook this week!

no milk banana bread

2011-09-10T20:44:00.000+01:00

Pete had some manky brown bananas left over, prefect for this easy recipe

110g margarine
50g caster sugar
60g soft brown sugar
3 large brown bananas
2 medium eggs, beaten
225g self raising flour
pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
140g sultanas

beat the margarine and sugars together, until pale

gradually beat in the eggs

Add the mashed bananas

fold in the remaining ingredients

Pour into a greased, lined, loaf tin

Cook for 45 mins at 180c, gas mark 6.

Tasty!

Prawn and chilli spaghetti

2011-07-23T16:33:00.000+01:00

This is my standby weekend lunch, I almost always have the ingredients in the house, and it only takes 15 minutes to cook. I normally make it for two, so scale up core ingredients as needed.

50g wholewheat spaghetti per person
100g raw, frozen, prawns per person

1 garlic clove
1 spring onion bulb
1 juicy lemon
1 chilli
splash of old white or rose wine
herbs (basil, parsley or mixed herbs work well)
olive oil

Put the spaghetti onto boil

Splash some oil in a heavy frying pan, heat up for a few secs and chuck in the prawns and garlic. Let cook for a few minutes, until the prawns start to go pink.

Add the onion, chopped chilli, lemon juice and wine. Bring to a simmer. At this stage, you can add in any other random but suitable things you have in your house. Olives, artichoke hearts and peas all work well.

Drain the pasta once it's al dente. By this time your prawns should be pink all the way through, and there should still be some juice in the pan. Add the drained spaghetti to this pan, along with the herbs, and season.

Stir and serve. It's even better with a cold glass of wine :)

Gingerbread

2011-07-23T16:20:00.000+01:00

This is a guest recipe from Jamie at work. He made this and brought it in, and it made my day/week it was so amazing!

Dairy free gingerbread

1 tbsp vinegar

150ml soya milk

170g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

50g fresh ginger, finely grated

1 tsp cinnamon

115g dairy free margarine

115g caster sugar

1 egg

175ml black treacle (you can substitute 50ml of this for golden syrup for sweeter taste)

Add vinegar to the milk and leave to curdle.

Mix dry ingredients. Sift together, if you have the energy.

Cream margarine and sugar, add eggs and beat smooth.

Stir in black treacle.

Realise you've forgotten to preheat oven to 180C (gas mark 6ish).

Fold in dry ingredients in batches, alternating with the slightly-gruesome curdled soya milk.

Mix only enough to blend.

Pour into greased 8in cake tin.

Slap into oven.

For moist, cook for about 35 mins (assuming fan-assisted oven) and take out when knife comes out clean.

For firm (as recipe says), cook for 45 mins til firm in middle.

Careful not to put too high in oven, as top has tendency to burn.

Book says add whipped cream (clearly wrong) and chopped stem ginger (mmmm).

Dark chocolate melted on top doesn't hurt, either.

Dairy free Christmas present books

2010-12-30T18:43:00.000Z

So I was totally spoilt this year in terms of xmas presents...

Lovely Pete bought me the BEST present ever (well, almost). Earlier in the year my old colleagues bought me Nigel Slater's Tender Volume I. Now as my family would agree, despite being veggie for 13 years, I am not the greatest lover of veg. But Nigel has changed that...the humble onion has turned into a culinary miracle, thanks to Nigel's idea of popping it in foil and giving it 30mins in the oven.

Anyway....Tender Volume I went down a treat. And I was secretly lusting after Volume II which is all about fruit. But it's way too expensive to justify a present to self. So I put it out of reach and tried to forget all about it.

So imagine my joy when I opened Pete's present which was indeed volume II! Fab. Tried the courgette and apple cake last night, swopping butter for Pure margarine, and it came out a treat. Really light and fluffy, and used up the slightly manky courgette lurking in my fridge. The joy of the present is such that I'm prepared to forgive Pete for his slight selfishness in purchasing more cake recipes for me!

Bro Ed bought be two books for crimbo. He knows me just too well, and since he rarely visits it's not a selfish purchase but a loving one, thanks Ed!

The first is full of tapas recipe, something I've not really tried before. And who knew that so many were dairy free. Errr, other than 'queso frito' and 'berenjenas con queso'! Cheesy recipes aside, it has many dairy free recipes that I'm looking forward to trying...watch this space in weeks to come. First up is patatas bravas, almost as good as the chip ship chip!

And the second is a baking book with gluten and dairy free recipes. Wow. I cannot wait to give this cookbook a trial run...it has dairy free chocolate truffles, dairy free cheesecake, and many more ideas. I am so chuffed!

And finally, top marks also go to my mother who bought me a new tea towel (good thing Pete says, I go through one a night with all my baking).

Hope you all had equally fabulous Christmasses!

Xmas Brunch: dairy free pancakes

2010-12-30T18:26:00.000Z

I came back from a lovely break in Devon having over eaten and pledging to go on a diet. Of course my good (silly) intentions didn't last that long! We went to Franco Manca's for amazing pizza yesterday, then off to the newly-wed Wiltshires for a yummy dinner of sausage and mash. Full marks to Jo for cooking a dairy-free feast!

So yesterday clearly we failed at the diet rubbish. And then today I realised we needed to finish off some bacon...and so I decided to tackle what I had been putting off for ages...bacon with american pancakes. It was very easy, despite having to seperate eggs and whisk the whites (my baking life has been seriously enhanced since I spend £20 on an electric whisk!). And 6 hours later Pete and I are still nicely full!

So to the recipe:

3 eggs, separated
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
120g plain flour
130ml soya milk
oil for pan

Mix the egg yolks with the flour, baking powder and soya milk.

Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until nice and fluffy.

Stir in a third of the whites into the egg yolk mixture. The consistency should be relatively thick, don't worry.

Carefully fold in the remaining egg whites, making sure you don't overmix.

Heat a skillet and add a splash of oil. Spoon in some mixture and when brown, flip. Each side should take a minute or so.

We made 6 large pancakes, but the mixture would spread to 8 easily!

I served it with crispy bacon, scrambled egg, grilled tomatoes and my homemade chilli jam. The chilli jam made it. Afficionados of thick pancakes (bro Ed) claim maple syrup is 'the business'. Personally I like the sweetness and kick from my chilli jam!

I also added in some sweetcorn just before I flipped the pancakes. A nice extra, but not essential, but I like to think it added to my 5 a day!

I've not tried these with sweet things such as blueberry yet, but I'm sure they work just as well....maybe that's for pancake day!

Japanese style chicken soup

2010-11-25T20:27:00.000Z

This isn't terribly authentic, but is fresh, tasty and quick to make.

1 tsp thai curry paste
1 litre veg or chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 cm ginger, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
1 large pepper, sliced

Add all the above to a large pan and stir, leave to cook for 5 minutes. Add some noodles (udon is good) and leave for a few minutes.

Then take the following ingredients and add to serving bowls

2 pak choi, roughly chopped
handful of sliced, cooked, chicken breast
spring onions, chopped
dash of groundnut oil
splash of soya sauce
a pinch of chopped chilli.

Pour over the noodle soup mixture, and serve straight away.

Wheat free chocolate almond cupcakes

2010-11-09T22:41:00.001Z

So I'm treading two thin lines here...the first is posting a recipe that has milk in it, and the second is calling a fairy cake a cupcake. But in my defence... it is wheat free and therefore has an honorary posting! And secondly, yeah ok, I'm British and should call a fairy cake a fairy cake. But these are not really a fairy cake, they're so gooey they have to be a cupcake. Sorry.

Now I haven't actually eaten one of these myself, them having milk in and everything. But I baked them for work earlier this week, and they went down a storm. Some colleagues had two before others had even had one. The greedy gannets. So apparently they were very tasty. Baking bribery at work can only work in my favour...

It was a very exciting recipe to make as it uses cups -something us Brits aren't used to. But it worked surprisingly well despite lack of accuracy. In my mind using cups rather than grams means a certain loss of control, and it's always good to step outside the comfort zone of precision baking. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients, this is one step baking!

1 cup oil
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup dark demerara sugar
1/2 cup of milk (I'm sure soya milk would work)
1/2 cup of gluten free flour (I used Doves Farm)
1/2 cup of ground almonds
1/2 tsp of almond essence
1 tbsp cocoa
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs

Put all the dry ingredients into a big bowl.

Add the wet ingredients.

Mix, until all merged. Don't overbeat.

Pour into muffin cases - leave a space at the top as they'll expand whilst cooking. This recipe made 12 deep cupcakes.

Cook at gas mark 4, 180C for between 20-25 minutes. When they're starting to crisp on top and a skewer comes out clean, but they still have some give in them, they're ready.

Leave to cool, and enjoy.

Dairy Free Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownies

2010-11-06T20:20:00.001Z

Brownies are super easy to make, and surprisingly easy to make dairy free. One of the things I struggle with in baking without milk is creating a texture which is creamy and rich - often this is quite difficult without butter and cream. But this recipe really delivers a texture and taste which is spot on. It's the type of recipe that you can sneak past butter and cream lovers without them noticing!

Don't bother buying very expensive rich dark chocolate, with this recipe it's so rich you don't need the bitterness of 80% dark chocolate.

200g dairy free margarine
400g dark chocolate, broken into small chunks
225g caster sugar
1tsp almond or vanilla extract
100g chopped hazelnuts
100g raisins
25g cocoa powder
75g self raising flour
3 large eggs, beaten

Melt the chocolate and the margarine over a pan of hot (not boiling!) water. Keep stirring until it is smooth, and remove from the heat.

Add in all the other ingredients (eggs last) and stir well.

Line and grease a 20cm square baking tin. Don't worry if you don't have one, I used my Le Creuset dish and it worked just fine!

Pour in the mix and smooth the top.

Put into a cool oven (gas mark 3, 170C) for 1 1/4 hours until it is starting to go crunchy on the top but still gooey inside. Unlike a sponge cake, you do not want a skewer to come out clean...!

Leave inside the tin for a couple of hours, then cut into small squares and serve. Pete enjoyed his with ice-cream, I loved mine as it was, with a ginger beer yesterday, and an earl grey tea today. Pete's verdict was 'very tasty'...so tasty he came back for more at breakfast time!

Tasty Cosy Tea

2010-11-06T20:07:00.002Z

Really it's very hard to write a food blog without occasionally talking about what I drink with the food I cook. Today I've had several lovely drink experiences...I've restocked my 'wine cellar' (aka space under pans) with my recent wine delivery (thanks lovely parents!). I had a yummy bloody mary at the Plume of Feathers in Greenwich - just the thing to warm me up on a cold November day. But most excitingly, I had some yummy tea from Cosy Teas.

Cosy Tea is a new brand of organic, vegan teas. Each box has a little knitted pattern on it, and being both a fan of tea ad knitting, I thought I'd give them a whirl.

Some were yummy...I loved the Earl Grey and Jasmine Green. They're really delicate and tasty. But I don't think delicate tastes quite delivered in the Blueberry cuppa, it was a bit insipid really. Lacked the punch that I look for from a fruit tea. But the Earl Grey and Jasmine Green were just delicious, I'd really recommend them. Particularly the Earl Grey with my chocolate and hazelnut brownies.... Nice!

Chard and Leek Tart (dairy free!)

2010-10-17T21:37:00.001+01:00

I bought some ready made puff pastry (sorry all you kitchen perfectionist out there, but until I buy myself a food processor I think the ready made stuff is great!) to bake a nice apple pie or salmon en croute. But Pete was on a health drive so wouldn't let me cook it for him. Boo. So it's been sitting with my fridge along with some increasingly sad looking soya milk, chard and leeks. So I decided to experiment with a dairy free quiche/tart. And to my surprise it worked!

1 roll of readymade puff pastry
chard: couple of handfuls
1 leek chopped
1 large onion
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp olive oil
2 eggs
1 cup soya milk
thyme
grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5.

Roll out the pastry and place inside a generous size baking tin. Blind bake in the oven for around 15 minutes until starting to brown.

Meanwhile, gently heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they start to pop add in the chopped onion. Leave to sweat gently for 5 mins. Add the leeks and leave for a further 5 minutes.

Remove the stems from the chard. Wash and chop it roughly. Blanche in boiling water, and drain well. Mix in with the onion and leek.

Add the thyme, grate some nutmeg in and season well.

Meanwhile, remove the pastry from the oven. Mix the soya milk and eggs, with a pinch of salt.

Place the greens into the pastry case. Pour over the milk and egg mixture, and place back in the oven for a further 15 or 20 minutes until brown.

tasty pitta bread

2010-10-15T13:28:00.001+01:00

This might seem like an odd post...why go through the hassle of making your own pitta bread when it's so cheap to buy it in the shops!? But trust me, it's so much tastier when homemade, and is very easy to make.

Puffed up Pitta!

300g strong white flour
200g plain flour
1tsp salt
1tsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil plus extra for kneading
350 ml warm water.

Preheat the oven as hot as possible, as well as two baking trays. This is very important, the oven should be as hot as possible and the trays need to be hot too.

Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the oil and most of the water. Mix, slowly adding the remaining water (last 50ml) as needed - it might not all be needed.

Knead for a minute only on an oiled board and with oiled fingers. Leave for a 10 mins, and then give another good knead.

Leave in an oiled bowl (cover the dough lightly in oil too), cover and leave in a warm place.

About 30-60 mins later divide the dough into little balls - you should make around 6 from this dough. On a floured surface roll them out. Leave them for a few minutes.

Remove a baking tray from the oven,quickly place a pitta or two on it, and place in the oven for around 3 minutes, until starting to rise and brown. Don't leave for more than 5 minutes. Repeat until all the pittas are cooked.

Eat warm with hummus and other tasty goodies. These are also freeze-happy. Simply leave to cool, bag up and freeze. When you're ready to eat them, pop them in the toaster for a bit and they're still significantly better than shop-bought pittas.

Dairy Free Scones

2010-10-09T19:10:00.001+01:00

My front door has been getting stuck, and the recent wet weather has made it so bad I've been worrying that one day I'll find myself stuck inside the house. Lovely Pete is very kindly spending the whole day trying to fix it, which has involved an impromptu visit to homebase and much muttering under his breath. Many hours later he's still working on it. So to assuage my guilt the only way I know how, I baked some scones. I'd been planning to do this for ages, but was trialling out an altered recipe to make it diary free - and so had been putting it off incase I got it wrong. But in the end, it worked really well, and it cheered up Pete's break from all his hard work.

With scones it's all about having a light touch and moving quickly. I prefer to pat the scones rather than roll them, and keep them nice and fat before cutting so they are satisfyingly thick.

225g self raising flour
pinch of salt
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
40g margarine
150ml soya milk
squeeze of lemon
soya milk or beaten egg to glaze

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. If you want to, add 50g raisins. Rub in the margarine until it is the texture of fine breadcrumbs.

Add a tiny squeeze of lemon to the soya milk, and stir the soya milk into the flour mix with a knife.

On a floured surface gently roll out the mix, and pat down to around 2cm. Cut out with 6cm cutter (flour the inside lightly).

Place onto a baking sheet and brush the top with soya milk or egg wash.

Bake for 10-15 mins at gas mark 7 (220C), until golden brown.

Serve warm with jam :)

Delicious. Now I just need to rustle up a tasty dinner and some beer to reward Pete for his hard work!

Skinny salmon fishcakes

2010-10-04T20:04:00.001+01:00

My love of food and lack of exercise are combining to make me a little bit podgy :( And I'm also trying to improve my diet a little bit anyway... So suppers are now a bit healthier, which gives me a good excuse to try out some new recipes. Tonight it was spicy salmon fishcakes, which I served with a cucumber salad. The whole thing took me about 10 minutes, and made four generous sized fishcakes.

Skinny Salmon Fishcakes
2 salmon fillets, skinned
2 spring onions, finely chopped
soy sauce, splash
2 tsp red thai curry paste
1cm ginger, chopped
1 chilli, chopped
1 tsp plain flour

Chop the salmon finely, and mix in with the other ingredients. Heat a frying pan and add a splash of oil.

Mould the salmon into around four balls. Place gently into the pan, and make sure the heat isn't too high.

Cucumber salad
1/2 cucumber
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
dill, chopped

Shave strips off the cucumber with a peeler. Put into a bowl, and add the sugar and vinegar. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Place on plate and sprinkle over the dill.

Back to the fishcakes... Turn them over once they're browned on one side - this takes just under 5 minutes each side. Keep an eye on the heat, too hot and they burn on the outside and don't cook in the middle; too low and they don't get a nice crisp crust.

Serve alongside the cucumber salad, with some tasty limes.

Warming sweetcorn soup

2010-09-30T21:28:00.000+01:00

So yesterday I was recovering from a stinky cold and had an empty fridge, so I decided to do my frugal sweetcorn soup. It is really quick, but full of flavour and surprisingly filling.

a pinch of mustard seeds

oil

garlic, chopped

ginger, roughly chopped

1 shallot, chopped

chilli, chopped

chicken stock

sweetcorn

sesame oil

1 egg, beaten

Fry the mustard seeds in a splash of oil until they start to pop. Turn down the heat and add the garlic, ginger, shallot and chilli.

Pour in plenty of stock, about a litre - but you can vary the quantities depending on how many you're cooking for. Let it cook together for a few minutes.

Add the sweetcorn - about half a cup per person. Leave for a further five or ten minutes, until the sweetcorn starts to break down.

Turn off the heat and pour in the beaten egg, stirring in one direction to create strings of egg. Drizzle over a few drops of sesame oil, season to taste.

Perfect for a cold autumnal day.

Food Swop: London's food answer to freecycle?

2010-09-20T23:06:00.001+01:00

So I have many many chillis and green tomatoes left after harvesting the last of my window boxes and hanging baskets. I've made some chutney, harissa paste and chilli jam. Which was all very fun. Except now I have loads of jars of chilli jam as well as some chillis...

I also find that I quite often go away for a weekend and leave behind a fridge drawer of veg, only to find on my return that it's wilted quite a lot.

This all strikes me as madness when I live in a packed neighbourhood, with people around who probably either would quite like a nice homemade jar of chilli jam, or who actually would really benefit from getting some surplus broccoli/courgette etc. I can't compost in my flat, but really, I'd like to be sharing the excess food before it goes to waste.

So I've set up a new yahoo group. Only for those in the Lambeth region - although happy for others to take the idea and copy in their areas.

It's not about buying and selling. It's about giving and sharing.

Only thing is it requires quite a few members before it will really work... and I need both hungry and generous folks.

So if you like the sound of this please do visit my group. Even if you don't live in Lambeth please have a look and tell me what you think in my comments page below. And if you do like it, please do either join if you're local, or send on to others who you think might be interested.

I'd love to get a big community of food lovers and sharers out there together :) xx

Dairy Free Plum Cake

2010-09-19T15:31:00.002+01:00

This was a bit of an experimental recipe, but worked surprisingly well. The plums turn into yummy soft fruits, and it tasted almost healthy!

Plum Cake

150g self raising flour
150g margarine
150g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 eggs, beaten
vanilla extract/vanilla seeds from a pod
around 300g ripe plums, halved and stones removed

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C.

Beat the margarine and sugar together until light and creamy. Slowly add the eggs, beating hard to prevent curdling. Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla.

Alternatively, place all ingredients except plums in a large bowl and whisk (electric one needed!) for around 5 minutes, until the mix is pale and light.

Grease a springform cake tin (around 22cm). Spoon mixture into cake tin, smoothing over the top.

Place the plum halves on top of the mixture, gently pushing down slightly. These might fall down during cooking - don't worry if they do.

Cook for around 30-40 minutes, until top is spongy and a skewer comes out clean.

I don't know how long it keeps for... 2 days later and this is all that is left!

Coconut and lime cake, tasty and still dairy free

2010-09-12T18:05:00.000+01:00

This is was my first attempt in years at a sponge cake - I'd assumed that sponge cakes wouldn't be the same without milk in, but this one works really well. The coconut isn't overwhelming, just nice and subtle.

175g self raising flour
175g caster sugar
175g margarine
3 eggs
50g dessicated coconut
1 small tin coconut milk
2 limes
1 tsp baking powder

Zest the 2 limes, and keep to one side. Juice the limes over the dessicated coconut and leave for a while.

In a big bowl, chuck in all the ingredients, including the zest and dessicated coconut. Whisk with an electric whisk until well-mixed.

Pour into two greased 20cm cake tins (preferably springform for ease of use), levelling off the tops.

Bake for around 35 mins at gas mark 3-4. It's ready when it's starting to come away from the sides and it's bouncy on top. Leave for a few minutes in the tin, and then pop out carefully.

For the icing:
220g icing sugar
2-3 limes

Zest the limes and put to one side. Juice the limes and mix with the sugar. Beat very well until all clumps have gone.

Ice the top of the bottom cake, put the top half on top and ice the top. Sprinke the zest over, and place in fridge for the icing to set.

Enjoy! It's surprisingly moist and tasty.

Kedgeree

2010-09-11T13:07:00.000+01:00

With my broken foot (!) I wanted to cook a healthy Saturday brunch that was easy to cook. I'd never cooked kedgeree before, but had been craving it since having Wagamama's tasty one a while ago. It's actually much easier to cook than I expected... very easy and very very tasty. This recipe supposedly feeds 3-4 people, but Pete and I managed to polish it off on our own.

250g smoked haddock (preferably undyed)
1 tsp garam masala or curry powder
a handful of mustard seeds
oil
180g basmati rice
300ml chicken/fish stock
pinch of saffron
3 bay leaves
2 eggs
2 spring onions
1 mild green chilli

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 6.

Heat a splash of oil in an overproof dish, add the mustard seeds and stir in the garam masala. Once the mustard seeds start to pop add in the rice and stir well. Cover with stock, add the saffron and bay leaves, and bring to a simmer.

Remove the skin and any bones from the fish, and cut into large chunks. Place underneath the rice mix.

Put in the oven for 15 mins.

Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 6 minutes. Finely slice the spring onions and chilli. Don't make the mistake I did and use a home-grown very hot chilli! Peel the boiled eggs and cut into large chunks.

Take the rice mix out of the oven and leave covered for a further ten minutes. This makes the rice all lovely and fluffy.

Fluff up the rice with a fork, breaking down the fish at the same time. Add the chillis and spring onion, season and add a splash of oil. Stir well and serve. Tasty and easy.

Pepper rye bread

2010-09-08T16:26:00.000+01:00

I decided to try making some rye bread, which I was slightly nervous about... it took me an age to find a recipe without milk or yoghurt in it, but finally I did. The recipe sounds complicated and with many stages but it's really quite easy and not much hassle at all. Unlike other bread mixes it doesn't tend to get sticky, which makes it easier to handle.

Here it is:

Pepper rye bread...not much left by the time I took the photo...

320ml black tea

150g rye flour

2 tsp mixed peppercorns (black will do), crushed

2tsp fennel seeds

1tsp dry instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

325g strong white flour

1 beaten egg

Heat the tea and half the rye flour, along with the pepper and seeds in a saucepan. Whisk until thick, bring to a boil and then set aside.

Once cooled to lukewarm, add the yeast and mix. Then add the salt, rest of the rye flour and white flour, and mix. It'll go from sticky to smooth in a few minutes.

Cover and leave for 10 minutes. Then place on an oiled surface and every ten minutes give it a quick knead and recover. Do this three times. Then leave, covered, for 30 mins.

Once it's reached a nice size, knead back. Flatten in a vaguely square shape, and then roll up tightly. Place on lined backing tray, cover and leave for around 45 mins. I didn't find it doubled in size - but does grow a bit!

Once risen, slash top several times with a very sharp knife and brush the top with the beaten egg.

Bake in for around 45 mins at gas mark 7.

Very tasty.

it's been a while...

2010-09-07T15:37:00.000+01:00

It's been ages since I last posted. Sorry!

Not surprisingly I haven't given up baking, in fact I've been doing more baking and cooking than normal recently - but due to dodgy eyes I haven't been able to post things up :(

But now my eyes are getting better it's time to catch up...

I've been baking loads of breads :) brioche, ciabatta, seeded, and today I'm giving black pepper rye bread a go. It's smells really very sweet, which is odd considering it has no sugar in.... I'll do a proper post on the bread later... I also tried to make sourdough bread but my starter went very wrong ... oops. Will try again soon.

I've also been making tasty sweet things, including macaroons and chocolate brownies. The rum and raisin ones went down a treat at a bbq recently.

More to come later, it's good to be back :) My 'garden' has given me masses of chillis and tomatoes so there will be some chilli jam and chilli tomato chutney coming soon. Orders are welcomed!

Do let me know if you want me to give recipes for any of the above. xxx

Wild garlic and basil pesto

2010-05-18T18:16:00.000+01:00

I'm mad about wild garlic this spring, it's so tasty. Sadly I haven't managed to forage any myself (apparently it's everywhere...apart from where I go walking!), but my veg box gives me a regular supply.

This is a very easy recipe, and very very tasty.

Handful of wild garlic
Small handful of basil
50g pine nuts (can be roasted first)
couple of garlic cloves
Tablespoon of olive oil
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt

Simply put it all together in a food processor and blend, until smooth. Then spoon into a sterilised jar.

I served with linguine and chicken.

Salmon and Spring Greens

2010-04-13T20:20:00.000+01:00

I managed to pick up some very cheap salmon fillets, and with fresh spring greens arriving in my box this morning, this was an easy choice.

salmon fillets
soy sauce
groundnut oil
garlic, roughly chopped
ginger, roughly chopped
chilli, roughly chopped
leek, shredded
spring greens, shredded
onion, finely sliced
flat mushrooms

Marinade the salmon in the soy sauce, oil, garlic, ginger and chilli. Leave for as long as possible, but at least ten minutes.

Meanwhile prep the veggies.

Once the salmon has marinated, heat a deep frying pan. Fry salmon skin first so it crisps up. When lovely and crisp, flip fillets over, turn down the heat and add mushrooms to the pan.

At this stage, heat a wok. Add a further garlic clove, the onion and leek. Fry over a hot heat for a few minutes, and then add the greens. Add the leftover marinade (garlic and ginger chunks too), and keep moving until greens have sweated down.

Serve, together with some plain rice. The tasty salmon on the meaty mushrooms rocks!

Quick and Tasty Pear Puffs

2010-04-07T23:32:00.000+01:00

I had some leftover puff pastry and some overripe pears, so decided to treat myself to a pear puff. Very quick and simple...

Line and grease a baking tray, and warm oven to gas mark 5.

Thinly roll out the puff pastry, and using a pastry cutter cut into reasonable sized circles. Gently place on the baking tray.

Drizzle over a generous quantity of honey.

Thinly slice the pears, and place on top of the puff pastry and honey. Don't be afraid of the pear piling up slightly, but do leave a few millimetres of space around the edge.

Cover with a teaspoon per pastry of vanilla sugar (caster sugar left with a vanilla pod in it... if not available, mix some vanilla essence into the sugar).

Place in the oven and cook for around 20 mins until they have puffed up and the sugar caramelised on top.

Delicious both warm and cold the next day. If you want to use apple instead, simply add some cinnamon rather than vanilla to your sugar. Can also be made with soft fruits such as apricots and plums in summer, when honey is not needed!

Pete's chunky cabbage and chorizo soup

2010-04-03T13:04:00.000+01:00

Last night I had a bit of a cooking disaster... after spending hours making a simnel cake (really...the process is tortuous, to me it felt like a continuation of lenten pentitence), I managed to set fire to the cake and the oven... I had been drinking, but it had only been one glass of wine! This morning the cake seems to have resurrected itself slightly, but all the same, I decided it might be safer if Pete cooked our lunch.

This recipe comes from Nigel Slater's Tender.

1 onion, finely sliced
2/3 cloves garlic
1 litre stock
4 handfuls of cabbage, finely shredded
200g chorizo, chopped chunkily
3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chunked
2 bayleaves

Fry off the onions and garlic in a slug of olive oil. Once softened, add the potatoes and fry gently for 5 minutes.

Add the stock and bayleaves, season, and leave to simmer for 25 minutes. (Pete used the leftover gravy from the turkey and leek pie as half the stock, which worked really well.)

In the meantime, fry the chorizo until the fat drains out.

Mash the potatoes roughly, add the cabbage and leave for a few minutes until softened.

Stir in the chorizo and serve.

Tasty lunch from Pete :o)

Happy Easter! x

Need a leek?

2010-04-01T20:35:00.001+01:00

To mark the start of Easter holidays I decided to cook my yummy turkey and leek pie. It was delicious as ever, and is really very very easy to make :o) You can make it from left over turkey if you have some lying around, or simply raw turkey cubes as I did.

A perfect warming recipe for a wet stormy day like today.

Turkey (diced)
1 onion, finely chopped
a couple of rashers of back, finely chopped
3 leeks, shredded
1 litre of stock
tarragon
thyme
puff pastry
1 egg

Fry off the bacon in a generous amount of olive oil, once browning turn down the heat and add the onions. Leave to sweat for 5 mins or so. Add the turkey and leeks and cook until turkey is browning.

Add the stock, seasoning, and herbs. I like to add a few splashes of tabasco here - not enough that it can be tasted, just enough to give a little extra warmth. Cover and simmer for around 10 mins.

Once the leeks have sweated down and it's all tasting fabulous, remove from the heat. Drain the mix over a pan, and keep the juices in the pan for gravy to serve it with.

Place the drained mixture into a lovely deep oven dish. You may want to add in a few spoons of the gravy just to keep it moist, but don't have it sitting in too much juice.

Roll over the pastry (afraid I use shop bought), pinch in along the sides and trim. Slice across pastry top.

Beat the egg with a little salt and brush over the top of the pie crust.

Bake in the oven (gas mark 5ish) for around 45 mins (that's my oven, a proper fan oven which works probably needs just over 30 mins).

Serve with the reheated gravy and a nice veg. Since it's seasonal and tasty, I had it with purple sprouting broccoli which I steamed over the reheating gravy.

Very tasty.

Home marinated olives

2010-03-25T20:43:00.000Z

This is a great and cheap way to marinade olives yourself.

Buy a large jar of green olives in brine. Drain and rinse.

Put into a mixing bowl. Add whatever you'd like. My favourites are:

- chillis
- pickled garlic (chopped!)
- shallots (ditto)
- herbs
- fennel seeds
- preserved lemon or lemon peel

You can make variations on the above...

Simply mix together well. Then spoon into nice clean (sterilised if possible) jars. Squish down so you get many in each jar.

Cover to the top with cheap olive oil (but don't scrimp and use other oils). Put lid on.

Leave for anything between 24 hrs and a few weeks. I quite like to have spare jars in the fridge and one jar on the go. I also reckon it works out at around a quid a jar, far cheaper than shop bought tasty olives.

Spring Risotto

2010-03-25T20:35:00.001Z

So last night I had the girlies around, which was great fun. Always good to break the week with some girly chit chat and a few glasses of wine. Now since I'm on still on my lenten budget I had to come up with something that would fill up four of us, and yet cost very little. Fortunately, my veg box contained wild garlic, asparagus, mushrooms and courgettes this week. So of course it had to be yummy risotto...

This was very easy to make, and wonderfully seasonal...and serves four lovely ladies!

Risotto rice (75g per person)
Stock
Bunch of asparagus
1 courgette, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves (yes, 2!)
4 handfuls of wild garlic
mushrooms or any other veg which needs eating up
1 lemon, juiced
seasoning
saffron
splash of wine

Gently fry the onions and garlic in a splash of olive oil. Once soft (not brown) add risotto rice and courgettes.

In the meantime, break off the woody stalks of the asparagus and boil for just two minutes in the stock. Remove the asparagus, chop into inch(ish) sections and set to one side. Keep the stock on a simmer, and put the first ladle of stock into the rice, adding a few saffron strands.

The risotto should be on a nice low heat, this is not a dish to hurry, hence it's a great dish to make with your friends in the kitchen too. Once the first ladleful has been absorbed, pour in a generous slash of white or rose wine. Make sure you pour a glass or two for you and your lovely friends at the same time.

Over the next 20 mins, simply add a ladleful of stock, stir, wait till absorbed, add more stock etc... If you run out of stock halfway through, simply top up with boiling water.

Check the risotto for crunchiness, remembering that the rice should still have a bite when served. When you think there's just 5 mins to go until that point, chuck in the wild garlic leaves (I just tore them in half) and some mushrooms (chopped etc). Add what will probably be the final ladle of stock and plenty of lemon juice. Season well with salt and black pepper.

When ready, stir in the asparagus, and maybe another squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with lashings of wine and good company.

tuna and courgette pasta

2010-03-25T20:13:00.000Z

I first made this dish at secondary school to demonstrate a balanced meal...the teacher argued it wasn't balanced, but I think it's just fine! It has carbs, protein and veg, what more can you ask for?!?

Anyway, I think this is a great quick pasta meal, it takes just 15 mins and is delicious...and if you're like me, all the ingredients are usually in kitchen.

1 courgette per person, grated
1 lemon, zest grated and juiced (or a preserved lemon, rinsed and chopped)
Small spoon of capers, crushed
small tin of tuna (or larger depending on how many eating!)
1 finely chopped shallot or onion
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 chilli, chopped
seasoning

Gently fry the onions and garlic in a generous splash of olive oil whilst your pasta water boils.

Once the pasta (I'd suggest conchiglie) is in the boiling water, add the courgettes (grated, yes, grated!) to the onion and garlic. Turn up the heat slightly and fry gently. Once courgettes have melted down slightly (5 mins or so) add the tuna, chilli, capers, zest and lemon juice. This is a good point to add seasoning, italian herbs are fine, and plenty of salt and pepper.

Taste the sauce, adding more seasoning, lemon etc as required. Leave to cook for another few minutes whilst your pasta cooks.

Drain pasta, mix with sauce. Once plated, add more black pepper, a drizzle of oil and some more lemon juice.

Tasty tasty tasty!

Tasty aubergine and tomato sauce

2010-03-14T15:00:00.002Z

My lovely little brother bought me an amazing griddle for xmas, and I decided it's about time to try it out on veggies as well as steak! This recipe is very tasty... and as Nigel Slater says, the key to tasty aubergines is to be liberal with the olive oil. I extended this to being liberal with the garlic, which made it tasty for me, although I feel sorry for my colleagues the next day. Although griddling the aubergines may seem an extra pan for washing up etc, it actually gives a wonderful smokiness to the aubergines, and makes the texture of the aubergines much more pleasing than the spongey texture which frying causes.

Anyway, here's the recipe. Takes around15 mins...

1 Aubergine, sliced lengthwise into 1cm strips
couple of cloves of garlic, chopped finely
couple of shallots, as above
a chilli, as above
tin of tomatoes
splash of old red or rose wine
Basil + oregano
pasta

Heat your griddle (or grill), splash with olive oil and cook the strips of aubergines until soft and nicely browned. To get the pretty striped effects, simply leave on each side until cooked.

Put the pasta on to cook - fettucini works well.

Sweat the onions and garlic in plenty of oil. Chop and add the griddled aubergines (I had to munch on a few at this point, they are so smoky and tasty just griddled). Leave for a minute or two. Splash in your old booze, wait until the wine has reduced, and add tomatoes and chilli. Leave to reduce (stirring occassionally) whilst your pasta cook.

Drain pasta, season and add herbs to sauce, and mix together.

Very tasty, in fact so tasty I forgot to take a photo until I'd eaten most of my plate. Sorry! Here's a random picture of griddled aubergines to make up for it!

Tonno e fagioli - portable food!

2010-03-11T08:44:00.001Z

So at the moment my little flat is suffering from some plumbing problems, which meant that instead of Sasha coming to mine for a yummy vegetable curry, I had to come up with something to take around the corner to hers instead... I was thinking a curry probably didn't quite make the mark, so I rustled up my tasty (and cheap!) tonno e fagioli, otherwise known as tuna and beans!

1 tin of tuna, drained
1 tin of mixed beans (flageolet, adzuki and cannellini)
couple of cloves of pickled garlic (recipe to follow soon!), chopped
finely chopped shallot
mint (or mint sauce!)
olive oil
juice of one lemon
splash of cider vinegar (or a wine vinegar)
salt and pepper
two tomatoes, finely chopped

Simply put into a large bowl and mix! If left overnight, it tastes even yummier. Serve with crusty warm bread, or a nice green salad.

Lenten frugalness and cooking

2010-03-07T21:28:00.001Z

So this year, for Lent, I decided that rather than give up chocolate or alcohol, I would put myself on a limited budget each week. However, until I started this, I didn't quite appreciate just how much I spend on food! Not that I buy masses of meat or expensive items frequently, it's just that the amount I spend on food is about equal to how much importance I place on it...

So the last few weeks have been a little challenging. The immediate result has been less eating out, more budget purchases and many more packed lunches! But it's been really great fun experimenting with cheaper options, which is also taking me back to my veggie roots.

I've managed to make lovely soups, which are always cheap. But my usual reliance on meat (chicken or bacon) to boost flavour hasn't been possible, but I found that more spices and mushrooms (eugh) actually work quite well. In a similar vein, curries (such as Hugh FW's yummy potato and kale curry) are fab, and I can chuck in what ever is left over from my veg box.

Sadly I have found that I'm eating loads of bread, teacakes and crumpets as cheapish stodge to fill me up. At the weekend it's plenty easy to replace sandwiches with proper meals, but at work (especially after a night out) it's hard not to just fall back on a ham sandwich. Luckily my onion marmalade helps ease the monotony, but still, I'd love some ideas on how to make cheap and quick packed lunches...

Migraine curing lentil soup

2010-03-07T20:49:00.003Z

So this sunny weekend has been half spoilt by a nasty migraine. Fortunately, only after a lovely walk around Hampstead Heath - but annoyingly my first one in two years. Fellow migraine sufferers will know that the last thing you want to do with a migraine is eat. But with it starting to get a little better this afternoon I decided a spicy soup was probably just the thing to chase it away. The fact I can now think to type is testimony to how well it worked...just in time for work tomorrow!

It also helps me out with my frugal lent, being extremely cheap. The spices can be found in corner shops or markets far cheaper than in the supermarket. Although dry frying the spices and grinding them sounds a faff, it really only takes a minute and makes a real difference. If you want to make it cheaper and slightly less tasty (and don't need to be dairy free), try replacing the coconut milk with normal milk (or cream).

This recipe was a bit made up on the spot, so suggestions for improvement welcomed...I understand there is something similar in southern Indian cooking, which involves slightly different spices, potatoes and veg. That might be for next week!

Pinch of:
- coriander seeds
- mustard seeds
- black peppercorns
- turmeric
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 chilli, chopped (include the seeds)
salt and pepper

Couple of cups of red lentils
Couple of large carrots, grated
1 pint of stock (I used chicken, but I'm sure veggie would work as well)
1 small tin of coconut milk
Juice of 1 lime

Start with dry frying the spice seeds and peppercorns, until the mustard seeds start to pop. Then grind down (not too finely...) with a pestle and mortar.

In a large pan, heat a splash of oil, and add the onions and garlic. Once soft, throw in your carrots, spices and the chilli. Add the lentils, stock and coconut milk. Season. Leave for about 30 mins, stirring occasionally.

Once it's ready, stir in the lime juice (lemon would also work), and enjoy.

Yummy Onion Marmalade

2010-03-07T20:32:00.003Z

I first made this marmalade to give away for Christmas presents, and it went down so well I just had to make some more. It is very yummy and easy to make, although it does take several hours (task for a wet Sunday). The hours spent making it seems like nothing when you spread it in a bacon sarnie, or as I did this morning, layered into a ham and poached egg brunch. Put it in nice jars and it makes a lovely (and cheap) presents.

100g olive oil (cheap is fine)
2kg of onions, peeled and finely sliced
200g demerara sugar
150g redcurrant jelly
300ml cider vinegar
50ml balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper

First of all you have to peel and slice the onions...this was the most painful part of this recipe. Luckily I don't cry with onions, not least because I always keep the bottoms of the onions on until the end. After heating the oil, I very gently fried the onions until they had sweated down to about a half of their original times. This did take about 40 minutes, but is the most important stage to get right - burnt onions must be avoided at all costs!

Once the onions are lovely and soft, chuck in the sugar and redcurrant jelly and stir well. Increase the heat a bit, and then keep stirring until it goes a lovely brown (or starts to look like a pot of worms!). This takes at least 30 mins...

Now take off the heat and have a little tea break whilst the pan cools down. Pour in the vinegars, and put it onto a nice high heat. Keep stirring for at least 10 mins...you're looking for the mixture to part nicely when you pull a spoon across it. Chuck in the salt and pepper, stir and pour into pretty jars.

Yummy.