KitchenLab

Perfect Carrot & Coriander Soup

2012-02-21T22:05:00.000Z

My dad says that I "attack life."

For my 16th birthday, I got a puppy. He was this really happy, sweet little dog that was full of kindness and excitement. That is, however, until he would smell some kind of chaseable/eatable animal, whereupon he instantly turned into a hunting machine. He'd dive into a river chasing a beaver into it's den, dig up the earth persuing a rabbit down it's hole, and torment raccoons who were twice his size. He dreamed big. He'd go running off after something, and we'd shout to call him back to us - to protect him. But the switch had flipped in his brain and he was no longer our sweet little pup. He was a predator on the attack. He was fearless and absolutely insane when it came to getting what he wanted. Dad says that this is what I am like.

I can't really argue with his logic.

I've been off on my own trail lately. My goals have grown and changed with time -- but mostly just grown ever bigger. First it was my MSc, then PhD, and I've become rather used to my personal goals increasing at an alarmingly exponential rate. The last time I told my dad about everything I'd been up to recently, he laughed HARD. I could hear the smile and sparkle in his eyes as he asked me, "Jeez, Kristen, who ever made you think you could have it all?" I laughed, too, but more softly than he. "Um, you did, don't you remember?" We laughed a moment more and then changed the subject, since this was the closest thing we've had to a serious conversation in about 10 years, and it was all getting just a little too awkward.

So, because life keeps getting bigger and busier, and because I might not actually know how to slow down, it's easy for me to forget how passionate I am about cooking my own food. I have a job which requires not just my working hours (there are 20 of these in a day, right?), but also a good heaping of stress and tears and possibly also my soul - and sometimes I just plain forget to eat. Then, I look up and realise it's 4pm and there's a hole in my stomach because I haven't eaten since the previous evening. I just get a bagel out of the freezer and go to town since it's the fastest thing to do, and if I try to stand in front of the stove and cook something, I'll likely fall over and burn my face on the skillet on my way to the floor.

The solution? Soup. Soup is fast and low-maintenance. Soup is healthy. It'll feed my brain and keep me from passing out during my workaholic benders.

I was reminded of why I love to cook with my first bite of this soup. Delicious, comforting, easy and nutritious - these are some adjectives that describe this stuff. Another one: balanced. All the flavours are just right, and while carrot & coriander soup is a classic, it's not boring. It's incredibly far elevated above the stuff you've eaten from a can. It actually made me feel good to eat it. I even slowed down for a while, stopped working, and savoured it.

I have great things in my life, and I am a thankful lady. I wouldn't trade any of it... I can't help it, I just WANT IT ALL. Totally do-able.

Carrot & Coriander Soup
Adapted from Delia

25g butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
900g chopped carrots
700ml vegetable stock
sea salt (I used Maldon) + pepper to taste
chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
greek yogurt or crème fraîche for serving

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and coriander, cook until foamy and fragrant. Add carrots and cook in the butter mixture until they are beginning to soften. Add stock and 2 big pinches of salt. Simmer until carrots are cooked through, 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and purée with hand blender - I like to leave some chunks but you can do this to whatever consistency you prefer. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Mix chopped coriander into soup, leaving some aside for garnish. Serve with a spoonful of greek yogurt or crème fraîche and the reserved coriander.

Individual Chocolate Soufflés for two!

2012-02-15T19:22:00.000Z

Valentine's Day is over. Did you survive? Whether you have a valentine or not; whether you got mushy and romantic or bitter and cynical - I hope you at least ate some chocolate.

Me and bf had a great night. We stayed in and had a lovely meal without having to dodge wedding proposals at the table next to us. Because there was no table next to us. There was only us, dining slowly, for hours on end. It was kind of perfect.

Once we finished our meal proper, we made dessert. That's we, as in, we made dessert together, the pair of us. It was easy. It was delicious. And it was SO MUCH FUN!

And yes, those are heart-shaped ramekins. Cue eyerolls right about now.

I know it's late for Valentine's Day. But maybe you're waiting for the weekend to celebrate? If so, consider making these soufflés for you and your love. Even make them together. Steal a kiss while they're in the oven. Definitely do that.

Rich Chocolate Soufflés
Recipe by Gordon Ramsay
This recipe actually makes 3 soufflés, which is really perfect. After all, who wouldn't like a bit with coffee in the morning?

10 g unsalted butter for greasing dishes

Crème pâtissière:
10 g cornflour
100 ml whole milk
100 g dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids, chopped
2 egg yolks

Egg white mixture:
3 egg whites
75 g caster sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C/gas 4/350°F

Coat 3 small-medium ramekins (8cm in width, 4-5cm in height) with the softened butter & set aside.

Make the crème pâtissière:
Slake the cornflour with a little of the milk, then gradually add the rest of the milk until you have a smooth mixture. Pour into a small saucepan, and slowly bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Boil for 30 seconds then off the heat, add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks until smooth before transferring to a bowl to cool.

Make the egg white mixture:
With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually start to add in the sugar, whisking well in between each addition. Once all the sugar has been added, continue to whisk until you have a thick and glossy mixture.

Add one third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and mix well. Now add in the remaining egg white and gently fold into the mix. Do not over work the mixture as it will become too hard and stiff.

Divide the mixture between the ramekins, filling each completely full. Bake for 6-15 minutes, depending on the size of your ramekins. The souffles are done when they are well risen and have a slightly wobbly centre. Serve with pouring cream, custard, or vanilla ice cream.

Almond & Orange Shortbread Bars

2011-12-22T22:13:00.000Z

Christmas is here, people.

The stockings are hung, the gifts are wrapped, and everything seems to be enveloped in a soft, warm glow. It's a damn good thing Christmas doesn't last all year or else we'd all get fat and drunk and never accomplish anything. But jeez, what a fab time of year it is.

Giving cookies is a holiday tradition, and I just love sharing my favourite things with my favourite people. I have my standard, go-to treats like buckeyes and these cranberry-studded oatmeal gems. This year, I tried something new, and it's delightful. If you got some of these chocolate-dipped shortbreads, you are not on the naughty list. Just so you know.

Adding a unique flair to this shortbread is an ingredient of my own concoction. Allow me to introduce to you: roasted orange peel.

After making roasted lemon peel for this bread, I was inspired to try other citrus. If using an orange for anything else, simply cut away the very outside layer of peel, leaving all of the white pith behind. Let it sit out for a couple of days to dry out. Then roast it in the oven (I typically do this while preheating the oven for something else). Grind it to a powder -- this takes some muscle if working with a pestle and mortar, but it's worth it. The scent alone is worth the effort, warm and earthy, knee-buckling and exotic. It tastes like what I imagine caramelised oranges taste like.

I had a bunch of this powder sitting around, waiting for the perfect thing to add it to. I'd often open the little container and give it a whiff, savouring that beautiful scent. I'm pretty sure I forced my boyfriend to smell it when we first started dating - he probably thought I was insane.

I wanted a recipe where it could really shine, and not get lost among other prominent flavours. It marries beautifully with the almond and fresh orange in these shortbreads, and I couldn't be happier. Simply replace it with fresh orange zest if you don't want to go to the effort of making roasted peel.

Almond Shortbread Bars

adapted from The Guardian

170g butter
50g light brown sugar

50g caster (granulated) sugar
100g ground almonds
200g plain flour
1 tsp fresh orange zest
1 tsp roasted orange zest

Melted chocolate - I use a mixture of milk and dark choc, plus a little vegetable shortening so I don't have to temper it. Plus a pinch of sea salt.

Chopped nuts - I used pistachios and almonds. Do what you want!

Set the oven at 160C/gas mark 3.

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir the nuts, flour and zest into the mixture. Knead a little with hands to make sure the mixture is uniform. Divide dough in two, flatten into disks, wrap and refrigerate 20 mins.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thickness, cut into 1"x2.5" bars. Prick with the tines of a fork and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 13 minutes, until the edges turn golden.

Dip in melted chocolate and sprinkle with chopped nuts of your choosing.

Brussels Sprouts Hash with Gruyère

2011-12-20T14:03:00.000Z

There is no light in my flat. The sun literally never shines into my windows. The shortest days of the year are here, and the sun doesn't get high enough in the sky to crest over the hill I live on and illuminate my living room. The good news is that I've been so busy in the last few months that I didn't even notice that the sun was setting at 3:30 until two days ago. So, I haven't had a chance to get depressed about it, and in one (short) day, the days will begin to grow longer again, spring will come, and I'll have enough sunlight in my flat to take decent photos. Then, before I know it, we'll all be wearing skirts and sandals and getting some serious freckles. Being crazy-ass busy is the only way to get through the winter, in my mind. All of this has nothing to do with the recipe - I just thought you should know.

People generally don't like brussels sprouts. I didn't like them for years, until I decided that I should. As a vegetarian in an omnivore's world, I don't really have license to push many veggies aside. I've tried various methods over the years, but never hit on anything spectacular - until now. This is so good.

The trick is to never, ever boil those suckers. Don't even think about it. Get them nice and browned. Crispy. Delicious all over.

Another trick: don't miss the vinegar. You need a little acidity to break through the strong flavours here. I wanted to use lemon juice, but I discovered too late that I was actually out of lemons. White wine vinegar does the job nicely. It really brightens everything up and rounds out the flavour profile.

Brussels Sprouts Hash with Gruyère
original recipe by me!

250g brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
3T olive oil
1 medium potato
small knob of butter (about 1.5T)
1 small leek (or half of a normal-sized leek)
splash white wine vinegar (about 1 tea)
25g Gruyère, grated
sea salt and pepper to taste

Sauté brussels sprouts in olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat, tossing occasionally to brown on all sides. Season with salt and add diced potato. You'll think the sprouts might be burning, but it's ok. They need to get really brown. Don't stress.

Once potatoes have begun to brown, add butter and chopped leek. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired. Cook until potatoes are done and leeks have begun to brown. Add a splash of white wine vinegar, toss to incorporate. Grate over gruyere and allow to melt in the skillet, serve immediately.

Serves 2 as a side (or 1 as a main - this was totally my whole lunch).

Moravian Spice Cookies

2011-12-15T11:02:00.000Z

Christmas is coming. Time to bake cookies! It might be more of an American tradition to bake loads of cookies around the holidays, but my mates over here don't seem to mind.

Might I suggest some soft oatmeal cookies with fresh cranberries? Or, perhaps, some homemade oreos? Snickerdoodles?

This Moravian spice cookie is amazing, like super-thin-snappy-wafers-of-awesomeness. The flavours are strong and perfect at this time of year. It's not easy to find molasses in Britain, so I've used black treacle, which might make them even better. They're crispy and crunchy, and amazing when eaten with coffee and vanilla ice cream.

What are your favourite Christmas cookie recipes?

Moravian Spice Cookies
modified from Gourmet
This makes a ton of cookies, over 100, if cut in 2-inch rounds.

1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup black treacle (traditionally, molasses is used, but good luck finding that outside America)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda (bicarbonate)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pulse shortening, brown sugar, and treacle in a food processor until smooth. I don't have a food processor, so I used a spoon. It wasn't fun.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add to processor and blend just until combined.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead briefly, allowing dough to absorb a little more flour if sticky. Divide dough in half and form each half into a ball. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 day.

Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F with rack in middle. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out a bit of dough, 1/2 or 1/3 of a ball, on a piece of foil until very thin (less than 1/16 inch thick). Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and stick in the freezer for 2 minutes. This will allow you to get the thin, sticky discs off the foil with ease and without allowing them to become misshapen. Arrange about 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets.

Bake cookies 10 minutes (or less if your oven is fan-assisted, like mine -- they took 4 minutes). Let stand 1 minute on sheet, then loosen with spatula and transfer to cooling rack. If first batch isn’t crisp, bake 1 minute more (on baking sheet), minute-by-minute until they are crisp. Careful not to burn, since they are dark cookies it's hard to tell so watch closely.

Re-roll scraps and repeat until you have enough cookies to feed an army.

Baby Greens Salad with Orange & Fennel

2011-12-06T21:49:00.001Z

So, it's winter again.

I know this because I had to switch back to my lighter foundation. Also, it's snowing. Brrr. I just want eat potatoes and cheese and hot sauce. Am I the only person who does this in the winter?

Soooo [subject change] we just got through Thanksgiving, and I was lucky enough to host a meal for my friends. I introduced 9 of my favourite people to traditional American things like pumpkin pie, cornbread, green bean casserole, and sweet potato soufflé. The dinner was quite a success in the end, but DANG. I'm ready to not do that again for another whole year.

But this salad? I made it again almost immediately. I served it as part of my first course, and it wasn't the biggest hit of the day - but I could hardly expect it to be, since it sat on a plate next to homemade herbed cheese (recipe soon!). But it stuck with me. The flavours (and colours!) were crisp and bright and intense. It was the perfect way to get a bit of a detox after the big holiday/before the next big holiday. And it makes me feel just a little less guilty about my potatoes-with-cheese-and-hot-sauce habit.

Baby Greens Salad with Orange & Fennel
from Shutterbean, with a few small changes -- for example, I found the dressing lacked something. Doubling the sugar fixed it beautifully.

90g mixed baby leaves (such as red chard, rocket, spinach)
1 orange, segmented - Don't know how to segment an orange? Here's a video.
abt 1/2 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon orange juice (from your segmented orange)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Assemble salad. Mix up dressing. Pour dressing over salad. Eat it up. The end.

Serves 2.

Chickpea & Cardamom Rice with Carrots and Za'atar Oil

2011-11-01T09:14:00.000Z

Busy, busy.

I know we're all busy, and I usually shy away from using it as an excuse. After all, we make time for the things we care about. But really. There's *normal* busy, and then there's or busyy, or bizzy, or bizzay. I've been bizzay. Truefact.

One of the million things I've done recently is move into a new flat. It took me ages to settle in. Between other things keeping me occupied (wedding festivities, research, teaching, friends, dating), I haven't really had a moment to spare. I'm not complaining - I have a very full life, and I wouldn't trade any bit of it! But, I lived in my flat for three whole weeks before it felt like home. And until I settled in here, my kitchen mojo was nowhere to be found. I ate cheese and crackers for lunch the entire first week. It felt like I was cooking and eating in a stranger's house - except that all my stuff was here. Weird.

Finally, finally. A good meal. I'm back, baby!

This, incidentally, is a great meal if you're busy. It's got it all - carbs to keep you going, protein in those pulses, vitamins in the carrots, and some healthy fat in the yogurt. It's a one-dish, working lunch kind of thing. It's food that works just as hard as you do.

I found za'atar, after a long search, at a local foodie deli here in town. Za'atar features in Middle Eastern cooking, and it's a blend of sumac, thyme and sesame seeds. It's amazing. It tastes really earthy, with a sweet-salty combination that makes me very happy. I imagine it could take just about anything up a notch.

Chickpea & Cardamom Rice with Carrots and Za'atar Oil

250g white basmati rice
some olive oil to sauté
1/2 small onion, sliced
vegetable stock
2 medium carrots, grated
8 cardamom pods
200g cooked chickpeas
2 tea za'atar
2 tablespoons olive oil
full-fat greek yogurt, for serving

Place uncooked rice in a sieve and rinse until water runs clear; set aside to drain. Saute onion in a little olive oil, about 2 tablespoons, until beginning to soften. Add rice and continue to cook, stirring, until rice has begun to gain a little colour. Meanwhile, smash cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle, remove seeds and discard pods. Add vegetable stock to the pot along with grated carrots and cardamom seeds. Steam/cook until rice is done. Set aside to steam an additional 10 minutes before continuing.

While rice is steaming, prepare za'atar oil by mixing za'atar with 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Add cooked chickpeas to the rice and toss together. Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt, drizzle za'atar oil over top.

The end. Serves 4.

Plum Frangipane Tart in a Spelt Crust

2011-09-11T09:28:00.000+01:00

I've lived in Britain now for two years. Two years! I can hardly explain how quickly it's gone by, how different my life is, or how much I love it here.

I'm still an American, though, and my foray into British food has been slow-coming. First was a world of curries, which I've only just begun to understand (and love passionately). Puddings were even slower to get on my good side. Maybe it's because the word "pudding", to an American, means something different than it does here, where the word is used as a generic term for what I would call dessert. I'll never forget ordering a "chocolate pudding" in the first few days after I moved to England... which came to me as a piece of soggy chocolate cake. This is the traditional, accurate usage of pudding, a steamed or boiled cake, and I still haven't tasted one I like.

I'm so familiar with American baking that British flavours and styles took a lot longer for me to get my head around. I'm proud to say that I've finally scratched the surface with this plum tart! While I have a suspicion that the tart itself might be Italian (or French?) in origin, to me it is a standard British dessert (ahem, pudding).

Oh, success, I love you!

I decided to use a spelt crust instead of a plain crust, for no other reason than that I love spelt. It has a rich, nutty quality that is so flavourful, and I think it adds a nice touch to this tart. Also, this isn't your typical pastry crust method, and is a favourite of mine because it's so easy! The filling is almond-y and rich and beautiful. Yum.

Spelt Crust
adapted from David Lebovitz
90g (6.5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
75g plain/AP flour (just over 1/2 cup)
75g wholegrain spelt flour (just over 1/2 cup)

Frangipane Filling

adapted from Gordon Ramsay
6-8 Victoria plums, stoned and sliced into quarters.
120g unsalted butter (8.5 tablespoons), softened to room temperature
120g ground almonds (4.25 oz)
120g caster sugar (just over .5 US cup)
20g plain flour (1/8 US cup)
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur (DiSaronno)
1 medium free-range egg (if using a large egg, add 5g weight to each ingredient)

Preheat the oven to 210ºC (410ºF)

Combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt in a glass oven-proof bowl (e.g. Pyrex)

Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.

Remove from oven and add the flour quickly, stir it fast until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch (23 cm) tart mold with a removable bottom and spread it a bit with a spatula. Allow to cool a bit before handling.

Pat it into the shell with the heel of your and, and use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tart mold. Reserve a small piece of dough for patching any cracks.

Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork, then bake the tart shell in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown. I didn't feel the need to use pie weights, and it was just fine. While crust is baking, prepare filling.

Place all filling ingredients together in a bowl (except plums) and blend together using an electric mixer. Stop when mixture is just uniform -- don't overwork it.

Remove tart shell from the oven and if there are any sizable cracks, use the bits of reserved dough to fill in and patch them. Put back in the oven for 5 minutes if you've patched anything.

Turn the oven down to 150ºC (300ºF). Let the shell cool before filling.

Spread frangipane mixture into the baked tart shell and smooth with the back of a spatula. Arrange sliced plums on top of the mixture, skin-side up, pressing down gently so that they are embedded in the frangipane. Sprinkle top with granulated or caster sugar.

Bake 30-35 minutes until golden, and the middle is just-set. Cool 10 minutes in the tart ring, then remove ring and slice at will!

Butter & Garlic Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes

2011-09-07T19:16:00.000+01:00

This is real life.

I got home from the office today and just stared into the refrigerator. Do you do this, too? I love cooking, but every day is not a masterpiece kind of day. Today especially. After staring into the fridge for a while, I gave up on that and then started staring into cupboards. Braindead.

Usually I know exactly what to make. Usually I think about it the whole way home, and stride into the kitchen with purpose. Not today.

Brain-dead me ended up making a super-easy pasta dish.. And it was amazing! After the first bite, I said, out loud, "why haven't I eaten this before?" This is nothing new. I didn't hit upon some long-forgotten secret. This is easy stuff. Because this is real life.

Cooking the tomatoes in the skillet (instead of just adding them raw) concentrates their flavour. They lose some water and become something really wonderful. If you wanted to, you could roast them in the oven instead, but why dirty another pan? Why turn on another appliance? There's no need for all of that. One tomato-ey bite lifted the fog from my brain and I was suddenly back among the living.

For the pasta, I used the angel hair variety. Next time, I want penne. Anything will do! Get crazy and try bowtie pasta. Yeah, do that!

Butter & Garlic Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes

knob butter
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
8-10 cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced (not too small - I occasionally like a bigger chunk)
sea salt
pepper
pasta of your choosing, cooked al dente
handful black olives

Saute onion in butter until it begins to brown. Quarter tomatoes and add to the pan, then add garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste, then stir in cooked pasta once tomatoes are shriveled. Top with black olives. Eat up!

Serves 2

Simple Courgette & Basil Pesto Gratin

2011-08-30T09:30:00.001+01:00

Courgettes (zucchinis), for me, are another favourite summer food. An unsung hero, really, and a master of versatility. You can bake them into cakes and bread. You can batter and fry them. You can toss them in couscous or quinoa. I've even been known to slice them thinly and eat them raw, with a tiny dab of greek yogurt and a sprinkle of salt on each one. And then, there's this:

I love dishes that make a vegetable the star of the show, and this gratin transforms the courgette to a diva with the most comfortable ease. Tossed with a little basil pesto, speckled with a light-flavoured cheese and topped with glorious, crispy breadcrumbs, this gratin is all I ever wanted. The cheese I had on hand today was wensleydale, but feta, gruyère, or even a mild cheddar would make excellent additions, too.

Courgette & Basil Pesto Gratin

2 medium courgettes
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
100g cheese, cut in small bits (I used Wensleydale)
small knob butter
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 heaping tablespoon basil pesto

Thinly slice courgettes and toss in a big bowl with salt, rest for 30 min to draw out excess water. Drain using a colander, pressing down a bit to extract as much water as possible.
Heat oven to 190C. Put the butter in a glass baking dish and melt in the oven until it starts to brown. Pour over breadcrumbs and toss.
Place courgette slices in a bowl with wensleydale & pesto. Toss. Put in glass dish (same one) and top with breadcrumbs. Bake 20 minutes, being careful not to overcook the courgettes to a mush.

The end.

Roasted Tomato Bread, and a sandwich

2011-08-28T10:02:00.001+01:00

I suck at baking bread. It's really not my strong suit. I'm good at quick breads, but yeast, oh crap. We're not friends. But surprise of surprises, I made a loaf that wasn't too dense, too dry or too wet. Victory is finally mine!

I have such a passion for the tomato, and since the good stuff only comes around once a year, I just buy and buy and buy them whenever I see them! My kitchen is experiencing a tomato explosion, so I'm looking for new ways to enjoy my favourite fruit. Enter: tomato bread. Oh my. It warms my heart.

After I made a whole bunch of salsa, I had a big bowl of tomato guts that I didn't really want to throw out. I figured there had to be a good use for them. For sure I could use them as the liquid in a bread, right?? It worked! I added a few roasted tomatoes because I wanted some additional tomato flavour in the loaf. It was an all-day-long adventure, but totally worth it. If you don't want to use tomato guts, just scale back the flour a bit in the recipe. Easy stuff.

The bread is really nice and so good for sandwiches! I coated some tofu slices in plain breadcrumbs using a vegan egg substitute of cornflour* + neutral oil + a splash of water. This totally worked and is my new favourite stick-breadcrumbs-to-stuff-without-wasting-an-egg trick. I pan-fried the tofu with a little olive oil, then stuck it in a sandwich with a sliced tomato, cream cheese (not vegan, oops) and wholegrain mustard. Perfect!

*note to American readers: "Cornflour" is the British term for "cornstarch". Same thing, different name.

Roasted Tomato Bread
I was inspired by this recipe, but ultimately adapted a sandwich bread recipe from Scraping The Skillet instead.

175ml (3/4 cup) water
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup white bread flour
1/2 cup malted brown flour

3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup white bread flour
3/4 cup malted brown flour
3 roasted tomatoes + leftover tomato juice/guts/seeds (I had about 1/3 cup)

Stir together first 6 ingredients and allow to ferment at room temp for 3-4 hours. While you're waiting, roast your tomatoes in a little olive oil.

Stir down (air will come out) and add remaining ingredients.

Knead 5 minutes on floured worksurface. My dough was really sticky so I added more white flour as needed. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Knead 5 minutes more (I forgot this part, oops. Still good!).

Place in oiled bowl, turn over to coat, cover with tea towel and rest in warm place for 1 hour to rise. Dough should double in size.

Remove from bowl, push air out and flatten into a rectangular shape. Fold in thirds, pinch ends together, and place in bread tin (or on a baking sheet) seam-side down. Allow to rise for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake at 175C (350F) for 45-50 minutes, until a tap on the top sounds hollow.

Creamed Corn is Amazing

2011-08-26T15:08:00.000+01:00

Yep, another Mexican-ish thing. I need help.... can't stop..... actually if you try to get me to stop, I'll probably cut off your hand and try to make fajitas out of it. That's how hooked I am on Mexican right now.

So, I'm moving into a new flat soon, and I've got a confession to make, besides of course my addiction to green hot sauce and tomatoes and tortillas. I'm a food hoarder. Wait, "hoarder" seems like a bad word. Collector, maybe? I'm a food collector. My pantry is exploding. Please don't look in my freezer. The thing is, I don't eat a lot of food. I'm just one small person. But, I grew up on a farm, where I learned to put some of the year's bounty away for the inevitable lean years. I'm also hooked on cool ingredients for cooking and baking, and every time I see something new and exciting, I just can't help myself. I also don't want to go to the grocery store every time I get a craving for... well, anything, and I like being able to make a nice cake at a moment's notice if I have friends pop round for a chat and a cup of tea. These things combined mean that if the apocalypse does come, then I am totally set. (Sorry, Harold Camping, I didn't die a horrible death like you hoped I would, jerkface.)

With my move impending (4 weeks!) I am determined to eat the contents of my freezer. Today's mission: use that bag of frozen corn I bought three months ago and never opened.

This is amazing even using frozen corn. We really don't have good fresh sweet corn in Britain, compared to what I'm used to as an Ohio farm girl. So frozen is the way to go. If you have fresh... I'm so jealous.

Creamed Corn with Lime & Chilli

adapted from Shutterbean

abt 500g corn

knob of butter

50g cream cheese (about 1/4 of one of those little packages)

30-40 ml whole milk

juice of 1/2 lime

cayenne pepper to taste

salt to taste

Sauté corn in the butter in a big skillet over medium heat. Let it get a little brown. Yum.

Remove from heat and put the corn in a big bowl. Add in milk, cream cheese, lime juice and cayenne pepper. Toss toss toss.

Using a handheld stick blender, pulse a few times to break up some kernels. Don't overdo it because it's all about texture here - I left lots of kernels whole while blasting the crap out of others, and it was perfect. This step also gets some starch out of the corn and will thicken the milky stuff. Mix it up some more and season with salt to your own taste.

Pineapple & Lime Paletas

2011-08-23T20:38:00.000+01:00

Do you know what paletas are?

They are sort of the same thing as popsicles. They're Mexican summertime treats, made with full-on, unabashed, refreshing fruits. They're nothing like the fake-flavoured, fake-coloured things I grew up on. Nono, these are way fantastic-er than that.

When I was in college, my marketing professor had a guest lecturer in from a local Nashville business called Las Paletas. Her place was famous (infamous?) for not having any signage, and I guess it worked, because everyone wanted to know where the secret popsicle shop was. The product really had to be awesome, since having a brick-and-mortar where you sell only popsicles and manage to make a profit, sign or no-sign, is quite an impressive feat.

After our class, we were led us on a caravan to the upstart little shop, where we sampled flavours inspired by her childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was like being shown through a secret passageway into a world of flavour which my young heart had not yet dared to imagine. I tried hibiscus for the first time in my life that day. It was like nothing I'd ever tasted before... sweet and piquant and addictive. I've never forgotten it.

I wonder if she ever got a sign for her place.... a quick google search tells me the place was still open as of last year, but their website sadly appears defunct. Though, I did find this blog post which includes a couple of nice photos (particularly of the menu, which I would love to devour in its entirety). There also seems to be an internet rumour that she and her sister were challenged to a Bobby Flay throwdown, and beat the crap out of him. Awesome.

I'm now looking forward to next summer, so I can try my hand at more flavours, like cucumber-chilli, pineapple-chilli, and chilli-chocolate (can you sense a theme here?)... in the mean time, I've got a freezer full of these pineapple-lime treats left over from this summer's festivities, and I intend to eat them no matter how cold it gets, because they are delicious.

Pineapple & Lime Paletas
adapted from Bon Appétit

3/4 cup sugar
2 cups pineapple - I used canned pineapple (in juice) and included the juice. I know, tinned?... don't judge.
Juice of 1/2 lime

Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Chill syrup until cold, about 1 hour.

Purée syrup and pineapple in a food processor until smooth. Stir in lime juice and divide among molds. Freeze until firm.

Sweet & Smoky: Chipotle-Pineapple Tomato Salsa

2011-08-21T00:12:00.002+01:00

Every now and then, I go through a Mexican phase that lasts about a week. It's all I can think about eating. Does this happen to you?

The Mexican phase I'm in currently has gone on now for no less than three weeks. This is one hell of a bender. I'm going through so much hot sauce that I've decided to make my own. But that's a story for another day.

While living in Nashville during undergrad, one of my favourite places to eat was a local staple called Baja Burrito. Having just booked a flight home with a Nashville reunion on the agenda, I started fantasizing about all the places I want to eat, and this one floated into my top 3 (along with Solario, a fancy Mexican restaurant run by a good friend of mine, and Las Americas Taquería, a very un-fancy Salvadoran pupusería attached to a bodega).

I fondly recall Baja Burrito's seasonal fruit salsas, which are so refreshing and un-ordinary -- wintertime gave us a cranberry salsa, while summer greeted us with a cheery pineapple version. I realised with horror that I am travelling in the winter, and thus, will miss out on the pineapple salsa, by far my favourite of the two. I had to have it - like, now - and we happen to be in the middle of tomato season, so, I made some. They don't use chipotle chilli and I don't claim to know their salsa recipe (oh, if I did!!), but this is darn good in its own right. It's got a great balance of sweet + heat, with smoky chipotle chilli, brown sugar and lime juice in there for good measure. I'm in love.

You know you want to make this now, in the middle of the tomato glut, and give it to people for Christmas. If it lasts that long. I jarred up a bunch of it, and it's seriously cute with hand-written labels. I ended up making this recipe twice because it was so good the first time!

Chipotle-Pineapple Tomato Salsa
adapted from myrecipes.com

1/2 large white onion, small dice
250g (1/2 lb) pineapple, small dice
300g (2/3 lb) tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
120 ml (1/2 cup) pineapple juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chilli (this could get hot -- use your own judgement)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice (about half of one lime)
1/4 teaspoon salt
handful chopped coriander leaves

De-seed and chop tomatoes, set aside.

Sauté onion and pineapple over medium heat until browned - this could take a while, but be patient.

Add tomato and garlic and let go for a minute or two, then add pineapple juice, brown sugar, vinegar and chilli powder. Heat through and let simmer for about 5 minutes - more than this and the tomatoes will start to break down, and you'll be left with an unattractive goopy mess instead of a nice, fresh, chunky salsa.

Remove from heat and stir in coriander, lime juice, and salt. Purée (just a little) with a hand blender, to smooth out the salsa while still leaving plenty of chunks. At this point, I jarred the salsa for later use. Serve chilled or at room temp.

Makes two 300g jars.

Guacahummus = Guacamole + Hummus = Delicious

2011-08-19T11:33:00.003+01:00

I saw this all of two days ago on Shutterbean's blog and absolutely had to make it, post haste! It reminded me instantly of the Guacamame (guacamole-edamame dip) of my beloved Trader Joe's. Can't we please get TJ's in the UK?

I already had all these ingredients on hand... so my brain was already halfway to this guacamole + hummus marriage. All it took was a little nudge.

The verdict? It tastes like guacamole, with the texture of hummus. It's awesome. I ate half of it for lunch and the other half for dinner. Yes, it's the only thing I ate all day. Please don't judge. And it was dead easy. I just threw all the ingredients in a bowl and whirred it around with my hand blender. Am I the only person who finds food processors entirely too inconvenient? Really, why do I want to take it apart after every use and clean all those little parts? No thanks. Stick blenders are the way forward.

I'll have to introduce this to the ladies soon. Each Friday night ("wine night"), us girls get together and drink wine and giggle and eat grown-up foods like hummus and crudités and olives. This is the perfect thing to share with them. You should make it for your friends, too!

Guacamole Hummus (Guacahummus?)
adapted from Shutterbean

two big handfuls fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine
1 garlic clove
abt 100g dry / 225g soaked, cooked & drained (or one 15-oz can, drained & rinsed)
1 ripe avocado, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt

Soak chickpeas for 8 hours or overnight in cold water with a little bicarb in the water. Drain and rinse, then boil in fresh water, again with a little bicarb, for about 40 minutes or until fully cooked and soft. (Adding the bicarb helps those pesky outer skins break down and makes your hummus nice and smooth.) Drain and allow to cool.

Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and puree with a hand blender, or use a food processor. Season to taste with salt - you might need more than you'd think. Don't be shy.

The end. Easy!

Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

2011-08-15T16:10:00.003+01:00

Well, that's it... summer is over in Scotland. We had a good run. The days are getting shorter, it's raining more, and my freckles are disappearing. I had to switch back to my lighter foundation today and put the heavy duvet back on the bed. I must admit, I'm a little sad... I'm having a hard time letting go.

This soup is like summer and autumn rolled into one - hearty and filling and warm, yet sprightly and exciting and fun. Just perfect for these cold and rainy days when I'm refusing to knock on the heating, because holy smokes, it's still August after all.

The colours are amazing, especially against the grey hue of the day. Beware - it's got one hell of a kick - which means it's right up my alley, but others might find it a little overwhelming. If that's the case, scale back on the chillis and you'll be fine. If heat's not your thing, but you still want that lovely bright green, crunchy garnish, you might use some diced green bell pepper in its place.

Chipotle Sweet Potato & Yogurt Soup
adapted from dairygoodness.ca

1 knob butter
1 large sweet potato, peeled & diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
700ml veg stock
1 teaspoon dried chipotle chilli flakes, or 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
100g greek yoghurt
sea salt to taste
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 green jalapeño chilli, very thinly sliced

Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add sweet potato and onion, and cook until onion goes soft, about 10 minutes.

Add stock and chilli flakes, simmer about 20 minutes to allow potatoes to cook completely and chilli to infuse and soften.

Remove from heat and puree until smooth with hand blender. Pass through a fine seive to remove any chunks. If soup is too thick, thin with water or milk to desired consistency. Stir in greek yoghurt and season to taste with sea salt.

Serve hot, topped with chopped tomato and green chilli.

Blueberry Buckle: a true story about the best cake I ever made

2011-08-11T11:05:00.001+01:00

I am reminiscing. I found these pictures on my hard drive and remembered a moment... so, if you would, humour me?

I've been baking since I was very little. My first scar, still visible, just above my belly button, was obtained by anxiously leaning over a baking sheet. I have no idea how old I was. Clearly, I was young enough to run around the house with my shirt off and not raise any eyebrows.

My mother, bless her, does not share my passion for the kitchen. As soon as she figured out that I could make my own food, she happily scaled back her efforts and let me pitch in. I remember cooking my first family dinner at around age 7. Sure, it was a box of Hamburger Helper... but to me, it was a big deal.

I always felt a little sorry for my dad, having a wife who didn't really like to cook or bake. Grandma was always baking cookies and cakes and pies and doughnuts, and I imagined my grandpa really liked that. So, when she died, I took over those duties for my family. It was never a conscious effort - it was just something I did because I wanted to do it.

Then, more than 10 years later, after college and career and a good bit of growing up, my parents came to visit me in Atlanta. They were helping me pack up my life and move it into a storage unit, so I could embark on this crazy dream of mine in Europe. The last thing I ever baked in my oven in my apartment in Atlanta was this blueberry buckle, which we ate while having coffee and packing and moving and painting. When it was all said and done, we stood outside my apartment, now empty and white-again, my father holding tupperware which contained the leftovers of this cake. He said, plainly, that it was the best thing I'd ever made (though, to be fair, my father says everything plainly, to avoid the awkwardness of being misunderstood). It felt like quite an accomplishment, and the moment was a little emotional for me -- but that might have had more to do with my impending terrifying/exciting/omg-what-am-I-doing move to another continent than it did with this cake. But this will always be that cake, my farewell to Atlanta cake... the best cake I ever made.

Oh, right, I haven't actually described the cake! If you have a bunch of blueberries, you should definitely make it. It's really fluffy, lightly ginger-spiced, with a softly delicate crumb. The top is crunchy and differently-spiced than the cake (nutmeg, ooh!), which is super cool. It's awesome. Trust my daddy when he says so.

Blueberry Buckle!
recipe by Alton Brown

For the cake:
Nonstick cooking spray
255g cake flour, approximately 2 cups
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
55g (2 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
150g sugar, approximately 3/4 cup
1 large egg
120ml (1/2 cup) whole milk
425g (15 ounces) fresh whole blueberries, approximately 3 cups

For the topping:
100g sugar, approximately 1/2 cup
45g ounces cake flour, approximately 1/3 cup
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
55g (2 oz) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.

Grease a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and ground ginger. Set aside.

Beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Add the egg and beat until well incorporated, approximately 30 seconds. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated and then add 1/3 of the milk and beat until incorporated. Repeat, alternating flour and milk until everything has combined. Gently stir in the blueberries and pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the sugar, flour and nutmeg. Add the butter and work into the dry ingredients using a fork to combine. Continue until the mixture has a crumb-like texture. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the cake. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes or until golden in color. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Tomato Tart with Chèvre and Honey (Tomato Tart No. 2)

2011-08-07T15:35:00.005+01:00

This is another tomato tart. This is my rainy Sunday paradise.

Tomato Tart No. 1 was a cheddar-y, onion-y variation on David Lebovitz's recipe, which was awesome and decadent in its own right. The one I made today is more true to the original, with goat's cheese and honey, and I'm so glad I tried it! It's so fresh and delightful, and I wish I had company to share it with... actually maybe they'd better stay away, because I am still in my jammies.

There might be no better way to spend a rainy Sunday morning than rolling out handmade dough as the rain pelts your kitchen window. Not to get too poetic or anything.

The trick here, I think, is good tomatoes. Don't try this with crap ones. Don't try anything with them, actually. It's ok to be a tomato snob.

Now, I'm not usually a honey snob, but I recently was gifted some microclimate honey from a beekeeper friend of mine, and wow. Just, wow. I can't believe how good it is, and I have a hard time describing it. It doesn't really seem as sweet as 'regular' honey, the flavour is just more complex and wholesome. I am really, intensely in love with it.

If you can find local honey, I say, grab yourself some - just don't waste it on tea or honey mustard dressing. Save it for special things... like a warm buttered scone, or a tart like this one.

Tomato Tart with Chèvre and Honey
adapted from David Lebovitz

200g flour
80g butter, cold
1/2 tea salt
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons cold water

6 medium tomatoes (abt 320g)
small log goat's cheese
honey
sea salt (I used fleur de sel)

Whisk together flour and salt. Shred cold butter on a box grater (large holes) into the flour. Toss to coat butter in flour mixture, then rub together using hands until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg with water, then add to flour mixture using a butter knife. Finish with hands, adding more cold water if dough does not come together.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1/2-cm thickness. Transfer to tart pan, pressing into sides of pan with fingers. Dimple bottom with your fingers and trim excess dough from the edges of the pan.

Preheat oven to 220C (400F).

Spread a layer of dijon mustard on the dough. Don't be shy, cover the whole thing. Then, layer on thickly-sliced tomatoes. Top with goat's cheese. Drizzle generously with honey and finish with sea salt.

Bake tart in oven for about 30 minutes, until top of tart is browned. Tent with foil if the top browns before the dough and tomatoes are cooked. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove from tin and serve.

Israeli Couscous with Charred Veg & Other Stuff

2011-08-03T15:27:00.007+01:00

I'm so going to win Summer this year. Yesss.

It's paradise here. We're having lots of barbecues. The scenery is breathtaking...

...and a cute baby bunny is chewing on stuff outside my window. Does life get any better?

So I guess it's time for summer food. Yes!! Are you ready for this?! For some reason, it feels like all the rest of the year is a warm-up for glorious summer, where we pull out all the stops. We have more veg in the shops, more sunshine, tinier clothes, more work, more friends, more travelling, more parties... and we'd better balance it all. My favourite thing about summer is that it's kind of like getting to the Olympics. The Olympics of life.

Yeah, bring it, Summer! I'm gonna suck all the life right out of you! (Some of you might be discovering, at this very minute, that I have a competitive side. Sorry 'bout that.)

Take this to your barbecues, because while meat-wrapped-in-bread takes centre stage at these things, it really does need supporting acts. I've never had Israeli couscous before, but have long been entranced by its sheer size (say what you will about me for that, go ahead).

Um, anyway... it's also known as "pearl couscous" or, as I found it rather uncreatively labelled in my local deli, "giant couscous." I got very excited and started talking very quickly to my cheese-tasting companion, "OMG Israeli couscous, I've been looking for this for ages!" The cheesemonger behind the deli counter must have thought me strange, a weird American girl in Scotland freaking out over Israeli couscous.

Little does he know, that's kind of my "normal".

I decided to make it as I normally make couscous (the normal-sized kind), in a nice salad with sauteed veg, lots of fresh coriander, lemon juice, goats cheese and pistachios. It's a winner, for sure!

Israeli Couscous with Charred Veg & Other Stuff
original recipe by me!

100g (uncooked) Israeli couscous
veg stock
handful frozen broad beans
1 yellow pepper
1/2 yellow onion
1 small courgette
2 tablespoons olive oil

handful fresh coriander - chop stems finely, in addition to leaves
lemon juice - a good couple of squeezes from 1/2 a lemon
sea salt to taste (I used fleur de sel)
small handful pistachios
1/2 small log goats cheese

Get some stock boiling in a saucepan and add your couscous. Set your frozen broad beans in a sieve and place over top of boiling water, and cover with lid of saucepan. Let go for 10 minutes or so until couscous is cooked. Run beans under cold water and set aside for shelling. Drain in a sieve (the same sieve, even) or fine colander and set aside to cool down.

Meanwhile, chop up the pepper and onion and sauté them in olive oil over medium-ish heat. After they've softened a little, turn up the heat some and add chopped courgette to the pan. Don't stir too frequently or they won't char properly.

While that's going, shell your broad beans into a large bowl. Add couscous to the broad beans. When the veg is finished, add that in as well and let cool for a little while, maybe 20 minutes.

In the mean time, chop up your coriander. The stems should be chopped really finely but the leaves can be a bit bigger if you like. Chop pistachios as well.

When everything's cooled, add coriander and pistachios to the big salad bowl and give it a good mix. Squeeze in the lemon juice and add salt to taste. Just before serving, add crumbled goats cheese.

The end! Mmm, delicious!

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side.

Tomato Pasta Sauce with Lotsa Secret Veggies (aka Cheeky Sneaky Sauce)

2011-07-28T00:04:00.008+01:00

I'm not a snob. Right? But sometimes I am.

I'm a food snob. I definitely turn my nose up at pre-packaged food. Especially pasta sauce, because (come to find out), it's not hard or expensive to make your own. And, bonus, it's delicious and so much healthier. Come on! Saving money is a no-brainer, here. So being snobbish about pasta sauce is actually saving me money and making me healthier. That's like closed-loop, circular, inverted snobbishness. Snobbishness with its own life force? Um, maybe?

Then there's that other kind of food snob. The one who won't eat vegetables. What's that about? Either you're a 3-year-old or you're, y'know, acting like one. I'm not gonna lie. You're dumb. I think I can get away with saying that since anyone who disagrees with me is probably not reading a vegetarian food blog. But if you have these people in your life - children, 30-year-old children (men) - then this sauce is totally for you. The veg is all there, but no one would ever know -- you can't see them, and it just tastes like a basic pasta sauce. Serve it up and watch in glee as those suckers eat more veg in one sitting than they've had in a week.

This is actually really easy. Probably the most time-consuming part is the chopping, but that's really no biggie. I always thought making a super-good, versatile, perfect sauce would be much more difficult than this, but it's basically down to four easy steps:

That's it. You should make a double or triple batch and jar it up to save for a rainy day. I gave some away, too, as part of a nice little homemade housewarming gift. Or, you could just eat it all yourself. No one will ever know.

Tomato Pasta Sauce with Lotsa Secret Veggies
original recipe by me!

1 red pepper (diced)
1 red onion (diced)
1 carrot (grated)
abt 1/3 aubergine (diced)
1 clove garlic
1 knob butter
glug red wine
500g tomato passata
splash balsamic vinegar
sea salt to taste

Sauté veg in butter until soft and browned.
Remove from heat.
Deglaze with a glug of red wine.
Transfer to saucepan.
Add tomato passata, puree with hand blender.
Stir in a splash of balsamic vinegar.
Salt to taste.

Heat through and use for whatever purpose you wish. Bring to simmer for at least 5 minutes if canning.

Makes about 3 cups sauce.

Summertime Split-Pea Soup with Veggies and Chipotle Chilli

2011-07-21T21:45:00.006+01:00

Um, hi. I know it's summer, but it's kinda cold here. It rains a lot. I have a theory that there's a little man in the sky with a watering can just waiting for me to come outside and get on my bike. It's always fun for about 30 seconds until rain gets in my eyes and I realise that wet jeans don't move so well when you're cycling. But I digress.

I decided to make soup today. I know you don't want to eat soup when it's hot. If anything, your wildest fantasy is to fit your entire body inside of your fridge. I know it's like a million degrees in my hometown in America right now (yea facebook peeps, I see you!), and I totally get that none of you want to eat hot soup on your picnic blankets. That just won't do.

But if you happen to live far enough north that it's sometimes cold in the summer - here you go. Or maybe your office is air-conditioned? Anyway, if you're here in the UK, I know you totally feel me right now.

The flavours in this soup are really summery, which I lovelovelove, but the packaging is all hardy and wintry - perfect for a chilly day like today. The texture of the pea soup bit is so silky and thick and then POP! -- there's a crunchy bit of summer veg! There's the down-homey, rustic texture of polenta. And oh my, the smoky chipotle chilli bounces in on it, too, reminding you you're alive with real working tastebuds. Pardon me for waxing lyrical on this soup -- I love it!

And, um... happy summer!

Summertime Split-Pea Soup with Veggies and Chipotle Chilli
inspired by this recipe on 5-Second Rule

1/4 cup yellow split peas (dried)
1 medium baking potato, peeled and roughly chopped
vegetable stock

1 green pepper, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil

1/8 cup polenta
1/2 tea chipotle chilli flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Greek yogurt for serving

Simmer split peas and potatoes in stock until both are tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute pepper and carrot in olive oil until beginning to brown. Add courgette and continue cooking until the courgettes are almost cooked but still crisp - this will happen pretty quickly. Remove from heat.

Add chilli flakes to peas & potatoes, puree with hand blender. Mix in polenta & continue to cook for a few more minutes. Add more water if things are getting too thick.

Season with salt & pepper to taste. Depending on the salt content of your stock, you might use more or less (I used more). Ladle into bowls and top with sautee'd veg. Garnish with additional chilli flakes.

Not pictured - I totally swirled in some greek yogurt before digging in. Yum.

Giant Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie (a story of drunk baking)

2011-07-19T12:37:00.003+01:00

The other day, I got drunk and made a giant cookie. It seemed, of course, like it was the best idea in the world.

I made it in my new cast iron skillet. I named him (the skillet) Angus. Immediately after taking the above photo, I burned my hand on Angus like a drunken dumbass. It was not my finest moment...

The photos below? Taken by my partner-in-drink, who I shall call "Coronatastic". Coronatastic's pictures are a little blurry... I wonder why?

Two days later, I cut the cookie up into bars and took it with me to help my friends move house. They were supposed to be for feeding the worker men who carried the big heavy stuff. Maybe the girls ate them all instead. Sorry, guys.

It was, shockingly, better after sitting there for two days. Or it could have just been because my taste buds were no longer paralysed by alcohol. Either way, it keeps well.

If you don't have an Angus of your very own, no worries. I imagine you can use a cake pan... anything over 2" deep should do the job.

Giant Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
adapted from 101Cookbooks

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
225 g (2 sticks) room-temp unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup (200g) white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
225g (8oz) plain or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips

Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F. The original recipe says to butter your cast-iron skillet, but I drunkenly missed this instruction... so I didn't do this but it worked fine. So, use your own judgement here but I don't think it's necessary, since cast iron is brill.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In another large bowl, Mix together the butter and the sugars. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is combined. Add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low speed (I used a spoon) until the flour is barely combined. Add chocolate and mix until all flour is combined. Dump into your cast iron and level out with a spoon.

Bake the giant cookie for 35-45 minutes, or until until the dough is a deep golden brown along the edge, and the center has set. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before slicing.

Greek Yogurt Fudge Popsicles

2011-07-17T14:00:00.002+01:00

Dear Summer, I love you. I love your midnight sky and how you never let it get completely dark. I love the silhouette on the hills outside my bedroom window, better than the skyline of any city. I love how on your hottest days here in Scotland, it is never too hot, never unbearable. I love your weddings and barbecues and bunnies and flowers, and how you let me cycle to work wearing only spandex without freezing my bum off. You, Summer, are perfect.

I made these popsicles after seeing a normal (non-yogurt) recipe for them on SmittenKitchen, but I craved the tanginess of Greek yogurt. And having just returned from a conference in France, I couldn't resist using my newly-acquired fleur de sel.

Because I used a very thick Greek yogurt, I had to thin it out a bit with semi-skimmed milk and water. But if you opt for regular yogurt, or something labelled "Greek-style" - which gives you the tangy flavour without the thickness of real Greek yogurt - you should probably use 200ml of the yogurt and 100ml semi-skimmed milk.

These taste like frozen chocolate mousse. For real.

Summer Yum.

Greek Yogurt Fudge Popsicles
Adapted from SmittenKitchen

20g (~3/4oz) plain chocolate
65g (1/3c) caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch to Americans)
1.5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
big-ish pinch sea salt (I chose fleur de sel)
100ml greek yogurt
100ml semi-skimmed milk
100ml water
1/2 tea vanilla extract
small knob of butter (half a tablespoon)

-In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, cornflour, cocoa powder, salt, yogurt, milk and water.
-Melt chocolate in the bottom of a saucepan over low heat. When chocolate is melted, add the milk mixture and raise heat to medium-low, whisking whisking whisking, until mixture just reaches a simmer, whereupon it will thicken. This should take about 5-10 minutes.
-Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter.
-Pour into moulds and freeze!

Chana Masala (what my curry dreams are made of)

2011-07-11T14:39:00.006+01:00

I've mentioned before that I once had a curry fear.

So, so silly. Really. I made one curry - my first curry - and the rest was history. Hello, brave new [curry] world!

This is maybe the best thing in the world. Ok, that might be, possibly, maybe, a little dramatic. Whatever. Make it and you'll agree!

Don't be afraid of curry, it's your friend -- especially if you are a vegetarian. This was so super easy, and really packed full of flavour. Maybe the best part is that it's DIRT CHEAP. Come on! My little curry heart died and went to curry heaven.

The garam masala turns this into a warm, comforty dish. Don't skip it! If you don't have any on hand, don't fret... just use some ground cinnamon and nutmeg in its place.

Serve with basmati rice, greek yogurt and chopped coriander:

Mix it up and it becomes a creamy orange wonder!

Chana Masala

abt 150g dried chickpeas (alternatively, use 1 can tinned chickpeas)
2/3 medium white onion, chopped
splash sunflower oil
1 bay leaf
3/4 tea cumin
1/2 tea ground coriander
1/2 tea garam masala
1/2 can good-quality cherry tomatoes (these are my favourite!)
1/4 tea chilli powder
1/2 tea turmeric
splash white wine vinegar
sea salt to taste - more or less depending on salt content of your tinned tomatoes

Soak chickpeas overnight in plenty of water - they will triple in volume so make sure to use a large bowl. They need to soak for at least 8 hours, so you could also set them on the counter in the morning before you leave for work if you want to cook them that night. Drain and rinse, then place in a saucepan with fresh water. Boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until chickpeas are fully cooked. Drain and set aside.

In a saute pan over medium heat, heat up the sunflower oil. Add onion, cumin, coriander, garam masala, and bay leaf. Saute unil onion is soft and browning.

Add tomatoes to the onion mixture. If using cherry tomatoes, you may want to halve them with a knife first - for me, this a more desirable texture. Add chilli powder, turmeric, vinegar and salt. Stir to make a uniform mixture, then add chickpeas. Simmer until heated through. Remove bay leaf.

Serve with basmati rice, a dollop of greek yogurt and some chopped coriander. I like to mix the yogurt through the chana masala to yeild a nice, creamy curry.

Serves 2.

Fava & Ricotta Toasts

2011-06-17T11:07:00.003+01:00

So I recently went to Greece. It was a long time coming -- I've wanted to be on a Greek island for at least 15 years. I started teaching myself Greek about 7 years ago. I was a woman obsessed.

Why was I so obsessed with Greece? Maybe it had something to do with something I saw on General Hospital when I was about 14. Ok, it definitely had a lot to do with that (anyone else remember the Luke/Laura/Stefanos drama??). Whatever. I grew up and got over soap operas... but I never got over Greece. The water, the sun.... the food.

Fast forward to three years ago when I became a vegetarian. Greek food became even more precious. I love hummus, halloumi is amazing, and dolmades might be my favourite thing in the world. Greek food rocks. And don't even get me started on the desserts. If I could only eat one cuisine for the rest of my life, this might be it.

Fortunately, I can still read (some) Greek, and at a restaurant in Kefalos, I encountered something on the menu called simply, 'fava'. I was intrigued. I knew that fava was a bean, and I knew that I liked it... and that's where my knowledge on the topic ended. For all my experience with Greek food, I've never heard of fava (the dish). So, with an adventurous heart, I ordered it. I'll skip to the end: it was everything I love about food. It was, in my best estimation, simply smashed fava beans with a little salt, olive oil, and lemon juice. Simple, delicious, and easy... kinda hard to beat that, right?

Here's what it looked like on holiday -- mine is much greener, which I find very appealing... I have no idea why this one is more yellowy, but it was paradise on a plate, and was awesome when paired with grilled tomatoes and halloumi:

So I came home with a mission: make this mysterious 'fava' happen. It really isn't difficult at all - go to the shop, buy some frozen broad beans (aka fava beans), boil them for a few minutes, drain, shell, smash, and viola! Fava.

I spread this on a homemade spelt and honey loaf with some ricotta cheese, then sprinkled with sea salt, cracked pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Two small slices made a perfect, delicious, and filling lunch.

Greek Fava
original recipe by me!

broad beans
garlic paste, just a little depending on your taste/future-kissing-options
splash olive oil
splash cold water - to thin out the smashed paste-like consistency
lemon juice (just a little)
sea salt to taste

Boil broad beans (aka fava beans) for a few minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. Pop each bean out of it's tough grey-ish shell - just nip a little corner off the end with your fingernails and the bean will pop right out. Then smash beans in mortar and pestle with the remaining ingredients. Easy!

Serve atop warm crusty bread or toast with a little ricotta cheese, or greek yogurt, or on some pitta bread... delicious.

The end.

Morning Glory Muffins

2011-06-02T11:49:00.005+01:00

Ok. I know. I KNOW! I've been quiet lately.

I often see those bloggers who are all like "omg I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a while, so here's a picture of my dog." I hate those posts. I will never do that to you, because I like you.

I turned 30. That was very cool. My friend Katie (love her so much) demanded we go on a Grecian holiday. And while no one (!!) tells me what to do, I had a hard time fighting her. Since then, I've been working like an insane person. Insane. So, I've been quiet here in blogland.

In the middle of all my chaos, I had a friend coming to visit from Holland. She's a good girl and I like her a lot - so I decided to bake us a big batch of healthy goodness in the form of a breakfast muffin. After all, we'd need a little bit of detox, since the general plan for her visit was: drink/work/party/workworkwork/partydrinkparty.

Then Iceland exploded, again, and her trip was cancelled. So here I was, without my friend but with all these muffins! It wasn't difficult to unload them. Did you know that boys are useful for eating things? It's true!

This is a very good, healthy muffin. It's filling and hearty, gently sweet, earthy, wholesome, moist, and full of good things. And it's endlessly adaptable, really, so toss in whatever healthy thing you like. Or, possibly an un-healthy thing, like some chocolate chips. Yeah. Do that.

Morning Glory Muffins
generously adapted from this blogger.

**I'm sorry this recipe is in cups - it's an American recipe, and while I'm usually good at conversions for scales, this one was beyond my mental capacity. I used my set of metric cups to wild success.**

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat bran
½ cup wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking soda (bicarb)
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon powdered ginger
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1 cup sunflower oil
1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup single cream

2 carrots, shredded on box grater
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
handful unsweetened flaked coconut

handful porridge oats, and a little extra for topping

Preheat oven to 170C/350F. This is where I should tell you to grease or line your 12-cup muffin tin.... but I didn't grease or line mine at all, and guess what? Everything was fine. So, greasing is optional here.

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, bran, bicarb, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, dark brown sugar, honey, oil, vanilla, and cream.

Using a spoon (not a mixer!), mix together wet ingredients and dry ingredients until just combined. Add shredded carrots, chopped walnuts, coconut, and porridge oats. Mix gently until just incorporated.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Fill them up more than you think you should and you'll get those glorious muffin tops. Sprinkle a little porridge oats atop each muffin for a pretty effect.

Bake 30- 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

Spiced Zucchini Bread, definitely not like yo mama's.

2011-05-10T10:45:00.000+01:00

Zucchini bread is a wondrous thing. It heals the soul. Oh, wait, let me rewind for a sec.

Holy %*(&£**! stress. I can't believe the shit-storm my friends and I have been going through lately. So, I recently had a girlfriend over for tea. We needed to bake and eat and giggle. Sometimes it's the simple things. I pulled a few shots of espresso and showed her how Americans roll when life gives us too many courgettes. We got hopped up on caffeine and ate zucchini bread. We giggled. It was fantastic.

To me, zucchini bread is something so indubitably American that I cannot possibly call it "courgette bread". Yet there I stood in my Scottish kitchen, teaching my Irish friend how to bake something from my American childhood. The feeling of that moment was kind of awesome. When times are hard, this is where I find my happiness. What more do I need out of life than good friends and a veggie-flecked bread that tastes like cake?

The kind I used to make was much simpler than this loaf, made with cinnamon and chopped walnuts. But upon seeing this recipe, I was immediately intrigued by the allspice, the lemon zest, the almonds. And I had absolutely every ingredient in my cupboard, which didn't hurt.

Spiced Zucchini Bread with Lemon & Almonds
Adapted from this blogger, who adapted it from a banana bread recipe by Gourmet

1.5 cups grated zucchini
1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
260g (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
120 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
3 tablespoons plain, wholefat greek yogurt (Such as Fage Total, yum. Greek-style will do in a pinch but bear in mind it will have more moisture to it - you will probably need to add a little more flour in this case.)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest, about 2 lemons (I used dried, roasted zest to glorious effect)

1 teaspoons baking soda
generous pinch salt
200g (about 1.6 cups) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Grate zucchini (courgettes) and toss in a bowl with salt. Transfer to a seive and allow to sit for 15-30 minutes, then rinse and squeeze out water.

Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. Line one loaf pan with parchment & grease unlined sides with butter or shortening.

Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer at medium/high speed in a bowl, until pale yellow and ribbon-y, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly pour oil in a thin stream. Stop mixer, and scrape down the sides. Add yogurt, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice and lemon zest. Mix at medium for 1 minute.

Whisk together flour, baking soda (bicarb) and salt in a medium bowl, then add to egg mixture, stirring with a spoon to incorporate. Don't over-mix, as this will develop the gluten in the flour and make the bread more dense and less cake-like. Fold in grated zucchini and most of the almonds. Pour into loaf pan, level with your mixing spoon and top with reserved almonds.

Bake in center of oven for about 45 minutes. The original recipe I worked from required 1 1/4 hours, which I found completely unnecessary, but I have a fan-assisted oven and everything just cooks fast in there... I'd just keep an eye on it and start testing with a toothpick once you've noticed the centre has stopped jiggling if you shake it.

Cool for 20 minutes on a rack. Turn over and remove bread from pans. Place upright and allow to cool completely, then slice and serve with salted butter, or slathered with cream cheese.

Makes 1 loaf.

Springtime Tomato Tart with Onions, Basil & Balsamic Syrup (Tomato Tart No. 1)

2011-04-26T20:27:00.005+01:00

In old French, I have heard, the tomato was sometimes affectionately called the pomme d'amour - the apple of love. I totally get it.

Tomatoes are one of the most precious foods in my world. They are best when they are in-season, vine-ripened, and (preferably) locally grown.

Supermarket tomatoes are terrible. Do I need to tell you that, or have you watched Food, Inc? Buy local ones. Just please do. Trust me.

Anyway, apparently, some used to believe the pomme d'amour had the powers of an aphrodisiac. I understand. They're red and plump and sexy. And that smell? Swoon. Listen up, gentlemen: a basket full of fresh, local, farm-raised tomatoes would straight up knock me off my feet. In case you were wondering.

If you're lucky enough to have too many tomatoes (is there such a thing?), definitely make this tart. Or, make it just because you can. I was inspired by David Lebovitz's lovely recipe here, but because I didn't have any chèvre, I used a cheddar-y roux, and did not use any honey. I can't wait to give that version a spin, too! **Update: I did try it, and it's amazing: Tomato Tart No. 2.

Quick Pastry Dough
This tart dough is very forgiving. You can screw it up and no one would ever know. You could use too little butter. No one cares about the size of your egg. It's amazing. If it's too wet or too dry, don't freak out. Just add a little more flour or water.

200g flour
80g butter, cold
1/2 tea salt
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons cold water

Whisk together flour and salt. Shred cold butter on a box grater (large holes) into the flour. Toss to coat butter in flour mixture, then rub together using hands until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg with water, then add to flour mixture using a butter knife. Finish with hands, adding more cold water if dough does not come together.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1/2-cm thickness. Transfer to tart pan, pressing into sides of pan with fingers. Dimple bottom with your fingers and trim excess dough from the edges of the pan.

Tomato & Onion Tart Recipe

1 1/2 yellow onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
lots of tomatoes
handful fresh basil leaves
olive oil
dijon mustard

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
sea salt + freshly-cracked pepper
handful grated cheddar cheese

balsamic syrup for serving.

Preheat oven to 220C (400F).

Saute onions on medium-low heat with a little olive oil until soft and transparent. Add garlic, saute 3 minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside.

Chop tomatoes in large chunks - here I used small tomatoes, so merely cut them in half. Place in a small bowl with torn basil leaves. Add salt, pepper and cooled onions. Toss to combine.

Brush a thin layer of mustard over the bottom of the tart dough, or spread on using the back of a teaspoon. Add tomato and onion mixture to the tart.

In the pan you cooked the onions in, melt butter. When the butter is bubbling, add flour to make a paste. Allow paste to cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute. Add milk to the pan and whisk to incorporate flour paste into the milk. Add grated cheese and continue to whisk until melted and incorporated. Spoon cheese sauce over tomatoes.

Bake tart in oven for about 30 minutes, until top of tart is browned. Tent with foil if the top browns before the dough and tomatoes are cooked. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove from tin and serve.

Dandelion Bread for a Dandy Spring Weekend!

2011-04-14T09:25:00.001+01:00

Holy sunshine, it's springtime in Scotland.

Last weekend was amazing. The sun, which seems to have been hiding from us for the last 8 months-or-so, made an appearance three days in a row, with nary a cloud to speak of. This is unprecedented stuff. My friends and I made the most of it, with daily picnics: one at a castle, one in the hills, and one at the park. I dug my toes into the grass and blissed-the-hell-out. It was magic. I even got a little sunburn (which now just looks like freckles). The final week of my 20's is definitely shaping up to be something special.

I woke up early on Sunday, hopped on my bike and went foraging for dandelions. I got some strange looks from passers-by on their morning jog. Whatever. I came home and made this bread for my friends. What could be better for a day in the park than a bread made of flowers? Did I mention the lemony glaze?? There's a lemony glaze!

Ok, for those of you who've never had dandelion bread before, which included me up until now, it's really tasty! After pouring the batter in the tin, I feared it might be too bitter, but the baking of it made that bitterness disappear. It turned out really nice, and I'm quite proud of this.

I was only able to find one (one!) recipe for a dandelion quick bread on the interwebs, made by a handful of bloggers all using the same recipe. I adapted it, and now there are two! I used a mixture of wholemeal flour and AP flour to start, and my friends seemed to think it was a perfect move, as it added a bit of heartiness and an earthy quality to the loaf. I also replaced the honey with golden syrup -- but if you live in America, it is probably difficult to find this ingredient, so honey would be a perfect re-substitution. Also I think buttermilk is amazing for almost everything, so I added some just because I could. Aaaand I added the glaze. You should, too.

Dandelion Bread
Pick your dandelions in the morning before the flowers have opened; this makes removing the petals easier. Grab the petals with the fingers of one hand, hold the base of the flower with the other hand, and twist to remove petals. If the flowers aren't closed, it's no big deal - just tug out the petals, and be careful to watch for little bugs between the petals. Make sure to use petals only and pick out all the greenery.

25g dandelion petals, about 1 cup's worth (from about 40 flowers)
120g (1 cup) AP flour
120g (1 cup) wholemeal flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
60ml (1/4 cup) sunflower oil
60ml (1/4 cup) golden syrup
1 egg
230 ml (just under 1 cup) milk
120 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk

juice of 1 lemon
150g icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line a normal-sized loaf tin with baking paper, and grease or butter exposed sides (the short ends).

Combine dandelion petals, flours, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.

In separate larger bowl, whisk together sunflower oil, golden syrup, egg, milk & buttermilk. Add dry ingredients using a spoon (a mixer won't be helpful here because of the petals) until just incorporated. Pour into loaf tin and bake until a toothpick comes out clean - it may take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes or onward, depending on your oven.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then remove from tin to cool completely.

Whisk together lemon juice and icing sugar until smooth. Brush liberally onto top of loaf - and get the sides, too, for maximum prettiness. I had extra glaze left over, which my picnic-in-the-park friends found perfect for dipping bits of their sliced loaf into.

Birthday Cupcakes. And holy smokes, I'm turning 30!!

2011-04-09T10:50:00.006+01:00

Hi guys, it's almost my birthday! It's going to be a big one. I've managed to live (read as: not die) for 30 whole years. If you knew about all the stupid things I did in my 20's, you'd realise this was no small feat. Celebrations abound!

Honestly though, why do people freak out over turning 30? This is amazing!

My 20's were an adventure. I had about a million different jobs - including spin class instructor, bartender, and music-business intern. I lived in 5 different cities in 3 different countries. I've made friends and lost them. I'm on my 3rd career. I partied like a rock star (and sometimes with them). I got a tattoo. I figured myself out. I loved like mad, my heart was broken a few times, and I grew up. It was hard. It was amazing. And I am so very glad it's over with. I definitely don't want to extend my 20's; I don't want to be forever turning 29. I want more birthdays. I want more life to sink my teeth into.

I am currently happier than I've ever been in my life. I'm doing science, I'm working on my PhD, and I moved to the UK to do it: possibly the most far-fetched goal I could have dreamt up for myself. Every day greets me with a sense of accomplishment when I realise where I live and what I do on a daily basis. I've got my shit together. I have great friends. It's not all gravy, but I can deal. Life is better than it's ever been. It's enough to make a formerly too-cool-to-be-happy version of myself (o hai, 22-year-old-me) positively disgusted.

Who's freaking out about 30? Not me, no sir.

I lived, and it was ridiculously awesome. Who says it has to end at 30? I mean, I've got all the crap out of the way, now I can sit back and enjoy myself. So, what'cha got for me, 30? I'll take all you can dish.

Because it's now officially my birthday week, I am sharing cupcakes with you. Buttery, fluffy, perfect cupcakes, with icing that tastes like marshmallows. (Did you know that real marshmallows aren't vegetarian? It's a total bummer.) So, tuck in, enjoy, and thanks for stopping by! Maybe you don't care about my sickening happiness. Consider this my peace offering.

Perfect Birthday Cupcakes

While I fundamentally disagree with the concept of cupcakes for one's birthday (cakes should be big and layered, guys!), I'll make an exception here. This is actually a cake recipe, after all, which I just poured into cupcake tins instead. Original recipe found at Smitten Kitchen.

480g (4 cups plus 2 tablespoons) cake flour (AP works just fine, too)

2 teaspoons baking powder (bicarb)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

225g (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

450g (2 cups) sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

475 ml (2 cups) buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, or fill lined cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes for cake, 12-15 minutes for cupcakes (depending on your oven.. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely.

7-Minute Icing

A word of warning: cakes should be iced within a couple hours of serving -- if left much longer than that, the icing will begin to harden. I left one out overnight like a dummy and woke up to a rock-hard mass atop a (still-yummy) cupcake. Original recipe is by Paula Deen.

3670g (3 cups) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar or 2 tablespoons white corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

160ml (2/3 cup) water

4 egg whites

3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Beat in vanilla and remove from heat; leave to cool (this will happen faster than you think it will).

Pipe onto cupcakes with a large star tip, if you want them to look like mine do. :)

Spinach & Herb Gnocchi with Browned Butter, Feta & Roasted Pistachios

2011-04-01T18:00:00.003+01:00

I am not Italian.

I don't have grandkids.

I'm blonde. I'm fair. I'm single and young-ish. But I totally made gnocchi. It popped into my head earlier today, and as I do when confronted with most challenges, my first response was, "Yeah, sure, why not!?"

I may or may not ever want to look at gnocchi again.

If you do go to all the trouble to make your own gnocchi, make sure you do something interesting with it. Like adding spinach and herbs to the dough, or tossing it in browned butter, crumbled feta and chopped, roasted pistachios. Or uh, both.

If you spend hours making your own gnocchi and then put a jar of pasta sauce on it... who are you?? Do we need to have a talk?

Spinach & Herb Gnocchi with Browned Butter, Feta & Roasted Pistachios
adapted generously from here

for gnocchi:
30g chopped, cooked spinach (weight after squeezed dry)
470g cooked potato - use a floury potato instead of a waxy variety
some fresh herbs -- I used tarragon and lemon thyme, as that's what I had on hand.
lots of flour
salt

for serving:
browned butter (how-to below)
feta cheese, crumbled
chopped roasted pistachio nuts
sea salt
cracked black pepper

Peel and boil potatoes until cooked, then mash with fork while still hot (so they steam) or use a potato ricer. Allow them to steam cool, then place in a bowl with the cooked and squeezed-out spinach and finely chopped herbs.

At this point, I took my immersion blender and had a go at the mixture. It wasn't fun or pretty.... but it worked. The potatoes became strangely glue-like. It was ok.

Then I added 100g flour and fine sea salt. I put the mixture on a floured countertop and gently kneaded in more and more and more flour, until the mixture wasn't sticky anymore. From my research, I'm told this can vary based on many factors, including how humid the air is. In Scotland, it's super-humid. I used a lot of flour. I knew I was done adding flour when the stickiness subsided, and then I started testing pieces, boiling one at a time. If the cooked gnocchi is gummy in consistency -- you need more flour.

So, once you're done adding flour, take the dough bit-by-bit and roll it out into little snakes about the width of your thumb. Then cut them into bits, and roll each little piece individually, adding flour when necessary to avoid sticking. This recipe makes a ton, so I set enough fresh aside to have a nice dinner, and put the rest in plastic containers in the freezer for a rainy day. Also, I found that the dough worked better cold, so I stuck my snakes in the freezer for a little while to get them to more of a workable consistency. If you don't care about them being perfectly-formed... let the snakes freeze almost entirely, then cut slices off with a very sharp knife. This makes life easier, especially if they're going into the freezer anyway -- which happened to about 3/4 of this batch.

To make the browned butter (an absolute MUST for this) - melt some butter in a saucepan over low-medium heat, and allow to foam. Keep the heat on until little flecks in the butter have turned brown and it starts to smell nutty. Remove from heat.

Cook gnocchi in rapidly-boiling salted water for 3 minutes. They'll float to the top of the water when they're fully cooked. Then, toss in browned butter and add feta and pistachios. Finish with a little sea salt and cracked pepper. The end.

Brie, Grape & Avocado Grilled Sandwich

2011-03-24T13:46:00.001Z

There are some things in this world that I can't live without. My awesome friends, nail polish, science... I'm not too high maintenance, but these things are vital.

Oh, and lunch. I need lunch. It's kind of important for survival... it keeps me from falling over at my desk, it keeps my tummy from rumbling while I'm trying to teach (or be taught), it keeps me awake while marking papers - instead of mumbling incoherently about how much I need a holiday while I rest my forehead on the table.

This is probably the best lunch I've had in a while. How disappointing are the vegetarian sandwich options in and around where I work? It's pretty depressing. I know you were dying to know. You're welcome.

As with many things in life, if I am dissatisfied with available options, I find it's usually better to just make the darn stuff myself. Artwork. Curtains. Men (wait, what?). And, definitely food. Definitely. Because only I know what I really want. Ahem.

PS. Want another awesome vegetarian sandwich recipe? Check out this one with sweet potato and avocado I did last year.

Brie, Grape & Avocado Grilled Sandwich
Original recipe by me!

2 slices seedy, wholegrain bread
brie
A handful of red grapes
half an avocado
wholegrain mustard
cream cheese
a little sea salt, I use Maldon flakes here

Spread mustard on one piece of bread, cream cheese on the other, and assemble as follows, beginning with the mustardy bread on the bottom:

bread (w/ mustard)
brie
sliced grapes
sliced avocado
maldon
bread (w/ cream cheese)

Grill in a sauté pan in a little olive oil until browned on each side, or use a sandwich press. The end.

Makes 1 sandwich

Roasted Butternut Squash with Sweet Spices & Green Chilli

2011-03-13T11:24:00.004Z

I demand a great deal from my food. I want style and substance - I want it to be tasty and to likewise look pretty. I want it to be unique, interesting, and intriguing. I want it to be simple and complex at the same time. I want my healthy food to taste like something decadent. I have high standards.

Kind of like how I'd like to find that rare combination handsome-kind-intelligent-fun-dreamy-clever-hunk-man (a mythical creature, perhaps?), a guy who rings all my bells... this pulls out all the stops in the food department. Yea, I just compared an appetizer to a man. It happens.

I've mentioned before how I believe Yotam Ottolenghi to be a hero. Also, possibly, the offspring of Zeus and Grace Kelly. He makes amazing food and then turns around and tells you how to do it (for free in the Guardian and he also has cookbooks). I have such a food crush on him.

This squash is warm and earthy and perfect. I can't find any more adjectives.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Sweet Spices & Green Chilli

Original recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

The original recipe calls for sliced limes, marinated in salt and olive oil, and you'll see them in the pictures but not in the recipe. Why? They're reminiscent of tequila shots (how could I think salted limes couldn't be?) and tasted seriously horrible, at least to me - I recoiled and was transported instantly back to undergrad upon first taste of them. If that sounds good to you, by all means, go for it, but holy smokes, I'd leave them out if I were you.

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium butternut squash, about 900g (2lb)

2 tbsp cardamom pods

1 tsp ground allspice*

100g (3½oz) Greek yogurt

30g (1oz) tahini paste

1 tbsp lime juice

1 green chilli, thinly sliced

10g (½oz) picked coriander leaves

Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 425°F/gas mark 7.

Cut the butternut in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds and discard. Cut each half, top to bottom, into 1cm (½in) thick slices. Slice off the peel, if you wish, and lay the slices on a large baking-sheet lined with greaseproof paper.

Place the cardamom pods in a mortar and work with a pestle to get the seeds out of the pods. Discard the pods and work the seeds to a rough powder. Transfer to a small bowl, add the allspice and olive oil, stir well and brush this mixture over the butternut slices. Sprinkle over a little salt and place in the oven for 15 minutes or until tender when tested with the point of a knife. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, tahini, lime juice, 2 tbsp water and a pinch of salt. The sauce should be thick but runny enough to pour; add more water if necessary.

To serve, arrange the cooled butternut slices on a serving platter and drizzle with the yogurt sauce. Scatter the chilli slices over the top. Garnish with the coriander and serve.

Serves 4-6 as a starter.

* I didn't have allspice when I made this, so I substituted with ground black pepper and a touch of cinnamon. It tasted lovely.

Quinoa Bowl with Fennel Sauté

2011-02-28T11:02:00.008Z

I've been going a little nuts lately with the sweets. If you just started reading this blog recently, you'd think my whole world revovled around cake. Not true. Well, not usually, anyway.

You deserve a healthy recipe. Quinoa always works in a pinch for that. This salad is pretty, and tasty, and so healthy that you could eat a wheelbarrow full of it and feel nothing but awesome. If nothing else, it will definitely wipe the cake-induced fog from your brain. You might even decide that you have so much energy you can run up a mountain, stopping only to take a pretty picture with your phone.

Ok, so the Scots call it a "hill", not a mountain, but I'm from Ohio... so I don't know much about mountains. Corn, though... yeah, I know a lot about corn.

Anywho, I'm sure you're unaware of the fact that I've never used fennel before. In anything. My good friend (a fancypants chef, we will call him 'J') made me a bon-voyage dinner before I moved away from Nashville, many years ago, which included fennel. It was my first (nay, only) experience with the stuff, and I'm so sorry, J, but it wasn't my favourite thing. It was kinda the opposite of that. I felt so strongly about it that I vividly remember one indgredient from a meal that happened 7 years ago. I also remember that it was the first time I'd ever seen a microplane, that we listened to brassy jazz, and your wife and I decided to leave you and C to the afore-mentioned jazz and snuck off to the bedroom to listen to the Howie Day album (not proud) and drunk-dial my on-again/off-again (even more not proud). So, maybe it's just my weirdo memory, but for all of that, I can't remember anything else we ate that night*, or even what we drank - but that fennel stuck firmly in my mind for the better part of a decade, even with all that science I've shoved in there over the last few years.

My tastes have changed recently, though, and I'm figuring out that I like everything from that crazy fennel-flavour family. Licorice, anise, all of it. Who am I? Turns out, I'm a chick who likes fennel. And who has much better taste in music. Thank the sweet baby Jesus for that.

*Lies! Your pear vinaigrette was probably the best salad dressing I've ever had. Foreva-eva.

Quinoa Bowl with Fennel Sauté
original recipe by me

1 small fennel bulb
2 stalks celery
2 medium carrots
1 medium shallot
olive oil
quinoa
juice of 1 lemon
picked coriander leaves
some chopped red onion (just a little, for crunch and colour)
salt

Peel off outer ribs of celery with vegetable peeler (this gets rid of the sometimes-bitter taste celery can have). Thinly slice peeled celery, fennel and shallot. Sauté over medium heat in olive oil and a little salt. Peel carrots and use vegetable peeler to make long, thin strips out of the carrot; add to sauté pan. Cook until fennel is soft.

Meanwhile, boil quinoa for 10-12 minutes in plenty of water. Drain in a sieve and set aside.

Toss quinoa and sautéed veg in a bowl with lemon juice, chopped coriander, and a bit of red onion. Add salt to taste.

Serves 2

Little Lemon Loaf Cakes

2011-02-22T09:48:00.010Z

I'm about to make you all incredibly icked-out.

I'm sorry. It's just that I've been pretty happy these days. My research is moving along. My friends are kind of amazing. Everything's coming up roses. I walk around with a grin on my face at the grocery store like those cute girls who I used to find so revolting. It's fabulous. So, nevermind, I am not sorry.

I bet you can find something to be happy about today. Maybe, for instance, these tiny cakes?

Did you know that if you walk down the street with a silly grin on your face, the people who pass you on the pavements just can't help but smile back? They might be thinking, "OMG that girl is bat-shit crazy." Or maybe the happiness is contagious. Either way, these little lemon loaf cakes are just about as crazy/happy as I am these days.

If only I could put a sugary glaze on myself... oh, wait... that'd be sticky. And weird.

I dare you to be miserable while eating one of these. Just try.

Then, once you get happy, go ahead and put little braids in your hair. Get overly excited about nail polish. Put on your frilliest dress and flirt with a cute boy. Maybe give him a little lemon cake, if you really fancy him. Life is kinda too short to be doing anything else.

Little Lemon Loaf Cakes

adapted from Pam's Pantry, who found the recipe somewhere else, who found the recipe from Ina Garten. Isn't the internet grand?

I quartered the original recipe and it made 4 little loaves. Only 3 are pictured... because I ate one.

55g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

115g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

zest of one lemon

90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon bicarb (baking soda)

1/4 teaspoon salt

juice of one lemon - reserving one teaspoon for glaze

50ml (1/4 cup) buttermilk, at room temperature

2 tablespoons single cream (or additional buttermilk... I was out)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

1 teaspoon lemon juice

60g (1/2 cup) icing sugar

1. Line 4 mini loaf tins with baking paper. Preheat oven to 175C/350F.

2. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl. In yet another bowl, combine lemon juice, buttermilk, cream (if using) and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly between loaf pans, smooth tops, and bake for ~20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Allow cakes to cool completely.

5. For glaze, combine icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Lightly-Spiced Stem Ginger Cake

2011-02-07T17:28:00.006Z

My favourite thing to do whilst baking cakes is to dance. I just can't help myself. I crank up the tunes, pretend the whisk is my microphone, and then hop up on the chair (to get things from high shelves, ostensibly) for a mean air guitar solo. It's embarrassing, but I'm pretending to be a rock star, so I don't give a shit. The cakes take a good bit longer to get made, but it's bloody great fun. And I'd much rather bake cakes (or do anything, really) with rock music than without it, any day of the week.

So, this post is going to come with a playlist. Maybe every cake recipe, ever, should come with a playlist? This could get interesting. See, I started out with a boring, bland, weird (if I do say so) recipe which the music kind of... well, inspired me to make better.

Don't you think the world would be a better place if we all took a few minutes to dance around like idiots in our kitchens?

This is a hearty cake, made so by the addition of porridge oats, and would be perfect for tea. It's not too heavily-spiced or overtly sweet, and so should be paired with a sugary glaze. My initial thought was to use a tart cream cheese icing, but it didn't balance well since the cake itself wasn't very sweet. It's all about balance. And, you know, rocking.

Lightly-Spiced Stem Ginger Cake

WET INGREDIENTS:
1 egg
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup good-quality greek yogurt (such as Fage, full fat)
1/3 cup dark muscovado sugar
1/3 cup demerara (or light brown sugar)
1 piece preserved stem ginger, minced
1 tsp stem ginger syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp black treacle (or molasses)
2 tblsp water

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1 cup porridge oats (or 'quick-cooking oats')
1 cup AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb (baking soda)

Preheat oven to 175C/350F. Line a small loaf pan with a bit of baking paper.

Mix together wet ingredients in a large bowl and beat for a few minutes, breaking up any possible lumps in the sugar.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine with wet ingredients. Stir until just incorporated, pour into loaf pan and bake. Pretty easy stuff.

Bake for 30-35 min, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before glazing.

For glaze, mix up a little cream cheese with a little stem ginger syrup, and add lots of icing sugar, and decoratively spoon or pipe onto top of cake before slicing.

This cake was created with the the assistance of the following tunes:

1. OK Go - Needing/Getting
2. Florence and the Machine - Kiss With a Fist
3. The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So
4. Band of Skulls - I Know What I Am
5. Queen - Somebody To Love
6. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl
7. Glasvegas - Geraldine
8. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
9. Live - I Alone
10. The Vines - Ride

Cheese Grits with Poached Egg, Frizzled Leeks & Coriander Pesto

2011-01-28T13:56:00.006Z

I have been away from home for a year and a half.

I don't mind very much, but I'm afraid I won't really recognise it when I return for a visit. That the place I used to call home will feel only vaguely familiar -- like it's a place I've only dreamt about, but never been. A place where coriander is called cilantro, where butter is measured in tablespoons instead of grams, and where I don't use the word "quite" quite so often. I'm afraid I'll get caught pronouncing the "h" in "herb" and people will look at me strangely.

I might be being a bit too dramatic here.

This brunch made me feel like I was at home. I was totally reminded of hot Atlanta summers and hungover Sunday brunches. While I might have forgotten how to count American coins, I'll never forget what it felt like to eat in Atlanta, where brunch is for champions who require food to fill the holes in their bellies, due to a combination of excessive beer-drinking and the sweltering heat. Cheers to the American South.

Cheese Grits with Poached Egg, Frizzled
Leeks & Coriander Pesto
There are lots of components to this dish, but you can make them one-at-a-time to make your life easier, in the following order.

For the coriander pesto:

fresh coriander, chopped very fine

ground almonds

garlic puree

salt

vegetable oil

squeeze of lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together in small bowl and set aside.

For the leeks:

leek

olive oil

salt

Sauté leeks in olive oil over medium-high heat until browning and crispy. Season with salt and remove from heat; set aside.

For the grits:
half an onion
grits/cornmeal/polenta
butter
whole milk
water
grated mature cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Shred half an onion on a box grater and sauté in some butter until translucent. Add grits to pan with equal-ish parts water and milk, adding more liquid until grits are soft and the consistency you want them. Add a pat of butter and some shredded cheddar cheese, stirring to melt and incorporate. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the egg:
I'm not going to tell you how to poach an egg.

Finally, assemble plate and serve with salted sliced tomatoes and some greek yogurt, if those kinds of things strike your fancy (as they do mine).

Jalapeño Lime & Cheddar Cornbread

2011-01-19T21:11:00.008Z

Today, I made the best cornbread in the history of the world.

Really.

It came about due to my limes. I wanted limes and jalapeños. I've also been obsessed with polenta lately. It was like two trains of thought collided in my head and made this bread happen.

There is no difference between polenta and cornmeal, come to find out. I grew up in Cornbread Land (also known as America), where it's made properly sweet with brown sugar and maple syrup (in Ohio, anyway). Savoury cornbread always intrigued me, but I never thought to try it until today. I didn't go full-savoury and used brown sugar in the mix, and the blending of sweet and spicy was seriously just about perfect.

I also went an extra non-traditional step, and used wholemeal flour instead of plain white flour. I couldn't even notice the difference. This might actually be healthy AND delicious. Maybe.

Jalapeño Lime & Cheddar Cornbread
Original recipe by me!
This makes a very small amount (because I am just one tiny person) and comes out about 2.5 inches high in a small loaf pan. This could easily be doubled or tripled and baked in a larger pan, just watch your baking time.

juice of 1 whole lime
scant 1/2 cup whole milk
2/3 cup cornmeal (also sold as polenta or corn grits in Britain)
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon maize flour (Also likely to be called corn flour in America. Not to be confused with British cornflour or American cornstarch, which are the same thing, and neither one is maize flour.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup demerara (or use brown sugar)
60g (4 tblsp) unsalted butter
1 egg
1 green jalapeño chilli, diced
small handful grated cheddar cheese

Put lime juice in a liquid measuring glass, and add milk until you have 1/2 cup of liquid. Leave sitting at room temperature for about an hour before beginning the bread. This is like making buttermilk, except with lime instead of lemon. The milk with thicken and curdle a bit so don't freak out if this is your first time. In the meantime, butter your baking tin or line with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 170C/350F.

Mix together next 5 ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and mix in sugar until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in milk mixture and egg.

Add diced chilli and grated cheese to dry ingredients, then mix in wet ingredients. Stir until just incorporated and pour in baking tin, smoothing the top so it is even. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.

Serve warm with salted butter. Serves 3-4 as an appetizer or side.

Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Spicy Peanut Sauce

2011-01-09T19:08:00.003Z

Hi. How are you? It's been a while.

I'm back from my winter travels, refreshed and recharged. I took a 7-hour train journey to Wales, and rang in 2011 with some of the best mates a gal could hope for. I hope your new year is as happy as mine.

Ok, to the food. Apologies for the rubbish state of the photos... I was very nearly having hunger shakes as I hastily took them.

I just love everything about this dish. I meant to go and buy groceries today, but slept until noon and woke up with a hangover. Oops. So I needed something easy. I also needed food, like, immediately. Then came the happy realisation that soba noodles only take 4 minutes to cook. So easy, so creamy, so perfect. And it only took 10 minutes of barely-thinking to make it happen. I want to eat this every day, forever. I turned right around and made it again for dinner. Definitely a keeper.

Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Spicy Peanut Sauce

1 bunch soba noodles
broccoli, fresh or frozen

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:
  2-3 tbsp creamy peanut butter
  1 tbsp honey
  1 tbsp soy sauce
  1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  1/2 tea garlic puree
  1/4 tea chilli powder, or more to your liking
  ~3 tea cooking water from noodles

Get some water boiling and add broccoli (I used frozen here). Boil until just tender and remove from water, chop to bite-sized pieces, and cook soba noodles in same broccoli-water, 4 minutes. No use wasting energy here, folks.

While you're doing all that, whip up the sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl. When noodles are done, drain and toss with sauce and chopped broccoli. The end.

Serves 1.

Pear & Banana Nut Bread

2010-12-18T23:07:00.004Z

Dear Bananas,
I don't like you. I can smell you (and thus, be disgusted by you) from miles away. Why are you so smelly? Why are you mushy? Why can't you be better at being fruit? No... I don't like you at all, bananas.

Before I continue, let me assure you that this is actually a very good recipe, and I ate and enjoyed the results. Yummy. I just wasn't expecting the yummy-ness.

I bet there are people out there who like bananas, love pears, and can't imagine life without peanuts. To them, this bread must seem almost magical. I am not one of those people. I don't like any of those things. I've already expressed how I feel about bananas. Pears are less bad than bananas, but I really only like them when poached. Peanut butter is good. Regular peanuts? No, thanks. Why did I make this bread again?

Oh, yes. I was about to leave town for a while, and found myself needing to use up a whole bunch of fruits and vegetables, lest they spoil while I was away. I kind of threw this bread together without much of a thought, since if I had thought about it, I would have... well... not done it. At least some of my least favourite foods got to hang out together.

Imagine my shock when it was actually tasty! I ate it for breakfast. Amazing and true. I had it with some salted butter, and I bet a nice slather of cream cheese would be just the thing for this.

Pear & Banana Nut Bread
Loosely based on a banana bread recipe from Gourmet, found on Epicurious.

1 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 very ripe banana
1 very ripe pear, peeled, cored and chopped
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Butter and flour a loaf pan.

Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat together eggs and sugar in large bowl at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in banana, pear (if your pear is very ripe the mixer should chop it up pretty well - if not, dice beforehand), buttermilk, and vanilla. Using a spoon instead of the mixer, fold in flour mixture and peanuts gently but thoroughly.

Pour into loaf pan and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Tent with foil once the top browns to avoid burning the top and edges.

Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn right side up and cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf.

Triple-Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

2010-12-12T12:46:00.005Z

It's Christmas at KitchenLab - the very first one!

First off, you might notice that KitchenLab has a new look. It's a little early Christmas present for my blog, which is almost one year old. That new header/logo up top is fancy. I made it myself (proud Kristen beams and hugs laptop). Also, please enjoy the festive holiday background. My PhD supervisor has me learning a few web design tricks (which are useful for lab things) so I'm applying them, judiciously, to my other little habit here in cyberspace. I actually edited my own HTML. It was scary, but I lived.

Secondly, Christmas is coming soon, which can only mean that my kitchen has exploded with cookies. Holy smokes! So far, I have made 5 6 kinds of cookies, totalling approximately 300 of the little buggers. They are supposed to be for gifts, and not for putting into my face, but I am having troubles. Especially with this one in particular. They are big and soft and full of deliciousness - but have oats and fresh fruit in them, so they can't be that bad for you, right??

Happy Christmas from KitchenLab!

Triple-Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Original recipe from Bon Appétit

1 cup (120g) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarb)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks or 140g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup old-fashioned oats (porridge oats)
1/2 cup (50g) each milk chocolate, semisweet/plain chocolate, and white chocolate - chopped or chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F/175C. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl to blend.

In another (large) bowl, beat butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture and oats and stir until blended. Stir in all chocolate chips and cranberries.

Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are light brown, about 16 minutes (about 9 minutes for fan-assisted ovens). Cool on sheets 2 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely.

At this point you can also drizzle with melted chocolate; I opted not to do so.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Plum & Apple Jam

2010-12-03T15:41:00.002Z

I recently found some plums in the reduced section at the grocery store. Now, I know it's December, and I know I was at a grocery store in Scotland -- so I did have plenty of fair warning that the fruit might not be at its best. But I simply couldn't help myself. Plums have a special place in my heart. And hey, they were dirt cheap.

These plums were, so sadly (but unsurprisingly) nothing like the plums I had over the summer. At my friend's country home in Portugal, we took a post-lunch stroll through a little grove of plum trees, and the red globes were so ripe they practically jumped off the tree and into my basket. We ate as many as we humanly could, then I took a nap in a hammock. This was my favourite day of the whole summer.

So, maybe you understand how I couldn't sit idly back and allow these plums to be terrible - it would be an affront to my memory and a mar on my idea of plum-ness. I told my Portuguese friend about my plan to rescue my plums by making a jam. He has a way of pointing out the oddities of the English language to me, and commented amusedly on the concept of rescuing a plum. Well, consider me the patron saint of plums, because my plan worked out marvellously.

Apple & Plum Jam
This is a take on my Chilli Jam recipe I blogged about not too long ago.

3 apples
3 plums
150g sugar (3/4 cup)
dash cinnamon
1/2 tea lemon zest

Roughly chop apples (no need to peel or core) and place in a saucepan with some water. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer about 1 hour, until apples are cooked through. Strain solids out using a fine-meshed seive, pressing down with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Allow mixture to cool completely (I leave this overnight in the fridge).

Pit and roughly chop plums, and add to saucepan with apple juice. Bring to a boil, allowing plums to fully cook in apple juice. When they are transparent, gently smash the plum pieces using a potato masher. Add sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest. Simmer, uncovered, until mixture begins to gel. Turn the heat up and watch the magic happen. (I had a bit of trouble getting this to gel - make sure the heat is high enough. It will gel when two things have happened: the water/sugar/pectin ratio is just right - this happens automatically as your mixture loses steam while boiling - and when it reaches the right temperature.)

Pour hot jam into a glass jar and store in the fridge up to one month.

Makes one large-ish jar of jam.

Simple (and delicious!) Cannellini Bean Dip

2010-11-16T23:34:00.008Z

I was walking down the hall at the office today with my flatmate. I thought I'd be fun and silly and try to ride her bike down the corridor (we are both annoying eco-friendly cyclists). Her legs are much longer than mine, and I totally crashed her too-big-for-me bike after a distance of about 1 foot, at a speed of about 5 metres-per-hour. Fortunately, it was after hours and no one saw me viciously attack a doorknob all slow-motion-like with the soft part of my arm, which nearly instantaneously bruised to holy heck. It was the slowest bicycle crash in the history of bike riding. Fact.

There's no point to that story other than communicating how silly and uncoordinated I feel lately (whereas usually I am the perfect picture of ladylike gentility). Okok, maybe that's not exactly true.

Anyway, this is the one thing I haven't screwed up in the last few days, which means it must be dead easy. And (bonus!) if you serve it to someone, they will probably think you're elegant, even if you feel clumsy like me.

Cannellini Bean Dip

~450g (16oz) cooked cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
~60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
1/4 tea (or less if you prefer) cayenne
pinch ground nutmeg
few sprigs chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Place beans, oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, nutmeg & cayenne in food processor - or do as I do and use an immersion blender because I'm too cheap to buy a food processor. Whir until smooth. Mix in coriander with a spoon.

Serve warm in a bowl drizzled with some extra olive oil & sprinkle some cayenne or paprika over the top. The end.

Chilli-Roasted Butternut Squash & Lentil Salad with Feta & Lime

2010-11-10T12:53:00.005Z

Ladies and Gentlemen, repeat after me:

"I will never make butternut squash soup again."

Trust me, guys.

Now, I've made my share of curried butternut squash soup. It's alright. I sometimes make it extra-spicy. People like this. I like it, too... but this is better. Any time I puree a butternut squash soup, I am inevitably reminded of something I've spooned into the mouth of a miniature human.

But, I'm a grown-up. I am normal-sized and have teeth. I decided to start demanding more from my butternut squash.

I've seen some people doing really pretty things with butternut squash these days. They've inspired me. This is one of the more colourful and flavourful dishes I've prepared in quite a while, and I'll be returning to this recipe for years to come. Never again will I make butternut squash soup.

Chilli-Roasted Butternut Squash & Lentil Salad with Feta & Lime

Half of a butternut squash, peeled, seeded & cubed - reserve seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder (or cayenne)
1/4 cup (dry) french green lentils
handful of slivered almonds
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
50g feta, in 1-cm cubes
juice of 1/2 lime

Wash & pat dry seeds from butternut squash. Spread onto an oiled baking sheet (I used sunflower oil for its neutral flavour) and sprinkle on some salt. Roast at 200C (400F) until browned, mixing as needed. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, toss butternut squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and cayenne. When seeds are finished, reuse the baking sheet for the squash. Roast in a single layer at 200C (400F) until beginning to brown. Remove from oven and mix around on baking sheet, then return to oven for an additional 10 minutes or so, until completely cooked and nicely browning. Set aside to cool in a large bowl (where you will mix your salad).

While squash is roasting, bring a pot of water to the boil and add lentils. Simmer 20-30 minutes, until lentils are fully cooked but still have a little pop to them when bitten. Set aside.

Toast almonds over medium heat in a dry skillet, add to squash in large bowl. Once everything has cooled enough that it won't melt the feta, add lentils, chilli, feta & lime juice. Gently toss together and serve sprinkled with toasted seeds.

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish.

Israeli Mejadra

2010-11-07T10:03:00.005Z

I have a food crush on Yotam Ottolenghi.

It's kind of the same as the science crush I have on Ben Goldacre.

If I were to meet either one of them, I'd go all soft and giggly and hang on their every word. I'd gaze at them with admiration. I'd try to say something witty and charming and intelligent, but come off as a weird girl with boundary issues (as per usual when I have a normal, run-of-the-mill love crush).

So it looks like I've just spilled the beans on myself. I was never any good at hiding my feelings.

But that's not the point of this. Ottolenghi. Food hero.

A recent trip to London left me not caring so much for London. Overpriced drinks and "style bars" are definitely not my thing, and I had one of the most disappointing meals of my life at an "Italian" restaurant near Leicester Square. I wish I could remember the name of it, so I could tell everyone in the world to stay far away, but even google maps doesn't recognise it as a restaurant (which should tell you something, indeed).

The saviour of my trip was Yotam Ottolenghi, whose stellar reputation is well-deserved. I've been tuned into his column at the Guardian for some time now, and my friend and travelling companion humoured me with a late morning trip to the Kensington location of his eponymous bakery/deli, Ottolenghi. It was as though I had entered the gates of heaven. There were beautiful cakes and some salads for takeaway, and we picked up a lemon pistachio cake that made all my dreams come true.... and a bagful of other goodies to snack on during the day, including some ridiculously amazing sweet potato wedges, and a blackcurrant meringue as big as my face. I had to hold back from the temptation to go back to the shop and promise my firstborn child in return for a full day's eating privileges (and maybe that lemon pistachio cake recipe).

Deliciousness at Ottolenghi, Kensington

So, Yotam Ottolenghi saved London in my eyes. I vowed that I would make his recipes for ever and ever, even the ones that I wasn't so sure about. Yotam would not lead me astray.

His mejadra recipe intrigued me, as I've never had anything like it. The combination of spices was unlike anything I'd ever seen... like a curry, but with cinnamon and sugar? Huh? Still, I had faith in the power of Yotam. I persevered. So worth it.

I ate this as my whole meal, because I was feeling lazy. It was a little oily, probably because I used brown rice instead of white (brown rice still has the outer layer of bran attached to the kernel, which acts as a barrier and leaves oil on the outside). Next time I'll leave some of the oil out - ideal proportions are reflected in the adapted recipe below. I bet it would be a great side dish for any meat (if you eat meat) or baked tofu, roasted squash or aubergine/eggplant (if you don't).

Mejadra

adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's The New Vegetarian column in The Guardian

250ml sunflower oil

4 medium onions, thinly sliced

250g green or brown lentils

2 tsp ground cumin

1½ tsp ground coriander

200g brown basmati rice

dash olive oil

½ tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp sugar

Salt and black pepper

greek yogurt, sour cream or crème fraîche for serving.

Heat the sunflower oil in a medium-size heavy-based saucepan. When very hot, carefully add a third of the sliced onion. Fry for five to seven minutes, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until the onion takes on a nice, golden-brown colour and turns crispy. Use the spoon to transfer the onion to a colander and sprinkle with salt. Repeat with two more batches of onion.

Meanwhile, put the lentils in a small saucepan, cover with plenty of water, bring to a boil and cook for 12-15 minutes, so the lentils are almost done but still have a little bite to them. Drain into a colander.

Wipe clean the saucepan in which you fried the onion and drop in the cumin and coriander seeds. Place over a medium heat and toast the ground cumin and coriander for a minute or two, until fragrant. Add the rice, olive oil, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper. Stir to coat the rice with oil, then add enough water to cook the rice. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer (add water as needed). When the rice is almost finished, add the cooked lentils and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and remove lid from the pot to allow excess water to escape. Make sure all the water is absorbed or steamed off so the mixture is not wet. Tip the rice and lentils into a large mixing bowl. Add half the fried onion and stir gently with a fork. Pile up in a shallow serving bowl and top with the rest of the onion. Serve with greek yogurt, sour cream or crème fraîche.

Serves 4.

Sweet & Spicy Chilli Jam

2010-11-03T17:29:00.005Z

My love affair with chilli jam began a while ago. I purchased an interesting-looking jar from my favourite deli in Liverpool, and quickly fell hard for the stuff.

The first time I had it, I smeared it inside a baguette, stuffed said baguette with brie, and toasted it in the oven. I would never love again.

I used it sparingly, savouring every last little droplet. Then, I ran out.

I had already moved up to Scotland, far away from my specialty foodie shop, so I considered making my own. Then, upon finding a bunch of recipes online, each one different (and in heavily distinct ways), I gave up on that task. Then I was wandering along the street at a local farmers' market, and I magically found some that were local and homemade. I actually had a conversation with the guy who made them.... my hopes were high.

But when I got home, they were actually not very good. The mixture was far too runny and not hot enough for my liking. So I fixed them by adding more chillies and heating the mixture up in a saucepan, simmering for a while to see if the pectin just needed some activation. Some of the extra water steamed out of it and they firmed up a bit, thus renewing my confidence. I could, indeed, make chilli jam after all, and I didn't need 100 different recipes out there confusing me. Turns out, I only needed three ingredients and a little bit of science knowledge.

Science fact number 1: Apples + Water + Heat = Pectin. You need pectin for jellies and preserves. It's in all fruits and vegetables, but it has a high concentration in apples. This is something that the evil giants of food industry don't want you to know. You don't need to buy Certo or jam sugar or any of that extra stuff. You can make your own, and in the easiest way - by boiling apples in some water. Tart, unripe apples have more pectin than sweet, ripe apples, so I tend to use Bramley (popular here in Britain) or Granny Smith.

Science fact number 2: Pectin + Sugar + Heat = Jelly. Pectin by itself is all well and good, but it doesn't do much. It needs sugar to firm up and make those nice, thick jellies and spreadable preserves. Don't forget about sugar.

Chilli Jelly

4 large-ish apples, any kind will do (I use Bramley or Granny Smith)
6 red chillies (2 de-seeded, chop the rest with seeds & ribs included)
150g (3/4 cup) sugar

Roughly chop up the apples (no need to peel or core) and place in a saucepan with some water. Simmer gently until the apples are completely cooked through, adding more water if needed. The water will boil off when you're not looking, and it's ok to add more. Bear in mind that you're looking for about a cup of liquid in the end - just add some more water until you have about 1 cup.

Allow the mixture to cool completely, then strain out solids using a mesh strainer or cheesecloth. I've seen advice about not pushing down on the solids to extract more juice. It's true that it does make the juice cloudy, but it doesn't effect the flavour at all, and you DO get about twice as much liquid. Leave the mixture to chill in the fridge overnight (I waited about 3 days, due to laziness). Some of the solids will have settled to the bottom - simply leave them behind when you pour the juice out into a saucepan for the next steps. At this point you should have about 1 cup of liquid. ***

Place juice in saucepan with minced chillies and sugar. Heat over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 15 minutes. Test a few drops on a chilled plate to see if the jam has firmed up enough. If so, then you're done! Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator and cherish every spoonful.

*** Stop the presses! What else do you want to make? At this point, you can add whatever your heart desires to this mixture, making any kind of jam you like (like plums!). Or, you can not add anything to it, and make yourself a simple apple jelly.

Dorie Greenspan's Mustard Batons

2010-10-29T13:41:00.002+01:00

Along with the polenta triangles I posted about a few days ago, I served these as appetizers at our recent get-together. They were a hit!

Hot mustard is one of my favourite secret ingredients. It does good stuff to mashed potatoes. Trust me on that. I've really been loving mustard lately, and putting it in practically everything. I've gone through 3 jars of mustard (in one form or another) in the last month. That's a lot.

These batons are so perfect for a dinner party in many ways. First, I actually made these about a week before the party, when I had some spare time, laid them all out on sheets of parchment paper on a baking sheet, and froze them. Then the morning of the party, I thawed them (which took only about 20 minutes at room temperature) and baked them off. They kept very nicely sitting out all day while I made other things.

And they are dead easy. You just roll out some puff pastry, spread on some mustard, fold, slice, apply eggwash & toppings of choice (I used coarse sea salt, Dorie uses poppy or sesame seeds), and bake.

Mustard Batons

Original recipe by Dorie Greenspan and published in Around My French Table or online here

You will need:

All-purpose flour, for rolling

Frozen puff pastry (each about 8½ ounces), thawed

Dijon mustard

1 large egg

Sea salt or poppy seeds for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F (200C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out pastry on a lightly-floured surface until very thin and measures approximately 12x16 inches (and as rectangular-shaped as you can get it).

Spread mustard over 1/2 of the pastry, leaving edges un-mustarded.

Fold pastry in half and slice into strips about 3/4 of an inch wide using a pizza cutter. Transfer to baking sheets.

Lightly beat egg in bowl with a little cold water to create an egg wash. Brush over tops of each strip and sprinkle on some large-flaked sea salt (Dorie uses poppy seeds or sesame seeds instead).

Bake for 15 minutes, turning once halfway through, or until pastry is puffed and nicely browned (think the colour of a soft pretzel).

Polenta Triangles with Goat's Cheese, Chilli Jam & Rocket

2010-10-25T14:08:00.003+01:00

My flatmate and I had a party.

I fed lots of omnivores a whole bunch of vegetarian food. I overheard someone say, "this vegetarian food is so good that I don't care that it's vegetarian." It put a huge, silly grin on my face. They were talking about these appetizers.

I did, however, make them some roasted pork tenderloin. I'm told it was tasty. I did it to be hospitable, since I would expect someone to consider my vegetarian food needs if they invited me over for dinner. Still... I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about this.

A little while back, I was inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's version of this, which he blogged about over at the Guardian. He uses gooseberry and chilli relish, and garnishes with basil. I had chilli jam hanging around (recipe can be found here), and the rocket was my flatmate's idea. The whole thing is a much simpler version of the original - so easy and it comes together in a snap.

Keep an eye out for more recipes from the party, which will be coming along soon!

Polenta Triangles with Goats Cheese, Chilli Jam & Rocket

adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's The New Vegetarian

you will need:

Polenta brick, sliced and cut into triangles

Goat's cheese, grated - I use a medium-hard version but you could easily use crumbled soft chèvre

Chilli Jam

Rocket leaves

Olive oil

Heat a little olive oil a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add polenta and fry gently until most of the sputtering has stopped (the popping/sputtering is the water in the polenta having a not-friendly reaction with the hot oil), about 4-5 minutes. Polenta will be slightly golden in colour, but will not brown. Don't wait for a browning to happen - you'll be sorely disappointed since it will take about 100 years and your polenta will turn into hard little hockey pucks. (How's that for hyperbole?)

Gently flip over the triangles, adding a little more olive oil if you need to. While the second side is cooking, add some grated cheese to the top of each piece and allow it to melt. Remove polenta from pan and arrange on plate. Drop a little bit of chilli jam on top of each triangle and top each with a small rocket leaf. Serve warm.

Spinach & Lentil Curry, Revisited

2010-10-21T13:13:00.001+01:00

The first time I told you about this curry was in February. Probably, no one even saw the post - the pictures were crap and I was kinda brand new to blogging.

I made it a little bit differently this time (but not much) and paid closer attention to the amounts of ingredients I used. Instead of using shallots as a garnish, I opted this time for a sprinkling of cinnamon over the yogurt. The warm scent of the spices seemed to really want me to add cinnamon. It was a good call.

So, here we go again with this recipe, with more accurate measurements and prettier pictures. Yay.

Spinach & Lentil Curry, Take Two

~1 cup french green lentils
~1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1/2 tea ground ginger
2 tea harissa paste (or chilli of your choice)
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp tomato paste or puree'd tomatoes
100g baby spinach leaves, stems removed, roughly chopped.
1/2 tea sea salt
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves garlic (~2 tea garlic paste)
3/4 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
greek yogurt, ground cinnamon & toast points, for serving

Place the lentils, ginger, harissa and turmeric in a pan, and add enough water to cover the lentils 2x. Bring to a boil, then simmer over a moderate heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a further 20-ish minutes. Add bulgur and continue simmering until lentils are cooked through but not over-done - they should still give a little *pop* when you bite into them. ((Add water as needed, both the lentils and the bulgur will absorb a LOT of it, keep adding it a bit at a time to avoid a soupy consistency in the end.)) Add salt and set aside.

Heat the butter in a small pan. Add the cumin and garlic and allow the mixture to become fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the coriander powder and garam masala, mix well, then pour the mixture into the pan of lentils. Give the mixture a taste and add more salt if you need it.

Add spinach and stir to incorporate. As you stir, the residual heat from the lentil mixture will wilt the spinach. Use a little extra heat from the hob if the spinach doesn't wilt.

Serve hot with a big dollop of greek yogurt and sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon.

Serve with toast points or warm naan bread.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2010-10-19T12:40:00.001+01:00

Joy of joys.

You know how the best part of an oreo is the filling? Did you ever unscrew two oreos and carefully re-sandwich together the two sides with the filling still attached? I did. Then Nabisco got smart and started making the double-stuffed version. I always wished I could eat that stuff by the spoonful.

Once these were all put together, I totally piped leftover oreo filling directly into my mouth. It was a childhood fantasy come true. It was amazing. Definitely not ladylike.

These aren't exactly healthy. But if we're comparing them to the packaged kind... do you see where I'm going with this? Plus, you get bonus "cool points" for making something previously only made possible by Nabisco. Sweet.

Oreo Cookies
From Retro Desserts, adapted by Smitten Kitchen
*As an American living in Europe, I am all too flexible when it comes to measurements. I've become accustomed to millilitres, grams and Celsius, but cups are still a large part of my vocabulary. This is an American recipe, but I've added the European measurements where needed. I generally leave cups alone, since I have a nice set of measuring cups and still haven't adjusted to using kitchen scales.

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks or 140g) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F (190°C).
In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies.

Cabbage, Barley & Red Lentil Soup

2010-10-08T11:34:00.003+01:00

It's cold in Scotland today. I made soup for lunch. It warmed me right up.

I have a thing for soups, it seems. This one's not the most attractive, but it's hearty and warm and perfect for this dreary Scottish day, which I will be spending in the lab getting busy with science. (Yes, I just finished my Master's, like, two weeks ago... and no, there is no rest for the weary.)* I don't know what else to say about this soup, really... it's just a really good soup that's simple and comforting. Give it a try.

Cabbage, Barley & Red Lentil Soup
I used chinese leaf (aka napa cabbage) but have also used sweetheart or pointed cabbage to great effect.
original recipe by me!

1/2 head white cabbage
1 carrot
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
50g (1/3 cup) barley, dry
50g (1/3 cup) red lentils, dry
juice of 1/2 lemon
veg. broth
salt/pepper

Get the barley simmering in plenty of water while you work on chopping veg. Let go until cooked, about 40 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop up your cabbage and carrot. Sauté cabbage in olive oil until it begins to soften, about 5 mintutes. Add enough vegetable stock to cover veg, then add red lentils - simmer until lentils are cooked. Add lemon juice and barley. Blend with stick blender to desired consistency (I like to leave some chunks for texture). Season to taste with sea salt and cracked pepper.

Serves 4.

*See how I make you think that science has killed me; that I struggle under the weight of impending projects and publications? The truth is... (NERD ALERT!)... I am bored and lost without it. Rather than feeling weakened or over-burdened with stress... I am actually quite exstatic. I am told this will change in time, but for now, I'm pretty excited about my PhD.

Honey-Soy Soba Noodles with Chestnut Mushrooms and Caramelised Onions

2010-10-06T14:24:00.001+01:00

One word: umami. Umami is a deep, complex, savoury flavour. It's good stuff.

This dish is full of umami. You find it in the mushrooms. It's there in the soba noodles with their nutty, buckwheat flour goodness. It's in the carmelised onion. It's in the soy. It's everywhere.

This is a great autumn dish. Warm. Cozy. Umami.

Yep.

Honey-Soy Soba Noodles with Chestnut Mushrooms & Caramelised Onions
Original recipe by me!

2 bunches soba noodles
1 large onion
12-or-so chestnut mushrooms
1 clove minced garlic
two shakes white wine vinegar, or really any comparable subsitute will do
2 tea honey
soy sauce to taste, enough to cover noodles**

Prepare soba noodles to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water, set aside.

Heat a few tablespoons vegetable oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Slice onion and add to hot oil, stirring to cover in oil and allow to cook while you chop the mushrooms, about 4 minutes.

Destem and slice mushrooms and add to pan. Add a bit more oil if needed, and add the garlic. Allow to cook until both the onions and mushrooms are nicely browned. Add honey and a couple swigs of vinegar (really just a touch to add an acidic note). Stir to combine and add noodles to the saucepan. Drizzle soy sauce over and stir to incorporate. Fry until noodles are heated through and serve.

Serves 2 as a main (my appetite's been tiny of late, and I squeezed 3 mains out of this).

**I wish I had better measurements, it's something I try to get a feel for when I cook but usually I just throw things together if I'm not working off someone else's recipe. Sorry.

Balsamic Quinoa Salad & Mustard-Crusted Tofu Planks

2010-10-04T16:52:00.004+01:00

So, I used to be busy. One day, I will be busy again.... but not today. I found my pictures of this salad and got really happy. Good pictures -- and even better food. So I thought I'd tell you about it.

Balsamic syrup is one of my favourite specialty foodie ingredients. Back in the States it's called balsamic GLAZE, and I love to toss it in with some fresh tomatoes, basil and feta cheese for a nice salad, or drizzle over some roasted portabella mushrooms stuffed with red pepper and ricotta cheese. I'm glad I've found another use for it in this salad - so yummy!

I'd been considering this quinoa salad for a few days, and then I ran across this tofu recipe on Epicurious. Both the balsamic glaze and the whole-grain mustard have such strong flavours, but I wasn't overly worried about pairing them together. I was more, rather, intrigued. It turned out absolutely lovely, with the mustard and balsamic flavours playing nicely off each other in an earthy-sweet-savoury-spice kind of way. It was deep and complex without overpowering and somehow remained nice and clean on the pallette.

Balsamic Quinoa Salad with Mustard-Crusted Tofu Planks
Salad recipe is my own, Tofu recipe from Bon Appétit

For Quinoa Salad:
~ 2 cups cooked quinoa
1 medium white potato, peeled and cubed small
2 medium shallots, chopped
1/2 courgette, sliced
handful of mixed lettuce leaves (really any lettuce will do here, especially lamb's leaf, rocket, or chervil)
~ 1 tablespoon balsamic glaze (also called balsamic syrup)
olive oil - enough for sauteeing + 1 tblsp for dressing the salad
sea salt to taste
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Saute vegetables in some olive oil with a little salt. Add courgettes last since they cook the fastest and you don't want them mushy.

Mix together with all other ingredients in a bowl. Salad -- done.

For Tofu:
6 1.5-cm thick slices of extra-firm tofu* (3 per person)
wholegrain mustard

Spread each side of tofu plank with a generous slather of mustard. Pan-fry in some olive oil over medium to med-high heat until browned, about 3 minutes per side. It may take longer, depending on the heat... you don't want it too high, or the mustard will burn - you want a slow browning here instead of a flash-fry.

Plate-up and serve. Serves 2.

*You might want to freeze, and then thaw your tofu ahead of time for this. So much more of the water releases from the tofu, and you really want it as dry as possible so the mustard doesn't slip right off when you spread it on, or not adhere properly when frying.

Sunday French Toast for Kisskas

2010-09-21T16:38:00.001+01:00

Wow, this is a terrible picture.

I've moved to Scotland. Hence my lack of posting. But, if you lived here, and could get busy doing this...

...would you really be worried about your blog? Nah, me neither.

This time last year, I was freaking out. I quit my job, hopped onto a plane and moved to another continent. I was about to become a scientist, when I'd been a business-gal ~~my whole life~~ since graduating from college (albeit a business-gal with a wild streak for science). Had I made the right choice? What the hell was I thinking?

It was scary. I ate a lot of Tums.

This move was way way way less scary. It was only 4 hours away instead of an entire ocean. I get to do more of what I've been doing, but in a different place. A more awesome place. Nothing against Liverpool, but really, I'm a country girl at heart. Give me some cows, please. Moo. My new university town has mountains to climb and bunnies and foxes. It combines a whole bunch of my favourite things: science, countryside, and Britain. And lots more.

Still, it was a bit of a hectic month for me. I moved up to Scotland, stayed for a week, then returned to Liverpool to write up and deliver my thesis. Two weeks later, I returned to Scotland a free woman, finished with my master's degree with some time to spare before diving headlong into my PhD.

Today is a lazy Sunday. It's overcast and kinda dreary (par for the course in Scotland, really). I made espresso in my сafetière. I put amaretto in it. And then I made this french toast for me and my new flatmate. She's nice and entirely tolerant (enthusiastic, even) about my weirdo food blog. She helped me cook and even grabbed the camera to take action shots.

I can't take credit for this recipe -- one of my friends in Liverpool came up with this Sunday morning treat. He's been making this for years on lazy Sundays for his wife (his "kisska" -- the Russian word for a little female kitten). During my two-week stay with them, I was invited to be a kisska and share this treat with them.

Sunday French Toast for Kisskas

You will need:

Bread
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla extract
Soft Cheese (Cream Cheese to you North Americans)
Nutella
Banana
Maple Syrup

Whisk together eggs and a touch of milk, plus a little vanilla. For 4 small pieces of bread, one egg and a few tablespoons of milk was all that I needed. Dip bread slices in eggy mixture, both sides, and fry in a dry nonstick skillet over medium heat, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to a baking sheet.

Preheat grill/broiler to medium-high heat. Spread each toast with a layer of soft cheese, then spread on a layer of nutella. Slice up a banana and layer on top of the nutella. Finish by drizzling over some maple syrup. Place under the broiler for about 5 minutes until heated through and the outside edges begin to crisp up, ever-so-slightly. The end.

Mixed Berry and Jam Muffins

2010-08-05T22:28:00.002+01:00

Yeah, muffins.

I had some raspberries and blueberries lying around, threatening to spoil. So I made these!

This might be considered a lesson in buttermilk. Why it's awesome, why I love it... you know, things like that.

I haven't had it in ages. So hard to find here in Liverpool, but I finally found a store that stocks it. I bought them out - cleaned the damn shelf. So excited.

So when this recipe called for milk and one egg plus an additional egg yolk, I thought to use buttermilk instead, and forego the extra yolk. Sheer perfection. I needed a little additional buttermilk when swapping for milk, so as to skip the extra yolk entirely and achieve a correct muffin-batter consistency. Awesomeness. Buttermilk truly does make everything better... the ingredient of the gods, I tell you!

The original recipe (by the awesome Joy The Baker) also called for a crumble topping, which I definitely did not feel like making. I just sprinkled a little demerara over the tops before popping in the oven. Another minor adjustment I made was to add a bit of lemon zest, which I keep frozen in a little plastic container for just such occasions (whenever I use a lemon for anything else, I zest before juicing and tuck away in the freezer... so handy!!).

Mixed Berry and Jam Muffins
adapted from Joythebaker

6 tablespoons (85g) salted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2- 1 cup frozen or fresh berries, whatever kind you like
3 tablespoons fruit jam (I used strawberry)
zest of half a lemon
2-3 tablespoons demerara sugar, for topping

Put a rack in the upper third of oven and preheat to 375F (190C). Generously butter muffin cups or line with cupcake papers.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over moderately low heat; remove from heat. Whisk in milk, egg, vanilla and zest until well combined.

Whisk together flour, sugar, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. If the dough seems too stiff, add a little more buttermilk. Gently but thoroughly fold in the berries and the jam.

Divide batter among muffin cups and sprinkle with demerara.

Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 18-22 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around edges of muffin tops and carefully remove from cups. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 12.

Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Soup with Pan-fried Shallots

2010-07-17T23:24:00.001+01:00

I've been posting a lot about cauliflower lately. The produce stands are just full of them, with big, happy, creamy white florets, and they are just huge. I can't help but get in on the action. It doesn't hurt that I end up getting at least 3 meals out of one large head, since the leaves and stems can be used to make a soup of their own.

I get a little over-zealous at the produce stands with all the fresh, local vegetables. I spent many months this winter just anxiously waiting for veg to come in-season in Britain, so I buy too much. The items I can't get to in time for other meals end up all getting turned into a soup and stored away in the freezer for a time when I'm too busy to cook (or just can't be bothered). This soup won't make it that far - it's too damn good for that!

I just love the colour of this soup... the creamy, soft yellow-y white soup and crispy browned shallots look so elegant in a simple white bowl. The flavour of the cauliflower comes right through, too, and the accompanying flavours don't overpower. I'm very happy about this one, definitely a keeper!

If you can't find these ingredients, not to worry - substitute away! I used Double Gloucester cheese, but any cheddar-y cheese will do (or even Stilton...). I'd love to hear about what you come up with!

Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Soup with Pan-fried Shallots

1 head cauliflower
1 clove garlic
light vegetable stock
Double Gloucester cheese
2 teaspoons mustard
single cream (I used about 50ml)
salted butter - about 30g
cracked black pepper, to taste
1 medium shallot, for garnish

Melt butter in saucepan over medium-high heat. When it starts to foam and sputter, add chopped cauliflower and stir to cover it in the butter. Cook until it just starts to brown, and add garlic. Cook for a few minutes more, then add vegetable stock to cover the cauliflower. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until cauliflower is completely soft, adding more water if you need to.

Meanwhile, slice shallot and saute over medium-high heat until crispy and well-browned. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a paper towel.

Remove soup from heat and add mustard, cream and pepper. Blend until smooth with a stick blender, then add grated cheese - as much as you like, but be careful you don't add too much, since some cheeses get very oily when melted. Stir to incorporate cheese and serve with a little pile of shallots for garnish.

Chocolate Coma Cookies

2010-07-13T13:21:00.005+01:00

This is a recipe of memories.

When I started this foodie life, it began as a baking thing.

I started baking in high school. My grandmother was an avid baker. I learned early on that men love cookies. Hm. So, I baked cookies. I couldn't help it.

Fast forward to my post-college life in Atlanta. I was the ultimate stress machine. I was stuck in a job I hated (thank you, shitty economy). Yeah, I was good at it, but I had no passion. I was overeducated for the position. They'd fire my friends and make me do their work. I was a cog in the machinery of business, not really paid to think. I felt that the way I spent the majority of my waking life had little-to-no valuable impact on the world, when I knew I could do so much more. I was all sorts of unhappy.

The nice thing, for me, about baking is that it's so *precise*. You follow an exact set of instructions and have complete control over the outcome of your work. So, when the rest of my life was a discombobulated, uncontrollable hell... baking became my sanctuary. I started playing with different ingredients, and before I knew it, I emerged a cooking and baking foodie chick, taking pictures and storing recipes away (long before I grew the balls to make this bliggity-blog).

I still "stress-bake." My mom says she knows when I am entirely stressed, since the amount of baked goods I produce increases exponentially in comparison to wholesome, healthy things. Yep, Mom reads the blog. Hi, Mom!

My thoughts are this: if you're going to be stressed and crave sweet things, why not bake them yourself? They're not exactly healthy, but they're sure to be healthier than if you buy them in a package that came from a factory, with all those extra, unpronounceable things that were never meant to be inside food in the first place. Plus, you get the stress-relief of the baking process, and the ultimate satisfaction of tasting something awesome that you made yourself.

Why don't you try these cookies, for a start? They were the first ones I ever made on my culinary journey - the first pictures in my photo archive entitled "FOOD." It'll un-stress you. And if there's a boy you fancy, give him some. Works every time.

Chocolate Coma Cookies
adapted from this original recipe

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (total) milk choc, bittersweet, white choc, and peanut butter chips

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
-In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
-Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Vegetable Soup from Cauliflower "Scraps"

2010-07-10T14:02:00.008+01:00

I live on a shoestring. I hate it, but I'm a grad student. Such is the price.

Fortunately, I know how to live cheap. Before I left my job, it wasn't all gravy. Money was steady, but still tight. So I learned how to eat healthy and also keep it cheap.

This soup is a way to stretch out a meal, and it's really good! It tastes just a little like cauliflower but mostly like a really clean, fresh, simple vegetable soup. I had it for lunch with a brie and tomato toasted sandwich, but you might have it as a starter. I can imagine, if you want to bulk this up to a soup you can make a whole meal out of, that orzo or some other tiny pasta would be a good addition, or a grain like bulgur, or chicken for you carnivores out there. It's made, basically, from scraps. If you make anything with a cauliflower head (may I suggest this or this), don't throw away the leaves and stems -- make this, instead!

Vegetable Soup from Cauliflower "scraps"
adapted from Lucullian Delights

The leaves and stem/trunk of 1 cauliflower (I left out the really rough-looking, tough, outermost leaves)
2 big tomatoes, peeled
Chopped flatleaf parsley
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Chop the leaves and the stem/trunk of the cauliflower and sauté them for 3-4 minutes in a pot in some olive oil. Add salt.

To peel tomatoes, cut an "x" in the bottom of each, then carefully add to a pot of boiling water. Remove with a slotted spoon after 30 seconds and transfer to a bowl of cold water. Go to where you made the "x" and peel the skin up and off the tomatoes. Quarter the skinned tomatoes, add these to the pot and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.

Add water until the vegetables are well covered and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until all the cauliflower is soft.

Blend until it's on the smooth side, if it's too dense you add some more water and heat it up. Check if more salt is needed.

Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin, Coriander and Almonds

2010-07-08T18:19:00.009+01:00

Back before I left for Portugal, I was dieting HARD. I promised some healthy recipes, and never posted them. Oops. Here's one of them.

When visiting Spain over the winter, I was dazed and happy about falafel. Yeah, we ate tapas of roasted red peppers in olive oil, sheep's milk cheeses, patatas bravas, garlicky mushrooms (and the guys ate awesome meats, too). Those were our late and lazy dinners, compounded with sangria and cañas followed by strolling scenic walks -- or tequila shots, or salsa dancing. But our days were filled-to-bursting with sightseeing at such a near-frantic pace that sometimes we forgot to eat. We would happen upon a kebab house and delightedly fill up our pitas with food so good that it was hard to believe we were in Iberia, and not closer to Turkey or Lebanon.

One of the treats that I discovered at these places was the roasted cauliflower. Until then, I had never really enjoyed the white "broccoli-imposter"... I hadn't liked it when I was a child, and never warmed to it in my adult life until I had it, nearing my 30th year, walking along the streets of Barcelona. I promised myself I would try to knock it off when we got home.

I figured out how to do it, found an absolutely giant head of cauliflower at a produce stand, and finally did it. It's so good. It's amazing. Really. Seasoned perfectly with cumin and ground coriander, tossed with some olive oil, and roasted in the oven, it makes a perfect side dish veggie (ok, I'll admit -- I ate it as my whole meal -- I was worried about that teeny weeny polka dot bikini I was scheduled to wear). Or you can tuck them inside a pita with falafel and roasted peppers, or dip in a nice garlic-tahini-yogurt sauce for an appetizer... but it's also exquisite on its own, and doesn't require any additional flavouring due to the browned and faintly-crisped spices adhered to the outside of the florets. Muy bueno.

Money-saving tip!
Get a nice big head of cauliflower, and don't throw away the leaves and stems. Use them to make this soup. You won't regret it, and you'll have a nice and happily-freezable cheapy-cheapo lunch. Yum!

Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin, Coriander and Almonds
adapted from jamieoliver.com

1 head of cauliflower, outer green leaves removed, broken into florets
sea salt
olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground chilli powder
1/4 cup ground almonds
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Blanch the cauliflower in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes then drain in a colander, allowing it to steam dry (you don't want any water left in your cauliflower or it won't roast properly). Toss it in a good glug of olive oil. Mix spices and almonds with salt and put in a hot, dry ovenproof pan to slowly toast them. After a couple of minutes, add the cauliflower. When it gets a nice bit of colour on it, add the lemon zest and juice and mix around well. Fry for about a minute longer, then pop the pan into the preheated oven for about 15 minutes to crisp up.

Spicy Dal Mash

2010-07-05T20:19:00.004+01:00

This food isn't very pretty. The only thing it has going for it in the looks department is that vibrant yellow-orange... other than that, it kinda looks like baby food. But I promise, it's sooooo good. The perfect food for a great day like today.

So, why is today so great? I spent time in my kitchen. I've been travelling around, for business and for pleasure, for the greater part of the last three weeks. The majority of this time was spent on holiday in Portugal, a great place full of history, beauty, and friendly people who like to party. It's not full, however, of vegetarians, and I spent the last 10 days eating toast with cheese at least once a day, while my friends feasted on sardines, escargot, chorizo, and "baby pig sandwiches"... I just stared at my plate and tried not to look too miserable. The abundance of attractive (crazy-hot) men at my table helped shift my focus elsewhere. Lisbon was a dangerous and happy place for a single gal like myself. But I'm getting off-topic.

Oh yes, the food. Other than the lovely meals we ate with my friend's family, I mostly survived on a diet of bread and cheese and beer. So I was VERY happy to get into my kitchen today, and churned out this spicy dal mash inspired by this recipe, and paired it up with some sauteed courgettes and almond slivers. It was filling, hearty, flavourful... a perfect side for grilled veggies (or even meat, if that's your style) from your summer grill. Or, pair it with basmati rice and a nice curry like they do at my favourite restaurant in Liverpool.

Spicy Dal Mash

Split red lentils (think I used about 150g, dry)
1 tea coriander paste (or 1 tbsp fresh)
1 shallot, minced
2 red chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 tea garlic, minced
1/4 tea ginger powder
1/2 tea turmeric powder
1/2 tea yellow mustard
1 bay leaf
Sea salt, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil, for sauteeing
2 tblsp butter or ghee

Cook the lentils with bay leaf, turmeric, coriander, ginger, and chillies. Remove bay leaf when lentils are finished.

Saute minced shallot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until just beginning to brown. Add to lentil mixture.

Add mustard and butter to the lentils, stir well and transfer in batches to a mortar and pestle to mash. Add salt to taste.

Super-Moist Strawberry Bread

2010-06-07T18:46:00.003+01:00

Here's something else for you to do with the abundance of this season's strawberries.

Strawberry bread. Yeah, it's a thing.

I love strawberries. I love bread. But.... wha??

Recently I posted a recipe for Strawberry Preseves, and not just any ordinary ones either; Mom says I'm not an ordinary person. I take that as a compliment. Thanks, Mom!

You know what else isn't ordinary? Bread with strawberries in it.

This stuff is good. Really, really good. I wouldn't be blogging about it if it weren't. Amazingly, it has cinnamon (!!), which I doubted at first. But it's perfect. Slather on some cream cheese for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert. It's so yummy. Trust me. You want to do this.

Something else you want to do: don't give away the bits you can't finish. Pre-slice it, put the slices back together, wrap it in plastic, and stick it in the freezer. It freezes happily, and doesn't get weirdly soggy when un-frozen.

Strawberry Bread
recipe by Debbie Cascio-van Hees, via Martha Stewart

5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter (about 75g), softened, plus more for pan
1 pint strawberries, rinsed, hulled, quartered, and mashed with a fork
1 3/4 cups (about 220g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (225g) sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (about 240ml) water

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Butter an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. In a small saucepan, bring strawberries to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add half of flour mixture, then 1/3 cup water (about 240ml), then add remaining flour. Fold in reserved strawberries.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour (tent with foil after 45 minutes if top is getting too dark). Cool in pan 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges; invert onto a rack. Reinvert; cool completely.

Makes one loaf.

Radish Leaf Pesto

2010-05-26T13:11:00.005+01:00

I get very excited about produce stands. Greenmarkets. Farmer's markets. Whatever you want to call them. They are among my favourite things in the world for so many reasons. The food is local. It's fresh, picked within just a few days of your purchase, instead of weeks or months ahead like you find in chain groceries like Tesco or Sainsbury's. You keep the local economy happy. You keep local farmers in business. You pay less (since you're cutting out the nefarious middle-man). They are a treasure. Interested in buying local? Here's a whole bunch more reasons to do it, and a handy tool for finding local markets (if you live in the US).

I picked up some amazing veg at the weekend, including a nice bunch of radishes. With dirt still on them. With the greens all in a bunch and (seemingly) waving at me. I have never bought radishes before, but they looked like they wanted to come home with me. I trolled around for something to do with the greens - were they edible? Turns out, they absolutely are. Something about being frugal, avoiding waste, and making something delicious out of things that usually go in the trash... it just makes me feel good... ya know?

I found this recipe for a radish leaf pesto, and thought I'd take a simplified spin on it. I wanted to really taste the leaves, so I left out the garlic and strong spices, and made a minimalist version with mild ingredients. I have to say that the leaves smelled GREAT when I chopped them up... like springtime, like laying in the grass, like climbing a tree. What an amazing scent. I can't wait to spread this on a sandwich with tomato and feta cheese, to add a little to some risotto or toss it with grilled courgettes. So excited!

You don't need a food processor for this. I used my mortar and pestle. I love that thing. I have been procrastinating getting a food processor until I settle in one place for a few years... like for a PhD. I've received an offer from an unnamed university, but haven't accepted the place yet. No need to buy the big appliances until I know which country I'm going to be living in for a few years, so as not to be confounded with electrical adapter issues. So, my mortar and pestle is where it's at.

Radish Leaf Pesto

Radish leaves, stems removed and finely chopped
Grated parmesan cheese
Ground almonds
Olive oil
Lemon zest
Dash sea salt

Place all ingredients in a mortar and pestle and mash together, or give it a whir in a food processor.

Balsamic & Black Pepper Strawberry Preserves

2010-05-11T15:24:00.008+01:00

Ok, I've been away for a while. I've been working. I've been cooking, too, but I haven't hit on anything fantastic for a while. I am preparing for a long-awaited trip to Portugal, and I'm kinda freaking out about getting into a bikini. Scary stuff. So, in a push to lose 5 extra pounds before I hit the beach in 6 weeks, my meals are all usually some mixture of whole grains and vegetables and tofu. Nothing you want to hear about.

I'm really not in the habit of denying myself, and I generally eat healthy enough to stay trim without really working out. I hate diets and I will go to my death proclaiming that healthy food doesn't have to suck. Just because we have to eat doesn't mean it's our job or that we shouldn't enjoy it. I'll figure something out soon to share with you that's healthy and staggeringly, knee-buckling delicious. Promise. I've got some ideas... so once work lets up a bit and I am no longer awake until 2am playing with my data analysis software (Nerd Fact: it's because I think it's fun and I just can't stop), I am so on it. Work comes first, but a promise is a promise.

In the meantime, I'm going to tell you about these strawberry preserves. I grew up on a farm, which is something that as a child, I always seemed to want to get away from. Now that I've been a big-city girl for about 10 years, I can't believe how much I miss the country. So I went to a U-Pick strawberry farm just outside Atlanta. I tromped around in the dirt. It made this farm girl happy. Before I knew it, I had a big 5-gallon bucket full of lovely strawberries.

I had never made preserves before this batch, and while it was really hard work (mostly due to the canning), here are a few reasons you should try it, too.

Homemade preserves are seriously awesome.
They make really nice gifts, tied with ribbon and cute hand-written labels.
The little popping sound the Ball jars make when they seal, as you sit on the couch resting your tired-from-standing-over-the-stove legs, is maybe the sweetest sound in the whole world. You will never forget it.
Did I mention they're stupidly delicious?
Standing apron-clad in your kitchen, stirring big pots on the stove while listening to jazz music on a Sunday morning, makes you feel close your grandmother and closer to home. At least that's what it did for me.

You can put them on ice cream. You can put it on crostini smeared with softened fresh goat's cheese (a seriously amazing appetizer). You can have it with a toasted and buttered English muffin. You can plop a spoonful on top of some rustic seeded bread for a yummy snack. Here they are with crostini and goat's cheese:

Balsamic & Black Pepper Strawberry Preserves
from epicurious.com

2 cups strawberries (about 1 pint), trimmed and quartered*
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

In a small heavy saucepan bring all ingredients to a boil, stirring, and skim surface. Simmer mixture, stirring and skimming foam occasionally, 15 minutes, or until thickened and translucent. Remove pan from heat and cool preserves completely. Preserves keep, covered and chilled, 1 month.***

*Oh, a little trick. Hulling loads of strawberries is a drag. I trimmed the tops off, then I bootstrapped and used one of those straws from a plastic water bottle (about 1cm in diameter) to hull the berries before quartering them.

***The recipe as written yields about 2 cups of preserves. I of course recommend canning these if you (like I did) want to multiply this recipe times infinity.

Quinoa Bowl with Honey-Cumin Lemon Vinaigrette

2010-04-24T12:42:00.005+01:00

My Easter Break was kind of an unhealthy one. A trip to Poland for a conference (oh, pierogis! oh, vodka!), Easter dinner, leftovers from Easter dinner, and 2 days of birthday celebrations, while all wonderful and packed full of delicious foods shared with great friends, left me feeling hungover and kinda sluggish. I had to get back to the grind last week, and I needed something to kick my brain back into gear for science-time. Enter: quinoa.

Quinoa is one of those "superfoods." It's full of awesome goodness. It makes my brain juices flow. Not a real neuroscience term, but the metaphor works. It's food for my brain. It helps me write about brains. There's something oddly lovely in that.

Quinoa Bowl with Honey-Cumin Lemon Vinaigrette

Quinoa
Potatoes, cubed with skins left on (if using a thin-skinned variety)
Onion, diced
Garlic
Sea salt to taste
Freshly-cracked pepper
Olive oil for frying

Dressing:
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tea cumin
1 tablespoon honey, or more depending on preference
Dash of sea salt

Garnish:
Zest of 1/2 lemon

Cook quinoa in water or stock according to package instructions. Meanwhile, fry up potatoes and onion in some olive oil until potatoes are beginning to brown. Add salt, pepper and garlic and continue until potatoes are crispy.

Whisk all dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Assemble bowl - quinoa and vegetables go in, then pour some dressing over top. Serve sprinkled with lemon zest.

Best-Ever Mac and Cheese

2010-04-18T16:03:00.006+01:00

So I grew up on a farm in Ohio. Not exactly the Midwest, but close enough. As a result, I believe in home cooking. Generally, my food philosophy is that good food begins with good ingredients and not with a box. I didn't always feel this way. In undergrad, I found the ease and quick-preparation abilities of boxed foods to be a delight. But I was young and I didn't know what I was doing (and not just in the kitchen), so please forgive me. In the years hence, I have seen the err of my ways and have really grown into a much better cook. Hooray! Seriously, because I cannot believe that I missed out on making this awesome stuff for all these years. I'd like to go back in time and slap myself in the face for ever making any mac and cheese from a box when I could have been making this.

This is the mac and cheese of your dreams. The side dish of your holiday dinner fantasies. The coup de grace of boxed mac and cheese mixes. This made me feel like I was at home on the farm, at my grandmother's dining table. I really can't say enough good things about this. Make this. Do it.

Martha Stewart’s Creamy Mac-and-Cheese
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen, and then by me from the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics

225g (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
6 inches of a French baguette, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
1.3 litres (5 1/2 cups) whole milk
60g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
500g (about 18 ounces or 4 1/2 cups) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
225g (about 8 ounces or 2 cups) grated Gruyère cheese
500g (1 pound) rotini pasta

1. Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.

2. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

3. While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and most of both cheeses (leave about 100g cheddar and 50g gruyère aside for later); set the cheese sauce aside.

5. Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese, and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cover with foil if the top gets browned too soon. Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.

Serves 12

Snickerdoodles

2010-04-14T12:23:00.006+01:00

I'm an American. As much as I forget sometimes, I'm always reminded when I bake a cookie like the snickerdoodle. The first time I made them for my friends "over here", I got some very interesting looks. People in this country, so sadly, have never heard of the snickerdoodle. The classic American cookie, with its ridiculous name, got lots of laughs (and mmmmms, and ohmahgods) from my new British friends.

I've always had a great snickerdoodle recipe, and honestly, I have no idea where it came from. I wish I could say that I found it in my grandmother's cookbooks - but she didn't have any. I wanted it to be hand-written on an index card in the back of one of her kitchen cupboards, but it wasn't. Grandma died when I was still too young to learn anything culinary from her (except for the importance of keeping one's man steadily supplied with cookies - that one, I learned very well). I found this recipe somewhere on the interwebs, years ago, and I'll be damned if I can remember where. It yields a slightly crisp outside edge, and perfect softness on the inside.

They are best right out of the oven, still warm, standing with your boyfriend in your kitchen. Yeah, I'm single, but the only thing I can imagine that would make these better is if they were eaten in boyfriendland. If I had a boyfriend, I imagine he'd fall in love with me instantly upon taking his first bite. Seriously, if there's any man out there who doesn't appreciate a woman who has mastered the art of the snickerdoodle... well, I don't want him anyway.

**ooh, I almost forgot to tell you - these make awesome gifts. Stick 'em in a tin or a glass canister, and they make a lovely hostess gift.

Snickerdoodles

2 3/4 US cups (310 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 US cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 US cups (310 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Coating:

1/3 US cup (70 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in the centre of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and mix until you have a smooth dough.

Mix together cinnamon and sugar coating.

Shape the dough into 1- to 1 1/2- inch round balls. Coat in cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on the prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. My oven is finicky and bakes much faster, so keep an eye on them. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Cabbage and Leeks in Lemon Cream Sauce with Pulse Spaghetti

2010-04-13T10:50:00.004+01:00

Dear Reader (if indeed I have a reader),

I am so sorry for not telling you about this sooner. Yeah, this blog is still pretty young, but I feel as though this should have been the very first thing I ever posted. The world needs to know about cabbage braised in lemon-cream sauce.

I can just hear the 13-year-old version of myself getting all icked-out by it, but my grown-up pallete thinks this stuff is just HEAVEN. I swear it's awesome, and kinda just-right for this in between winter/spring thing that's happening in the UK. The weather has been nice. Some days are actually SUNNY, if you can believe it. But the veg is still very wintry - cabbage is still in season here (I secretly think winter vegetables are the only things that can grow on this island), but my taste buds are tired and requiring some summery, lemony brightness, even though the nights still have a considerable iciness to them.

So let's rewind for a second. A few months ago, I picked up some pulse spaghetti at Tesco. It's a spaghetti made from chickpeas, lentils and peas, and I was so excited to find something this healthy at Tesco (seriously, a chain grocery store?) and for relatively cheap. The first time I tried it, I just made a standard tomato-and-fake-mince thing. It was awful. The flavours didn't balance well and it left me feeling let down. The health of the pasta was lost in the haze of... something that tasted just WRONG.

But hating waste as I do, I stuck the rest in the cupboard and hoped for some inspiration.

I've been drained, working on... well... seemingly everything. Life is at a crux right now. I had zero fire when I entered my kitchen tonight. Nothing I wanted to make. A fridge full of veg but no ideas. Almost instinctively, I grabbed the cabbage and started chopping. A bowl full of chopped cabbage, and I still didn't know what to do with it.

Then my eyes hit that weirdo pasta in the back of the cupboard. Toss it all with olive oil and parmesan? Maybe. Out came the pasta. Then I remembered that I had a container of cream in the fridge, and also some leeks. I had fresh lemons from making lemon yogurt cupcakes. Normally I never would have thought to add pasta to the comforty creamed cabbage I fell in love with over at Sassy Radish, as I normally have this with boiled brown rice... but the stuff was already boiling happily away. Ok, I'd give it a try. Threw in a little spinach at the end for some colour and voilà! Something yummy. So yummy, in fact, that I have a little bit of a hard time believing it, based on my first experience with this pasta. But it really, really WORKED.

Cabbage and Leeks in Lemon Cream Sauce with Pulse Spaghetti
adapted from Sassy Radish

pulse spaghetti (sorry, don't ask me how much)
about 1/4 of a plain white cabbage, sliced into thin strips
1 leek, chopped
vegetable oil (or other neutral-tasting oil) for sautéing
sea salt & cracked pepper to taste
juice of 1 lemon
single cream (enough to cover the stuff, I'm so bad at measurements sometimes)
handful of spinach, destemmed, rinsed and roughly chopped
parmesan cheese for serving

Cook pulse spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, saute cabbage and leek in a large pan in some vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepepr, and allow the veg to soften and brown slightly. Add cream and lemon juice, and let the mixture simmer until the cabbage is completely cooked-through. Add more salt if needed.

Add pulse spaghetti and spinach. Stir to incorporate and simmer just long enough for the spinach to wilt. Serve with a dusting of parmesan cheese and freshly-cracked pepper.

Flax Seed Crackers

2010-04-12T12:49:00.004+01:00

Did you know you can make your own crackers?

Have you ever read the ingredients list on the back of your favourite boxed crackers? I did, and no matter how much I loved those little guys, I could no longer eat them. Pre-packaged food is not only filled with way-too-much sodium, but seriously... what are some of these things? That handful of Wheat Thins contained, in addition to over 200mg of sodium, lotsa things that I felt had no place in a humble cracker: 3 different kinds of sugar, fake colouring, preservatives. Things that will hook you. Things that aren't good for you.

Now, I feel a little bit guilty saying those things I just said about the health of my food. Because I am known to make some of the most ridiculous desserts. It's one of my favourite things to do. But I also believe in doing things the from-scratch way. I know what goes into my food. No preservatives. No fake colours. Just honest-to-goodness yummy-ness. And I manage to stay pretty fit, so it seems to work for me.

Last year, I threw myself into the cracker task. I had never known anyone to make their own crackers. For some reason, it just seemed like something you could only ever find in a box... it had never occurred to me, in all my baking years, to attempt crackers. So, I tried a few different recipes. I had successes and failures. This is a success story.

I went through a phase last year where I would buy up every ingredient I could find in the flour section of the farmers' market in Atlanta. I wound up with an abundance of flax meal - flax seeds that had been ground up into a powder. I bought it before I realised that I had no idea what I would do with it. I searched for recipes, and while I don't believe in miracles, I found this gem of a recipe from the Flax Council of Canada's website. Unfortunately, the measurements on the website kind of don't make any sense. So I've fixed it below.

They were great. Step aside, Wheat Thins, you crappy unhealthy cracker imposters! These are my new favourite little cracker. They make a great snack just by themselves. Also, they are very nice when topped with a thin slice of swiss cheese, tomato and cracked pepper. Or Nutella and toasted pine nuts. Just be careful... they are a bit fragile, unfortunately, so they don't "dip" well. But they really make up for it in flavour, and (of course) bragging rights. Seriously, everyone will think you're a culinary goddess, since you have just kicked Nabisco in their, erm... crackers.

Flax Seed Crackers
adapted from the Flax Council of Canada

1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp butter, softened
1/2 cup whole milk
sea salt to taste

In a bowl of a stand-up mixer, add flax seed, ground flax, flour, baking powder, salt and margarine or butter. With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Stir in milk and mix until mixture forms a soft dough.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).

Divide the dough into quarters. Turn out onto a lightly floured board. Roll out very thin to a rectangle 2 mm (1/16 inch) thick.

**a little trick: after you've rolled out the dough, sprinkle some sea salt over the top and use your rolling pin to lightly press the salt into the dough.

Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet and use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to score into squares. Mine were about 1" x 1", but you can make whatever size or shape you like.

Bake 20 minutes until crisp and golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.

Repeat with remaining 3 quarters of dough, each in a separate batch.

Yield: about 50 crackers (in 1-inch squares.)

Lemon-Yogurt Cupcakes (aka Little Cups of Sunshine)

2010-03-31T02:24:00.004+01:00

It rains in England. Lots. I'm not complaining -- just telling the truth. I feel like I haven't seen the sun in... well, ages. I needed a summery kick, and these little guys did a great job. Plus, they're super-cute.

I found the recipe ages ago and waited and waited. I don't know why I waited. Originally done here by Ina Garten in the form of a loaf cake, it seemed like a nice idea, but a little underwhelming. Once I decided to turn it into cupcakes, the idea took off and I could wait no longer. The cake has a simple base flavoured with lemon zest, and the best, best, best part is that as they are cooling, they get another dose of lemon with a lemon juice and sugar glaze. Then once they are completely cool, they get even more lemony with an additional glaze, this time made with icing sugar (known as confectioners' sugar to Americans). They were a little labour-intensive due to the two different glazes, but completely worth the effort!

Lemon-Yogurt Cupcakes
(adapted from the Food Network)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup greek-style yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup lemon juice

First glaze:
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Second glaze:
1 cup icing (confectioners') sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F (177C).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Line cupcake tin with paper cups and fill about 2/3 full. Each batch should take about 12 or so minutes, but keep an eye on them since all ovens are different (and mine is completely mental) - bake until the tops of the cupcakes turn a pretty brownish-golden colour.

For the first glaze, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

While the cupcakes are cooling off, spoon over the glaze - I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons per cupcake and ended up with some glaze left over.

Make the 2nd glaze by whisking the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice. Spoon over cupcakes when they are completely cooled.

Makes about 24 cupcakes.

Halloumi, Spinach and Bell Pepper Wrap with Chilli-Spiked Sour Cream

2010-03-20T11:43:00.004Z

Ok, let's talk about halloumi.

Halloumi is good stuff. It makes this vegetarian girl happy. It's a heavy, hearty cheese with a high melting point, and so it can be grilled. Yeah, you read that right. Stuck on a kebab and grilled. Or, if (like me) you don't have a grill, sautéing works great, too. The cheese should be "cooked" - it brings out the flavours and improves the texture of the cheese. It's a nice replacement for chicken in lots of vegetarian dishes, like this one.

I loved the clean flavours of this dish - really no seasoning to speak of, outside of the harissa used in the sauce. No added salt (the cheese has a certain pre-existing salt content). When all of the flavours balance nicely and pack a punch without adding anything from the spice rack, it makes me happy. And, just look at how pretty it is.

Halloumi, Spinach and Bell Pepper Wrap with Chilli-Spiked Sour Cream

1 bell pepper, colour of your choosing, or a mixture of colours
~ 1/3 large yellow onion, sliced
1/2 package of halloumi, sliced into planks
Big handful of spinach, rinsed & dried, stems removed
Some olive oil for frying
2 tortillas/ fajita wraps

For sauce:
Few tablespoons of sour cream
About 1 teaspoon harissa paste

Lime wedges for serving.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add pepper and onion and sauté until vegetables are soft, remove from pan and set aside.

Meanwhile, make chilli cream sauce by mixing the harissa paste with the sour cream until incorporated.

Add a little more olive oil to the pan and fry halloumi planks until golden, about 3 minutes per side.

While the halloumi is grilling, assemble wraps: arrange spinach on tortillas, then add the sautéed vegetalbes. When the halloumi is finished, add to tortilla and spoon the sauce on. Serve open-faced with lime wedges.

Chocolate Ganache Bars with Pretzel Crust

2010-03-13T10:53:00.010Z

I have this thing for sweet and salty. Pecan turtles. Salted caramels. And, yes, the pièce de résistance, chocolate-covered pretzels. So when I heard about a chocolate ganache tart in a crust made from crushed pretzels, it didn't stay on my radar for too long before I had a go at it.

I decided I wanted to cut it into squares, for ease of serving, so I used a square baking pan instead of a proper tart pan. The result was a much thicker crust (which needed to be baked for longer) and a thicker layer of ganache as well. I wouldn't recommend it for bars again, since the crust ended up being a pain to cut through, and when served in bar-form, the ganache was a bit too soft to get a nice bite out of it. To remedy this, I would suggest scoring the crust with a knife before baking it off (and/or making the crust thinner), and using less cream in the ganache. But if you're looking for a killer tart, without any changes, you've just meet your dream-come-true. I've posted the original recipe below with some additional notes.

Now, despite my issues with the too-thick crust and too-creamy ganache, I have to say that these were awesome. Crave-them-all-the-time awesome. People-will-ask-if-you-have-any-more awesome. So yes, they will be made again.

Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust

Crust:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups coarsely crushed thin pretzels (3 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
2 ounces (~55g) bittersweet chocolate, melted

Filling:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I used 1 1/4 cup [300ml], and the ganache was still quite soft)
12 ounces (340g) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (I used half milk chocolate and half semi-sweet)

In a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with 3/4 cup of the pretzels and the confectioners’ sugar at low speed until creamy. Beat in the flour and egg. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of pretzels, being sure to leave some pretzel pieces intact. Flatten the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Roll out the dough between the sheets of plastic wrap to a 12-inch round. Peel off the top sheet and invert the dough over a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough into the corners and patch any tears. Trim the overhanging dough and refrigerate the shell for 30 minutes or until firm.

Line the shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake for about 30 minutes, until nearly set. Remove the parchment and weights and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until the tart shell is firm; cover the edge with foil if it darkens too much. Let the shell cool completely. Brush the melted chocolate over the bottom and up the side and refrigerate for 10 minutes, until set.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from head and pour over the chocolate and let stand for about a minute. Slowly whisk until smooth. Transfer the filling to a bowl and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Pour the filling into the shell and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and crushed pretzels.

Buttermilk Rye Pancakes

2010-03-10T16:36:00.011Z

Alton Brown is one of the few television chefs I really respect. Now, I don't watch a lot of television these days, but I do cook - a lot. And his recipes are perfect. He really focuses on the science of cooking, which lends so much understanding of how ingredients interact with each other during the cooking process. Now, how could I not appreciate bringing a little science into the kitchen?

I was having a lazy Sunday morning. I'd slept late, and while most days I don't eat breakfast, I was really feeling the potential that morning. I was well-rested. I didn't have much else to do. I had buttermilk in the fridge. (Those three conditions, incidentally, are vital conditions if one wishes to create anything great... be it Sunday morning pancakes or a life-changing, quit-your-job-and-move-to-another-country career plan).

So I came across Alton Brown's buttermilk pancake recipe on the Food Network site. The only thing I did differently here was that I swapped half of the AP flour for some whole rye flour I'd picked up at the farmers' market. The rye ended up being a perfect addition, transforming the usual fluffy/creamy buttermilk pancakes into something a bit more earthy and wholesome. I'd love to try other types of flour here, just for fun... that is, if I ever get tired of the recipe just as it is. The recipe provided is for a mix to keep in the cupboard, and while you could half this mix (or more) for single-use purposes, why-oh-why would you want to?

Buttermilk Rye Pancakes

adapted from Alton Brown's recipe

Dry pancake mix:

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole rye flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (check expiration date first)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a lidded container. Shake to mix. Use the mix within 3 months.

"Instant" Pancakes:

2 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons (about 55g) melted butter
2 cups Pancake Mix, recipe above
1 stick (about 113g) butter, for greasing the pan
2 cups fresh fruit such as blueberries, if desired

Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350F (175C).

Whisk together the egg whites and the buttermilk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.

Combine the buttermilk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.

Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)

Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle and sprinkle on fruit if desired. When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.

Serve immediately or remove to a towel-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Hold in a warm place (e.g. oven at 200F/90C) for 20 to 30 minutes.

Yield: 12 pancakes

I recommend, of course, serving with pure Ohio maple syrup. I realise this is not widely available outside my childhood home in Northeast Ohio (my family has been making maple syrup for uncountable generations, and it's the only kind that tastes good to me). My advice: spend the money. Use real maple syrup. Aunt Jemima is not real maple syrup. I cannot stress this enough. If there is more than one ingredient listed on your bottle of maple syrup, it's not maple syrup. (Okok, stepping off my soapbox now...)

Feta and Avocado Sandwich

2010-03-06T12:28:00.004Z

Still in my quest for vegetarian sandwiches, I dreamed this one up while staring at the open refrigerator, starved and slightly slack-jawed from reading about I-can't-remember-what (but I'm sure it probably had something to do with baboons). It was nice... a mixture of flavours I've not tried before, and a filling lunch that got my brain back on task. I loved the combination of salty feta and sweet honey, and the pairing of smooth avocado with the crisp lettuce. This one's a keeper - I can't wait until tomatoes are in season, because this would certainly benefit from a red, juicy tomato, sliced paper-thin and hiding underneath the feta.

Feta and Avocado Sandwich

Spread mayonnaise on 2 slices of whole grain bread and stack:
-bread slice no. 1
-lettuce
-feta
-avocado
-drizzle on some honey
-more lettuce
-the other slice of bread, and you're all done!

Buttery Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

2010-02-20T13:36:00.013Z

Mmmm. Good. Heavens.

This cake was goooood.

I needed something to take along to one of my seminars, that's good for a quick snack with afternoon tea. I'd had this recipe bookmarked for a couple of weeks, and I'm glad it didn't remain too long on the to-be-baked list. This cake is super-moist, very rich, and sure to impress. It also might impress the women in your life, if you happen to have any. I'm not really sure what else to say about it... except that you should most definitely make it for your next dinner party, potluck, or any time all of your friends gather in the same location.

*Note to Brits: this cake, though called a "coffee cake," does not contain coffee. It's for having with coffee - kind of like how teacakes don't actually contain tea. Yet another instance of two countries separated by a common language... I'm slowly learning to cope.

I found the recipe via this food blog, and the original recipe is here. The only thing I can think that might make it better is an addition of some lemon zest in the filling. Next time.

Buttery Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

CAKE

1 cup (225g) butter (no substitutes)
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream (I used crème fraiche)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

FILLING

2 (8 oz or 250g each) packages cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

TOPPING

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter

Set oven to 350F (175C) with oven rack set to second-lowest position. Grease a 13 x 9-inch (or an 11 x 7-inch, baking time will need to be increased slightly). Cream butter with sugar (about 3-4 minutes), add in eggs and sour cream or crème fraiche; beat well (about another 3 minutes). In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture; beat well until combined (batter will be thick). Spread more than half of the batter in the prepared baking pan. In another bowl, cream together all filling ingredients, then carefully spread over the cake batter. Spoon the remaining cake batter over the top of the cheese mixture. Mix all topping ingredients, pinching together with fingers until the consistency is like crumbs, and sprinkle over the top. Bake for about 50-55 minutes or until middle feels set and not jiggly.

Spinach & Lentil Curry

2010-02-16T18:43:00.015Z

Curry has always scared me. I was always just a bit terrified of it... all those spices, all that effort, and for what? Some gloppy-ish thing served over rice like you find at the chippy? Even if one could cope with the mile-long ingredient lists, why would they bother? I decided that it was time to try - I very well couldn't continue to live here in England without figuring out how to tame the curry beast like the rest of the population.

Still, I wanted a recipe that didn't call for 18 different spices. I try to keep my cooking more simple than that. Then I found this one, courtesy of TimesOnline. A few additions and substitutions (as is my usual style), and I had all the ingredients. My time had finally come.

Halfway through cooking the lentils, I was worried. Worried, worried. The broth tasted like... spicy sand. It was weirdly gritty, or rather, DUSTY, like chalkdust on the day you clean the erasers. But I stuck to my guns, and followed the recipe. Would the Times lead me astray?

I cannot believe I had any doubts, because this turned out to be one of the best things I have ever made. I felt warmed, healthy, smart, not over-full... quite perfect, really. So even if curry scares you, like it scared me up until the moment I took a bite - never fear. It is so worth it.

*The Times calls for split yellow mung lentils, of which I have never been a fan - so I used my always-on-hand french green lentils, which are smaller, not-split, and have a firmer texture (they kind of *pop* when you bite them). So I swapped half of them for some bulgur wheat to mimick the consistency of yellow lentils and add a whole grain to the already-healthy dish. I made other minor adjustments as my pantry would allow, and added a dollop of greek yoghurt and shallots for garnish. Do NOT skip the yoghurt... it beautifully cuts through and compliments the flavours of the curry, and makes it a perfect toast-topper.

**Also, the Times created this dish more soupy than I wanted it, so I adjusted the water content accordingly, paying close attention to add just the right amount as I went along. I imagine, though, that this would make a delicious soup, and I'd like to try it that way at some point, also with a little swirl of yoghurt or crème fraîche.

Spinach & Lentil Curry
Serves 4

~1/2 cup french green lentils
~1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1/2 tea ground ginger
2 tea harissa paste (or chilli of your choice)
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
~3 tbsp tomato paste or puree'd tomatoes
200g baby spinach leaves, stems removed, roughly chopped.
sea salt to taste (don't skimp - since there's no salty broth, you'll need it.)
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves garlic (~2 tea garlic paste)
3/4 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 shallot, minced (for garnish)
small pot of greek yoghurt (for serving)

Place the lentils, ginger, harissa and turmeric in a pan, and add enough water to cover the lentils 2x. Bring to a boil, then simmer over a moderate heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a further 20-ish minutes. Add bulgur and continue simmering for however long it takes for your lentils to get a little mushy - in this case you want them slightly overcooked so they break down and thicken your pot. ((Add water as needed, both the lentils and the bulgur will absorb a LOT of it, keep adding it a bit at a time to avoid a soupy consistency in the end.)) Add salt and set aside.

Heat the butter in a small pan. Add the cumin and garlic and allow the mixture to become fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the coriander powder and garam masala, mix well, then pour the mixture into the pan of lentils.

Add spinach. Place pot back on heat and add a little hot water if you need it, heating just long enough for the spinach to wilt - maybe 2 minutes - stirring to incorporate spinach into the lentil mixture.

Serve hot with a big dollop of greek yogurt and sprinkle with minced shallot.

Serve with toast points, or if you're feeling frisky, a nice crusty, olive-oil brushed french or italian loaf.