I think we can all agree that I failed with the concept of posting every day in November. I guess I should have known. Things happen. This November the main distraction has been the arrival of a new niece and now all I can think about is Christmas in Edinburgh and lots of new baby cuddle time.
But yesterday in a fit of almost December preparation I shopped and I stirred and I baked and I ended the day with a Christmas cake well wrapped and awaiting weekly feeds of brandy, two jars of mincemeat, a vat of soup, and a clementine cake because it seemed unfair to spend the entire day baking and not end up with anything that could be eaten straight away.
Next weekend Christmas pudding.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Sunday, 22 November 2009
TEA AND CAKE
My last few posts have been all words and no pictures so here's one from yesterday afternoon to try and redress the balance.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
STUFFED PEPPERS
While in the midst of my Sunday cookathon (probably between waiting for the cake to bake and starting on the bolognese) I sat down with Tender ready to decide what to try next and placed the ribbon against a recipe for peppers stuffed with pork mince, parmesan and rosemary.
Unlikely though it sounds I couldn't find normal red peppers so had to use the long skinny Romano peppers. They taste great but do not lend themselves to easy stuffing so it was more of a pepper and pork gratin. A layer of soft floppy peppers topped with the minced pork mixture and parmesan. It may not have been the prettiest dish (there were photos but you really don't need to see them) and it may not have been the easiest dish to serve but Nigel's place in my heart is safe. Another easy tasty midweek supper option from the house of Slater.
Peppers with mince, parmesan and rosemary (from Tender: v.1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch)
Serves 4
a large onion
2 tablespoons of olive oil and a little more
2 cloves of garlic
3 bushy sprigs of rosemary
2 large tomatoes
350g of minced pork
50g of breadcrumbs
6 small red peppers
grated parmesan
Set the oven at 200ºC/Gas 6.
Peel and finely chop the onion, put it into a large, shallow pan with the oil over a moderate heat. Let the onion soften without colouring. Peel and slice the garlic, chop the leaves from the sprigs of rosemary and add to the onions. When all is soft and fragrant, chop the tomatoes and stir them in. Continue cooking until the tomatoes have collapsed into the sauce. Season with salt and black pepper, then stir in the minced pork and the breadcrumbs. Remove from the heat.
Cut the peppers in half lengthways then lower them into a pan of boiling water for 6-8 minutes until they are slightly limp. Remove them with a draining spoon and put them skin-side down in a baking dish.
Divide the pork mixture between the peppers then moisten with a little olive oil. Scatter grated parmesan over the peppers and bake for 35 minutes till sizzling.
Unlikely though it sounds I couldn't find normal red peppers so had to use the long skinny Romano peppers. They taste great but do not lend themselves to easy stuffing so it was more of a pepper and pork gratin. A layer of soft floppy peppers topped with the minced pork mixture and parmesan. It may not have been the prettiest dish (there were photos but you really don't need to see them) and it may not have been the easiest dish to serve but Nigel's place in my heart is safe. Another easy tasty midweek supper option from the house of Slater.
Peppers with mince, parmesan and rosemary (from Tender: v.1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch)
Serves 4
a large onion
2 tablespoons of olive oil and a little more
2 cloves of garlic
3 bushy sprigs of rosemary
2 large tomatoes
350g of minced pork
50g of breadcrumbs
6 small red peppers
grated parmesan
Set the oven at 200ºC/Gas 6.
Peel and finely chop the onion, put it into a large, shallow pan with the oil over a moderate heat. Let the onion soften without colouring. Peel and slice the garlic, chop the leaves from the sprigs of rosemary and add to the onions. When all is soft and fragrant, chop the tomatoes and stir them in. Continue cooking until the tomatoes have collapsed into the sauce. Season with salt and black pepper, then stir in the minced pork and the breadcrumbs. Remove from the heat.
Cut the peppers in half lengthways then lower them into a pan of boiling water for 6-8 minutes until they are slightly limp. Remove them with a draining spoon and put them skin-side down in a baking dish.
Divide the pork mixture between the peppers then moisten with a little olive oil. Scatter grated parmesan over the peppers and bake for 35 minutes till sizzling.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
BONUS
One of the upsides of good friends staying in your flat is that those very same good friends might make dinner.
Pearl barley risotto with butternut squash, sage chicken, and a green salad.
So nice to sit down to a meal that requires no shopping, no thought, no effort after a day at work and I'll definitely be experimenting with pearl barley in the future.
Pearl barley risotto with butternut squash, sage chicken, and a green salad.
So nice to sit down to a meal that requires no shopping, no thought, no effort after a day at work and I'll definitely be experimenting with pearl barley in the future.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Monday, 16 November 2009
TIME TO LEARN
I really should have learned by now.
Yesterday I cooked four separate dishes all requiring separate sets of ingredients, separate cooking methods, and separate amounts of time in the kitchen.
But did I give these four separate dishes four separate posts in this month of (apparently) daily posting?
No.
Why?
Because that would have made my life far too easy:
Sunday 15th November - granola
Monday 16th November - soup
Tuesday 17th November - spaghetti bolognese
Wednesday 18th November - cake
See how easy that would have been? It would have been Thursday by now.
Instead I'm sitting here watching nonsense on the TV but with a full belly from yesterday's soup with bread and cheese followed by a slice of yesterday's cake. All good just not all that blog savvy.
Yesterday I cooked four separate dishes all requiring separate sets of ingredients, separate cooking methods, and separate amounts of time in the kitchen.
But did I give these four separate dishes four separate posts in this month of (apparently) daily posting?
No.
Why?
Because that would have made my life far too easy:
Sunday 15th November - granola
Monday 16th November - soup
Tuesday 17th November - spaghetti bolognese
Wednesday 18th November - cake
See how easy that would have been? It would have been Thursday by now.
Instead I'm sitting here watching nonsense on the TV but with a full belly from yesterday's soup with bread and cheese followed by a slice of yesterday's cake. All good just not all that blog savvy.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
SPRUCED-UP VANILLA CAKE
Clearly NaBloPoMo and I are not going to get on very well this year.
Ah well, even if I'm not quite managing every day I am at least managing to post an awful lot more than I have in recent months.
Our friends Sarah and Rob are coming to stay. We visited them in Toronto in June and they've decided to move to London. They've found a flat close to us but it isn't free until early December so until then they will be with us which will mean being a lot more organised if we are to feed four people out of our tiny kitchen.
So, yesterday we cleaned and today I spent the day finishing off a few things around the flat and pottering about in said kitchen.
First a batch of cranberry, almond, and honey granola for us all to have for breakfast this week with yoghurt or milk.
Next some root vegetable soup - onion, celery, carrot, parsnip, turnip, potato, bay, stock and a parmesan rind which had been sitting in the fridge being forgotten about for far too long. I had planned to boil, blend, cool and store the soup but after tasting a spoonful I had to sit down with a bowlful straight away, the parmesan brought creaminess and a savoury something that made it more than a simple root vegetable soup.
As I write this Nigel Slater's spaghetti bolognese is simmering on the hob. Enough for us to have for dinner with leftovers for the freezer.
Before I started on that I decided there was time for a cake. Mid November seemed as good a time as any to pull Nigella's Christmas off the shelf. After perusing the pages and mentally bookmarking some recipes to try in the run up to Christmas I decided to make a vanilla cake. I'm saving it for tomorrow so I'll let you know how it tastes but, in the meantime, the flat smells of vanilla and baking. Never a bad thing.
SPRUCED-UP VANILLA CAKE (from Nigella's Christmas)
225g/8oz soft butter, plus extra for greasing
300g/10½oz caster sugar
6 free-range eggs
350g/10½oz plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
250ml/9oz low-fat natural yoghurt
4 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and place a baking tray into the oven to heat. Grease a 2.5 litre/4 pint 8fl oz bundt tin very liberally with butter or flavourless oil.
Mix the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or hand blender until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking each one in with a tablespoon of the flour. Carefully fold in the remaining flour and the bicarbonate of soda using a large metal spoon, then fold in the yoghurt and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread until level.
Place the tin on the preheated baking sheet in the oven and cook for 45-60 minutes, until well risen and golden-brown. After 45 minutes, push a metal skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.
Remove the cake from the oven and place onto a wire rack, without removing it from the tin. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Gently pull away the edges of the cake from the tin with your fingers, then carefully turn out the cake onto the wire rack. Leave to cool completely and, if you want to, sprinkle some icing sugar over the cake before serving.
Ah well, even if I'm not quite managing every day I am at least managing to post an awful lot more than I have in recent months.
Our friends Sarah and Rob are coming to stay. We visited them in Toronto in June and they've decided to move to London. They've found a flat close to us but it isn't free until early December so until then they will be with us which will mean being a lot more organised if we are to feed four people out of our tiny kitchen.
So, yesterday we cleaned and today I spent the day finishing off a few things around the flat and pottering about in said kitchen.
First a batch of cranberry, almond, and honey granola for us all to have for breakfast this week with yoghurt or milk.
Next some root vegetable soup - onion, celery, carrot, parsnip, turnip, potato, bay, stock and a parmesan rind which had been sitting in the fridge being forgotten about for far too long. I had planned to boil, blend, cool and store the soup but after tasting a spoonful I had to sit down with a bowlful straight away, the parmesan brought creaminess and a savoury something that made it more than a simple root vegetable soup.
As I write this Nigel Slater's spaghetti bolognese is simmering on the hob. Enough for us to have for dinner with leftovers for the freezer.
Before I started on that I decided there was time for a cake. Mid November seemed as good a time as any to pull Nigella's Christmas off the shelf. After perusing the pages and mentally bookmarking some recipes to try in the run up to Christmas I decided to make a vanilla cake. I'm saving it for tomorrow so I'll let you know how it tastes but, in the meantime, the flat smells of vanilla and baking. Never a bad thing.
SPRUCED-UP VANILLA CAKE (from Nigella's Christmas)
225g/8oz soft butter, plus extra for greasing
300g/10½oz caster sugar
6 free-range eggs
350g/10½oz plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
250ml/9oz low-fat natural yoghurt
4 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and place a baking tray into the oven to heat. Grease a 2.5 litre/4 pint 8fl oz bundt tin very liberally with butter or flavourless oil.
Mix the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or hand blender until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking each one in with a tablespoon of the flour. Carefully fold in the remaining flour and the bicarbonate of soda using a large metal spoon, then fold in the yoghurt and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread until level.
Place the tin on the preheated baking sheet in the oven and cook for 45-60 minutes, until well risen and golden-brown. After 45 minutes, push a metal skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.
Remove the cake from the oven and place onto a wire rack, without removing it from the tin. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Gently pull away the edges of the cake from the tin with your fingers, then carefully turn out the cake onto the wire rack. Leave to cool completely and, if you want to, sprinkle some icing sugar over the cake before serving.
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