Leek and Potato Soup

This a soup that I made to use up excess vegetables from the box.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Butter or margarine
1 clove grated Garlic
two good sized Leeks( about 500g)
Potatoes (about 500g)
900 mls hot water with two chicken stock cubes
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon black Pepper
1/2 pint Milk or cream

1. First, clean and chop the leeks. Melt the butter / margarine in a pan and add the chopped leeks and garlic. Fry them over a low to medium heat until the leeks are soft. This will take about ten minutes. Stir frequently so that none of the ingredients brown.
2. Peel the potatoes and chop them into cubes. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan with the exception of the milk / cream.
3. Bring the soup to the boil and then let it simmer (just barely boiling) for the remaining cooking time.
4. If you want the potato to stay chunky, cook for 15 to 17 minutes until the potato is soft. If you want to blend the soup, cook for about 20 minutes.
5. Blend the soup till smooth if thats the way you like it.
Just before serving, pour the milk / cream into the soup and stir well. If you plan to freeze some of the soup, don't add the milk / cream to the pan, instead add three tablespoons of milk / cream to each soup bowl.

Curd Cheesecake

Cheap curd cheese in waitrose and memories of my polish friend's mother's cheesecake inspired me to make this recipe. I found the recipe on http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2006/05/cheesecake-with-curd-cheese-and-lots.html . If you only have one set of beaters for your hand whisk, beat the egg whites first off, its a real job to clean the cheese mixture off the beaters, and for beating egg whites, they need to be really squeaky clean. The end result was really tasty - but not the same as the one I remember - the quest continues....!

150 grams butter, softened
175 grams caster sugar
2 to 3 juicy lemons (depending on your taste), juiced and zested
3 medium eggs
250 grams low-fat milk curd cheese or ricotta
125 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Cream the soft butter with caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking thoroughly each time.Mix in lemon juice, grated zest and curd cheese. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix the dough until combined.Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the dough, little by little.Pour the dough into a buttered and floured 20 cm cake tin.Bake in the middle of 180C oven for 40-50 minutes, until the cake has risen and is lovely golden brown.Let it cool for an hour in the tin before cutting into pieces and serving.

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

I had a jar of lemon curd to use up so I made up this recipe. Makes 20
100g Self raising flour
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs
100g butter
250g lemon curd
150g blueberries
200g mascarpone
Preheat oven 180C
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and smooth. Alternatively sift the flour and crack the egg in to the mixture and beat until smooth. Stir 100g lemon curd in to the mixture and 100g of the blueberries. You need to make sure you have 40 blueberries left to decorate the cakes. . Spoon the mixture in to cake cases and bake for about 15 minutes and golden brown.. While the cakes are cooling, mix together the mascarpone and the rest of the lemon curd. You want it to be marlbed so you can still see a swirl of lemon curd. Spread or pipe the mascarpone on to the cakes and put two blueberries on top of each one.

Raspberry Lemonade Cordial

I got this recipe from a the Sainsbury's magazine. It tastes divine - so summery and the colour is perfect pink. it makes about 500ml.

200g caster sugar
Juice of 3-4 and finely pared peel of 2 unwaxed lemons ( about 175ml juice)
150g raspberries
2 tbsp sifted icing sugar

Puter the caster sugar in a pan with 200ml water and the lemon peel. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and boil vigourously for 2 minutes without stirring. Set aside to cool. Mix in the lemon jjuice and strain in to a large bottle or jug. Whiz the raspberries with the icing sugar in a blender and strain in to the lemon mixture, discarding the seeds. Stir together and chill. To serve, dilute to taste with chilled still or sparkling water.

Malteser Tray Bake

This is definitely not healthy but a lovely treat. I made it to take away on our holiday, with a big group of friends! I found it on the Nigella website.

100g butter
200g milk chocolate
3 tablesp golden syrup
225g finely crushed digestive biscuits
225g maltesers


Melt together the butter, chocolate and syrup then add the crushed biscuits and the maltesers. Mix together quickly then pour into a lined swiss roll tin and chill til set. For a special occasion drizzle with some melted white chocolate.

Spicy Barley Salad with Aubergine and Pepper

I found this recipe at http://lucullian.blogspot.com/2007/06/spicy-barley-salad-with-eggplant-bell.html and though it sounded really interesting as I'd never come accross a salad with barley before, and its really nice to have a different carb! It was really tasty with the chewy texture of the barley and the warm tastes of the veg. I cooked the onion this time. I served it with pork steaks that had been marinated in lemon and rosemary. Served 4

Cooked pearl barley about 150g ( will take about 40 minutes to cook, follow packet instructions)
1 Aubergine
1 Red pepper
1 Onion
Handful Fresh basil
tea spoon Cumin seeds
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Dice the aubergine with skin on and sauté it until golden together with the cumin seeds, not too much, it doesn't have to be too dominant a flavour. Add the chopped onion

Cut the pepper into quite small pieces mix with the barley.

Add the aubergine and onion, take care to add the cumin seeds as well, the basil torn into small pieces, salt and olive oil.

Mix well and serve!

Rainbow Chard Pesto

I got this recipe from http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk. Its a great way to use up lots of chard - which was starting to be bit familar in my kitchen after 3 veg box weeks of it!

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Bunch of chard (about 500g) - any variety
Handful (about 50g) pine nuts
100g fresh parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated
Handful of fresh fresh leaf parsley or basil leaves

Method
1.Wash the chard thoroughly and shake to dry.
2. Put the olive oil in a saucepan
3.Chop the chard stems and add them to the pan. Stir and then cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
4.Press the garlic and add to pan,Roughly chop the chard leaves and add them to the pan. Cook for another 3 minutes until wilted,
5.Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes (either under a pre-heated grill or in a dry pan)
6.Turn off the heat under the chard. Add the parsley leaves, pine nuts and parmesan. Taste and season.
7.Puree the mixture until it looks like pesto.

Elderflower Cupcakes

Elderflower is everywhere round by us at the moment, and in our ever present rainy weather you get a lovely scent when you walk past it. I decided to try making some elderflower cupcakes using the elderflower cordial I made the other day. I tried two different types of icing, glace icing and butter icing. I prefered the glace icing as the elderflower flavour came through better.

The Cakes

2 eggs

the weight of the two eggs of :

Caster sugar

Butter

Self raising flour

Elderflower cordial to taste.( you can buy this in most supermarkets if you haven't made it)

Glace icing

100g icing sugar

about 2 tablespoons elderflower cordial

Butter icing

100g icing sugar

100g butter

2 tablespoons elderflower cordial

To decorate - washed and debugged elderflowers ( or silver balls or sugar flowers would be good if you can't get hold of elderflowers)

Preheat the oven to 180C

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and creamy. Add one egg and half the flour, mix well, then add the rest of the flour and the other egg and mix until smooth. Add the elderflower cordial a tablespoon at a time, until you can get a faint taste from the batter, this will be a matter of personal taste. Spoon in to cake cases ( about 24) and cook for 15 mins or until risen and golden.

When cooled make the icing. For the glace icing sieve the icing sugar and add elderflower cordial a tea spoon at a time until you get a smooth paste. Colour as desired. For the butter icing, cream the sieved icing sugar and butter together, then add elderflower cordial to taste and beat until smooth.

Pull the little flowers off the stalks of the elderflower, checking for bugs, and sprinkle over the icing.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Sparx . I have to think of 10 interesting things about myself. I can't think of 10, so 5 will have to do.
1. I like the colour green
2. I'm a bit mad on cupcakes
3. I'm lefthanded so very clumsy
4. I love France
5. My favourite song in In my Life by the Beatles...

I tag: Anne, Estelle, Charlotte, Michelle and Helen....All who write blogs I really enjoy.

Elderflower Cordial

This is a Lesley Waters recipe, which i looked up after walking back from a birthday party today and seeing, then picking lots of elderflowers... If i try all the ideas at the bottom, I'm not going to have any left to drink!

Ingredients
20 heads of elderflower
1.8kg granulated sugar, or caster sugar
1.2 litres water
2 unwaxed lemon
75g citric acid
Method
1. Shake the elderflowers to expel any lingering insects, and then place in a large bowl.
2. Put the sugar into a pan with the water and bring up to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.
3. While the sugar syrup is heating, pare the zest of the lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice the lemons, discard the ends, and add the slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup, and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and then leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
4. Next day, strain the cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed out in boiling water), and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles. Screw on the lids and pop into the cupboard ready to use.
Cook's Notes: To serve Elderflower Cordial: Dilute the elderflower cordial to taste with fizzy water, and serve over ice with a slice or two of lemon, or a sprig of mint floating on top.
For something a touch more sprightly, add a shot of gin or vodka and a lemon slice, or add it to white wine and sparkling water to make an elderflower spritzer.
You might even try adding it to a marinade for chicken breasts. Try it in sorbets, or ice-creams, or just spooned over scoops of vanilla ice-cream, or use it to sweeten and flavour the fruit for a crumble.

Spicy Fish Stew

This is so quick and so easy! Low in calories too. A great midweeker! I am steadily working my way through the May Good Food Magazine, and this recipe is from there.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
½tsp paprika
200g can chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, deseeded, cut into chunks
450g white fish fillets, cut into chunks ( I used coley)
handful coriander,
roughly chopped 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat oil in a saucepan. Tip in the garlic, cumin and paprika and cook for 1 min. Add 100ml water and the tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat. Add the pepper, simmer for 5 mins. Add the fish, simmer for 5 mins. Serve with coriander and a wedge of lemon

Brioche Breadmaker Recipe

This is fantastic - it tastes really good. It is from "The Ultimate Breadmaker Recipe Book" by Jennie Shapter. I would even be tempted to cook it in the breadmaker too - I might try it next time.

2 tbsp milk
2 eggs
225g white bread flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
50g butter melted
1 ½ tsp easy blend dried yeast

Pour the milk and the eggs in to the bread machine pan.
Spinkle over the flour, ensuring that it covers the liquid. Add the salt, sugar and butter then add the yeast in top.
Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start.
Grease a loaf tin or small tins
When the dough is ready put in your chosen mould and spread a glaze of egg yolk and milk on top and bake in the oven at 220C.

Hot Harissa Lamb with Couscous

I got this from the Good Food magazine, and have typed it in mostly so that I don't lose it! It really was quite delicious, though quite spicy. I served it with some chopped, fried red pepper too, and put some finely chopped fresh mint in the couscous.

4 tbsp Harissa paste
300g couscous
120g bag herb salad
4 lamb leg steaks
2tbsp demerara sugar
1. Spoon 1 tbsp harissa in to a jug, fill with 400ml boiling water, then pour over the couscous in a large serving bowl. Cover and stand for 5 minutes. Fluff up with fork, then empty the salad on top.
2. Heat a frying pan. Season lamb, then fry for 1 min each side. Mix sugar and remaining harissa, then spread over the lamb. Cook for 2 more mins each side, remove from pan and rest for 5 mins. Add a splash of water to the pan then boil to make a sauce. Slice lamb and serve on top of the salad with the sauce drizzled over.

Breadmaker Naan Bread

This is the best breadmaker recipe I've found for naan. I've tried several! Its adapted from "The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook" by Jennie Shapter. I served it with a chicken and lentil curry.

100ml water
60ml natural yoghurt
280g white bread flour
5ml cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
2 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp melted butter, and extra for brushing
1 tsp dried yeast

Pour the water and yoghurt in to the bread machine pan.
Sprinkle over the flour ensuring that covers the liquid completely. Add half the cumin seeds
Add the salt, honey and the tbsp melted butter, then add the dried yeast.
Set the bread maker to the dough setting and start.
When the cycle has finished, preheat your oven to the highest setting and place 3 baking trays in the oven to heat up. Remove the dough from the bread machine and place on a lightly floured surface.
Knock down the dough. Dived the dough in to 3 equal pieces.
Shape each piece in to a ball then roll out. A teardrop shape looks authentic. Sprinkle the rest of the cumin seeds on top.
preheat the grill to its highest setting. Place the naan on a the preheated baking sheets and bake the naan for 4-5 minutes until puffed up. Place the naans under the grill for a minute until the naans starts to brown and blister.
Brush the naan with melted butter and serve warm.

Garlic and coriander naan- add chopped garlic to dough before making, then layer fresh coriander in when kneading

Peshwari naan – sprinkle coconut and raisins on top before cooking then spread with butter.

Moroccan Chicken.

This is a quick chicken dish with Moroccan flavours - its not claiming to be a full blown, slow cooked tagine, but is great to get a North African Flavour in to your midweek! You can also make this in the oven, browning the whole chicken pieces,on the hob first. I tried it in the oven with whole legs of chicken and it was fantastic.
Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil
2 skinned chicken breast, diced
1 leek, finely chopped, ( if you don't have a leek, use an onion)
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp tomato purée
75ml white wine
30g/1oz dried apricots
3tbsp fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped. ( parsley leaves work as well)
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.
2. Add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides.
3. Add the leek and fry for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add all the other ingredients, except the coriander and stir well.
Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
5. To serve, pour into a bowl and garnish with the coriander.

To make a couscous that goes well with this, in the pan you cooked the chicken in, put some couscous ( use packet instructions for portion size), and add 1 and half times as much in volume boiling chicken stock. When the couscous is cooked, stir in the juice of a lemon, lots of chopped parsley or coriander, black pepper and chopped roasted veg ( peppers, aubergine, courgette).

Nigella's Chocohotopots

These are meant to be a kids dessert but they are great for adults too. They are very easy and look very impressive...

125g Unsalted butter
125G dark Chocolate
2 eggs
150g caster sugar
3 tbsp plain flour

You will need four 150ml ramekins. Perheat oven to gas mark 6 (200C). Butter four ramekins. Melt the butter and the dark chocolate, then set aside to cool. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar and flour. Then beat in the cooled butter/chocolate mix. Pour into four buttered ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and place in the oven, and bake for about 20 minutes. The tops should be cooked (and cracked) like a macaroon and the cent gurengy and gooey. Serve while hot. This is very quick. You can make them up ahead of time and set aside. Just pop them in as you sit down to your main meal (or just after).

Butternut Squash Risotto with parma ham and thyme.

This was inspired by a recipe i got from the BBC website, but I changed the herbs and cheese used.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling..( truffle oil?)
about 5 stalks of thyme leaves, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 1 knobs of butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 small leek
handful green beans
400g/14oz arborio or other Italian risotto rice
2 glasses white wine or vermouth
1 litre/1¾ pint hot chicken or vegetable stock
good handful of freshly grated comte or gruyere cheese, plus extra to serve
75g/3oz pinenuts, to serve
100g parma ham, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut the butternut squash inhalf lengthways, remove the seeds and place on a roasting tray. drizzle with olive oil. 2.
Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes until softened and becoming golden in colour.
3. Once the squash has cooked, cool slightly, then scrape the soft flesh away from the skin into a bowl. Lightly mash with a fork or potato masher keeping it fairly chunky. Stir in lots of black pepper, a little salt, and truffle oil if you have it.
4. Heat the olive oil and a good knob of butter in a deep, frying pan or saute pan.
5. Gently fry the onion and chopped leek until softened. Add the rice and stir for about a minute until the grains are coated with the oil and butter.
6.Pour in the vermouth/ wine and stir continuously until it has cooked into the rice.
7.Add a good ladle of hot stock and the chopped thyme and season well with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down so the stock is simmering gently. Keep adding ladles of stock as it cooks into the rice, stirring and moving the rice around in the pan. After about 15-20 minutes the rice should be soft but still have a bit of bite left in it. The texture of the risotto should be thick and creamy, but not too loose. Add extra stock if necessary.
8. With about 5 minutes to go, add the topped and tailed green beans to cook lightly in the juices.
9. Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir the roasted butternut squash into the risotto with the comte, the remaining butter and seasoning to taste. Add any extra stock if the risotto seems particularly thick.
10.During this time, place the pinenuts in a fairly hot frying pan and toss until golden.
11. rip the parma ham in to little pieces
Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls and scatter with the pinenuts and extra comte and the ham.

Mascarpone Lemon Mousse

This is very light and fluffy, I try to have a standby pot of mascarpone in the fridge. It is very quick and easy.
8oz/250g Mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup caster sugar + 1/8 cup caster sugar for the egg whites
2 lemons
2 eggs, separated
serves 4


1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale.
2. Beat in the mascarpone cheese, the lemon juice and the lemon zest from one of the lemons until smooth.
3. In a clean bowl, with a clean whisk, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form.
4. Add the 1/8 cup of sugar into the whites and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
5. Gently fold the whites into the mascarpone/lemon mixture until no streaks remain.
6. Divide among 4 ramekins and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Orange Ricotta and Almond cake

250g butter
250g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
100g plain flour
1 pinch baking powder
4 large eggs, beaten
100g ricotta
the grated zest and the juice of unwaxed 2 oranges. ( I used blood oranges)
icing sugar
a shallow 23cm-9inch cake tin, greased and lined, or a similar silicon mould..
Preheat the oven to 180C

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Mix the almonds and flour together.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between. Add the orange zest from one of the oranges and a third of the almonds and flour, then beat slowly until the dry ingredients are incorporated, then add the second, and then the third batch of almonds and flour, It is important to do this gradually, so that the cake is light.
Lastly, slowly mix in the juice of one of the oranges and the ricotta . Transfer the mixture with a rubber spatula to the lined cake tin and bake for 35 minutes. Run a palette knife around the edge of the tin and turn out on to a plate. Make up a runny icing with the juice and zest of the other orange, adding icing sugar until you get a consistancy you are happy with. My icing was an interesting day -glow pink from the bloody orange. Pour over the cake whilst still warm, making little holes with a fork so that it soaks in, then leave to cool.

Red Pepper Slice

I adapted this recipe from http://ecupcake.blogspot.com/2007/03/baby-shower-zucchini-slice-my-plate-of.html. When I looked in the fridge, I didn't have any courgette, so I used a red pepper instead. It was lovely, but really needs to be eaten the same day, preferably warm. I used a silicon mould, but you could make it in a deep baking tray as well.



1 red pepper, finely chopped.
1 rasher of bacon, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup self raising flour, sifted
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
a few leaves of fresh basil, chopped

salt and pepper to taste
1. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.
2. Pour mixture into a greased baking tray or silicon mould.
3. Bake in a moderate oven (180C / 350F) for 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top.
4. Remove from tin. Cut into slices. It is nicest served warm. Double quantities if desired.