SeetheWoods, Simply Food

Corn Soup

2011-01-30T09:31:00.004Z

I'll admit it doesn't look like much in all its beigeness, but corn soup is one of those cheap and easy throw together soups that takes almost no time to prepare and cook and it taste delicious. As sweet and light as you need it to be in Summer while still being a great canvas to carry a bit of stodge in Winter, it's a versatile little bowlful for any time of the year.

Ingredients

2 roasted red peppers, chopped*
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tbls vegetable oil
4 cups of sweetcorn (fresh or frozen)
3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup of milk or cream
salt and pepper to taste

* For roasted red peppers you can either take two red peppers and char them on a grill until black, pop them in a plastic bag for ten minutes or so and then remove all the skin and innards, or you can do like I do and keep a jar of roasted red peppers in the fridge. They're even cheaper than buying fresh most of the year too.

Start by sweating the onion in a large pan in the oil over a low heat until they soften, adding a little salt to the onion helps it release its juice a little quicker.
Once the onions have softened, add the red peppers and sweetcorn and stir to combine.
Add the chicken stock, bring the soup up to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the corn is tender.
Remove the soup from the heat and blend. I use a stick blender for this because I like this soup pulpy with a few chunks but if you prefer a smooth soup use a blender or food processor.
Transfer the soup back to the pan, add the milk or cream and season to taste. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and serve.

I like to use quite a lot of black pepper when I make this for a warmth that builds up to heat while I'm eating, but you can also add some fresh chili if you like.

The soup is also good with some crumbled crispy bacon stirred through, or add some cooked cubed potatoes and a handful of leftover shredded chicken on cold days for a more substantial meal.

You can also make a large pot of this soup and keep in the fridge for easy lunches all week, just leave out the milk when you first make it. Blend the soup and store in the fridge, then add a splash of milk as you reheat each bowlful.

Watercress Soup

2010-07-10T15:59:00.001+01:00

After Chloe arrived home from school in the last week of term with a thimble full of watercress which quickly became a hedgerow once she'd planted it in the garden, I had to find a way of using it. Daily salads just weren't cutting through it fast enough and it was threatening to overtake the garden.

To say that this is a recipe is probably a bit of a stretch as it's incredibly simple to make, but it was also delicious so here we go ...

Ingredients
A large bunch of fresh watercress
1 medium/large leek or 3-4 spring onions
2 medium potatoes, peeled or washed, whichever you prefer
Small knob of butter
1.5 pints of chicken or vegetable stock
A dairy of your choice, I used single cream, but creme fraiche, sour cream or even some soft cream cheese would be lovely.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by removing the watercress leaves from the stalks and set to one side.

Chop the watercress stalks, spring onions (or leeks) and potatoes and sweat for a few minutes in the butter over a medium heat. Don't let the veg take on any colour, you just want them to start to soften in the butter. Add the stock and bring up to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and allow to cook, covered for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the soup from the heat and allow to cool a little before blending until smooth, you can transfer it to a blender if you prefer though I used a stick blender. Add the watercress leaves and blend again until smooth. Season to taste.

Bring the soup back to simmering point and serve with a splash of cream (or whatever you prefer) and some good crusty bread.

The soup is surprisingly rich for so few and such simple ingredients and this recipe will make about four adult sized portions.

You don't really need to bother with the garnish, but it does make for a pretty photo.

Crowd Pleaser Chicken

2010-06-27T18:02:00.005+01:00

I've made over a hundred pieces of this chicken today and didn't even break a sweat doing it.

When Summer rolls around my favourite meals are often the quickest and easiest to throw together and this chicken fits the bill perfectly.

Another plus is that it tastes even better served at room temp than it does hot which takes the pressure off the cook to have everything ready at the same time and in the full heat of Summer it can be left to marinade over night and baked first thing in the morning when turning the oven on isn't as big an issue as it is in the evening.

Firstly I want to deal with the chicken. Use whichever cuts of chicken your family like best but keep in mind that this marinade tastes best when used on the darker meat so it's best to stick with drumsticks or thighs. Once you have your chicken in front of you, make two deep cuts in each piece of meat. If you are cooking this chicken and planning to serve some to children its worth pointing out that it is quite spicy. What I always do is choose 2/3 smaller cuts of chicken for Chloe and don't score those, then before I give it to her I remove the skin. The skin allows some of the sweetness and the smallest amount of heat to seep into the chicken but protects it from the bulk of the spice and it means I don't have to marinade and cook two separate batches of chicken. Chloe loves it and she's generally a very anti-spice child.

Ingredients

3lb chicken pieces (roughly 20 pieces depending on size)

3 tblsp dark brown sugar
1 tblsp paprika (smoked, sweet or regular)
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tblsp oil of choice

Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and add the oil to make a loose paste.

Add the chicken pieces and use your hands to turn and coat each piece of chicken thoroughly. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to marinade for at least an hour or you can leave it over night.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Place a wire rack over a large roasting pan or tray and load it up with chicken pieces. The rack isn't absolutely necessary but it does save you having to turn the chicken once or twice while it's cooking. Bake the chicken in the oven for 35-40 minutes, then remove it from the oven and leave to rest for at least 10-15 minutes or better yet, leave it to cool completely before serving.

And enjoy.

And even a couple of pieces for the kiddies too.

Cheap Eats

2010-06-20T07:44:00.003+01:00

The time is very nearly here. I've been helping a friend out by covering her maternity leave while Chloe is at school, but in less than two short weeks that will come to an end which means that if I'm not selling I won't be earning.

What better time to start cooking and enjoying cheaper meals and Summer really is a great time to cut back on food spending. We're lucky enough to have a bunch of fresh herbs and veggies in the garden that I'll be making use of and you can't beat the cheaper cuts of meat like chicken legs and wings, pork ribs and the humble burger cooked up on the barbecue.

I'll also be posting more recipes as I come up with ones I'm happy with and ones I'm confident will work for everyone. I'll be cooking only with foods in season as they'll be the cheapest and the most tasty and looking at ways of adding lots of flavour for as little money as possible using things like pork belly.

I've already a handful of great, cheap recipes here I can rely on for basic things like chapatis which help to fill out any meal, as with any breads like soda bread, focaccia and fake-accia, a quick knock up which lies somewhere between soda bread and the traditional yeasted bread.

I'll cover breakfasts, soups, salads, sides, main dishes and sweets all in an effort to find good, enjoyable food and cut the cost of our food bill at the same time.

Hopefully there won't be too many failures along the way.

Lemon Squares

2010-04-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

This is a really quick and easy food processor recipe, but it does mean that I have naff all in the way of "in progress" photos:)

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

Base

2 cups plain flour
1 cup cold butter, in smallish pieces
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup coconut - flaked or desiccated

Lemon Layer

1/4 cup plain flour
2 cups white caster sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder

Greased and lined 13 x 9 x 2 baking pan

Place all the ingredients for the base into the food processor and process until it looks like wet sand. Press the crumb mixture into the base of the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

While the base is baking in the oven, put all ingredients for the lemon layer into the food processor and blend for two or three minutes until well combined and to let the sugar begin to dissolve into the eggs and lemon.

Pour the lemon mixture over the base while it's still hot and bake again for 20-25 minutes until the surface of the lemon mixture is crisp and golden. It's easier to do the pouring if you just leave the baking pan in the oven and slide the shelf it's sitting on out of the oven slightly to make it easier to get at, rather than try to carry it back to the oven full of liquid.

Once baked remove the baking pan from the oven and place on a wire rack, then leave the squares in the pan until complete cool and cut into squares ready to serve.

The lemony layer is very like a firm set lemon curd with a very light and crispy topping.

Enjoy

Non Bread Tasty Loaf Thingy

2010-04-05T09:54:00.004+01:00

A friend likes to call this cinnamon and apple soda bread, because it uses soda as a raising agent, but my dad disagrees as it doesn't use buttermilk. He likes to call it a tea bread because that's generally when he eats it, but because it isn't made with tea and doesn't contain yeast I disagree about the whole tea bread theory or even the bread bit to begin with.

It's closest relative is the muffin but because of the size almost everybody disagrees with me. Though if I make individual ones in muffin cases, they'll happily play along.

What everyone does agree on is that it tastes really good, warm or cold and it gets even better as each day passes. It's the perfect little loaf to make in the evening so you can drift off to sleep to the smell of warm cinnamon (perhaps with a slice already in your belly) and wake up to a fat slice for breakfast, spread with a little butter or jam.

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

1 1/2 cups plain flour (dug in cup fulls from the bag)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white caster sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed firmly)
1 teaspoon bicarb/baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon (we love cinnamon but you can half this amount for a more subtle flavour)

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup applesauce

Place all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix to combine. It's usually easier to scrunch the brown sugar through the rest of the ingredients with your hand.

Place the wet ingredients into a jug or another bowl and again give them a good mix.

Dump the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined, don't worry too much about little lumps, especially where the brown sugar is concerned. Pour the batter into a 2lb loaf tin and spread it around a bit to level it.

This batter starts to rise pretty quickly, even in just the time it takes to mix in the bowl and pour into the tin, the batter will have become almost mousse like. Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake for at least an hour.

It takes about an hour and 15 minutes in my oven, slighter longer in mum's and as much as 90 minutes at a friend's house, but after an hour test for doneness with a skewer. It's ready when moist crumbs cling to the skewer rather than any batter.

Leave it in the tin to cool for about ten minutes and then turn out. It will have a light fluffy crumb on the inside and a crisp crust which softens once it is completely cooled.

Serve hot from the oven, cold the next day or warmed slightly under the grill with or without butter and jam.

You can of course make up this recipe and make individual muffins. It will make about a dozen large muffins and they take about 30 minutes to bake and make a great breakfast on the go.

Enjoy!

Scones

2010-02-16T18:12:00.003Z

Most of the time I'll admit that when I head into the kitchen to bake something, my only purpose in doing so it to make sure there is something good in the house to eat or to occupy an easily bored four year old. On those occasions I break out the old faithful recipes, the all in one variety which results in a delicious cake or treat without too much effort on my part.

However, I do really love to bake and when the notion takes me and I find myself with an abundance of free time on my hands, second on my list of" must makes" are scones (beaten from the top spot by bread).

Scones are one of my all time favourite things to bake. There's something very comforting in the familiarity and old fashionedness of scones. I make them, just as I was taught, with my hands.

The recipe for a basic scone dough is simple enough and you'll likely have all the ingredients handy. I think this may be a WI recipe, as it is, I found it scribbled in a notebook which belonged to my mother in law.

Ingredients

500g plain flour
1 heaped tsp bicarb
2 tsp cream of tartar
125g cold butter, cut into cubes or dipped in flour and grated a la Delia
35g caster sugar
1 large beaten egg (reserve one tblsp)
250ml milk

Glaze

1 tblsp reserved beaten egg and 1 tblsp milk combined

Oven Temp

220C (425F)

Start by preheating your oven. Sift the flour, bicarb and cream of tartar into a large bowl.

Add the cubed or grated butter to the flour mixture and rub in gently with the fingertips, giving the bowl a quick shake every now and then to raise any lumps of butter to the surface. Once the butter is completely rubbed into the flour (it will have a sandy consistency) stir in the caster sugar.

Next add the beaten egg (remembering to reserve one tablespoon) to the milk, mix to combine and add the milk and egg to the flour mixture in the bowl. Using a blunt knife or palette knife, quickly mix the wet ingredients into the dry.

The dough will be very soft and ever so slightly sticky, but you should still be able to handle it if you move quickly.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured counter top. Flour the palms of your hands or dust the surface of the dough with a little flour and pat it down until your dough it about 2 cm thick.

Flour a 2.5 inch cutter and cut out the scones. You can very gently press the offcuts of this dough together to cut a second batch of scones. I usually get about 20 scones from this recipe.

Place the scones about 2 inches apart on a floured cookie sheet and brush the tops with the glaze. You can also sprinkle a little sugar on top of the glaze if you like them sweeter.

Place the scones in the oven and bake for 10-13 minutes until they're risen and the tops are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, but only slightly, they're very good eaten still warm.

Variations

Fruit Scones - add 100g of any dried fruit to the dry flour mixture before adding the egg and milk. I used raisins in this batch.

Cinnamon - add to taste (I use about 2.5 tsp) of cinnamon when sifting the flour.

Chocolate - add 100g of chopped chocolate to the dry ingredients. I'm personally not a fan of chocolate in these, but everyone else I make them for seems to love them, so ......

Cheese - omit the sugar and add 100g of good strong cheddar to the dry ingredients or a red cheese is lovely too.

Enjoy!

A much needed tidy up

2010-02-16T10:02:00.002Z

I think it really needed a new look here, don't you agree?

I've neglected the place something horrible the last couple of months but I have a media card stuffed with foody photos and seeing as it's half term you can be sure Chloe and I will be baking up a storm in the next week.

Coming up first..... Scones!

2009-12-25T09:00:00.000Z

Meringue Christmas Tree Cookies

2009-12-11T19:17:00.005Z

Well they're not really cookies as such, but you can pick them up with one hand and eat them so 'cookies' will do for me.

Start off by preheating the oven to 100C (80C for fan assisted) and beat four egg whites until stiff peaks form. I used a stand mixer but you could use an electric whisk or even do it by hand if you're feeling energetic.

Once the eggs are stiffly beaten, whisk in 250g caster sugar and beat until the meringue is glossy.

Next put the meringue mixture into a piping bag (it really is easier to do these in a piping bag rather than trying to spoon it onto the tray and make a tree shape).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat and pipe Christmas tree shapes by zigzagging back and forth.

You can pipe these really close together because meringues don't spread.

Now pop the tray in the oven and basically forget about them for two hours. It doesn't really matter what size you make the trees, it'll still take about two hours.

Once they're ready take the tray out of the oven and lift the trees straight off to cool down. They actually only take about ten minutes to cool so you can spend the time getting your decorations together.

Yes, there is a sneaky snowman up in the top left corner:)

We used blue and pink icing 'tinsel' on our trees, but you could use anything really. Dip them in chocolate (but wait til it cools a fair bit), cover in sprinkles add a shake of edible glitter or sandwich two together with fresh cream and strawberry jam in the middle, anything goes really with meringue.

And enjoy them.

With 20/20 hindsight, I should have been making these all year. You can freeze them undecorated, they keep for months and months in the freezer and they're a great way to use up any eggs that are close to their best before date because old eggs make better meringue than fresh.

I should plan ahead more next year.

A Quick Q & A

2009-12-10T18:55:00.003Z

Just popping in to brush away the cobwebs, don't mind me.

I had a little plunder through my analytics today for the first time in months probably and I noticed that quite a few people find this little kitchen of mine by asking questions that I've yet to answer.

So I'll get right down to it...

"Why does my Victoria Sandwich Cake break at the edges"

The most likely reason is that it is sticking to the cake pan. I use a recipe I found on Recipezaar which is just one part solid vegetable fat or shortening, one part vegetable oil and two parts plain flour (you can replace the flour with cocoa for a chocolate cake). Beat these three ingredients together and store in an airtight container, it keeps for eons in the fridge so you can make big batches and you just use it to grease your cake pans. Superglue couldn't stick to this stuff.

The other thing that will cause a cake to crumble is not enough egg in the recipe. You really need egg to make a good cake and I always use this simple recipe to make sure that there is exactly the right amount of egg in my cakes every single time.

But in the end if your cake tastes great nobody is going to care if it looks a little shabby round the edges. Your going to eat your cake, not frame it.

"Boiling potatoes in their jackets"

Yes you can, in fact it's about the only fool proof way to boil floury potatoes like British Queens without ending up with a pot of potato soup. Don't prick them or anything like that, but do start them off in cold water and bring it up to the boil with the potatoes already in the pot. This way the potatoes cook evenly the whole way through and you don't wind up with perfectly cooked innards and watery edges. Invest in a good potato ricer and you can even make mashed potatoes and the ricer reserves all of the skins which you can just discard. All of the goodness and none of those icky brown bits that kids will wrinkle their noses at.

You'll also thank yourself for buying that potato ricer when you're making banana bread and wrist deep in 20 mashed bananas because "they were on sale".

"Cake overflow, will it ruin the cake"

Not a chance. I've done it often enough myself.

When it has happened to me and if it's a plain cake (purely for the sake of having a cake in the house) I tend to get it out of the pan and spread jam over the top while it's still warm and then sprinkle coconut over the jam. I remember it from school dinners when I was a kid and my love it when they get a slice of 'cake gone wrong' and a pouring of custard over the top.

If your plan was to decorate the cake, I've had some success in just trimming away what is overlapping the edges of the cake pan, the same way you would trim excess pastry away from a pie dish and leave the top of the cake as intact as possible. The more of the cake's crust you remove the more structural integrity it will lose and there's a good chance that the weight of any icing or frosting will make the cake collapse.

"Can I make a pavlova without an oven"

Now this I genuinely don't know. At least I've never heard of anyone making a pavlova without an oven.

What I know you can do without an oven is make Italian meringue. The ingredients are exactly the same as for normal meringue. The difference is that you start off with the four egg whites in you mixer or if you're using a handheld whisk have them ready to go and forming firm peaks before going any further.

What you then want to do is put 500g of white sugar and 100ml of water in a heavy based pot and boil the sugar until it reaches 115C (240F) it will just barely be changing colour at that stage and then all the while whisking the egg whites add the sugar to the egg whites in a thin steady stream and you have meringue. You can pile it up and colour the outside with a blow lamp for a brulee like crust or float a couple of spoonfuls on top of hot chocolate.

"if pavlova cools too quickly"

I'm about the least patient person I know and while a pavlova that is left in the oven until it is completely cold (even if it takes four incredibly long hours) is the best pavlova in my opinion, the only difference I've noticed in whipping it out of the oven after about 15 minutes cooling time is that it sometimes cracks a lot more (hey, its not like it's going where it's going completely unscathed any way) and the inside is more mallowy than the chewy almost toffee like centre that allowing it to cool in the oven gives you. Not a bad thing in my book. If you need it quickly, get it out of the oven.

"How to store pavlova"

Freeze it. Pavlova bases freeze perfectly. Well, actually that's something of a lie, they don't really freeze they just get very cold and sit there in the freezer and I swear you could lift it out and be eating it in 10 minutes. You can leave them in there for months as well, no harm will come to them and it means you can have a few sitting ready to go so that you don't have to worry about taking them out of the oven early and cooling too quickly.

"Using chocolate chips in baking"

Don't!!!!! I mean it, don't even go there. I mean what are we talking about really to be able to use lovely, good chocolate that you've chopped yourself? Two minutes. Two minutes and you don't have to use icky chocolate that's full of stabilisers and rarely tastes anything like real chocolate, big bags of chocolate chips wouldn't look too much like chocolate chips if it weren't for all the additives.

And then you can kiss goodbye to the two minutes you saved on making the cookies when you have to spend ten scraping the kids off the ceiling or coaxing them off the top of a wardrobe where they're rocking back and forth going "fehumana humana humana".

The less additives the better if you ask me.

Raspberry and Coconut Breakfast Bars

2009-09-27T15:05:00.003+01:00

My poor husband has been badly in need of a breakfast now that the cooler mornings are rolling in, but unfortunately he's just not the kind of person that can stomach eating at 7.00am.

So I needed something that I could send him out the door with in the morning, something that would hold together well in a lunchbox and more importantly something that I could throw together once or twice a week and not have to worry about sorting something out from scratch each morning.

These breakfast bars are perfect for the job.

They hold together perfectly and because they're dense and almost a little fudgy you don't need much to send you on your way during the day. They're not too sweet either which is perfect for my husband because he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth.

They're also the simplest and quickest bars ever to throw together and they keep really well in an airtight container.

You will need;

4 cups of rolled porridge oats, the quick cook variety.
1 cup coconut (I used dessicated and shredded is fine too)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup melted butter
1 cup warm jam (in this case raspberry)

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F or 160C fan assisted).

I measured out my butter and jam into a microwaveable dish and heated it for a minute to melt everything. I keep my jam in the fridge, but if you don't then you don't really need to worry about warming it, as long as you can mix it into the oats.

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix until completely combined. This doesn't take long at all.

Press the mixture into a well greased (and lined if you prefer) 9 x 13 inch pan (10 x 12, a couple of 8 x 8's whatever you happen to have on hand) and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, the bars will be golden in colour and the jammy bits will have darkened slightly. Allow the bars to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes before turning out and cutting with a sharp knife. I cut this batch into 15 bars, although I think cutting into 18 will still give a good sized bar. One of these is plenty for Chloe and I although Robert will happily munch through two at a time.

One the bars are completely cool, store them in an airtight container and use for breakfasts and lunches through the week, repeat as necessary.

I've tried these so far with raspberry jam and orange marmalade and both work really well. I think blackberry or bramble jelly would also work really well in these bars although if were to use strawberry I may cut the sugar down to 2/3 or 3/4 cup to help balance the sweetness.

Gingerbread with Lemon Icing

2009-09-26T11:21:00.001+01:00

You just have to have gingerbread at this time of year, don't you? Now I'm talking about gingerbread cake here rather than gingerbread biscuits.

The cake is very easy to make, although I will admit that it does leave a few more dirty dishes than my usual cakes (ie one bowl and a cake tin), for this one you will also need a good heavy pot, you can do it with a lighter one too, but you will have to stand over it and stir constantly to avoid it catching on the bottom.

For this cake you will need;

150g butter
125g dark brown sugar
200g golden syrup
200g treacle (don't worry if these two aren't exact, its near impossible to weigh while pouring it from the tin)
1tsp grated fresh ginger
1tsp ground ginger (dried)
2tsp ground cinnamon
250ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
300g plain flour

Preheat your oven to 170C (150C for fan assisted).

Sieve the plain flour and bicarb into a large bowl;

Put the butter, sugar, syrup, treacle and spices into your heaviest pot and melt over a low/medium heat, stirring to make sure the sugars don't catch on the bottom of the pot, if they do catch dump it and start again because the finished cake will just taste burnt even from the smallest catch.

Once melted, remove from the heat for a minute or two. It should look thick and glossy, like melted chocolate;

Add the milk to the sugar mixture first to cool it and then add the beaten eggs, while stirring.

Then just pour this mixture into the bowl along with the flour and bicarb and mix well to combine. Pour the mixture into a well greased (and lined if you prefer) large cake tin. The one pictured below is a 12 inch tin.

Put the cake immediately into the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Test the cake after 45 minutes. It will be ready when moist crumbs stick to the skewer when testing. It is a very moist cake. Invert the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

I always use wooden skewers, so you may have less sticking to a metal skewer but the crumbs should look something like this.

Once the cake has completely cooled, mix up a quick batch of lemon icing using;

200g icing sugar
1-2tbls lemon juice

make an incredibly light and free flowing icing sugar which accepts a little more liquid than other brands like McKinney's or Tate & Lyle which are a often a lot more compacted (and in my mind already contain a little moisture because they're packed in paper rather than plastic). Start off by adding just 1 tablespoon, you want the icing quite thick but still spreadable, add as much as another tablespoon of lemon juice if needed. I find it depends on the brand, SilverspoonSilverspoon is always my very first choice when it comes to baking for all sugars.

Spread the lemon icing across the top of the cake and (if you can contain yourself) although to set somewhat before serving.

**Update - Since baking this cake I have baked it again, except this time I divided the batter into two 1 pound loaf tins and baked them for 35-40 minutes. I didn't ice the cakes and instead served them thickly sliced and spread with good butter. I really enjoyed the gingerbread loaves as did the rest of the family and I'll be making them this way a lot more often, perhaps with a little less milk and a little bit of grated raw apples added to the batter. I'll let you know how that one works out.

Strawberry Pavlova

2009-08-16T09:14:00.003+01:00

Because when you think about it you can always whip this up, pull the curtains, turn on the travel channel and pretend the sun is shining.

Pavlova is pretty easy to make. If you've tried before without success though chances are you need to up the amount of sugar in the recipe and always remember to leave the pavlova in the oven to cool, yes it takes ages, but it just isn't the same otherwise.

Start off by preheating your oven to 180C and lining a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a sheet of silpat, whichever you have handy. Foil, greaseproof paper or just greasing the tray don't work very well for pavlova. I use a large round pizza sheet for mine, but nobody ever said pavlova had to be round so if all you have is a regular square or rectangular sheet, go with that.

Next gather your ingredients together. You will need;

4 large egg whites
250g caster sugar (you can use unrefined caster which adds a slight caramel taste)
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
a carton of double or whipping cream (I know that's a bit obscure but whatever happens to be available in roughly a half pint carton will do the trick)
fruit to top (in this case strawberry)

Now, I haven't taken photos of every step because it would just look like a load of photos of a bowl of white fluff...

Start off with just the egg white in a clean bowl. It really needs to be clean and free of any oil, to be sure pour a little lemon juice or white vinegar onto a clean cloth or paper towel and wipe the inside of the bowl.

Beat the egg white on high speed until they are stiff, you can test them by tipping the bowl upside down over your head if you like.

Next, with the egg whites still beating, add the sugar about a quarter at a time.

This is where it's handy to have a big mixer. Walk away. Yep, that's right walk away and leave it beating. Its quite easy to assume that once the sugar is incorporated into the egg white that it's finished, but you need to leave it beating until you can take a pinch of the mixture between your fingers, rub it and not feel any sugar. Trust me if you try to stand there and watch the machine, you'll get bored, impatient and end up moving on too quickly.

Once all the sugar has dissolved into the egg whites, add the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and beat it again for another minute.

Once you've done all that, the mixture will look soft and shiny.

Next take your lined tray and pile the pavlova mixture into the centre then spread it out into a rough circle. You don't have to be particularly delicate with pavlova in the way that you do with a souffle, just make sure to leave a couple of inches around the outside of the pavlova because these things can grow a fair bit in the oven.

Place the pavlova in the preheated oven and as soon as you close the door, turn the temperature down to 150C. Bake the pavlova at 150c for 1 hour 15 minutes. Once the pavlova is baked, turn the oven on, leave the door closed and walk away.

See what I mean about growing. After a couple of hours the pavlova should be cool (or very nearly at least) and you can remove it from the oven.

To serve invert the pavlova onto a plate. This way you have the light crispy shell on the bottom and outside edges, a bit like a pie shell, but the soft, chewy, mallow bit is in the middle. You can see from the photo below that once you have inverted the pavlova there is usually a crater in what is now the top.

Which is perfect for filling with whipped cream and strawberries.

I usually don't bother to sweeten the cream, but you can do so easily enough by adding a teaspoon or two of icing sugar when you're whipping the cream.

A couple of good variations for pavlova are;

Mashed bananas beaten into the whipped cream, pile it in the centre and top with chopped nuts and finally drizzle with melted dark chocolate. The good thing about this one is that it will cost you about the same amount of money to make all year round whereas a punnet of (crap, spongy, tasteless) strawberries in winter can set you back as much as £10.

You can also replace the caster sugar with golden caster and add 2 tbls of treacle to the pavlova mixture before baking. Once cooled, top the pavlova with hot chopped apples sauteed in a little butter, brown sugar and cinnamon before drizzling with cold cream for another gorgeous winter dessert that tastes a little bit like the toffee apples your granny used to make, but you haven't quite managed the knack of yet.

Coffee Cupcakes

2009-08-03T12:02:00.003+01:00

This is my daughter's favourite cake in the whole world. When the weather is miserable, as it is today we make cake and these are her first choice each and every time.

I should start off by explaining that I recently realised that in the US a coffee cake is a cake eaten with coffee and that it could be a plain sponge cake, a flavoured cake such as cinnamon flop or even something like crumb cake whereas here in the UK a coffee cake is a cake flavoured with coffee traditionally a sandwich cake with coffee flavoured butter cream and topped with chocolate vermicelli.

These cupcakes are a variation of that recipe

Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and gather your ingredients;

Start off with a two egg simple sponge recipe, weigh the eggs and add the same weight of sugar, butter and self raising flour. Add to that 1 tbls espresso or any strong coffee and 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Put all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and beat for a few minutes until pale and fluffy.

Line a muffin tin and divide the batter between 12 liners then bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes.

Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before frosting.

Place 3 oz butter and 6 oz icing sugar in a large bowl and beat until creamy, add to that 1 tsp strong coffee and beat again until well combined.

Top the cupcakes with the frosting in which ever way you find easiest. I tend to put it in a bag and pipe it on, or if you prefer you can spoon it on or turn the cupcakes upside down and dip them in the frosting.

I topped these cupcakes with chocolate curls instead of the chocolate vermicelli because I just like the look of the little curls on top.

And this would be a 4 year old sized bite, rather than a mummy sized bite.

The Ultimate Chocolate Brownies

2009-07-19T14:00:00.004+01:00

No frills, spills, faff or frosting just deep, dark, fudgy, chocolate goodness.

Now, I'm not actually allowed to make brownies any more unless I make enough to go around so this recipe makes a lot of brownies but its pretty easy to cut the recipe down if you're trying to be good. Honestly though, I would and probably could eat this entire batch myself. I'm not saying I'm going, just that I could. Besides if you're going to fall off the wagon anyway, sure you might as well jump.

Start off by preheating your oven to 180C (350F) or 160C if your oven is fan assisted, then gather together your ingredients.

375g dark chocolate
375g butter (unsalted if you have it but if you don't just omit the salt in this recipe)
500g caster sugar
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1 teaspoon of salt (only if using unsalted butter)

Start by putting the butter and chocolate into a heavy based pan and put over a low heat to start melting.

Like so...

While that gets going put the sugar, eggs and vanilla into a large bowl (bigger than the one I started with).

Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla until combined but you don't need to go light and fluffy with brownies just make sure its all mixed together.

Your chocolate and butter should be pretty much melted by now. I tend to turn off the heat when there are still a few lumps and just swirl it in the pan until they melt. Allow the chocolate and butter to cool slightly, it doesn't exactly need to be cold or even room temperature, just bear in mind that if its too hot you will cook the eggs and you don't want to do that.

Once the chocolate has cooled a little start by drizzling the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture whilst whisking the eggs, once you've added about half the chocolate this way you can start to just glug it in there, but still keep whisking.

Next add your flour and salt (if using) and use the whisk again to get it mixed in. Brownies aren't like muffins you do need to make sure the mixture is smooth.

Now for the pan. We like our brownies tall around here so I use a 10 x10 inch pan for them, although for regular depth brownies stick to the 13 x 9 inch pan. Line the pan first with foil or parchment paper and then pour the brownie batter into the pan.

brownies and 40 minutes for If you use the 10 x 13 inch pan bake the brownies for 25 - 40 minutes. I know that sounds like a huge gap in times but 25 minutes will give you gooey brownies, 30-35 minutes for fudgycakey brownies, to each there own and all that.

Because I used the 10 x 10 my brownies took 1 hr 10 mins for fudgy, shave about 10-15 off this for gooey and add the same amount of time for cakey ones. See, simple as!

Let the brownies cool in the pan (I know) for about half an hour before turning them out. If you went for gooey brownies I would suggest leaving them to cool completely in the pan as there's a certain amount of "setting" involved in the really gooey ones and you don't want to risk them falling apart, or worse still a steam burn while trying to get them out of the pan.

Once the brownies have cooled, cut them into as many pieces as you like, bite sized pieces, big flat slabs whatever takes your fancy.

Dust them with a little icing sugar to get across the idea of the craggy surface on top in the photographs although the icing sugar is completely unnecessary:)

Open mouth, cram in entire brownie, lather, rinse, repeat.

Enjoy!

Raspberry and Lemon Oat Bars

2009-07-14T16:41:00.004+01:00

These bars were inspired by MTM's recipe for Scotch Squares. You should definitely give the original recipe a try as well as this one.

My only real reason for fiddling with the recipe at all was because a) the hubs likes to grab one of these for breakfast in the morning and he has something against eating chocolate for breakfast (yes you heard me right MTM has chocolate in her recipe, but if you go there now without reading this one first I'll know) and b) I originally made them with crushed raspberries just because I had a mountain of them in the freezer after a mammoth berry picking session.

Firstly you'll need to preheat your oven to 180C (350F and gather together your ingredients which are;

1 cup melted butter
1/2 brown sugar (I tend to cut this down to about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup plain flour
2 1/2 cups of rolled oats (the regular porridge oat variety are perfect)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
grated zest of one lemon
1/2 cup of good raspberry jam

Reserve half a cup of oats and set to one side along with the raspberry jam.

Place all remaining ingredients into a large bowl and combine using a spoon or spatula. You don't need an electric beater for this as it's very light and quick work.

Once you have all of ingredients combined, take half a cup of the mixture and put in a separate bowl along with the reserved half cup of rolled oats and use a fork or your hands to combine. This will give you a crumblier mixture than the first.

Place the original oat mixture into a lined and greased 9 X13 pan (mine is actually about 8 X 12 but it all comes out in the wash) .

Press the oat mixture down quite firmly, making sure the mixture is pretty even and the corners are well filled (they're the best bit).

Next take the half cup of raspberry jam and spread it over the surface of the oat mixture. If, like me, you keep your jam in the fridge then stick it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to loosen it up.

Once the jam has been spread out, take the bowl of crumbly oat mixture and sprinkle it over the top of the jam. This actually works out easier to do if you grab a handful at a time and rub it between the palms of your hands over the top of the pan. It gives a more even coating that way.

You'll notice that I've also sprinkled over a few tbls of coconut just because I can't stop myself from adding coconut to everything at the minute. You don't need to add this and this was my first attempt at adding it in there, but it did turn out pretty damn good.

Then place the pan into your preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and the jam has deepened in colour.

Remove the pan from the oven and leave to cool for about 20 minutes in the pan before scoring into roughly 2 inch squares. Leave (if you can) to cool completely in the pan before serving.

These bars are lovely, light and a little crumbly but they do stand up quite well to the lunch box test.

I may try replacing a small amount of the sugar with golden syrup next time which would make for a sturdier bar and if I have any success with this I'll let you know.

I'd be pretty confident that these would be just as good using strawberry jam or apple sauce in place of the raspberry, or even (nominess) bramble jelly, oh I wish I'd had bramble jelly. Next time!

I'd love to hear any other variations on this recipe that have worked for you. Its such a good base for just about anything.

Thanks MTM for the original inspiration.

My Victoria Sandwich Cake

2009-07-12T15:19:00.007+01:00

I love a bit of Victoria sandwich cake. Nothing too fancy or over the top, plastered in frosting or sprinkles. Just a slice of nice traditional cake.

First gather your ingredients together and preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

I used my simple sponge recipe for this cake.

I started with four eggs for a 8inch layer cake. The four eggs weighed 250grams exactly which almost never happens, but makes me very happy so I weighed out 250grams of butter, caster sugar and self raising flour.

Place all four ingredients into a large bowl and add one teaspoon of baking powder and one tablespoon of lemon juice which helps to break down the gluten in the flour and make the sponge lighter.

Using an electric hand whisk, beat the the ingredients until pale and fluffy which should take five minutes or so.

Divide the batter between two greased and lined 8 inch cake tins and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Test the cakes by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake, it should come out clean or with a couple of moist crumbs but not batter.

Allow the cakes to stand in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.

Once the cakes have cooled completely its time to assemble the cake.

Start by choosing which of the two cakes you like the look of best although it doesn't really matter, this is a plain snacking cake and not a fancy display piece, but still.

Take the other layer and place upside down on a cake plate (or just with the smoothest side facing up).

Now here's the thing. I like a bit of butter cream in my Victoria Sandwich but for a lot of people this would be complete sacrilege punishable by death.

But I'm hoping that the people who do know where I live, love me enough not to attack me on a dark alley on the way home over a bit of butter cream so I'm going to go ahead and add it. If you really can't stand the thought then by all means leave it out and skip straight to the fruit.

Spread on a good layer of strawberry or raspberry jam or by all means use fresh crushed fruit. You don't want the layer of jam to be too thick or the top layer will skite about all over the place when you try to cut it.

Then pop on the top layer and give it a little dusting of caster sugar, not icing sugar. It's the one thing I'm strict about.

And you're all done.

Well, nearly all done.

There you go. Now you're all done!

That's a mummy sized bite for anyone interested.

Homemade Doughnuts

2009-07-05T17:17:00.004+01:00

Or Gravy Rings in Northern Ireland.

After much faffing, fiddling and finger licking I've finally found a recipe for gravy rings that we love.

I try not to make them too often because enriched dough + deep frying + sugar coating = lardy butt. Well, I try at least.

These are risen doughnuts so you'll need to plan a bit of time to make them.

Raid the larder for;

1 pack quick or instant yeast (1/4 oz - 7g)
1/8 cup lukewarm water
3/4 lukewarm milk (scald and cool or bung in the micro for 30 secs like I do)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup shortening
3 1/2 cups plain flour*

Add yeast to lukewarm water and add the milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening and one cup of flour.

Using a whisk or handheld beater, beat these ingredients until well combined. It shouldn't take more than a minute and scrape down the bowl as necessary.

Fold in the remaining flour and then cover the bowl and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Once the dough has risen and is roughly doubled in size, turn out onto a well floured surface (and I mean well floured). Using your hands press the dough out until it is approximately 1/2 inch thick, then using a doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts as economically as possible, try not to leave large pieces of dough in between each cut. Alternatively you can do as I do and using a sharp knife cut the dough into squares roughly 2in x 2in, tastes the same and no waste**.

Transfer the doughnuts to a greased baking sheet and leave to rise again for 30 - 40 minutes.

Once the doughnuts have risen again, fill a pan with vegetable or canola oil and place over a medium/high heat (approx 180C/350F). The oil will need to be at least two inches deep, you can use a smaller pan and cook the doughnuts one or two at a time and save oil.

Once the oil has heated, using a spatula, slide the doughnuts gently away from you into the oil and cook on either side for 2-3 minutes or until deep golden brown.

Remove the doughnuts to a wire rack*** to drain and cool slightly before rolling in caster sugar.

* - Its quite humid in Northern Ireland, but if you live somewhere drier then bear in mind that you may only need as little as 2 1/2 cups of flour so add the flour a cup at a time. The dough should be very soft, but you should also just barely be able to handle it. If you get the feeling that you can work with it quickly, but stay in contact too long and you'll stick like glue, the dough's perfect.

** - You will need to put down a good thick layer of flour before turning the dough out and flour your hands well before handling. Once you have cut the doughnuts out, lift each one and quickly toss from one hand to the other to remove some of the excess flour. Because of the amount of flour needed, you can't re-roll this dough as all that extra flour would be incorporated into the dough and you'd end up with a handful of dry, tasteless doughnuts. If waste is an issue for you, cut them into squares.

*** - Try not to pierce the surface of the doughnuts when lifting them out of the oil or they'll absorb the excess oil.

Rhubarb Crumble

2009-05-10T12:33:00.006+01:00

We realised this week that out rhubarb had come in. We planted a single rhubarb plant about five years ago now and every year we strip the plant twice and use it for rhubarb crumble. If you like rhubarb, you should really consider getting a plant. It doesn't take up a huge amount of room, it looks quite nice in the garden because of the colour and the huge leaves and it'll pretty grow on a brick wall. Well maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it is hardy, our plant is in a bit of a boggy corner which doesn't get a huge amount of sunlight and still the plant does well.

Rhubarb is related to celery. It is a bit of an acquired taste, but its very good for you. Personally I can just sit down with a couple of raw stalks and a bowl of sugar, dipping it in and chewing away happily on it, but you may prefer to cook it first.

Firstly, you'll need to remove the very bottom of the stalks along with the leaves and wash the stalks. If the rhubarb was picked a day or two before using you may also want to string it, which just means to peel it. A potato or speed peeler will make it very easy to do.

Would you just look at the mountain of leaves. It does seem a bit wasteful to grow a plant and only be able to eat around a quarter of what it produces, but you can compost the leaves. There's a old wives tales floating around that the leaves will stop or slow the rest the compost but its a load of rubbish. You may want to shred them a bit first because they are huge.

And of course, because the rhubarb came from the garden I wasn't surprised to find a little stow away.

Start by chopping the rhubarb into roughly the same size pieces. I cut the thicker stalks into one inch pieces and the thinner ones were one and a half to two inches long.

Once the rhubarb is chopped, throw it in a roasting pan and add around five or six tablespoons of sugar to the pieces before drizzling with about the same quantity of water. Then bake at 180C (350F) for 15-20 minutes. You just want the rhubarb to be fork tender.

While the rhubarb is in the oven, you can make the crumble. I used 8oz of flour for mine because I was using a large dish, but a regular 8-10 inch pie dish will only need 6oz flour.

Just remember that crumble is always half the fat to flour with the same amount of sugar to fat added. So mine was;

8oz plain flour
4oz margarine
4oz sugar

Starting with a knife, cut the fat into the flour and sugar.

Then rub the fat in until you're left with a crumbly mixture resembling large breadcrumbs.

Once the rhubarb is tender, remove it from the oven, it will be nice a glossy and should also be a bit pinker. The rhubarb should still be holding it's shape.

Using a slotted spoon, pile the rhubarb into a pie dish or casserole dish.

Then cover with the crumble and press down slightly, leaving a few rough patches and continue baking at 180C (350F) for 30 to 40 minutes.

The juice from the rhubarb will bubble over the top of the crumbly and become sticky and jammy in the heat.

Serve warm with cold cream or at room temperature with hot or cold custard.

Crumbles are a good way to use up any glut of fruit although you won't need to add extra sugar or pre-bake softer fruits such as berries, eating apples, pears, peaches or plums.

Crockpot Beef Casserole

2009-04-14T09:46:00.005+01:00

This is a very easy meal to prepare. It takes about ten minutes of your time in preparation and then you can throw it in the crockpot and be done for the day. Alternatively you can cook this on a low/medium heat in the oven for about 2 hours.

The following ingredients are really a guide. You can throw whatever you have handy into this casserole.

I used:

1lb cubed stewing beef (use something cheap, it'll taste much better)
Two large carrots
3 small leeks
1lb mushrooms
About 2 pints of beef stock (cubes are fine)

3-4 tablespoons cornflour
1 tablespoon mustard powder
salt and pepper to taste

I was planning on adding the potato into the casserole as well to save me bothering later but the hubs and daughter wanted mash with this. So be it.

Place the cornflour, mustard powder, salt and pepper into a plastic bag along with the beef and shake well to coat.

Chop all the ingredients. I used my V slicer, it isn't a necessity but when we went through a phase of eating a lot of stir fry it made life easier.

Soften the leaks in a little oil and butter over a low heat for a few minutes,

Add the beef to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes just to seal with edges,

Transfer the beef and leaks to the crockpot, add the carrots and mushrooms and pour over stock. You don't really need to cover the casserole with stock, because no liquid evaporates from a crockpot as it does with other forms of cooking, if you completely cover with liquid, then you'll have to do something to thicken the sauce once its cooked. As it is there should be enough cornflour on the meat to thicken this amount of stock.

I cooked mine for about ten hours on low, although it was cooked before this (it smelt too good and I had to have a taste) so eight hours on low should do it.

Serve with steamed veg and mash or whatever takes your fancy.

I sincerely apologise

2009-04-04T19:37:00.001+01:00

I do, I really do.

For some reason I haven't receiived any email notifications of comments left here and I'm very sorry if it seems as though I've been ignorant.

Pink Panther Birthday Cake

2009-04-04T19:14:00.005+01:00

I have no idea why but this cake really took it out of me, compared to the monstrosity I made last year (which took over a week to make).

This barely took a couple of hours from pulling out the kitchen aid to throwing all the dishes in the sink, but it felt like a lot longer.

Anyway.

I started with my simple sponge recipe. I wanted to fill two 10 inch cake tins so I grabbed six eggs, weighed them and measured out the same weight of butter, SF flour and caster sugar.

Usually I throw everything in the bowl, turn on the machine and walk away but this time I pain stakingly creamed the butter and sugar before adding the eggs one at a time followed by the flour...

Ahem...

You should end up with a pale fluffy cake batter.

Toots asked if the cake could be strawberry so I added three large spoonfuls of seedless strawberry jam (which didn't change the colour at all) and a couple of drops of food colouring paste.

I divided the batter between the two cake tins and proceeded to make a well in the centre of the cake, smack the pans off the counter and say a silent player that the cakes would come out flat. I hate to trim cakes before decorating them. It seems to me that the structural intergrity of a cake is in the crust and if you have to remove it before adding a fair amount of weight in frosting, well it has just always ended in disaster for me.

In the end the cakes did come out reasonably flat. They had a very slight dome on the top but I fixed that by cooling the cakes upturned which flattened out the slight dome. I wouldn't recommend doing this if the cakes have a large domed top because forcing that amount of cake down on itself will ruin all of the lovely lightness you've worked so hard for earlier on.

I used to decorate my cakes on an upturned plate, but at the end of the day you still have to move it to a cake board or cake plate and there just isn't any point in tempting fate when there is a much better way.

In this case I was using a cake board so I grabbed the board and cut four, four inch wide strips of greaseproof paper. Arrange the greaseproof around the edges of the cake board, you will have a square of unprotected cake board in the centre which the cake will comfortably cover, then plonk the cake in the middle.

I spread a thin layer of seedless strawberry jam on the bottom layer of my cake to try to help that strawberry flavour along a little bit.

I then added a layer of buttercream (250g butter/500g icing sugar/tsp clear vanilla) before placing the second cake on top.

If you plan to completely cover a cake in buttercream then you want to add a bit more buttercream in between the layers than you think you need, once you have the second cake in place press down slightly so that the buttercream is pushed out between the layers.

A little bit of buttercream overflow will make covered the sides a hell of a lot easier, trust me.

Then completely plaster the cake with buttercream. Make sure sure your buttercream goes right down on to the greaseproof paper. Don't worry about making it look too pretty at this stage, just get a good centimetre or so thickness of buttercream over the entire cake.

I always start at the top of the cake and add enough buttercream so that I can spread it right to the edge and then push it a little further to create an overhang of buttercream all around the edge of the cake, then when you come to frost the sides there is very little chance of catching the edge of the cake and pulling any crumbs off.

The trick is to make sure your pallet knife doesn't run dry. Stop spreading about an inch short of where you think you should stop, you'll still have buttercream on the knife and won't risk pulling any crumbs off the cake.

Then put the cake in the fridge for about 20 minutes to chill.

Have a cup of coffee, you deserve it.

Once the cake has chilled a little, get a cup of boiling water, a drying cloth and your pallet knife ready. Alternate holding the knife in the water to heat the blade, drying it off and using it to smooth the buttercream. This method works very well and I prefer it to applying two layers (a crumb layer and a final layer) of buttercream.

I used a little picture of pink panther to decorate the cake (you can just see it in the photo below).

I dyed the leftover buttercream a dark pink and used it to draw the outlines of his face and write Happy Birthday. I still had some left so I added the little swirly bit around the edge.

Then I mixed up some plain icing using icing sugar and a little milk. I used this to make the three different shades of pink, the yellow and the black which I just poured in between the buttercream outlines and allowed it to flow out and fill the gaps.

Then I just whipped the greaseproof paper out from under the cake to leave a lovely clean, splatter free board and called it a day.

I just hope its what Toots had in mind.

Lemony Delight

2009-03-17T06:00:00.001Z

I am a complete sucker for fairy cakes and these little lemony explosions are no exception.

They're such dainty little things without looking too fussy or "worked at".

As usual I stuck with my Simply Sponge Recipe.

I started with two eggs which weighed 110g still in their shell. I added 110g each of self raising flour, butter and caster sugar. I then added two heaping teaspoons full of lemon curd.

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

Before beating with my hand held beater until the batter was light and pale. This takes a minute or two, but it beats the 20 solid minutes of bicep bashing it would take to do it by hand.

You'll end up with quite a thick batter, which can be very easily spooned into a lined bun or muffin tin. I used my small bun tin which produces little two or three bite sized buns. This recipe will make fourteen buns of this size. It will make eight or nine muffin sized buns. You'll have to excuse the slightly battered bun tin. I've had it years and I've grown very attached to it. I do have a silicone muffin pan, but I can't stand silicone.

Once you have all of your batter divided amongst the liners, put them in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. You don't need to test these with a skewer although if you prefer to by all means do. I find it much easier with small cakes to just press the top of one of the cakes slightly. If it bounces back its ready

These little cakes are feather light and have a delicious subtle lemony flavour.

I always prefer buns with a good golden colour to them. Its the reason no silicone will ever be harmed in the making of any baked goodies in my kitchen. I find that silicone produces a very patchy, insipid looking colour on baked goods. Its handy for some things, just not baking.

Don't they just look too good.

Not too good to eat obviously. This one had to be sacrificed for the sake of a good photo and it quickly became the cook's treat.

I made a very quick little icing to cover these fairy cakes.

Just about two thirds of a cup of icing sugar, with a teaspoon of the lemon curd and enough lemon juice to make a thick icing. It is roughly the consistency of toothpaste for desperate want of a better word.

I used slightly less than a teaspoon of icing to cover each bun, gently swirling the back of a spoon over the icing to push it towards the edges.

And enjoy.

Golden Scottish Shortbread

2009-03-15T17:08:00.007Z

I love homemade shortbread and I have a recipe which I have used for years, however when I went to make my usual recipe this week I realised at the last minute that I was short on icing sugar.

So I tinkered.

And it was better.

I tinkered a little more.

And it was great.

I give you the new improved recipe.

125g plain white flour
30g rice or corn flour
50g caster (fine) sugar
100g regular salted butter or 100g unsalted butter and a pinch of salt.
Preheat oven to 160C (300F)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and either rub the fat into the flour and sugar or, if like me you have a life, simply grab your little hand held electric beater and let that do the work for you.

It doesn't come together as a dough but you should end up with something resembling breadcrumbs or wet sand.

Once you get to this stage, tip the contents of the bowl into a 8 inch loose bottom cake pan, give it a quick shake to level it slightly and then press the crumbs into the bottom of the cake pan. Don't press too hard, you don't want to lose any of the lovely lightness, but be firm enough that it will hold together. Best of all, you don't need to bother preparing the pan in any way. No lining, no greasing, nothing at all.

Once you have it pressed into the pan, bake for 15 to 20 minutes. It took exactly 20 minutes in my oven, but bear in mind that my oven is getting on in years. If your oven is newer check it from from about 13 to 15 minutes.

Once the shortbread is baked, remove it from the oven and place it, still in the pan, on a cooling rack for about 5 or 10 minutes.

You'll notice that there really isn't that much colour change. It's a very pale golden colour all over with slightly more colour just at the very edge.

After about 10 minutes, the shortbread will have had a chance to firm up ever so slightly. At this stage, sprinkle the shortbread with a teaspoon or so of caster sugar. I tend to throw it on in a haphazard fashion and then shake the pan from side to side to cover the top of the shortbread with a thin coat of sugar. Then cut the shortbread into either 8 or 16 wedges whichever you prefer. I tend to cut mine in 8. I find if I cut into 16 I still eat two pieces, although those long slender wedges do look a bit more impressive.

Once cut, leave the shortbread to cool completely in the pan before turning out, drooling all over the camera because you had to photograph it and then enjoy a dense crumbly wedge with coffee, ice cream, dipped into fool or mousse or just naked as it is.

Fifteens - No bake recipe

2009-03-08T19:15:00.002Z

Fifteens are delicious but beware they are sweet and a bit rich.

It is one of the simplest tray bakes to prepare.

Combine;

Fifteen digestive biscuits, crushed,
Fifteen large marshmallows, quartered,
Fifteen glace cherries, halved or chopped,
One small can of condensed milk (160ml)

Mix these ingredients together in a large bow until you have a soft dough like consistency.

75 g flaked or desiccated coconut

Spread out a layer of coconut on a sheet of aluminium foil or greaseproof paper and using your hands form the dough into a long sausage shape, short and fat for big portions or long and thin for bite sized pieces. Roll the dough back and forth until reasonably well coated in coconut and then use the foil or greaseproof to wrap the sausage.

Chill for at least an hour or overnight and then slice into pieces about an inch thick.

Enjoy.

Guinness Cake

2009-03-04T06:00:00.000Z

Forget Nigella's "throw chocolate in and people will buy it" attitude. This is the original and best (IMHO) Guinness Cake.

8oz softened butter
8oz dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
10oz plain flour, sifted
1-2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
8oz each of raisins and sultanas
4oz chopped glace cherries
4 oz chopped mixed peel
4 oz chopped walnuts
1/4 pint Guinness

Cream the butter and sugar together until creamy.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

Fold in the flour, mixed spice, fruit, nuts and peel and 4 tablespoons of Guinness.

Pour into a greased and lined 8inch cake tin and bake at 160C (325F) for one hour, reduce oven temperature to 150C (300F) and bake for another 1.5 hours.

Cool in the pan and then turn out onto a flat surface.

Prick the base of the cake and feed with the remaining Guinness.

Store in an airtight container for at least 10 days before eating. It produces a dense, moist fruit cake.

A good recipe to make a couple of weeks before Christmas to serve to guests.

Grilled Red Herrings

2009-03-03T14:00:00.000Z

This isn't much of a recipe, but it is a great way to prepare herrings.

Soak whole herrings in cold beer, drain then grill until the fresh pulls away from the bones easily.

Serve with mashed potatoes or on hot buttered toast and sprinkled with cayenne pepper.

Oh and another tin of that beer to wash them down if you happen to have one handy.

Ballymoney Oyster Soup

2009-03-02T16:42:00.000Z

Nothing says "special occasion" like oysters. Luckily we have some fantastic suppliers of beautiful oyster in Ireland. I usually buy mine from Sean Keown in Bangor or occasionally the husband will stop off at Dundrum Bay Oyster Fisheries and pick some up. While in season they're actually pretty reasonably priced.

This is a good recipe for those who have maybe never tried oysters or don't like the idea of eating them raw.

Ingredients

2 large potatoes, cooked until tender
4oz belly of pork or streaky bacon if the belly is hard to come by
1.5 pints of hot milk
36 fresh oysters
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper
1-2oz butter.

Open the oysters and reserve the liquor, a good fishmonger will do this for you but its easy enough once you get the hang of it.

Dice the belly or pork or bacon and fry gently until cooked without colouring too much.

Mash the potatoes with the hot milk, add the herbs and seasonings and bring to the boil.

Add the pork, oysters and liquor and simmer for a few minutes.

Add butter and serve hot.

This makes about four good sized portions. The soup shouldn't really be made in advance as the oysters will become tough when reheated. Feel free to make up the soup a day ahead and when ready to serve, bring the soup to the boil and add the oysters and liquor at that stage.

Simply Sponge

2009-03-01T16:48:00.002Z

I have a simple, completely fool proof method for making sponge. Whether it be cakes, cupcakes or fairy cakes you want this recipe will get the job done.

Take the required number of eggs, two for an 8 inch pan, three for 10 inch, four for 12 inch and so on...

Now weigh your eggs still in their shells and put the same weight of self raising flour, butter, caster sugar and finally crack in the eggs. Beat well with a whisk or hand held beater and use in any recipe calling for sponge.

Whether it be Victoria sponge cake, cobbler or little fairy cakes it always produces a lovely light sponge.

Irish Boxty Bread or Potato Bread

2009-02-28T14:00:00.000Z

Boxty on the Griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
The wee one in the middle,
It is for Mary Ann.
If you don't eat boxty,
You'll never get your man.

I'm not entirely sure where this little rhyme came from, but it does make me laugh.

Boxty Bread (makes 16 farls)

1lb raw grated potato
1lb cooked mashed potato
12oz plain flour
1/2 oz baking powder
1 tsp salt
4oz softened butter.

Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

Grate the raw potatoes and squeeze out some of the excess liquid.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl or basin and mix with your hands until well combined.

Empty dough out onto a flour surface, divide into quarters and roll each portion of dough into a circle about 1/4 inch thick.

Place onto a greased baking sheet and mark into farls (quarters).

Bake for 35-40 minutes and serve straight from the oven, swimming in butter.

Enjoy.

Boiling Potatoes in their Jackets

2009-02-27T13:42:00.000Z

I love to cook potatoes without peeling them. They taste a lot better cooked with their jackets on and I find it protects the potato and makes it less likely that they will be overcooked and waterlogged.

However, it can be a bit of a nightmare to remove the skins from hot potatoes once they are cooked. The easiest way to do this is to remove a band of skin around the middle of the potato, around 1cm wide and then boil. Once the potatoes are cooked the skins will slip right off.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-02-26T14:11:00.000Z

Seriously, who doesn't like chocolate.

I love chocolate.

No. I really love chocolate. And I love cupcakes, so these little babies rock my world.

They're a bit different because they contain buttermilk (or vinegar and milk combined if you can't get buttermilk) so I wouldn't recommend licking the spoon. The batter just tastes weird.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb)
1/2 cup (4oz) butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

Cream Butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla and beat well.

Alternate adding buttermilk and flour until all is combined.

Line a 12 cup muffin pan and divide batter evenly.

Bake for 20-25 minutes a skewer comes out clean.

Remove to a cooling rack and once cool frost with;

Chocolate buttercream

4oz icing sugar
2oz butter
4 oz dark chocolate melted
(a little milk)

Cream butter and sugar together to make buttercream, add melted chocolate and beat again to combine. Add a little milk if the buttercream seems a little dry or you prefer a messier (nothing wrong with that) frosting.

Cauliflower Soup with Tarragon

2009-02-16T19:31:00.000Z

Photo Courtesy of Supriya O on flickr

1 medium onion, finely diced.
a bunch of soup celery or 3 stalks of table celery, finely chopped.
1 tbls butter
2 tbls plain flour
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 cauliflower, chopped
300ml dried reconstituted milk (or fresh)
fat pinch of dried tarragon or small bunch of fresh.
Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.

Soften celery and onion in butter over a low/medium heat for five minutes then add flour and stir quickly to combine.

Add a little of the stock at a time and stir until about 1/4 of the stock has been added, the remaining stock may be added in 2-3 larger quantities. Allow to cook for a few minutes until mixture has thickened slightly.

Add cauliflower, bring to the boil, reduce heat and cover. Cook until cauliflower is tender (15-20 minutes depending on size of florets).

Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before blending until smooth, add milk along with the dried tarragon and seasonings (if using fresh wait until just before serving the soup to add), bring back up to simmering point and serve.

A handful or two of grated cheddar may also be added to this soup.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

2009-01-01T21:15:00.000Z

I didn't bake a lot over Christmas this year which is something I regretted because I love to bake, even more so at Christmas. Something about always having homebaked cakes, buns, bread and cookies around the house just makes it seem more like the holidays.

My Dad always made fun of my pathetic attempts at baking and cooking when I was younger and for good reason. Coconut ice anyone? Even I couldn't force down a piece of that anymore.

But in the last five years or so, he's had a complete change of heart. Something about me actually being a pretty good cook when I put my mind to it. Nothing like blowing your own horn eh?

Still it seems once I got past the idea that food had to be expensive, elaborate and slaved over I started to cook well and more importantly, bake well.

My Dad is a baker. He works in a bakery. So he has really started to enjoy the things I make. I tend to make far too much as there are only three of us in the house so at least half of everything makes its way to his house.

My Dad has made a point the last few years to give me kitcheny items for birthday and Christmas presents. This year was no exception. He gave me a very large (I get the hint dad) cake tin. It's 28cm across and comes with two bases, one decorative ring mould base and one plain flat base. It would be about the size of the bottom layer of a pretty big wedding cake if I used the flat layer, so I didn't.

I've never baked in a decorative tin before, apart from Toots little teddy bear and butterfly silcone moulds, but nothing this size and I wanted to make sure the cake would come out of the tin in one piece.

It did.

Doesn't that just look (almost) too good to eat. Notice the huge slice taken out of it before I could even take the photo.

It's the simplest recipe to make as well.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Taken from a recipe on zaar called The Absolute Best Moist One-Bowl Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake. I can say that it definitely more than lives up to its name.

2/3 cup cocoa, sifted (I didn't bother)
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar (I used about 1 1/2)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt (I didn't use any)
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 1/2 cups unsweetened orange juice (I only had sweetened and thats why i reduced the sugar and I used half orange and half water)
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil. (Actually you could probably replace some of this with apple sauce if the thought of all that oil puts you off)

Pre-heat oven to 180C (350F)

Generousy grease a bundt pan. (I would say this recipe would do three 8 inch cake tins or a 13 x 9 inch tin)

Put all ingredients in one large bowl and beat until well conbined. Pour into cake tin and bake for approximately 1 hour until done. Mine took just a little less than one hour, so probably best to test from about 45 minutes onwards.

If your using a 13 x 9 pan I would test from about 35-45 minutes and for the smaller 8 inch tins from about 25 minutes onwards.

Its best if you have moist crumbs left on the toothpick when testing for doneness, like brownie crumbs.

The recipe on zaar also includes a recipe for a struesal, half fill the pan, sprinkle over the streusal and pour the rest of the batter over, but I didn't use it.

The glaze I used was just a simple ganache, equal quantities of double cream and dark chocolate. Heat the cream in a pan until just before boiling, add the chopped chocolate, let it sit for a minute or two and then stir until combined.

I should really have let the glaze cool a bit more before pouring it over but I just couldn't wait to try it so most of it wound up puddled on the plate.

Still good though.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-01-01T21:13:00.000Z

Chapatis

2009-01-01T21:10:00.000Z

I've been absolutely addicted to these lately.

I only learnt how to make them a few weeks ago (shameful I know) but I haven't stopped since. I figured since I'm a very nice person, I'd pass on the world's simplest recipe.

We're having a bit of a potato famine in the SeetheWoods House lately because of price and quality and I've replaced the humble spud with these.

Chapatis (makes 12)

12oz plain or wholemeal flour

1tsp salt

water

Mix salt with flour in a bowl, add a little water and start to mix with your fingers. You just add enough water so that it comes together in a ball. It should feel similar to play dough, soft but not so soft it sticks to your hands.

You can make the dough and cover until you're ready to use.

When ready, divide the dough into 12 portions, roll into 5-6 inch rounds (or squares or misshapes, I'm not fussy).

Add enough vegetable oil and a small amount of butter (don't worry if the butter burns a bit, it only makes them taste better) to a heavy frying pan and fry each one over a medium/high heat for about 45 seconds to 1 minute per side.

They puff up slightly when they're done. If you're feeling really adventurous you can hold them over a naked gas flame and they puff up to look like little balloons.

They can be kept warm in an oven until you are ready to serve, but I wouldn't recommend letting them cool and reheating.

This is the basic recipe, feel free to play around with it. I almost always add some garlic power or some dried herbs.

They're also good layered in a casserole with chilli and covered with some grated cheese, like a mock lasagna with a kick.

Let me know if you have any other good ideas on how to use these (Have I mentioned I'm addicted).

Rock Buns

2009-01-01T21:07:00.000Z

I was given this recipe by a friend about two months ago and it has quickly turned into a weekend breakfast staple.

They're quick and easy to make and the first time toots tried one she closed her eyes and said "Hmmm, delicious". How's that for a seal of approval.

Rock Buns

220g self raising flour

110g butter or marg

110g brown sugar

80g currants

15g glace cherries (chopped)

15g peel

One egg

tsp cinnamon

a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

Rub the butter into the flour, add the brown sugar, fruit peel and spices and mix. Add beaten egg and mix to combine (if it's a little dry add a splash of milk). It should resemble the consistency of cookies which are rolled into balls before baking.

Split the dough into six portions, don't worry too much about rolling it into perfect balls, there should be a bit craggy. Place them on a cookie sheet leaving room for some spreading and bake at 200C for 20 minutes. Leave them to cool for about ten minutes on the sheet and then just serve with butter and jam. It's easier to just break pieces off these and smear some butter on rather than try to slice them like a traditional scone.

Now that's the original as provided to me. When I came to make them to first time I didn't have any currents, nor did I have cherries, or peel for that matter. I did have raisins and I used those and they were "Hmmm delicious". Since I made them the first time I usually plan ahead now and soak the raisins in the beaten egg in the fridge over night and it makes the raisins lovely and plump. Also I don't bother with the rubbing in, I just throw everything into one bowl and use my handheld electric mixer, doesn't seem to do it any harm.

Homemade Vanilla Sugar

2009-01-01T21:02:00.000Z

Photo courtesy of Simon Goldenberg at Flickr

This is an easy way to get most out of vanilla pods. Depending on where they are bought they can be quite expensive. I've found that the cheapest place to buy these is at the Asian Supermarket, they're normally around £1.50 for three compared to over £1 for one in any normal supermarket.

I love vanilla, can't get enough of the stuff and when given the option always prefer to use pods instead of essence or extract, although I will use these for day to day things.

I use vanilla to flavour pavlova, whipped cream, custards and ice cream.

The first time I use a vanilla pod I will split it open lengthwise and remove the seeds, using these to flavour a liquid, particularly ice cream, I like the little flecks of black studded through the creamy white of the cream. Some people prefer they're vanilla ice cream to be pristine white, I am not one of those people.

I will then store the pod in an airtight container until the next time I need it which will again be to flavour a liquid. I most often use the pod this time to flavour a cooked custard, adding the pod to the milk or cream in the pan and allowing it to infuse while the custard cooks and thickens. Once the pod has done it's work I quickly rinse it under the tap and leave it somewhere warm to dry out a little.

Once the pod has dried out, measure out enough caster (superfine) sugar for around four recipes, normally about 500g in my house. Whatever your favourite recipes are, the things you make most often and preferably a recipe which contains vanilla.

Add vanilla pod to a blender and pulse until finely chopped, once it doesn't seem to be getting any smaller, add the sugar and pulse again for another 30 seconds or so to distribute the vanilla. Store in an airtight container and use in your favourite cake and cookie recipes in place of regular sugar and vanilla. Feel free to use half and half, vanilla sugar and regular sugar for a just a warm hint of flavour. This can also be used to sweeten coffee, fruit and homemade hot chocolate.

Six or more uses from one vanilla pod at the price I pay brings it down to roughly 8p per recipe. I can live with that, especially when I get a beautifully flavoured dessert.

Times are a bit lean at the minute and the first thing sacrificed is usually desserts. Sometimes a little of what you fancy is good for the heart and can make you feel so much less "hard done by" in times of a tightening budget. A great way to use this sugar and one of my favourite recipes, is rice pudding. I'll be posting a recipe for this very soon.

L.

Champ Potatoes

2009-01-01T21:00:00.000Z

This week over at Rocks in my Dryer, WFMW is themed - Recipes using five items or less.

I love champ, it's easy, cheap and absolutely gorgeous, all by itself.

Champ

Floury potatoes, enough for your family. I usually use five good sized potatoes, the ones that fill the palm of your hand.

Scallions (spring onions) - one onion for each potato, finely sliced into little rings, green and white. You can get fancy with this if you like by cutting them at an angle.

Butter - don't try to skip this, it ain't champ if it doesn't have butter.

Milk - about half a cup for the amount of potatoes above.

Peel, cube and cook potatoes until tender.

Strain the water away from the potatoes and leave in the pot or in a colander uncovered to allow any remaining water to steam off.

In the meantime, put milk and scallions into a pan and bring to the boil, turn off heat and leave to rest.

Mash the potatoes until smooth and add milk and scallions and beat into the potatoes, add butter and beat again and season to taste.

Serve all by itself, as a side or use leftover cold champ to make fishcakes. This is great with good pork sausages.

The kitchen bar in Belfast used to serve champ in a pile, with a well made in the centre and a raw egg yolk cracked in and covered over with the potatoes. It would be left to sit for a few minutes to allow the heat from the potatoes to just barely cook the egg yolk and then eaten. It was beautiful. They don't do it anymore, it's up to you if you want to try it. You need to be pretty confident about your eggs for this one, although a soft poached egg on top is just as good.

There you go five items or less *ahem ... not counting the seasoning*

Give it a try and let my know how you get on. This recipe works for me and for more recipes which work for other people, take a look at WFMW over with Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

Also for more great recipes using potatoes, rice, pasta and bread check out the Frugal Food Series at Frugal Upstate.

Eggy Grilled Cheese

2009-01-01T20:56:00.000Z

This recipe is great for a quick lunch or snack, it can get a little messy if your not quick.

You'll find this works best with supermarket bread because you can kind of mash the edges together to hold the filling inside. You can use your own homemade good bread however you may need to work a little harder to get the edges to hold together, I would definitely recommend removing the crusts if you're using good bread

Eggy Grilled Cheese

Two slices of white bread

Cheese, whichever takes your fancy or you happen to have on hand. Mozzarella works as does good cheddar or some good swiss cheese.

One egg beaten and seasoned.

Sliced cheese and arrange on one slice of bread leaving about a centimetre or two of uncovered bread around the edge (you can remove the crusts if you prefer. If I do this I toss them in a bag in the freezer until I have enough for something that needs breadcrumbs.

Place the second slice of bread on top of the first and squeeze and press the edges together until they hold. If it's supermarket (plastic) bread they will.

With the beaten egg poured onto a plate or wide bottomed bowl quickly dip each side of the bread into the egg and then place in a non stick pan or lightly oiled skillet over a medium heat.

Check after about two minutes to see if the egg has set on the bottom, for a deeper colour lift the bread and place a small knob of butter underneath and leave for a further minute to help brown the bread.

Turn the bread and repeat for other side.

WARNING... LEAVE TO COOL FOR AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES BEFORE EATING. IT'S DECEPTIVE, IT'LL FEEL MUCH COOLER ON THE OUTSIDE WHILE THE INSIDE IS STILL MOLTEN LAVA.

This is excellent on it's own or with some good tomato (marinara) sauce to dip into for that "pizza on the fly" taste.

For more great frugal recipes with eggs head over to Jenn at Frugal Upstate for the Frugal Food Series.

L.

Frittata

2009-01-01T20:53:00.000Z

This month Jenn over at Frugal Upstate is hosting a Frugal Food Series.

With all living costs increasing on what seems like a weekly basis it's time to tighten our belts.

The most obvious and easiest way to do this is to cut back on food bills.

The first week of the series concentrates on eggs. Now I love eggs, can't get enough of them so I have a large collection of eggy recipes. However my favorite is a basic recipe for a Frittata. The reason I like this recipe so much and use it so often is that is great for helping to clear out the fridge.
The basic recipe is as follows;

tbls oil
4 eggs - beaten and seasoned to taste
approx 1 cup of cooked cubed potato (about 1cm cubes)
approx 1 cup of sliced onion

Heat oil in a non-stick shallow pan

Gently cook onion in oil for about ten minutes taking care not to allow only the slightest colour on the onions.

Add potatoes and cook for a further five minutes until heated through and just starting to colour at the edges.

Making sure the ingredients are evenly distributed in the pan, add beaten eggs to the pan and allow to cook on a low heat until the eggs set on the bottom and should start to set around the edges of the pan.

Place pan under a medium grill until the top of the frittata sets .

Don't let this recipe limit you. I have added all types of leftovers to this basic recipe with great results. Just always bear in mind that if you have a huge heaping pan of leftovers add enough egg to bind the ingredients together. You should be able to slice the frittata like a cake into wedges.

A frittata can be eaten at any time of the day. I have served fit or breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's also lovely cooked and left to cool and either eaten as a snack or with a salad and some good bread.

For more eggy ideas to feed your family head over to the Frugal Food Series at Frugal Upstate. Don't forget to check out some of Jenn's other invaluable posts while your there.

L.