Asparagus & Tomato Pie

Deep Filled

When I was in my early teens I used to love deep filled vegetarian pies, my mother and I loved them.  After a long day my mother and I would just heat them up in the oven and eat the pie with a variety of sides.  Now though frozen pies are overloaded with salt and taste like cardboard.  The quality of the frozen food I used to eat has gone down so much that even when I see them in the supermarket I get this awful taste in my mouth.  Now I am older I have no reason not to make the pies for myself.  Asparagus is back in season so I thought this would be a great fresh spring meal.

This recipe was adapted from Grandma’s Best Recipes (Parragon Books Ltd, 2012).

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry, a handful of asparagus tips, 250g spinach leaves, 3 eggs beaten, 2 tbsps dried basil, 150ml double cream, 4 beef tomatoes (chopped), 40g Parmesan cheese.

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 190 degree  C.
2. Line a deep oven dish with the pastry and trim off the excess pastry.
3. Prick the base with a fork and blind bake for 20 – 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil.
5. Add the asparagus and blanch for a minute.
6. Remove the asparagus and drain.
7. Mix the eggs, cream and basil together.
8. When the pastry has been blind baked lay the spinach and asparagus at the bottom.
9. Place the tomatoes on top.
10.  Pour the egg mixture on top and scatter a little cheese.
11. Bake for 45 minutes.
12. When the filling has set scatter the rest of the cheese on top.
13. Leave the pie at room temperature before serving.

Barbecue – glazed Drumsticks

Chicken Legs

This chicken was fantastic and considering I have never been a fan of barbecue sauce I think I did pretty well.  I loved the sauce/gravy that was left over from cooking the chicken.  In fact I could have had the sauce alone with some vegetables and rice.  The best sauce I have had in a long time.  For a light meal you can just make the chicken and eat it with a nice salad.

This recipe was adapted from Grandma’s Best Recipes (Parragon Books Ltd, 2012).

Ingredients:

6 chicken drumsticks, 225ml barbecue sauce, 1 tbsp light brown sugar, 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 2 tsps hot pepper sauce.

Method:

1. Wash and prepare the chicken legs.
2. Place the chicken legs in a oven proof dish.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and mix into the chicken legs.
4. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 5 hours.
5. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees C.
6. After 15 minutes douse in the sauce.
7. Bake for a further hour.

Zesty New York Cheesecake

Perfect Texture

The perfect texture for a cheesecake should be soft, creamy and no wobble after the cheesecake sets.  When you slice the knife into the cheesecake it should cut smoothly and the edges of the cheesecake should be slightly darkened, thicker and slightly crunchy at the bottom.  Shop bought cheesecakes tend to be too chilled and too crunchy at the bottom.  In my opinion some seriously lack in flavour so my only option is to pay ridiculous amounts of money at a restaurant or make my own.  I make my own.  I flavoured mine with vanilla and lemon,  I kept things simple and was happy that the base was not too darkened by a pre bake.

This recipe was adapted from Grandma’s Best Recipes (Parragon Books Ltd, 2012).

Ingredients:

100g butter, 170g digestive biscuits (crushed), 300g cream cheese, 125g caster sugar, 1 tbsp plain flour, 2 tsps vanilla extract, finely grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 1/2 tbsps lemon juice, 1 egg, 150ml double cream.

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a small pan.
2. Mix in the biscuits.
3. Pat the biscuits into a small cake tin to form the base.
4. In a medium bowl beat in the rest of the ingredients together.
5. Bake the base for 10 minutes.
6. When the rest of the ingredients are thick and creamy pour onto the base.
7. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes.
8. Leave to set for a few hours.

Madeira Cake

“Heavy!”

Heavy can refer to a high volume of weight or it can be a colloquial term for “impressive”.  I have not heard the word used in slang for so long.  A child I taught the other day used it and I thought  what a perfect title for my Madeira Cake.  My mother has been making Madeira cakes lately so I thought I could give it another go.  If your Madeira is similar to a Victoria sponge you have messed it up.  A Madeira cake is heavier in the literal sense.  It is richer, densely textured and tastes more buttery.  Due to the addition of ground almonds it has enough flavour to be eaten alone.

This recipe was adapted from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible (BBC Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

175g softened butter, 175g caster sugar, 225g self – raising flour, 50g ground almonds, 3 large eggs.

Method:

1. Grease a deep round cake tin and line the tin with baking parchment.
2. Pre heat the oven 180 degrees C.
3. Beat the ingredients all together.  Mixing thoroughly.  No lumps, a smooth heavy batter.
4. Pour into the cake tin.
5. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before peeling off the parchment and turning out onto a wire rack.

Sopa Seca de Fideos

Monster 

When you gobble down on food and eat it as though you are a monster so hungry you could eat an Englishman, that is the sign of damn good food.  This soup is the bees knees,  I had double portions which is a big deal because I have a small stomach.  The soup should be eaten hot but there are recommended chilled elements to compliment the chilli.  Add a small amount of avocado and sour cream after serving.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Ingredients:

1 tbsp chopped red chilli, 2 beef tomatoes (quartered), 2 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped), 1 onion (peeled and roughly chopped), 600ml chicken stock, 3 tbsps vegetable oil, 2 chicken breasts (diced), 225g thin noodles.

Method:

1. Blend together the chilli, tomatoes, garlic and onion.
2. Mix with the chicken stock.
3.  In a large pan heat up the oil then add the chicken.
4. When almost cooked add the chicken stock and other ingredients except the noodles.
5. When the chicken is cooked add the noodles.
6. When everything is cooked add your additions, season to taste and gobble down like a monster.

Cauliflower Soup with Toasted Coriander

Toasted Coriander

Sometimes something so simple and delicate like toasted coriander can bring a burst of life to a dish that has very little flavour.  Cauliflower soup with toasted coriander tastes amazing and I really recommend this to anyone with a cold or anyone who appreciates spice.  Good for the senses great for your soul.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Due to technical difficulties I was unable to upload a picture.  Imagine a creamy yellow soup with steam rising from it filling the air with aromatic smells.

Ingredients:

2 tsps coriander seeds, 40g unsalted butter, 1 onion (peeled and diced), 1 potato (peeled and diced), 500g cauliflower (chopped), 500ml vegetable stock, 1 bay leaf, 200ml full fat milk, 1 tsp turmeric, salt and pepper, croutons and Parmesan cheese.

Method:

1. Heat a frying pan and light roast the coriander seeds, stirring consistently for a minute.
2. Grind the seeds to a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar.
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat.
4. Add the onion and potato.
5. Cover the pan and leave the food to soften for 10 minutes.
6. Add the cauliflower and the ground coriander.
7. Season well and leave to cook for another 10 minutes.
8. Add the stock and the bay leaf.
9. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
10. When the cauliflower is soft remove the bay leaf.
11. Blend the soup and then mix in the milk and turmeric.
12. Season to taste and serve into bowls.
13. Garnish the top with croutons and a little Parmesan cheese.

Treacle Spice Traybake

Treacle Spice 

This cake really reminds me of baking in Barbados and/ or Grenada.  Despite how I felt in the beginning about the treacle the cake was surprisingly light and not too rich.  It did not have that nasty gluttonous cloggy feeling in your throat.  Eaten hot it just melts away in your mouth and you are left with the most gorgeous flavour of mixed spice.  I once tasted the most disgusting cake made of treacle and dates and it really put me off both ingredients for a very long time.  Although I am still skeptical about dates thanks to Mary Berry treacle is back in my good books.

This recipe was taken from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible (BBC Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

225g softened butter, 175g caster sugar, 225g black treacle, 275g self – raising flour, 2 level tsps baking powder, 2 level tsps ground mixed spice, 4 large eggs (beaten), 4 tbsps milk.

Method:

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
2. Beat the eggs and the milk together and add to the large bowl with the butter and cream.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder.
4. Add the mixed spice and mix well.
5. When well blended add the treacle and mix until well combined.
6. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
7. Prepare a tray bake tin by lining and greasing with baking parchment.
8. Pour the treacle spice mixture into the tin.
9. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.
10. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

Shortbread Biscuits

Goodness’ Sake

Always do good for goodness’ sake.  It is unacceptable to be a selfish person when you have so much to be thankful for.  Nobody has an excuse to not find the time to do one good thing a day whether it is paying someone a compliment or helping someone with their homework.  I am sick of people ask me why I do good things.  Isn’t it obvious?  Why is it surprising for someone to do good and normal for someone to be bad.  Ridiculous!  I made these biscuits to spread the love.  It is essay time so a lot of love needs to be spread.  Shortbread is not as popular as it used to be but biscuits are still a big hit.  Mary Berry combined the two and this combination is cheap and cheerful.  It just proves you don’t have to be rich to give or a baker to feed.  Muscavado sugar gives a much better colour and a stronger flavour for these biscuits than caster sugar.

This recipe was adapted from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible (BBC Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

175g plain flour, 75g light muscavado sugar, 100g butter.

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Measure the flour and sugar into a medium bowl.
3. Rub in the butter with your fingertips.
4. Knead the mixture gently to form a dough.
5. Form the dough into biscuits and place on a baking sheet on a baking tray.
6. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until pale golden.
7. Leave to cool on wire rack.

Potato & Kale Soup

No Microwave

My mother and I had to work out a meal plan because we had to travel  somewhere for a night to a place that had no microwave and only a stove.  I suggested soup as we were both a bit under the weather and soup can be easily re heated.  The April showers are upon us and although the sun is peeking through the clouds it is important to think of meals that are more associated with winter instead of summer.  This is a very strange season in terms of cooking for the family because on the one hand it is warmer, but on the other hand there is still that cold chill in the air.  Soup is extremely versatile.  You can make it heavier or lighter depending on the weather and it is comfort food/ feel good food.  It is not a good idea to enter a new season feeling sad, sick or lethargic.  Soup is a very good food which can help to prevent such feelings.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Unfortunately due to technical issues I was unable to provide a picture.  Imagine a creamy green colour with soft potatoes floating on the surface.

Ingredients:

1, tbsp sunflower oil, 450g potatoes (peeled and sliced), 4 garlic cloves (peeled and sliced), 1 small onion (peeled and chopped), 220ml vegetable stock, 225g curly kale (remove the stalks), red pepper (de seeded sliced), salt and pepper.

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Add the potatoes, garlic, onion and pepper.
3. Fry for about 7 minutes and then add the stock.
4. Add the kale.
5. Bring to the boil.
6. Leave to simmer for 25 – 30 minutes on a low heat.
7. Remove from the heat and blend using a hand blender.

Salmon Stir Fry

Special Sauce 

In England Chinese buffets and takeaways people usually choose the foods with sweet and sour sauces as they are so unique to Britain.  Eating these sauces hot with noodles and vegetables is a fantastic experience.  You a pretty march munching on a festival in your mouth.  The sauce was from the shop, the vegetables were packaged and the salmon was de boned so all I had to do was put it all together.

This recipe was taken from Silvana Franco’s The Ultimate Student Cookbook (Murdoch Books, 2007).

Ingredients:

2 tbsps sunflower oil, 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsps soy sauce, 1 onion (peeled and chopped), 1 x packet stir fry vegetables 250g, 1 x packet egg noodles (350g maximum), 150g smoked salmon (de boned), Chinese style sauce of your choice.

Method:

1. In a wok on a low – medium heat add the oils and soy sauce.
2. Fry the onion for 2 minutes before adding the vegetables.
3. When softened add the noodles, salmon and sauce.
4. When heated all the way through season to taste.