HEART RACING MUFFINS // DISASTER

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Thought I'd bring some romance to the studio today by making these Beetroot muffins. Valentines is usually all about chocolate galore so I decided that considering everyone at work is more inclined to go for the savoury option, that's what I'd do.

These muffins should get your hearts racing that's for sure! The cayenne pepper and cocoa gives you a warm after kick that'll wake you up. Plus using beetroot adds the colour to match the days events

 I found this recipe on a random blog whilst searching for beetroot savoury muffins -  Beetroot, Carrot & Goats Cheese Muffins. However even though they look pretty... they tasted revolting!!?!?! yup they were a complete disaster... My fatal flaw was that I didn't try one until everyone else had... spat mine out! Not good :(

Back to the drawing board. Does anyone have a decent savoury muffin recipes? I need to make amends to everyone in office now! 8-O

On a happier note, few hours into the day and these arrived! 

Turns out that I have a valentine .... ;) feeling pretty lucky!

(even though I can make horrid beetroot muffins)

Cloche Burger & Brioche Bap

Happy New Year All! 

I've started as I mean to carry on 2012 by beginning with some serious savoury cooking. This year the sweet stuff is being put on the back-burner and we begin with one of London's new trends!

In previous posts I've talked about London's 'craze' of pop-up restaurants, well now it's all about the Street Burger! You may have about places such as Lucky Chip, The Meateasy & Honest Burger.
I've had the splendid joy of being to, two of the three above and I have to say, I don't think I'd ever had a proper burger before I had tried one from the above establishments!

The Meateasy also known as The Meatwagon has now moved to the west-end & re-named itself Meat Liquor. I went to the Meatwagon whilst it was still based in New Cross & have to say it was a fabulous experience of trying my first cloche burger!

So here are the two recipes I used to get the creation above in the photograph.

Light Brioche Burger Buns -  Got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from Comme Ça restaurant in Los Angeles, via the New York Times
Go! Make these! What are you waiting for?
Makes 8 4 to 5-inch burger buns
3 tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Sesame seeds (optional)
1. In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get. Try to leave them tackier than you would a round loaf.
3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours. (In my freaky, warm apartment this only took an hour.)
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours. (Again, this only took one hour in my apartment and I suspect, you’ll also only need an hour for a second rise.)
5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Cloche Burger - recipe found on The Independent website

1kg coarsely minced chuck steak with about 20 per cent fat (get this from your butcher not the supermarket)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little vegetable oil for grilling
4 slices of cheese
4 soft homemade Brioche buns

Mould the mince into round patties the same size or a little larger than the burger buns. Season the burgers then heat a griddle or heavy frying pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, keeping them nice and pink. When it's almost done, splash a little bit of water into the pan and then puts a cloche over the top to let it steam a little.
If you are using cheese, just place on top of the burger for 30 seconds or so to melt it.
Meanwhile, lightly toast the bun, assemble with your chosen relish and serve immediately.

Dill Relish
Chopped dill
Tommie K
Mayo

 Once you make a cloche burger you'll never do it any other way.

Go on give it a try!!

Birthday Pasty

 So as you've probably gathered I like baking and making cakes. It also turns out that eating sweet stuff is a past-time loved by mainly females. So as it was a male colleagues birthday at work I decided to take the initiative ;) and make a savoury Birthday thing to put candles in.....

I chose Mini Pasties!! (I say mini, but still the size of your hand)
I found the recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Every Day. The pastry is really delicious and so quick and easy to make. I use the same recipe for my sausage rolls.

For the rough puff pastry
250g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
550g plain flour
A good pinch of salt
240-300ml iced water

METHOD (2 variations..)

How to make leftover stew pasties (use my Spiced Beef Stew Recipe here)

1. For the filling, drain off any excess juices from the stew so that the meat and veg are just lightly coated in gravy. Take any large chunks of meat or veg and chop them up roughly before stirring back together. Taste the stew and make sure it's seasoned to your liking. Leave to cool completely.
2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to about 3mm thick. Using a plate or a cake tin as a template, cut out four 20cm circles; you may have to gather up the trimmings and re-roll them to get your fourth circle.
3. Spoon the stew on to one half of each circle. Brush the pastry edges with water, fold the other half of the pastry over the filling to form a half-moon shape and crimp well to seal.
4. Place the pasties on a lightly oiled baking sheet and brush the tops with beaten egg. Bake in an oven preheated to 190°C/Gas Mark 5 for about 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Eat warm or cold.

Squash and Lentil Pasties

Main Ingredients:

• Brown lentils
• Butternut squash
• Shortcrust pastry
• Onions, carrots and celery
• Mustard, white wine and balsamic vinegar

First one onion, one carrot and one celery stick were fried in olive oil, then simmered in white wine. Then the (rather unappetizing-looking) brown tinned lentils were added along with bay, thyme and half a pint of vegetable stock and simmered for 10 mins. I then hacked away at the squash until we had some nice cube-shaped chunks, which were chucked in and cooked for a further 20 minutes.

The resulting mixture was rather watery, so I set about it with a potato masher to help the vegetables soak up some of the juices. Finally, two teaspoons of English mustard and the same of Balsamic vinegar were added to give it a kick.

Anyway they flew off the plate, the meat ones especially!!

Edamame Avocado Dip with Spicy Wasabe

Dip 2 - Delicious, healthy and bright green!

Well it always good to add some extra colour to the table ;). This dip is amazing and what with the added kick from the wasabe it gives it that extra punch. Some may say it's the extra 'fifth' taste. Have you heard about this? I can't remember if wasabe is part of the group that has the Umami the fifth taste after bitter, salty, sour and sweet. Seriously this isn't one of my random stories, they're now selling tubes of this magic stuff in the supermarket. They say that it makes anything you putt it in taste better and tastier and generally amazing! However I have heard that there is one draw back...it's supposedly bright red, thus will make any food you put it in varying shades of pink/red.
Here have a read if you don't believe me: Telegraph has an article on it.

Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent back to the dip....

Ingredients
1 cup fresh or frozen shelled edamame beans
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
1 teaspoon wasabe
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (I cheated & used puree ginger)
1 clove minced fresh garlic (I cheated & used puree garlic)
1/4 cup water
juice of 2 fresh limes (about 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
cracked black pepper
2 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Do a seasoning check, and add more salt, pepper, lime juice, or wasabe as needed (I like to kick it up to a tablespoon to really bring on the heat).

I have to say this is a really REALLY tasty dip. It's not guacamole, it's similar but not guacamole. Should really think of a shorter name for it.... How about WAE dip?? It's not very catchy though is it...
any ideas let me know!

Pureed ginger and garlic in the fridge is a GENIUS move! ;)

Also I have a new obsession with Warburtons Square(ish) wraps they're so versatile and work great with my dips. You chop them up into triangle and heat them up under the grill with a bit of oil and chopped herbs or spread some of tasty green dip on top with some tomato salsa and roll it up. Yum!

 Right think that's enough babbling for this post.... 

Hope you enjoy your dip as much as I did!

Creamy Hummus

Summertime means sunny, hot days consisting of light eating and by no means eating roast dinners!! Unless a point is to be made. Anyway, I believe hummus is a great thing to have at the ready. Both meat and vegetarian friendly, it's healthy-ish and even more so when eaten with crudities or baked sweet potato wedges!

I have to admit the first time I tried hummus, the first mouthful I wasn't that impressed... I actually thought it was the blandest, 'health-food' thing I'd ever tried, and that I wouldn't be eating again... Well I got that wrong! I did try and make it a few years back, with disastrous consequences - honestly it was disgusting. But not one to be defeated I thought I'd give it another go. Have to say the results were good, however please note - this recipe makes a LOT! I now have three pots of the above, two of which are now in the freezer to be used once i get through the first pot!

This recipe gives you the creamiest, silky smooth hummus ever! A couple of pointers though, firstly, when adding the tahini, add a little at a time and keep tasting the hummus as you do it. It might be a case that you don't want to add the whole amount (I found it somehow took away some of the flavor of the chick peas and ended up adding a little more salt & onion marmalade).

Oh and secondly, I've recently broke my food processor !?! Trust me - don't try wizz up lots of ice cubes , just use a rolling pin and a bag. Anyway I ended up investing in one of those hand wizzer jobs from the supermarket. I made a point of buying the cheapest - about £7, and it's BRILLIANT. Less washing up, quick and easy and didn't break the bank. Ha, I'm such a geek to get so excited about a bloody £7 blender... hmm but hey if it wasn't for the £7 wizzer people wouldn't be eating hummus! ha ha !!

Finally you'll see it's measured using 'cups', it's an American measuring method. I've ended up following so many recipes I got myself a set of cups. If you're looking for a set try Here .

INGREDIENTS


    •    2 cups dried chickpeas
    •    2 tbsp baking soda for soaking + ½ tsp for cooking
    •    ½ cup tahini
    •    juice from 1 squeezed lemon
    •    2 garlic cloves
    •    ½ tsp salt
    •    1 teaspoon cumin
    •    ½ – 1 cup water, depending on desired texture
    •    2 tablespoons sticky onion marmalade

INSTRUCTIONS

• Soak chickpeas in clean water with 2 tablespoons of baking soda overnight.
• Drain, rinse and soak again in tap water for a few more hours. The grains should absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.
• Rinse the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add ½ tsp baking soda and NO salt. Cook until the grains are very tender, around 45 minutes to an hour. Regularly skim the surface during cooking process to remove foam and loose peels floating - this process can be quite therapeutic. Just make sure you get the majority of skins out as this will ensure for a smooth texture.
• When cooked, drain the chickpeas and transfer to food processor or use a hand-wizzer. Process into a thick puree. Allow to cool for a little while before you continue.
• Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and cumin, then start the food processor. Add water, a little bit at a time, until you get the desired texture. Make it a little bit thinner than the actual desired texture, as it tends to firm up after a little while (especially if you don’t eat it right away and refrigerate it).

Cook-athon Part 1 - Sausage Rolls

So as it turns out I didn't end up cooking anything for Sonja's arrival instead a lot of chocolate, Nutella and wine was consumed!!
This weekend I have hit the kitchen like i have never before :D So far I've made :

*Sausage rolls using Mr Willows sausages and this time made my own 'rough' puff pastry - it roughly follows the same recipe i used for the 'picnic for a king' post back in Feb.
*Millionaire's shortbread - we've started a syndicate at work, which isn't going very well as we keep forgetting to buy the lottery tickets!? Hopefully this will suffice.
*Pizza Dough - a great thing to have a the freezer for a quick fab pizza!
*Lemon Drizzle - turns out Kim at work has been wanting me to bring one of these into the office for ages - so this one's for you kim! :)

As I've made quite a few things I'm gonna have to put them over a couple of posts. To start of we'll start with the Mr Willows Sausage Rolls.

Rough Puff Pastry:
300g Plain / rice flour
A pinch of salt
150g chilled butter cut into cubes.

For the filling:
25g Butter
1 large red onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
6 large Mr Willows Pork & tomato sausages
a handful of brown bread crumbs
Seasoning

Method:
To make the pastry, mix the flour with the salt, then add the cubed butter and rub together until evenly mixed. Add just enough iced water (8-10 tablespoons) to bring the mixture together into a fairly firm dough.
Shape the dough into a rectangle with your hands and, on a well floured surface, roll it out in one direction, away from you, so you end up with a rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the far third towards you, then fold the nearest third over that (rather like folding business letter), so that you now have a rectangle made up of 3 equal layers (see photos). Give the pastry a quarter-turn, then repeat the rolling, folding and turning process 5 more times. Wrap the pastry in cling film and rest it in the fridge for about 30 minures, up to an hour.

Whilst the pastry is chilling you can start on the filling. Also pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Take the onion and cut into quarters then slice very finely. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion and sugar. Cook slowly for around half an hour until they've turned caramel-ly and golden. Pop on a plate and allow to cool. In another bowl put the handful of breadcrumbs (slice of bread whizzed up) and then slice the sausage down the center and pop the meat out into the bowl. Add the cooled onions & seasoning, then squigg together.

On a floured work surface, roll the pastry out into a big rectangle as thick as a pound coin and cut it length ways into two long, even rectangles. Roll the mixture into sausage shapes with your hands and lay along the center of each rectangle.

Mix the egg and milk and brush the pastry with the mixture, then fold one side of the pastry over, wrapping the filling inside. Press down with your fingers or the edge of a spoon to seal the join.

Cut the long rolls into the sizes you want and space them out on a baking tray. Brush with the rest of the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until puffed, golden and cooked through.

Cook-athon Part 3 - Pizza Dough!

Seriously when you've got time you have to make some of this,  it is so easy but really useful & I have to say, quite impressive to have your own dough at the ready :)

This recipe makes enough dough for around 8 bases - if you like them thin, obviously if you like them thick it'll make less.... This is another Jamie Oliver recipe - "Cook your way to the Good Life"

1kg strong white bread flour
1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons extra virgin oil
650ml lukewarm water

Sieve the flour and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave foe a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands - this is called ' knocking back the dough'.

At this point, you can either use it immediately or divide into balls and pop into the fridge or the freezer for a later date :).


When it comes to using the dough this is what to do....
First of all it's best to roll out the dough bases about 15-20mins before you want to cook them. if you want to worked more in advance and be fully prepped, you can roll them into 'rough' circles and place on a olive-oil + flour dusted rubbed piece of foil. Then stack the bases cover with clingfilm and pop into the fridge.
If using dough that has been frozen, get it out in the morning and pop onto a plate - warning if they were originally wrapped in cling - this will explode as they warm up so make sure you pop a loose piece of cling over the top or a damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out.

At a later date I'll do a post for a good tomato base sauce, in the meantime I'm sure you've got a rough idea of what to use for a tomato sauce :D

This bit is KEY to making the best pizza at home. so listen carefully!!
Preheat your oven to full whack and place a large thick baking tray, pizza stone or granite slab into the oven to warm up. (went to our local Topps Tiles that was closing down and they gave me 4 free granite slabs!! which work perfectly)

Taking into consideration the size of the granite slab, i cut out a piece of baking paper to the correct size - a large square. Sprinkle with a little flour then place my ball of dough on top then start rolling out from the center until I reach a nice circle, about 0.5-1cm in thickness. I then place it on another 'no edge' baking tray and place all my topping on. the 'no edge tray then is used as a shovel to slide the pizza on the parchment straight onto the granite slab. Viola!! leave for 10mins - and you'll have a delicious crispy divine pizza!!.

PS. As tempting as it is, try not to overload the pizza with topping as it'll just make everything to soggy...

As I'm giving a lot of this dough away I'm hoping to get some shots of what their pizzas ended up like - if they're any good I'll pop them up - the pressure is ON!! :D

Mx

Here are some photos from the lucky folk who got some dough:

Jo, Rich & Harrison's pizzas

Kim & Steve's pizza - Note how I provided the dough! yep, in a Chinese cartoon - always ask for spare cartoons when at a takeway :)

Still awaiting other photographic evidence from the slackers.... shall be posted once received!
x

Seasons Are changin!

As it's Sunday, we headed up to the Farmer's market in Blackheath to get some produce for the coming week...

Is it me or do work lunch boxes seem to be the hardest thing to keep exciting and interesting? Not only do they have to be portable (un-leakable) usually have to be cold or pre-cooked (no ovens at work) but also tasty and satisfying. And on top of all that variety!

Now I know we're in the height of summer and what I'm about to say will seem strange... but soup seems the way forward! Obviously this will change once I'm all souped up, but having a bowl of soup is healthy, hot and also will keep you fuller for longer compared to a salad - 'don't you know' - well that's what I heard them say on this TV programme. There were lots of army men eating soup and others the same ingredients but not pureed... anyho the soldiers that had the soup stayed fuller for longer.

Oh I've just thought of another reason why soup is goood in the summer - it's like having a cuppa tea. A hot cuppa tea will cool you down quicker than a glass of ice cold water.  FACT.
Again heard this on another tv programme and made a lot of sense but don't ask me to explain... something to do with your bodies inside freaking out at the hot tea and then cooling you down quicker...??

That was a bit of a tangent wasn't it......

So where was I? Oh yeah 'Soup kitchen' and work lunch boxes.
My work colleague, Kim, and I are gonna start making lunches for each other. So she'll sort out Mon & Tues and I'll sort out Wed & Thurs etc etc... We're gonna do soups, which works out brilliantly! Cause when you make soup, it usually ends up being a 'Vat' of soup & you end up eating the same soup every day for a WEEK!? So by us combining our efforts, not only do keep the variety, try recipes you've never made but it's also rather fun and exciting! 'You never know what ya gonna get' :D

Also I might get myself this cool yet informative t-towel. It tells you what veg is in season every month, which in turns tells you what veg you can get lots off for not a lot of money - Great for soup making! It's designed by Stuart Gardiner (he's done some really cool stuff!) and I think they might sell them round the corner from my office in SCP. Ooo might pop in on Monday :D

Another modern way to stay in touch with your seasonal veg would be to sign up with 'Eat the seasons'. They send you an email every couple weeks to tell you what's in season and has links to recipes and things. very useful as it's free and again very 'informative' (God I'm sounding like my old teacher Mrs Cox!? She was my Home Ec teacher - named after apples - Ha!? co figure)

Bought some delicious Kent Cherries... majority were eaten by the time I got home ;o)

Plan to make Spinach & lentil soup for Wed and Thurs next week. I ended up getting the spinach from the supermarket, as all the spinach in the market had wilted a bit in the sun.
Let's hope Kim likes it :O)

Mx

Posh Salcombe Sausage Sarnie!

I have felt so bad that i haven't done a blog since the start of May that I'm writing this one whilst on holiday.

I'm currently residing in what I'd like to think is a secret haven, home from home - Salcombe. I've been coming here with my family nearly every year since the age of 4 and my father came here as a child with his family too. That's three generations that can't tear themselves away from this special place.
So I'm here with my Parents - Vicki & Paul, my sister & her husband, Lou & John, and my old man, Pete (who i'm sure you've heard about in previous posts) There are the introductions, now you know who's who.

Lou & John are both trained chefs, who have since moved professions. They still have a lot of  knowledge that I'm hoping to absorb :D. So yesterday, our second day in paradise, Lou decided to make a picnic to take over to East Portlemouth beach, via ferry boat.

Lou's Posh Picinic Menu:
crudities with tuna cream cheese and chive dip
followed by
posh sausage sarnies
deli pork pie
fresh baguette and camembert

The main star of the picnic were these 'posh sausage sarnies' they were serioiusly AMAZING!! Here is how Weeze (my nickname for  lou) created them:

6 proper pork sausages from Plant's butchers (back home-they make good sausages)
2 medium ciabatta loaves (fresh from salcombe bakery that morninag - AMAZINGLY SOFT)
Baby leaf Spinach
Caramelized onions:
2 sliced onions
1 tbsp oil - 20mins golden
50ml red wine vinegar
50ml red wine
1 heaped tbsp sugar - reduce till pretty much no liquid left.
Tomato Relish:
half diced onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 Can plum tomatoes
1 tbsp tomarto puree
4 chopped anchovies
1 red chopped chilli
1 tbsp sugar
fresh thyme
seasoning

METHOD:
Sausages, caramelized onion & relish can be cooked a day ahead, keep covered in the fridge. Assemble the sandwich the morning of the picnic, wrap in cling film or foil. cut into slices at the picnic (helps if you have an cool bread-pen-knife like Jonboy!)

 

The most impressive pen/bread-knife I've ever seen!

Cook sausages under grill for the amount needed, turning half way through. Cool then halve lengthways.

To make the caramelized onion, heat the oil in a pan and then add your sliced onion - Cook uber slowly on a low heat, this keeps them sweet.
After around 20mins or until golden add the vinegar, wine and sugar and bring to  a boil / simmer and reduce till there's pretty much no liquid left. So it's nice and sticky :O) Allow to cool.
The tomato relish start by sweating off the diced onion until transparent. Add crushed garlic and the tin of toms & tomato puree. Stir. Add the chopped chilli and anchovies & sugar. Then simmer on a lowish heat for 30-40 minutes. Once thickened/reduced add chopped thyme and a bit of pepper to taste.
The Asembly!
Split the bread lengthways, spread the top with relish and the base with caramlized onion. On top of the onion add the sausage halves and spinach, press the bread top on firmly. Wrap the sandwich in clingfilm or foil.
At the picnic, cut each sarnie into  four slices.
ENJOY!!!

Pete having a quick game of bat 'n ball with his invisible friend... lol!

That's a wrap!

So we've done breakfast / brunch, how about a healthy lunch? So back to the cook-book cupboard & I pulled out all the healthy / low fat etc etc sounding cook books. I have to say when you pull out a recipe from one of these books, you never expect an amazing or tasty meal. Because to be fair you think they extract all the best bits!

Well I have been corrected!!! This was amazing and delicious. A big thumbs up even from Mr Williams who doesn't like fish (it's boring supposedly..)

 

Spiced crusted salmon Recipe:

1 Large clove of garlic, peeled and chopped.
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 x150g salmon fillets with skin on
seasoning
a little sunflower oil.
Mango Salsa recipe:
1 small ripe mango, peeled, stoned & finely chopped.
1/2 small cucumber, peeled, deseeded & finely chopped.
1/2-1 whole red chilli, deseeded finely chopped
1/4 small red onion, finely chopped
A handful of roughly chopped coriander
Zest of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoon lime juice (around 1 lime)
seasoning

Method:
First make the salsa. Stir all the salsa ingredients together & season well. Allow the mixture to marinade for at least an hour before serving.
For the salmon, use a pestle and mortar to make a paste from the garlic, sugar, chilli flakes, thyme, fennel seeds & lime juice.
Place the salmon fillets skin side down on a non-stick baking tray. (Or in a tub to marinade for longer if you wish). Brush the salmon with a little oil and season well. Spoon over the paste onto the flesh and leave for to marinade for at least 10 mintues.
Pre-heat the oven 200oc/180oc fan. Bake salmon in the oven for 11-12mins or until cooked through. Leaving the skin on the baking tray serve the salmon in a wholemeal wrap with the mango salsa and a bit of spinach. Wrap it up and take a chunk! yum!!

Ready Steady Health Kick GO

Right so I said I was going healthy, but not crazy! Lettuce and carrot sticks are good but not very exciting are they...
So this weekend I started how I meant to go on. So got up had a go doing a few sit-ups and squats (still in agony) and didn't rush for brekkie. Instead took my time preparing pete & I a tasty brunch.

Florentine Baked Eggs - Got the recipe out of this amazing cook book called "Power food". All healthy recipes which combines certain vitamins and protiens etc together to get you the most out of your food. Really recommend it as 'healthy' cookbook, I've nearly made every recipe in it and have loved each one! Impressive don't you think.

So it's a really easy and quick recipe to do.

florentine Baked eggs - serves 4
225 young leaf spinach, rinsed
freshly grated nutmeg
4 desertspoons of virtually fat-free fromage frais
10g parmesan cheese, freshly grated
sseasoning
8 slices of wholegrain toast

4 ramekins, lightlygreased and small roasting tin.

Put the kettle on boil. Cook the spinach in a covered pan until wilted, stiring once or twice. Drain off any excess liquid and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the spinach between the prepared ramiekins. Make a hollow in the spinach and break an egg with a spoonful of fromage frais and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.


put the ramekins in the roasting tin and pour boiling water around them to come halfway tin and pour boiling around them to come halfway up the sides. Bake in a preheated oven at 180oc for 14-16minutes, depending on how soft you like your yolks. Bear in mind  that the eggs will carry on cooking after they have come out of the oven. Serve immmediately with 2 slices of whoelgrain toast per serving.

Supposedly if you have a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice with this dish you'll maximize the absobtion of iron from the spinach - FACT! 

Enjoy x

A Sunny Sunday Roast

Every Sunday without fail Pete suggests we should have a 'ROAST'. A very manly request, that takes them back to the feral carnivorous stages of wanting MEAT and two veg. Anyway don't know if you noticed but this weekend was a bit of a scortcher and even though saturday had all the glory Sunday was still rather hot day. so the thought of having a heavy hot roast dinner wasn't really very appertising.

As my mother has always said to me ' compromise, compromise, compromise' and my father says 'Don't see a problem, See a solution'. Wise words don't you think! So knowing that a salad would not to do I thought we should just combine the two. Nice and easy.

So here is what I made: Whole chicken baked with rosemary & garlic - A great recipe from AntonioCarluccio's simple cooking book.

Served with a simple salad and also a spicy puy lentil, bean, broccoli salad. Ooo will be doing that puy lentil salad again it was lush!

SPICY PUY LENTIL BEAN SALAD

• 100g Puy lentils
• 500ml hot vegetable stock
• 100g broccoli
• 70g frozen soya beans , thawed
• 70g sugarsnap peas
• 1 red chilli , deseeded and sliced

FOR THE DRESSING

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• juice 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 40ml reduced-salt soy sauce
• 3cm piece root giner, finely grated
• 1 tbsp clear honey  

1. Boil lentils in stock until just cooked, about 15 mins. Drain, then tip into a large bowl. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, throw in the broccoli for 1 min, add the beans and peas for 1 min more. Drain, then cool under cold water. Pat dry, then add to the bowl with the lentils.
2. Mix together the dressing ingredients with some seasoning. Pour over the lentils and veg, then mix in well with the chopped chilli. Pile onto a serving platter or divide between 4 plates and serve. 

And then to finish off individual rhubarb, apple & raspberry crumble served with orange creme fraiche. Hmm maybe I ended up making a pretty big meal anyway!? Rhubarb is ace!