Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Wednesday round up of deliciousness

Hello Nora fans! I'm Issy from Cupcakes and Cornwall and the first of Nora's guest bloggers to take a look at the week of food in the blogosphere. So while she has a well deserved Wednesday off (I imagine her glass in one hand, chocolate truffle in the other) here's a look at some of my favourite posts this week.

Breakfasts are always a bowl of cereal for me and maybe bacon at the weekend. If I woke up at 5am and only had oats, cream cheese and an old banana in the fruit bowl I'd send the boy out for emergency rations quick sharpish but Eat Blog Sleep made banana muffins instead and don't they look scrummy? I wish I had Eat Blog Sleep in my house first thing in the morning! If savoury muffins are more your bag these ones might tickle your fancy over at Coconut and Lime. They would make my vegetable soup I eat at my desk so much more exciting....

This week on my blog I've been making loads of blackcurrant jam but the chutney is yet to be jarred. Over at Hollow Legs the chillis have been picked and made into scarlet red chilli jam. How much would you love to spread that on some cheese on toast? The jam marked the end of Hollow Legs' summer posts. She celebrated the change of season with a barbecue...beef ribs, corn on the cob and pimms...I can smell the smoke now. Roll on 2010.

My cooking envy is always aimed at those who can make perfect birthday cakes. Look at this one! 17andbaking can make one mean celebration cake. Maybe I will take that sugarcraft course in January? Talking of puddings, I dare you to not lick your lips when you see these photos....A chocolate crunched caramel tart at Daisy Lane Cakes. I keep repeating those words over and over.....chocolate crunched caramel tart.... and they never get any less attractive!

And finally I couldn't blog without talking pasties! These might be described as patties but a Cornish blogger would always claim them as a pasty! (Even if they don't have beef in them!)

Enjoy your week and thanks for having me xxxx PS: shameless plug time Cupcakes and Cornwall

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Hello deliciousness lovers. It's Wednesday again. Doesn't it come round quick? And yet those delicious recipes just keep on coming.
This week I'd like to start with something simple but delicious - a BLAT. A bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich, obviously. It looks so good, although I'm afraid I'd have to skip the tomato and end up with a BLA. I'm tempted to find an ingredient that begins with an H just to be able to have a BLAH. Ham, maybe, or houmus. Any suggestions?!
There were some other great recipes that look only marginally more difficult than popping together a sandwich. It's always handy to have a couple of things to pop on top of some pasta, and so Barbecue sausage pasta and Chicken and spaghetti both look like great recipes to have at hand. And for an easy peasy dessert, I'm going to be turning to these cute little Lemon cream pots. How cute and yummy do they look?
A big theme this week in the blogs is Julia Child. I'd never heard of her myself, but with the release of Julie and Julia, she's all over the place. I still haven't seen the film (I know, call myself a food blogger?!) but if all of Julia Child's recipes are as good as this Boeuf Bourguignon looks, then I might have to seek out more of her oeuvre. And while I'm out of my comfort zone messing about with big wodges of beef, I may as well go the whole hog (no not-quite-pun intended!) and make myself a Beef Wellington. (Although the fussy eating continues - am I allowed to make it without mushrooms? Or is that sacrilege?!)
Meanwhile, this week, Sarah Cooks has been totally inspiring me with her amazing hostess skills. Her Mid-week Dinner of roast chicken and heavenly cheesecake looks so mouthwatering. And then she made a Sunday lunch for 15. 15, I tell you. And for that she made a Nigella Lawson Spinach, ricotta and bulgar wheat pie for the veggies. Lucky veggies, I say.
I have my eye on a little something special next time I want to impress dinner or lunch guests - check out this Triple chocolate fudge cake. Even the name will impress, I feel. What a spectacular cake. And, amazingly, the only other cake that caught my eye this week was this Blueberry crumb cake - so scrummy, Unless you count these orange scented scones - what a beautiful idea. In fact, all three of these cakes are from blogging baking circles, or whatever the collective term is, so let's just take a moment to appreciate the way these groups spread good ideas around. Mmmmmmmm and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Right, back to business. Next we have this Onion, anchovy and spinach quiche. Lizzie talks of her inspiration as a pasta dish that sounds suspiciously like the addictive bigoli con salsa and so I just know I'm going to love those flavours. There a few other dishes too whose flavours seem right up my street. Take for example this Pollo alla cacciatora - a Jamie recipe with tomatoes and anchovies and all sorts of good Italian ingredients. From the other side of the world comes this Creamy chickpeas and paneer dish, which looks so comforting and yummy. And as ever, the Colombian influence comes from Erica, with this Salmon with shrimp sauce. It looks so good.
And finally tonight, we have our star ingredient of the week: sweetcorn. Buy yourself up all the cobs of corn you can get your mitts on and make Red shrimp chowder with corn, Corn and coconut soup and Sweetcorn fritters. And if that doesn't make you happy, well then there's nothing more I can do for you!

Sunday, 20 September 2009

Sunday lunch

Big bro and common-law-sis-in-law came back from Italy craving roast chicken. (And demanding strictly no pasta, courgettes and tomatoes!) Luckily, when I invited them over for Sunday lunch, that was exactly what I had in mind.
So, we had Simon Hopkinson style roast chicken with roast potatoes and parsnips and lightly boiled carrots, followed by peach and blackberry cobbler. Yum yum yum.

For me, a roast dinner is quite an exciting and unusual thing to have. We never had them when I was growing up. I always loved going round my best mate's house on a Sunday night because they always had a roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding - and that was the only chance I had to have one!
So, although I've cooked a roast dinner or two in my time, it always feels like a little bit of a mission. But, actually, it's really easy, isn't it? The one issue I had was that not one of my recipes for roast potatoes seemed to imagine that you might want to cook them at the same time and in the same tin as the meat. It turns out that potatoes generally seemed to need cooking at a hotter temperature than the chicken. But it all worked out well in the end, as I took the chicken to rest at the end and turned up the temperature. Is that the way that everyone does it?! Anyway, it all turned out just yummy. My chicken was lemony and fragrant, and my potatoes and parsnips were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Mmm, roast parsnips. Aren't they just the greatest?

To make the roast chicken, you take a 1.8 kilo chicken, smear 110g butter all over it, season with lots of salt and pepper and squeeze the juice of one lemon over it. Put the lemon halves, 2 cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of thyme, tarragon or rosemary (Simon says thyme or tarragon, I used rosemary). Put in a oven preheated to 450F/230C/Gas 8 for 10-15 mins. Baste and turn the temperature down to 375F/190C/Gas 5 and roast for a further 30-45 minutes, basting occasionally. When it's cooked, leave to rest for at least 15 minutes.

Now, for the cobbler. My very first cobbler. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a cobbler in the latest Wednesday round-up and that's where I got the recipe from - My Food and Life Encounters. It works really well with peach and blackberries and it's sooo easy. All you do is make a really simple cakey mix and pour it over the fruit. Every single person went back for seconds, so it must have been good! I'd highly recommend that recipe, both recipes in fact. A great combo for a no fuss, very tasty Sunday lunch.

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Hello lovely readers, I'm back! Valencia was lovely and sunny and full of delicious foodstuffs. There was, however, a little too much housework to be done for my liking. Yes, housework on holiday. Shocked? l was, I can tell you! The key lesson learnt here was that when the parents let you use one of their Valencian flats for 4 days, never assume they don't want anything in return. There were holidaymakers coming, you see. To both flats. So the flats had to be spotless and the holidaymakers had to be met and greeted and smiled at, to ensure a good write-up on the website. However, after that I did get to spend lots of quality time with some dear friends, which mostly included cooking much of my blog back catalogue and teaching their gorgeous wee daughter to say 'bum'. Oh, and being taught to knit. (Who knew you can take knitting needles on a plane?! A 150ml bottle of shampoo is unacceptable, but these long pointy things, no probs!)
Anyway, what about the food, you ask? Well, for me, Valencia's all about the market. And the aforementioned parental flat is just around the corner, so we ate very well. I used the opportunity to make a couple of delicious treats from a book called Cooking in Spain. I'm intending to attempt to recreate them at home, so keep your eyes peeled here, but here's a little t
aster:


Macarrones a la española - a really simple dish of penne with chorizo, jamón serrano, tomatoes, peppers and cheese. Yum yum yum.


Fideuá - this is like a pasta version of paella, in this case made with seafood - monkfish, prawns and clams. Sooo good.

Right, anyway, time for the round-up, I hear you cry. Well, in keeping with the fact that when September arrived, so did the autumnal weather, there has been a definite increase in the number of dishes which a bit more warming and filling. I think this is fantastic, as I'm a big fan of such foodstuffs. Take for example, the wonderful world of soups. I spotted four delicious ones: two of my all time favourites, lentil soup and minestrone, and two exciting new ones to add to my repertoire, kaffir and tamarind broth and sweetcorn and paprika soup. Just the ticket to keep me going through winter. And what could be better to go with a wintery soup than some buttermilk rolls fresh from the oven? And talking of bread, take a look at this Ethopian Honey-Spice bread - it makes your kitchen smell like Christmas! (I know it's far too early for the C-word, but Luisa started it.)
There were lots of other savoury treats out and about over the last week or so. For a start, check out these gnocchi alla romana - a 'quick easy meal that dazzles', not to mention these Mozzarella stuffed meatballs. And speaking of stuffedness, I really want to make this Meat and cheese stuffed yuca - yum! There were also a few chicken dishes that caught my eye: Chicken with mango chipotle sauce, Chicken Cacciatore and Chicken pie. And finally in the savoury section, some delicious potato dishes - Portuguese Fish and chips and BLT smashed potatoes. I'm a sucker for a spud and both of those look so tasty!
Now, moving onto the huge pile of sweet goodies from the last week or two. Firstly, old fashioned jam tarts - doesn't just the name make you happy? (Or is it just me?!) Perhaps I could try them with some low fat lemon curd (made with honey). Amongst the less familiar goodies were this Australian lemon slice and rugelach. There was also as fine a display of macarons as I think you'll ever see - these little beauties seem to be all over the blogs at the mo, but I must admit I've never even tasted one. I know - the shame! So I've better recitify that forthwith.
There were also some very warming autumnal puds. Take these for example: Apple oat slices aka Autumn in a nutshell, Mom's awesome cobbler, Melting middle chocolate fondants, Pear and chocolate fudge tartlets and Normandy apple tart. And then there were lots of delicious cakey bits for teaming up with a cup of a tea preferably next to a fire: Oatmeal cookies with golden raisins and chocolate chips, Lemon polenta cake, Lemon drizzle cake (with gin in the icing!), Cinnamon banana bread, Mini maple pancake muffins, Bank holiday madeleines and Cheesecake-marbled brownies. Doesn't it just make you glad to see those long nights and crunchy leaves?
But just in case you don't want to let go of summer just yet, go and have a look at this Victoria plum and blackberry frozen ice cream slices - summery food with autumnal ingredients!

Saturday, 5 September 2009

Chicken Enchiladas

This week I was visited by a dear chum by the name of Jess. She's not the most confident of cooks, but is always keen to learn. I've previously taught her to make Yaki Udon, which is apparently now a staple of her diet. So, to expand her repertoire, we decided to make enchiladas. And then I promised to put the recipe up on here, with pictures, for future consultation.
The recipe is based on this one from Tide and Thyme, with a bit of tweaking by me, depending on my tastes and handy ingredients. Mr Splorer and I have become quite obsessed with this recipe - it's really simple and just so tasty. And it's got melty cheese on the top!

Chicken Enchiladas
(makes 6 - enough for 3 people)

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red pepper

2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sugar
1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 cup of chicken stock
3 small chicken breasts
125g cheddar
1/2 cup chopped coriander

6 tortillas
sour cream

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190C. Chop the garlic, onion and red pepper.


Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion gently with a pinch of salt. After a couple of minutes add the pepper and stir until the vegetables are soft (about 10 minutes).


Add the garlic, chilli powder, cumin and sugar, and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes and chicken stock and simmer for about 5 minutes.


Put the chicken breasts into the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until the chicken is done (and is no longer pink inside) - 10-12 minutes. Take the chicken out and cut into small pieces.


Fill each tortilla with some chicken, cheese, coriander, sour cream and tomato sauce (leaving about half the sauce, as well as some of the cheese, coriander and sour cream).

Arrange in a baking dish with the fold underneath. Put in the oven for about 5 minutes.


Remove and pour over the rest of the tomato sauce, cheese, sour cream and coriander.


Cook until the cheese looks all crunchy and delicious, about 10-15 minutes. (We gave it a few minutes under the grill, for full melted cheese goodness!)


And now I'm off to the airport, because I'm going to Valencia for a week. Hurrah! I am in dire need of a holiday, I can tell you. So, no Wednesday round-up next week, but I promise to make it up to you the week after. In the meantime, I shall be enjoying paella, jamón serrano, patatas bravas and magdalenas, not to mention one of the largest markets in Europe. Heaven!

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Evening all. I have just come back from a few days in Kent at the very cool wedding of one of my very best friends. Further details will be appearing here as time goes on. A hell of a lot of work had gone into the day and even my small contribution to helping them out made me realise how hard it is to organise these things, especially when you cater it yourself. But it all worked out wonderfully in the end - as the photos Rosalie will be putting up will attest.
However, the upshot of the fabulous wedding is that I'm now totally knackered. So I'm sure you'll forgive me for just give you a list of the fabulous foodstuffs published online this week. Let's go in chronological order this week:

Banana apple bread at Hot Oven, Warm Heart (found via Katiecakes's recommendation)
Linguine al limone at Memorie di Angelina
Piedmontese peppers at rachel eats
Orange yogurt water ice at elly says opa!
Sambousek (deep fried little pies) at Syrian Foodie in London
Okonomiyaki (savoury Japanese pancakes) at Gratinée
Pesto swirl buns at Life's a feast
Stuffed grape leaves at Arabic Bites
Molasses cookies at Let Her Bake Cake
Dolsot bibimbap at Hollow Legs
Black bean soup with sweet plantain and avocado-cumin cream at My Colombian recipes
Spiced duck legs with pancetta and coriander potatoes at eat like a girl
Victoria Eton mess sponge at The Caked Crusader
Individual summer puddings at Apple & Spice
Lamb meatballs with minted yogurt at love and a licked spoon
Feel-good muffins at Half a pot of cream
Sunday morning sticky rolls at My Food and Life Encounters
Mejillones con fusilli en salsa marinera at La Cocina de Lechuza (for the Spanish speakers!)
Jammy doughnut muffins at The Goddess's Kitchen
Shrimp alfredo at Tide and Thyme
Shrimp tacos with Chipotle slaw at My Colombian recipes
Granola bars at smitten kitchen
Baked green chile chicken enchiladas at Cinnamon & Spice

Mmmmm, enchiladas. Right, to bed. Sleep tight everyone.

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