Crumpets

When reading other people's blog posts, I often come across foodstuffs that look delectable and scrumptious and generally extremely edible. But every so often comes a recipe in a post that I just know I'm going to make, sooner or later, preferably sooner. And this crumpet recipe was one of those. 
Crumpets are one of those things that you just know are going to taste better homemade. And if you read the post, you'll see that Helen has gone through a lot to get the right recipe. She's suffered, really, so that we might have access to the perfect crumpet recipe. And oh, but it is a good one. It even converted little sis to the crumpet. She's not a fan of the rubbery texture of the bought crumpet, which I can understand, but these little fellas are completely different beasts. Especially as we didn't use a ring, or freestyled as the crumpeters have it, so ours were wider and thinner and altogether less round than the ones you see in packets. But they were wonderfully holey and definitely had a crumpety taste. 
I went for the traditional option and smothered mine in butter, but such is the versatility of the crumpet that the other toppings sampled were Marmite (little sis) and maple syrup (Mr Splorer). The other great thing is that you can make a whole pile and then grill them for breakfast the next day. Right now I'm having fantasies of my domestic goddess alter ego making a massive batch of a Sunday night and then having a crumpet breakfast until Friday. And who knows, it might even happen! 

 

 

Flourless chocolate brownies

In a conversation about the virtues of giving up wheat this week, I heard the immortal words 'You are talking to a man who changed from Weetabix to Oatibix and felt the difference'. Well, I'm a bit sceptical about that, I must say, and I have no intention of giving up wheat (the bread, the cake, the biscuits - just couldn't do it!). But today was the birthday of a friend of mine who has made that move, and so I wanted to make her a treat that she could enjoy. But these rather delicious brownies are just the ticket for everyone. It was a Nigella recipe, which you can find here. It was easy peasy and produced very squishy, rich chocolatey brownies. The only issue was that they rather stuck to the bottom of the pan, so I might give it a bit of a grease next time.

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

I have a social engagement this evening with some chums and some foie gras (not sure if I like it, but will soon find out!). This means I have no time for writing a long-winded entertaining post, but must get straight down to the good stuff - the links. I know that's what you're here for, after all!

So here we are, in no particular order:

Lemon Curd Tarts

A whole host of Italian deliciousness

Little sunken apricot and almond cakes

Blueberry and cinnamon tarts

Sticky gingerbread cupcakes with ginger Swiss meringue buttercream

Mac n' Cheese

Chocolate dipped rosemary shortbread hearts

Perfect toad in the hole with onion gravy

Spicy orange brownies

Corn and black bean quesadillas

Greek baklava

The perfect dunking hazelnut biscuits

Boquerones en vinagre (marinated anchovies)

Cinnamon tea cakes

Lemon and marscapone tart

Hope you find something there that tickles your fancy!

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Good evening round-up fans. First of all, many thanks to Jo of Jo's Kitchen for doing such a great job on last week's round-up. I don't know about you but I headed straight off to investigate Sausage and cheddar stuffed jalapeno poppers - and I was not disappointed! 
Anyway, onto this week. First and in every way foremost, it simply has to be these homemade crumpets from Food Stories. After the Christmastime revelation of crumpets cooked on the fire, I can only imagine that homemade crumpets are even better. And just looking at the photos of these little numbers has convinced me that there will only be one acceptable brunch this weekend. Must just buy in a mountain of butter...
Meanwhile, the Daring Cook's satay challenge this month looked delicious, especially this minced chicken version from Kitchen Butterfly. Flavoursome marinated chicken, creamy peanut sauce and coconut rice - what more could you possibly ask for? I really must join Daring Cooks one of these days as all the challenges look absolutely delicious. 
Now, I'm not really very good at new year's resolutions, as I'm constantly thinking of things I should be changing - which is not to say I do any of them! But I always feel it's better to aim to do more of something good, rather than less of something bad. It's more positive, you see. And one of the things I always intend to aim for is more pulses. I love them, they're healthy and also pretty cheap. So, in order to help me with this, I shall be bookmarking two delicious dishes: Slow cooked pork with kidney beans What Rachel Ate and Chickpeas with spinach from What's for lunch, honey?. 
But I can't stay healthy for long, so let's head straight off to see some khachapuri from love and a licked spoon, along with the story of how Debora learned to cook in Russia - as you do! Big bro is a massive fan of Nigella's recipe for this squishy cheesey bread, so I think it's about time I gave it a whirl. 
I'm certain that red velvet cake has made an appearance on the Wednesday round-up before, but somehow or other I haven't got around to making one. But these cupcakes from Apple & Spice look so delightful that I think they might inspire me to finally get around to it. Mr Splorer hopes so, anyway!
Meanwhile, there were a couple of interesting twists on age-old classics that I spotted this week. A basic but good tomato sauce for pasta can be a wondrous thing, but I am intrigued by the blog pedigree and gushing description of this tomato sauce with onion and butter from Smitten kitchen. Apparently the secret to a spectacular tomato sauce is a bit of butter and stewing an onion in it, before chucking it away. Intriguing. And then there's this fantastic version of the humble chip - a harissa spiced version from The English Kitchen. Don't you just love the idea of a spicy, fragrant oven chip with soured cream and lime dip? Yum!
And speaking of classics, there were also couple of British classics around this week. Firstly, we have Scotch eggs from Gourmet Chick, as taught by a chef by the excellent name of Henry Herbert. Apparently, they were invented at Fortnum and Mason, which leaves me wondering what exactly is scotch about the Scotch egg? Anyhoo, next back to The English Kitchen for Rock cakes, which I haven't made, or even eaten, for years, but I just know that one bite would take me back to my school days in seconds. So simple to make, so easy to eat. 
Next, we have a couple of soups. First of all, there's this Roasted vegetable soup with polenta croutons from Tartelette - a gorgeous big mush of roasted veg, topped with bright colourful chunks of polenta. Then lobstersquad has this simple recipe for Chicken soup - a marvellous comfort food, and get over there to look at the fab artwork as well. 
Finally we have a few stragglers who simply must be included. Firstly there's this Fruit loaf from Dressing for dinner, which looks like the ideal thing to toast, butter and have at about four o'clock on a rainy, windy Sunday afternoon. I shouldn't have to wait too long for one of those, anyway! Next, check out this Duck, Onion and Date Pastilla recipe from The British Larder, a sweet and savoury delicacy to be served with a white onion and tamarind chutney. Rather exotic and exciting, I'm sure you'll agree. And finally a Cabbage and sausage cake from rachel eats, which might sound a little strange. However I was totally converted to the cabbage/sausage combo a while ago by this recipe so I think stuffing cabbage leaves with sausage meat and baking it into a cute little cake, and serving it with a big splodge of mashed potato is a marvellous plan.

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Hello everyone. My name is Jo and I'm from Jo's Kitchen. Today, Nora has kindly invited me to do the Wednesday round -up and I would like to thank her for the opportunity. It is much appreciated. I thought I would do something slightly different as I know some people are trying to get fitter and healthier for 2010, therefore I split this post into two: first part will be for those trying to be healthy and the second part will be for those who do not want to be quite so healthy. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the post, so lets get going.

For everyone trying to be healthy, you could not do any better then starting your day with a granola and berry smoothie and for lunch, why not have this spicy parsnip and apple soup or this Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup with Pesto Tortelloni or you could try a winter salad if soup is not your thing. For dinner, you could try a winter warmer stew, just the thing for the weather we are currently having in the UK at the moment! Classic Pot -Au-Feu will also keep you warm on a winter's night. You could have creamy butternut squash polenta with spicy wilted spinach as a side dish or Thai Pineapple fried rice.

For those of being not quite so healthy, you could take to work for your lunch a muffuletta sandwich and for pudding, you could have peanut butter and blueberry shortbread bars. For dinner, you could start with sausage and cheddar stuffed jalapeño poppers and for your main, you could choose between lamb pasanda or broccoli cheese pasta casserole . For sweet treats to snack on during the day, look no further than earl grey cookies, choccy choccy pudding or cherry and ginger cream scones. Whichever route you take, healthy or not so healthy, you have lots of choice out there in the world wide web and this is only a small selection.

That is it for me today. I would like to thank Nora again for this lovely opportunity and I hope you have enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it and researching for it.

Thank you for reading :-)

Mincemeat crumble tart

The lovely Issy of Cupcakes and Cornwall has passed this award to me - thank you so much Issy! The rules of the award are: 

1. Copy the award image into a post

2. Then list 10 things that make you happy

3. Tag 10 bloggers who brighten your day

4. Put in a link to their blogs

5. Notify the award receivers

6. Award recipients must link back to sender's blog

So better get on with it then!

Ten things which make my day:

1. Warm pyjamas, straight from the radiator, on a chilly evening

2. Mr Splorer spontaneously bringing me a cuppa, just when I need it

3. Giving little sis a a big sloppy kiss (she hates them!)

4. A nice glass of red wine on the sofa at the end of a long day

5. Curling up under the duvet on a weekend morning

6. Having a leisurely egg based brunch, especially eggs benedict

7. Making a beautiful, delicious cake that fills the flat with warm smells

8. Spending the evening gossiping and talking rubbish in the pub

9. Browsing charity shops for cookbooks and novels to read

10. Making a lovely organised to-do list (much more fun than actually doing any of it!)

As for the 10 blogs to pass the award onto, I thought it was going to hard to think of 10, especially I've passed awards onto two batches in the past, but actually, there's so many fab blogs out there that it was a breeze to find 10 that deserve it. My only concern is the ones I've unjustly left out. So, my 10 nominations, in no particular order, are:

1. Can be bribed with food

2. What do I want to cook today?

3. Maison Cupcake
4. The Red Mangetout

5. Chocolate teapot

6. The British Larder

7. A pot of tea and a biscuit

8. Kitchen Butterfly

9. A wee bit of cooking

10. Not another food blog

Excellent food blogs, one and all. Go and check them out!

Now, the mincemeat crumble tart. Effusive thanks must go to Debora of love and a licked spoon for the recipe, which you can find here. It was absolutely delicious - a beautiful combination of pastry, apples, mincemeat and a crumbley top. A fantastic way to use up what's left of your mincemeat.

The first Wednesday round-up of deliciousness of 2010

Good evening. A bit chilly, isn't it? But I'm still delighted to see a bit more snow, although Mr Splorer wasn't that chuffed to hear that it's going to be the coldest winter for 100 years. I'm not sure Costa Ricans were built for such weather. I suspect the only way I can make it up to him is to find a place with enough snow and slope to go sledging in - not easy as Cambridge is notoriously flat and we've had but a sprinkling this time around (so far!).

Perhaps I'll trying cooking him something warming to cheer him up instead. I could start with something to remind him of home - Croquetas de Yuca (or Cassava Croquettes). I learnt to love yuca in Costa Rica and croquetas in Spain, so am quite excited about the idea of combining them. Although I really should make sure I don't get too carried away with deep frying! Or perhaps we could have a Tamal de olla, a bit different from the tamal I saw in Costa Rica, but a delicious Latin American cornmeal dish in its own right.

But perhaps Mr Splorer would like something to remind him of the good bits of living his adopted country, such as this Jaffa Cake inspired Jaffa drizzle cake or this soft and squishy Cheddar cheese bread. Or I could introduce him to some old regional favourites, such as this London particular, a soup made of split peas and ham (or bacon in this case) which was named after the thick London fogs, and Pan Haggerty, a dish of potato, onion and cheese from Tyneside.

But when trying to cheer up Mr Splorer, it is important to remember his enormously sweet tooth! But as ever there's plenty of things to feed that, including such wonders of modern sugariness as Pear and honey cake, Chocolate mousse cake with a hazelnut crust, Sablés, Tarte Tatin, Cheesecake brownies, Upside Down Apricot and Ginger Cake, Festive Carrot Cake and Cinnamon and raisin fruit loaf.

I must immediately apologise for that list if you're on a January diet and to distract you, I'm sending you over to The British Larder, to take a look at this 'Rescue Remedy', an oat, peach and pear smoothie. It looks absolutely scrumptious, and has inspired me to have variations on that theme for breakfast all this week. And very virtuous it makes you feel too, but without sacrificing on yumminess.

Meanwhile, just when you thought I'd forgotten about Christmas, there's just a couple of recipes related to the festive season. Firstly, there's these Cinnamon candy canes, which are so cute I'm determined to remember to make them next year. And secondly, as I have some mincemeat left (and it won't keep until next year because the recipe I use has fresh fruit in it), this weekend I shall be mostly making this Mincemeat crumble tart.

A round-up wouldn't be a round-up with a soup, and for the first round-up of 2010, I bring you January soup, aka Spiced carrot and lentil soup, combining two of my favourite soup flavours in a marvellous orange supersoup. Other savoury treats that ticked my tastebuds this week included this Spinach and Ricotta pie, another variation for this classic combination, and this Winter squash and caramelized onion biscuit pie, a mouthful in all senses of the word! And then you simply must check out this Megalomelette - stacked omelettes with piperade filling, topped with cheese, surrounded by creme fraiche and finished off in the oven for full meltiness.

And finally, I really fancy trying out Red rice, a tomatoey, chickeny all-in-one rice dish which looks so comforting for this kind of weather. In fact, Lana says it sticks to your ribs on a cold day. I'm not totally sure I know what that means, but it sounds like a good thing!

Chorizo Puffs

Well, it would be rude to begin this post without wishing you a very happy new year. I hope you had a wonderful New Year's celebration, whatever you did, and wishing everyone the very best year in 2010.
I, however, didn't manage to start the year in a particularly auspicious fashion, spending the first few hours of the year in A&E. I managed to trip over a manhole cover on the way home from a fancy dress street party and scrape my face in quite a spectacular way. It is really not pretty - and I can't see those news reports on the cost of foolish drunken people to the NHS without cringing. I'm trying to look on the bright side though, as at least it means that 2010 can only get better!
Apart from that one mishap, Mr Splorer and I had a lovely trip around the country this festive season, being fed all kinds of good things. We discovered that crumpets toasted over the fire are amazing - a million times better than done in the toaster. We carried a panettone from Somerset to Belfast to Bideford, before we could get rid of it. We devoured slices of port and orange cake - such a success that my grandmother asked for the recipe. We were impressed by my grandmother's ability to single handedly produce a festive feast. We recovered from the excess with soup and bread and cheese with my grandfather in Belfast. We had a fantastic lunch at the Ulster Museum cafe in Belfast and superb fish and chips in Bideford. And we made a tapas feast with friends on New Year's eve to keep us warm before heading out to Bideford's famous fancy dress street party.

One of the dishes that went down particularly well was the chorizo puffs. I'm not sure I can vouch for the authenticity of this dish - I certainly never saw anything similar when I was in Spain. But you want to take some chorizo and chop it up with some peppers and then deep fry it in a delicious garlicky batter, then this is the recipe for you. I realise that it's not quite in keeping with the January detox, but I'd recommend it for next time you want to fall off the healthy diet wagon!

Chorizo Puffs (from Easy Spanish-style cookery, Australian Women's Weekly Home Library)

¼ cup/60ml olive oil

170g chorizo, finely chopped

1 small red pepper, finely chopped

1 cup/150g self raising flour

⅓ cup/55g cornflour

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 eggs, separated

¾ cup/180ml beer

1 cup/100g grated manchego cheese

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Combine sifted flour and cornflour in a medium bowl. Remove 2 teaspoons of oil and set aside. Gradually whisk in the rest of the olive oil, as well as the garlic, egg yolks and beer. Cover and stand for 30 minutes.

Heat the 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a frying pan, then add the chorizo and pepper and fry until the chorizo is well browned. Drain on kitchen paper. Stir into the batter with the cheese and the parsley. Beat the egg whites in a small bowl until you have soft peaks, then fold into the batter in two batches.

Heat vegetable oil in a large pan and deep fry tablespoons of puff mixture in hot oil, in batches, until just browned and cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately.

Happy New Year!