A MasterChef Challenge

We're off to CentreParcs for the weekend with my sister-in-law and her husband. We'll eat, drink, spend hours playing board games, complain about saddle sores and, to top it all off, we've booked a session in the AquaSana spa. I can't bloomin' wait. M's mum has set us a MasterChef challenge. We cook one night, they cook the other. The challenge is ON.

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We must create two courses and the shopping list ingredients must be the "heros" of the dish. We can include other fresh and store cupboard ingredients and there's no time limit but can't take so long that hungry dinners are left waiting at the table all night.

Our shopping list:

• lamb
• coconut milk
• mushrooms
• baby corn
• pistachios
• cherry tomato
• pears
• chocolate

So, grouping the ingredients, our reaction is to create a main dish including lamb, coconut milk, mushrooms, baby corn and tomato, and a dessert dish with the pears, chocolate and pistachios. Although, lots of other possible (some weird and potentially wonderful) combinations are trying to sway us in a different direction.

I'm a dessert girl so my focus has been on the pud. I've found this pistachio, pear and chocolate cake, which looks delicious:

Find the recipe at Alice Bakes A Cake

It has the advantages that I can make it in advance and we'll have cake to spare on Sunday. Then there was this French Pears Belle Helene dish to consider:

Find the recipe at Eat Boutique

I don't think the colours in this image really sell it, but I can imagine the flavours. Soft baked pear. Yum! I liked the look of this more rustic pear and chocolate cake:

Find the recipe at Leena Eats

Or what about something like this served with a baked pear (I'll go with plain and simple pear to get a spoonful of this!)? The issue with this ice cream based one is getting access to a large enough freezer to chill the ice cream maker dish and then store it, once made. If I don't make this for the weekend, it'll definitely be pinned to make this Summer!

Find the recipe at Taste

Then there are these two easy, ready in moments puds which we could easily add pistachios to [1, Pear and chocolate pudding 2. Pears with chocolate sauce]:

Decisions decisions... Are you a MasterChef fan? Have you ever set or been set a similar challenge? What would you cook with this mystery box of ingredients?

Saw, Adored: Four Ingredient Nutella Brownies

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I am a BIG Nutella fan. Give me a spoon and I will eat the pot. It's happened before... When I saw this super simple recipe posted on A Cup of Jo it seemed that all of my evening chocolate and cake related cravings could be easily solved, as long as I kept a ready supply of: Nutella (obviously), walnuts, flour and eggs. Well, I think I can manage that for these tasty little-uns!

An Autumn Pud

I am a sweet toothed pudding kind of girl. I love a good serving of sponge cake. I adore a good blob of whipped cream. I'll even take a bit of single cream, if I have to. In the Summer months I happily take a lighter fruit salad, yogurt or ice pop but now that the cold is starting to creep back, a bowl of chopped fruit just doesn't do it for me. I need something warm, something tasty but, if possible, something that isn't guilt inducing. Well, I've found such a pud. A yummy, warm in your tummy kind of dessert that can be served up with ice cream, custard or, for the calorie conscious, fat free fromage frais. D-elicious! 

We bought a 500g bag of frozen Summer fruits and a small Warbutons cinnamon and raisin loaf, and used four tablespoons of demerera sugar from the cupboard and a slither of butter. Defrost the fruit and then put most of the bag into a medium sized baking dish. Use a blender to make a puree with the remaining quarter(ish) of bag and pour over the fruit. Depending of the size of your dish, butter six to eight slices of the loaf and cut each in half. Arrange them over the top of your fruit, just as you would a bread and butter pud. Sprinkle the sugar over and then oven bake for around 15 minutes until the sugar starts to caramelise. Serve with a dollop of fromage frais, or your choice of topping. Next best bit, you've got slices of loaf left over for breakfast!

Oh I do love a good pud. Enjoy!

Easypeasy Hazelnut Nutella Cake

 
Ingredients... 

175g softened butter
175g golden caster sugar
200g self-raising flour
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp milk
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 rounded tbsp Nutella
50g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

...and what to do with them:

Bung butter, sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, milk and cinnamon into a bowl. Mix until light and fluffy. Pour around 3/4 into a buttered and lined 20cm round cake tin. Add dollops* of Nutella. Add the remaining mixture and use a skewer to make a pretty pattern. Sprinkle the hazelnuts on top. Put into your preheated oven (180c or fan 160c). Bake for 1 hour until risen and nicely browned. Put the kettle on and have a hot chocolate or make Nutella on toast. Remove from oven, leave to cool and then enjoy! If you're lacking confidence in my info, no problem (I probably would be, too). You can find the full instructions here.

This was one of two cakes I made for my friend's wedding cake reception. It's a quick and easy recipe and once it's cooled, the cake's ready to eat. No messy icing and lots of cakey goodness. I think it turned out well, although *I think I'd add the Nutella in smaller dollops, or at least swirl the skewer about a bit more to spread the chocolatey goodness more evenly through the cake. If you give this a go, let me know how yours turns out.

A Baking To Do List

1. Banana bread bites from Kitchen News. Good way to use up older bananas.
 

2. Banana and nutella loaf from Pomegranate Days

3. Raspberry and chocolate clafouti from Baking Obsession
 

4. Pear almond tart with amaretto cream from Baked Bree. Could anything sound more delicious?
 

5. Lemon torte bars from Treats
 

6. A low pastry apple pie on Frugal Freebies
 

7. Nutella espresso mug cake with fresh raspberries, made in mere minutes, from A Taste of the Vegetarian Lifestyle
 

8. Pecan pie bars from Just A Taste This reminds me of the pralines I ate by the bucketload in New Orleans.
 

9. Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars from Epicurean Mom

My kitchen better watch out. I'm going to check them off once I've made them, and will try to post the results up on the blog. #domesticgoddess!

The Mr Cooks... Thai Mussel Soup

This past week has been pretty emotional. I've not had enough time to do my work, let alone write posts. My lovely husband decided that 2013 is the year to make use of our many recipe books. He(reckons he)'s the better cook and will be posting his food delights here every now and again. Lets call it his online recipe file. Over to him!

In preperation for our Summer holiday to Southeast Asia, I tried my hand at a Thai mussel noodle soup.

Ingredients:
A handful of rice noodles (approx 50g per person)
350g de-shelled mussels (not muscles)
2 pieces of lemongrass (bashed)
3tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp white wine vinegar
1tsp fish Sauce
1cm cube of grated ginger

2 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 red or green chilli, chopped (deseeded for less heat)
4 spring onions, chopped length ways
2 litres of cold water

What to do with the ingredients: 
- Place the water into a pan and start to boil. Whilst boiling prepare all the ingredients and add to the water. Slowly bring to the boil. 
- Once boiled, simmer for 10 minutes, or longer for a more intense flavour.
- After ten minutes, add the mussels and noodles and cover, simmer on a low heat for 7 minutes and then serve*.
- If you prefer, adding a tbsp of fromage frais/greek yoghurt provides nice balance.

*I took out the lemongrass before serving. 

A midweek Thai Mussel Soup

Voila!  ขอให้มีความสุขกับการรับประทานนะ 

...
He's a talented one. I'm pretty sure he'll have more to share soon!

Now, back to expressing a cat's bladder...

Daily Bread #JanuaryJoy

#JanuaryJoy no.28: Bake some bread.

Until a couple of years ago I had only had one (failed) attempt at baking bread in a school home ec class. The recipe asked for a couple of tablespoons of water. I poured in the whole jug...

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How do you make good bread quickly? Well this website, Artisan Bread in Five, suggests making it in advance and then only needing to bake when you need it. Great time saver, but I think this misses the fun parts of knocking back and kneading. Rebecca at Florence Finds has also added a bread recipe which looks quick and simple. I think I'll have to give both a try.

I love flavoured breads, particularly rosemary based recipes. I've tried and tested Lorraine Pascale's Rosemary and Sea Salt Foccacia, with success every time. I have her book, but you can also get the recipe at BBC Food here. Really easy to follow, delicious, and there's nothing quite like the smell of rosemary through the house.

Our rosemary and sea salt foccacia, pre-oven

Bread bake to do list:

• I'm going to add this Rosemary and Olive Oil Bread from A Hint of Honey to my list of breads to bake. 
• For an American twist, I'm adding these soft pretzels from Life Made Simple to the list, too. YUM. 
• Slow cooker bread. A friend recommended a recipe, so I'll have to give this a go at some stage.

What are your tried and tested bread recipes? 

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Thai Curry Sauce #JanuaryJoy

Today's #JanuaryJoy: Try a new vegetarian dish

Tonight's meal: Baked Sweet Potatoes with Thai Curry Sauce

Image from Tesco Real Foods

When we go our for dinner, my menu choice is almost always the lamb dish. I love hearty meat dishes and walking into the house to the smell of a beef stew bubbling away in the slow cooker. When we host vegetarian friends, there's usually a moment of 'what on earth do we cook?' panic, before realising that actually, we don't do badly for eating no-meat meals in our house. Pesto pasta is a good 'there's nothing left in the fridge' meal; I make a mean veggie moussaka; and warm squash rocket salad is a quick fix light tea. The problem is, that is pretty much our repertoire. Not very extensive. Lets see if this quick and easy mid-week dinner gets added to our vegetarian meal list! 

A Merry Little Christmas 2012

Christmas tree packed away and first 'proper' day back at work; I think it's finally time I acknowledged Christmas is over for another year! I've had a great Christmas, full of family and friends, good food, cocktails, and DIY festive treats. It's always sad when the last bauble is wrapped in its tissue, hidden until the following December, but we've got lots to look forward to in 2013 and I'm armed with a full January to beat any pre-Christmas blues!

Creme Brulee Cheescake

Creme Brulee = Lovely
Cheesecake = Lovely
Creme Brulee Cheescake can only be EXTRA LOVELY!

After being away at a research conference for a week or so, I've had a bit of a blog browse morning, catching up and admiring the online pretty.

I have stumbled upon this delicious delight on The Sweet Life, via A Cup of Jo. I was bought a brulee blowtorch for Christmas last year and haven't really used it as much as I could/ should. This looks yum, and will have to go on my weekend to do list!

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Baby Shower Fun

A few Sunday's back I 'hosted' a baby shower for my friend (the proud owner of my craft project, Mr. Turtle). I always think baby showers are a very American concept but they seem to be increasingly popular here in the UK, too. I suppose it's a good excuse to have a girls afternoon and celebrate together. We were concerned that we didn't want to make it into an all singing all dancing affair. Mummy-to-be had difficulty bending down, let alone dancing!

We decided on an afternoon tea theme and all clubbed our fine china, cake stands and baking skills together to produce what turned out to be a major feast. It was brilliant! We had all sorts of sandwiches, cakes, scones and fruits, teas and some alcohol free fizz. The chocolate covered raspberries were one of my favourites!

We filled the walls with baby grow bunting and my talented friend made little paper shoes filled with sweets for us each to take home. You can just see the show peeking at the bottom of this photo. Check out our hidden surprise when we cut into this gluten free beauty made by same talented friend:

After presenting mummy-to-be with our hand crafted gifts and a hamper full of goodies, it was time to get down to some baby shower games: guess the baby picture (I was useless!), guess-the- baby-food-flavour, cut-a-piece-of-string-the-same-size-as-the-bump game, and timed nappy from a tea towel creation (we won, but we did have an experienced mummy on our team who knew where to put the pin to hold it all together!).

After more tea and cake, it was time for us to help mummy-to-be pack up, ready to rest until her baba makes her move! She's due in a couple of weeks and I can't wait for this little baby girl, who we've been calling by name for months, to come into this world!