Nigella's Banana Bread

Had a few of the school Mum's over for coffee this morning. Made this again...Nigella's Banana Bread. It was really good! I made it without the walnuts as the kids don't really like them. Good enough to buy rum for if you don't have a bottle in the under stairs cupboard like I do...

Wootjacks

These are really good biscuits. They should be. They have a lot of sugar in them. But then, sometimes you just really want a sweet buttery biscuit.

Wootjacks

4oz Oats

1tblsp Plain flour sifted

6oz Caster sugar

4oz Butter

1 egg beaten

Vanilla essence

 

Line several baking sheets with baking paper.

Heat oven to Gas mark 3.

Mix oats, flour and sugar together.

Melt the butter and while hot pour it over the dry ingredients.

Stir well until mixed.

Make a well in the centre.

Add the beaten egg and vanilla essence.

Mix thoroughly.

Drop teaspoons of mix on to the baking sheets well spaced out.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (my oven not very good so I did mine for 20 mins - they need to be turning golden at the edges)

Nix

Lovely flowers and Sunday lunches

I have been given some gorgeous flowers recently...They are too pretty not to photograph.

Nicky gave me these on Friday...I have no idea what they are but they are beautiful aren't they. Thanks Nic! X

These I was given (well, encouraged to take) from Mary's allotment while they were on holiday. Roses, sweet peas, lavender and mint (just like my wedding bouquet).

The flowers in the background here were bought to me by Mary from her allotment last Sunday along with little porcelain bag from France. Mary also prepared the delicious starters for our Sunday lunch. I made the Pimms and cake. Ed cooked the roast pork (roasted meat really doesn't photograph well though!)

The tablecloth used to be my Mums. I love things that have been passed down through the family. I just wish I had taken better care of some of them when I was moving all over the place in my twenties. Who knows where some of my stuff has ended up?

Hey ho. Happy Sunday. Nix :)

Beef, Coconut and Spinach Pilau

A friend gave me this recipe. It's yum. Thought I'd put it on here for anyone that likes a bit of spice.

Feeds: 6

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: From 1.5 Hour

Oven Temp: 4-5, 180-190, 350-375

Take

·         675g (1.5lb) lean braising steak and cut into 2.5cm cubes

·         30ml  (2 tblsp) oil

·         2 onions, peeled and sliced

·         2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

·         45ml (3 tblsp) Madras curry paste (use Balti or Korma for a milder curry)

·         1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

·         1 400g can of coconut milk

·         850ml (1.5 pint) good, hot beef stock

·         Salt and pepper

·         300g basmati or long grain rice

·         100g baby spinach leaves

·         2 med tomatoes quartered

·         Handful freshly chopped coriander to garnish

·         Toasted almonds to garnish

Make

Heat half the oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish and brown the beef in batches for 3-4 mins. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add remaining oil to pan and cook the onions and garlic until lightly brown, stir in curry paste and cook for 2-3 mins.

Return the beef to the dish and add the chilli, coconut milk and stock. Season. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook in the oven or on the hob for 1 hour. Stir in the rice, cover and cook for a further 20 mins until all the liquid has been absorbed. Add the spinach and tomatoes. Leave to stand for further 5-10 mins.

Serve

Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and flaked almonds.

Happy feasting! Nix

Two more cakes...and Happy Father's Day!

I baked and iced these two cakes last night for a party we are off to today. They are for my friend Jacqueline's twins, Siena and Oliver. It is a joint first birthday and naming day celebration. It's a ceremony, then a picnic, then rounders so fingers crossed for weather.

The recipe is the same one I always use. Oliver's cake is chocolate sponge with white chocolate icing and Siena's is plain sponge with jam and buttercream. I am pleased with the chocolate one and have Thea to thank for the design idea. Very classy don't you think? Thanks me dear. All the toppings were from Sainsbury as I left it a bit late. I was going to try and find a cake decorating shop but ran out of time. Sainsbury did have a much better selection than Tesco though.

Father's Day

 

Hopefully all the Daddies are enjoying Father's Day. Ed got this card and some wine from the boys but his real treat is next weekend. I am taking the boys away for a week in Cornwall with my Mum and for the first time since the children have been born he will get a whole weekend in the house all by himself. He has a tight schedule planned...It  goes something like this:

Friday: Play football, go to pub, watch Glastonbury hightlights.

Saturday: Lie in, play golf all day, order in pizza, watch Coldplay and U2 ont' telly.

Sunday: Lie in, play computer games all day, cook a roast for one.

He is a lucky boy isn't he...he will miss us in the week though.

A Cooking Day

When I have done a big food shop and there is a lot of fresh veg and meat I like to cook up a few different things right away so that it is as fresh as possible. It also means that one day spent in the kitchen results in three or four days heating something up and adding some fresh veg rather than cooking from scratch every night of the week. Also means if the kids and I spend the day doing something really nice and stay out later than expected there is always a hot healthy dinner when we get home. So yesterday was a cooking day. I made Nigella's Veggie Chilli, this is mainly for me as v healthy, filling and spicy. I also made a corned beef hotpot for Ed and the children as they are all meat and potatoes people! I also had my lovely 'In Laws' coming for supper so I made a chicken and ham pie with new potatoes and fresh vegetables. We started with some yummy king prawns and finished with fresh summer fruit and cream. All very easy (until I dropped Ed's plate while dishing up!). I took some pics but food pics tend to be a bit yuk don't you think?...plus I am not really a food presentation person.

RECIPES

 

 Nigella's Vegetarian Chilli

2 tblsp olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups red bell peppers (about 2 large peppers), finely diced

1 heaped tsp hot red pepper flakes

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

1.5 cups red lentils

3 cups (1 can) canned chopped tomatoes

3.5 cups drained canned kidney beans (I just use 2 cans as it’s a waste to throw half a can away and am unlikely to use for something else)

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 TB unsweetened cocoa powder

  1. To prepare chilli, heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a deep,

wide pan with a lid. Add onions, garlic and bell peppers, and sauté

until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in red pepper flakes, coriander,

cumin and cardamom pods. Stir in lentils.

              

2. Add chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, ketchup, tomato paste, cocoa

and 3 cups water. Stir well. Cover, and simmer, stirring frequently,

until mixture is thickened and beans are tender, about 45 minutes.

Chicken and Ham Pie

Forgot to take a picture while it was still whole!

The ham: OK, so I got a nice piece of applewood smoked pork loin, boiled that in water (for the suggested baking time on wrapper) with some carrots and onions to create a nice hammy stock, removed the meat saving/reducing the stock, ditching the veg.

The chicken: I baked four chicken breasts which I had rubbed in a bit of chicken stock cube and some olive oil. Better if you can use left over roast chicken meat which is more flavoursome.

The white sauce: I made a kind of creamy sauce. I used the stock from the ham, some of the the chicken juices and the rest of the stock cube, butter, flour, milk and a little cream...I kind of made this up as I went along but started with 40g of flour and about the same of butter. I mixed those together in a pan and then slowly added the liquids which I had mixed together in a jug. Normally when I make a white sauce there is more butter however, the stock, milk and cream had a fair bit of fat in them so I cut it down. The result was a creamy rich sauce with a lovely flavour. I mixed in all the cubed chicken and ham and left it to cool.

Later I rolled out some shop bought shortcrust pastry, buttered my pie dish and lined it with pastry added lots of my pie mix, topped it, brushed it with egg and put it in the oven for about 40mins. It was homely and delicious.

There was pie mix left which I will give the children today with pasta or rice and vegetables.

 Hotpot/Monday Pie/Cook Together

This is a very very simple meat hotpot - It can be made with any leftover meat. I hate throwing out food so I like recipes like this that make a meal out of a few good quality leftovers, a few potatoes and an onion. My Dad used to call it ‘Monday Pie as my Mum used to make it with the roast meat leftovers on a Monday. Ed’s family call it ‘Cook Together’.

Corned Beef Hotpot for four people

2 small packs of corned beef

4  Large potatoes, sliced up about 1cm thick

2 Med onions, very thinly sliced

3/4 pint of beef stock

Butter for the top

Layer up meat, thinly sliced onions and potato. Build the layers up and then pour over the stock. It doesn't need to come up to the top. Put it in the oven on high with a lid or tin foil to get it bubbling then after about half an hour remove lid put some butter on the top, turn it down low and leave it as long as you like. I made it at lunchtime yesterday and got it out at tea time for the children. If you want to eat this quite quickly then just leave on high for an hour. Test the potatoes with a knife before serving.

You can add carrots if you make it with roast lamb or add leeks if you make it with chicken. Ed likes corned beef, the deli packets are better than the tinned stuff and it keeps in the fridge for a while so it's quite handy for a last minute meal when there is not much in. It actually tastes better re-heated the next day so Monday pie is usually eaten on Tuesday in our house.