Egg glut

We've got an egg glut. I often have an omelette or a boiled egg with my salad for lunch, but there's a limit to how many eggs one person can eat. Hubby isn't keen on eating eggs unless they've been whisked with some sugar and flour to make a cake, so the responsibility of keeping the egg mountain in check falls mostly on my shoulders. So what's a girl to do. Well bake, of course!

I raided the freezer and found small bags of grated courgettes, so the obvious thing to make was a scrummy courgette cake. I also came across some blueberries and after leafing through my new but sadly neglected cook books I decided to make blueberry muffins a la Nigel Slater.

Blueberry muffins (makes 12)

125g plain flour

125g spelt flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

55g butter

125g sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g yoghurt

220g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Place 12 paper muffin cases in a muffin tin. Sift together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Cream the butter and sugar, lightly beat the eggs and add to the mixture. Add the vanilla extract, then mix in the yoghurt. Gently add the dry ingredients and continue to mix throroughly. Fold in the berries. Drop the mixture into paper cases and sprinkle with some demerara sugar and rolled oats if you happen to have some. Bake for 20-22 mins.

Beats my usual blueberry muffin recipe from Fay Ripley hands down.

Simple supper #4

I always thought a risotto was a nightmare to make with all that stirring, but this recipe (from Cook Yourself Thin) made it sound quite easy, straightforward and after tasting it definitely worth the effort. I was taking turns chopping some of the ingredients and giving the risotto a good stir so it didn't even take that long to make. I absolutely love this recipe (so much so that I've already made it twice this week). It's light, zingy and fresh, so it's the perfect thing to be eating this time of year.

Prawn risotto with lemon, spring onion and basil

olive oil
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
150g risotto rice
75ml white wine (or dry vermouth if the wine has mysteriously disappeared)
750ml warm vegetable stock
a bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
150g cooked prawns
3 tablespoons low-fat creme fraiche
a squeeze of lemon
1/2 bunch of basil, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil, gently fry the onion and garlic. Add the rice and continue to fry for 2 mins. Add the wine and stir until the wine is absorbed. Start adding the stock, laddle by laddle, stirring until the stock is absorbed (this should take about 10-15 mins). Add the spring onion and cook for 5 mins. Add the prawns and creme fraiche. Keep on the hob and keep tasting until the rice is al dente, then take off the heat. Add a squeeze of lemon and stir through the basil. Season and grate some lemon zest over the top. Easy peasy.

I bet it would taste lovely with some chives and sorrel from the garden, why didn't I think of that before!