Easy cheesy horns

These are my version of croissants (although admittedly they have very little in common with the real thing), only healthier and very easy to make. I always make a huge batch for the freezer... And then another batch a couple of weeks later after the first one has magically disappeared.


Easy cheesy horns

3 1/2 dl plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
50g Flora Cuisine
2 dl Total 0% greek yoghurt (or similar)
mature cheddar cut into strips
(you could also add some ham)
1 egg
poppy or sesame seeds

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the Flora and mix with your hand until crumbly. Add the greek yoghurt and mix into a dough. Divide the dough into two and put half aside. Roll the other half into a circle and cut it into eight sectors (like you would slice a pizza). Put some cheese (and ham if using)  into the widest end of the sector, roll towards the pointy end and lift onto a baking parchment. Repeat with the rest of the slices and the remaining dough. Once all of the horns have been rolled brush them with a beaten egg and decorate with seeds of your choice. Bake 225°C /10–15 mins. Serve warm.

Rhubarb soup

When I was little, every now and again my mother would serve some sort of fruit soup for afters. The ingredients always depended on what berries we had frozen for the winter, what was in season in the summer was usually eaten fresh. Rhubarb was the only fruit that got made into a soup in the summer and it's probably my favourite of them all.


Rhubarb soup

500g rhubarb
5 dl water
1 dl sugar
2 tbsp potato flour

Wash the rhubarb and chop the stems roughly. Bring the water to the boil, and add the sugar and rhubarb. Cook the rhubarb chunks until soft. Mix the potato flour with a little bit of cold water, take the pan off the heat and pour the potato flour liquid slowly into the pan, stirring continuously. Pop the pan back on the heat and keep stirring until the soup starts to thicken, then take off heat again. Pour the soup into individual serving bowls and sprinkle some sugar over the top. Once it has cooled down, serve with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

If you wait until your strawberries are ripe, you can add some in the pan with the rhubarb chunks. Works just as well made from frozen rhubarb (and strawberries) in the depths of winter to bring back the memories of summer.

What to do with mint?

I've had a mint plant for a couple of years and every summer it goes absolutely wild. No matter how much mint tea I drink, I just can't keep up with it. To make matters worse, this year I have three mint plants to keep me running between the garden and the kitchen. I do like my herbs and when I finally came face to leaf with some apple mint and chocolate mint, I had to have them. My old mint is only slowly springing back, but the new arrivals are already doing great guns. 

So what to do with all that mint? Here's a few recipes I'm going to try.


Sparkling lime and mint drink

1 dl freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 dl fruit sugar
4 limes quartered
mint sprigs
8 dl sparkling water
ice cubes

Mix the lime juice and sugar. Add the quartered limes, mint and sparkling water. Mix in the ice cubes and serve.


Mint-and-gingerade

1 litre of boiling water
a big handful of mint leaves, chopped
grated zest of 2 lemons
2 tbsp peeled and grated ginger
2 tbsp sugar
plenty of ice

Pour the boiling water over mint, lemon zest and ginger. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Allow to cool and pour into glasses full of ice.


Mint pesto

2 handfuls of mint
macadamia nuts
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp vanilla extract
 
Blend all the ingredients and use with sweet dishes, like cakes and ice cream.


Mint and cucumber soup

1 bulb of garlic
2 large cucumbers
a big bunch of mint
olive oil
500ml milk/natural yoghurt
salt and pepper to season

Roast the garlic. Peel the cucumbers, slice them in half longways and scoop out the seeds. Chop the mint leaves. Blend garlic, cucumbers and mint, then add some olive oil in a stream while the machine is still running. Stir in the milk/yoghurt and season. Serve cold.


Mint and pea soup

1 carrot
1 celery stick
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 vegetable stock cube
400g peas
a few sprigs of mint
salt and pepper to season

Peel and chop the carrots, onion and garlic, slice the celery. Add all your chopped ingredients into a saucepan, add some oil and cook for about 10 mins. Dissolve the stock cube in 600 ml of water and add to the pan. Add the peas, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins. Season with salt and pepper and add the mint leaves. Blend until smooth and serve.


I can already picture myself on the patio on a hot day with a refreshing glass of mint-and-gingerade. Now, all we need is the sun!

Simple supper #5

Quite glamorous compared to our usual mid-week suppers, but I just happened to have some white fish in the freezer, some asparagus in the fridge and a handful of little rocket thinnings waiting to get on the plate. Not a one pot supper, but simple enough to make and very tasty.

Roasted fish with tomato and olive relish

2 white fish fillets

50g pitted black olives

50g sun-dried tomatoes and some oil from the jar

1 tsp capers

1 garlic clove

basil

Pre-heat the oven 200°C/180°C fan. Pulse all the ingredients for the relish in a food processor or chop roughly by hand. Lay the fillets on an oven tray and spread a heaped spoonful of relish over the top. Bake for 20 mins.

Roast asparagus on rocket with a parmesan vinaigrette

fresh asparagus

1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

rocket

grated parmesan
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Trim the woody bits from the bottom of each stalk, lay the spears in a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 mins and set aside. Mix together the lemon juice, parmesan and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the asparagus and rocket (and maybe a few cherry toms) on the plate and spoon the vinaigrette over them.

(The original recipes can be found in Fay's Family Food and Cook Yourself Thin.)

Wild garlic

Me and Hound set out to find some wild garlic and nettles this morning, but our trip was cut short by a rain shower. I had enough time to snatch two little plastic bags full of wild garlic leaves and flowers before starting our way back home. This is what I made.

Wild garlic pesto

100g wild garlic leaves with flowers
1dl extra virgin olive oil
50g pine nuts
50g parmesan
salt and pepper

Blanch the wild garlic leaves in boiling water for about 10 seconds, refresh in cold water and squeeze dry inside a kitchen towel. Put the wild garlic, olive oil and pine nuts into a food processor (if you like it strong you can also add a big clove of garlic) and blend. Mix in the parmesan and season. Keep in sterilised jars or spoon the mixture into ice cube moulds and freeze.
 
The pesto looks lovely and vibrant green (not resembling sick as in the picture, I apologise on behalf of my phone). I'm having some of the pesto today with some pasta and roasted veggies, and as there was only enough pesto to fill two small jars I'm hoping to make another trip this weekend so that I can make more and freeze some. There's nothing better than finding summery treasures in the freezer in the middle of winter.

I was tempted to try preserving some wild garlic bulbs using one of my marinated garlic recipes, but decided to steer clear of them as I found out they can give some people a stomach upset. I think the Jerusalem artichokes I planted earlier this year will provide enough excitement for now.

Nuts about biscotti

The egg glut continues, so I've been leafing through various cook books and magazines and trying new recipes. Here's the recipes for my two new favourite biscuits, they're both excellent with an afternoon cup of tea and they keep really well.

Pistacchio biscotti

1 1/2dl soft brown sugar
2dl plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
150g shelled pistacchio nuts

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Measure the sugar, flour and baking powder into an electric mixer and add the eggs. When the dough is nice and smooth, fold in the nuts. Shape the dough into a long and flat log, place on a baking tray and bake for 30 mins. Cool down and slice thinly into about 40 slices. Bake the slices 140°C/20 mins turning once so that both sides bake nicely. Let them cool down and store in an air tight container.


Almond biscotti

150g shelled whole almonds
10g fennel seeds
250g plain flour
a generous pinch of baking powder
150g caster sugar
3 medium eggs

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C. Tip all the ingredients except the eggs into an electric mixer. Mix the eggs together, stir through the flour and nut mixture and shape into a large, flat log. Put it onto a baking tray and bake for around 20 mins or until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, lift the log onto a board and slice very thinly diagonally into 30-35 slices. Place the biscuits onto a baking tray and bake for another 10 mins or until pale brown and crisp. Let them cool down and store in an air tight container.

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!

Christmas Chocolates

Note to self, must make more next year! Very easy to make, delicious and using condensed milk instead of cream makes them keep for longer.

Chocolate and almond truffles

500g good quality dark chocolate
a small tin of condensed milk
1 tsp almond extract
crushed almonds

Put the chocolate and condensed milk in a bowl over boiling water and melt very gently. When melted, take off heat, add almond extract and crushed almonds and leave to cool. When cool enough to keep their shape, roll into balls, roll the balls in some cocoa powder and put in the fridge to harden.

These are the flat bottomed ones I made when the mixture was still a bit too warm to keep its shape. The perfectly round ones have already been packed away in a hamper for one very lucky lady!

Marinated garlic cloves

Another quick and easy recipe for Christmas hampers!

Marinated garlic cloves

3 garlic bulbs
1/2 dl white wine vinegar
1 dl olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
any spices and/or herbs you want to flavour the garlic with

Separate the cloves and boil them for 3-5 minutes. Rinse with cold water, peel and put in a jar, covered with vinegar. Let them marinate for 3 days and drain (if you wish, you can keep the vinegar for the next lot). Mix the oil, salt and herbs/spices, and layer this in jars with the garlic. They will be ready to eat in 5-10 days.

I tripled the recipe and used 9 garlic bulbs, so that I could try making different flavours. I've made one jar with sprigs of rosemary and thyme from the garden, and another one using chilli flakes and honey.

If you'd rather not cover the cloves in oil you can use an alternative. Bring 1 dl water and 1/2 dl white wine vinegar (and any herbs and/or spices you want to use) to the boil, pour over the cloves and close the jars. Let them cool down and keep refridgerated. This method is quicker as you can skip a step. Instead of separately marinating the cloves, you can pour the vinegary preserving liquid straight onto the cloves. I made my third jar this way and used a combination of herbs, honey and chilli flakes to flavour the garlic. I've got to say it doesn't look like much next to the other two, but the proof will be in the eating.

I hope my test batch turns out ok, can't wait to experiment with some home grown garlic next year!

Moonblush tomatoes

I love sundried tomatoes and wanted to see if I would be able to make them myself in the dehydrator. I decided to use cherry tomatoes, because hopefully I'll have loads of them come summer. This is how I made them.

Moonblush tomatoes

cherry tomatoes, halved
sea salt and pepper to season

Spread the tomatoes on a tray, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Leave in the dehydrator overnight (or for 8-10 hours, maybe longer for bigger tomatoes) on 57°C, and when dry store in a sterile air tight container. If you need to store them for a long time, top the jar up with oil.

If you want to make them in the oven, turn it up as hot as it will go while you prepare the tomatoes, then switch it off, put the toms in and leave overnight without opening the oven. The tomatoes should be nice and dry in the morning.

The drying process makes even watery shop-bought tomatoes taste amazing. They would make lovely Christmas presents, if I had any left. I'll be making some more of these next year!

Simple supper #3

Here's another take on butternut squash soup, only this one's got a bit of heat, so it's perfect for those chilly evenings. I found this recipe in one of the Cook Yourself Thin cook books and it's quick, easy and healthy, which is just how I like my recipes. I think I've found a new favourite! 

Spicy thai butternut squash soup

olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 chillies, deseeded and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cm piece of root ginger, finely chopped or grated
2 lemongrass stalks (mine came out of a jar)
1 large butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and chopped
400ml can of reduced fat coconut milk
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
juice of 1 lime

Fry the onion, chilli, garlic, ginger and lemongrass in oil until the onion starts to soften. Add the squash, coconut milk, stock cube, nam pla and some boiling water to cover the squash. Bring to the boil, covered and simmer for 20 mins or until the squash is soft. Blend the soup until smooth, add the lime juice and enjoy!

Gingerbread

There can be no Christmas without gingerbread, so I thought I'd better crack on and make some. I've never made them from scratch before, so I had to hunt down a recipe and try to find all the ingredients. This recipe makes enough dough for lots and lots of biscuits, so I can give some away as presents. I had to hide them all before Hubby, also known as the Gingerbread Monster, had a chance to find them.

Gingerbread

300g butter
1 dl sugar
2 dl soft brown sugar
2 big tablespoon scoops black treacle

3 tsp powdered Seville orange peel *

3 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ginger

2 eggs

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

1,4 litres plain flour

Melt the butter in a pan, and add the sugars, treacle and spices. Mix it well and let it cool down. Add the eggs one by one. Then add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt (you can leave a little bit of the flour for later to stop the dough sticking to the table). Let the dough rest overnight in the fridge. Take a little bit of the dough (leave the rest in the fridge until you need it, otherwise it'll be a nightmare to work with) and roll it out into a sheet (not too thin as it will tear easily) and cut it into shapes with cookie cutters. Line an oven tray with baking paper, lift the biscuits on top and bake 225°C/until lovely and brown (small ones will cook in about 4-5 mins, but keep an eye on them, they burn easily.). Let them cool down and decorate.  

They are a bit of a faff to make, especially if you're trying to get spindly legged animal shapes onto the oven tray in one piece. They taste lovely though, so I'll be using the same recipe again. I'll just be making stumpy legged pigs, much less hassle!

*) You can use all these spices or make your own mix with a combination of any of the following: powdered cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, Seville orange peel and/or cardamom.

Simple supper #2

This healthy soup is ridiculously easy to make and one of my favourites. The recipe is borrowed from Fay's Family Food, a lovely cookbook that's responsible for quite a few of our family favourites.

Butternut squash soup

1 butternut squash, cut in half lengthways and the seeds scooped out
olive oil
rosemary
vegetable stock

Preheat the oven to 180°C and roast the squash for an hour or until soft. Scoop the flesh and rosemary in a pan, blend until smooth and heat it up, adding vegetable stock to get the consistency of your liking. That's pretty much it. Fay suggests to sprinkle grated parmesan on top, but I usually have it as it is or with a dollop of creme fraiche.

(The original recipe tells you to discard the seeds and orange stringy bits, but I just couldn't bare to throw them away... Pumpkin seeds being a natural wormer for chooks and everything. They loved it!)

Apple cake

I normally use this recipe for a rhubarb cake, but since I've got all these apples I thought I might give this version ago.

Apple cake

1 egg
3 dl sugar
3,5 dl cream and milk (half and half)
6 dl plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
100g soft butter
apples, peeled, cored and sliced
a few pinches of sugar and ground cinnamon to sprinkle on top
(flaked or ground almonds)

Whisk the egg and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cream and milk mixture, baking powder and flour. Mix the soft butter in with the rest of the ingredients and pour the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place the apple slices on top (they will sink slightly) and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. You could try sprinkling flaked almonds on top or add some ground almonds into the mixture before pouring it onto the baking tray. Bake 200°C/30 mins. Lovely served warm with vanilla ice cream or cold hidden into a lunch box to brighten up someone's day.

Courgette cake

I wish I had tried this recipe sooner. Just a while ago I was drowning in courgettes and now after having just used my last one, I'm contemplating the idea of actually buying some (oh horror!) to make more of this lovely, moist cake. I think I need to raid the freezer to check if I have some grated courgette hiding somewhere.

Courgette cake (adapted from a recipe in The Edible Garden)

1 medium courgette, grated and drained in a sieve to get rid of some of the moisture
100g softened butter
150g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
100g plain flour
50g wholemeal spelt flour
50g ground almonds
3 tsp baking powder

Whisk the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, then the flour, almonds, baking powder and grated courgette. Bake in a well greased tin 180°C (160°C for fan assisted oven) for 40-45 mins.

A must recipe for next summer.

Simple supper #1

Not quite Nigel Slater, but you can't deny it's simple. I've made this time and time again, this year for the first time with home-grown tomatoes.

Tomato feta pasta

olive oil for frying
onions
cherry tomatoes
feta cheese
pasta (any shape will do)
black pepper
fresh basil
optional: parmesan and/or pine nuts

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Sweat the onions, add halved cherry tomatoes and fry until slightly softened. Add cubed feta cheese and let it warm on the pan.  Pour the drained pasta in with the tomatoes, season with black pepper and basil. If you wish, you can sprinkle some pine nuts and/or grate some parmesan on top. Dangerously moreish!

Rain, rain, go away!

I've been meaning to try some chilli recipes from Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook and as it's been raining non-stop today, why not crack on!

Chilli jam

500g very ripe tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 large red chillies (I took the seeds out as I don't like it too hot)
6-7 cm piece of ginger root, sliced (I keep mine in the freezer so that I always have some, no chance of slicing the frozen little bugger so I grated it instead)
300g sugar
2 tbsp thai fish sauce
100 ml red wine vinegar

Basically, you just blitz half the toms with garlic, chillies and ginger, pour the lot in a saucepan, add sugar, vinegar and fish sauce, dice the rest of the toms and add to the pan. Simmer for 30-40 mins until sticky and pour into sterilised jars while still warm. The jam stores for about 3 months.

It tastes a bit like shop-bought Sweet Chilli Sauce, just heaps better (and minus the salt we're trying to avoid). Even with the amount of sugar this has got to be a better option containing lots of juicy toms instead of water and preservatives.

Jammin'

My friend gave me this recipe and I had to try it straight away. It's absolutely gorgeous and it makes the whole house smell lovely when it's bubbling away on the cooker.

Apple jam

1 kg apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 vanilla pod split into halves
4 tbsp calvados
2 tbsp water
4 dl jam sugar (or a bit less, I found the jam a bit too sweet)

Put all the ingredients into a pan and boil 10 mins (or until the apples go soft). Pour the jam into sterilised jars and let them cool down in room temperature. Store in the fridge (or freezer if you haven't got the space in the fridge).

Easy peasy!

Cake, glorious cake!

We've eaten our strawberries ages ago, but there's only one way to celebrate birthdays in this house and it is by baking a strawberry cake. My mother always used to make me one for my birthday and I want to carry on the tradition. Here's the recipe.

Strawberry cake

4 eggs

1,5 dl sugar
1 dl flour
1 dl potato flour (starch)
1 tsp baking powder
a little bit of milk or juice from a canned fruit tin
strawberries
whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease the bottom and sides of the cake tin with butter.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Carefully fold in the dry ingredients. Pour the mixture into the tin. Bake for 30 mins.

Whip the cream, add some sugar, crush the strawberries and mix them all together. Once the cake has cooled down cut it into 3 layers. Spoon some milk or fruit juice over the first layer to moisten the cake and top with strawberries and cream. Repeat with the second layer. Lift the third layer on top, spoon some milk/fruit juice over and cover with cling film. Put a weight, such as a cutting board on top and leave in the fridge for 2 hours.

Whip some more cream and add some sugar. Use a knife to spread the cream on top and on the sides of the cake. Decorate with strawberries. Enjoy a big slice with a cup of strong coffee. Delish!

Happy Birthday Dearest!