Bakewell crumpets

Puddings. Breakfast. Puddings. Breakfast. PUDDINGS! B-R-E-A-K-F-A-S-T.

If, like me, you struggle to choose your favourite meal occasion between pudding and breakfast, this lovely crumpet recipe is the ideal compromise. So simple as to barely be a recipe, but with endless variations. Smother nutella on and top with toasted hazelnuts and you have a Ferrero Rocher crumpet. Switch the jam for lemon curd and you have yourself a fine lemon drizzle crumpet. Stick a couple of marshmallows and slab of chocolate on top, place under the grill until it’s all melty and you’ve got the dream – a s’mores crumpet!

I was made aware of these giant crumpets from a very persistent ad campaign featuring a number of Muppets, so I had to try them, and they don’t disappoint.

Anyway, let’s get down with the crumpets…

Makes 1 crumpet (you will likely want two ;.p)

• One giant crumpet
• Large dollop of Greek or natural yoghurt
• Tablespoon of good cherry jam (ideally with whole or part cherries in)
• Handful of flaked almonds

Method

1. In a dry shallow frying pan, on low to medium heat, place the flaked almonds. Shake regularly to avoid burning and take off the heat when they turn a nice golden colour. This should take 3-5 minutes.
2. Whilst the almonds are in the pan, put the crumpets in the toaster until golden brown. Then it is simply an assembly job.
3. Once you’ve put the crumpet on a plate (brain science this) dollop the yoghurt on top, spoon over the cherry jam and finish by sprinkling the toasted flaked almonds.

Waitrose Cookery School

I was lucky enough to receive a Waitrose Cookery School voucher for Christmas and had been browsing all the course options for a while. Pad thai? Mexican Street Feast? Shall I learn how to make bao? What about Japanese? I wanted to do them all, but my mind was made up when I came across Couple’s Brunch.

I absolutely adore brunch. Two meals worth of calories in one blow out feast where it is acceptable to drink cocktails in the morning (try as I might my limit is 2.5 Bloody Mary’s and I was all over the shop) with the emphasis on excess. Towering stacks of pancakes topped with syrup and cream, fried everything with sides of bacon and as often is the case, “bottomless bubbles”. My partner on the other hand decries brunch totally. He feels the opposite in that it deprives him of two separate meals, is a waste of calories and he hardly likes anything in the menu. This is because he is a particularly fussy madam who doesn’t like eggs (the basis of any good brunch), eats Belvita biscuits for breakfast and has been known to voluntarily eat dry toast. DRY. TOAST! So now you understand what I am dealing with.

This anti-brunch sentiment is why I felt particularly moved to book the course, to persuade him that in fact it is an immensely enjoyable experience that we should do more. Trust me – it’s not a feeding each other strawberries or lingering looks over the hollandaise type course and you could very happily do it with a friend, as you’d have equally as much fun.

The whole day is wonderfully organised and the course chefs Russell and Lailee where great fun throughout. We learnt new skills and tips – if you don’t fancy crying when chopping onions, use a super sharp knife – but mainly really enjoyed eating brilliant food, limitless drinks and having a laugh with everyone on the course.

The menu was incredible. We started off by preparing pigs cheeks for braising, crushing spices with a pestle and mortar for the aromatic sauce and placing it in the oven for four hours to slow cook.

Whilst this was cooking, we got started on the Eggs Benedict with haddock. If you ever see the amount of butter that goes into hollandaise. WOW. They honestly should just call it butter sauce. Still, with guidance we were able to make golden pan fried crumpets with poached haddock and beautifully silky hollandaise.

Next up was a piquant mango, mint and black bean salsa with quick pickled chillies to accompany the slow braised pig cheeks. The tartness of the chillies and fruitiness of the mango cut through the richness of the meltingly tender pork that fell apart on the plate. As if that couldn’t get any better it was piled on top of a mouthwatering cheesy waffle that was deceptively simple to prepare, although sadly you do need a waffle maker. The whole plate was a heavenly hot mess that I would happily pay a great deal for in a restaurant.

 

The grand finale, as if we needed anymore food, was a brownie burrito. You read that correctly. Brownie batter fried in a pan between two crepes, finished with a caramelised banana, chopped peanuts and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Divine.

If you hadn’t guessed, I was super impressed by Waitrose cookery school and will definitely be going back. I’d really recommend it as a thoughtful gift for a foodie, or just a new experience with your friends. See you there.

 

Rum truffles

If your Mum is anything like mine (an absolute booze hound) she will adore these rum truffles. They are minimum effort with maximum reward, and you can buy the ingredients now and give them as a gift later. Perfect!

I tested this recipe out on people who, and I quote, “don’t like rum truffles” and they went back for seconds – so they will please everyone, not just your Mother.They are impressive enough presented on a plate, but if you have chance, buy a little gift box and they’ll look particularly professional.

Makes 15-18 truffles

 Ingredients 

• 200g dark/plain chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids)
• 170ml double cream
• 5 tablespoons of rum (brandy, cognac or even patron – whatever your favourite tipple)
• Cocoa for dusting

Method

1. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl.
2. Heat up the cream in a pan and when it reaches boiling point, pour over the chocolate.
3. Add the rum (or preferred spirit/liqueur) and stir until all the chocolate is melted and forms a smooth  liquid. Leave to cool to room temperature, 1.5-2 hours. If the mixture hasn’t set, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. To make the truffles, use two teaspoons to scoop out the ganache and shape into rough balls before rolling in a shallow bowl of cocoa. You can use your hands to roll the balls if you don’t mind getting messy and remember these are artisinal hand crafted truffles so they don’t need to by symmetrical or perfect spheres! Makes 15-18 truffles.
5. Set them on a cling film covered baking tray and chill in the fridge until they’re set (firm to the touch). Then you can place them in a little presentation box or airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Tip – you can roll the truffles in chopped nuts, desiccated coconut, icing sugar, chocolate sprinkles, freeze dried raspberries – whatever you fancy!

Panettone pancakes

Fine! You caught me. Another French toast recipe. But honestly, have you met anyone who doesn’t like French toast? You can use stale or left over panettone for this recipe but you know what? Just buy a panettone purposefully for this because it is SO worth it.

Before you start your January detox, retox with these light, fruity and delicious panettone ‘pancakes’.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 200ml full fat milk
• 4 large eggs
• Good glug of double cream or heaped tablespoon mascarpone/creme fraiche (whatever you have in)
• 1 medium panettone
• Raspberries/blueberries/pomegranate seeds (whatever fruit you want to top it with)
• Dusting of icing sugar (optional flourish)

Method

1.Whisk the eggs into the milk and add the cream/mascarpone/creme fraiche.

2.Cut 4 slices of the panettone horizontally, about 2cm thick. You will have 4 wide circular slices of panettone, hence the name ‘pancakes’.

3. Pour a quarter of the liquid into a pie dish/large shallow dish and place one of the panettone slices in the dish, leaving a minute on each side to soak the mixture up.

4.Add a knob of butter to a large frying pan on medium heat. Using a spatula place the panettone slice in the pan, frying 1-2 minutes on each slice until golden. Repeat for each of the slices.

5. Sprinkle the raspberries on top of each ‘pancake’ and finish with a dusting of icing sugar.

Tip – make it decadent by drizzling melted chocolate, add a scoop of ice cream or tossing on some toasted nuts.

Slow cooker mulled wine

This Christmas hack is such a useful and easy recipe to have in your back pocket over the festive season because it’s quick, requires no effort and your guests will love it! Sod the candles, get this on and your house will smell gorgeous. It tastes likes you’ve been mulling cloves, cinnamon and citrus for hours but in reality takes under a minute to prepare and will sit heated in your slow cooker for hours letting your guests help themselves and you enjoy the party.

Makes 6 small or 4 medium glasses

Ingredients

• 1 bottle of mulled wine (Sainsbury’s Mulled Wine at £4 is an absolute winner here but any will do)
• 6 cinnamon sticks
• 1 orange or 2 clementines

Method

1. Turn the slow cooker onto its lowest setting and pour the whole bottle of wine in.

2. Slice the orange or clementines into circles and half the larger orange slices before adding to the cooker along with two of the cinnamon sticks. Leave the wine to infuse with the citrus and cinnamon flavours for half an hour before serving.

3. Place a cinnamon stick in each glass before ladling the wine in, making sure to include an orange slice.

Tips – you can add more than one bottle of wine at a time it depends how much capacity your slow cooker has. If serving a lot of people add more orange or slice up a couple of apples so that everyone has some fruit in their glass. This will sit for hours warm in the slow cooker and you can keep topping up with more wine, just allow a little time for it to heat back up.

Salted caramel Rolo mousse

 

Before you say anything, yes I had a bigger portion than the photo. It is just impossible to get a decent picture that does this incredible salted caramel chocolate mousse justice!

This recipe was created because I had agreed to make a dessert for a gathering and one of those attending was gluten free. Obviously I then couldn’t think of anything other than crumbles, tarts and cake – in short everything that is gluten FULL. But then after a bit of inspirational stalking I clicked across a devilishly rich chocolate mousse. I thought what recipe couldn’t be bettered with a generous helping of salted dulce de leche (NOTHING. I repeat nothing cannot be bettered with dulce de leche and I will fight anyone who says otherwise) and here we are…

I called it Rolo mousse as it reminded me of those delicious little Rolo puddings I used to eat as a child.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, separated
• 200g dark chocolate
• 120ml warm water
• 40g golden caster
• 225g dulce de leche (pick it up at large Sainsbury’s) or caramel
• Sprinkling of sea salt flakes/ground rock salt

Method

1. Break up the chocolate and add it to a heat proof bowl, along with the warm water. Melt this over a simmering pan of water, ensuring the water isn’t touching the bowl.
2. When the chocolate has mostly melted, take it off the heat and give it a good stir until smooth. Wait a couple of minutes and add the yolks, giving it a good mix.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form peaks. Then slowly add in the sugar, whisking in between. Give the mixture a final whisk to ensure the whites are glossy.
4. Add a spoonful of the whites to the chocolate and mix in with a metal spoon to loosen the mixture. Then carefully add the egg whites to the chocolate with a metal spoon, folding and cutting the mixture to ensure you keep the air in, which gives you a light mousse. This gentle folding may take a few minutes.
5. You can either use 6 ramekins or serving glasses, or one larger serving bowl (min 900ml). Add the dulce de leche or caramel to the serving bowl or ramekins and smooth it out evenly. Add a pinch of sea salt flakes to each ramekin, or a few over the larger serving bowl. You can also grind rock salt, just don’t use table salt.
6. Pour the chocolate mixture out into the ramekins or serving bowl and chill in the fridge for at least two hours before serving, wrapped in cling film. This dessert can also be made a day or so ahead of time.

Tip – Serve with a dollop of extra thick cream, scatter a few raspberries across or maybe even some passion fruit pulp. It cuts through the darkness of the chocolate and really lightens the pudding.

Peach melba French toast

Breakfast is my absolute favourite meal of the day, so when it’s the weekend I enjoy making something more exciting than the usual week day fare and at this time of year making the most of the delicious seasonal fruits available. Presenting warm, sweet, sticky peaches, tart English raspberries and golden griddled brioche French toast drizzled with golden syrup.

Peach melba is a tried and tested combination and baking the peaches with demerara sugar really brings out their delicate flavour which is sensational with the tart raspberries and fluffy, buttery brioche.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• Loaf of brioche
• 3 eggs
• 150ml milk
• 5 peaches (I used donut peaches as I prefer them)
• Punnet of raspberries
• Knob of butter
• 60g demerara sugar
• Golden syrup (or maple syrup/honey)
• Icing sugar (optional, but a nice final flourish)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Wash and cut the peaches in quarters, lay them out in a deep dish or baking tray and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes until soft and sticky.
2. Whilst the peaches are baking, slice 8 thick (around 2cm) slices of the brioche loaf and whisk the eggs together with the milk.
3. Pour the liquid into a shallow dish and press four of the brioche slices into the liquid for about 10 seconds on each side.
4. Add a knob of butter to the griddle or frying pan and when melted and hot, add the brioche slices to the pan for 2-3 minutes each side, until golden.
5. Repeat 3 and 4 for the final 4 slices of brioche and plate them up.
6. Top the French toast with the baked peaches, sprinkle over raspberries, drizzle with golden syrup and finish with dusting of icing sugar.

 

Tips

Variations on the above – for a tropical taste replace the milk with coconut milk, serve with fresh mango and fry in coconut oil. Strawberries and melted chocolate with cream is indulgent and incredible should the occasion call for it.

I’ve used sliced brioche before but generally it’s too thin to soak up the liquid without falling apart, so definitely go for an unsliced loaf and cut the slices yourself.

If you need anymore liquid, add more milk.

 

 

Post Christmas pasta

I don’t know about you, but my fridge and cupboards are still hungover from Christmas. Odds and ends of cheeses, chutneys and nuts. So I got creative one cold, dark evening trying to find inspiration and put off trudging to the shops. Enter stage right….post Christmas pasta.

Serves 1 (multiply ingredients for however many you have to feed)

Ingredients

• Wedge of stilton (or whatever’s lurking in your fridge)
• Sticky fig chutney (or indeed any favourite chutney)
• Walnuts (any nut)
• Penne (literally any pasta, I think you get the gist now)

Method

Cook pasta according to packet instructions.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until golden.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and crumble most of the cheese into the hot pan until it melts. Add the pasta back to the pan and stir so that it’s covered in the cheese.

Tip into a bowl and spoon chutney over the pasta, before topping with the toasted nuts, remainder of the cheese and diving in face first.

Tip – you can use any combination of cheese, chutney and nuts – it all works. Brie, cranberry and pecan, goats cheese, spiced fruit and brazil nuts…have fun using them all up!

 

Halloumi, guacamole and portobello mushroom burger

Once upon a time, I had a vegetarian friend round for dinner. I wanted to make it just as special as the meat dinners I cook, and thus made this delicious burger. We both lived happily ever after.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 large portobello mushrooms
• Block of halloumi
• Chilli flakes/fresh chopped chilli/easy ready chopped chill (I use and thoroughly recommend)
• 1 lemon
• 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 burger buns

Method

Add a little oil to the frying pan and let it heat up until it sizzles when you put the halloumi in, and add the portobello mushrooms. Sprinkle both with cracked black pepper and turn the mushroom and halloumi over when the latter is golden brown.

Whilst they’re in the pan, scoop out the flesh of the avocado and add to a bowl along with the juice from the lemon, finely chopped garlic and chopped chilli before crushing together.

Add the fresh guacamole to the bun, top with the golden salty halloumi and earthy portobello mushroom. Enjoy.

Candied walnuts

The reason for this post is quite simply that I was given a bottle of grape molasses and didn’t really know what to do with it sooooooooo…..candied walnuts! Why not?!

You can substitute this very niche ingredient with pomegranate molasses or maple syrup as the effect is the same – moreish sweet toasted golden walnuts.

Eaten on their own they are incredible, but you can also chop and add to yoghurt or porridge, sprinkle over a cake or add with goats cheese to a salad.

Ingredients

• 200g walnut halves
• Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 cup of grape/pomegranate molasses or maple syrup
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp brown sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 190C/170C fan.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan melt the butter. Add the molasses/syrup, sugar and salt and stir. On a low heat leave to bubble untouched for 3 minutes before mixing in the walnuts.

Spread evenly over a baking tray covered with baking parchment. Place in the oven for 7 minutes, taking out midway to give the walnuts a good shake.

Pour the remaining glaze over the walnuts and when cool, break them up and enjoy!

Can be stored in an airtight container.