Beetroot Cake

I am really not keen on beetroot, but it keeps appearing in the veg box, along with cabbage... So I'm always on the lookout for different things to do with it. I thought I'd give cake a whirl this time in an attempt to disguise it a bit more.

This recipe is based on one from the Riverford website

You need:

250g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g soft brown sugar
100g sultanas
200g beetroot, peeled and grated (or use carrots instead)
150ml vegetable or sunflower oil
2 medium sized eggs, beaten
1 tsp ground mixed spice

Mix together the flour, baking powder, spices and soft brown sugar and add the sultanas and grated beetroot. Mix in the oil and eggs. Combine well. Pour into a prepared tin (I use a loaf tin) and bake for 1-1¼ hours. Cool and top with cream cheese frosting if you want. Scoff. Revel in the fact that you've eaten beetroot and not even know in. Genius.

Creamy Mushroom Curry

I'm bored with jars of curry sauce, and not keen on curry pastes, but just can't seem to create a tasty curry like the ones from a takeaway at home. This one is good but still not quite it. But then again that might be my non-existent taste buds talking!!

For 2-3 generous portions you need:
1 punnet mushrooms (about 450g) left whole or halved if large
1 large onion, diced
2 inches ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tin toms, chopped
1 small carton coconut cream
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp garam masala
Chopped corriander to garnish

Begin by frying the onion, garlic and ginger in the oil. Add the curry powder and garam masala and fry for a few mins. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and coconut cream and cook gently for about 20 mins. Check the seasoning and serve with rice, naan and the fresh corriander.

Stewed Apples

I was going to make apple charlotte but I ran out of energy, so we ended up with just stewed apples and custard. Perfect comfort food.

It's dead simple but also dead yummy. For each person you need one large bramley apple. Peel and chop then place in a pan with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp butter per apple. Heat and then simmer till collapsed. Stir well to beat out the lumps and serve as you wish. Hot with custard, cream or ice cream; warm with cereal/granola; pour into a buttered bread mould for a charlotte. Or just eat it a spoonful at a time from the pan till it's all gone!

Baked Eggs with Mash

A leftovers idea this one. Something you can chuck together from bits and bobs in the fridge. I made this on Sunday using extra mash from dinner. Was very yummy, but the eggs were slightly over cooked.

For 2-3 portions you need:
Mashed potato flavoured with whatever you fancy - I used 2 onions sauteed in butter until really crispy; chopped chives; chopped parsley; 1 tsp french mustard and some cheddar.
4 eggs
Grated cheese: cheddar, emmental or gruyere all work well.

Put the mash in an oven proof dish and make 4 wells for the eggs. Crack the eggs in to the hollows and sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake for 20-30 mins until the cheese is melted, the potato is cooked and the eggs are just done.

It's nice served with peas or salad.

Celeriac and Emmental Soup

I have a cold at the moment. A really bad, horribly stinky rotten streaming cold. And I feel terrible. But at the weekend N found this recipe in a Sarah Brown book on a hunt for something for us to eat that day. We had some left over celeriac and a few jerusalem artichokes so I gave it a whirl today, after advice from a friend recommended nourishing food and steam. I can't say it tastes wonderful as my taste buds are shot. But it felt wonderfully comforting as I ate it. Warming and nourishing and comforting. Just what the Dr ordered...

(adapted from Sarah Brown's Complete Vegetarian Cookbook)

For 6-8 portions you need:
700g celeriac (and other veg if you want).
1 litre stock
2 onions, chopped
2 coves garlic, chopped
50g butter
good handful grated emmental per bowlful

Sweat the onions and garlic in the butter then add the celeriac after about 5 mins. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 mins then blend. Season and serve in bowls topped with the cheese. Yum.

Baked Apples

Did you know it's national bramley week this week? No? Well now you do! In honour of this I brought a bag with the intention to do different things with them during the week. Tonight it was the turn of a baked apple. One of my favourite desserts. However because I am dying from the world's worst cold e-v-e-r I cheated and nuked this in the microwave. I shan't be doing that again, it was nowhere near as nice as one done in the oven. You have been warned.

For each apple you need:
1 bramley apple
handful dried fruit e.g. sultanas, raisins, cranberries etc
1 tbsp demerara sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp almonds, chopped

Score the apple round the centre and then core it. Place in a baking dish and pack the hollow centre with the fruit, nuts, butter, sugar and honey (in that order). Bake in a medium oven for 30-45 mins till the apple is soft and mushy and there is a sauce from the butter, honey and sugar. Serve as is or with some ice cream, cream, mascapone etc.
If you need one NOW then cover with cling film, nuke on high for 2 mins 30 secs and eat. But like I said, it won't be as nice.

Bruschetta

OK, OK so any real Italian worth their salt is probably shuddering at me calling this recipe bruschetta but it sounds nicer than things on toast!

I vary the toppings depending on what we have and what I fancy. Today it was pesto and emmental and tapanade and feta. I served it on a bed of rocket drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Simply slice some french bread, top with whatever you want to have and bake in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.

Pizza

Whilst I do like a Pizza Express pizza, I also like a home made one from time to time.

Today we made mushroom and blue cheese;


onion relish, goats cheese and pepper pizza



anchovy and olive



along with a plain cheese pizza for Mr Fussy. Oh and some dough balls with garlic butter.



From start to finish it took about 90 mins to make the dough, prove it, top them and cook them.

You need:
700g plain flour
2 sachets easy blend yeast
about 350 ml warm water
3 tbsp olive oil

Mix together and knead for 10 mins (or cheat and use a food mixer) then leave to rest for about 15 mins. Roll out and top.

Toppings:
2 cans Provencal tomatoes (or don't cheat and make a sauce by sauteeing an onion and some garlic in olive oil for 10 mins then adding a tin of chopped toms, some sugar, some balsamic vinegar, a sprig of rosemary, salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 mins till thickened then remove the rosemary and blitz to a puree.
Cheese
Vegetables

Bake the pizzas in a hot oven for about 30 mins.

For the dough balls, roll left over dough into balls and bake for about 10 mins. For the garlic butter mix 1 clove crushed garlic into 100g butter. Season to taste.

Ginger and Honey Snaps

I needed something different for Lex's lunchbox next week and fancied giving these a whirl. My mum used to make the most delicious ginger snaps on a sunday and these are pretty close to what she used to make. It's a recipe from Rachel Allen's Bake. If you substitute the butter for vegan marge and the honey for maple syrup or golden syrup then you can make these vegan too. Bonus.

For about 20 cookies you need:
225g self raising flour
2 tsp bicarb
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
100g caster sugar plus a couple of extra tablespoons for dusting
125g butter, cubed
100g runny honey

Lob everything apart from the honey into a food processor and blitz till combined. Warm the honey then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix, then press into discs, dust with sugar and bake in a hot oven (180 degrees) for no more than 10 mins (if they go too dark they will taste bitter. Eat.
Next time I make these I am going to omit the ground ginger and add some chopped, preserved ginger to dough. I might also use the syrup for the binding agent to give it an extra ginger kick.