Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

So, it's the last day of 2012. What a year, very unforgettable for many reasons. But I must say, we finished it off fabulously.

Christmas was, as it should be, a period of complete gluttony and indulgence. I ate, and I ate, and I ate some more. We had an amazing Christmas dinner thanks to my mum and dad. After years of singing "CHRISTMAS IS COMING, THE GOOSE IS GETTING FAT," at the top of my voice, I actually ate goose for Christmas dinner. It was rather nice. We also had partridge, pigs in blankets, amazingly roasty roast potatoes (properly crispy on the outside, wonderfully fluffy on the inside - my dad used the fat from the goose to cook them), carrots, bread sauce... oh the list goes on...

I ate chocolate upon chocolate, and drank mojitos everyday for about five days (time for a change of cocktail for the new year I think!).

People have definitely caught onto the fact that I love food - I received some great cookbooks; Nigelissima (granted, the name and the TV show are a bit ridiculous, but it does have some great recipes in!), Jamie's 15 minute meals and my new favourite, Levi Root's Reggae Reggae Cookbook. Now I can not only nostalgically gush about how much I love Caribbean food, I can actually make it. I also got a George Foreman grill, (finally I can make toasties in my flat!), and a toy rabbit - who's also a chef.

It's safe to say, it was a fantastic Christmas and hopefully, the new year will bring lots more foodie delights along with it.

Though not Christmas related, it has just occurred to me that I haven't mentioned MasterChef, well, if you didn't watch the most recent series of Professional MasterChef you most definitely missed out. Everyone knows how much I love cooking shows, and I think my followers on Twitter got a bit bored of my incessant MasterChef Tweets, but I just loved it. The final two weeks were definitely my favourite. Seeing all the restaurants with two and three stars was great, I am now desperate to eat at The Fat Duck and The Hand and Flowers... If anyone has any spare cash to lend me, I'd be grateful!

Dinner time.

To follow my previous post, here are a few suggestions of meals that don't take too much effort - you know that that take-away isn't good for you, and you can't reaally afford it.

Stir fry! Quick and easy!

Selection of - Sliced pepper, onions, mushrooms, carrots, beansprouts, sliced beans. Throw in some diced chicken or prawns, add a sauce at the end - keep a sachet or two of black bean, lemon or oyster etc in the cupboard. For more bulk serve with egg noodles (cheap and keep in the dry cupboard just add boiling water and soak for 3 mins, drain and serve!) Takes about 5 mins!

 

Beef Mince

Cook up a batch of mince - onion, garlic, beef mince, can tomatoes, seasonings. Freeze in foil trays, defrost as required. Add kidney beans and chilli for chilli con carne, add oregano and a few mushrooms for bolognaise. Serve with rice, pasta, crusty bread, tortilla chips.

 

Jacket Potato

Wash and stab a couple of times so it doesn't explode! Bake in a medium over (175c) for an hour and quarter or until soft inside. Get your homework done while its cooking, or speed up by giving 10 mins in the microwave first then 15 mins or so in the oven! op with your beef mice or cheese & pickle, tuna mayo.

 

Pasta Salad

Cook extra pasta if you're having it with something else. Add tin tuna, sweetcorn, mayo etc and keep in a box in the fridge to have as a quick fix!

 

Lentil Soup

Chopped onion, garlic, 2 diced carrots, 2 - 3 oz lentils, stock cube and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer until lentils tender ( 20 mins or so) mash to thicken with potato masher. Freeze or refrigerate left overs.

 

Cous Cous

A bag of cous cous goes a very long way!

Put a few table spoons into a heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water, cover and leave for several mins. Loosen with a fork. Add herbs, raisins, chick peas,teaspoon of cumin powder, lemon juice, drizzle of olive oil,salt, pepper and anything else you like! keep in the fridge. Serve as it is with leaf salad or fill toasted pitta breads!

 

Fish.

Piece of salmon, white fish, mackerel (available in frozen fillets) Place on large square of foil, top with herbs, knob of butter, splash of lemon juice. Wrap up, place on tray. Bake at 180c for 15 mins or longer if frozen.

Little time, Little money.

Okay, so, admittedly I’m not always the best at getting my five-a-day and eating proper meals. I have, perhaps, been known to have a bacon and egg sandwich in the morning and then eggy-bread (French toast) for dinner (variety is the spice of life, I know). But apparently eating well when you lack both time and money isn’t actually that difficult! (I did have to get my mum to help me out with this, I’d probably tell you to order a Domino’s pizza every night.)

So let’s start off with a list of must haves for the kitchen, to make sure you’re prepared for those nights when you have stacks of work to do and very little in your purse:

Foil freezer trays
Tin foil
Tins of chopped tomatoes, baked beans, soups, chick peas
Cereals (avoid the high sugar ones!)
Rice
Pasta
Cous cous
Lentils
Bottle of lemon juice (saves lemons going mouldy!)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar / glaze
Pitta breads (freeze pop straight into the toaster)
Eggs, cheese, milk, bacon

Make sure you keep your basics stocked up so that you’re always able to cook up something nice!

Quick meal suggestions to follow… (Mum will again be a main contributor to this post. Mum knows best.)

I'M BACK.

I know, I know, I know. I haven't posted for a very long time... Applying to uni and working lots is my excuse and I'm sticking to it. But here I am, I'm back again. And it's Christmas very soon! So, completely not in keeping with the Christmas spirit of over indulging, my next post is about eating well. Don't worry, there will be some indulgent Christmassy posts soon!

Romania 2012

I have lots of other things I should probably be doing at the moment but I keep remembering that "The Village" magazine was sent to me the other day, so I thought I'd share my excitement with you!

During the summer I did an amazing two week journalism work placement in Romania thanks to my mum and dad and the fab people at Projects Abroad.

Whilst there I did some writing for the English section of Romanian magazine "Satul" and my copies of it have finally been sent to me! It's such a great sense of achievement seeing my writing printed in a magazine... and, me being me, I even managed to get a small article about food in there too! Very surprisingly none of the dishes me and the other girls on the placement wrote about involved cabbage; I think I must've eaten cabbage for dinner 98% of the time whilst I was there.

I've searched high and low for a digital copy of this edition but can't find one anywhere, might try and scan in the articles at some point so that those of you who aren't lucky enough to see me all the time can have a quick look!

Traditional Romanian dishes of stuffed tomatoes and aubergine "salad" that me and other volunteers helped to prepare!

Served with bread, bowls of soup and copious amounts of Iced tea - creating the perfect summer feast.

 

When we went to interview a family in a small village, Bod, we were welcomed with homemade doughnuts. I can confirm that fresh, homemade doughnuts are still amazing, even in 35 degree           

heat.                                                                 

   

Jenny, my host, making her  delicious jam in her kitchen!

Coconut Dhal

I love love love this recipe. We found it in an Olive magazine recipe booklet and I've had it at home quite a few times. I never realised quite how simple it was to make – perfect if you’re short on time and don’t want loads of washing up to do! It is just delicious, and as a lover of creamy, coconutty curries like Korma, this is perfect for me. You can adapt it to be as spicy as you like it. Enjoy it with some flat-breads or rice. 

If you’re only cooking for one, like me, then this recipe makes too much. You could halve it, but as the coconut milk I had was a 400ml tin, I didn't like to. So I've frozen it instead and now I have an instant meal for another day!

Ingredients:
2 medium tomatoes (chopped)
250g red lentils
400ml tin coconut milk
1 onion (chopped)
green chilli’s (as many or as few as you require)
1 teaspoon turmeric

Method:
Put all the ingredients in a pan with 300ml water and simmer for 20 minutes until the lentils are tender.

There’s ONE step. How great is that?!
BEWARE: This has a habit of sticking to the pan, so regular stirring is a necessity.

To garnish:
(Optional) Fry one sliced onion in four tablespoons of oil until crisp. Add a handful of fresh curry leaves or coriander and two teaspoons of mustard seeds and sizzle together. Pour over lentils.

I left this out as it means using another pan, but if you can be bothered, go for it as it does add a great flavour and texture.

(Photo from BBC Good Food)

Bagels!

So now you know of my unhealthy obsession with The Great British Bake Off (so upset that Cathryn’s gone!) I feel obliged to share this recipe with you. I can’t even find the words to express what a brilliant idea it was to make these; not only are they delicious in every way, but they were so much fun to make. I used the recipe from The Great British Bake Off “How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers” book. Mum and I adapted the flavouring as we lacked some of the original ingredients.

Episode 2 in this series of the bake-off was bread week (I'm currently re-watching it as I write this), and they made some of my favourite things ever – flat breads and bagels. I've briefly tried my hand at flat breads before and have made some pretty decent chapatti’s, but for some reason, it had never occurred to me to make – or even find out how to make – bagels. You have to boil them first! Who knew?! That’s what gives them their chewy crust. 

The original Bake Off version of this recipe was fig, walnut and gruyere… The basic recipe is the same, we just changed the flavouring ingredients. These are amazing any time of the day but they do make for a particularly fab breakfast.

Apricot, Pumpkin Seed and Gruyere Bagels!

Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
75g dried apricots, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon runny honey

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium egg
1 teaspoon yeast extract (e.g. Marmite)

beaten egg, for glazing
pumpkin seeds

70g thinly sliced gruyere

Method:
Combine flour, salt, yeast and chopped apricots in a mixing bowl. In a jug, mix together the water, honey, oil, egg and yeast extract. Pour into the bowl and mix to make a firm, but not dry, dough.

Turn the dough out and knead for ten minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide into 12 equal portions (half, half each again, then thirds – I found that easiest) and shape each into a ball. Spread well apart on a large, floured tray, cover and leave to rise for 25 minutes.

Push a spoon handle through each ball to make a hole and make it bigger with your fingers – they need to be a reasonable size so they don’t close up on the next rise. Cover and leave to rise for 35 minutes.

Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 230 degrees. Bring a large, wide pan of water to the boil. Add the bagels. “ADD THE BAGELS.” As if it’s as simple as that?! Well, maybe it will be for you, but not for us. Try picking them up. You’ll squish them. We scooped them up with fish slices, but most of them ended up a bit flat… let me know if you figure out how to get them in still in shape. Maybe we made them wrong…? ANYWAY, add the bagels, 2 at a time and poach for 75 seconds on each side. Remove and leave to dry on a wire rack.

Lightly brush the top of each bagel with beaten egg. Sprinkle on the pumpkin seeds. Set well apart on floured baking trays and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and quickly top with cheese, bake for a further 3-4 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack and leave to cool.

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EAT.

The Great British Bake Off

Okay, so, bar some extremely fun baking (more on that later) tonight is bound to be the highlight of my week.

I’m sure it says a lot about me that Tuesday nights are my favourite (possibly not including Saturday… Doctor Who!) simply because The Great British Bake Off is on. It’s probably not the best thing to admit and I will lose all my cool points, but it’s amazing.

I don’t know quite what it is… Maybe because all the cooks are amateurs - you’re not just watching a professional showing you how to make something – you get to see their mistakes (a glove filled with blood, anyone?) and their triumphs.

Maybe because of the presenters… I’m sure I find Sue and Mel funnier than they actually are. 

Whatever it is, I bloody love it. It’s so inspiring and gives me so many baking ideas.

The cooks are often hilarious and I love seeing how different the technical bake always turns out for everyone.

Bagels, tarts, cakes, breads, pies, meringues, macaroons... I could go on about it for hours. Instead, I shall say, go to BBC iplayer and watch it.

 

Picture from the The Telegraph

Finally, a recipe... Tray Bake

As you all already know, I got this idea from Jamie Oliver’s magazine. It’s so easy to adapt and there’s no skill at all involved, just chuck some food that you fancy on a tray. Here’s my version for you all to peruse…
(There are no pictures because 1) This meal was no great shakes looks-wise, 2) My camera appears to be broken and 3) I was too hungry to delay eating by trying to take a decent photo of it)

Ingredients:
Half an aubergine
A whole red pepper
Halloumi cheese
Palma ham
Salt, pepper
Dried herbs (I just used oregano)
Sunflower oil
Couscous
Boiling water

Method:

Cut up your aubergine, red pepper and halloumi into equal sized chunks and put them all on a tray, drizzle with the oil and season with the salt, pepper and herbs. Mix it around a bit. Put it in a hot oven – I have no idea what temperature I turned the dial to but it was probably around 200 Celsius.

Cook until the veg has softened and the halloumi is starting to turn a little bit golden – this time will vary depending on how big you’ve cut your veg. It probably won’t be more than 20 minutes.

Towards the end of the cooking time take the tray out and add in some chopped up ham – I also drizzled the veg with a bit of balsamic glaze which added a nice flavour – and pop it back in the oven.

Now, you’re meant to add “1 part couscous to 1 part water” but I just tipped some couscous in a bowl and poured boiling water over it so the water came just a bit higher than the couscous. (Turned out I’d used far too much couscous and a little too much water so I ended up with a mountain of damp, sticky couscous – it still tasted nice.) Anyway, so add the water and cover the bowl with a lid of some sort and wait until it’s absorbed all the water – five-ten minutes.

When that’s done, season it, fluff it up, take the veg out the oven and plonk it on top.

It tastes nice, I promise. And it’s so quick and easy. Pretty well balanced and healthy too.

As I made much too much for just me, I kept it in the fridge and tonight I used it as a filling for stuffing peppers which were super tasty.

An Improvement!

This week I’ve basically been some sort of professional chef/baker/eater/foodie person.

I’ve had a complete turn around and have actually been cooking! Have to say, I’m rather proud of myself. Okay, so I may have started my week with tomato chicken spaghetti… with tinned pasta sauce and pre-cooked chicken, but it was cooked food and I had to do dishes afterwards! (I use the term “afterwards” loosely, it was roughly four days later.) But as the week went on my dinners improved – baked aubergine (using the leftover pasta sauce), a trip out to Yo! Sushi and even a cheeky Jamie Oliver-style tray bake.

I hope you’re all proud of me!

Poor student, Poor effort.

I've been living in my flat for over a week now and I am ashamed to say that my cooking's been pretty non-existent. In a bid to avoid having too many dishes to wash up I've been eating out or making sandwiches and salads.

It actually took me forty-five minutes the other day to decide whether to use bacon or ham in a sandwich; I wanted bacon more but then I had to wash up the frying pan (the horror!) whereas ham I could've just plonked straight onto the bread. After much arguing with myself I did eventually decide on bacon... although somehow, my boyfriend ended up washing the frying pan...

So, whilst flicking through Jamie Oliver's magazine I saw the section "How to be a healthy student" (he probably wrote it specifically for me... one day we'll get married). One of the pages is entitled "Tray Bakes", basically, you just shove a bunch of ingredients onto a baking tray and bake them all together. Such an obvious idea. And only one tray, one plate and some cutlery to wash up.

I'm now determined to try at least this - even if I don't yet tackle any cooking that involves more dishes to wash up (I will eventually, I promise). The pepper, courgette, aubergine and halloumi idea has taken my fancy.

So hopefully, next time I write I'll have some recipes for you, along with proof that I do actually cook!

Cakes, cookies and cooking

Cooking has always been a part of my life; before me and my sister were born, mum was a chef, and she used her brilliant cooking skills when bringing us up. Whilst most of our friends were fussy and picky with their food, Alice and I would eat most things (within reason!) that were given to us. We had fun learning to cook and going out to eat from a young age and that has stayed with me over the years.

The clearest memory I have is of cooking for a “bake sale” with two of my best friends – Stevie and Cassie – when I was eight or nine. We made all sorts of things – biscuits, cupcakes, flapjacks… - and sold them at a stall in our school hall to raise money for the National Autistic Society.

I’m a firm believer that baking can, if not solve, then make most problems a bit more bearable; whether you’re raising money to help solve other people’s problems, baking as therapy for your own, or you’re giving someone something you’ve made to make them happy (it works. Cakes and biscuits make the best presents – cheap as well!).

 Baking cakes and cookies remains one of my favourite things to do. I’m not too bad in other areas of cooking… although there’s a lot of room to improve!