Sunday 13 June 2010

Recent baking and cooking exploits

Made last Sunday, all within the space of 2.5 hours. I was impressed with myself, I must admit.

Cherry Pie:



We had a box of disappointing Spanish cherries so I decided to make them into pie. Rubbish fruit always = pie in Naz Cooking Maths. However, the recipe I used wasn't great, and didn't include any liquid so the fruit didn't get the lovely sticky sauce that usually comes with a cherry pie. But it was nice nevertheless.

Courgette and Cheese Muffins:


I made these after my sister told me about Hugh Fearnley Whittingsall's recipe in the Guardian. I liked the sound of these, but in reality they're not as tasty as I thought. It might have been because I didn't have parmesan and used a medium cheddar, though - I think it calls for a strong flavoured cheese. But Bartimaeus loved them, so go figure. They do go well with soup or salads.

and banana bread (you don't really need a picture of it, it's not the prettiest stuff in the world! and it got munched before I could take a picture). I make a couple of adjustments to Nigella's recipe: I take out the boozy sultanas as my mum doesn't drink and I think they'd just make it oversweet, and I add more walnuts and salted butter. I also cut out 50g of the sugar. Upping salt and decreasing sugar tends to make cakes more moreish I find! I usually make them in cupcake cases - they don't rise like cupcakes but they're much easier to eat and transport, and only take about 15 minutes to bake.

Inspired by the World Cup Come Dine With Me, I made Baked Eggs Florentine yesterday, which was made by someone called Neil "Razor" Ruddock this week! I never thought I'd be doing recipes inspired by footballers, but it did look lovely. Traditionally, it's made with poached eggs and hollandaise but I don't like either. I sauteed the spinach with a clove of garlic first and then cracked eggs on top, baked in a water bath for 10 minutes and then topped with cheese sauce and cheese. I served with crusty bread and it was lovely! There's something about baking eggs that really brings out their flavour.

Tonight, I'm doing Carlton Palmer's crab pot recipe! It was a special request from Bartimaeus, who loves the stuff. TWO recipes from footballers! Wonders will never cease. I have to say I was way more impressed with their efforts than the dull offerings of the WAGS in the previous episode!

4 comments:

  1. Ooh, I am so tempted to go make those muffins! I just finished the last of the banana bread... Does it make me sound frightfully frightfully to say there is ALWAYS Parmesan in our fridge? It's because of P's special relationship with Jamie Oliver!

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  2. can you post the muffin recipe chick xx

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  3. Oooh the cherry pie looks beautiful!

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  4. Those muffins look amazing, i'm craving cheese! xx

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Rabbit-like in a nose that twitches when I laugh and front teeth not 100% rectified by 7 years of braces, postcolonial in being of British-Bangladeshi heritage (and reading many many books thereon). Books, tea and dresses: these are some of my favourite things.