Nigella's Birthday Custard Cake

As we grow with experience, we can let our culinary instincts guide us to our own clever inventions; a blueberry eaten with blue cheese or the addition of gin to an aperol spritz.

With a baking recipe from a trusted source in your arsenal, cake baking is rarely enhanced by our own instincts (unless perhaps you are a professional). Cake decorating is where the creativity comes in, the rest is science: precise weights, timings, vessels, temperatures. The use of said 'trusted source', such as a reputable book, means that you've had legions of recipe testers come before you to ensure that this recipe will work. For me, there is undeniable satisfaction to be had in crafting precisely the number of fairy cakes you are told you will produce without a lick of batter to spare (ala Nigella or Mary Berry).

I got bitten by a baking bug a couple of weeks ago and proceeded to deviate from my usual recipe bank and found a few exciting recipes on the internet I wanted to try. This was a mistake. Perhaps a more experienced baker would have foreseen discrepancies in this selection of recipes and used their instinct to adapt, but as a novice I know it's best to do as I am told. My spiced apple rock cakes were short to the extreme, and a cup of tea was a required accompaniment; whilst my jaffa cakes had sodden bottoms, not just soggy. I have learnt that the internet is not a trusted source, no matter how much you trust the website, ahem, The Guardian, proceed with caution.

Finally, a good excuse for me to buy more cookbooks.

Here is a Nigella Custard Cake that did go right, a little something to be proud of.

Mary Berry's Bara Brith

Last week I was away on a gorgeous trip to North Wales. Having not had a distinct break from work since Christmas, this trip was just the tonic. We stayed in a beautiful house, right on the beach and went for wild walks and ate lovely food, and above all it was nice to be reminded to slow down and enjoy the view and the mountain flowers.

As an ode to Wales and a reminder to slow down once in a while, my boyfriend and I made a Bara Brith on Sunday. When coming back from a holiday on a trip, cooking something reminiscent of the trip can make the holiday seem to last so much longer.

The epitome of slow baking, the recipe we used (Mary Berry's, naturally) suggested that the currants and sultanas be soaked in tea overnight so that they go all fat and juicy. Waiting all night for the soaking really takes the impatience out of baking, you can relax for the evening; have a beer, and luxuriate in the fact that your hands will tied on the baking front until the next day. 

The baking itself is a doddle. You mix the fruit, flour, sugar, mixed spice and two eggs (yes, that's it), and bake for a really long time. We sat back and watched the tennis whilst the scent of the bara permeated the house. We ate ours in slices with a little butter and dreamed we were still kicking back on the Neolithic Coast of Anglesey, and not under the Heathrow flight path.

Queen Mary Berry's recipe was found here: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1145824

Lovely Rhosneigr - the view from our garden *sigh*

And some thoughts on eating in Rhosneigr: We were staying in a beautiful house with a well-equipped kitchen, so most of the eating was done at home. However we did treat ourselves to a few lunches and dinners out. And the best treat of all was the Oyster Catcher in Rhosneigr. This was restaurant was a hop across the sand-dunes from where we were staying. The restaurant is elevated so you can see out across the Llyn Maelog lake. The food is very nice - I had a 'smoked fish platter' which was listed as a starter, and chips. They source the fish locally, which would be a crime not to when you're within 5 minutes of both the sea and a lake. The puddings were also good - Most notably the rice pudding, controversial choice from James - but the right one - the creamiest rice pudding I have ever tasted. As we were treating ourselves, we also had coffee - making for a very pleasant lunch all-in-all. One of the nicest things about the restaurant is the ethos behind it - it's a chef academy where young locals can fulfil their dreams of becoming a chef, and as it's a social enterprise, all their profits go back into training their staff. The prices are approaching London prices, and we did chalk up a £50 bill for lunch - but hey, a treat is well-deserved and the service, ambience and food were worth it.

Homemade Chilli

This is a fresh and very tasty Chilli con Carne, perfect for these cooler Autumn nights. For extra oomph serve with a handful of grated cheese and some sour cream - but on this occasion I wanted to keep it simple, with a sprinkling of coriander.

Ingredients:

2 large carrots, finely chopped

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 green pepper

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 packet of extra lean steak mince

1 tin of red kidney beans

1 cupful of fresh (or dried) vegetable stock

a large bunch of coriander

a dash of cayenne pepper

a (generous) dash of cumin

To Make:

Dice all of your veg; toss the onion, carrots and celery into a pan with a splash of olive oil; stir for ten minutes until softened, before adding the mince. Let this brown before throwing in your chopped tomatoes and stirring again. Add the stock and the chopped green pepper before putting the lid on and letting it simmer for fifteen minutes or until reduced. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and cayenne and add about a quarter of your fresh coriander; in the meantime put your rice on (I had basmati) while the chilli reduces - when done, strain the rice and dollop into a bowl before ladling the hot chilli over and garnishing with a couple of handfuls of coriander. Comfort in a bowl.

Easy Pea and Potato Soup

I am a big soup eater - when I was at University (back in the good old days..) I made soup all the time. It may have been because at some point someone bought a hand-held blender and I just wanted to render everything put before me into a paste..

But soups are so comforting - both to eat, and to prepare. This one is so basic and easy that it only takes 15 minutes or so to make;

All it consists of it:

a couple of handfuls of new potatoes, chopped

2 x shallots

1 bunch of fresh parsley, also to chop

2 x leeks, chopped

1 x tub fresh stock - in this case vegetable, but I love to use chicken too/ if you don't have any available use Bouillon stock powder

a couple of cupfuls of peas

Simply dice all of your vegetables - heat some butter in a pan and add the shallots, along with the leeks; in the meantime boil your new potatoes. When they're done, throw them in with the rest of the veg and let it fry gently for about ten minutes until golden. At this point you should be ready to add the stock and peas, and garnish with the parsley; you could blend it or have it as I did, as a sort of broth - accompanied by a cheese toastie! The perfect lunch for a foul Autumnal day.

An Italian Birthday Feast

Our birthdays both fall around mid-summer and this year we were celebrating 22. So we prepared a small feast for friends with an Italian meal. Such a special occasion always calls for a special meal, but we also kept simplicity in mind. With so much sparkly eye-shadow to apply, time was not on our side, not that we wanted to spend too much time sweating in an unforgiving kitchen anyway!

So, this is what we planned: something special and something light. Perfect for a midsummer pair of birthday celebrations for a handful of friends..


Cocktails to start:
Strawberry Bellini's -Inspired by Jamie Oliver, mostly.
Push a punnet of strawberries through a sieve.
Spoon into the bottom of glasses and pour over Prosecco (Cava will also do fine.)

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad -
Inspired by Grace's recent holiday to Sorrento.
This couldn't be simpler or more delicious.
Cut a generous amount of tomatoes into nice wedges and place in your serving bowl.
Tear two balls of mozzarella into rough chunks.
Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of dried herbs.

Roasted Pepper bruschetta -
Inspired by Carllucio.
De-seed and roughly chop your peppers and place under a hot grill until the skins char. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove their skins and slice into small pieces.
Cut some good bread (sourdough was used here) into slices and toast under the grill. Chop a tomato. Once the bread has toasted, assemble the pepper and scraps of tomato over the bread and season with salt, pepper, olive oil and dried herbs if you wish.

Rustic Pesto Pasta -

Inspired by Grace's mother.
Easier than blending and better than from a jar, this rustic pesto is incredibly fresh.

Heat a generous amount of olive oil and simmer some garlic in there so that it flavours the oil, in the meantime, tear lots of basil leaves into shreds (the more the better,) and place into a bowl. Add some (ready toasted) pine nuts to the basil and grate lots of Parmesan cheese. When the oil is sufficiently garlic-y, discard the garlic bulbs and combine everything together. Season with salt and pepper and leave to happily sit until you are ready.

Cook the pasta as the packet tells you and once drained, add the rustic pesto sauce. Serve with a few too many glasses of wine than necessary.

Lunchtime Lentil Salad

A fairy virtuous Monday lunch - perfect after a weekend of good fun which has resulted in exhaustion. This is a nice bolstering salad which is good for days in the summer.



Ingredients:
1 spilling handful of lentils (puy are recommended.)
Olive oil (preferably chili oil)
Glugof red wine
Salt and pepper
Serrano or parma ham (or both) torn into pieces
More or less a handful of goats cheese, cut into generous chunks, (on this occasion honeyed goats cheese has been used, which is highly recommended as it is heavenly.)
Lots of chopped parsley

To cook and prepare
1.) Cook the lentils according to the packet instructions, they usually take about 20 mins of simmering.
2.) Drain the lentils and dress them with the olive oil, red wine, salt & pepper and leave on the heat to warm through for a couple on minutes.
3. ) Add the torn ham, chunks of goats cheese and parsley.
4.) Mix the whole salad together and enjoy with a glass of sparkling water.

Lemon, Asparagus and Parmesan Pasta

This is another great summery dish. This is a light pasta dish which is full of lots of good things. Perfect if you are feeling a little heavy after a weekend/week of excess or too much stress. Asparagus is full of great things, like folic acid, fibre and potassium. It's only around for a few weeks of the year, so make sure you get it while you can!

Ingredients (to serve four)
500g of pasta
Generous knob of butter
Dash of olive oil
1 large leek
2 bunches of asparagus
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 lemon (zest and juice)
Generous handful of chopped parsley
Parmesan cheese, grated.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method (it's very easy...)
1. Fry the leeks in the butter over a very low heat for about 30mins, slow cooking allows them to go all nice and creamy, but make sure they don't burn!
2. Add the asparagus and garlic and cook for about 5mins
3. Take off the heat and add the lemon juice, parsley, olive oil and season.
4. In the meantime cook your pasta and when it's done, stir it into the leek and asparagus mixture.
5. Serve with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese.

Sunny Sweet Potato and Cumin Soup

The weather has been so unseasonably dull for July in England. This bright, sunny coloured soup will make you feel a little brighter and the spicy kick may even stop you reverting to Autumnal tendencies a few months early.

Plus, sweet potatos are full of good stuff, lots of vitamin C and iron. As with most soups, it's very easy to make.

Ingredients (to create about 4 large portions.)
1 onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (finely sliced or crushed)
1 heaped tsp cumin
1 red chilli (a teaspoon of dried chili will also do.)
about 500g sweet potatos (peeled and quartered)
700ml chicken / vegetable stock
Olive oil

To make and cook:
1. sweat the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes over a medium heat
2. Add the garlic, chilli and cumin and fry for just a minute
3. Add the sweet potatos and coat them in the mixture - stirring all the while.
4. Pour over the stock and simmer over a low heat for at least 20mins or until the potatos are cooked through and fall part easily. (I see no problem in leaving this to simmer over a very low heat for up to an hour.)
5. Blend all of the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a good swirl of natural yogurt or sour cream and a grinding of pepper.

Blueberry Pudding

(aka: a french 'clafoutis' - or to you and me, a custard-y blueberry delight.)

This pudding is perfect for a warm evenings, it is special enough to be a real treat, yet retains the lightness which warm weather tends to invite to cooking. I realise that blueberries are not the most frugal of fruits and this is heavy on the cream, though, as a once-in-a-while treat I'm sure it won't break the bank or your summer slimming regime. What's more, little more than a blender whizz and a trip to the oven is needed to create this very impressive and delicious pudding..


This recipe serves 4-6 generously, and if you can get your hands on cherries rather than blueberries, they would also work very well!

Ingredients:
4 Eggs
85g Caster sugar
250ml cream (single or double)
225ml milk (whole milk is preferable)
300g blueberries
Icing sugar and cream to serve

To cook:
Grease a large, shallow oven proof dish.
Whizz all of the ingredients APART FROM THE BLUEBERRIES in a blender (or hand held whisk.)
Pour it into the dish and add the blueberries.
Cook in a preheated oven at 200c / gas 6 for about 40mins. You can tell it's done when the batter has risen and the custard has set (ie; no longer runny)

Serve with as much cream as you dare and a cold glass of rose wine.

Sausage and Lentil Sunny Day Supper

A very good sunny-day supper of sausages, lentils and tomato sauce.

This is a variant of a Jamie Oliver recipe. According to him, sausages and lentils are the Italian version of sausage and mash. This dish offers the same substantial comfort as the British alternative, but with a lighter edge. It is also perfect for feeding a crowd as the quantities can very easily be adapted to make enough for everyone.
This is perfect served with lots and lots of parsley on a balmy evening with a glass of red wine.


Ingredients (makes enough for two:)

Lentils - allow 2 spilling handfuls per person.
1 Packet of good quality sausages (ie - 3 sausages per person.)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 diced red onion
1 glug of red wine
1 glug of balsamic vinegar
A generous amount of olive oil (or chili oil if, like me, you love it)
2 crushed cloves of garlic
Salt & Pepper
Generous amount of fresh parsley.

I shall discuss each component in turn - each is very straight forward. Prepare it all at the same time and then just bring it all together at the end.

To cook and prepare the Lentils:
I have used simple green lentils, however I have a feeling any type would work well. Cook the lentils according to the packet instructions.
Dress them with a good swig of oil (I use chili oil because I love the stuff,) a dash of red wine, salt + pepper and a generous handful of parsley.
Keep them warm until ready to serve.

To cook and prepare the sauce:
Sweat the onions in olive oil over a medium heat with the garlic. Add half a tin of chopped tomatoes and a splash of balsamic vinegar to give it a sweet, syrupy edge. Season to taste with salt and pepper and parsley. Simmer away until ready to serve.

To cook and prepare the sausages:
Cook according to packet instructions, I tend to bake sausages as it is the easiest and leanest method.

Serve each component on a plate sprinkled with lots of parsley.