Sweetcorn Fritters

Can you spot the pattern here? At certain times of the year, we seem to be inundated with the vegetable du jour, so after I've made my usual recipe, I'm forced to consult my cookery shelf for inspiration. Don't get me wrong, this is why I love my veg box, it forces me to constantly try new recipes.

At the moment, it's sweetcorn and tomatoes and rocket from our garden (well, plant pots). Last weeks salsa was definitely a success, but I wanted something new. I found this recipe in Bill's Sydney Food by Bill Granger. While he is almost unbearably smug on TV, I love the sunny, bright styling of his book and the simplicity of his recipes.

These are fairly simple to make and are bound to impress, sweet and crisy sweetcorn in a batter full of coriander and chilli. I had them for a simple lunch with avocado, rocket and tomatoes and a the obligatory dollop of yoghurt. But, I have a sneaky feeling that they'd work perfectly with a fried egg and beans for brunch. Bill suggests serving them with roasted tomatoes and bacon. If you're making these for a lots of people, you can cook them in advance and just warm through in the oven.


Ingredients

Serves 4

2 corn cobs, kernals removed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 small bunch coriander, chopped
1 small bunch spring onions, sliced
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2tsp paprika
1tbsp sugar
2 eggs
250ml milk

• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and mix with the paprika. Whisk in the egg and milk with plenty of salt and pepper until you have a smooth batter.
• Mix the sweetcorn, chilli, coriander and spring onions in a bowl and stir in the batter until combined.
• Heat a large frying with a large glug of oil. Once hot, place a tablespoon of mixture into the pan and press on it lightly to spread it out into a fritter.
• Cook for a few mins on both sides until golden and remove to a plate lined with kitchen paper while you cook the rest of the fritters.

Read more...

Root Vegetable Rostis

And yet, the root vegetables keep appearing, every week a pile of muddy parsnips and carrots peeking from the vegetable box. Only this week there was a massive swede coming along for the ride, enough to send you over the edge, I tell you.

So, on Saturday morning, reading cookery books as per usual, I came across a Bill Granger recipe for potato and feta pancakes. I adapted this (a lot), left out the feta and used parsnip, carrot and swede and what a success! The egg binded them perfectly to form sweet little cakes, perfect with baked beans and a fried egg for breakfast. Although I'd eat them wherever you'd normally have potato.
I'm thinking these would be good with a handful of grated cheese thrown into the mix or courgettes and feta in summer.

Ingredients

Serves 4

500g root vegetables, grated. Try potato, parsnip, carrot, swede, turnip, squash or pumpkin
1 onion, grated
2 eggs
45g flour
4 tbsp vegetable oil

• Put the grated vegetables in a colander with a liberal sprinkling of salt and leave for 30mins.
  
• Meanwhile whisk the eggs in a large bowl and add the flour. Add the vegetables to the bowl squeezing out as much water as possible as you go. Stir well and season.
• Heat the vegetable oil in the pan and add about 2 tbsp of mixture to the pan for each rosti, you should get about 8.
  
• Make sure the heat is on medium and leave the rostis to fry for 4-5mins on each side until golden brown.

Read more...

Baked Eggs

I love, love, love eggs and the weekends are quickly becoming all about my eggy treat in the morning. Paired with buttery potato bread toast and a special coffee (made in the stove top espresso maker with Monmouth Coffee), isn't this what weekends are made for?

Generally, I always defer to scrambled eggs, but recently we've been experimenting with a new and delicious variation - baked eggs. In its simplest form, an egg cracked into a ramekin (or heat proof cup in our case) topped with a generous spoonful of cream, some seasoning and final sprinkling of grated cheese and then baked until the white is firm and the yolk golden and liquid.

Haha, yes it does seem so simple, but I am yet to crack the perfect timing, first you take it out and the white is still liquid so you pop it back in and things look promising... but before you know it, the yolk is hard, given the propensity of eggs to firm up a lot once removed from the heat especially in its snug little ramekin.

Hugh inspired me a few weeks ago with this tarted up recipe using garlic and thyme, so we gave it a go and not too much of a disaster, we managed to retain the runny centre , now I see that as with boiled eggs, you have to be very careful with timing, waiting patiently by the oven until they look set, but with a wobble in the centre.

See Hugh's recipe here.
Read more...

Breakfast Potato Cakes

This is the perfect way to use up leftover mash, although I would actually make extra so I could fry these up for breakfast the next day, mashed potato and baked beans is possibly one of my favourite combinations, so any excuse really... all you need to do is shape the mash into little cakes, dust in some flour and fry until golden and warmed through. you end up with little cakes of creamy mash inside a crispy fried shell, heat up some beans whilst you're frying and maybe poach an egg to sit atop the cakes, a perfect breakfast!


I actually made these from scratch, admittedly a bit of hassle for a Sunday morning, but I was already boiling up potatoes to make potato bread (and here's the perfect excuse to urge you to make this divine bread!) so it was no biggy, plus I always like to get ahead on Sunday and cook up big batches of food for the week...

Ingredients
Makes enough mash for dinner and breakfast the next day!

800g organic floury potatoes
1 small green cabbage (savoy cabbage or kale also work well)
50g butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped.
125ml milk, preferably warmed through
flour for dusting

• Peel, the potatoes, cut into chunks and boil in salted water for about 20mins until very soft.
• Drain well and either push through a ricer or mash throughly.
• Add the milk and half the butter along with lots of salt and pepper.
• Now you need to beat furiously with a wooden spoon to get a really smooth mash. Cover and set aside.
• Meanwhile, half and quarter your cabbage, cut out the heart and slice as finely as possible.
• Boil or steam for about 5mins (this will depend on the type of cabbage used) until soft and drain.
• Heat the rest of the butter in a frying pan with a little oil until sizzling, add the garlic and the cabbage and fry for a few mins, season generously and stir the cabbage through the mash, making sure you get all the buttery juices in too.
• This is where you would eat it with anything that has a sauce to soak into the mash or some fish or maybe just on its own from a bowl.
• To make the cakes, coat your hands in flour and sprinkle some onto a plate.
• Take a small handful of mash, roll into a ball and flatten, dip both sides in the flour and place into a hot frying pan with a little oil, fry for a few mins on both sides until golden and warmed through.

Read more...

Breakfast Muffins

Well, winter has arrived, we're all wrapped up in coats, scarves and gloves have been dusted off, we even had snow! Of course, this means that in the vegetable box there are a lots and lots of carrots, onions and potatoes. This is no bad thing, I love carrots. The thing is, they seem to be going limp disappointingly quickly, which again isn't exactly a disaster, carrots roast up so well, especially in a soup, maybe with some lentils?

This time though, I decided carrot cake was the way to go, I started off with this carrot cake recipe intending to make muffins, but then as I started, I kind of got carried away, adding some plump juicy raisins, walnuts and oats for texture, a grated apple because, well, why not? So, what came out of the oven wasn't exactly carrot cake, but still delicious in a plainer sense, more something I can carry out the door with me in the morning to munch on on the tube, feeling a teeny bit healthy, well... all those oats, walnuts, carrots and apples!


Makes 12-15 muffins

250g sugar
200g flour
100g oats
1tsp salt
2tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250ml oil
4 eggs
3 medium carrots, grated
1 apple, grated
100g walnuts, chopped
100g raisins

• Boil the kettle and cover the raisins with the hot water in a bowl.
• Meanwhile measure out the sugar, flour, oats, salt, cinnamon and soda in a large bowl.
• Add the oil and whisk well to combine.
• Crack the eggs in and whisk.
• Drain the water off the now plump raisins, add to the batter along with the carrots, apple and walnuts. Stir well.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, bear in mind that the mixture doesn't rise an awful lot so you can fill the cases at least 2/3 full.
• Bake at 180C for about 20mins until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

Read more...

Potato Bread

We've been making our own bread recently, not even with a breadmaker (which I happen to have tucked away in some dark corner), just old fashioned mixing in a bowl, a bit of kneading, some proving here a spot of baking there and you're left with a delicious loaf of bread. And believe me, it is delicious, worth the (minimal) faffing it involves.

Although it doesn't exactly take long, its realistic that this would be more of weekend activity, in which case, double up and freeze half so you have lovely homemade bread all the time.

So, this is our current favourite. Potato bread From How to be a Domestic Goddess, almost sourdough like tanginess, a chewy crust and the most incredible toast. I had this freshly baked on the morning of my birthday, a suitably decadent way to start the day I think.




Potato Bread (from How to be a Domestic Goddess)

Ingredients
300g cold or warm boiled potatoes
700-800g strong white flour
1tbsp salt
1 sachet easy-blend yeast
1tbsp yoghurt
300ml tepid potato water (water the potatoes were cooked in)

• Rice (or mash) the potatoes into a large bowl and add 600g flour, the salt and yeast.
• Mix together, add the yoghurt and potato water slowly until you have something resembling a dough.
• Tip this out onto a surface and knead, add the rest of the flour slowly. This will be a rather damp and sticky dough so be prepared to knead for about 10mins.
• Once the dough is smooth, tur into a butter bowl, cover and leave to prove. you want it to be doubled in size. Either leave the dough in the fridge overnight or in a warm place for an hour or so.
• Once doubled in size, punch the air out the dough, a useful de-stressing exercise, knead for a minute and shape into whatever shape you like. I prefer a longer, thinner loaf as its easier to slice.
• Sit on a baking tray and cover loosely with a tea towel for about 30mins until the bread is aerated again and almost doubled in size, in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200C.
• Once puffy, bake the bread for a bout 30mins until brown.
• To test whether the bread is cooked, tap the bottom of the bread and it should sound hollow.
• Sneak a little slice whilst the bread is still warm, slather with butter, eat and feel smug at your breadmaking skills

Read more...

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

I always entertained ideas of making kedgeree, it fits with my penchant for decadent brunches. In the end we ended up making this for dinner, but there was enough left for a suitably indulgent breakfast the next day. Using smoked mackerel slightly more sustainable take on the classic smoked haddock variety. I also thought it might be fun/nicer to have a fried egg on top instead of chopped boiled egg in the rice. I also added some broad beans from my veg box to up the vegetable content.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 onion
50g butter
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2tsp curry powder
1tsp cumin seeds
1 mugful rice
2 mugfuls vegetable stock
2-3 fillets smoked mackerel
2 eggs
½ bunch parsley, chopped

Fry the onion in the butter and a little oil until soft, add the spices and chilli and fry for a few minutes more. Add the rice and stir to coat in all the aromatic juices. add the juices, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10mins until all the liquid is absorbed. Then turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5mins, fork through, add the smoked mackerel and parsley and season to taste. You could soft boil the eggs, poach them or fry to add to each plate. Read more...

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

I love eggs and I love scrambled eggs at the weekend. A trip home this weekend meant I got my mum's scrambled eggs, surpassed by non. Now I'm obviously not going to give a recipe for scrambled eggs, just a few tips...

Start with the basics, free range, preferably organic eggs are a must and don't be shy with seasoning. Scrambled eggs need to be cooked in a non-stick frying pan in butter and eaten on well buttered toast. Butter is a perfect partner to eggs (well, its a perfect partner to most things...)

I like my eggs quite soft, remeber that eggs carry on cooking once you take them off the heat, so take them off a little before they look done.

For a decadent twist, whisk your eggs, add them to a hot pan, give them a quick stir and add a tablespoon or two of double cream. Maybe some smoked salmon or cheese, pepper sauce, baked beans... Read more...

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos rancheros is the perfect brunch, something a bit more special than your average fry up. Its basically eggs fried/poached in a spicy tomato salsa. I've seen recipes where you fry the eggs separately and add the salsa on top, but I prefer cooking the eggs in the sauce.

If you were being authentic, you would eat this with tortillas, and you certainly wouldn't put baked beans in it. But, one, I love baked beans and two, I couldn't be bothered to go out and buy tortillas, I think it is nicer with them though.

Huevos Rancheros

Serves 2 hungry people

1 onion
1 red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
4 ripe tomatoes (or 1 can chopped tomatoes)
all finely chopped
½ can baked beans (optional! )
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp paprika
4 free range eggs
toast/tortillas to serve

Fry the onions and peppers in a little oil until softened, add the garlic, chilli and spices and fry for a fruther few mins, now add the tomatoes, season and stir well. Simmer for 10-15mins until you have a rich tomato salsa, add a little water if necessary), now stir in the beans. Make a little hole in a corner of your pan and gently crack an egg in, repeat with the rest of the eggs. Turn the heat up and cover, cook for 5-10mins until the eggs are cooked as you like them. A little extra chilli sauce is also very good here, as is grated cheese. Read more...

The Perfect Boiled Egg

Soft boiled eggs and soldiers are one of those things that you rediscover every so often and wonder why you don't eat them more often. For me, they evoke memories of childhood, I used to have one every day for breakfast, a tradition now continued by my mum with my nephew, who only ever eats Grandma's 'chucky eggs'.

With something this simple, quality of ingredients is best, with the egg being the obvious star, try to use the best quality you can (don't even bother with battery eggs). Use good quality bread, real butter, and as much salt as you dare.

This isn't actually my breakfast, it my best friend Rose's, the Queen of boiled eggs. She uses the Delia recipe. Delia can always be relied upon for these kind of recipes, there are about 2 pages dedicated to boiling an egg in 'How to Cook'. This gist is to use fresh eggs, preferably not cold from the fridge as they're more likely to crack and to carefully place the egg in the pan using a spoon.

For perfect soft boiled eggs (thanks to Delia) : Carefully place your eggs into a small pan of simmering water using a tablespoon, allow to simmer for 1minute. Now remove from the heat and cover for 6min 30s to give a perfect soft boiled egg. Toast your bread whilst the eggs are sitting. Having tried, it doesn't really work trying to do this without an accurate time keeping device...

Ps: notice the perfectly topped boiled egg in the picture? No boiled egg enthusiast should be without an egg topper.

Read more...