NigellApp....Quick Recipe Collection

http://www.nigellaquickcollection.com

A lovely friend of mine, who is waiting patiently for a long over due letter from me (.....I promise it is on its way!) sent me an email link to this fabulous bit of kit!

Now it does unfortunately rely on you having an iphone! Perhaps you were debating upgrading to one, or were 'shall I, shan't I' -ing about one and another phone! Well if you are, in anyway as in love with Nigella, as I am, then this could be the post that sways you!

Nigella has a new App, that she is terming the NigellApp! It contains a collection of quick recipes, videos (brilliant, what can be better than Nigella in your pocket?!) and a shopping list option connected to all the recipes. It is a joy!

It is like having one of her cookery books in your bag/ pocket! It is just as pretty, retro, homey but elegant. Not only is it gorgeous to look at but the recipes are wonderful too. I was watching the videos while waiting for parents meeting and debating what to make as a late supper for me and MrB. Genius!

When alone yesterday, smallest B napping, I had a to make a quick lunch before getting back to work. I choose another fabulous, super quick recipe - Mushroom Steak Sandwich!

Marks and Spencers currently have huge Portobello Mushrooms, picked daily, on offer! They are mahoosive and of course, delicious!

Place your mushroom in a roasting tin, dot with butter, sprinkle on a little handful of fresh parsley and a finely chopped garlic clove. Roast in a hot oven (200c). This doesn't take long, for it to soften and start oozing black juices.Split a ciabatta roll, place face down in the roasting tin to soak up any of the juice, smooth on a layer of Dijon mustard. Place your mushroom on top, scatter some salt on top and a squeeze of lemon juice. I then stuffed mine with some baby spinach! A simply perfect interlude to the day! Warm buttery, garlicy sustenance, in under 20 mins + trashy magazine + silent house = lunchtime bliss

x

We three cakes...

We three cakes from KirstyFish are...
I made the mistake of telling my Mother and my Nanna..."I've made the Christmas Cake"
So they both asked if they could have some. Of course, i am a generous lady and they can have some of the cake. But as i stood looking at the ROUND cake i had made i became a little dejected. My plans for a Merry Snow Scene decoration were not going to happen - the cake, becoming 'the cakeS' were going to leave little room for decorative play. Never mind. My cake decorating skills leave MASSES to be desired anyway. It isn't my forte. It isn't my 'area' of any skill or expertise. It was time...... to call in the professional>>>>> armed with a 'Charlie and Lola' apron and a whole lotta creative Diva, this 5 yr old's work was sterling.

To maintain the almond theme (Amaretto soaked cake) we started with white marzipan - only a thin layer. Thin wasn't a 'taste' choice - you must remember, i had bought the ingredients to ice just the ONE cake and 3 were taking up a little more ingredient than expected.

And the Ready-Roll icing was a similar story.

Please don't underestimate how long this simple process took me. Oh My Lord.

The able assistant lost patience after the icing sugar and rolling pin stage so i was (thankfully) on my own at this point.

Then i realised EACH cake needed a cake base / board.... and in a moment of sheer brilliance i managed to find 2 cardboard packages from that evenings dinner and cut them up into the right shapes for each cake. We had a ready made pizza base so that was perfect for the half moon shapes, once wrapped in foil.

The cakes sat in tins for days like this. I am no domestic goddess NOR am i at all into Cake Decorating... but they worked out something like this:

Wide tartan ribbon around the edge of all of them. Left over Jane Asher gold stars from a previous cheat cookery project....

All strategically placed for a minimal effect. And the last cake had some gummy heart sweets placed in one corner.

I am winning no prizes with these BUT i guarantee, the taste of these cakes will have the consumer totally forgetting the rather basic topping.

What's a girl to do? I went from having one big round cake, to 3 small odd shaped cakes.

It goes to show, you can have your cake and eat it too. Just don't think about how it 'looks' for too long.

And i leave you with this photo of Chef Extraordinaire.... because i have a sort of weird semi-smug Nigella look on me here - maybe it's that double chin????

Anyone for a few dieting posts come 2010?

x mmmm, cake!

Cheese Fondue Express... a quick kitchen Supper

Family Food / Social Food / Food for you and a friend / Food for you and a lover.... Cheese Fondue ticks every box.
I kid you not - i opened the fridge for dinner last week and there was very little in there to excite. 3 open bottles of White Wine in various degrees of 'full-ness' and varied quality.
There was a block of Cornish Brie, some hardening Edam and a bunch of celery. Even the breadrolls in the basket were only fit for toasting. Then my memory taste-buds kicked into action.... i had the makings there of a terrific CHEESE FONDUE and even a glass of good White to accompany it! happy :)

Boil up all the cheese and a good sloshing of wine (or cider) in a heavy bottomed pan and add a garlic clove for flavour.

To thicken it, i slaked some Cornflour in some wine and chucked that into the pan a few minutes before it was ready.

I can't really give quantities as i did it by sense of feel and memory, but if you've had Fondue before, you know what it is supposed to look and feel like.

I don't bother to use the real Fondue Dish but keep it in the hot pan over a couple of small candles / nightlites. Then, if it begins to go cold, you can whip it back over to the stove top for a few minutes to heat up again.

To dip??? Anything goes! we had toms, fresh from our own plant. We had stale rolls that were toasted and a few sticks of wilting celery and cucumber. JOY my friends.

A real stand by supper for us... i confess that Cheese, White Wine and Stale bread are ALL readily available in my kitchen.

I'm no Nigella, with an ever ending 'larder' but i rival her in the Kitchen Supper stakes i'm sure x

Poorly Blanket and Soup!

What to cook? When feeling achey, snotty, and unable to drag your shivering bones out from under the 'poorly' blanket, the thought of cooking is enough to send your soul to the grave early! But this is the time your body needs goodness, a little heat and nourishment, in an easy to consume bowlful.

Nigella saves the day!

Sweetcorn Chowder with Cheese Toasted Tortillas! (click the title and the Lovely Nigella will take care of directions!)

I love sweetcorn! One of my favourite veg dishes (that I serve with chilli con carne ALOT!) is sweetcorn, with a large dollop of butter and a VERY generous grinding of black pepper. I don't know why (being just a 'cook') but black pepper and sweetcorn is one of those perfect food marriages! Try it! You will love me when you eat it, I promise!
So easy just wack it all in and blend up!

If you don't have semolina or cornmeal or grainy polenta, (I got this lovely cornmeal from Sainsburys.....I make cornbread for chilli with it too, it is all round useful stuff to have in your 'tins' cupboard!) I imagine, lentils or a roughly chopped potato would be just as good, (not as Mexican but a functioning thickener just the same.....needs must when man flu hits eh?!)

Right am off to couch to 'suffer', drink tea and eat the Quality Street that Mr B 'foresaw' wouldn't last out October!

x

Your Mission....

should you choose to accept it....(Mr B laughed at me when I came down the stairs in this outfit, stating I looked like I was on "Special Ops"! Well I am....in the kitchen!)

Glut of plums, some 'looks challenged' bramleys (scrumped by your F-i-L!! Brilliant!) and icecream tubs full of gorgeous blackberries... (my current obsession....just beating the lemon curd obsession of last month!). Sound familiar?!

Well here are a few yummy links to inspire you...(Bramley and Blackberry Tray Bake)and tomorrow in the B household the Christmas Chutney cottage industry will whir into production!

Recipes

Blackberry Honey Creams
Bramley and Blackberry Tray Bake
Wonderfully Moist Plum Cake
Blackberry Galettes (gorgeous Nigella...this will be in my kitchen by the end of tomorrow!!)
Spicy Plum Chutney

x

Choc Chip Loaf with lotsa love x x x

This is definately a cake with love in the ingredients. It is a recipe i first used when i was 17yrs old and the first EVER recipe i wrote down in my new RECIPE BOOK - i had a journal that i was given and decided to fill in with my favourite foods.
So MRS CHRISTY (crazy mum of a school friend) used to make this cake and we'd all sit round her kitchen table and drink tea whilst eating large slabs of this delicious loaf.... Now, i mainly eat it on my own as no-one else round me likes cake!! How could i give birth to a child who doesn't "do" cake?
4oz butter
60z caster sugar
1/2 t'spoon the best vanilla essence
2 eggs
6oz self-raising flour
1/4pt single cream
40z chocolate chips - plain or milk, up to you.

Loaf tin is buttered and floured - ready. Oven is on at 180c.
I didn't have any choc chips in the cupboard (i must have eaten them on some lonely, desperate evening) so i bashed up a bar of quality chocolate. Pop the chunks in a bag and bash them ON A BOARD! till they are small pieces.

Cream together the butter and sugar - as with most cakes. then add the vanilla essence. I think it is worth spending a little more on good quality ingredients... it just increases the taste of your cookery efforts x

Beat in eggs one at a time with spoonfuls of flour to stop any curdling... then add all the flour and mix gently.

Add the cream, gently.

Stir in the choc chips and mix well to distribute.

Pour into your prepared loaf tin.

Make sure there is enough left in the bowl for 'lickage' - and 3 spoons / spatulas.

1=you

1=child

1=dog... (you don't want to share that spoon once the dogs had a slobber on it)

Bake in CENTRE of well warmed oven for 45mins - or still it is risen and firm to touch.

Not teaching grandmothers to suck eggs, promise, but don't go opening oven doors half way through cooking a cake.... the cake drops and will be ruined (something to do with the release of Carbon Dioxide etc...)

It should slip easily out of the loaf tin if you buttered and floured it!?... then cool on a wire rack for a while. Why on a wire rack?... so the bottom doesn't go soggy x (not everybody knows these things)

Dust the top with icing sugar....

EAT.... drink tea...

The world is a better place x