#52loavesproject....

I am a unadulterated bread lover, be it a crusty French stick, a soft sweet brioche or our weekly seeded loaf. Nothing makes me feel more content than fresh warm toast, salty butter and a smearing of jam. So when Lou said she was challenging herself to make a loaf a week for a year there was no question if I was to join

My first loaf was made using my new cookbook

I loved the nectar tasting honey and the deep richness of the raisins. It was a little dense, I think I need to give more time to the second rise

Now, to this weeks loaf....

Good food :: Roasted tomato soup

 

In the cold days of winter I yearn for soups, casseroles and pies. If we do go out for lunch you will always find me studying the menu for a red soup, or a buttery pastry topped pie.

My mother is a great cook, when she comes to visit my sons and I will always ask her to make a batch of our favourite vegetable soup.

 For Christmas I was given a really great recipe book, in it I found this recipe, so simple and so delicious.

Have a go when you next see tomatoes reduced at your green grocers, a cheap supper which I think tastes better the next day, great for mid week suppers, when time is in short supply

10 servings
Ingredients
1.75kg tomatoes

 olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

3 large thyme sprigs, plus extra to garnish

3 x rosemary sprigs

3 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced

3 fat celery stalks, sliced

1/2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed

1/2 tsp crushed dried chillies

1.2 litres good vegetable or light chicken stock

1 tbsp tomato purée

2 tsp caster sugar

juice of 1 lime

salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

For the muffins

FOR THE MUFFINS:

115g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

100g dried polenta

85g cheddar, finely grated

1/4 tsp crushed dried chillies

1 medium free-range egg, beaten

175ml whole milk

50g butter, melted
 
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Halve the tomatoes and lay them cut-side up in a single layer in a large, lightly oiled roasting tin. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a few tablespoons of oil and roast for 45 minutes-1 hour, depending on their size, until they have shrivelled and concentrated in flavour.

2. Meanwhile, pour the remaining oil into a large pan and add the garlic, thyme and rosemary. Place over a medium heat and as soon as everything is sizzling nicely, add the onions, celery, fennel seeds and dried chilli. Stir well, cover and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes, uncovering and stirring once or twice, until the onion is very soft but not browned.

3. Add 600ml of the stock, bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 10 more minutes. Uncover, add the tomatoes and juices from the tin, the tomato purée and sugar and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, leave to cool slightly, then liquidise in batches until smooth. Sieve into a clean pan and stir in enough stock to give the soup a good consistency.

4. For the muffins, increase the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Line a muffin tray with 8 deep non-stick paper cases. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl and stir in the polenta, 75g of the grated cheese and the dried chillies. Make a well in the centre, add the egg, milk and melted butter and mix everything together, then spoon into the paper cases. Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until well-risen and golden.

5. Shortly before the muffins are ready, gently reheat the soup. Add the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with the muffins.

I made this for dinner on Wednesday, then also took it in a flask yesterday to the park, the flavours had defiantly developed overnight and were more mellow.

Coffee and Walnut cake

Knowing I was going to visit two friends on Thursday I wanted to make a delicious cake to take with me. I flicked through several of my bakery books and found this, a delicious coffee and walnut cake. It is such a simple recipe and the combination is classic and sublime.

225g soft butter
225g light soft brown sugar (I did not have any so used golden caster sugar which worked equally well)
4 eggs
3 tea spoons instant coffee powder
2 tea spoons boiling water
225g self raising flour
1.5 tea spoons baking powder
65g walnut chopped
1 tablespoon milk
8-10 walnuts to decorate

For the filling and topping
175g very soft butter
400g icing sugar
2 tea spoons instant coffee  dissolved in 2 tea spoons of boiling water
1 table spoon milk

Pre heat your oven to 180c
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy
Add the eggs, one by one, mixing after each addition
Put the coffee and boiling water in a small jug and stir until all the granules have dissolved
Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter, sugar and egg mix and stir. Add the walnut and coffee mix and stir until all is combined.
Divide the mixture between two baking tins, I use round 8 inch tins.
Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden
Allow to cool

To make the filling put butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix until combined. Add the coffee mix and milk and mix until light and fluffy

Fill your cooled cake with the half the filling, sandwich together and spread the rest on the top of your cake. decorate with the walnuts however you wish

Pizza

My family and I are pizza lovers, we love to visit our local pizza restaurant where the boys get to make their own while B and I chat lazily over cold fizzy drinks. I also love to make pizza for my family. I have tried several recipes over the years and have finally found a simple but great little one. The dough is soft and tasty and with a fresh zingy tomato sauce it epitomizes my favourite kind of pizza. You can make the tomato sauce ahead, I make double then freeze half.

Pizza dough

700 g strong white flour

1 rounded tea spoon salt

1 table spoon sugar

50 g butter

15 g packet (2 x 71/2g sachets) fast-acting yeast

3 table spoon olive oil, plus extra for brushing

350-400 ml lukewarm water

 

Place the flour, salt and sugar in a big mixing bowl. Rub in the butter, add the yeast and mix together. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the oil and most, but not all, of the warm water and mix to a loose dough. Add more water or flour, if needed.

 

Take the dough out of the bowl and let it sit on a lightly floured worktop, covered with a tea towel, for 5 minutes. Then knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it feels smooth and slightly springy. (You can also do this in a food mixer with the dough hook – it takes half the time. Let the dough relax for a few minutes again)

 

Place in an oiled bowl in fridge until ready to use. I make this quantity into 3 pizzas and use anything we have in the fridge. But my absolute favourite is figs and pancetta.

 

 

Blackberry cordial

Finding a new blackberry spot is always very exciting to me, with a promise of picking blackberries with a friend I remembered a place not far from where we live, quiet and isolated. It was perfect.

The children played in the trees and in the tall grass while we picked and filled our baskets. After a snack and coffee we headed home with cordial making in our heads. The boys poured and stirred while I measured.

The result, a thick sweet liquid which somehow captures early autumn. We have drunken it with ice cold water and also hot on a cool evening. Both are equally divine

To make the cordial

For each pound of fruit add half a pint of water
Heat gently for 30 minutes
Strain the blackberry liquid through a fine sieve, then add the sugar (golden caster, half a pound for each pint of liquid) stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Sprinkle in 1 tea spoon citric acid per pint
Pour into sterilised bottles

Natalie

Foraging - Blackberries

For a couple of weeks now I have been searching out good blackberry spots, none were ready but nearly all the bushes we found were groaning under the weight of the yet ripened fruit. Yesterday while walking home from the park we spotted the unmistakable ebony bramble fruits on the verge near our house.

We made ice lollies and blackberry juice with them saving just enough for a crumble this evening. The ice lollies were really easy to make simply adding apple juice to the squashed berries. To make the juice we pushed the berries through a sieve then added water and a splash of apple juice for a touch of sweetness

What do you do with your blackberries?

Natalie

Malteser cake

I have collected many recipes for chocolate cakes over the years, they always go down well with my boys. Here, my latest version is adapted from a cupcake recipe in The Hummingbird Cake days book

150g melted butter

75ml milk

75ml buttermilk or plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
240g self raising
25g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
330g caster sugar

150ml warm water

 

1. Put all ingredients into your bowl and mix until smooth

2. Divide mixture into two 8 inch lined cake tins

3. Bake at 180c for 25-30 mins, check the cake is cooked through by inserting a cocktail stick, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked

4. Cool

 

Topping

 

200g Milk or dark chocolate, whatever you prefer

240ml elmlea double cream, I use this when baking as it lasts much longer than ordinary cream

200g Horlicks

50g full-fat cream cheese (Philadelphia)

35g caster sugar

Maltesers to decorate.

 

1. Put all ingredients into bowl and mix until smooth

2. place one cake onto your cake plate and smooth a little of the topping on top, place the next cake on top. Smooth the rest of the topping all over the cake and then decorate with maltesers

 

The other great thing about this recipe is that children can help too as it is an all in one method. My boys made this cake all themselves, all I did was smooth the topping down.

 

Natalie  

 

 

Gooseberry and Elderflower preserve

I came across this recipe on Delia's website, a great idea to mix this classic combination in a preserve which can last the whole year.

We are very lucky here to have a farm shop with it's own pick your own fruits. We collected our gooseberries after school and I was able to whip this up the next day when both boys were at school.

Recipe taken from Delia's website

Ingredients:

900g Gooseberries
4 tablespoons elderflower cordial
900g granulated sugar
2 small plates placed in the fridge

Method

First of all take a large, heavy saucepan and smear the base with a little butter as this will help prevent the preserve sticking at a high temperature. Then top and tail the gooseberries into the pan and add 5fl oz (150 ml) water. Next bring up to simmering point and simmer very gently until the fruit is tender – this will take about 15 minutes.

After that add the sugar and stir well, then, keeping the heat low, wait for the sugar to dissolve completely (about 15 minutes), testing the liquid with a wooden spoon to make sure that there are no little granules of sugar left. Now turn the heat up to its very highest setting and let the preserve boil rapidly for 8 minutes, then take it off the heat to test for a set.

Spoon a little of the preserve on to one of the cold saucers from the fridge, and let it cool back in the fridge. You can tell – when it has cooled – if you have a 'set' by pushing the mixture with your little finger: if it has a really crinkly skin, it is set. If it is not set, boil for 5 more minutes and repeat until the preserve is set.

When set, stir in the elderflower cordial and allow it to settle for 15 minutes before pouring it into warmed sterilised jars. Seal with waxed discs, put the lids on and label when cold.

Natalie

Easy ice-cream

Last year I posted my easy strawberry ice cream recipe, I wanted to share it again but with a slight twist

 

Ingredients:

 

500g Frozen fruit (we use one of the following strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, gooseberries or apples)

 

125g cream or yogurt (the twist for a healthier version)

 

75g icing sugar or caster sugar

 

Put all three ingredients into your food processor and blitz for 3-4 minutes until all fruit is smooth

 

I have started mixing my fruit too, I take my scales to the freezer and take a handful of the fruits I think will work together until I have 500g.

 

The alpine strawberries in our garden are ripening so I am putting them on top of the boys ice-cream until we have picked them all

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do

 

Natalie

 

 

 

Peach Melba tray bake - Recipe corner

 

 

For a birthday treat my Mum made these for me, they are a heavenly mix of sweet peaches, tart raspberries and a soft texture of almonds in the sponge. I have to admit I do love tray bakes, they are easy to prepare and even easier to cut up for transporting.

 

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do here

 

You will need:

250g pack unsalted butter

300g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

200g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

2 just-ripe peaches, stoned, halved, then each half cut into 3

100g raspberries

handful flaked almonds

1 tbsp icing sugar, to finish

 

Line a traybake tin or small roasting tin, about 20 x 30cm. Heat oven to 180C. Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan, cool for 5 mins, add the sugar, vanilla and eggs, then beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, almonds and ¼ tsp salt

 

Tip the mix into the tin, then lay the peach slices evenly on top – that way each square of cake will have a bite of fruit. Scatter the raspberries and almonds over, then bake for 1 hr-1 hour 10 minutes, covering with foil after 40 minutes. Test with a skewer: the middle should have just a tiny hint of squidginess, which will firm up once the cake cools. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then lift out onto a cooling rack. Once cold, dredge with icing sugar, then cut into squares.

 

Natalie

Easy tarts

This is our favourite dessert right now, easy and good for you

Ingredients:

You will need some premade tart cases, I use the M&S ones. (I normally get a few packs in when I am in the city)
Any yogurt in your fridge, I use Yeo Valley 
Jam
Fruit

Method:

Place a tea spoon a your favourite jam on the bottom of the tart case, pour in 2 tablespoons full of yogurt. Decorate with any spare fruit you have, its a great way to get children to help at this point

Enjoy

Natalie

Good for you Brownies

 

I am a lover of brownies, not just any brownies but the home made kind with their soft gooey centre and their slight brittle crunch which holds them all together. To discover a new recipe which is quite unlike any I have used before was a real treat and I have to say the finished blocks of chocolate joy were just that.

 

This recipe has "healthy" at it's heart, a great simple recipe with some lovely ingredients

 

I have tweaked the original recipe which I found here. While making them with my sons we tasted the mixture before pouring it into the tin and we decoded we needed a little honey to suit our taste, adjust to suit yours

 

 

Ingredients

115g ground almonds

1/4 teaspoon bi-carb

100 g dark chocolate, in chunks (we used green and blacks 70%)

10 pitted dates

3 free range eggs

57g olive oil

1 tbsp natural vanilla extract

1 tbsp runny honey

 

Place the gound almonds and bi-carb in your food processor, add the chocolate chunks and blitz until they look like sand. Drop in the dates and blitz again till all mixed and chopped finely. Pour in the eggs and vanilla extract and honey. Blitz until all combined and pour into a 6-8 inch baking tin. Bake at 180c for 20 minutes or until firm on the surface.

 

If you do bake them I would love to hear how they went down in your house

 

Take care, Natalie xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bristol Blueberry Muffins - Recipe corner

When Asa was around one years old I enrolled us both in sing and sign classes. There, every Thursday morning we would learn signs for "more" "milk" "dog" "please" and so many more, all learned through songs. Looking back I am so proud of us both, meeting lots of new mums was a bit daunting but I had my little man there looking after me. He loved these sessions and I remember about 3 weeks after we started we were sat in our garden, I could hear a dog barking, Asa looked at me and signed "dog" out first every communication through a shared understanding of what we had learned. Amazing

In Southville where we went for our sessions there is an amazing community centre, always busy and always something going on. They have a lovely cafe there where we used to sit and just be for a few hours. They sell the best blueberry muffins ever, fact

I persuaded the owner to tell me her recipe and here it is for you to try and enjoy, so easy but so good. Asa now calls these squashed fly muffins, fine by me if it means he gets some of those super fruits inside him

125g melted unsalted butter, cooled
2 organic large eggs
125ml milk
225g plain flour
175g golden caster sugar
2 tea spoons baking powder
300g fresh blueberries

Preheat your oven to 190c. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Whisk the butter, eggs and milk together in a bowl. In another bowl mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold in the blueberries. Divide the mixture between the cases and cook until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Best to eat these warm

Take care, Natalie xx

Chewy monkey bars - Recipe corner

First day back to school from the Easter holidays today, Jasper and I both missed Ace all day.
 
As a nice after school snack we made these, a great recipe from The Hummingbird Cake Days book my sister bought me. They were a hit for my little monkeys
 
Recipe
Makes 12 bars

Ingredients:
120g (4oz) runny honey
60g (2oz) unsalted butter
60g (2oz) crunchy peanut butter
160g (5.5oz) white mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g (3.5oz) rolled oats
175g (6oz) puffed rice cereal
175g (6oz) desiccated coconut
40g (1.5oz) roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
40g (1.5oz) glace cherries, roughly chopped
100g (3.5oz) dark chocolate chips
50g (13/4oz) chopped mixed nuts
One 22 x 31cm (9 x 12.5in) baking tray
Method:

Line the tray with baking parchment. Place the honey in a saucepan with the butter, peanut butter, marshmallows and vanilla essence and melt together over a low heat.
 
In a bowl, mix together the oats, rice cereal, coconut peanuts, cherries and 70g (2.5oz) of the chocolate chips. Pour the warm, melted ingredients over this dry mixture, stirring together thoroughly to make sure all of the dry ingredients are evenly coated. Press the mixture into the prepared baking tray.
 
Melt the remaining chocolate chips in the microwave or in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the monkey bar mixture and sprinkle with the chopped mixed nuts, then leave in the fridge for about 1 hour to set. Once the mixture has set, it can be turned out on to a chopping board and sliced into 12 bars

Take care, Natalie xx

Cheese lolly pops - Recipe corner

As some of you know I spend my Tuesday afternoons at at sons school, I teach cooking and try to incorporate the terms theme, this term they are studying mini beasts! I cannot tell you how much joy this brings me every week working with the children, to see them gain more confidence around food makes me really happy

See below for the recipe - squashed fly lolly pops!

150g grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

You will need a baking tray with parchment paper. Take a round cookie cutter and sprinkle in a tea spoon full of your cheese mix, lift off gently and place your lolly pop stick (available in most cook shops) on top, sprinkle some more cheese on top of the stick to act like a glue. Repeat until your tray is full. Carefully put into your oven for 3 minutes or until golden on the edges. Take out and leave to cool, you can use either a pallet knife or normal table knife to peal the lollipop from the paper. Done!

Great for parties too!

Take care, Natalie xx 

Feeding children - Shepherds/cottage pie

Now my boys are older (5&3) I feel we have come through the struggle of fussy eating, I am going to be sharing with you some of my fail safe recipes which are healthy (having some veg sneaked in) but delicious.

There a few rules I stick to when feeding my boys, I have always been consistent with this and I think it has really helped. Number one, if they don't want what I have made them they don't have anything else, no pudding, no alternative. I will only give them fruit. Number two, keep things simple, children don't want their food to be a Heston style taste adventure, my boys enjoy their food when it is satisfying and tasty. Number three, have a proper table set, get them involved setting the table, sorting out their own cutlery, drinks and napkins, this builds confidence around food and meal times Number four, only make one meal, for you and your children, who wants to make two meals everyday? Number five, don't overfill their plates, better for them to ask for seconds than feel overwhelmed by what is on their plates 

If I have experimented and have given my boys a new recipe I try not to make a big deal of it, I will give them their food and then busy myself cleaning up, I find if I don't watch them they tend not to look for me to say they don't like it, they will basically give it a good try and after a few mouthfuls their taste buds have gotten used to the new taste/texture. This worked like a dream recently when I made them Chinese food with big strong flavours like soy, sesame and ginger.

This is a fantastic recipe which I have been cooking for years, slightly tweaked though with a suggestion from a friend, parsnip in the mash, yummy!

This recipe will make enough for 4, read on to find out what to do with the left overs!

2 onions, red or white whatever you prefer - finely diced
2 large carrots - finely diced
3 sticks of celery - finely diced
500g lean beef mince or 500g lamb mince
2 rashers of bacon
1 small courgette - finely diced
A handful of frozen peas
1 organic stock cube (who wants to make delicious food then chuck in an oxo cube full of MSG
2 tbsp tomato puree
2/3 tbsp Worcester sauce
1 tin plum tomatoes
4/5 medium potatoes
3 parsnips

1. Peel the potatoes and parsnips, boil the potatoes for 5 minutes then add the parsnips. Once cooked fully mash them together with a knob of butter and a little milk
2. Soften the onions, carrots and celery in an oven proof dish on your hob. Add the beef or lamb and brown. With a pair of scissors snip in the bacon
3. Scatter in the courgette and peas, crumble in the stock cube, pour in the tomato puree, Worcester sauce and plum tomatoes. Simmer gently for a 5 minutes.
4. Spoon on the potato parsnip mash, fork over the meat mixture and bake your oven at 180c for 25 minutes or until golden.
5. I always serve this with broccoli

I always cook some penne dried pasta the day after I have made this and mix the meat mixture with it, topped with a little grated cheese it is so good

Take care, Natalie xx

Snow cones - recipe corner

If anyone still has snow give these little babies a try, oh so easy but oh so good!

Find some "clean" snow

Spoon into bowls

Pour over syrup (We decided on strawberry jam with a few tea spoons of water to make it pour-able) 

Serve

Panettone bread & butter pudding - Recipe corner

 

At Christmas it seems there are always bits of food left over, panettone in our house is always lurking at the back of the bread bin so here is my way of using it up in a really delicious way

 

I adore classic bread and butter pudding but this is a Christmas version

 

You will need:

 

Panettone around 500g

4 eggs

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

500ml milk

A little butter

 

You can use any tin you have to hand, around 6-9 inches wide

 

Grease it with butter and the layer your slices of panettone on top of one another making sure you grate some nutmeg and sprinkle some cinnamon after each layer

 

Crack your eggs and pour the milk into a jug and whisk, pour over your beautiful Italian cake and sprinkle with a little golden granulated sugar. Bake for 20 minutes at 180c, perfection

 

Take care, Natalie xx

Apple and Lancashire pie - Recipe corner

Happy Saturday everyone

I don't know about you but some days I just get stuck, what to make for tea? I started a food week planner a year ago after a friend suggested it. It has really changed the way we eat and shop for food, great for keeping to a budget too!

So to help inspire myself as well as you I am going to start posting recipe ideas I have and also recipes I am going to be using

I will save them all in my new recipe corner so you can come back when you need some inspiration

First up is the fantastic Jamie Oliver magazine, my sister bought me a subscription a few years ago and it was so lovely every month to get another little gift from her.

I will be making this tomorrow for all my boys to have for their Monday lunch

 

Take care, Natalie x

The 6 P's

Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance

 

So today I will be starting my Christmas preparations, sound crazy? Maybe but this year I have the time to be a bit more prepared

 

For your Christmas cake to be the best it can be follow the brilliant pink whisk instructions. With the price of dried fruit I think it makes sense to start spreading the cost of Christmas now

 

Take care, Natalie xx