Summery Citrus

There is nothing more summery than citrus to me - I love the fresh taste and fragrance of lemon zest and juice on pretty much anything, and, as I have boasted in the past, I have found that my kids will eat most vegetables if sprinkled with lemon juice. In fact, they often complain when their veggies aren't thus enhanced.

The recipe below is completely vegetable-free though, and somewhat less healthy. However, if you're looking for a summery treat, then here are some delicious cupcakes. Theoriginal recipe is taken from a new book by Mary McCartney. She is the daughter of Paul and Linda McCartney, the latter famous for her vegetarian cookbooks, and the former... well, if you haven't heard of him, then you really need to come out from that rock you've been hiding under for the last 50 years. Mary has been well known for some time for being a successful photographer, but is now taking on her late mother's mantle and, in her words, wrote Food: Vegetarian Home Cooking "to tempt both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike". Even suspicious and dedicated carnivores cannot help but be tempted by a dessert made by a vegetarian.

I tweaked this recipe slightly - she covers the cakes with a simple runny icing made with lemon juice, zest and powdered sugar. Personally, I love me some frosting, so I 'doctored' some ready-prepared vanilla frosting to make a more extravagant topping. After all, if you are going to have a cupcake, have a cupcake!

Orange and Lemon Cupcakes
Makes 24 mini cupcakes, or 12 standard

1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup self-rising flour
zest and juice of 1 large orange (around 3 TBSP juice)

Frosting:
1 tub of store-bought vanilla frosting
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
3. In a large mixing bowl (preferably in an electric stand-mixer), cream butter until fluffy and then beat in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Gradually, on low speed, stur in flour and then beat mixture well until light in texture. Stir in orange zest and juice and beat just until well combined.
4. Divide batter equally between cupcake liners.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes until cakes are golden on top and spring back if touched lightly. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
6. To make frosting: Beat frosting with lemon zest to combine. Add enough lemon juice to lighten the consistency of the store-bought frosting so that it is light enough to use in a piping bag, but not too runny/still holds its shape.
7. Use piping bag to pipe a rosette of frosting on top of each cake.

BBQ, come rain or shine

Last night, I felt particularly British: I persuaded my husband it was a great night to grill outside, despite the fact that it was raining (admittedly, it was a very Californian-spring poor effort at rain, but there was definitely water coming down from the sky and spotting on the patio. Seriously, it left wet marks!). As a Brit you get used to deciding to grill, without knowing what the weather will bring. Generally, you go ahead whether it is raining or not, because otherwise, you fear you would never eat BBQ, and in any case, it is easy to grab the goretex and umbrella every self-respecting Brit keeps handy by the back door.

Last night's BBQ experience was a great spice-rubbed pork tenderloin with bacon BBQ sauce (yes, we're getting through a lot of bacon in this house at the moment!). I'm also including here a great BBQ chicken sandwich recipe which is a great alternative if the rain really is British-spring-total-downpour type rain (or if you are a wimpy Californian, and the temperature has inexplicably dropped below 60 degrees), since it doesn't require stepping out of the kitchen at all.

Rise up BBQ-lovers, and show the rain who's boss.

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Barbecue Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Light Way to Cook: Grilling
Serves 6

Sauce:
1/2 cup pancetta, chopped into small dice
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard (all the Brits out there, not your strong, clear-your-sinuses yellow mustard! A mild American-style burger mustard)
5 TBSP liquid honey
3 TBSP ketchup
2 TBSP cider vinegar
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Pork:
1 TBSP packed brown sugar
1 TBSP smoked paprika
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 1lb pork tenderloins, trimmed
Cooking spray

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
2. To prepare sauce, cook pancetta in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until becoming crisp, then add onions and continue to cook for a further 4 minutes until onion is softened and starting to color. Add mustard and next 5 ingredients to pan, and bring to the boil stirring. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes until slightly thickened. Keep stirring frequently, as otherwise it may stick to the bottom of the pan.
3. To prepare pork, combine brown sugar and next 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well. Rub  mixture evenly over trimmed tenderloins.
4. Grill pork over a rack coated with cooking spray for around 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 145 degrees F, turning once half way through. Let pork stand for 10 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1/2" thick slices and serve with sauce.

*********

Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches
From Cooking Light Magazine
Serves 6

1/2 cup ketchup
2 TBSP dijon mustard
2 TBSP water
3/4 tsp ancho chile powder
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp kosher salt
3 cups shredded skinless cooked rotisserie chicken
3 TBSP mayonnaise
2 TBSP cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3 cups shredded cabbage (I used a package of coleslaw mix)
1/3 cup chopped green onions
6 hamburger buns, toasted

1. Combine first 10 ingredients in a pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent it from sticking.
2. Combine chicken and sauce.
3. Combine mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar with a whisk. Add coleslaw and onions and toss together.
4. Place about 1/2 cup of chicken mixture on each bun, followed by 1/2 cup coleslaw.

These are a few of my favorite things..

..forget about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, we're talking bacon and chocolate here. Those are two of my favorite things, the former one of the major reasons I could never be a vegetarian, and the latter, well, because it's chocolate!

Combining your favorite things can be a bit iffy though. I love my comfy sweatpants, and I love me some sky-high heels, but rest assured that you will never have to witness me wearing both together. I love backpacking, and I love the electric heated blanket on my bed at home. My husband tells me that I simply have to accept that we cannot take the latter with us, when doing the former. However, chocolate and bacon, whilst they may not immediately seem like a marriage made in heaven, do go beautifully together, and the recipe below is the proof.

I found this recipe online on Allrecipes.com, and, and refusing to be swayed by my kids' cries of 'Ugh, that's GROSS!' was determined to give it a go. After they have gobbled down several of the delicious results of my culinary intransigence, they will be forced to eat their words.

Bear in mind that this recipe makes a LOT of cupcakes - with one quantity of the recipe below, I made 48 minis and 12 standard sized cupcakes! You may want to halve things!

Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes
(for quantities see above)

12 slices of bacon (I used ready-cooked bacon)
2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong, brewed coffee, cold
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
Prepared chocolate frosting

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. If using ready-cooked bacon, chop finely. If using raw bacon, cook in a skillet until browned and crisp, then crumble.
3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in oil, buttermilk, coffee and eggs. Stir until just blended (the mixture will be runnier than a classic muffin batter).
4. Mix in 3/4 of the bacon, setting the remainder aside for decoration.
5. Spoon batter into cups of a muffin tin, lined with paper cases.
6. Bake in oven until tops spring back when lightly touched (around 20 minutes for standard muffins, 15 for mini muffins).
7. Cool on a wire rack. When cool, decorate with frosting and a sprinkle of crumbled bacon.

Taking up the gauntlet!

In the Middle Ages, if a knight wanted to challenge another to a duel, he would throw down his gauntlet (a glove made of chainmail) and, if the other knight accepted his challenge, he would take up the gauntlet. By this point you are probably thinking, oh boy, she has really lost it. Either she is about to tell us how to spit roast a suckling pig and create a medieval banquet, or she has just gone completely doo-lally. Fortunately, neither is the case (yet).

The gauntlet in question here is a carrot cake gauntlet. When I blogged in April about 'The Best Carrot Cake ever', a good friend of mine, let's call her Eleanor, commented that my mum's recipe couldn't possibly be the best, because she had a better one. Understandably, spurred on by the desire to defend my mother's culinary honor, I have taken up the gauntlet, by, this week, trying out the recipe Eleanor recommended. Imagine me and the kitchen aid (faces daubed with warpaint), charging into battle to the cry of 'They can take our carrots, but they'll never take my mother's culinary reputation!"

Eleanor's recipe comes from a book by the owners of a famous chain of bakeries in London (and one, inexplicably enough, in Dubai), called the Hummingbird Bakery, who brought out a cookbook with many of their favorite recipes, including this one for carrot cake. You can find out more about the book and bakeries here.

The cake was indeed a thing of beauty, as you can hopefully tell from the photo below, even if that is courtesy of me and my iPhone rather than a large SLR and a professional food stylist:

It has three layers of light, moist cake, much lighter than your average carrot cake, which, even to my carrot-cake-loving taste, can be a touch leaden. Moreover, each layer is spread with a copious quantity of cream cheese frosting, which then covers the entire confection. Even a small slice feels pretty decadent, given the tall cake and the frosting. Overall, I found it to be a very different cake to the one my mum makes. If I were having a posh party, and wanted to wow the audience with a beautiful creation, then I would probably go for the Hummingbird recipe again. It is indeed delicious, and elegant. However, if I were having mid-afternoon coffee with friends, then I would want the moist, light carrot cake my mum likes. It wouldn't spoil my dinner, and I wouldn't feel like I had sinned and have to promise myself a calorie-purge the following day.

Yes, I am declaring a tie - they are both excellent, and it isn't really a fair contest, since they are so different in texture, taste and the setting for which they would fit the bill. Imagine if you will, that the two 'knights' duel for a while, then stop when they realize they have a case of mistaken identity: one of them isn't actually a knight, he's a master blacksmith, and in any case, they decide that they really are quite evenly matched, put aside their differences and go down the pub for a few beers instead.

Now, I don't know if Eleanor would agree with me. She and I share not only a great friendship, but also a tendency for stubbornness, so she might just dig her heels in and continue to wield her culinary mace. I can only suggest that she put down the mace for a moment, pick up a whisk, and try my mum's cake some time. And Eleanor, when you do, let me know!

Hummingbird Carrot Cake

300g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
300 ml sunflower (or canola) oil
300g plain (or AP) flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus more for decorating
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
300g carrots, grated/shredded
100g chopped walnuts, plus extra for decorating

Frosting:
900g icing/powdered sugar
150g unsalted butter, at room temp
375g cream cheese, cold

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C, gas mark 3).
2. Spray three 8" diameter tins with oil spray and line bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Put sugar, eggs and oil in bowl of a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use handheld electric whisk), and beat until ingredients are well incorporated. Mixture may look slightly split, but that is OK. Slowly add flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed.
4. Stir in grated carrots and chopped walnuts by hand until evenly dispersed.
5. Pour mixture into prepared tins and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and top of sponges springs back if lightly touched. Leave cakes to cool slightly in their tins and then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Make frosting: in large bowl, use electric mixer to beat together butter and sugar until well mixed. Use slow speed or you'll end up in a dust cloud! Add cream cheese in one go and beat until completely incorporated. Turn mixer up to medium/high speed and beat until frosting is light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes). Do not over beat though, as it can quickly become runny.
7. Place one layer of cake on a serving plate and spread top with 1/4 of the frosting. Top with another layer and spread that with another 1/4 of the frosting. Finish with the final sponge layer and then cover the top and sides of assembled cake with remaining frosting. There will be frosting left over, but I'm sure you'll find a use for that!
8. Sprinkle top of cake with additional walnuts and dust with ground cinnamon.

Deeeeelish!

Salad Days

I know I live in California and am therefore not supposed to complain about the weather, but hey, the last couple of days, the needle has spiked over 90 degrees. I just wasn't made to withstand that kind of heat; my skin burns and turns a shade of neon even cyclists haven't yet discovered for their lycra outfits. In fact, there are times, when I swear my skin crackles. Needless to say, the thought of standing over a hot stove on days like that is not something that fills me (or my pasty white skin) with eager anticipation. Therefore those days are salad days.

Although the British Isles are not exactly renowned for their sunny climes and sweltering temperatures, both the recipes below come from British authors. The first is a tweaked version of a salad that appears in Delia Smith's Summer Collection. The second is from Linda McCartney's Summer Kitchen, and appears here unaltered except for the omission of capers (just what are those little green frog-spawn-esque perfumey things? Don't know. Don't need to know). I served them up together with a simple green spinach salad, but each is also a great bet for a pot-luck, or as a side at a BBQ. The cous-cous keeps well in the fridge, but the zucchini/courgette salad goes a bit watery. It still tastes great, but doesn't look so hot on day 2!


Roasted Vegetable Cous-cous Salad with Harissa-style Dressing
Serves 4 as main course, or 8 as a side/appetizer

For vegetables:
1 aubergine/eggplant, cubed
1 green bell pepper, chopped into large bite-size pieces
1 orange/yellow bell pepper, chopped into large bite-size pieces
3/4 pint of cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
1 large red onion, cut into large bite-sized chunks
1 bulb fennel, cored, fronds and stalks removed, cut into large bite-sized chunks
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBSP olive oil
salt and pepper

For cous-cous:
10oz wholewheat cous-cous
18 fl oz vegetable stock
8 oz feta cheese (cubed, not crumbled)
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh fresh cilantro/coriander leaves

For dressing:
4 fl oz olive oil
4 TBSP freshly squeezed lime juice
2 TBSP ground cumin
2 heaped TBSP tomato paste/puree

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Place all vegetables in a large roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil, add garlic, salt and pepper and toss to coat.
3. Roast on high shelf in the oven for 30-40 minutes, turning over once in the middle, until vegetables are toasted brown on the edges. Set aside.
4. Place cous-cous in a large bowl. Add boiling stock and set to one side for 5 minutes for cous-cous to absorb liquid. Then fluff with a fork.
5. Whisk all dressing ingredients together.
6. Add vegetables and dressing to cous-cous and mix together gently. Add feta and cilantro/coriander leaves and fold in. Serve warm, room-temperature, or chilled.

***



Shredded Zucchini/Courgette Salad
Serves 5 as a side

 

4 medium courgettes/zucchini, shredded

3 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 TBSP olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 TBSP freshly grated ginger

salt and pepper

2TBSP toasted pine nuts

 

1. Pat the courgettes/zucchini dry between sheets of kitchen roll.

2. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper and whisk to blend.

3. Pour dressing over zucchini/courgette, add pine nuts and mix to combine.

 



It's all about the rice...

After a bit of a hiatus, I am back in the kitchen. The hiatus, forced by one of those pesky summer cold bugs, at least gave the kids the chance to rediscover the joys of In-n-Out, and 'breakfast for dinner'. As for me, my appetite suffers when I have a cold, but there were several new flavors of kettle chips that I needed to try out, so there's that job done.

For my first venture back into culinary normality, I chose to do a chicken dish from Judith Finlayson's book 'The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook'. I have really been enjoying dabbling with different whole grains, and one of the unexpected discoveries for me is that the grain can actually be the star of the dish. I had always thought of rice et al as just 'fillers', something there just to soak up a delicious sauce, and fill up hungry children at dinner time, who otherwise are more likely to indulge in bedtime avoidance to the tune of 'But I'm staaaaaarving..!'. But no, apparently there is more to them (the grains, not the children, who really are that shallow). This dish is a case in point, as the chicken was, to our taste, a bit tough. I think next time I will use chicken thighs, rather than chicken breasts. The rice meanwhile was completely delicious! We are talking zero-leftovers-tasty. It has a glorious nutty texture, which is beautiful with the silky onions and peppers, crispy pancetta and delicate lemon flavor. I'm dribbling just writing about it.

Italian-Style Chicken and Rice
serves 5

1 cup short grain brown rice
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 TBSP olive oil
2 lbs chicken breasts (skin on and bone-in preferably)
2 oz pancetta, finely chopped
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow pepper, cut into thin 1" strips
1 TBSP finely grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
2 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a heavy saucepan, combine rice and stock. Bring to rapid boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside (DO NOT DRAIN!)
3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken in batches and cook, turning once, until nicely browned (about 5 minutes per batch). Transfer to a plate and set aside. Drain off all but 1 TBSP of any fat in the pan.
4. Reduce heat to medium and add pancetta. Cook stirring for 2 minutes, then add onions and pepper and cook stirring until softened (about 3 minutes).
5. Add garlic, lemon zest, Italian seasoning and cook for a further 1 minute, stirring. Add reserved rice (with the remaining liquid in there too) and bring to a boil.
6. Transfer to a dutch oven. Arrange chicken over the top. Cover and bake in  preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and drizzle with lemon juice to serve.

Making Popeye proud

We all know why Popeye always won the day. As the song says "He's strong to the finich cause he eats his spinach. He's Popeye the Sailorman". Strangely enough, the fact that there is a song extoling the virtues of spinach is not enough for my kids. For years, I found getting them to eat spinach was a trial, and to be honest, I don't blame them, as it can be pretty slimey. So I resorted to Mrs-Seinfeld-esque methods of sneaking the stuff into any old dish. If you chop it finely, you can hide away a few good handfuls those green leaves in a pasta sauce.

Recently though, my kids are a little more willing to give something a try.  This recipe was a favorite in the days when the kids were little, and my husband and I could have a civilized dinner after they were well tucked into bed {wistful sigh}. In fact, this was the first recipe I ever cooked from a Cooking Light magazine, and one of the dishes that spurred me on to subscribing many years ago. I thought the recipe deserved a resurrection in this house, and I wasn't wrong. All it needs is a salad and you have a yummy vegetarian dinner. It only JUST served the five of us, and yes, one of the once-little-ones did insist on picking out all the raisins, but you can't win them all!

Spinach and Feta-Stuffed Focaccia
(serves 5)

1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 6oz packages of baby spinach, roughly chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2/3 cup golden raisins
3 TBSP toasted pinenuts
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/4 tsp salt (I omit this, as I find the feta salty enough)
1 (13.8 oz) can of refrigerated pizza dough (I use the Pillsbury classic one, NOT the thin crust)
cooking spray
1 TBSP milk
1 TBSP water
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat and saute onion and garlic until starting to soften. Add half of spinach and stir so it begins to wilt. When there is room in the pan, add the remaining spinach, and cook until it is all wilted.
3. Remove from heat and add feta and next 5 ingredients (through salt, if using).
4. Get dough out of can and place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Pat into a rectangle approximately 15" x 12". Spread spinach lengthwise along bottom half of the dough, and then fold the upper half over the filling, pressing the edges together to seal. Cut 5 slits in the top with a pair of scissors, exposing the filling.
5. Mix together milk and water and use a pastry brush to brush mixture over dough. Sprinkle with parmesan.
6. Bake for 15 minutes,or until golden.

Lasciatemi cantare!

OK, so I'm about as Italian as I am Mexican (see the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe), but that doesn't mean I can't try my hand at the odd Italian dish. If I had to pick one. and only one, particular cuisine that makes me want to cantare, it probably would be Italian. I am a bit of a comfort food junkie, and there is no real substitute for a steaming plate of pasta, dripping with sauce and liberally sprinkled with cheese. Polenta though is something which has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I've enjoyed it at restaurants, but on the one occasion I bought one of those tube shaped packages and served it up in stodgy slices, I was seriously underwhelmed. So last night, when I decided to take the plunge and try and make the kind of polenta I've had in restaurants. The fact that there were no left-overs is pretty telling, although that could be because we celebrated Mothers' Day by going for a long hike that afternoon (because, theoretically at least, they can't say NO on Mothers' Day - ha!), so they were starving.

Whatever the reason for the clean plates, this was pretty satisfying comfort food, and one that I shall no doubt be trying out again. It comes from another Judith Finlayson book: The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook. While she hasn't won me over to some of the grains she features (I'm sorry, millet is birdseed, and amaranth tastes of burnt toast), she clearly knows her polenta.

Peppery Polenta Bake with Mushrooms and Sausages
Serves 6 (or 5 hungry Farrars)

2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup polenta
3 TBSP grated parmesan
olive oil spray
olive oil
1 lb Italian sausage (I used Trader Joe's Italian chicken sausage)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP crumbled dried mushrooms, such as porcini
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes in juice (no salt added)
salt and pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare polenta by bringing water, milk and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add polenta in a steady stream and keep stirring. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and blended and the mixture bubbles like lava, about 5 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to low, and continue cooking, stirring frequently, while the mixture bubbles and thickens. After about 30 minutes you should have tender, creamy grains. Stir in the parmesan.
4. Spread warm polenta over the base of a baking dish (10 cup capacity, I used one which is about 10" square), which has been sprayed with olive oil spray.
5. Meanwhile heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Remove sausage from casings and add to pan with onion and bell peppers. Cook, breaking sausage up, until vegetables are soft and sausage is no longer pink (about 7 minutes).
6. Add garlic, mushrooms and Italian seasoning and cook for 1 minute more. Add tomatoes with juice and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Spread sausage mixture over the polenta. Sprinkle mozzarella over the top. Bake in preheated oven until cheese is melted and mixture is bubbly (about 15 minutes).

Ditching the raisins

May your cookie jar be ever overflowing

I love me some oatmeal cookies, but I have never understood the necessity of putting raisins in them. What is it about oatmeal that it apparently NEEDS raisins? Most of the time, I'm simply not fond of raisins (especially that possibility of getting one that is gritty inside, which simply sets my teeth on edge). Other grape products, and the grape itself, are so much more palatable, I find. Raisins also bring back bad memories of the time when my son, aged 2, ate a whole bowl of raisins at a party, unnoticed by his clearly derelict mother, and then had a night of painful indigestion and bloating, relieved only by lying on top of his father in our bed, while his dad rubbed his swollen belly, and our son moaned and...err... relieved himself of the excess gas in the .... err... usual fashion (well, the least socially acceptable fashion of the two usual means of gas expulsion). It was not a night to remember, well, not for the right reasons. So, let's just say raisins aren't popular in our house.

However, that isn't to say that oatmeal cookies are unpopular - oh no! So I came up with this recipe for a more acceptable version of the classic. If I do say so myself, it is rather delicious, and will hopefully help to dispel you all of the myth that oatmeal cookies need raisins.


Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
(makes 25 large cookies)

1/2 cup unsalted butter plus 6 TBSP, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup golden granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup wholewheat flour
3/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Beat butter and sugars together in a large bowl until creamy.
3. Add vanilla and eggs, one by one, beating after each addition.
4. In another bowl, combine flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add combined mixture to butter and egg mixture and mix well.
5. Use a large ice-cream scoop (1.5" across) to scoop mounds of the dough on to ungreased cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until light golden brown.
7. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheets and then use spatula to remove them to wire rack to cool completely.

Creamy, dreamy, ooey and gooey

Quite frankly, what more could you possibly want from a pasta bake? This one is a regular in our house, in part because although it is a creamy sauce, it is not made with cream, so you don't feel quite as guilt-ridden as you might when you have a plate-ful. After all, as Jamie Oliver would no doubt agree, sometimes you really do want that piece of chocolate cake as well.

The original recipe for this came from Cooking Light, and had rotisserie chicken in it too. It is delicious with chicken, no doubt, but I often make it as it appears here, in a vegetarian (although unashamedly NOT vegan) version.

Three Cheese Penne Florentine
serves 8

olive oil
olive oil cooking spray
3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 TBSP chopped fresh oregano
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 16 oz carton low fat cottage cheese
1 pack of hot cooked wholewheat penne (11oz uncooked)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup 2% reduced fat milk
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed reduced-fat & sodium mushroom soup, undiluted

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion and bell pepper and saute for 4 minutes until tender. Add spinach, oregano and black pepper and continue to cook until spinach is wilted.
3. Place cottage cheese in food processor and process until very smooth.
4. In a large bowl, combine spinach mixture, hot pasta, cottage cheese, milk, pasta, 3/4 cup cheddar, 1/4 cup parmesan and soup.
5. Spoon mixture into a baking dish (approx 9" x 13''), coated with oil spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheddar and 1/4 cup parmesan.
6. Bake at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

Mulliga-what-what?

A good friend and I have long been on a mission to increase the usage of certain sadly underused words in the English language. Quite frankly, words like kerfuffle and discombobulated deserve far greater recognition and regular outings in everyday conversation. Another such sadly ignored but delightful word is mulligatawny. How delicious-sounding is that? (and yes, of course delicious-sounding is a real word...)

The word mulligatawny is an Anglicized version of a Tamil word meaning 'pepper water' or 'pepper broth', and refers to a curried soup (some of you American readers may recognize it as one of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi's popular dishes). As many of you probably know, the Brits got a little above their station in centuries past and went out and colonized a whole host of other countries the world over, countries which now form part of the Commonwealth. Sixteen of the fifty four Commonwealth countries still have the British monarch as their figurehead. As if that wasn't recompense enough for being subjugated by pasty white Brits for decades, all fifty four also get to take part in the Commonwealth Games, which is kind of like the Olympics, only easier to win medals in, since the USA, China and Russia aren't there. Anyway, I digress. Fact is that the British stationed in India during the time of the British Empire became rather fond of many of the traditional dishes they found there, and brought them home with them. A few more decades of tweaking and twisting to suit British tastes, and you end up with dishes like Mulligatawny.

This recipe comes from a new cookbook I was given recently:

Jamie Oliver is rather a force to be reckoned with in British cooking these days, and has also ventured across the pond to spread his gospel in the ABC show 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' where he took aim at the rising obesity epidemic in the US. He is a man after my own heart in many ways. Firstly, he too believes in reintroducing sadly underused words, one of his favorite being pukka (which incidentally also originates from the British colonization of India, coming from a Hindi and Urdu word literally meaning 'cooked, ripe' and used figuratively in British slang to mean 'for real, genuine'). He also uses words which just sound fabulous (I'm pretty sure he would be a fan of kerfuffle), like blip  (dishes don't bubble or simmer in Jamie's kitchen, they blip), and lug (he doesn't measure out a TBSP, but just throws in a lug of olive oil).

Secondly, he has a common sense attitude to food and eating, which I can wholeheartedly agree with, as shown by this section on his 'Food Philosophy' from his website:

"My philosophy to food and healthy eating has always been about enjoying everything in a balanced, and sane way. Food is one of life's greatest joys yet we've reached this really sad point where we're turning food into the enemy, and something to be afraid of. I believe that when you use good ingredients to make pasta dishes, salads, stews, burgers, grilled vegetables, fruit salads, and even outrageous cakes, they all have a place in our diets. We just need to rediscover our common sense: if you want to curl up and eat macaroni and cheese every once in a while – that's alright! Just have a sensible portion next to a fresh salad, and don't eat a big old helping of chocolate cake afterwards."

Yes! THANK YOU!

I tweaked Jamie's recipe a little to make it less of a soup and more of a main dish, and it worked beautifully. Although it has curry spices, it really isn't hot and all three kids slurped it up, then wiped the bowl clean with bread. They were certainly not discombobulated by the experience, and there was no kerfuffle (well no more than usually at dinner time at the Farrar table). If there were ever a dish that deserved to be described as pukka, I believe this is it.

Mighty Mulligatawny
Serves 6

olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1" piece of ginger root, grated
1 red chile, seeded and finely chopped
small bunch of cilantro (coriander leaves in UK)
2 heaped TBSP Patak's mild curry paste (Cost Plus has this, if you can only get medium/hot, then halve quantity)
1 heaped TBSP tomato paste
salt and pepper
3 TBSP HP sauce (Cost Plus again. If you can't get it, then substitute a few good squirts of Worcestershire sauce and some more tomato paste)
5 cups beef stock
1/2 butternut squash (about 12 oz)
3/4 tsp garam masala
1 1/3 cups basmati rice
plain Greek yoghurt to serve

1. In a large pan, brown the beef with olive oil. Should take around 7 minutes, by which time beef should be broken up and starting to turn golden. Stir in onion, carrot, garlic, red bell pepper, ginger and chile, and a splash more oil. Cut off the cilantro leaves and set aside for later, then chop the stalks finely to give 1/4 cup. Add stalks to pan. Cook and stir for around 10 minutes on a medium heat until vegetables have softened.
2. Stir in curry paste, tomato paste, salt and pepper and HP sauce. After a few more minutes, add stock and bring to boil. Put lid on, and leave to bubble gently over medium-low heat for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile cut squash into 1/2" chunks. There is no need to peel it (I was surprised at this, but trust me, it is fine!). In a smaller pan, put a couple of TBSP of olive oil and add squash and garam masala. Put lid on pan and cook for around 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring every few minutes, until squash is softened and golden. Add rice, salt, pepper and 2 2/3 cups water and bring to boil. Put lid on and cook for 8 minutes over medium-low heat. Then turn heat off and leave to steam for further 8 minutes.
4. Fluff the rice up and then tip into the meat mixture and stir together.
5. Serve in bowls with a dollop of yoghurt on the top and a sprinkle of roughly chopped cilantro leaves.

The sign of a job well done

You know when you have got it right, culinarily speaking, in our house. This is what you see:

 

(occasionally accompanied by a similar mess on the floor). If their evil wife/mother was any more lax with table manners, then she would let them simply lick the plate, and there would be even less evidence of the deliciousness that came before.

This weekend's crumbs came courtesy of an amazing cake recipe I found in Cooking Light magazine. In my more gullible moments, I like to think this means that it is therefore healthy, not fattening, and full of useful vitamins and stuff. Whether you join me in my gullible state or not, you simply have to agree that this one is delicious, and it will definitely be making another appearance chez Farrar some time soon. It definitely isn't a 'whip-out-a-bowl-a-couple-of-eggs-stir-and-bake-hey-presto' kind of cake, but the additional effort is well worth it, as the detritus above serves to prove.

Tropical Gingerbread Cake

cake:
oil spray
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 TBSP grated peeled fresh ginger root
2 large egg yolks
2 TBSP molasses
3/4 cup light coconut milk
4 large egg whites

frosting:
3 large egg whites
dash of salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

remaining ingredients:
1/3 cup orange marmelade
1/4 cup sliced crystallized candied stem ginger (or toasted flaked sweetened coconut, as in original)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly spray two 9" cake pans with oil spray.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir with a whisk.
4. Place butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and ginger in a large bowl and beat at medium speed until well blended (about 5 mins). Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses. At low speed, add flour mixture alternately with coconut milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
5. Place 4 egg whites in a large clean bowl. Beat with mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 TBSP at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.
6. Gently stir 1/4 of egg white mixture into batter, then gently fold in the remainder of the egg white mixture. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
7. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn out on to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. To prepare frosting, place 3 egg whites and dash of salt in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on high speed until foamy. Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to boil, then cook without stirring until temperature reaches 250 degrees F (I don't have a candy thermometer, so used a coffee thermometer I have that goes up to 220 and just guessed after that. The mixture started to caramelize and go brown shortly after it reached 220, so I stopped there.) Pour hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over the egg white mixture, beating at high speed all the time, until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla.
9. To assemble, place one cake layer on a plate and spread with the marmelade, then 1 cup of the frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over sides and top of assempted cake. Sprinkle top with ginger/coconut. Store loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Breakfast of Champions

During the week, the Farrars are lucky if they have time to spread cream cheese on a bagel in the mornings. And said bagel often ends up being eaten out of a box in the car on the way to school ("Don't get cream cheese on your shirt!") It doesn't seem to matter what time we wake up, it is always chaos; loud, disorganized, frantic, discombobulated.... well, chaotic chaos.

The weekends is a different matter! On Saturdays and Sundays, we relish not having to run out to the door followed by a checklist of  "Do you have your homework? Do you have your lunchbox? Do you have your phone? Where is your ballet stuff? No wrong car, the other one!" Of course, this is only replaced by a different kind of chaos which sounds something like this: "Quit fighting over the remote! No, it is not your turn with the iPad until the timer goes off! I realize you are in the middle of a very critical stage in Skylanders darling, but you clearly desperately need the bathroom, so pause it! then run, don't walk! No, I do not know why the DS isn't working. Yes, watching YouTube videos on your phone DOES count towards your screentime allowance..." It is no less loud, but at least it doesn't take place on the driveway where the neighbors can hear!

The rule in our house is that we eat breakfast late, and you can have screen time until that point, but not beyond, at least until the evening. In order to lure them away from the likes of Minecraft and the Xbox, breakfast needs to be good though. This is one of my favorite pancake recipes, which usually does the trick. Oh OK, it sometimes works, especially when in combination with the threat of lost allowance...

Cinnamon Pecan Pancakes
(Makes 18 4" pancakes)

2 large eggs
1 cup AP flour
1 cup wholewheat flour
1 1/2 cups milk
3 TBSP packed brown sugar
4 TBSP canola oil
2 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
canola oil spray

1. Beat eggs until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients (except oil spray) and beat until just smooth.
2. Heat a griddle over medium heat, and grease with oil spray.
3. Use a 1/4 cup measure to pour individual pancakes on to the griddle. Cook until browned underneath and then flip to cook other side until golden brown.

Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit (we like bananas and strawberries...quite frankly, who doesn't!)

A rising obsession..

I am falling in love with my bread maker all over again. I had forgotten how fulfilling it was. Don't get me wrong, we have had a stable relationship for some time, but we had been together for a long time and found we always did the same thing. We were in a rut, a tasty rut, no doubt, but a rut. We needed to invest more time and effort in our relationship, ring the changes, find new and exciting ways to connect. So, since the bread machine itself was making no effort to inject a bit of excitement into our union, I decided to take the initiative, and dusted off some old cookbooks and got googling. Two of this week's results are shown below. As you can see, our relationship feels new and fresh, and all thoughts of separation, or indeed nipping down to Safeway to buy a ready-made alternative are shelved.

Parmesan Garlic Rolls (from Food.com)
Makes about 28 mini rolls

1 cup water
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP non-fat dried milk powder
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 TBSP parmesan cheese (I used more than this)

1. Place first 7 ingredients in breadmaker pan and select dough cycle.
2. When cycle is finished, turn dough onto a floured countertop and divide into 28 1" diameter balls.
3. Grease a 13" x 9" pan with oil spray.
4. Place dough balls into pan evenly spaced. There will be gaps between them at this point.
5. Mix melted butter and garlic and pour over rolls, using a pastry brush to ensure that the top of each gets a coating.
6. Sprinkle with parmesan
9. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes-1 hour. By this point, the rolls should have doubled in size and may be touching each other. This is fine!
10. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and rolls should just pull apart. Serve warm if possible!

Olive and Pesto Focaccia
from Better Homes and Gardens' 'Best Bread Machine Recipes'

3/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup coarsely chopped green olives stuffed with pimentos
1/4 cup pesto

1. Add all ingredients except for pesto to breadmaker pan. Select dough cycle (for 1.5lb loaf)
2. When cycle is complete, remove dough from machine and place on a pizza pan, sprayed lightly with olive oil spray.
3. Use fingers to flatter dough into large circle about 1" deep, and dimple the surface lightly with finger tips.
4. Spread pesto over top of dough.
5. Leave in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes-1 hour, by which point, dough should have doubled in size.
6. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes until golden brown. Pesto will brown in the oven, but still taste delicious!

This loaf tastes very slightly of olives - just enough to give it a slight tang while not turning kids off! Mine didn't know there were olives in there, just another white lie of omission perpetrated by their mother!

Get Stuffed!

Yes, we Brits are renowned for our politeness. James Bond would lure an enemy to his demise by inviting him to "Perhaps you should succumb to my superior strength and prowess" where an American hero would no doubt tell his opponent to "Eat dirt, sucker!" Thus, I hope you can conclude that the title of today's post is not an invitation to leave, but rather an invitation to stuff some vegetables with deliciousness and create a veritable vegetarian feast.

The vegetables in question are bell peppers and portobello mushrooms, no doubt delicious as they are (although I have at least two children who might question that suggestion with regard to the latter). The two recipes that follow serve to make them even more irresistable however, and are favorites in the Farrar household (well, they at least eat the stuffing out of the mushrooms, even if the receptacle itself is subject to rejection).

The bell pepper recipe comes courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis, and is my favourite stuffed pepper recipe in part because she cooks the peppers surrounded by stock, and for a long time, so unlike with many stuffed pepper dishes, the peppers themselves are softened and fully cooked, whilst still holding their shape. I find that, with recipes that don't do this, the peppers stay pretty raw by the time the stuffing is cooked. The second reason why this is a hit with all five Farrars is that it uses mint, which is unexpected and just completely delicious!

The mushroom recipe comes from Good Food magazine, but all the ingredients are widely available in both the US and UK. There is something about the combination of pesto, lemon and cheese that just makes you feel happy.


Orzo-Stuffed Peppers
(4-6 servings)

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino/parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
4 cups low sodium chicken/vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups orzo
6 sweet bell peppers (red/yellow)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together zucchini, mint, tomatoes, cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Bring broth to boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add orzo and cook for 4 minutes. The orzo will only be partially cooked. Drain through a sieve, reserving the broth, and add orzo to the zucchini mixture. Stir to combine. Transfer the reserved broth to a 3 qt baking dish (I use a large stoneware dish, approx 15" x 8")
4. Slice to tops off the peppers and carefully remove the ribs and seeds. Cut a very thin slice off the bottom so that they will stand up.
5. Spoon the orzo mixture into the peppers and place them in the baking dish with the warmed broth.
6. Cover dish loosly with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle with the extra pecorino/parmesan. Continue baking (uncovered) until cheese is golden (about 15 minutes).
7. Remove from oven and gently transfer peppers to serving dish. Garnish with basil.

"We'll eat all of these, but we're not touching the mushrooms!"

Crunchy Pesto and Mozzarella Baked Mushrooms
(Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as part of a larger meal)

2 TBSP olive oil
Olive oil spray
1 onion, chopped
4 large portobello mushrooms, stalks removed and finely chopped
4 oz mascarpone
zest of one small lemon, or half a large lemon
4 TBSP pesto
5 oz ball mozzarella (i.e. not the dry block stuff, but the wet one that comes in liquid), cubed
1 oz dried breadcrumbs

1. Heat olive oil in small pan and cook onions and mushrooms stalks until soft (5-8 mins). Tip into a bowl and allow to cool slightly. Add mascarpone, lemon zest, pesto, mozzarella and seasoning.
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. With oil spray, grease a roasting tin large enough to accommodate the mushrooms, upside down, in a single layer. Divide stuffing between mushrooms, spreading out to fill the middle of each one. Top with crumbs and grinding of black pepper.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until mushrooms are tender and topping is crisp.