How to make friends and impress people

I went a pot-luck on Saturday night and was asked to bring bread. So I made some foccacia in the breadmaker. It never ceases to amaze me how impressed people are when you make homemade bread. I think they have this vision of me spending hours in a hot sweaty kitchen, energetically kneading huge mounds of dough. The thing is, when you have a breadmaker, it is incredibly easy to make bread. In fact, to be honest, I was out for a while on Saturday and had my 12 year old son make one of the loaves for me. Yes, the kitchen was coated in a fine film of flour, and some of the ingredients have inexplicably disappeared, having been 'put away' in the wrong place. But the loaf was beautiful. The recipe and the breadmaker are, quite simply, foolproof (in case my sensitive son is reading this, please don't read anything into the use of the word 'fool' darling, it's a turn of phrase!) If you have a breadmaker sitting idle, and fancy trying the focaccia recipe, then look at the blog entry for 3/25/13. You will, quite simply, make friends and impress people. And if you want to seal the deal, feel free to string them along with tales of endless, flour-covered, bicep-stimulating, kneading sessions in a sweaty kitchen.

Today, I decided to try something new in the breadmaker, and have been reliably informed by my daughter (quite a bread aficionado herself) that it is "very yummy", and this from a sullen pre-teen whose most effusive praise is often something like a mumbled "it's OK, I guess..." I take that as praise indeed, and certainly an indication that the recipe is worthy of an entry here. The basis for the recipe came from a Better Homes and Gardens publication called "Best Bread Machine Recipes", but I tweaked it using a different cheese and using the 'Dough-Only' cycle on the machine, so that I could take it out and shape it myself, making it much more like the Asiago Bread we often buy at the store (which is apparently yummy too, but often disappears before I get to taste it!).

So get your breadmaker out and set it to work.

Asiago Bread
(makes a 1.5lb loaf)

3/4 cup 2% milk
3 TBSP water
1 egg
1 TBSP butter, (soft, not straight out of the fridge)
3 cups bread flour
3/4 cup finely shredded Asiago cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1 rounded tsp active dry yeast

For topping:
olive oil
1/2 cup finely shredded Asiago cheese

1. Add ingredients to bread machine in order shown. (If you are setting the breadmaker to delay its start, make sure the yeast sits on top of the flour, without touching the other ingredients).
2. Set breadmaker to go on 'Dough-Only' cycle.
3. When breadmaker finishes, take dough out of machine and shape into a rectangle (about 1" thick) on a baking sheet sprayed lightly with olive oil spray.
4. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with shredded Asiago.
5. Leave the dough in a warm-ish place to rise (mine rises beautifully just set on the kitchen counter, or on a winter's day, sitting on top of the dryer in the laundry room) for about 45 minutes. By then it should have doubled in size.
6. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Best eaten fresh and still warm :-)

 

Any left-overs (yeah,right) make a great crunchy topping for your next mac and cheese, pasta bake etc. Just whizz the remaining bread up in the food processor and sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.

Tweaked and Twisted makes the cut

I have had a recipe for Lentil Moussaka in my recipe file for years. It's on a crumpled post-it (except the non-sticky kind, which makes me think, I've had it for a really long time!). The ink is all smudged, and there is no source listed. Whoever you are, sorry I cannot credit you. However, since the recipe has never worked right, I expect you should be glad that I can't. I have tried it several times (ever the optimist) and never has it really come out well. It's been dry, not cheesy enough, too much aubergine/eggplant, you name it. But, call me stubborn, this week I decided to have another go and made a few tweaks and twists.

I have to say, I think this one now makes the cut for a blog entry. It was juicy, with enough aubergine/eggplant to merit being called a moussaka, but without it being overpowering, and enough creamy topping to keep it all moist and cheesy.

I would love to tell you that all three kids ate it, but no. One out of three isn't bad though, and let's be honest, if I was to follow all their advice, I would be wearing neon, worshiping Taylor Swift and laughing at sitcoms on the Disney Channel as if they were actually funny. As much as I like my kids to eat, I cannot cater to their preferences every night. My policy as always been "hey, there is bread on the table, you won't starve".

Lentil Moussaka
Serves 6

6 oz red lentils
1 28oz can diced tomatoes and 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 vegetable stock cube
225ml boiling water
olive oil
1 large aubergine/eggplant sliced into 1/2" slices and then each slice halved
1 large red onion, finely chopped
4 eggs
20 oz light cream cheese (Neufchatel)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp onion powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put lentils, tinned tomatoes, garlic, oregano and nutmeg into a saucepan. Dissolve stock cube in boiling water and add that to pan. Bring to boil, and then simmer for 20 minutes, by which point, lentils should be cooked.
3. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large skillet and saute the aubergine/eggplant with the onion until lightly browned and softened.
4. Spray a 9" square ovenproof dish with olive oil spray. Pour in half of the lentil mixture. Top with a layer of the aubergine/eggplant slices and onion. Then pour over the rest of the lentil mixture.
5. Beat eggs with softened cream cheese, onion powder and nutmeg. Spread this mixture over the top of the lentils in the ovenproof dish, spreading it out to the edges of the dish.
6. This can bubble over in the oven, so put a baking sheet under the shelf you plan to place the dish on to before putting the dish in the oven.
7. Bake the moussaka in the oven for 25-35 minutes until the top is set and lightly browned.

Where's the beef?

Right here, in all its glory :-)

 

Some people reading this blog might assume that I am a vegetarian, apart from the odd foray into the poultry aisle. This is not the case, although my family do try and eat vegetarian meals at least 2 or 3 times per week. This is partly for health reasons, and partly because I like vegetarian food (and the other four Farrars seem content to let me control the menu... most of the time. They are certainly content to let me cook it all!). We eat red meat at most once per week for dinner, and I would not want to give that up - there is nothing like a good beef stew, and again, this is where my love affair with my slow cooker and Judith Finlayson can shine!

This recipe is taken from Judith Finlayson's 'The Healthy Slow Cooker', and although it contains more fat than some of her recipes, this can be minimized by using very lean beef. According to my beloved Judith, the dish is also apparently an "excellent source" of vitamins C, B12 and K and potassium, iron and zinc. Can't argue with that! The only tweak I made was to use ground cumin, instead of cumin seeds. I'm sorry, Judith, but life is too short to be toasting cumin seeds and then grinding them up in a mortar. I served the beef on a bed of cous cous with a side of roasted cauliflower (recipe follows below). It was delicious, and the very meagre leftovers are being enjoyed by my husband today, courtesy of the microwave at work. He may be still hungry afterwards, but his taste-buds will be happy!

Mediterranean Beef Ragout
serves 5-6

1/4 cup AP flour
1 tso dried thyme leaves, crumbled
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 lbs trimmed stewing beef, cut into 1" cubes
2 TBSP olive oil, divided
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 roasted red bell peppers, thinly sliced and then cut into 1" pieces (I used one jar of Safeway's fire-roasted peppers)
1/2 cup sliced pitted green olives (I used pimento stuffed Spanish Queen olives from a jar, quartered)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large ziploc bag, combine flour, thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add beef and shake until evenly coated. Set aside, shaking any excess flour from beef and reserving.
2. Heat 1 TBSP of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown beef in batches. Transfer to slow cooker.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are softened (about 3 minutes). Sprinkle in cumin and remaining flour mixture and cook, stirring, for a further minute. Add stock, wine, tomatoes (with their juice) and bay leaves, and bring to the boil. Cook stirring until slightly thickened (about 2 mins). Add to slow cooker and stir well.
4. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours until mixture is bubbly and beef is tender. Stir in roasted peppers, olives and parsley. Cover and cook on High for 15 minutes until peppers and olives are heated through.

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower
serves 5 good appetites

2 small/medium heads of cauliflower (I used one green, one white), divided into florets
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP minced garlic (about 4 large cloves)
salt and pepper
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Toss first 4 ingredients together in a 9x13 baking pan, and bake for 25 minutes.
3. Sprinkle on the parmesan cheese and the parsley and either bake for a further 5 minutes, or broil until cheese is golden.
\

Oh-so-very-spring chicken

You remember last week when, in a fit of pique at evidence of my advancing age (and consequent lack of coordination), I posted several recipes involving ancient grains? Well, this is the antidote to that. I saw this recipe in my favorite British food magazine Good Food, and how could I turn down something called 'Spring Chicken'?

Not that I am getting any younger this week, and I did trip over the doggy stair gate this morning, so my coordination is still not what it was. But, since you are apparently only as young as you feel, I am opting to change my mindset, at least through the recipes I choose. Clearly I express my emotions through the food I put on the table. Not to worry, unless I start posting up anything involving blood oranges...

Posting a recipe called Spring Chicken also gives me the opportunity to post a link to one of the classic Swedish Chef skits. I wish I had his panache in the kitchen ;-)
Swedish Chef Spring Chicken Skit

Anyway, this dish (involving a more conventional chicken, that was not still springing when it made it into my kitchen) went down a treat. As you will no doubt have noticed, I do like one-pot meals, but often they are a little wintery and more suited to a cold dark evening, rather than a warm sunny spring dinnertime, when there is still abundant daylight outside. This dish is an exception, as it really does taste light and appropriate to a warmer season.

The recipe is taken from Good Food Magazine (available internationally as an app on your iPad from iTunes) and the only tweaks I made were adding a little white wine (to deglaze the pan, honestly, that's all!), and since I couldn't find anything called 'spring greens' here in CA, I used a bag with a mixture of turnip, collard and mustard greens. In addition, I added more carrots than were listed here, so that it really did feel like a well-rounded one-pot meal, and consequently added more stock, to ensure that they all cooked, and more pesto and creme fraiche to flavor the sauce.

Don't forget some bread to mop up all the deliciousness left behind by the spoon.

Spring Chicken One-Pot
serves 4

1 TBSP olive oil
8 boneless chicken thighs
1 onion, sliced
7 oz bacon, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 large handfuls of mixed greens (mustard, turnip, collard, kale...)
28 fl oz chicken stock
11 oz baby new potatoes (halve if necessary)
3 TBSP creme fraiche
3 TBSP pesto

1. Heat oil in a large heavy based pan with a lid. Season and brown chicken all over. Remove chicken to a plate and set aside. Cook onion and bacon in same pan for 5 mins until softened and lightly colored.
2. Return chicken to pan and add remaining ingredients except creme fraiche and pesto. Season with plenty of ground black pepper.
3. Bring to the boil, then cover and gently simmer for 30-40 minutes until potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through.
4. Stir in creme fraiche and pesto.

Sunshine, in muffin form

OK, so I'm not boasting, but we get our fair share of sunshine around here in California. Don't hate me - I spent the first 29 years of my life in England, so I'm owed a bit of daylight, in its brightest form. Having said that, my dog decided that it was too hot for walking today - I say decided because he simply wandered off into a patch of long grass off the trail and lay down in the shade panting. The upside of this is that it gave me time to bake when I got home, and who am I to turn down a recipe called Sunny Zucchini Muffins? And these really are sunshine in muffin form.

I kind of like it when ingredients are used in less expected ways - don't get me wrong, zucchini is fabulous as a vegetable side, and a great addition to savory dishes, no doubt, but I love it in sweet dishes too. And for this recipe, since I didn't have the walnuts in the original recipe, I used some pine nuts I had in the cupboard (another impulse buy in bulk from Costco, with visions of homemade pesto all the time). Maybe it is my response to never having had a rebellious phase in my youth. I didn't dabble with danger: never got a tattoo, have never ridden a motorbike, have only two piercings, one in each ear, and never climbed out of my bedroom window for a secret liaison (wouldn't have actually been physically dangerous, given it was on the first floor, but the parental wrath would no doubt have made up for that). But whilst there is no skull and cross-bones or esoteric Japanese phrase adorning my pasty white British shoulder, I will make a stand against convention by using zucchini and pine nuts in a muffin. Oh, and while we're at it, my favorite cake is carrot cake. I know, I am a badass. Mess with me, and I may make putty of you by offering you a brownie or delicious pecan bar. Hah!

The recipe is taken from my favorite muffin cookbook 750 Best Muffin Recipes by Camilla Saulsbury. So for those of you not as fortunate with the weather, here really is a dose of sunshine in muffin form. Take a bite, lean back on that deck-chair, even if it is in the living room, and soak up some rays.

Sunny Zucchini Muffins
Makes 12

2 cups AP flour
1 TBSP baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup golden raisins

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray cups of 12-cup muffin tin with canola oil spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until well blended. Whisk in milk, oil, and lemon zest until blended.
4. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended.
5. Gently fold in zucchini, raisins and pine nuts.
6. Use a large scoop to divide batter evenly between muffin cups of prepared tin.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 mins, or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes and then remove muffins to a rack to cool.

Im-pulse Salad

Do you ever find yourself wandering around the supermarket, and you notice a product you've never seen before, and pick it up, thinking "Oooh, that looks good. I'm sure I could use that for something yummy". Such impulse buys are all very well, but more often than not, I find that they sit for weeks, drifting ever farther back in the fridge, neglected.  And many times, when they surface, they get thrown out when you realize it is already several weeks after the best before date. Hopefully that's not just me.

The most recent such impulse buy was this:

I say 'recent', but these poor neglected lentils have actually been sitting at the back of the fridge behind the yoghurt for a number of weeks. Fortunately, judging by the use-by date, they keep for months, thanks to the technological benefits of vacuum packaging. So, having found them today, I took advantage of this and decided to actually use them, lest those poor lentils feel completely unloved.

Having removed them from the package, I was obviously thrilled to discover they were quite possibly one of the least attractive items in my fridge. Quite frankly, once freed from their plastic haven, they plopped into the bowl resembling something like a brick, a brick the green-brown-black color of the puddles that my dog inexplicably likes to drink from while out walking. Fortunately, unlike the puddles, they were at least odorless. But you could build houses from these bricks they are so dense. Undetered, I managed to use my fingers to gently prise the lentils apart and ended up with a slightly more attractive bowl of lentils (although still the color of stagnant puddles). It was a step in the right direction, no doubt, but they were still not exactly screaming "Eat me". So I raided my fridge and gave them a makeover worthy of Ty Pennington by coming up with the following concoction, which I have to say is pretty tasty, and not at all unattractive. I have no doubt that at least one child will need a full detailed list of all ingredients before venturing to taste a forkful, but I am reasonably confident that with full disclosure, they will all eat it. And if not, my lunch tomorrow is sorted!

If nothing else, this salad is a lesson in the potential of impulse buys, not to mention the potential of pulses, hence the name I've given the dish. Remember what I said about the Brits and puns? Ha! Best to just humor us, seriously...

Im-pulse Salad

Salad:
1 package of steamed lentils (Trader Joes' package is 17.6oz - if you can't get this, just cook up some green lentils in roughly the same quantity)
1 15.5oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
5 oz grape tomatoes, quartered
3 spring onions, finely sliced
1 TBSP fresh chives, snipped
3 TBSP finely chopped fresh dill
4 oz soft goat cheese, crumbled

Vinaigrette:
3 fl oz olive oil
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Mix together all of salad ingredients except for goat cheese.
2. Make vinaigrette by whisking together ingredients. Add about 1/4 of the vinaigrette to the salad. That is all you will need, to my taste anyway, but the rest is great on a green salad!
3. Gently fold through the goat cheese.

Another oldie but goodie

We are getting fonder and fonder of our ancient grains around here, and none more so than farro, and not just because it shares so many similarities with our last name. Trust me, there is nothing a traditional Brit loves more than a pun or play on words, and with farro and Farrar, the possibilities are endless!

The following dish was declared by my daughter to be "the best meal I've ever had". Now granted, we don't exactly take her to fine dining establishments very often, and neither are Michelin-starred chefs prone to popping in to cook dinner for us (although if there are any out there reading this with a free evening, my kitchen is always available!). Still, I took her exuberance as a pretty good sign that this dish was a keeper, especially as the meal was greeted with the same kind of response from all around the table, and left-overs were far from copious.

The recipe comes from a print-out I made and stashed away in a folder ages ago. According to the crumpled print-out, the source was saveur.com. My thanks go out to them :-) The farro works beautifully in a risotto, as the grains hold their own and don't become mushy. I've tweaked a couple of things, but not much.

Farro Risotto
(serves 5, with leftovers for two lunchboxes)

4 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2" cubes (about one average sized squash)
6 TBSP olive oil
3/4 tsp dried sage
2 cups pearled or semi-pearled farro
6 TBSP butter
8 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBSP fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken/vegetable stock
4 cups chopped shitake mushrooms (shitakes were kind of pricey, so I did a mixture of them and regular white mushrooms)
2 1/2 cups grated parmesan
2 TBSP creme fraiche

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss squash with 4 TBSP olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes until edges are browned and crisp. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with sage.
2. Meanwhile bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add farro, turn heat down and cook for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 cups of the cooking liquid, and set aside.
3. In a large pan, heat remaining 2 TBSP olive oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute for around 3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

4. Melt butter in the same pan over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic and thyme and let cook until shallots begin to caramelize (around 3 minutes). Add farro and stir, coating each kernel with butter. Add in the white wine and let it simmer off.
5. Turn heat down to low and begin alternately adding in stock and farro cooking liquid, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously with each addition. Let the liquid get absorbed by the farro before adding more. This should take 25-30 minutes. After the last addition, stir until about 1/2 of the liquid has been absorbed and then add in mushrooms and squash.
6. Fold 2 cups of parmesan and stir until just melted. Fold in creme fraiche and season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with remaining parmesan.

Oi! Who are you calling ancient?

I fell up the stairs the other day. Now, I realize this raises a lot of questions (including "Whaaaaat?" and "How is that even possible?") but I won't get into that in a blog that purports to be about cooking (I was carrying a muffin at the time, but I don't think that is related). Anyway, I was chatting to a friend yesterday, who is a Physical Therapist, and she told me that as you get older, it isn't that you trip and potentially fall more often, it is that your reaction time is much slower, so more of those trips result in actual falls. Hmmm... as a perceptive person, I immediately grasped that she was calling me 'old'. I could have looked at this glass-half-full, and determined that, since she is a Pediatric Physical Therapist, maybe she just meant over 18. But no, that would be naive, and I'm old enough to know the perils of naivety. Sigh.

So in honor of my ever advancing age, today's recipe features an ancient grain.  Ancient grains are called thus because they have been around unchanged for millenia, and they include, Kamut, Teff,  Millet, and the Farrar favorites, farro and quinoa (the latter is technically a grain, but rather a seed, but it is usually lumped in with them). Now, I suppose I should think myself lucky that my 'friend' didn't describe me as 'ancient', but merely old. If you're a grain however, being ancient is considered a good thing (in fact some people refer to these grains with the less 'ageist' term heritage grains). As well as sharing the benefits of wholegrains, they are also often a richer source of nutrients such as protein, Vitamin B2, iron, phosphorus, copper, selenium, manganese, magnesium, calcium and zinc.

Today's featured oldie is spelt, which is a distant cousin of wheat (so not necessarily OK for those who are gluten-intolerant, but it can be tolerated by many), and is also known as dinkel wheat. It has plenty of fiber, manganese, protein and zinc.

Thanks Bob.

As someone of an advancing age, I should also note that studies have shown that the fiber content in wholegrains such as spelt has significant cardiovascular benefits for post-menopausal women....

More importantly, certainly where the younger Farrars are concerned, it tastes good. However, I did shy away from describing it to my family as an 'ancient' grain, lest they assume their mother was serving them up something old and mouldy from the farthest back corner of the fridge (you know, that ziploc bag you discover months later, with contents such that it is nigh on impossible to determine what it originally contained).

This salad disappeared off plates pretty quickly, and the scant leftovers were slurped up in lunchboxes the following day.

The recipe is taken from one of my favorite sofa-reads, Good Food magazine. This is a British publication, but you can get it internationally through an app on the iPad. It is worth a read - beautiful photography and fun recipes. Occasionally, it is hard to get hold of some ingredients (why oh why can I not buy fromage frais in this country?), but there are usually conceivable substitutions. Talking of hard to get hold of, I also found it a little challenging to get hold of spelt - I ended up finding it in one local Whole Foods, but another didn't stock it. If you can't find it, then I would definitely suggest substituting barley, farro, or bulgar wheat.

Warm Spelt Salad with Roast Tomato and Aubergine (Eggplant to you Americans out there)
Serves 6

10.5 oz spelt
1 aubergine/eggplant, trimmed and cut into 1/2" dice
2 large courgette/zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1/2" dice
1.5 tsp ground cumin
3 fl oz olive oil
13 oz cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
large handful of basil leaves, julienned
large handful of Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
6 oz crumbled feta cheese
1.5 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook spelt in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 45 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse and drain well.
3. Put eggplant and zucchini in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with cumin and drizzle with 1.5 TBSP of the oil. Season with salt and pepper and roast for 12 minutes. Then add tomatoes to the tray. Roast for further 8-10 minutes, or until eggplant is tender and tomatoes are just wilted.
4. Put spelt, roasted vegetables, basil, parsley and feta in a large bowl. Combine remaining oil and balsamic vinegar, add to the salad and gently toss.

Bake on!

If that were a flag, I would fly it. However, it is a tea-towel, so I guess I'll just bake, then dry the dishes with it!

I'm sure everyone has days when one batch of muffins just isn't enough. No? That really is just me? Well, don't judge - today is one of those days. After all, I have a reputation to keep up! At a recent school event, all the boys were asked to write a message for their mother, and then had their photo taken holding that message. This could be a scary prospect (visions of "Mum, could you please do more laundry so that I have clean underwear EVERY day", or "Mum, you're really embarrassing - could you drop me off farther away from the school gate", or "Mum, I don't understand why you can't help me with my math homework any more" flashed across the paranoid section of my mind). However, I needn't have been concerned, because this is what I got:

 

I was pretty chuffed to see that - chuffed enough to ignore the spelling of 'mom' anyway ;-) What can I say, my kids are American.

 

And of course, it has spurred me on to uphold my reputation, with the assistance of Camilla Saulsbury. One recipe from her book "750 Best Muffin Recipes" which I have returned to several times is for Chocolate Chip Muffins. Today I decided to tweak the recipe a touch by adding some ginger, on the understanding that, well,  ginger is fabulous, and I like it, so there. If you are not a ginger aficionado, then feel free to omit this.

 

 

 

Chocolate Chip and Ginger Muffins

(Makes 16 regular sized muffins)

 

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped crystallized candied ginger (you can get this at Trader Joe's)

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line muffin pans with paper liners.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, butter, oil and vanilla until well blended. Whisk in buttermilk until blended.

5. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended.

6. Gently fold in chocolate chips and ginger.

7. Divide batter equally between muffin cups.

8. Bake in preheated oven for 22-27 minutes or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes and then transfer muffins to cooling rack to cool.



A drink is too wet without one

 

Time for my morning cuppa, and fortunately this morning, it comes with a side of muffin! I love to bake, and muffins are a bit of a regular feature on the Farrar menu. A few months back I bought a book called 750 Best Muffin Recipes by Camilla Saulsbury. One quick flick through it, and I was tempted to do a 'Julie and Julia' with it, and bake muffins for the next couple of years straight. However, 'Kimberley and Camilla' just doesn't have the same ring to it, and I couldn't decide who would play me in the blockbuster movie.

 

So I settled for dabbling, dipping and casually experimenting instead. So far so good. In fact, so far, so completely brilliant. If my love affair with Slow-Cooker Queen Judith Finlayson doesn't pan out, then I may give Camilla a call - the woman has serious muffin-chops (and yes, my husband knows, and is happy with this kind of open relationship, as long as he gets regular muffins).

 

Today's delectable example of Camilla's prowess is a Mandarin Muffin. Now, I confess, in the original, it is a Tangerine Muffin, but I didn't have any of those, so I substituted mandarins. I'm guessing tangerines work wonderfully, but mandarins did pretty superbly as a substitute:

 

 

 

Mandarin Muffins

(makes 16 regular sized muffins)

 

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 TBSP finely grated mandarin zest (or tangerines...)

3 cups AP flour

1 TBSP baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup Greek yoghurt (plain whole milk yoghurt in original, but I couldn't find it)

1/2 cup freshly squeezed mandarin juice (or tangerine...)

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl, use the back of a spoon to mash together the sugar and the zest. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. In a large bowl, using a mixer on medium-high speed, beat 1 cup of sugar/zest mixture with the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fluffy and pale yellow. Beat in yoghurt and juice until blended.

5. With mixer on low speed, beat flour mixture into the yoghurt mixture until just blended.

6. Divide batter equally among muffin cups. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

7. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, before removing muffins to a cooling rack.

 

 

No vampires here!

I am pleased to report that as of last night, Emerald Hills has been cleared of all vampire activity. How do I know this? Because last night all five Farrars partook of a dinner so laced with garlic, that no vampire could have survived the resulting cloud of garlic breath in which the area is now cloaked. In fact, given how much my mouth is still reeling, I can say with reasonable certainty that most of the surrounding cities should be safe from blood-sucking beasts for some time to come. And if you saw me face to face today, and I breathed in your direction, my sincere apologies.

Despite the after-effects of garlic consumption, I can however highly recommend the pork dish we all ate. And I have halved the quantity of garlic and raw onion in the recipe below. If you wish to be faithful to the original (or you have a colony of vampires squatting in your garage that you want rid of), then feel free to double to quantities below. Next time, I will be going with the quantities shown below - I want to keep my friends, after all...

The Brits are not renowned for their grilling prowess, and this is understandable, given that we live under a soggy cloud of drizzle for much of the year, interspersed with occasional bouts of torrential downpour, and, depending on where you live, slushy snow. There's a reason England is green. I remember well my husband's birthday one year, when we were staying in a Scottish mountain hideaway with a bunch of friends. He had decided that, come hell or high water, he was going to barbecue. Turns out it was high water that came, and a lot of it. I have a photo somewhere of the birthday boy standing in full waterproofs, under an umbrella, tending to a waterlogged pile of charcoal, as he grilled local venison sausages. The photo was taken through a (closed) window, as, birthday or no birthday, we all refused to join him and he was the only one who would go outside to do the actual grilling. We are British, doesn't mean we are stupid :-) And we all set the table... it was a beautiful table setting... took a lot of effort....

Here is a grilling recipe however, for which my husband, on a sunny California Sunday evening, needed no protection from the elements. It came out beautifully, succulent, moist and flavorful, even if the garlic in the sauce was a little overpowering for my tastes, hence the tweaked version below. The original was in Cooking Light Magazine, one of my favorite reads.

Argentinian Pork
(serves 5-6 healthy appetites)

12 TBSP olive oil, divided
2 cups fresh parsley leaves (and thinner stalks), divided
1 1/3 cups fresh cilantro leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 1lb pork tenderloins, trimmed
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 tsp ground black pepper
Cooking spray
2 TBSP fresh oregano leaves
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 TBSP sherry vinegar
2 garlic cloves, chopped (original recipe has 4)
1 shallot, chopped (original recipe has 2)

1. Combine 4 TBSP olive oil, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 2/3 cup chopped cilantro, cumin and red pepper in a shallow dish. Add pork. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, turning once.
2. Preheat grill to medium-high.
3. To make sauce: combine 1 1/2 cups parsley, 2/3 cups cilantro, 1/2 tsp salt, oregano, and remaining ingredients in a food processor. Pulse 10 times. Drizzle 1/2 cup olive oil through food chute with processor on.
3. When you are ready to grill, sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Place on grill rack coated with cooking spray and grill for 8 minutes. Turn pork over and grill for a further 7 minutes or until a thermometer registers 145 degrees F. Remove pork from grill and let stand for 5 minutes. Slice crosswise and serve with sauce.

The best carrot cake EVER!

Let me start by saying that I have tried a LOT of carrot cakes in my time. There is a muffin top of the metaphorical variety, upon which I look down each day, which serves to prove that fact admirably. My children, and the pregnancies during which they 'occupied' that part of my body, are only around 70% responsible for its current appearance. The remaining 30% must be attributed to several addictions, of which carrot cake is just one.

When I have made carrot cake myself, I have occasionally strayed from my usual path, but I always find myself returning to this recipe. I have tried a number of alternatives over the years, but none of them came close. I don't know why I bothered trying them to be honest, since this recipe came from my mother. Mum is an amazing cook - the kind of cook who produces a three course meal, satisfying numerous predilections and special diets simultaneously, with multiple components, all miraculously ready at precisely the right time, and all without breaking a sweat. Add to that, that she seems to make less than half the mess I always create in the kitchen when simply making a sandwich, and you can see why I admire her so much. I also hold her, in no insignificant regard, responsible for my own love of cooking and baking. I remember many happy hours spent 'helping' her by stirring things on the stove (including those things where the recipe stated explicitly that they should be left undisturbed), and even more hours spent licking every last molecule of cake batter from her mixing bowl. I try to remember these formative 'helping' moments, when my own children want to join me in the kitchen (but did I mention how much mess I can make on my own? Imagine what damage underage Farrars could do en masse!)

I should add that this is not your usual carrot cake - I find traditional carrot cake can be dry, and this is quite possibly the most moist cake your taste buds will ever have the pleasure of touching, surprisingly so since it is made with wholemeal flour. This is also often not the prettiest cake on the block - I have found that it usually sinks slightly in the middle, so it might not win you a cake contest based on looks alone. Now, no one ever argues with the superiority of moist over dry. Over the years, I have, thanks to personal experience, grown to be more accepting of saggy middles (see above), and in any case, once you've tasted it, you will forgive this cake its slightly sunken center. But where the other key variation is concerned, I have been met with more than a few suspicious frowns over the years, and occasionally a flash of anticipatory disappointment. Rather than being slathered with thick cream cheese frosting, this cake is delicately daubed with a mixture of apricot jam and lemon juice and dotted with walnuts. Now, suspend your anxiety - I assure you that this is worth a try. The acidity of the topping cuts the sweet moist cakiness of the carroty goodness below. Honestly... go on... live dangerously! And if Mum and I don't win you over, then you can always slather the same cake recipe below with cream cheese frosting, and it will be just as moist and delicious, I'm sure.

Carrot Cake
(makes a 7" round cake, 2" deep)

Cake:
8oz light soft brown sugar
6 fl oz canola oil
2 eggs
4 oz wholemeal flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
5 oz coarsely grated carrots
2 oz chopped walnuts

Topping:
2 TBSP apricot jam
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 oz chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spray a 7" tin (preferably springform), at least 2.5" deep, with canola oil spray, and line bottom with parchment paper.
3. Put sugar in a mixing bowl and gradually beat in the canola oil, then the eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a small bowl.
5. Add to sugar/oil/egg mixture and stir until combined.
6. Stir in carrots and walnuts.
7. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake in center of oven for approximately 1 hour 10 minutes, until cake is firm to the touch and risen.
8. Let cake stand in its tin for 3 minutes, and then turn it out onto a cooling rack.
9. To make topping, boil jam and lemon juice together in a small pan on the stove for 2-3 minutes.
10. Use a brush to immediately spread over the cake (doesn't have to be completely cool when you do this), then dot the walnuts over the top straight away so that they stick to the top.

SLOW DOWN!

No, not another slow-cooker recipe. yes, I know I obviously have a long-standing, and now very public, love affair with my crockpot (my husband knows), but here you need nothing more than an oven. This is a killer side dish, and four out of five of the Farrars love it. Picky number 3 is a different matter, but hey, you can't please all the people all the time.  He does however like to mess with the ingredients as I try to cook....

Now, I love me some Barefoot Contessa. I find her TV programme on the Food Network immensely relaxing, and I swear our hyperactive, sensory-seeking puppy does too, as he loves nothing more than to nap on my lap as I soak up some Ina while the kids are in school. It's half an hour of relaxed bliss in an otherwise frantic life. It is just lovely to briefly dip my toes into the life of someone who spends most of her days in her top-notch, luxury, converted Hamptons barn-kitchen, except when she is oput in her 3 acre herb garden plucking fresh goodies from the fertile soil, or driving the Mercedes to the florist and dreaming up table arrangements. I can't say it has impacted our family wholesale: the only barn we have in our yard is a plastic cabinet containing earthquake supplies; I don't think my minivan has ever visited a florist, at least not with me at the wheel; our garden basil patch had its inaugural season last year and is approximately 2 feet square; and the only table arrangement you will see at my house most nights is wipe-clean mats and an open bottle of red wine.

This recipe is taken from Ina Garten's 'Back to Basics' book. The only tweaks I have made since I started cooking this is that I cook the tomatoes at a lower temperature and for longer than she recommends. This is often because I am cooking something else simultaneously, and I don't want the oven set to the 450 degrees she recommends. I also use less olive oil, and prefer Roma tomatoes, as I find they hold together a bit better.

Roasted Tomatoes with Basil
Serves 4 (would probably serve 5, if all were willing...)

12 firm roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise with seeds removed (but leave cores intact)
1/4 cup good olive oil (I use less)
1 1/2 TBSP aged balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
handful of basil leaves, julienned

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Arrange tomatoes in a 9x13 pan, cut sides up.
3. Drizzle over oil and balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle with garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 35-40 minutes until tomatoes start to caramelize and flavors are concentrated.
5. Sprinkle basil over the top and serve warm.

It's a long way from Mexico...

...where I was born. In fact according to wiki answers, it is just shy of 5 1/2 thousand miles. I seriously doubt that the village shop near my home sells jalapenos, and to be quite frank, the farthest south I have been on this continent is San Diego.

Fortunately, I now live somewhere MUCH closer, even if I haven't made it across the border yet. And I live somewhere where there is much excellent Mexican food on offer. And often offered with a pitcher of margaritas or a negro modelo just to sweeten the deal.

Sometimes, I forget my British cuisine roots, and also attempt to cook Mexican. Now, don't laugh: bear in mind that this is Mexican cooked by a pasty pale Brit, with a wimpy tolerance for spicy heat, so it probably doesn't deserve to be called Mexican. But hey, it's tasty, and all five of the family slurp this up. Can't argue with that.

This recipe is a mixture of various recipes I have found on websites over the year, tweaked and twisted by yours truly in her own pale, pasty way.

Chicken Tortilla Soup in the Crockpot
Serves 5 (sometimes with leftovers)

For crockpot:
canola oil spray
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 12oz bag frozen corn (no need to defrost)
1 can black beans, low sodium (14.5 oz)
1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added (14.5 oz)
1 can enchilada sauce (10oz) - I use mild or medium (see above!)
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chopped green chilis (no need to drain)
1 TBSP ground cumin
1 TBSP chili powder
1 tsp salt (omit, if you are not using no-salt added tomatoes)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

To serve:
finely chopped green onions
chopped tomatoes
chopped avocado
chopped cilantro (coriander leaves for all you other pasty Brits out there)
sour cream
shredded sharp cheddar

1. Spray the crockpot with oil spray and put all crockpot ingredients listed above in there (yep, no browning, no nothing, just throw it all in).
2. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Remove chicken from crockpot and use two forks on a chopping board to shred it. It should just fall apart.
4. Put chicken back into the crockpot and stir.
5. Serve in bowls with crusty bread (I know, very Mexican) and the toppings listed above.
DELISH!

Spag Bol Evolution

The first meal my husband ever cooked for me was good old 'Spag Bol' (a.k.a Spaghetti Bolognese), which is pretty much a staple amongst college students in the UK. And as far as I can remember, no one ever called it anything other than Spag Bol - many were probably unaware it had a longer name.

I remember being thrilled that he was cooking for me, although vaguely concerned that he put carrots in it. Carrots? In Spag Bol? Don't get me wrong, I have never been to Bologna, and I'm no purist (as you know from my previous post, I even serve risotto more than two minutes after it has finished cooking - oh the shame..). But carrots?

Anyway, clearly I wasn't too bothered, as we have been together 22 years since then. I seem to remember that I broke one of his wine glasses that night, and we ended up picking shards of cheap glass off a disgusting college dorm kitchen floor. But hey, he can't have been too bothered, as we have been together 22 years since then.

The Spag Bol of our college days has evolved considerably since then - a process of selective adaptation of which Darwin himself would be proud. Gone is the ground beef, and in its place, is ground turkey combined with some finely chopped mushrooms (I know I said I didn't believe in hiding vegetables, but I do get a sneaky sense of pleasure out of watching my youngest son eat his share of 10 oz of mushrooms - I know, I am evil). Gone are the carrots too, and in their place, some finely chopped sauteed onion and fresh basil (fresh herbs - couldn't afford them in college!). Gone is the spaghetti - honestly, I don't see the point, and have you ever seen my kids trying to eat spaghetti? Any onlookers need hazmat suits and a full shower afterwards. And it has become a baked pasta dish too, because, quite simply, there is nothing more tasty than a topping of melted bubbly cheese.

I like to think that this evolved Spag Bol is tastier and healthier than its distant ancestor, and more worthy of such an unassuming, but catchy, moniker. But that would be presumptuous of me - you would have to ask its creator, my husband. He would probably say that yes, it is tastier, but that might be because he wants this to last another 22 years at least :-)

I recommend accompanying this with a glass of full bodied Zinfandel (and using a drop of the same in the recipe). Of course, all those years ago, we would probably have slugged back a couple of bottles of Newcastle Brown or a glass of Lambrusco, but then, we have clearly evolved too :-)

Baked Bolognese
Serves 6

13.25oz pack of wholegrain penne
2 TBSP olive oil
1lb ground turkey
1 medium onion, finely diced
10 oz mushrooms, chopped very finely (preferably with one of those onion-chopper thingies)
1 24oz jar f your favorite marinara sauce (I use Safeway Select's)
1/2 cup red wine
large handful of basil leaves, chopped
handful of grated sharp cheddar
handful of grated mozzarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

1. Heat a large panful of water to boiling point, and cook penne according to directions (because you're going to bake it in a sauce, only simmer the pasta in the water for the lowest cooking time in the range given - my box said 9-11 mins, so I did it for 9 minutes after it had returned to the boil). Drain and leave to one side.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, then saute onions until just starting to soften (about 4 minutes). Add ground turkey and break it up with a spatula as it browns.
3. When all the turkey is browned, add the mushrooms and stir until they are softened and releasing their juices (about 3 minutes).
4. Add the jar of marinara sauce. Then, DON'T rinse out the jar - pour the wine into it, replace the lid, and shake. Then pour the delicious contents into the skillet.
5. Bring the whole lot to the boil, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
6. Add the basil, and stir in.

7. Then stir in the cooked pasta and transfer the whole lot to an ovenproof dish (I find an 11" square one is about the right size), and top with the cheeses.
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until cheese is starting to brown and is bubbly.

If you are not dribbling now, then you either have admirable willpower, poor salivary glands, or you're lactose-intolerant...

For the love of fungi

Ah fungus. This is a food about which the Farrars don't always agree. I am gradually winning the kids over however, and now two out of three will consider letting a mushroom past their lips. Let's just be optimistic and say that number three is a work in progress. Not that he has never eaten a mushroom, but only when hidden in a bolognese sauce (amazing how mushrooms look like more ground turkey when chopped up really small....).

My favorite fungal recipe is undoubtedly this corker from Delia Smith. For those of you unfamiliar with Delia, she is the Julia Child of the UK. Prolific cookbook writer, TV staple, and co-owner of a football team (that's real football, not that excuse for violence you Americans insist on calling football...). You can get a lot of Delia's recipes online here: www.deliaonline.com . Or if you are in the market for an old-fashioned book (with pages, that turn!), then I recommend her Summer Collection and Winter Collection. According to her website, her Winter Collection is the biggest selling non-fiction title in the UK ever. Not sure how valid that figure still is, but can't argue with the fact that she is an icon of British cuisine.

This particular recipe is taken from the Winter Collection. I have fiddled with it over the years and found that it does work with alternative types of rice (I use arborio, as I can never find carnaroli), different types of alcohol (white wine works, but the recipe is MUCH better with the stronger taste of madeira in the original). I've also added additional vegetables on occasion. You just can't top Delia though, so the version below is the tried and true original. And for those of you who are risotto purists, it really DOES work to bake it in the oven, and you get to sit down with a glass of wine while you wait, rather than stand continually stirring a pan on the stove. Would I lie to you? (I can assure you that even when the chance of a sofa and a Zinfandel is involved, I would not).

Oven-Baked Wild Mushroom Risotto
Serves 6 as an appetizer (or 3-4 as an entree)

1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
8 oz fresh dark-gilled mushrooms
2 1/2 oz butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
6 oz carnaroli rice
5 fl oz dry Madeira
2 TBSP grated parmesan, plus extra shaved into flakes
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
2. Soak the porcini mushrooms in 19 fl oz of boiling water. Leave them to soak and soften for 30 minutes.
3. Chop fresh mushrooms into 1/2" chunks
4. Melt butter in saucepan, add onion and let it cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Add fresh mushrooms, stir well and leave to one side while you deal with the porcini.
5. After their 30 minute soak, place a sieve, lined with folded kitchen roll, over a bowl and strain the porcini, reserving the soaking liquid (including any more you can squeeze out of the kitchen roll after you've removed the porcini).
6. Chop the porcini finely and add them to the mushroom and onion mixture on the stove. Keep heat low and let them sweat gently for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile put a 9" ovenproof dish (around 2" deep) in the oven to warm.
7. Add rice and stir to coat with butter, then add Madeira, followed by strained mushroom liquid. Add 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and bring it all up to a simmering point.
8. Transfer to the warmed dish, stir once and place on center shelf in the oven (do not cover).
9. After 20 minutes exactly, remove from oven, and stir in grated parmesan, turning over the rice grains.
10. Put back in the oven for exactly 15 minutes, then remove from oven and serve immediately, sprinkled with parmesan flakes.

I know risotto is supposed to be eaten immediately, do NOT pass GO, do NOT collect $200... but I promise you that any left-overs still taste pretty good the following day after a quick blitz in the microwave. Again, my apologies to all those risotto purists out there.