White Chocolate and Cranberry Oatmeal Blondies – drizzle forecast ...

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I woke up this morning to a grey sky and a steady drizzle of rain. (If only Trump would share that trick that makes it stop raining on just him...) There is only one thing to shift me from this ill humour. Bring on the mood-enhancing white chocolate cranberry blondies...

These sweet treats are not quite as wicked as they sound. They contain oatmeal and dried fruit so that makes them practically breakfast. The recommended dosage for mood enhancement is two, with decent coffee.

The moggy isn't liking the rain either

For approximately 16 delicious ‘blondies’ you will need...

... to butter and base-line a 23cm square cake tin and to pre-heat your oven to 170°C

150g rolled oats (oatmeal flakes)

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

100g butter

50g crunchy peanut butter

50g cream cheese

175g Demerara sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

100g white chocolate, roughly chopped

75g dried cranberries

75g white chocolate for topping (optional)



Cranberries: "We're not just for Christmas you know!"

Method
First place the rolled oats and baking powder in a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth ‘flour’.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar, beating the mixture until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Then mix in the oatmeal ‘flour’.

Finally, stir in the chopped white chocolate and cranberries. Mix until just combined.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes until evenly golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Melt the remaining white chocolate and drizzle over or simply leave to cool in the tin before dusting with icing sugar and cutting into squares.

These are good slightly warm but even better if left go completely cold, so that the chocolate solidifies back into chunks. They’ll keep for up to a week (yeah right!) if sealed in an airtight container or cling wrap.

My lazy woman’s way to melt chocolate: snap the chocolate into squares and place in a Ziploc bag. Remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal. Half-fill a 1 pint measuring jug with boiling water, then carefully place the sealed bag in the water making sure the chocolate is submerged. Leave for a couple of minutes until the chocolate has melted. Remove the bag from the water and pat dry. Snip off a small corner of the bag and gently squeeze the liquid chocolate over the blondies.

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Aubergine Involtini – from aloof to alive and about to burst into song!

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I have mixed feelings about aubergine (eggplant). All flawless purple skin and gloss and youthful glow, it is the supermodel of the vegetable patch. I arrange it in the vegetable basket, surrounded by other shining beauties – ripe red tomatoes, peppers, and perhaps a lemon or two just because they are opposites on the colour wheel and provide a pleasing colour contrast.

Aubergines - about to burst into song! 

One by one the contents of that basket are plucked and used: the tomato sliced and sprinkled with salt, eaten just as it is; the pepper might be cut into strips as a crisp sweet snack; the lemons will probably end up juiced into hot water as an alternative to tea.

Too late I’ll remember the aubergine because it does not grab attention in the same way as its companions. It is downright boring on its own and needs the right sort company to bring it to life. Too often I forget to introduce it to complementary flavours and end up having to consign its shrivelled remains to the compost heap.

Introduce aubergine to a lemon and watch the sparks fly...

Niki Segnit of The Flavour Thesaurus has similar feelings about this vegetable describing it as “unpredictable, often bitter, and needing a lot of attention (or an unhealthy amount of lubrication) to cajole it into a companionable mood.” - you know the type!

If you were to seat Aubergine at a dinner party, you’d make sure it was next to Garlic, Parsley, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil. Such great company transforms it from aloof to alive. Next thing you know, it’ll be singing!

As a starter (or light lunch) for 2 you will need...

1 medium aubergine

100g cottage cheese*

100g feta cheese, crumbled

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

1 small bunch of whole chives

1         Remove both ends of the aubergine and slice lengthways into ½ cm slices – a mandolin is best for this job but mind your fingers (I speak from experience - ouch!). There is no need to salt and drain modern varieties of aubergine to leach out bitterness. 

2         Heat a ridged grill pan (or a frying pan) over a medium heat. Brush the slices with olive oil and cook in a single layer, for approximately 2 minutes each side. You’ll probably have to do this in a couple of batches. Carefully remove the cooked slices from the grill pan and leave to cool completely.

Aubergine gets a grilling

3          Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, mash the cottage cheese together with the feta cheese, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and black pepper. No need to use salt as the feta will be salty and there are plenty of strong flavours in the mix.

Seat aubergine next to garlic, parsley, and lemon juice to transform it from aloof to alive!

4         Select the best 6 slices of aubergine (any reject slices can be used on crostini) and lay them out on a flat surface. Place 2 teaspoons of the cheese mixture at the fatter end of each slice, about 2cm from the short edge. Lay a few whole chives across this and starting at the fat end, roll the aubergine slice so that it encloses the filling, with a plume of chives emerging from one end. Leave the finished roll on its side and repeat the process with the remaining 5 slices. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

5         To serve, arrange upright (see photo) - 3 per portion. Diced cherry tomatoes make a colourful addition and if serving for lunch, a green salad completes the picture.

*I’ve used cottage cheese to bind the mixture because, post Lockdown, the bathroom scales has taken to saying “Gerroff will ya!”.  Ricotta or Philadelphia would be suitable full fat alternatives for this dish.

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White Soda Bread with Seeds – Too Many Cooks ...

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With two cooks in the house, sometimes my mental inventory of stores doesn’t tie in with what is (or, more often, is not) in the cupboard. I’ll often be half-way through baking a cake and I’ll reach for the eggs only to find that my beloved must have made a giant omelette for breakfast because the dozen or so that were there yesterday have vanished. 

White Soda Bread with Seeds - merely a delivery device for peach jam

Today, I had a hankering for brown soda bread to go with my friend Penny’s incredible Peach Jam. There were a few obstacles in my way, namely no brown flour, and no oatmeal – the two main constituents of my brown soda bread recipe. I could have sworn there was some there last time I looked... hmmmmm.

This white soda bread was a total experiment. I added the seeds to make it seem half-healthy.

A quick and easy bread for when you're in a jam...

Soda bread is normally cooked on a baking sheet. This is quite a wet mixture so I’ve used a 2LB loaf tin.

For one 2LB loaf you will need...
...  to pre-heat your oven to 200°C

1 teaspoon olive/sunflower oil for the baking tin

Dry ingredients

500g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

125g mixed seeds (I used 50g pumpkin, and 25g each of brown linseed, sesame, and sunflower)

1 tablespoon runny honey

400mls buttermilk

1          Rub a 2LB loaf tin with the olive/sunflower oil.

2          Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and seeds in a mixing bowl, keeping back about a tablespoon of the mixed seeds. Stir the runny honey to the buttermilk, and add to the dry ingredients mixing just until no dry flour remains.

3          Transfer to the prepared baking tin and level the surface before scattering with the tablespoon of seeds you reserved. Place in the pre-heated oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes has elapsed, lower the heat to 180°C and continue baking for a further 15 minutes.

4          Take the loaf from the oven and remove the tin. A cooked loaf will sound hollow when tapped on the base.

5          Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.



Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity                  ~ Og Mandino

... like making bread out of nothing when your other half has raided the stores    ~ me

As I’m writing this, my beloved has started cooking his demon chicken curry.  I wonder when he’ll discover that I’ve used the last of the yoghurt... and the cardamom... and the chillies... J

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Sweetcorn and Feta Pies – Accidentally Vegetarian

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I am becoming an accidental vegetarian. While I cannot see myself giving up steak or bacon completely, there are so many meatless meals to be discovered. For me, a successful vegetarian dish is when I eat something that is so delicious that I don’t notice the absence of meat. My beloved doesn’t believe a meal is complete without some form of animal on the plate, so finding meatless meals that satisfy a carnivorous household is a challenge.

Sweetcorn and Feta Pies - accidentally vegetarian!

With the garden in full production at the moment, there are herbs aplenty and a forest of salad leaves, helping me to meet the meatless task half-way. Fresh mint and flat-leaved parsley are the flavours that lift these pies out of the ordinary.

Make sure there's enough mint left for the cook's Mojito!

Delicious hot or cold, they are a great way of sneaking vegetables past the kids, or making a chic, recession-proof office lunch. Easy to make and easy to eat, preparation time is about 5 minutes, cooking time about 25 minutes, eating time about 30 seconds flat!

For 4 pies you will need...

... to pre-heat the oven to 190°C

2 sheets of all butter ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed

100g tinned sweetcorn kernels

100g feta cheese, roughly mashed

50g fresh spinach, washed, dried and finely shredded

4 spring onions, finely chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaved parsley

1 egg, beaten

1                    Cut each pastry sheet in half then trim to a square of approximately 14cm (use the trimmings to cut out fancy shapes to decorate if you like – kids love this bit.)

2                    Mix together the rest of the ingredients, reserving about 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg.

3                    Divide the mixture between the four squares making a sausage shape in the centre of each and leaving a margin of about 1cm at each end of the sausage shape. Brush the edges with a little cold water. Fold the narrow ends in, then fold the wider edges over the top of the mixture to make a neat parcel.

4                    Place each pastry parcel on a non-stick baking sheet, so that the join is underneath. Brush with beaten egg to give the pies a lovely glaze. If decorating with pastry shapes, pop these on top now and brush with egg.

5                    Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown and serve hot or cold, with or without salad.

I ♥ herbs!

Tip: Make tiny versions as canapés and serve with a minty Mojito.

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Honey Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger Crème Fraiche – stirring stuff!

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I have a complete mental block when it comes to buttons on kitchen appliances. My particular downfalls are my electric beaters and my stick blender. When using either, I manage to successfully carry out the task I had in mind – whip cream for example, or blend soup. Easy enough! Job done!



Honey Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger Crème Fraiche



It’s the next bit I find tricky. I switch off the appliance and go to eject the beaters/blade but for some strange reason I am unable to carry out this simple step. Instead, I lift the appliance out of whatever mixture I have been working with – still dripping with cream/soup etc and ... switch... the... damn... thing... back... ON!

At this point, about a tablespoon of cream/soup is dispersed around the kitchen at a centrifugal force of OH MY GOD!!! Have you any idea how much kitchen/person a tablespoonful of liquid will cover? Worse, each droplet has a spinning trajectory which means that it will not only COVER every surface within a 10 foot radius, but it will actually get BEHIND stuff too.

I only ever make this mistake when I have just finished my makeup and blow-dried my hair and guests are about to arrive.

This evening I am taking no chances. My husband is on soup-blending duty and the ginger crème fraiche only requires stirring. Athough...there is still the cream to whip for the cherry profiteroles. After a glass of wine that will be tempting fate. Oh dear - fingers crossed!

Honey I Roasted the Squash!

For 8 servings you will need...

1 butternut squash weighing about 1.2kg

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 carrots, peeled and halved

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon runny honey

6 fat cloves of garlic, unpeeled

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion (think tennis ball-sized), finely chopped

2 sticks celery, peeled and finely chopped

1.5 L vegetable or chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 180°C

1                    Cut the butternut squash into quarters lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut each wedge of squash into half across the middle. Place in a shallow roasting tray with the olive oil. Get your hands in there and anoint each piece of squash with the oil until liberally coated and glistening. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and a little salt and black pepper. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

2                    After 10 minutes, remove from the oven and add the carrots. Sprinkle the squash with balsamic vinegar and drizzle with honey, making sure each wedge gets a little bit of honey sweetness. Place the tray back in the oven and continue cooking for a further 25 minutes, adding the unpeeled garlic 10 minutes into this cooking time. When the squash is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 5 minutes.

3                    Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the onion and celery and cook gently without colouring until the onions are soft and translucent - about 5 minutes.

4                     Chop the roasted carrots and add to the saucepan. Remove the skin from the butternut squash before adding to the saucepan. Squeeze the garlic cloves gently until the skin bursts then add the soft garlic pulp to the saucepan. Finally add the stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, then blend. A stick blender is perfect for this job.

Ginger Crème Fraiche - stirred, not shaken!

For the ginger crème fraiche you will need...

6 tablespoons crème fraiche

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

Simply stir the two together and chill until needed.

Just before serving, swirl a little of the ginger cream into the soup.

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Rosehip and Honey Pannacotta – A Conspiracy Theory

Pin It When I travel, I love to taste local dishes on the grounds that if you order food in its natural environment, it is produced by people who love the dish and who know how it should taste.

Sometimes life and waiters conspire against me.

Happiness is... Rosehip and Honey Pannacotta

In the States, I have tried repeatedly to taste an authentic American cornbread. On each occasion, my order has been misheard (perhaps the Irish accent – “so charming honey”, but clearly unintelligible) or “the kitchen’s just out”.

If pannacotta was a flower it would be sweetpea

The same goes for Pannacotta. I have tried in Venice. I have tried in Verona. I have even tried several Italian restaurants in Ireland where surely they’d be used to the accent. On each occasion I have been brought a delicious dessert but not Pannacotta. Am I saying it wrong? Pah-nah-cot-ah?  PAHna COHtah? PannaCOTTa?

Straight from the hedgerows ;-)

This has happened so often that I have evolved a theory: Some people closely guard the location of their favourite restaurant in case it gets too popular... Perhaps, cornbread and Pannacotta are just too good to share.

Clearly, I am just going to have to make my own to find out.

For 6 servings you will need...

...to lightly oil 6 ramekins, cups or moulds with a flavourless oil

4 sheets of gelatine

250mls double (heavy) cream

300mls Greek yoghurt

60g runny honey

50mls rosehip syrup or cordial (undiluted)

Rosehip and Honey Dressing

2 tablespoons runny honey

1 tablespoon rosehip syrup or cordial (undiluted)

A selection of fresh berries to serve

1                    Place the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and leave it for about 5 minutes to soften.

2                    Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan heat the cream and honey together until just simmering at the edges. Remove from the heat.

3                    Drain off the water from the gelatine and squeeze out any excess. Replace in the empty bowl and add a little of the hot cream mixture. Stir together until the gelatine has dissolved completely. Pour the gelatine mixture into the saucepan and stir to disperse it through the liquid. Add in the Greek yoghurt and stir the mixture with a whisk until the yoghurt has blended smoothly into the liquid. Don’t go too crazy with the whisk. You don’t want to incorporate loads of bubbles into the mixture.

4                    Finally, stir in the rosehip cordial or syrup until dispersed through the mixture. Divide between the oiled containers. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until set (at least 6 hours – or overnight if possible).

5                    Just before serving, make the Rosehip and Honey Dressing by mixing together the honey and syrup/cordial until combined.

6                    To remove the Pannacotta from each container, sit them briefly into hot water until they loosen at the edges, then cover with a serving plate and flip over. If Murphy’s Law doesn’t come into play, you’ll end up with a perfect Pannacotta ready to be surrounded by fresh berries and drizzled with Rosehip and Honey Dressing.

Make it the day before for a super-easy delightful dessert

(If Murphy’s Law does come into play, or you get distracted, it could end up on the floor...)

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White Chocolate and Raspberry Paris-Brest - they're wheel-y wheel-y delicious!

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Who doesn’t, at some stage, have lonely egg yolks languishing in their fridge. There they sit, dreaming of a better life, (cue violins) until one day the fridge door opens... light floods in... and their crusted remains are consigned to the bin. Awwwwww...

"I coulda been a contender. I coulda been been somebody..." Eggy Malloy, On the Waterfront

The talented and lovely Jill Colonna, author of Mad About Macarons le book, and le blog (and now Teatime in Paris) threw down the gauntlet of the egg yolk challenge and I happily accepted an invitation to guest post on what was then the first anniversary of Alchemy, back in 2011. 

The egg yolk challenge was a great idea because we've all had a bowl of forlorn egg yolks sitting in the fridge at some point. Having been parted from their whites – who have gone on to star as Magnificent Macarons, Marvellous Meringues, or Superb Soufflés – the poor old yolk tends to be forgotten.

Egg yolks can achieve greatness too. After all, Botticelli painted The Birth of Venus using egg yolk-based paint. While Botticelli provided a feast for the eyes, here is something you can actually get your teeth into.  Gateau Paris-Brest is a delectable choux pastry, named after the famous Paris – Brest bicycle race. The shape represents a wheel. Here it is in miniature, my Summery version with raspberries and white chocolate pastry cream.

L'inspiration - a velo at Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert (which I always read as 'dessert'...)

For 10 – 12 gorgeous little pastries you will need…

Pastry Cream (crème pâtissière)

300mls fresh milk

50g caster sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

15g plain flour

15g cornflour

4 egg yolks

50g good quality white chocolate, chopped

Heat the milk in a medium saucepan until just simmering.

Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the vanilla extract and sugar until thick and paler in colour. Add in the salt, plain flour and cornflour and whisk until incorporated.

Slowly add the simmering milk to the egg yolk mixture, whisking all the time (never add cold eggs to hot liquid unless you want scrambled eggs). Mix well and return the liquid to the saucepan. Continue to whisk over a low heat until the liquid has become a thick custard. This will take about 3 or 4 minutes. Make sure not to boil the custard or it will become grainy and may scramble. The custard is thick enough when it coats the back of a wooden spoon and a finger pulled though this coating leaves a clean trail.

Add in the white chocolate and stir until it has melted into the custard.

Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film, making sure the cling film makes contact with the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until ready to use. This can be prepared ahead and will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

Egg yolks – in the right company – are capable of greatness too

Choux Pastries

150mls water

50g butter

70g strong white flour/plain flour

A pinch of fine salt

2 eggs beaten

25g flaked almonds

You will also need a punnet of fresh raspberries

when you are ready to bake the choux wheels.

Heat the water and butter together in a medium saucepan until the butter has melted and the liquid is simmering

Carefully tip the flour and salt into the liquid in one go. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a soft ball of paste and no dry flour remains. Spread the ball of paste over the bottom of the saucepan and leave to cool to room temperature.

When the paste has cooled, add in the beaten egg a little at a time, whisking well between additions. An electric whisk is best for this job. You want a smooth glossy soft paste that will hold its shape so check the mixture as you go along as you may not need to add all the egg.

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (fan oven).  Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and pipe circles of the mixture (approximately 8cm/3 inches in diameter) onto a lightly buttered baking tray, leaving 5cm/2 inches between circles. Scatter the tops of the circles with almond flakes and transfer to the oven. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until evenly golden brown. Remove from the oven and poke 2 horizontal slits in the side of each pastry to release some steam. Return to the oven for a further 2 minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack.

Assemble the little pastries just before serving: slice them in half horizontally. Beat the cooled pastry cream until smooth. For a really decadent touch, I sometimes stir a tablespoon of mandarin brandy into the pastry cream at this stage. Pipe onto the lower half of the pastry wheel and add fresh raspberries. Replace the top and dust with icing sugar.

These little pastries are perfect snack as you cycle from Paris to Brest, or perhaps keep a few beside your easel for energy as you paint a Renaissance masterpiece – using egg-yolk-based paint of course!

We taste wheel-y wheel-y delicious!

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