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Healthy Turkish flat bread pizza

Ingredients

One Large Flatbread ( The Size of a dinner plate)

100g of good quality humous

2 good handfuls of mixed green salad

1 small bulb of fennel, finely sliced

2 tbsp of fresh pomegranate seeds

2 tbsp of finely chopped mint

150g of lightly fried halloumi, chopped into small cubes (You don’t need oil to fry this)

3 sundried tomatoes, sliced

8 olives, green or black, halved

The juice of a half a lemon

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Find a pretty board that will fit your flatbread, and pop it on top. Then spread the humous all over, right up to the edges. 

2. Sprinkle the salad over the top then follow with the rest of the ingredients until everything has been sprinkled nicely over the flatbread and the leaves. 

3. Finally squeeze your half a lemon over everything and season with salt and pepper. 

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Courgette and butter bean bake with a naughty added extra (Hic!)

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I've been doing so much cooking for other people that I've barely had time for myself. So today I devised and made something lovely for me! These are polenta, orange and almond meal cupcakes with almond milk based on a basic cornbread recipe, I then topped them with a sticky orange and lemon syrup. My new favourite treat as they arn't too sweet and the almond milk gives them a fantastic creaminess. #recipe #food52 #yummy #summer #teatime #foodie #sunfood #oranges

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Blood and guts soup (Roasted carrot and beetroot soup)

I wrote this for the wonderful cafe I work at, it’s a kiosk cafe in the middle of a park so we are really lucky to be able to see the seasons change right before our eyes! 

  It’s a lovely warming soup and is an absolute must for halloween. With the most gorgeous red colour, it’s perfect for these cold, wet and windy days. 

And can I recommend that once it’s made you go for a wonder in your nearest park, the colours are utterly sublime at the moment and it will certainly work up an appetite for this tasty and warming soup. 

Ingredients

Method

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Making new things!

I have been working at a lovely little cafe now for nearly a month and during that time have learnt a huge amount.

 I have written a few of my own recipes and practised lots of others, so here are some lovely pictures for you all to have a little drool over.

Hope you like what you see.

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Off back home today and I cannot wait to make more wonderful creations such as this Ham and leek pie! Oh to do nothing but walk the countryside and eat homemade food!! #Easter #bankholiday #homecooked #homemade

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Extremely tasty flourless coconut and banana pancakes, topped with cinnamon, soya yoghurt and blueberries.

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Creamy Thom Kha hed Mushroom and coconut soup

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Little creations that I made for that special day of Lurrve a while ago.

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Spring is springing

Since my last post the weather has dramatically changed and with it so has my mindset. I now feel much lighter and happier, my mind has turned to fresh, crisp and delicious foods and so have my activities.  I had such a wonderfully productive day yesterday, the type of day that makes you feel like sunshine itself. It started with a full full spring clean. Then I ticked off my to do list all the things that had been left for month. I put up pictures I've been meaning to hang since I moved in,

 planted some herbs, sowed some seeds

 and well and truly brought spring into my home. 

I also started developing a recipe for you all which I hope will be perfect for this brilliant time of year. It's sunny but still a little chilly outside and this recipe really reflects that. I need to test it a couple more times and then it will up and ready to be made.

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Winter Brew

As the cold days seem to continue on with no end in sight, I thought it was time to help you warm-up once and for all. 

 I came up with this recipe when I was still living in the warehouse and was so cold I could see my own breath. It's now been tried, tested and perfected so give it a whirl and see what you think. 

Ingredients 1 Medium Leek 1 Medium Carrot 1 Medium Red onion 50g peas (Fresh or Frozen) 100g of Red Lentils 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 500ml of Beef stock (I used a 'Rich beef' knorr stock pot) 100ml Red Wine 2 x bay leaves Salt and Pepper to season 100g of grated Gruyere  2 slices of slightly stale french stick

Method

Chop the leek, carrot and red onion into small chunks. Take a large frying pan, heat up a little olive oil and sweat the veg for around 3-5 mins.

In a separate saucepan heat the beef stock and red wine, bring it to the boil for roughly one min and the turn it down to simmer. 

Add the bayleaves, lentils, sweated veg and peas and gently simmer for 15 minutes.

Whilst that is gently bubbling away. Take the slices of french stick and grate 50g of gruyere on to each slice. Or until generously covered, so however much you like really.

Ideally, this step should be done with about 5 mins of cooking time left on the soup. Pop the slices under a hot grill for 3-5 mins but be careful to watch it as it can burn easily. You just want the cheese, golden and bubbling slightly.

Ladle a few spoons into a soup bowl and pop a slice of the melty French stick gruyere magic on top.

There are quite a few variations for this one, you can really add whatever veg you have left in the fridge. Courgette is good, as is celery. I once made it after a beef Sunday roast and used around 100g of left over roast beef and popped it in at stage 3, this gave it a great depth of flavour. You could also add a couple of shallots rather than the red onion to increase that sweet french flavour. 

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Instant Fresh chicken noodles

Instant fresh chicken ramen

I created this recipe because I was bored and soup everyday, it was influence by seriouseats.com instant noodle recipe. 

 For the chicken I bought a roasting chicken and once roasted I stripped it of all it's meat and popped it in a tupperware. It's a much cheaper way of buying chicken and quite often is much nicer as you can roast it with whatever you like. I made a garlic and lemon butter and rubbed it under the skin. It makes about 5 noodle pots from one roast chicken and I even had enough left over to make chicken and tarragon soup!

With the frozen veg you can really use whatever you like, the frozen spinach worked perfectly and tasted fantastic. But frozen sweetcorn or dried mushrooms would also be super tasty.

Ingredients

85g cooked, shredded chicken

80g pre cooked Udon Noodles - I would highly recommend Clear springs brown rice udon as it has a load of umami and tastes wonderful!

40g of frozen peas or 1 round of frozen spinach

½ knorr chicken stock pot

½ tbl miso paste   1 tsp Runny Honey 1 tsp Fish Sauce

1 tbl sesame seeds

½ crushed stick of lemongrass Salt and pepper

Note: You can also use Vietnamese rice noodles, these will need no pre-­‐prep as they are fine enough that they will cook when the small amount of hot water is added.

Flavourpack

3g (1tbls) chopped coriander

1 finely chopped spring onions

Tools

0.5 Litre Round Cliptop Kilner Jar

Zip lock bag

Method

Cook the fresh noodles in boiling water for 1 minute, shock* in cold water, drain well, toss with 2 teaspoons of oil until coated.

Put chicken stock, miso, honey, soy, sesame, peas, lemongrass, onion and chicken into jar, then the noodles. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Put the chopped coriander and spring onion into the ziplock bag. Remove

the air from the bag and seal. Tuck bag into the top of the jar and seal. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

When you are ready to eat, remove flavour pack and add boiling water to just below

the top of the jar. Seal jar and let sit 2 minutes. Open jar, stir in contents of flavor pack, and serve.

*To shock the noodles just run the cold tap whilst you cook the noodles so that it is nice and cold when you run the water over them.

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What's to come?

Just so you don't think I have gone off the radar here is a little interim post. I am currently developing and testing a few recipes which will be appearing in the next two weeks. 

 Like the company that I work for, I have the aim to test each recipe three times so that they are flawless and straight forward when they get to you.

 Anyway, here is what to expect over the next two weeks.

Winter Brew - A hearty winter soup with lentils and a warming beef base.

Instant fresh chicken ramen - My love for KOKA noodles after a drunken night have driven me to create a more healthier and dare I say it tastier alternative. So I will be bringing you homemade pot noodle with an asian broth. 

If you have any suggestions or questions please get in touch!

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Malteaser chocolate chiffon cake

The other day I made a cake that I sold at the pub I work at. It was an epic cake and my talented housemate, Sebastien Drayton captured the process. 

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Malteaser chocolate chiffon sponge cake. Dessert @thekentonpub made by yours truly. #baking #chocolatecake

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Making Madeleines

I have recently entered into a new baking phase and as usual I would be needing some new tools.  

One of my new tools was a silicone Madeleine mould, making 9 madeleines in total.

 I have never made them before so I was excited by the challenge and it actually went very well. I used Rachel Allen's recipe from the Good Food channel, the only thing I think I would change is brushing the moulds with butter, only because, with the silicone mould you really don't need too.   

 Here are some pictures of the making process:

You actually need very little amounts of the ingredients to make something super tasty. 

This is the step i would avoid if you own a silicone mould, don't brush the butter. 

After beating the eggs until they are hard shiny and mousse like you need to add the dry ingredients, passing them through a fine sieve. 

For a first attempt I think they came out pretty well, though I was disappointed that the butter and flour stuck to the bottom. Which is why i suggest ignoring the brushing of butter if you own a good mould. 

I then decided to dust them with edible gold powder for a nice pretty effect.

Recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS

50 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

50 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 egg

50 g caster sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

icing sugar, for dusting

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Brush a little melted butter over the madeleine moulds, making sure to coat every ridge. Dust a little flour into each one, tapping out any excess.  2. Place the egg and sugar in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer. Using a handheld electric beater or the food mixer with its whisk attachment, whisk on a high speed for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is pale, thick and mousse-like and has grown almost three times in volume.  3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the whisked egg and sugar and carefully fold in, then fold in the melted butter and vanilla extract, taking care not to over-mix. 4. Either pouring the batter directly from the bowl or using a tablespoon to spoon it in, divide the batter between the madeleine moulds, filling each almost to the top.  5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden and lightly springy to the touch. Try not to overcook them or they will be dry. Remove from the oven and carefully remove each madeleine from its mould using a palette knife, then place on a wire rack to cool.  6. For the chocolate coating: Melt the chocolate either in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, or in short bursts on full power in the microwave.  7. Dip each madeleine into the melted chocolate and allow to set on a sheet of greaseproof paper.  Text © Rachel Allen 2012. Photography © Philip Webb 2012.  Recipe from: Cake By Rachel Allen