Search Results

This is one of those recipes that wasn't planned beyond "We need food. What's in the fridge?" It developed based on the ingredients on hand - homemade pasta, cauliflower, lemon and yoghurt. We tried a couple of variants - without the bacon, then with and finally with cured egg yolk grated over the top. It was tasty in all its iterations and so worth sharing. My favourite, though, was the final one in which we added a little crumbled bacon and the cured egg yolk, which tasted like a lighter carbonara. It made about 3 portions. Ingredients: Pasta 1 - 1 1/2 c plain yoghurt Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon 1 tsp sumac 1/2 cauliflower head, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil + 1 more for sauce 1/2 - 1 head garlic, crushed *5 rashers of bacon *Cured egg yolk to top salt and pepper to taste * Optional 1) Cook pasta until al dente, reserving a half cup of pasta water. In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the cauliflower and fry until beginning to brown and soften. 2) In a large bowl, mix the yoghurt, lemon juice and zest. sumac and salt and pepper. Add the cauliflower and stir. If using, crispy fry the rashers of bacon. 3) Toss the sauce with the pasta, stirring in the pasta water bit by bit. If using, crumble the bacon and grate the cured egg yolk over the top. Salt and pepper to taste. This was a big hit with all of us (Little Bit needed his separated into different components, but then, he is a toddler...). I loved the simplicity and lightness of this dish. The bacon and egg yolk of course added some richness, but without making the meal too heavy. The lemon and yoghurt's acidity also helped to keep it fresh and light, while the cauliflower pieces helped add a little depth and bite. All in all, a meal that I am quite pleased with.

As mentioned in Day 42 of The Challenge I love chestnuts and always have. They are a marker of the season. I used to only get them at Christmas markets in little paper cones, roasted and so hot that you burn your fingers trying to peel them. And then I discovered that you could buy them and roast them at home, and even cook with them. It isn't quite chestnut season yet, although it was last week in the southern part of the country and it got me hankering for some chestnuts. This is a soup that I first tried out of my Taste of Portugal cookbook by Edite Viera, and then at a friends' place for a St Martin's Day dinner, and I loved it. The recipe from my cookbook I found at once too bland and starchy though, so I have played around since, and was very happy with today's soup! Ingredients: 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 red onion, chopped 1 white onion, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 1 celery stick, chopped Half a head of garlic, chopped 750g chestnuts (as they aren't quite in season yet, I used frozen ones) 1 tsp thyme 1 c chicken stock 2 c milk 1/2 c lemon juice 1 tsp urfa biber per bowl chives for sprinkling Salt and pepper to taste 1) Sauté onions briefly in oil in a soup pot. Add other veg and sauté for a few minutes more, allowing the veg to char a little. 2) Add a small amount of water (approximately 1/2c) and add the chestnuts. I allowed them to cook like this in the water until it had cooked off then, waited a few minutes before adding more liquid. This allowed the chestnuts to roast a little, releasing a delicious flavour reminiscent of cold hands and paper cones in Christmas markets. 3) Add thyme and salt and pepper, stir then add the stock and milk. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. 4) When the vegetables and chestnuts are tender, blend until smooth and velvety. Add the lemon juice and dish into bowls, garnishing with chives and urfa. This soup is silky smooth and velvety. It had just the right starch and sweetness, balanced by the deeper notes of the garlic and urfa and rounded out by the veg and the lemon juice. It is filling, so if you plan on serving this as a starter, ladle up small portions or people won't be hungry for the next course! Perfect as a lunch though. It pairs well with crispy bacon crumbled over the top or with bread on the side, but works perfectly well without either.

Späztle is another traditional Swiss and German food that I grew up with. They are a cross between mini dumplings and a form of pasta. To make them, an eggy batter is dropped through the holes of a colander or a specialised grater into boiling water. They can then be served as is, sautéed in butter, or baked with something else. I often sauté them in butter until brown and slightly crispy on the outside while still soft on the inside and serve them up with Rotkohl and sausages or roast chicken and veg, for example. Left over spätzle goes very nicely fried up with eggs for breakfast. In this case though, I cooked them in another traditional dish, Käsespätzle, where they are mixed with grated cheese and baked, preferably until crispy. I also added a couple of simple twists to the recipe. While travelling to Ticino in the autumn, we had lighter, fluffier spätzle than I had ever had. To try to emulate this, I added some baking powder to my regular recipe. The results were spot on and very tasty with a satisfying mouth-feel. I also sliced some apple over the top which then roasted with the Käsespàtzle. It would work well with bacon too. Ingredients: 3 c flour 3 eggs 1/2 tsp (at least) freshly grated nutmeg 1 1/2 c milk 1 tsp (generous) baking powder 2 c spinach (or 2 large cubes of frozen spinach) 1 apple, sliced 150g cheese - I used left over raclette, but really the choice is yours 1 tbsp butter Salt and pepper to taste Optional: sliced tomato and onion as toppings, bacon bits to be mixed in. 1) Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the eggs and whisk. Add the milk and mix. 2) Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Place the spätzle grater* over it and spoon in a couple of dollops of batter. If it is too runny, whisk in a little more flour before proceeding. If too stiff, a little more milk. 3) As soon as the drops puff up and float to the surface, fish them out with a slotted spoon and drain them well. At this point, you can either sauté the spätzle in butter and serve them up, or you can carry on to make the Käsespätzle. 4) Melt butter in the bottom of an oven proof dish (I like to use a shallow one so that more of the spätzle get a little browned. Toss the spätzle in the melted butter briefly to coat, allowing a few to begin to brown, then add the other ingredients and mix well. 5) Place in the oven at 180°C and bake 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and there is some crisping on the top and sides of the dish. Serve on its own or as a side, with mustard, hot sauce, mayo... So tasty and satisfying! An excellent comfort food dish for a winter evening. I haven't made this variant of a spätzle dish in ages, despite making spätzle at least once a month and am so glad I pulled this one back out! It was a hit with everyone, including Little Bit and I think I might have to make this more regularly. * This is an affiliate link to help you find what you need to make the recipe. You will not be charged any more by using this link but you will be helping support more delicious recipes! .

Sweet potatoes are still inexpensive, which will only last another little while, so I managed to buy up rather a lot of them and then needed to use them (Oh! no! Not the sweet potatoes!) How else to use potatoes than a shepherd's pie. And if a shepherd's pie with sweet potato mash on top, then what to put underneath it? Beans! And then I found some sofrito in the fridge from another recipe, so that helped colour the flavours of the bean mix. Sofrito is a mix of blended onions, garlic, red pepper, green pepper, coriander, cumin and chilli. It is a South/Central American base used in cooking, the exact components and proportions of which vary. I also added beets to the beans. These I figured would help add some depth of flavour which a red meat dish normally has. The result was a little goopy because I was impatient with the bean mixture but very tasty. Ingredients: For the mash: 1 kg sweet potatoes, chopped 2 tbsp butter 1/4 c milk (ish) For the bean mix: 1 c dried red beans (small ones, not kidney beans, although these might work too) 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 c red lentils 2 tbsp olive oil 4 onions, chopped 1 head garlic, minced 2 beets, chopped 3 tbsp sofrito 1 1/2 c passata 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp dried coriander 1 tsp dried orange peel 1 tbsp red wine vinegar Juice of 1 lemon 1 c cheese, grated 1) Soak the beans overnight. (I actually first brought them to a low simmer with the baking soda and then put them in my wonderbag, or slow cooker overnight, and then I brought them back to a boil before adding the other ingredients.) 2) Place the beans on the stove, add the lentils and bring to a simmer. In a separate pot, boil the sweet potatoes until mashable - 20 to 25 minutes (a bit longer if you chop them bigger). 3) In a frying pan, heat the oil. Brown the onions and garlic, then add the sofrito and the spices. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, then add to the beans, along with the passata, beets, vinegar and lemon juice. Simmer to reduce until thickened to a spoonable consistency (or less if you don't mind it a bit liquidy). 4) Drain and mash the sweet potatoes with milk and butter. In a large ovenproof dish, place a layer of beans and then spread the sweet potatoes over the top. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake at 180°c for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden and the two layers have married and bubbled together. This was really tasty! It needed the beets and the brightening with the lemon and vinegar, but the spicing worked well for what it was and the beans contrasted nicely with the sweet potato mash. There was about twice as much of the bean mix as I needed, so I set the excess aside and we used it subsequently in wraps which it was very well suited to. The beans were a little mushier than I would have liked. I assumed the cook times of kidney beans, which these clearly did not need. I would recommend merely soaking them overnight rather than placing them in a slow cooker, and leaving them alone until you start bringing other bits together the next day. I enthusiastically got them back on the stove too soon and they disintegrated. As a result, the beans could have done with some more texture to them. In addition to cooking the beans a bit less, I am wondering if something like cashews might not go nicely in the bean portion. That is just musing though. I have no idea. If you try it, let me know!

After going up to my parents' chalet for Easter, we discovered on our return that there was a forgotten loaf of bread in the bread box which had gone very stale. I had been planning on making either French toast or bread pudding with it, and then I got a request for a sweet bread pudding recipe after my Eiderdown of a week or so ago. So it was decided, sweet bread pudding it was. There are many different ways of making this, and I don't think I make it quite the same way any two times I make it. I've made it with all sorts of different breads, including croissants, tresse and panettone which have gone stale. Sometimes I butter the slices, sometimes not. Often I add a layer of jam. Sometimes I sweeten the egg and milk mix, but not always. Occasionally I spice it, sometimes it has fruit or dried fruit. It all depends on my pantry and on my whims at the time of making it. The key is to give the bread enough liquid to soak up and enough time to absorb it in. And then have fun with it! Here's the one I made this time. Ingredients: 1 tbsp butter 1 loaf stale bread, sliced (mine was so stale that it shattered rather than slicing) 2-3 cups of milk or whey (I used a mix of each. Exactly how much liquid you need will depend on exactly how dry your bread is and exactly how much there is of it. Play it by ear.) 3 eggs, beaten 2-3 tbsp jam (in this case I used the last of a jar of mango syrup) Dried fruit - I added raisins (1/4c approx), a handful of chopped apricots and some dried ginger 1 banana, sliced 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar 1 c yogurt or sour cream Maple syrup to serve 1) Butter a shallow baking dish. Lay a first layer of bread slices. Spread the jam evenly over the layer (or drizzle the syrup as the case may be). Scatter some of the dried fruit over this first layer and tuck between pieces of bread. Layer the rest of the bread on top, and tuck the rest of the dried fruit between the pieces. 2) Beat together the eggs and about 2 cups of the milk or the whey. Pour evenly over the bread. Leave to soak over night. 3) Place the sliced banana over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake uncovered at 180°C for about 45 minutes, until firm but moist with a golden crust on top. 4) Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup. I am so grateful to have gotten a request for this as it is a while since I've made it. It made a very tasty breakfast, and cold later in the day was not bad for picking at! Don't be fooled by the way the bananas look when they come out of the oven either. They are pure caramel goodness! Enjoy it, and don't forget to have fun with it and play around with flavours a little!

As mentioned in Day 23 of The Challenge We tend to have a light meal for lunch, like soup or salad, and we live around the corner from a farm stall. This happened because of their phenomenal fresh carrots and kale. It took all of 15 minutes to get on the table, as well as prepping for the cauliflower carbonara for dinner, it was packed full of flavours, textures, and colours while being light and easy. I highly recommend this! Just skip the eggs to make this salad vegan. Ingredients: 2 onions, spiralised 2 normal carrots (or one huge one), spiralised on the ribbon setting Kale 2 tbsp olive oil 3 tsp honey 1 tsp nigella seeds a handful of walnuts a handful of sage leaves 2 eggs 1 red pepper 2 stalks of celery 4 sundried tomatoes 1 tsp balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 1) Cut kale into thirds and steam for a few minutes, until the leaves just start to change colour - not too long as you want to retain some crunch. Place on plates. 2) thinly slice the red pepper and plate with the kale. 3) Heat half of the olive oil into a pan. When it is shimmering, add the onions and sauté until tender and starting to brown. Add nigela seeds and cook for a few more minutes before adding to the kale. 4) Meanwhile heat the rest of the oil in a second pan and sauté the carrots. Add the balsamic and the honey and the sage leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, and plate up. 5) Poach the eggs for 4 minutes, then carefully extract them and place them on top of the salad. Add walnuts, celery sticks and sun-dried tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and serve. We had this with grapes and tasty bread and local cheese, as well as a home-made mayonnaise. My husband declares to be one of his favourite things I've made.

This recipe is more or less faithful to his original recipe for the chicken but simply vegetarian, replacing the cinnamon a little next time if I wanted something closer to the original dish but that is still vegetarian

As mentioned in Day 16 of The Challenge I heard about this every year on New Year's Eve for years in The 90th Birthday or Dinner For One (do watch it if you have a minute, it is very entertaining), without ever knowing what it was. Then I tried it a couple of years ago and loved it and it has become a staple. It has a good mix of warm spice notes, and a good solid base. There are masses of different recipes out there for Mulligatawny Soup, which made it to Europe during the Raj and is thus a very tasty vestige of the British Empire and colonialism. I tried a number of different recipes and then tweaked to make one of my own. I hope you enjoy! Do leave comments :) Ingredients: 1/4 c butter 1 onion, chopped 1 carrot, diced 1 hot red pepper, diced half a head of garlic, minced 2 tsp ginger, minced 2 apples diced 3 tomatoes, diced 1/2 tsp of paprika (or tandoori powder - I find it adds a richer flavour note) 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp of curry powder of your choice (I used a strong Moroccan one, but have also used an orange curry powder from a market in Munich) 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp cinnamon Black pepper to taste - I like to use a lot, but the choice is yours 1/2 c red lentils 2/3 c coconut milk 3 c of chicken broth Roasted nuts to garnish (cashews are my favourite, but otherwise walnuts are very nice too) Fresh coriander to garnish 1) Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion, carrot, and pepper for a few minutes until the onion is translucent. 2) Add the garlic, ginger apples and tomatoes. Cook a further few minutes and then chuck in the spices and stir. 3) Add lentils and broth. Bring to a boil then simmer for about a half hour, until the lentils are cooked (red lentils cook quickly, so no need to soak them but you can if you want or if in doubt - over night will be super sure, but a few hours works too.) 4) Blend til about 75% of the soup is smooth, but with enough chunks remaining for texture, then add coconut milk. 5) Add toppings and serve. traditionally this would be with naan, but we've done it with tattie scones, flat bread or regular crusty bread. Any of these work. There is a reason this has become a staple for us. I hope you enjoy it too. We had no James to dish it, but I'm glad I actually looked this one up :) *Note: Don't worry about leftovers. It heats up fine, or you can make Miss Sophie's Soufflés! (Recipe coming very soon!)

So, it isn't like we needed more cookies just before New Year, but for Science, it was necessary to make a control batch of these using the more traditional ground almonds rather than the ground Hazelnut variety of Cinnamon Stars I made last week. I had also found that the chocolate variation was too chocolatey and needed to be toned down a little, so I wanted to try them out with only a dash of cacao instead of a full third of the powdered sugar being replaced by cacao. I was a numpty and sent the hazelnuts back to my house before making this batch at my parent's so both the standard and the chocolate variety were made using almonds this time around. I had a bit of an oven problem, so they came out softer than usual, but this was a hit with the family. I also increased the cinnamon content in both varieties, which was also a popular move. Ingredients: For the plain ones: 3 egg whites a pinch of salt 1 1/2 c powdered sugar 3 c ground almonds 3 tbsp cinnamon 2 tsp kirsch For the chocolate ones: 3 egg whites a pinch of salt 1 1/2 c powdered sugar 2 tbsp cacao 3 c ground almonds 3 tbsp cinnamon 2 tsp kirsch 2 tbsp sugar for rolling Optional: 1 tbsp flaked almonds, toasted 1) Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt to form stiff peaks (check out my beautiful, stiff, hand-whipped peaks!). Fold in the powdered sugar and set aside 2 tbsp for the icing. If using, fold in cacao at this point. 2) Mix in the nuts, cinnamon and kirsch to form a stiff dough. Roll out 1 cm thick on a sugared surface and cut out shapes. 3) Lay out on a cookie sheet (preferably greased or with a silicone sheet) and ice with a little dollop of the icing. If using, add a few flaked almonds on top of the icing at this point. 4) (Optional: Allow to rest for 5 hours or overnight. I skipped this step this time) Bake at 240°C for 4 minutes. The consensus, seeing as these were the control batch to the experimental hazelnut cookies from earlier in the week, was that both types of nut work. If you prefer almonds generally, then you likely prefer the classic variety of these cookies (which I will continue to call Cinnamon Stars even though all of these were circular). If you prefer hazelnuts generally, you will probably prefer the hazelnut variety. Just swap out the nuts in a 1:1 ratio. The increased cinnamon was a hit, and I think I've hit on the right proportion of cacao. These were now cinnamon cookies, with almond and a little chocolate, rather than chocolate cookies with some nuts and a little cinnamon. If you want chocolate cookies, check out the classic Basler Christmas Cookie recipe instead (which I like as well), or the orange variation that I tweaked this year. For this type though, I am delighted with these ones. The flaked almonds were an idea of my dad's as we had some left over from the Chicken Tagine the day before.

I love Brussel sprouts but only discovered them a few years ago. Since then though I have been playing around with different ways of cooking them and exploring various dishes that could include them. This is the first time I've tried to make them into a soup, and I must say, aside from being a little too acidic (cut the white wine next time), it came out very well and was very tasty. Removing the potatoes would work and replacing the croutons with toasted almonds instead would make this keto friendly. For carnivores, crispy bacon bits over the top could work well too. Skip the bread and the recipe is gluten free. As with most things, there is room for variation within the general idea. Have fun! I know that Brussel sprouts get a bad rap sometimes, but I hope you will look past that and give this soup a chance! Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 500 g of Brussel sprouts, halved 3 potatoes, chopped 1 tsp sumac 1 tsp zathar a splash of white cooking wine 1/2 c apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 50 g gruyère cheese, grated 1/2 c milk 1 tsp rosemary 1/2 tsp cocoa spice Salt and pepper to taste 3 rolls (I used olive bread and nut bread) 1 sweet potato, cut into fat matches 1 tsp fenugreek seeds orange peel apple, sliced 1) Heat the 2 tbsp of olive oil in a cast iron skillet and sauté the onions and garlic. When these are fragrant, add the Brussel sprouts and cook a little longer over high heat until the leaves char a little on the outside. 2) Add the potatoes, sumac, salt and pepper, zathar, wine and vinegars. Put the whole roasting pan with all in the ingredients and braise gently at 180°C for about 30-40 minutes, until the Brussel sprouts are tender. 3) Meanwhile, cut your bread into cubes and place onto a baking sheet with the sweet potato strips, the fenugreek seeds and orange peel. Pour over 1 tbsp olive oil and toss to coat. Toast in the oven alongside the braising veggies. Remove and set aside when the sweet potato is tender and the croûtons crispy. 4) Remove from the oven and blitz until smooth, adding in the cheese and blitzing it in too. Gradually add the milk, rosemary and cocoa spice, stirring until incorporated. Taste and adjust. It may be a little sharp, but that is fine because: Add croûtons and sweet potato over the top and serve the apples for dipping. This made a very tasty, satisfying and novel winter lunch. After the initial part, it required minimal attention and came together quickly at the end. As I said in the introduction it was a little too acidic, so I would cut the white wine next time, but the acidic side of the soup paired well with the earthy tones of the sprouts and the sweet potatoes, the whole contrasting nicely with the sweet salty crunch of the olive bread croûtons.