courgette, chickpea and mint soup à la Rosie

I haven't updated for quite a while, exams and revision! But I have still been busy in the kitchen and taking photos of meals, with a definite means to be putting them up sometime on the blog, just exactly when is another matter!

I made this soup a week or so back for me and my housemate, we had lovely crunchy toasted bread on the side and I think we were both avoiding some kind of revision!

This is a really gorgeous flavoursome soup from the one and only Rosie Lovell, I still love dipping in and out of Spooning with Rosie and reading her blog. Lots of inspiration and ideas!

I kind of modified the recipe slightly, in that I used less courgettes, but it was still lovely!

Ingredients

2 courgettes

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)

1 litre vegetable stock

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

a handful of fresh mint leaves (I used dried but still gave a lovely refreshing taste)

black pepper

1/2 lemon

Trim the courgettes, slice them lengthways in half then chop them into chunks. Heat the oil in large saucepan and drop the pieces in, frying and sweating them for a few minutes. Add the roughly chopped garlic cloves and fry for a few more minutes. Then pour over the vegetable stock and leave to simmer. Add the chickpeas and a sprinkling of dried mint/handful of mint leaves. Simmer for half an hour. Remove from the heat to cool slightly and then blend, but blend gently so that you leave chunks of courgette and the soup is not of a watery consistency. Season with black pepper and squeeze in the lemon juice.

Serve with toasted, buttery crusty bread, preferably sitting outside in a sunshine filled garden!

Love FF x

Muesli Bars à la Hummingbird Bakery

So, my housemate made muesli bars and I have said that I will write about her take on the recipe. So we both really enjoyed them but her problem with the recipe is that they came out quite syrupy and didn't hold together too well. These bars are just fridge bars but my housemate said that next time it'll probably be worth cooking them like flapjacks rather than fridge bars so they hold together better. However, even if they may have been a tad too syrupy, it tasted great in the bars along with yummy coconut, cornflakes and dried fruit.

Here is the recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook: (again, not claiming that it's my own!)

Ingredients:

325g unsalted butter

240ml golden syrup

250g soft light brown sugar

250g rolled oats

200g desiccated coconut

125g apricots

60g dried dates

135g cornflakes

135g sunflower seeds

60g dried cranberries

125g shelled walnuts, chopped

125g raisins

AND - a 33 x 23 x 5cm baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper

Makes around 12 portions

Put the butter, golden syrup and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat and heat until melted and smooth, stirring occasionally.

Put the oats, coconut, apricots, dates, cornflakes, sunflower seeds, cranberries, walnuts and raisins in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is throughly mixed. Pour in the butter mixture and mix throughly until everything is well mixed and the dry ingredients are evenly dispersed.

Press this mixture into the prepared baking tray, using a tablespoon to flatten and compress it. Cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper, then a tray covered in jam jars or tins to apply pressure on the cake and compress it even more. Leave to cool, the refrigerate overnight. (or alternatively - try it in the oven, on 200c for 20 minutes!)

Happy baking!

Love FF x

Potato & Mushroom Gratin (Nigella Lawson) and Muesli Bars (The Hummingbird Bakery)

Two upcoming recipes that I will be posting are a potato and mushroom gratin that I made from Nigella Lawson's "Nigella Express", a great cookery book and a staple in my house at home - my mum is always using it when she has friends over to cook for and I think it's great for a quick meal. I cooked that with some garlicky lemon chicken and some rocket. 

Next are (as I've mentioned before) muesli bars which my housemate made from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.

Love FF x 

Rosie Lovell's - Raf Daddy's Groundnut Curry

Saturday night dinner for me and my housemate. I used another one of Rosie Lovell's wonderful recipes from Spooning with Rosie .

Rosie used a pumpkin in her recipe but I opted instead for sweet potato, to give the curry a bit more substance so we could just have it almost like a one pot dish instead of with rice.

This is a great recipe for when you're low on food as a lot of things can be found in the cupboard or can be bought relatively cheaply!

Obviously, as usual, this is Rosie's recipe, so I'm not claiming in any way it's my own!

Serves 2 people.

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

2 tablespoons olive oil.

1 teaspoon hot curry powder (I used medium)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

3 generous tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter

A few handfuls of spinach.

A generous pinch of white granulated sugar.

Black pepper.

Cooking the curry:

First, cut up the sweet potato into small pieces, sort of half the size of a potato wedge.

Slice the onion, garlic and chilli finely. Making sure to peel the onion and garlic and remove the seeds from the chilli. Open the tins of chopped tomatoes.

Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan on a low heat. When the oil is hot, add the sweet potato and onion. Let them sweat and then add the finely chopped garlic and chilli. Mix it around and let it cook for a few minutes.

Measure out the curry powder and cayenne pepper. Coat the vegetables with them and sweat away for a few minutes. Add the 2 tins of chopped tomatoes. Place the saucepan lid on top and let it simmer on a medium heat for 15 minutes, or until the sweet potato is cooked. Stir from time to time so there is no sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Skin a ladle of the sauce off the top of the pan and place in a measuring jug along with the peanut butter. Blend this together with a fork and then return the whole sauce to the pan and mix with the curry. Then add a few handfuls of spinach and the sugar. Add some water if it needs loosening. Replace the lid of the pan for a further 3 to 5 minutes to let the spinach wilt. Shower with black pepper.

Enjoy! Thanks again Rosie!

Love FF x

Tuna Steak WITH Gino D'Acampo's Cherry tomato and Anchovy Sauce and French Bean Salad with Mint, Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts

It's been a few days since my mad bout of posting lots. But it's the weekend and I'm a student therefore I'm either going out or in the library! Although I should be studying now I think I might update with a few of the meals I've had. This Friday night I cooked tuna steak for me and my housemate along with Gino D'Acampo's Cherry tomato and Anchovy Sauce and French Bean Salad with Mint, Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts.

I saw him make this on This Morning whilst I was bumming about at home, probably before a lecture. (Life of a student eh?!) Also during his cooking segment, there were other people all cooking the same thing at home at the same time as Gino, they had a wall of telly screens so he could watch them and tell them if they're doing the right thing. Thought that was pretty cool and also showed that what these TV chefs make on the telly isn't that hard!

So Gino cooked it with a crispy salmon fillet - whereas I had tuna steak in the freezer and I'm not a massive fan of salmon. The meal again, like Rosie's wasn't too difficult.

This is Gino's recipe - I am copying and pasting it from the website, so in no way am I claiming it is mine!

I am separating the recipe into 3 parts, since there are kind of 3 stages to it although done at the same time.

For 2 people.

Sauce:

200ml olive oil
1⁄2 red onion, finely sliced
4 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
400g tinned cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry the onion until golden. Add the anchovies, cherry tomatoes and parsley, season with salt and pepper and cook, uncovered, over a medium heat for 10 minutes.

French bean salad with mint, goat cheese and pine kernels:

100g French beans (topped)
3 fresh mint leaves
½ garlic clove
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
70g goat cheese
2 tablespoons of dry toasted pine kernels
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
In a medium size saucepan, cook the beans in salted boiling water until al dente.

In the meantime finely chop the garlic and the mint together and place in a large bowl. Pour in the oil and lemon juice and mix until well combined.

Drain well the beans and add into the bowl with the dressing.

Season with salt and pepper and toss all together until evenly coated. Place on a serving plate.

Crumble over the goat cheese and scatter with the cooled pine kernels.

2 tuna fillet steaks.

For the timing of the meal overall, I would:

- Fill up a kettle to boil the water for the green beans.

- Place the green beans in a saucepan.

- Chop up the onion for the sauce, open the can of cherry tomatoes, open the tin of anchovies.

- Once the kettle is boiled, pour into the saucepan with the green beans and let them cook.

- Start frying the onion for the sauce.

- Get the grill very hot for the tuna steaks.

- Once the green beans have been cooking for a couple of minutes and the red onion has sweated and you have started adding the other ingredients to the sauce. Then place the tuna steaks under the grill, cooking for 5 minutes either side - or until it's cooked how you want it, here's a good guide for cooking tuna steak.

- Then follow the rest of the directions from Gino's instructions for the sauce and the green bean salad.

Plating up:

- Place the sauce onto a plate, place the tuna steak on top. Arrange the beans next to it.

Enjoy!

Love FF x

Rosie's recipe - pork chops with mustard and honey sauce and lemon smashed potatoes

My go at Rosie Lovell's recipe of 'fillet of pork with mustard and honey sauce and lemon smashed new potatoes' - I made a slight variation in that I cooked leg of pork steak instead of fillet of pork, I was cooking for my housemate - with who I alternate cooking with - I felt a fillet would take too long and a steak would be adequate for us. Both myself and my housemate try out new recipes, which is always fun! (Maybe there might be some future recipes from her too, with photos and the recipe, or just own recipe if it is her own creation) There also may be some cakes coming this way too!

I am pretty proud of the way this recipe turned out - it was a LOT easier than I expected and minimal dish and saucepan use - always good for a messy student house! Just a pan for the potatoes and a pan for the sauce, pork chops cooked under the grill and only various spoons needed for the different condiments used in the sauce.

Right this is my variation of Rosie's recipe - but it did come from her so in no way am I claiming it's actually mine!:

Ingredients: (for 2 people)

2 leg of pork steaks/pork chops/loin of pork chops

sauce:

a small bowl of water - accompanied by a dessert spoon (to spoon into the sauce in order to loosen it)

1 dessert spoon grainy mustard

1 dessert spoon creme fraiche

1 dessert spoon runny honey

black pepper

lemon smashed new potatoes:

8 medium/small sized new potatoes

1 lemon

olive oil

black pepper

salt

I started by putting the new potatoes in a saucepan and like Rosie said, immersing them in boiling water with a pinch of salt, then leave to simmer with the lid on. (I stuck the timer on for 20 minutes)

Meanwhile, I got out all the rest of the ingredients and turned the grill on so it can get to the hottest heat. My leg of pork steak was quite thick, so once the grill was hot enough (say after the potatoes had been cooking for 5 minutes) I stuck the steaks under it to start cooking.

I then left the potatoes to cook and the leg of pork steaks as well - but I turned the pork steaks midway through - say when the potatoes have been on for 10 minutes. Basically I cooked the steak each side for 10 mins on the highest heat, but you can cook it to however you see fit, as long as it's cooked properly, which as Rosie says is: not pink - as that is undercooked and not grey which is overcooked! Once the steaks are nearly done and the potatoes are near to the end of their cooking time, start the sauce.

Put all the condiments into another saucepan, so that is, a dessert spoon of grainy mustard, 2 dessert spoons of creme fraiche and 1 dessert spoon of runny honey. I used a whisk to mix the condiments together. I left the sauce for a couple of minutes whilst I sorted out the potatoes.

Check the potatoes are cooked throughly, and as Rosie says -if you stick a knife into the largest one and it slips off easily then it should be fine! Then I drained the potatoes and put the lid on again, and moved the potatoes about quite vigorously, to loosen the skins, and drizzled some olive oil into the saucepan (extra virgin olive oil would work even better as said by Rosie, but I didn't have any and it's a bit pricey for a student!) I then squeezed in one lemon, sprinkled some dried thyme over them and seasoned with salt and pepper and then left them with the lid on until I was ready to plate up.

Back to the sauce. The sauce may have thicken by now so to loosen it, I added some dessert spoons of water from a small bowl I had on the side, I added around 4 spoonfuls and whisked it until it came to a nice saucy consistency and then added black pepper.

Then to the pork steaks - make sure you check the steaks throughout cooking. But after 20 minutes under the grill at the highest heat, each side cooked for around 10 minutes - they should be cooked throughly - or just cut into them to check the colour (as mentioned above).

Plating up: I arranged some spinach on the plate on which I laid the new potatoes and then drizzled some of the lemony oily sauce from the saucepan. On the other half of the plate I placed the pork steaks and then drizzled the honey mustard sauce over them (as above in the photo!)

I hope that recipe, my way, makes sense. And thanks to Rosie for this fab recipe, I'll definitely be bringing others from her book to this blog!

Love FF x