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Crepes with smoked salmon and poached egg
15Feb

Crepes with smoked salmon and poached egg

Pancake day always creeps up on me, and I think a lot of people forget about it until they go to the supermarket and see Nutella being sold next to frying pans. Pancake day for me is about crepes. A better batter (!), more delicate and crispier. It’s a simple, easy recipe that can be whisked last minute. And whether you want the sugar rush of Nutella or jam, tomorrow I am having mine for breakfast with smoked salmon, cream cheese and spinach. A poached egg tops it off nicely. Crepes with smoked salmon and poached egg Yields 10 crepes 150g of plain flour 3 eggs 330ml milk 1 tsp salt Butter to grease pan Filling: Smoked salmon (around 300g for 10 crepes) Cream cheese Spinach Eggs Vinegar 1. In a large bowl whisk flour and eggs together with a third of the milk until smooth. Add the remaining flour and salt and continue to whisk until all the flour is incorporated, and you have a smooth paste. The consistency should be that of single cream. 2. Place a 23cm frying pan over a medium heat, add enough butter to thinly coat the pan (a heatproof bush is a helpful
2 mins read
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sweet potato and feta galette
11May

Sweet potato and feta galette

A savoury galette with foolproof crumbly, buttery pastry. This is my first ever attempt at making a galette. I didn’t even know what it was until someone challenged me to do it. Sure, once I googled it I realised I had seen it before – quite a popular little tart – and how had I never tried it before? The internet is choc-a-block full of different galettes, but mainly sweet ones, which look amazing with a good dollopo of ice cream in the middle. But true to my stubborn streak I decided to try not only a savoury galette but the less travelled road of a square shaped one too. In the process of testing this recipe I got sick of measuring grams for my shortcrust pastry and decided to work on a ratio as a quick go to whether serving two people or six. I am very proud to annouce it is: 1 liquid : 2 fat : 4 flour *taps self on the back obnoxiously* Sweet potato and feta galette (serves 2) For the pastry: 60g cold butter 120g plain flour 30ml cold water 1 tsp salt 1. In a bowl rub butter and flour together with your
3 mins read
1487 Views
easy fudgy chocolate brownies
09Apr

One bowl chocolate brownies

These brownies are easy and quick to make, and you will only have one bowl to wash up! It is not easy to cook elaborate meals or even large meals in a small kitchen. And sometimes space is not even the problem, I often just fancy a sweet recipe that will be quick and easy to make. I am often on the look out for one bowl recipes and this fudgy brownie one has quickly become a family favourite. Dark chocolate is not always a staple in my cupboard – as much as I would like it to be – but I often come across offers in the supermarket. This is when i mistakenly did not read the label properly and bough 100% cocoa chocolate. Completely inedible, but a dream to cook with. That’s when I first tried this recipe. I have tested this recipe many times and it is important to keep true to the fat ratio, so using chocolate that has 85% cocoa content is important. Another important aspect is the size of the baking pan, an inch off should be fine but a pan too much smaller than that will take longer to cook and make the
2 mins read
1810 Views
18Nov

Mood boosting iced tea with turmeric and chamomile

  Change can be a little scary. Last month I left my old job for a new role in a different hospital and trying  to fit into a new team comes with excitement but also challenges. I made this recipe a while back, when the stress from my old job reached its peak, giving me loads of sleep trouble, consequently making me so tired and the days unbearable. I tried Nytol, a herbal medicine but to no avail which led me to do some research on natural remedies. I had to give into the latest trend of putting turmeric on everything even though it has such a bitter after taste. There is extensive evidence (in rats and humans) that turmeric has a potential anti-anxiety effect. Research shows that anxiety negatively impacts on physical health and may damage brain cells and that adding turmeric to your diet may actually reverse this damage. If you would like to read more about it click here and here. So that is the star of the show. But we also have chamomile, which not only has anxiolitic propertie but also helps with insomina. I don’t enjoy hot drinks that much, not even in the winter
3 mins read
1245 Views
05Dec

Whisky and caramel cake bites

I will very rarely admit defeat when it comes to recipes. In the last few months I have developed a couple of cake recipes, baked them and failed them. Eventually I got the ingredients and methods rights but that meant a few flat, mushy attempts had to be foiled up and sent to the cake morgue, a.k.a. my bottom freezer drawer. The morgue was getting really packed and this was causing marital tensions. My husband is a minimalist when it comes to storage of any kind. So what’s a girl to do with all this cake? Cake pops, naturally.  Bad idea. I watched dozens of videos, researched what was the best brand of candy melts and was the biggest visitor to Bakerella’s site last month. And yet they were a complete failure. I wanted to make something special for my nephews birthday and it went catastrophically bad, to the point I was covered in yellow candy melt, ferociously throwing away all of the jelly tots cut out in the shape of pooh’s ears. And the question remained…what to do with all this cake? Cake pops’s closest (and low maintenance) relative, cake bites. And a grown up one at that.Maybe good
2 mins read
960 Views
24Nov

One ingredient apple caramel sauce

When it comes to food I am sometimes like the spoiled rich girl that has a walk-in closet full of clothes but feels she has nothing to wear. Some mornings I will open my cupboards over and over, waiting for brownies to magically appear, when I should be cooking all the eggs and porridge oats I have bought for the week, as an encouragement to have full, healthy breakfasts. I needed to accessorise my porridge with a new topping, and finding out that you can turn pressed apple juice into caramel was the answer. One ingredient apple caramel sauce 500ml of pressed apple juice (not from concentrate) 1. Add juice to a pan and heat it until the mixture has halved in volume and leave it to reach a rolling boil. Leave it to boil for 4 minutes.  Half a litre of juice you’ll leave with enough apple caramel to sprinkle over your porridge for a whole week. No need to add any sugar, it is perfectly tangy and sweet on its own. Add to your porridge with a sprinkle of nutmeg, berries and pumpkins seeds. It also tastes great with gin. But leave that one for dinner time.
2 mins read
788 Views