Foodie Penpals pt. 3

Foodie Penpals

Eek, bit late with this one, sorry dudes! Firstly a big thank you to Georgina from www.whatpegmade.blogspot.co.uk for the really lovely foodie penpal parcel this month including super cute handmade card. lovely handmade card! foodie pen pal gifts

The tea shelf is now very happy with its new additions and I made swift work of the nãkd bars. They’re pretty low guilt as they’re mostly made of squished up nuts and dates so deffo need to have a go at making cereal bars this way.

foodie goodies!

I umm-ed and ahh-ed about what to do with the chocolate because it seemed too exciting to just munch as is…but didn’t want to go too elaborate either because I’d hate to detract from the geranium.

So, after much deliberation here is a very, very simple recipe for chocolate florentines. These fancy chocolate buttons are possibly the easiest chocolates to make and look lovely in a box of handmade truffles or as a super gift to take to a last minute dinner party.

Chocolate Florentines

Chocolate Florentines.

Ingredients

100g of chocolate (I used Montezuma’s Dark Chocolate with Orange & Geranium, but any chocolate you like including white chocolate would be fine)
Handful of mixed nuts, seeds, edible flowers and dried fruits

Method
1. Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
2. Lay a large piece of tin foil flat on a work surface or large chopping board, preferably in a cool place.
3. Carefully drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate onto the foil and spread out so they are just slightly bigger than a £2 coin.
4. Decorate each one with a few nuts, dried fruit etc. It looks really smart if they all look the same.

Decorated with sultanas, hazelnuts, lavender and elderflowers
5. Leave to set hard somewhere cool and serve. They’re really nice with coffee or as and edible decoration to a simple dessert.

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If you would also like to be a foodie penpal then what the hell are you waiting for:

FOODIE PENPALS UK & EUROPE: HTTP://THISISROCKSALT.COM/FOODIE-PENPALS/

FOODIE PENPALS US: HTTP://WWW.THELEANGREENBEAN.COM/FOODIE-PENPALS/

xx

Out of Office

Books

Typing away

So, here’s some news… I’m writing a cook book and it looks like it’s actually going to get published!!!! (currently doing lots of little dances!) anyway, I have to get it all finished by the end of July so I might be a bit quiet on the blogging front. I do promise to keep you posted on all developments & any fun launch events we come up with. Wish me luck you lovely lot!
Smooches! Xx

Miriam Nice

Foodie Penpals pt.2

Foodie Penpals

This month I got a parcel of food related goodies from the marvellous Meg of meg-made.blogspot.com .

As with last months parcel, some of it went immediately, in this case the Hello Sailor chocolate bar. Some good chums of mine are in a band called Hello Sailor, they’re an all girl, ukelele & vocal group, they wear sailor hats and are fantastic fun! Check them out:


Anyway, what else did I get…oh yes, now these tulip papers are wonderful, I’ve attempted to make these quite a few times, usually out of necessity when I’m out of muffin cases. I start by cutting a square of grease proof paper, lay it over the muffin tin hole and then slam a jam jar or pint glass in to form the creases. Sounds like it works really well…sort of does..sort of doesn’t. Conclusion, proper tulip papers look really good.

The hibiscus tea is lovely, Meg suggested that I use it in cocktails so I whipped these up to drink whilst watching Eurovision Song Contest the other week…yep, I’m that cool!

Take 2 bags of hibiscus tea, and pop them in a heatproof jug full of 400ml of boiling water. Add 1 lime which has been sliced and leave to stand until pink. Remove the tea bags and leave to cool. Pour into a bigger jug or carafe and add ice, 4 shots of white rum, the juice of another lime and 1 shot of pomegranate syrup. Put some pomegranate seeds into martini glasses and pour in the cocktail, serve! “Douze points!”

Meg also sent some of this lovely popcorn, check it out once popped!

And finally some dried chillies. I still have the pickling spice from last months parcel so I think a serious pickling/chutney making session is getting very over due! I will keep you posted!

If you’re wondering what I sent out last month have a little wander over to Annika’s lovely blog http://www.allthelivelongday.com/

If you would also like to be a foodie penpal then what the hell are you waiting for:

FOODIE PENPALS UK & EUROPE: HTTP://THISISROCKSALT.COM/FOODIE-PENPALS/

FOODIE PENPALS US: HTTP://WWW.THELEANGREENBEAN.COM/FOODIE-PENPALS/

The Trouble with Trousers

Events, Recipes

Taylor & NiceThis week Bradley Taylor & I have re-launched our catering business Taylor & Nice with a new Private Chef Hire offering. We’ve been booked to do some quite exciting events over the next few weeks, so we’ve been busy buying new chef jackets, plates and cutlery in preparation. I think I could lose whole days in cookware shops. I am completely obsessed with seeing pans in every possibly size – ranging right from dolls house scale to a saucepan I could probably install a kitchen and a couple of bedrooms in.

The only thing we’re struggling with is trousers. Here’s a venn diagram I’ve put together to explain what I mean:

trouble with trousers

Rant over, it’s back to the kitchen to get perfecting some of our recipes ready for our upcoming events. This week I have been putting the finishing touches on a recipe for a melon & ginger biscuit dessert.

Melon Curd

We’re serving this homemade melon curd with lemon posset, ginger biscuits, and fresh melon pieces but I’m sure it would be lovely on toast, stirred through yoghurt or in a tart.

Taylor and Nice biscuitsIngredients:

1/2 a Galia Melon, deseeded and chopped
juice of 1 lemon
200g of caster sugar
100g of unsalted butter
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk whisked together with a fork

Method

1) Put everything except the egg mixture in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water

2) Stir together until the butter has melted

3) Whisk in the eggs and keep stirring or gently whisking for around 15-20mins until the mixture thickens.

4) Take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool, don’t forget to remove any remaining melon pieces and discard them (or eat them, they taste a bit like stewed apple and custard) then put the curd in the fridge to chill and thicken up a bit more ready for spreading, or drizzling.

Melon Curd Breakfast

If you’d like to find out more about Taylor & Nice or you know where we can get catering clothes that don’t look like we’ve had little accidents and had to change, please get in touch via our website: taylorandnice.com

x

Pomegranate Syrup

Recipes

Pomegranate Syrup with Pomegranate & Greek Yoghurt

This stuff is brilliant. I came across it whilst testing a recipe for a new Taylor & Nice client, where Pomegranate Molasses/Syrup was listed in the ingredients. I had no idea where to even begin looking for it. Instead I flicked through a few recipes online and got experimenting. Subsequently I have found that it is quite readily available in smaller shops but I quite like making it, it’s really satisfying and you can control the flavour and consistency yourself. I intend to have a go at making similar syrups from other pressed fruit juices; I tried it with pineapple juice and it was equally delicious – any other suggestions?

Pomegranate Syrup with Greek Yoghurt

Pomegranate syrup

Ingredients

300ml of pomegranate juice – you need 100% juice for this not anything labelled “juice drink” because then you’re just concentrating additional sugars, sweetners and water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 dessertspoon of caster sugar

Method

1) Put everything into a small pan over a high heat, occasionally swirling the pan to mix the ingredients, no need to stir

2) Heat until it starts to bubble rapidly

3) Once the mixture is the consistency of runny honey or golden syrup (and has reduced by about two thirds) take it off the heat – and that, is that!

It’s so delicious. The recipe we were working on was chicken based so deffo drizzle a bit on grilled chicken or barbequed meat. I mixed up a quick salad too with a load of couscous, feta, rocket, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of this syrup – delish! It’s very sticky, sweet but also sharp so it works really well with sweet and savoury dishes, also you can drizzle it nicely over the plate so my normal everyday cooking can look super extra fancy 😉

Toasted bagel with cream cheese and either pineapple or pomegranate syrup

Why not have it for breakfast folded through yoghurt with some fresh pomegranate seeds scattered about.

Pomegranate-based Breakfast

It’s Eurovision this weekend too, so if there’s any left it’s going into a cocktail for sure! Yummers! x

Foodie Penpals pt.1

Foodie Penpals

My latest foodie adventure has begun by signing up to be a foodie penpal via Rock Salt (who got the set up from The Lean Green Bean)…and it’s bloody brilliant! Basically, you’re added to a database of foodies. Each month the coordinator picks someone from the database to send you a parcel of interesting foodie goodies and at the same time you’re chosen to send a parcel to someone else. Then you get in touch (to say thanks or check it all arrived ok) and then blog about what you got. Easy.

A couple of weeks ago my first parcel arrived, it was like an early birthday present, with a card and everything! The lovely Teresa had neatly packed a wonderful mix of goodies and cooking ingredients and tucked into the card was one of her favourite recipes for me to try.

foodie parcel goodies

I made very short work of the nãkd. snack bars, and coconut macaroon, but I did then share the bombay mix with Richard so I’m not a total meanie.

The maize meal (fine polenta) was my favourite ingredient in the parcel because I’ve hardly ever used it but kept meaning to.

I was surprised how easy it is to make soft polenta and I followed this recipe which turned out great. I had planned to put any leftovers into an oven proof dish so they could set, allowing me to slice it and make polenta chips…but there were no leftovers 🙂

roasted tomatoes, olives and polenta

To go with the polenta I just grilled a few tomatoes, then at the end I threw in a few olives and a tablespoon of sundried tomato pesto, then returned to the grill just to warm everything briefly. Serve the tomato and olive mix over the polenta with some fresh basil and black pepper.

roasted tomatoes, olives and polenta

The rest of the maize meal was earmarked for Teresa’s recipe suggestion – Glamorous Raspberry and Polenta Cake by Jane Hornby.

raspberries

This is a great recipe to make all year round because it makes smashing use of frozen raspberries.

frozen raspberries

raspberry and polenta cake

slice of cake anyone?

raspberry and polenta cake

I can highly recommend the foodie penpal scheme as it’s as much fun packing up a parcel as it is receiving one – do it!

x

Foodie Penpals UK & Europe: http://thisisrocksalt.com/foodie-penpals/

Foodie Penpals US: http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/

Anger Management Brownies

Cooking, Recipes

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I made these when I was very, very cross. In fact, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it, I had PMT. I was so grumpy, it was actually ridiculous. I shouted at a sofa, a laptop, my phone and Richard. Luckily he’s very patient and extremely understanding so just laughs at me when I lose my temper at everything! In return for his patience I shared my anger quashing brownies. I find that chocolate is good for when my hormones are on the blink and I add extra chocolate enhancing flavours like cardamon and coffee to make them even more consoling.

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Anger Management Brownies

Ingredients

100g butter (plus extra for greasing)
200g dark chocolate
4 eggs
200g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cardamom
1 espresso (or 50ml of very strong coffee)
50g honey
1 teaspoon of rosewater
130g plain flour
1 tsp of baking powder
30g cocoa, and a bit more for dusting

Method

  1. Line a 20cm square cake tin (or similar sized rectangular one) with a piece of baking paper and grease well with butter. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl which is fitted on top of a pan of just boiling water, heat until both are melted.
  3. Whisk the sugar and eggs together until the mix has about doubled in size and is a lot paler than it was when you started whisking.
  4. Add the espresso, ground cardamom, honey and rosewater to the egg mixture and whisk again to combine.
  5. Now pour the melted butter and chocolate into the egg mix and whisk once more until smooth.
  6. Then fold in the flour, baking powder and cocoa and then tip the mixture into the prepared tin.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Don’t worry if it’s still quite wobbly in the middle, it will set more when it’s cold.
  8. Leave to cool (if you can wait that long) then slice into squares, dust with cocoa powder if you’re feeling fancy.

I like to serve mine (if I’m feeling particularly grumpy) with a good slice of action movie! Yippee–ki–yay!

Auntie Mim!

Cooking

I am very, very happy to announce the arrival of the newest addition to team Nice – my first nephew Milo! Milo

He’s absolutely brilliant! And the whole family is over the moon. My Dad is a National Trust volunteer and he baked some jam tarts to take into work to celebrate becoming a Grandad! He used my recipe from my last blog post and made Milo’s initials out of pastry – check it out:

Dad's Jam Tarts for Milo

I am so pleased to be an Auntie, but I have absolutely no idea what to do. Babies baffle me, as do so many of my female friends who seem to instinctively know how to hold a them, change a nappy and understand all the crazy noises they make. Why don’t babies arrive with step-by-step guides like flat pack furniture? And as for crying, turns out they are just sleepy or a bit hungry – so why do they sound like they are in mortal danger? It’s misleading, like when you get a work email marked URGENT but it’s for a marathon in six months time.

Ok, so we’ve established my hopelessness with babies, but I like to think I’ll do pretty well at the unending stream of “Why?” and “are we nearly there yet?” questions later on… and I could cook for them too (seamless link)!

So to welcome Milo and to give the new Mum and Dad a bit of a break I spent a day in the kitchen making a whole plethora of ready meals, freezer meals and baked goodies so they can spend even more time with the little fella. I tried to do some research on the kinds of foods most suitable for new Mums and Dads but the results were conflicting – some websites have huge lists condeming ingredients like fresh herbs, peanuts and eggs, whereas other sites seem to advocate eating whatever you like as long as it is healthy and doesn’t include too much shark. Hmm. So I just made a selection of foods I thought they would like, but included a list of all the ingredients, just in case. Worst case scenario they’ll give the food to visitors – which I hope is still vaguely helpful.

Here we go. My menu for my Brother and his Wife:

Eat Now…

Blueberry Lemon Drizzle Cake

Blueberry and Lemon Drizzle Cake

Soda Bread

Soda Bread

Eat Later…

Couscous

Spiced Couscous (just add water, serve with pomegranate and fried Halloumi cheese)

Mashed Sweet Potato

Mkomazi Cardamom-Mashed Sweet Potato (from the “World Food Cafe” Book)

Garlic Hummus Very Garlicky Hummus

Freeze…

Lentil Moussaka

Lentil Moussaka

Giving food seemed to be a good plan, and I would recommend doing this for anyone you know who has just had a baby. Making a selection of dishes that won’t all go off at the same time is also a good tip…oh and things they can eat with one hand 🙂

xxx

Bring Back Jam Tarts!

Recipes

Tangerine and Raspberry Tarts
Ok, so Jam Tarts haven’t disappeared completely, but as cake trends go…they’re no macaron right now.

Well, take a hike cupcakes and cake pops, move over oversized meringues and make room for the Jam Tart because…

  • Firstly, Jam tarts are easy to make – comprising of only 4 ingredients
  • They’re cheap to make – one of the 4 ingredients is water and another could be any old jam at the back of the cupboard!
  • Speedy, too – needing only 15 minutes in the oven!
  • and they’re a bit magic – well not actually magic but there’s definitely something very exciting and totally delicious that occurs when jam is baked in pastry

Yes they’re simple, but some of the best things are. You really don’t need to spend all day in the kitchen to bake these and the house will get that wonderful homely smell without so much as a balloon whisk in sight.

Jam Tarts

Makes 12 small tarts

Ingredients

100g plain flour (plus a little extra for rolling out)
50g butter
cold water to bind
Jam, marmalade or fruit curd of your choice

Method

1) Rub the butter into the flour until the butter is well incorporated and the texture is sandy or like fresh bread crumbs

2) Mix in enough cold water to bring the mixture together to make a smooth dough which picks up all the flour in the bowl – I used about 3/4 of an espresso cup full of water…if that helps 🙂

3) Leave the dough in the fridge to rest. You can leave it in there for about 30 minutes but I don’t usually time it. Instead, I just leave it in there until I’ve preheated the oven to 180°C, cleaned and floured the surface, found my rolling pin and pastry cutters and greased a 12 hole bun tin.

4) When you’re ready, roll out the dough onto the floured surface til it’s about 2-3mm thick and cut out 12 circles.

5) Line the prepared bun tin with the pastry discs and fill each one with a level teaspoon of jam

Making Jam Tarts

6) Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through and the jam is bubbling (just enough time to put away the rolling pin and get the coffee on)

Before Baking
After Baking

7) Once baked, let them cool in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to go completely cold.

If you’re still not convinced that Jam Tarts are snazzy enough for your fanciest of guests, then do go ahead and add an arty drizzle of chocolate, dusting of icing sugar, scatter a few slivers of lemon zest or use any leftover pastry to well, tart up your tarts!

x

Chocolate Drizzle I heart Jam Tarts Jam Tart with Pastry SpotsJam Tart with Pastry Lattice Tarted up Tarts!

Are there any old fashioned foods you’d like to bring back, or any trends you could do without? Let me know – I’d love to hear from you. x

Spring Cake

Recipes

Mummy Avocet

For this Easter Bank Holiday Weekend I thought it would be nice to post a cake recipe. But already I have a bit of a headache (which I think could possibly be attributed to an over consumption of chocolate eggs) so I’ve gone for a light, chocolate-free, fruity number! I made some fresh tropical fruit orb thingys to decorate it, which you can see as Easter eggs or as Spring flowers (or just bits of fruit), and then added some paper Avocets. There’s nothing significant about the use of avocets, I just wanted to draw some black and white birds with long legs to give the cake some height and these wetland birds seemed to fit the bill…(sorry it that a bad joke?).

Spring Cake

Spring Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:
150g light soft brown sugar
2 large free-range eggs
100g sunflower oil
200g grated carrot (about 3)
Zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon baking powder
200g wholemeal flour

For the filling:

300g cream cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons icing sugar
170g 0% total Greek Yoghurt

For the icing:

8-10 dessert spoons of icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

To decorate (optional):

1 Pineapple
1 Melon
1 Mango
Fresh mint sprigs

You will also need 1 small round cake tin, greased with butter and lined with a circle of grease proof paper

Method

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 190°C
  2. First make the cake: Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy (or in my case until your arm aches because you’ve been making cakes all day and can’t be bothered to wash the electric whisk again)
  3. Whisk in the oil then add the grated carrot and lemon zest.
  4. Fold in the baking powder and flour until fully combined and then tip everything into your prepared tin
  5. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out cleanly
  6. Turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely
  7. Mix the filling ingredients together in a bowl then put into the fridge to firm up a little while you slice the cooled cake horizontally through the middle
  8. Sandwich the cake together with the cheesecake filling and pop the cake into the fridge for 10-15 minutesSpring Cake filling
  9. Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with the juice of 1 lemon until thick and smooth – you want the consistency to be somewhere between double cream and smooth peanut butter, so add the icing sugar bit by bit to the lemon juice and add more or less if needed
  10. Use a melon baller to carve little pastel spheres from a fresh pineapple, mango and melon. Ice the cake and then decorate with the fruit, mint leaves and a gentle snow flurry of icing sugar.

I added some drawings of avocets to mine, which I taped to cocktail sticks, but you can add your own drawings or any other cake decorations you like.

Mummy Avocet

Spring cake

Have a lovely bank holiday. What are you baking this weekend? x