Chocolate Brownies

Last night I needed brownies. Yes, there are some nights, especially around this time of year and with an impending wedding, that baked goods need to be frozen for a later date, but there are some nights when brownies are needed! And last night was one of those nights. I realised just how much I needed them when I was walking home from the supermarket and found myself praying - yes, actually asking the Lord himself - that the recipe wouldn't call for softened butter as I just simply couldn't wait that long.

And it didn't!! Aaahhh, melted butter, you are my saviour on cold winter nights when butter just won't come to room temperature fast enough and the microwave's exploded so I can't speed the process along...

I discovered David Lebovitz via the fabulous blogosphere and I love his blogs. I have to say his recipes are some of the most dependable around - always delicious! These were absolutely no excpetion to that rule. Brownies can be a tricky thing to master. Having read this article on what makes the perfect brownie, I was very pleased with the results but they lost out on speed and ease of baking. These, on the other hand, are wonderful. Moist, deeply chocolatey and just about as supernatural as a baked good can get! For the recipe, pop on over here and enjoy - although I'm sure it's VERY bad for my health that I have such a quick brownie recipe to hand...

Rosy xx

Ps the recipe actually says to leave the brownies overnight. Of course, I simply couldn't do that (who on earth has that kind of restraint?!) and they were great warm out of the oven with a dollop of cream... Ahem, please excuse the bite mark!

A very VERY late Golden Almond Fruitcake

I think I might actually be loosing my marbles!! I was determined to make this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays cake, even though the weekend left me no time to do it. I figured, as I need to cut down slightly on the amount of cake I'm eating (so I can gorge at Christmas, of course!) I'd bake this, pop it in the freezer and it would be perfect for the Church christmas coffee morning in a couple of weeks. So I rushed home from work last night and ploughed on with double the quantity in order to fit in to my big square cake tin rather than a loaf tin. I even remembered the marzipan and carefully laid out whole almonds on top in a neat pattern, rather than just scattering them on as the recipe called for. Out of the oven came a gorgeous, golden cake, filling the house with the warm smells of Christmas (I used allspice instead of cardamom) and I figured I'd snap a few shots of it this morning in the day light.

Then I got up, promptly forgot all about it and whacked it in the freezer before even taking so much as a before shot! So you're going to have to take my word for how lovely this cake looked and maybe I'll get a pic or two of it at the Christmas fair to add to this post!!

For some other gorgeous shots of this cake, have a look over at the other bakers' sites, and many thanks to Karin of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice for such a wonderful pick! She has the recipe up on her site if you fancy a fruit cake that isn't quite as dense as the usual Christmas cake!

I promise I shall have a hunt for said marbles this evening and get some pics up on this blog again soon...

Rosy xx

No Raised Waffles with Warm Brown Sugar Bananas from me I'm afriad....

Hello! No Sweet Melissa Sundays from me this week I'm afraid. My reasons are several fold:

1. I don't have a waffle maker. It's for the good of my health that I chose not to purchase one - I would in all likelihood form an unhealthy attachment to waffles and, rumour has it, man can not live on waffles alone. Oh how I wish we could though!
2. I don't really like bananas. Controversial, I know! Banana cake, yes. Fresh banana chopped on top of cereal, sometimes. Cooked banana and banana on stuff? Not so much.
3. We were in Oxford this weekend visiting friends and going to a fancy pants black tie dinner so I was super tired on Sunday.
4. When I say tired, I mean hungover.
5. I crave foods when I'm hungover and I was craving muffins - so I baked apple, carrot and pecan muffins instead which were YUM! But I haven't taken a pic of them yet so watch this space.
6. JJ had to go away on a business trip so I got to have TOTAL control over the TV I watched! It was amazing.

Ok, the last one's less of a reason and more just how amazing Sunday afternoons are when you've just baked muffins and you have free reign over Sky - yes, I watched Wedding TV and it was the best.

Anyway, promise I'll get the recipe up soon as you really want to make these muffins!

Rosy xx

ps Do have a look at what the other bakers cooked up though - I've been drooling over their creations! And thank you to Lauren of Fried Pickles and Ice Cream for this week's pick. Shall be back again with SMS next week.

Christmas Pudding Stuffed Pheasant

Last night I made christmas pudding stuffed pheasant. A little unusual, granted, but there was method to my madness, I promise! I spotted this competition, run by Matthew Walker, over on the UKFBA website and couldn't resist giving it a go. Many thanks to Matthew Walker for posting me 2 christmas puddings to play around with! There was probably enough for more than one experiment but I'd be lying if I said I didn't sample a bit first... Well it was important to identify what the flavours were in order to inspire my creative side!! Honest!
Not wanting to be totally predictable and make a dessert with my lovely christmas puds, I decided to make a savory dish. And I have to say, it was really tasty! JJ did look terribly worried when I was explaining last night's dinner whilst wandering around the supermarket but he was a very good sport and went along with my random plan. He's very good like that! I tend to have a lot of random plans and I wish I could say that stuffing a bird with a pudding was my most random to date...

Anyway, what I did...

To make the stuffing, I fried up half an onion (finely chopped) with about 4 rashers of streaky bacon and the sausage meat from one large sausage. Once this was lovely and golden, I put it to the side to cool a little. I then mixed up about 200g of christmas pud with some chopped chestnuts, parsley (a good tablespoon), some lemon zest and the onion and bacon mix. I mixed this all up with my hands to make sure there was a good even distribution of the pudding and tasted and added seasoning. Then I took my pheasant and stuffed the cavity with the stuffing before fastening with string, placing in a small roasting tray with half an onion, sliced up, and laid pancetta over the top of the bird. That went into a hot oven (220C) for 50 minutes and voila! A beautifully roasted bird. (Definitely cooking up one of these suckers again - really quick to cook and very tasty).

I served this with buttery mash with spring onions mixed through and brussel sprouts topped with the pancetta from the bird (crumbled up a bit). I made a quick gravy from the roasting juices, just by deglazing with brandy and mixing in a spot of bramble jelly and beef stock.

I would have to say, I was very prepared for this to be a total flop - I'm new to totally inventive cooking like this and I've never even cooked a pheasant before, let alone made up a stuffing! But my gut instinct that the rich fruit of the pudding would go well with the rich game meat of the pheasant proved spot on and we finished up the whole thing! Really was very good.

So anyway, that's something a bit different to my normal baking-related waffle but (poor JJ) I'm thinking of doing more experimental cuisine now that this was such a hit... Have you ever done any crazy combinations before? Were they successful??

Rosy xx

Butter Toffee Crunch

It's Sweet Melissa Sundays time again! On a Monday... There is a reason for this - the recent break in left us laptop-less at home so I have to be in the office to upload any photos. But normal business should resume soon.

Anyway, back to the more important subject of toffee!! Kaitlin from Kait's Plate picked this week's choice and I for one was really looking forward to making it. I'm organising our church christmas coffee morning this year and the plan is to have lots of crafty stalls with bits and pieces of christmassy goodies. So I thought that me and one of the Sweet Supper Club groups could make up lots of little bags of sweeties and gingerbread to sell. These were super easy to make and delicious so a definite addition to the stall! And super cute in their little bags, don't you think?

The only very minor modifications I made were using pecans on the base (but still almonds on the top) and I used granulated sugar rather than brown. I've heard that brown sugar is a lot harder to make caramel and toffee out of as the impurities in it tend to burn. I didn't want to risk it!

Many thanks to Kaitlin for hosting this week and check out her blog for the recipe and all the other bakers' blogs for their take on the toffee.

Rosy x

Hot Chocolate Pots with Cardamom Cream

I had my very lovely cousin and her boyfriend over for dinner the other night. As I'm going to attempt to look half way decent in a wedding dress in about 10 months time, I figured I'd do a nice, light dessert. My one golden rule for dinner parties (no matter how casual or fancy they are) is to make dishes that can be largely prepared ahead of time. I want to sit around and drink with my friends, safe in the knowledge that a delicious meal is just a few moments from ready in the kitchen. They're there to see you, after all, not sit around whilst you get into a fluster in the kitchen. So, with this in mind, I decided to make poached pears - they could be poached the night before and served gently warmed, maybe with some prunes that had been steeped in the poaching juices too. Ooo, and then a big dollop of cardamom cream alongside to add a note of richness... So went my thought process, anyway.

So the night before, I carefully prepared and poached 8 sweet little pears. The result? Thoroughly underwhelming. I'm not sure the pears were ripe enough and I'm certain that red wine wasn't the right thing to poach them in. Didn't work for me at all! And so at this point I'm stuck. Last minute desserts are so often a rubbish cop out and I so desperately didn't want to be chained to the kitchen.

And then the answer came to me - individual hot chocolate pots. YUM!!!! Ok, so they don't fall into the slimming catagory but hey, it was an emergency! And boy, were they good. The crowning glory? The cardamom cream. A total revelation!!! I had to take it away from JJ to prevent him eating the whole lot with a spoon. A fantastic contrast to the deeply chocolatey chocolate pots - don't be fooled, these pack one hell of a chocolate punch - and an interestingly different flavour without being too crazy or out there. I could quite happily devour one of these a day for all eternity. Plus they're sooooooooo easy and quick to make. In fact, I'm making them again tonight to take round to one of my friend's houses! So you can see that the wedding diet lasted about 20 seconds...

Hot Chocolate Pots with Cardamom Cream
adapted from David Lebovitz

Chocolate Pots
285g Chocolate - I used Green and Blacks 70%. You want the good stuff. Trust me.
60g Butter (unsalted or salted - just also add a pinch of salt if you use unsalted)
50g Sugar, divided into 2 lots of 25g (roughly)
4 large eggs at room temperature, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
slosh brandy
1 tsp instant coffee granules

Take 6 little pots. Espresso cups that can withstand the oven are just darling, although I don't have these so I used ramekins. Basically, whatever you have will be just fine. Grease these lightly and dust with caster sugar.

In a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water!) melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring until beautifully smooth and glossy. Remove this from the heat and stir in one portion of the sugar (25g). Allow to cool slightly before mixing in the egg yolks - you don't want them to cook yet! Then mix in the flavourings - I used vanilla, brandy and coffee, you could use whatever makes you go weak at the knees*.

In a nice, sparkley clean bowl - if there's even the faintest hint of grease the egg whites won't whisk up properly - whisk up the egg whites. Bits of yolk and shell also prevent them from frothing nicely, so take care with this bit. It's not hard, just not the time to play it fast and loose with the eggs. In case you ever do that...

Ahem, anyway, so whisk the egg whites up until fairly stiff. Then add in the other half of the sugar and whisk until they form soft, floppy peaks. Fold one third of this into the chocolate mix, then fold in the remainder until just incorporated. You don't want to overmix as you don't want to loose all of that lovely air you just worked so hard to get in there. Divide the mix up between the 6 little pots.

To cook, pop them in a 220C preheated oven for 10-12 mins. Mine cooked in 10 - the tops want to be firm but don't overcook as you want a yummy, molten centre.

They can be left at room temperature for an hour or two and cooked at the last minute or in the fridge for a day or so and brought up to room temperature before cooking. Perfect for dinner parties as you can be super organised!

Cardamom Cream
250ml double cream
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp caster sugar

Sieve the cardamom as you don't want any gritty bits in the cream. Then simply whip everything together, up to soft peaks and dollop on the hot puds. Or eat straight from the bowl if you're JJ...

Rosy xx

*Being a long time fan of Ina Garten, I tend to always add vanilla and coffee to chocolate as she says it just makes the chocolate taste more chocolately. And she's amazing so who am I to argue?! But David adds a bunch of very interesting flavours to his spiced version of these - cinnamon, chilli, cloves and black pepper. He's amazing too so I totally think that would be awesome! Just go nuts. Only one word of warning - I didn't go with the spices as I had the cardamom cream and was adding a very distinctive flavour in that way. If you have complex flavours in the chocolate pots, you probably want to pair them with something more neutral, such as a simple vanilla icecream or creme fraiche.

Cauliflower Fritters with Lime Yoghurt

Ah, the humble cauliflower. Le chou fleur. Das blumenkohl. A much maligned vegetable that even I don't really like that much (and I eat most things. Apart from aubergine but I'm working on that. And fresh coriander but is it me or does it just taste like soap?!). Sure, smother it in cheese sauce and bake with a breadcrumb top and it's great, but then what isn't improved with cheese sauce?

Enter the fabulous gentlemen at Ottolenghi. Ottolenghi is a bit of a London institution, run by Yotam Ottolenghi and head chef Sami Tamimi, and I have been head over heels about their food ever since JJ gave me the recipe book last Christmas. Definitely my most used recipe book! Love it. Now, I don't know how they manage it, but they can take something as ordinary as a french bean and make a salad with it that you just long to eat forever. Or broccoli - I like broccoli but I like it even more when seared and mixed with garlic and chilli! But I doubted that even they could make a cauliflower tasty. But boy, was I was wrong! Oh how wrong.

These are just delicious - easy to make, wonderfully flavoured and so filling. And if you can't be bothered with the yoghurt, just grate a bit of garlic into some mayonnaise and mix with a bit of seasoning. Although the yoghurt is REALLY good...

Cauliflower Fritters with Lime Yoghurt
Adapted from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Fritters
1 small cauliflower
120g Plain flour
3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 shallots, finely chopped
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt (don't be afraid - it needs a very generous season)
1 tsp ground black pepper
ca. 500ml sunflower (or other flavourless) oil

Lime Yoghurt
300g Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp chopped mint and parsley (the recipe states coriander but I'm just not that keen on raw coriander)
Grated zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 1/2 - 2 limes
2 tbsp Olive oil
salt and pepper

First, make the yoghurt by mixing up the yoghurt, herbs, lime zest and some of the juice, olive oil and seasoning. Taste and add more lime juice or seasoning until you have a 'vibrant, tart, citrusy flavour'. Refrigerate or leave out for up to an hour.

Prepare the cauliflower, dividing it into florets. Add to a large pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 15 minutes or until very soft. Drain into a colander.

Put the flour, chopped parsley, garlic, shallots, eggs, spices, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk into a batter. When the mixture is smooth, add the warm cauliflower. Mix to break down cauliflower into the batter.

Pour sunflower oil into a pan – 1.5cm depth – and heat. When hot, spoon in the cauliflower mixture, I did about 2 tablespoons per fritter. Fry in small batches, controlling oil temperature so the fritters cook but don’t burn. They should take 3-4 minutes on each side.

Remove from pan and drain on a kitchen paper. Serve with sauce on the side. They're wonderful with pita bread and a green salad.
 
Enjoy!
 
Rosy xx

Blackberry Upside Down Cake for British Food Fortnight

Have I mentioned recently that I heart autumn? Love it. Me and autumn, we're besties. It's the cool air, the excitement of Christmas being just around the corner (although far enough away not to be in a panic about it just yet) and the leaves! Oh how I love the leaves. Our front door is just down the side of the main house and the little alley way fills up with crisp, russet sycamore leaves. Until we can work up the enthusiasm to sweep them away, we're knee deep in them! I love it. I kick them up every morning just before setting out to work, just as I take my first breath of the fresh, crisp air. Very refreshing!

Other people enjoy the season in other ways. Take my Dad. He's a very handy person and is always whipping up a new kitchen counter, pergola or, in this case, a little house! In his own words:

'In brief, the accommodation comprises: Entrance porch, leading to spacious vestibule with single bed/hibernation room off. The attractive development boasts a contemporary Forest Green finish. Set in large and well tended gardens to front and sides. Viewing essential!'

Of course, with the spec. he provided a picture...

All this for the cutest of (flea ridden) creatures, the hedgehog. I love that it even has a proper weather proofed roof! And the to let sign??! I hope those hedgehogs appreciate the effort.

As well as building hedgehog starter homes, my Dad is also an exceptional cook, as I've already shown you, and this is another one of his recipes.  Perfect for cool autumn days and using up the blackberries picked from the hedgerows (or bought in Waitrose if you live in London) and top of my list for the sweet week of British Food Fortnight! I've seen Ina Garten do something similar and call it a cake tatin but whatever you choose to call it, I urge you to give it a try! It's one of those great recipes that so simple yet yields wonderfully impressive results. Great served warm as a dessert or cold with a big cup of tea. Either way, creme fraiche or greek yoghurt is a perfect accompaniment to contrast with the sweet caramel covered berries.

Blackberry Upside Down Cake

Top/Bottom (depending on whether it's upside down or not yet!)
50g Butter
115g Caster Sugar
350g Blackberries (or plums, blueberries, apples, pears... Whatever you've got! Fruit that's a little tart is best though)

Cake
150g Butter
200g Caster Sugar
3 large Eggs
150g Self Raising Flour (or plain with 2 1/2 tsp baking powder added)
25g Ground Almonds
1 Tbsp Amaretto (or other liqueur. Or a bit of milk)
pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)

Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas 4. Grease a 10" round cake tin (springform is a definite plus!!).

Heat the 50g butter and 115g sugar for the topping in a small pan over a low heat, stirring well until melted. Simmer gently for 3-4 mins until it turns a delicious coffee brown colour. Pour into the prepared tin and spread to coat the bottom. Arrange the blackberries in one even layer on the caramel. It works best if all the caramel is covered as it looks slightly more impressive with a solid berry layer. I didn't quite have enough so you can see some sponge poking through.

Beat together the butter and sugar for the cake until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour and salt and fold into the batter, followed by the almonds and amaretto. Spoon over the fruit and smooth the top. Bake for 50mins until cooked through.

Cool for 10 mins then run a knife around the edge. Turn out onto a serving plate and serve warm or allow to cool. Turning out while warm is a must!! Otherwise all the berries will stick to the base. Serve with creme fraiche, greek yoghurt or cream.

One last thing, don't forget to check out Katie's blog for the British Food Fortnight summary!

Rosy xx

Pear Muffins with Gingersnap Crumble

Whoop!!! I have a new camera!! I feel whole again. Phew, those couple of weeks felt loooong. So I can get back to normal and bake with the lovely SMS bakers! I've missed my Sunday baking. This one's a touch delayed as we haven't got the laptop replaced yet so I have to be in work to post (sshhhhhh - please don't tell on me).

This week was pear and cranberry muffins with gingersnap crumble chosen by Jennifer of Maple N' Cornbread. I was so looking forward to these as I happen to think pears are just about the epitome of autumn and very tasty too!

I modified like crazy on this recipe. I would love to say that it was due to a rush of creative inspiration but no, it had more to do with me being unable (read: too lazy!) to go to the shops for all the bits I'd forgotten. Such as flour. Oops. So I swapped in wholemeal flour, buttermilk instead of cream and raisins instead of cranberries. I'm just not that much of a cranberry fan, unless it's in juice form poured over vodka with a slice of lime. I also upped the quantity of buttermilk to a full half cup as these muffins have been known to be slightly dry. Then I also thought that they needed christmasying up a bit (that's a word!) so I added ground all spice. And I replaced some of the baking powder with bicarbonate of soda due to the use of buttermilk*.

So. Not such a fan of these! I liked the texture, I just felt that the pear didn't really come through and there wasn't a whole lot of other flavour there. I think some other spices would really liven them up and yes, possibly cranberries would help! Or another berry. Anyway, the wholemeal flour was nice and the texture was a definite improvement.

I'm off to have a look at how the other bakers got on and see what yummy alternatives might improve these little babies next time.

Ahhh, it's good to be back...

Rosy x

*It's a whole acid thing - baking powder is neutral, bicarb of soda, or baking soda, is alkaline. You use baking powder if the mix is neutral and soda if you have acidic components. I like to think my chemistry degree comes in useful now and again!

Seriously Good Stew

It's British Food Fortnight everyone!! Very exciting. In case you missed the original post, it's just all about getting involved with all the great seasonal ingredients around at the moment and celebrating British food. Sounds good, huh?

I thought I'd kick off with my absolute favorite beef stew in the whole wide world. Oh my word, this stew just makes the world a better place! Whenever I ask JJ what he'd like to cook for guests he always suggests this stew. Even in mid summer when I have to intervene and suggest that maybe, just maybe, people won't be in the mood for stew in 30 degree weather!

But it's definitely not summer here anymore and I'm loving dusting off all my comfort food recipes. Hearty squash soups, spiced apple cakes, crumbles and gingerbread. Definitely my favorite time of year!! We made this stew on Saturday and have been happily living off the left overs for days now. The great thing about stews is how much they improve after being left over night. This stew could not be easier (don't even have to brown the meat) but the depth of the flavours and the richness of the sauce is just amazing.

As I don't have a camera yet (sob!) I thought I'd demonstrate where on the cow the shin comes from. It's a fantastic and bargainacious cut of beef, perfect for recipes like this which just blip away slowly in the oven. Do use any stewing cut - we've used a few and they all work fine. I would say that meat from a decent butchers really does make a HUGE difference to the taste though. We didn't realise just how much it impacted upon the flavour until our butcher closed so we resorted to Sainsbury's meat but the flavour just isn't as good.

Here it is - promise me you'll make it soon!!

Rosy x

Shin of Beef Stew
Adapted from Jamie Oliver and serves 4 generously. I think we actually had 6 portions...

Olive oil

2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sticks of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
a small handful of dried porcini
1 cinnamon stick
1kg shin of beef, trimmed and cut into 5cm/2 inch pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
2 x 400g tins good-quality plum tomatoes
⅔ of a bottle of red wine

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. In a heavy-bottomed ovenproof saucepan, heat a splash of olive oil and gently fry the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, herbs, porcini and cinnamon for 5 minutes until softened slightly.

Meanwhile, toss the pieces of beef in a little seasoned flour, shaking off any excess. Add the meat to the pan and stir everything together, then add the tomatoes, wine and a pinch of salt and pepper. Gently bring to the boil, cover with a double-thickness piece of tinfoil* and a lid and place in your preheated oven for 3 hours or until the beef is meltingly tender and can be broken up with a spoon. Taste and check the seasoning, remove the cinnamon stick and rosemary sprigs and serve.


*Note: don't forget the double thickness tin foil! I did once and the whole thing dried up in the oven.

Houston, we have a problem...

So... Tiny problem. A very nice person decided to burgle our flat and has stolen my beautiful camera! Amongst a load of other stuff as well which I won't bore you with. I'm feeling a little stranded as we no longer have our home computer or a camera to take pics of yummy food! At least not for a while - we have insurance so finger's crossed that it'll all be sorted at some point...

I'm honestly not sure when I'll be up and running again with blog related antics. I would still absolutely love to post the British Food Fortnight roundup though, so if anyone fancies helping with that and supplying some photos that would be all the more appreciated now!!

What do people think about blogging in the meantime without photos?? I know it's the cardinal rule of food blogging to have photos but I'm just not sure I can hold out until the insurance company gets their act together!

Rosy xx

British Food Fortnight

Autumn really is upon us. The leaves have turned, the air is cool and this Sunday the clocks go back... I love autmn. Never really been that keen on hot weather and, let's face it, autumn is the ultimate foodie season. Rich stews, flaky pie crusts, hearty soups and so many delicious baked goods to warm the cockles! Over the past few weeks, the very lovely Katie of Katiecakes and I have been emailing back and forth waxing lyrical on the wonderfulness that is this season when we struck upon an idea! 2 weeks of blogging related fun revolving around all things British and seasonal.

The idea - nothing fancy, just a good ol' cross blogging food event where you cook up yummy food that reminds you of this fabulous season and is a bit British inspired. There will be two roundups of said yumminess, the first will be on this very blog on the 31st October and will cover the savory side of things. Then on the 7th October, Katie will do a round up of all things sweet over here.

Wanna take part? We'd love it if you would!! Ah, making blogging friends is always so much fun... So if you have a warming soup to die for or a crumble that's perfect for curling up with on a cold Sunday, blog about it! Then pop your link on an email to us (or just the pic, that works too) and then there'll be a huge party blog-style (ie one big post...) of everyones creations on the dates mentioned above. Eek, I'm so excited already!

Where to email it to... Either me, Rosy, at rosy [at] rosylipsandlavender [dot] com for your savory dishes or Kaite at katiewantsapony [at] hotmail [dot] com with your sweet desserts or baked goods.

The aim is really just to have fun and to make some new friends so spread the word far and wide - go ahead and grab the pic above if you fancy and looking forward to catching up on the 31st!!

Love Rosy xx

Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes

Success! I've managed to organise myself enough to actually post... It's been a while, I know, but hopefully some photographic related breakthroughs will mean I'll be able to resume normal posting pace. That, and there's been the usual engagement distractions that have meant our diet has been largely based around pasta for the past fortnight - most of it definitely not blog worthy!!

Anyway, on to this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays. An appropriately autumnal recipe has been chosen by the wonderful Debbie of Everyday Blessings of the Five Dees. Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes. Doesn't the name just make you want to dive into a big pile of crisp russet leaves?! I'm a huge fan of anything from the squash family - they're so versatile and the flavours develop wonderfully when cooked, especially roasted - so I was looking forward to a sweet application of the regal pumpkin. Us brits use pumpkins in cooking a lot but always in savory rather than sweet items. Our friends across the pond however are a lot keener on pumpkins in tarts, pies, mousse and, in this case, cookies. Well, cookie cakes. I'm not sure what the distinction is but heck, I was willing to give it a go in the name of an SMS adventure!

The one and only problem was the decision to make my own pumpkin puree. As Katie will testify, the cost of canned puree is crazy over here so I decided to roast and puree the flesh myself. This produced a very watery mush that, even after much draining, led to soggy batter and VERY flat cookie cakes! They tasted delicious and I'm considering popping to Waitrose tomorrow to see if I can produce a better result but as you can see, they weren't exactly the most aesthetic babies in my repertoire!!

Do check out the other SMS bakers though as I've had a peek and they look much yummier and less pancake like!!

Rosy xx

Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble

Ok, so I actually have a REALLY good reason for this being a bit late this week -

Jon PROPOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we're getting married which is just about the most exciting thing in the world EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I was a little tied up this weekend what with all the accepting of engagement rings and all...... But I did manage to bake up these little beauties a few days ago so as not to let the SMS side down!! I did modify the recipe slightly - of course they are individual ramekins (as the photo shows!) and yep, that caused a huge volcano of treacley fruit juices to permanently affix themselves to the bottom of our oven, but worked really well (other than that!). The other modification that I did was switch the flour with half wholemeal and half oats. I really liked that - complimented the nuttiness of the pecans and was a definite hit.

Many thanks to Cristine from Cooking with Cristine (you can find the recipe on her blog) for choosing this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe and don't forget to check out the other bakers.

Rosy xx

PS WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calling for help...

Ok, so my slightly more sporadic posting is in part due to a few busy work weeks, but I also have another slight issue - my photos! The nights have well and truely drawn in recently and my food photos don't look anywhere near as good in artificial light. I'm a bit of a novice anyway and natural light is my friend... What to do? Should I just settle for some slightly orangey photos for the winter months or is there something I can do about it? Any advice gratefully recieved!

Rosy xx

SMS - Caramelized onion, sage and cheddar muffins

Aaarrggghhh, time has well and truly got the better of me this past week!! I even did this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe on the 22nd September as I knew I'd be pushed for time. But yes, a week early and I still managed to post a day late!!! It's totally my fault. And now this is only going to be super short post... Time management isn't going so hot at the mo but hey ho, I guess with a full time job there were always going to be some weeks where posting took a little bit of a back seat.

Anyway, back to these babies! When I first flicked through The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, this recipe was definitely one that caught my eye, although I think this combo wasn't really grabbing me. But how wrong was I! These are gorgeous. I caramelised a red onion slowly in a frying pan with some brown sugar and finished with a slosh of balsamic vinegar. Just yummy! We ate these for dinner alongside a simple salad and fresh out the oven they were just divine. The slight kick that the cayenne gives really adds to them. Can't wait to try some other variations!

Many thanks to Hanaâ of Hanaâ's Kitchen for choosing this week's recipe and don't forget to check out the other bakers.

Rosy xx

Orange scented scones and some jam-related antics

I have a confession to make - recently I really seem to have lost my baking mojo. I came home from work the other night and had visions of a sweet, moist apricot frangipane tart. A couple of hours later, I had the toughest crust known to man in front of me with a heavy, eggy filling. Not what I had in mind at all! Then my attempts at a thin, crisp pizza base last night resulted in something much more like a large cracker. And pancakes this morning? Disaster! I mean, pancakes??! How can I mess those up? Hmmm. Not good.

So there was a part of me that was dreading this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe. But I persevered! Not wanting such fearful follies getting the better of me, I bit the bullet. It helped that I had a group of close friends coming over for a jam making sesh (the first meeting of the Sweet Supper Club founders but more on that another time) and what goes better with jam that orange scented scones??

A sunday afternoon of jam making fuelled by tea from pretty cups and glasses of pink bubbly! What could be better? Here are some of the lovely ladies in question...

And here's Laura dutifully munching away on the scone. If only they'd been edible! But I fear the fault is TOTALLY mine. The dreaded baking curse strikes again! I did something I've never done before - I misread the recipe and added too much salt. Ew. Ew ew ew. Salty scone, anyone??! Didn't think so. But I have to say, the texture was divine! Once piled high with clotted cream and JJ's mum's greengage jam (ours wasn't quite ready) they were yum. But then cardboard is yum with that much cream and jam...

So many thanks to Robin of Lady Craddock's Bakery and I'm so sorry to have messed them up! I have to move on now otherwise I'm going to start sobbing over my keyboard...

The jam! Look as these furry fleshed beauties...

We made two jams - cinnamon peach (yes! Sweet Melissa's cinnamon peach preserve!) and plum jam.

Ooo, bubbly, peachy, cinnamon scented yumminess...

Here's Laura stirring the plum jam. Did feel a little bit like a coven of witches gathered around a steaming cauldron, but I get the feeling that if the only thing witches did was produce sweet preserves they might have a slightly better reputation.

I was less impressed by the plum jam. If I'm totally honest with you, the curse struck again (seriously, how much can I mess up in one week??!) and it's not really jam, more of a slightly gloopy plum sauce. Oh well!

The brightside is how darn cute they look!!! What a feeling of satisfaction, looking at rows and rows of homemade jams.

Sky requested that we fill up these mini jam jars. Aren't they just about the most adorable things ever?

Just perched happily atop its bigger brother. Too cute.

So apologies again for being a total muppet and messing up this week's SMS - hopefully the new week will bring better cooking vibes and I shall create some food to be proud of. I'll keep you posted!

Rosy xx

Ps Don't forget to have a look at the other SMS bakers!

Cow Pie

Something happened whilst we were away on hols - we turned our backs for 2 minutes (well, 2 weeks...) and it's suddenly autumn! After a couple of weeks of 30C+ I can't say I minded being greeted by the crisp breeze and distinct autumnal feel in the air. I was slightly less chuffed by being utterly drenched on my walk home last night, but being curled up on the sofa with JJ afterwards, listening to the rain pattering against the skylight cheered me up no end.

There is one slight disadvantage to the sudden turn in the weather - I have lots of photos of salads to post about, but absolutely no inclination to write about them at all! A warming butternut squash soup or a deep, rich beef stew yes; a crisp marinated courgette salad - not so much. Gosh, it's making me chilly just thinking about it!

Thankfully, I have this beauty to tide me over. I wish I could say I was the creator of such a work of art but alas, no. It was my wonderful Dad. He is a fantastic cook and I always look forward to heading up North to see them, knowing that something delicious will be bubbling away on the stove when we arrive. (JJ loves visiting too but that probably has more to do with tankards of ale).

We visited a couple of weeks ago and, of course, we were not disappointed! This is my Dad's piece de resistance at any picnic - a cold steak and kidney pie. Oh it's good. Just look at that pastry! Mmmm....

Oh yes, come to mamma...

So tasty - perfect whether for a picnic in the summer or the centrepiece for an autumnal feast, although I'm informed that it is best served cold rather than hot. Just for you, dear readers, I have managed to persuade my Dad to part with the much coveted recipe - enjoy!

Rosy xx

Steak and Kidney Pie

Ingredients:

2 lb good steak and kidney
2 tbsp seasoned flour
1 small onion
Red wine
Beef stock
Mushrooms (optional)

Pastry
12 oz plain flour
3 oz lard
3 oz butter
salt & pepper
cold water
 
Method:

1 Trim the meat and cut into moderately large cubes. Toss in seasoned flour. Slice the onion.

2 Place the meat and onion into a casserole, barely cover with red wine/stock mixture, bring to simmer on the hob. Transfer to a slow oven (Gas 2) and cook for 2 hours or until tender, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool well. [Can be done day before]

3 Make up the shortcrust pastry and refrigerate for 20 min. (That's rubbing the fat into the flour and adding cold water until it comes together! My Dad's a bit of a pastry legend. R x)

4 Line a lightly oiled pie dish with just over half of the pastry. Place some sliced mushrooms on bottom of dish if wanted; add cool filling. Cover, pierce and decorate. Brush with beaten egg.

5 Cook for 30 min in a hot (Gas 7) oven or until cooked and golden. Allow to cool.

Perfect Pound Cake

I went into this week's Sweet Melissa Sunday's swearing that I wouldn't modify the recipe. I really did, I promise!! But then it kind of went like this... We got home from Italy and I remembered that I'd totally forgotten to pick up more vanilla essence, so subbed in vanilla paste. And I didn't get around to buying the right sized tin (which I've been intending to get for ages). So with the first attempt I used a small loaf tin and, upon discovering some rogue blueberries in the back of the fridge I mixed them into the left over mix and popped it into my trusty mini springform tins - thus far only really used for left over mix but oh so cute!

I have to say the result was everything the title promised that it would be. Absolutely perfect. The crumb was light but not fluffy like a sponge cake - more dense and moist. Just delicious! In fact, it was so good I immediately dashed out to pick up the correct sized tin to make it again!

I did manage to have a little batter left over as yes, I didn't buy a large enough tin, but it was closer! Not doing very well today... I also popped some raspberries into the little cake and more blueberries into the loaf, just because I loved it so much!

Just soooooo good. I've now eaten way too much cake... Oops...

This has to be my fave recipe from the book so far, not just because it's perfect as it is, but it's also such a great base for experimenting! Thank you so much to the lovely Michelle of Veggie num nums and don't forget to check out the other bakers here! I'm not not off to eat more cake...

Rosy xx

PS In my haste to post, I totaly forgot one significant alteration that I made to the recipe (honestly, I don't know what's happened to my brain at the moment!). We don't have cake flour in the UK due to some stuff about bleaching agents. Anyway, I used a conversion thingy I found online and (having discovered that the weight of flour required was 220g) I used 190g all purpose (plain) flour and 30g cornflour (cornstarch). Worked a treat!

And JJ informs me this cake is awesome dipped in clotted cream. Yes, he dunked a chunk of cake in a pot of cream. Not just regular cream - clotted cream. Honestly! All my pretty china is totally wasted on him. Does anyone want to come over for tea so that it can get an outing??!

The Wedding

So, predictably given the last post, my two dear friends are now husband and wife!! One thing that I didn't mention in the last post was that the wedding was held in Italy. It was absolutely stunning!

We had the run of an absolutely gorgeous Masseria in the rural heart of southern Italy. I really didn't want to leave!

The dinner was held outside under olive trees strung with hundreds of lanterns - just about the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I hope these photos do it some justice!

Apologies for the brevity of this post - still so tired after all the travelling but stay tuned for some more photos from out Italy travels in the next few days...

Rosy xx