Tuesday 19 November 2013

Cornbread

Cornbread, I love you.

Dry ingredients
Seriously - life is better with cornbread in it! In the past I've used those little packets of Jiffy corn muffin mix but those aren't readily available here in the UK. So, I had to branch out into the world of making it yourself. And guess what: it's stupidly easy. This method was for a baking dish but you could also make muffins if you prefer.

Ready for the oven


All you need is cornmeal which my local Tesco had in abundant supply. The rest of the ingredients are probably already kicking around your cupboards. I was impressed at how quickly this came together and that the result wasn't overly sweet. I know some people prefer their cornbread to be on the sweet side so feel free to add a bit more sugar if you'd like! This was spot on for me... a little butter and I was all set! This recipe was from the BBC Food website and I've left it pretty much intact.

Ready to eat!
Recipe via www.bbc.co.uk

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20-25 min
Serves: 8

Ingredients: 

375g plain flour (I used a mix of plain and self rising because I ran out and it was fine)
225g cornmeal
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
110g sugar
480 ml milk
2 large eggs
110g melted butter (plus extra for greasing)

Method: 

Preheat oven to 200C / 390F.

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and pour into a greased baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until completely cooked through depending on your oven. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into portions.

Enjoy!

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Easy Potato Cakes

Yesterday's dinner was an attempt to use my leftover mashed potatoes in a more interesting way than simply microwaving them. While there's nothing wrong with lovely mash on it's own, I am a bit tired of it since it has been a main staple of several dinners this week. Therefore, I present: the potato cake.

First side frying

Easy to make using leftovers, these were tasty and quick to prepare. I liked that the added ingredients (eggs, parmesan, salt and pepper, onion) were all things I already had on hand. While these are hardly the fanciest of dinners, they were filling and made a nice mid-week option. If you have leftover mash lying around, give it a try!

Second side frying

  Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 15-20 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

Leftover mashed potatoes (approx. 2 cups)
1 egg
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (or more to taste)
Salt and Pepper
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
Olive oil for frying

Method: 

Mix the mashed potatoes with the egg, parmesan cheese, onion and seasoning. Make into patties and fry in the olive oil over medium heat until browned and crispy. Enjoy!

    Tuesday 12 November 2013

    Sunday Roast: Beef Topside

    Hello lovely readers! These next couple of posts have been a very long time coming! Why the long delay? Basically, life happened. Work has been busier than I anticipated (in a good way) and my PhD work takes up a lot of my remaining time so cooking hasn't been as much of a priority. Actually, I've been cooking - it just hasn't been convenient to take the time to properly photograph or write out recipes unfortunately. I'll try to make more of an effort I promise! Also, as a side note, my previous post mentioned the food challenge I do with some of my friends every month... and promised the recipe would be up soon after. However, that month's ingredients (ham, ricotta and tofu) combined to a not so appealing lasagne so I thought I'd save you all from that. This month's ingredients are tuna, cheddar and onions so I'll be trying to think outside the tuna melt shaped box... 

    Ready to roast!

    Anyway, moving on! This recipe was my first ever attempt at a Sunday beef roast and I have to admit I was a little scared of it. In the past if I wanted to make a roast dinner, I always opted for roasting a whole chicken because it's pretty simple and offers lots of great leftovers. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how equally simple this beef topside was. The only slightly fiddly bit is figuring out when it's cooked to your liking but luckily my lovely friends Laure and Eurydice were content with the slightly pink but mostly well done version we ended up with.

    Finished product lined up with the other offerings

    I had a quick look around the internet for cooking tips and finally ended up merging a few simple recipies that included mainly salt, pepper and olive oil. I like the idea of roasting meat on top of vegetables so I threw in some carrots and onions since that's what I had on hand. The key to this recipe is really just the cooking time. Everything else takes care of itself. Perfect! We served this along side your usual Sunday roast options: red cabbage, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, yorkshire puddings (unashamedly store bought!), mashed potatoes and a store bought gravy jazzed up with some caramelized onions. I think it was on the whole a pretty successful evening and I'm looking forward to trying more of these roasts at home! Finally, a good tip is to remove the beef from the refrigerator 20-30 minutes before you want to roast it so that it can come up to room temperature. 

    Ready to eat!

    Prep Time: 5 min
    Cook Time: Varies
    Serves: 4

    Ingredients: 

    Beef Topside (weight will vary)
    Salt
    Pepper
    Olive oil
    Carrots
    Onions
    (assorted other vegetables)
    Large roasting tin

    Method: 

    Preheat the oven to 230C/

    Cut the vegetables into large pieces and place in the bottom of the roasting tin. Next drizzle the beef with the olive oil and liberally season with the salt and pepper. Place the meat on top of the vegetables and place into the preheated oven.

    After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 170C and continue roasting depending on the following:

    - 12-15 minutes per 500g for medium rare
    - 20 minutes per 500g for medium well

    My roast was nearly 1,000g so my total cooking time was 50 minutes. After removing from the oven, leave the rest for 20 minutes while you finish up the other dishes. Enjoy!