Tuesday 4 November 2014

Mom's Meatloaf

Onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic
Hello lovely readers! I'm really excited to share this recipe with you all since it's one of my absolute favorites. Meatloaf is one of those dishes that is really easy to prepare, totally customizable, and always a crowd pleaser. The recipe below is one that my Mom sent me years ago with a few of my own additions. I also have a confession to share: Nick and I were so hungry when this came out of the oven that we tucked in straight away and I neglected to take a photo to share with you all. Additionally, I realized when I sat down to write this blog post that I had also forgotten to take a picture of the assembled meatloaf before it went into the oven. Oops. But, I think we'll be ok... 

Carrots
I was very relieved that Nick enjoyed this since I think it makes a great winter dinner served with mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. Really warming and filling, but still a decently healthy meal. And, as mentioned, you could completely customize this recipe with whatever you had on hand - for example, it might be nice to swap half of the beef mince for sausage meat (with the casings removed). Be warned however, the ketchup will get very dark and look almost burned when it comes out of the oven (due to the sugars in it). You could cover the meatloaf with a bit of foil for the first half of the cooking process but I never bother. Also, ketchup is just the easy shortcut where the coating is concerned. If you're feeling fancy, you could make your own mix of tomato puree, brown sugar, cider vinegar and mustard... delicious! 

Onion mix with the bread pieces 
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 90 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 large onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
5-6 large button mushrooms, sliced
3 slices of bread (white or wholemeal)
2 pounds (900g) lean beef mince
2 medium carrots, grated
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 large egg
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp ketchup, plus more for coating the meatloaf
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Worchester sauce

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 350F / 175 C.

In a large pan over medium heat, sauté the onion and celery in the olive oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to sauté until the garlic is fragrant and the mushrooms have softened.

While the onion mixture is cooking, tear up the bread slices into very small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. When the onion mix is ready, add it to the bread pieces and stir to combine. Next, add the carrots, beef mince, salt, pepper, egg, tomato puree, ketchup, balsamic vinegar and Worchester sauce.

Using your hands, mix the ingredients all together until they are completely combined and evenly distributed. Shape into a 4 x 8 loaf and place onto a baking tray. To make clean up easier, line the tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Finally, coat the meatloaf in ketchup - approximately 3 tbsp. Spread the ketchup evenly over the meatloaf and then place into the oven. Bake for one hour and a half or until the meatloaf is cooked through. Enjoy! 

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Home-made Cheez-Its


Oh, Cheez-Its. You are my absolute favourite snack and I always look forward to devouring you when I visit Virginia. However, you insist on being completely unavailable here in the United Kingdom. Okay, that's not fair. You are available but only at exorbitant prices and in very inconveniently located speciality shops. Therefore, it was time to replace you.




I'd seen mention of home-made Cheez-Its around the internet on previous journeys down the rabbit hole that is late-night recipe hunting but I always thought it would be far too much effort for a snack. Especially one I probably shouldn't be eating anyway. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find the ingredient list is remarkably short - only five items and one of them is water!



So, I bit the bullet, hauled myself down to my local shop and got to work. Warning: this recipe would be mighty irritating if you didn't have a food processor. With one, the dough comes together in minutes. And by using the parchment paper to roll out the dough, the clean up is equally simple since you aren't scattering flour all over your counter tops. Some of the recipes I saw added a bit of milk, which seemed to help bring the dough together. I liked this idea so I went ahead and added it into the recipe. However, I didn't have any milk so I substituted cold water and they end result was perfectly fine. Overall, I highly recommend this recipe even if you live in a place where Cheez-Its are readily available.


Recipe via www.cookingalamel.com

Prep Time: 3 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Makes: approx 75 crackers

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2 cups (180g) cheddar cheese, grated
3/4 cup (100g) self rising flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp water
Sea salt for scattering (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375F/176C.

In the bowl of a food processor, add all the ingredients except the water. Pulse at 5 second intervals until the mixture has the consistency of coarse grain. At this point, add the water and pulse until the dough forms a ball. (I had to make it into an actual ball by hand since my mixer didn't have enough space for it to happen inside it)

Divide the dough in half and roll out one half between two sheets of parchment paper. Using a knife or a pastry cutter, cut out your shapes and move to a baking sheet. Using a skewer or fork, poke each of the crackers so that the steam can escape and they won't poof up entirely. Sprinkle on a bit of sea salt and bake for 8-9 minutes until the edges are browned and the crackers have risen. Enjoy! 

Monday 22 September 2014

Kale and Blue Cheese Pasta

Recently, while grabbing some groceries in a post-work stupor, I picked up the little Autumn foods magazine they have in the Waitrose checkout line. I had a quick flip and thought the recipes seemed simple enough so I took it home and had a proper read through. One of the main benefits that instantly stood out with that their recipes seem to try and use quantities that they have in store. For example, this recipe called for 200g of kale... and conveniently, they sell kale in 200g bags. While I'm all for trying to use up leftover ingredients in other tasty dishes, sometimes it's just nice to have exactly what you need.


This recipe was ridiculously quick and easy - the only time consuming bit was chopping up the celery (which took all of two minutes). I noticed I had a sad-looking half of a red onion wallowing in the bowels of the fridge so I tossed that in with the celery. What I really liked was that this could easily be done as a one pot meal if you wanted (after draining the pasta and kale, use the original pot to sauté the celery). All in all, I'd give this recipe a seven out of ten for tastiness - it was maybe a bit bland so next time I think I'll try a different blue cheese. Cambozola was the recommended option in the recipe but I think I'd prefer a nice Gorgonzola dolci. 


Recipe via www.waitrose.com

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

200g pasta (I used Elicoidali as recommended but any pasta would work)
200g kale torn into bite size pieces, hard stems removed 
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
75g blue cheese, crumbled
salt
pepper

Method: 

Boil salted water in a large pot and add the pasta. Cook to packet instructions and add the kale in the last two minutes. Before draining, reserve a cup of cooking water.

Meanwhile, sauté the celery and onion over medium high heat until softened. Add to the pasta and kale.

Finally, stir in the blue cheese and add a little of the pasta water to help it melt. Stir over a low heat until the blue cheese has melted and become incorporated.

Enjoy! 

Thursday 4 September 2014

A Taste of Seville: Salmorejo

As it has been quite a while since my last post, it should be no surprise that this recipe is a throw back to slightly warmer times... Specifically, the lovely girls weekend I spent in Seville with three fabulous friends. 

Ladies in line for the cathedral

On our first night, we'd all arrived at different times with myself and Nicola arriving last around ten that evening. Naturally, we quickly dropped our things off at the flat and headed out to enjoy a little tapas restaurant down the street. This soup was one of our first dishes and became an instant group favorite.

The one and only photo I managed to snap of our lovely little flat! 

A quick note on Seville: it's fabulous! We rented a flat via Friendly Rentals, a website similar to Airbnb. It was the perfect size with a bedroom and a mezzanine with two twin beds. Split between the four of us, it ended up being only twenty-five pounds a night. This was fantastic as it left plenty of cash for more important things... FOOD. 

NOMS!

As evidenced by the photo above, I wasted no time in getting properly stuck into the lovely tapas and Andalusian dishes. While many restaurants offer the usual tapas options, such as chorizo al vino or croquetas de jamon, there are also many local specialities to chose from. The recipe in this post is one of those dishes and would have been my favorite meal from our trip if we hadn't lucked into trying the dish above - a phenomenal rice and duck dish that was the unanimous winner. Served in a little restaurant down the street from our rented flat, it was one of several wonderful dishes. We took turns and each chose a dish to share which led to a nice variety of options. A chorizo and manchego starter, a spanish version of salmon tartare, fresh and light sautéed octopus and finally, the duck. I've been searching the internet for a similar recipe and promise to share if I find it! 

Plaza de Espana

What made this trip such a lovely adventure was the simplicity: we neglected to plan out any of our days and just went along with whatever we felt like doing. This meant that while we wandered the halls of more cultural sites such as the Catedral de Sevilla, Alcazar de Sevilla and the Plaza de Espana, there was also plenty of time for shopping, meandering and sunbathing. Perfection.  

Purple passport posse

Additionally, this trip was the first outing for my brand new Italian passport. It felt so strange to finally get to go through passport control with my friends instead of having to go through the "all other passports" line alone. Final verdict: Seville was lovely - easy to navigate, delicious and thoroughly enjoyable. Now... back to the soup! 

Blended soup ready to chill in the refrigerator 
I've never been a major fan of tomato soup but this was perfect and completely made me a convert. Very similar to gazpacho, this soup is served cold with a drizzle of olive oil and some crispy bits of bacon scattered on top. Heavenly. And, even better, it's so simple to create that you can throw it together in minutes. By grating the tomatoes, you avoid having to blanch them to remove the skins since the grating process will separate the skins for you. 

Ready to eat!

Recipe via www.foodandwine.com

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: N/A
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients: 

2lbs tomatoes, grated and skins discarded. 
1 baguette, cubed into small pieces 
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Dash of vinegar
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
Bacon lardons, fried until crisp

Method: 

Starting with the tomatoes, cut each one in half and then grate the cut side over a coarse grater. Discard the skins as you go along before mixing all of the tomato pulp in a bowl. Add in the baguette and allow the bread to soak up the tomato juices before adding the mixture to a blender. The bread should be softened by this point.

Pulse gentle to combine the tomato and bread mixture further before adding the garlic and vinegar. Continue pulsing until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Allow the blender to run on a low setting while drizzling in the olive oil until your soup has a light color and smooth consistency. Move to the refrigerator to cool while you fry the bacon.

Finally, ladle into bowls and drizzle with olive oil before topping with the bacon lardons. Enjoy! 

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Weekday Breakfast: Baked Egg and Beans

I have to confess that I'm not much of a breakfast person and this is primarily due to laziness. Given the option between getting up and having a healthy breakfast before work or sleeping fifteen minutes longer, I'll always choose the sleep. However, the current tube strike means I've been working from home for the last two days so I thought I'd use this as an opportunity to try out a few breakfast dishes. 

Beans ready for the egg topping
Baked eggs are a really healthy option since they don't use any oil or butter while cooking. I have another recipe where the egg is baked in a bell pepper but, since I didn't have any bell peppers in the fridge, I thought I'd try branching out a bit. I had purchased the little 200g cans of baked beans so for this recipe, you only need half (or a quarter of the regular cans).

Egg and beans ready for the oven
While in Tesco the other day, I had a sudden craving for baked beans on toast so I picked up a few little cans of Heinz baked beans and some soda bread. So of course, this seemed like a great chance to use them! This recipe was super easy and the cooking time (10-15 min) means you could pop it in the oven, jump in the shower, and then have a tasty breakfast waiting when you get out. I left mine in slightly too long so be warned: keep an eye on it during the last minute or so. You mainly are just waiting for the white to set but if you prefer a more cooked yolk then leave it in a bit longer. It was still tasty albeit slightly less photogenic...

Finished product! 
Prep Time: 1 min
Cook Time: 10-15 min
Serves: 1 

Ingredients: 

100g baked beans
1 large egg
Salt and Pepper
Bread to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.

In a small ramekin, spoon the baked beans into the bottom and spread them out to make a nice bed for the egg. When ready, crack the egg on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for ten to fifteen minutes and serve with buttered toast. Enjoy! 

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Sausage, Spinach and Chickpea Stew

In news that will surprise no one, life is pretty hectic at the minute with school and work so blogging hasn't really been a priority. However, spring has finally sprung and I'm getting excited about cooking lots of tasty treats so hopefully I'll be able to share a few of those with you all along the way. I might have to cut down on the step by step photos for recipes but I'll try to include at least one picture of the finished product for each post.

Finished product!
While this recipe is not the most spring oriented, it does make for a quick and tasty weekday dinner. However, the herbs add a much needed dash of green and, let's be honest, spring in Britain requires holding on to a few comfort dishes to warm you up. I made this for my flatmate and her friend and it was a hit - easy to make while chatting, super fast and delicious. Plus, add it a slightly sad attempt to artfully place the toast and you have a dinner party dish. I love this recipe because it works for most of the year and is pretty cheap (so perfect for those midweek meals!). This time, I doubled the recipe so I'd have plenty leftover to take to work for my lunches. Of course, I did this before remembering that the current tube strike means I'll be working from home today and tomorrow! Oops. Oh well, still delicious! If you'd like to skip the bread, this could be good with couscous or rice as well. You just want something that will let you soak up all that saucy goodness. Finally, try and get sausages with a high percentage of meat. I went with the Waitrose pork and leek sausages because they were on sale and, at 75% meat, they were perfect. 

Delicious and Prosecco... can't complain! 
I stayed pretty true to the recipe on Real Simple but added parmesan cheese to the final product. This is optional but, if you're like me, you probably have some in the fridge already! Sprinkle a bit of the leftover herbs on top and you're good to go!

Recipe via www.realsimple.com

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 sausages, casings removed
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro/corriander, chopped
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
500g spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated
Crusty bread to serve

Method: 

In a large pan with high sides, heat a dash of olive oil over medium heat and add the chopped onion. Cook until softened and then add the sausages. Use a wooden spoon to break up the sausages as they brown so that they look more like mince than sausages. Once browned, add the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two, stirring continuously so the meat doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. If necessary, lower the heat to medium-low.

Next, stir in the herbs and continue to cook for another minute. When the herbs have been incorporated, add the stock and chickpeas. Increase the heat and bring to a boil.

Finally, add the spinach and simmer for ten minutes until wilted and well mixed. Serve with toasted crusty bread and enjoy! 

Monday 17 March 2014

Cherry Shortbread Cookies

This recipe is extremely overdue as I last made these cookies for Valentines Day! Life with a part time job and full time PhD has been hectic to say the least so posts will be far less regular than they have been in the past. I'm hoping to continue blogging when I have free moments so hopefully there will be more soon! Also, I was bad at taking pictures of this recipe but I hope you'll give it a try anyway because they were delicious. One of the main benefits of working in an office is that I can make tasty cookies and not feel guilty since I won't be eating them all myself :)


Recipe via www.bbcgoodfood.com

I didn't change anything about this recipe except to add double the amount of glace cherries. This gave them a stronger cherry flavor... which is never a bad thing! I also skipped the final step of adding a dollop of jam to the still warm cookies because I thought it overwhelmed the cherry flavor. These were a massive hit around the office so I don't think anyone missed the jam! The cooking time will of course depend on how many cookies you can cook at one time so the minutes listed below are just an estimate... Enjoy!

Prep Time: 45 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Makes: Lots!

Ingredients: 

100g Icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
200g plain flour
50g cornflour
50g ground almonds
250g cold butter, cut into cubes
100g glace cherries, finely chopped
1/2 tsp almond extract

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 180C / 356 F. (160C / 320F for fan ovens)

First, sift the icing sugar, cornflour and flour into a large bowl. Next, add the butter and ground almonds. Stir the ingredients together to make sure the butter is dispersed before using your hands to rub the butter cubes into the dry ingredients. Continue until the mixture has the consistency of sand. Stir in the cherries and almond extract and form into a dough. 

Place the dough into the fridge for 20-30 minutes to cool. Next roll out until the dough is 1/3 inch thick and cut out into shapes. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let cool. Continue until all the dough has been used.