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.

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!

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!

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! 

Cinnamon Banana Muffins

Hello lovely readers! It's been a while! But I have two very good reasons for the lack of posts: I was on holiday in Virginia for almost three weeks and the day after I got back, I started my new job (!!). So things have been a little hectic to say the least - especially since I'm still slogging away at my thesis as well. The trip home was so nice and  exactly what I needed to help me destress and come back to London ready to hit the ground running. It was amazing to so many of my family members and old friends! Back in London, my new job with the Institute for Global Health has also been fantastic so far: I have great colleagues who are incredibly friendly and helpful (even when I'm asking the same question over and over!), the office has a great atmosphere and the kitchen has a little spout that instantly pours hot water... I'm very impressed. 

Anyway, to get back to today's recipe! I had a few bananas that were a little past their best and I was looking around online for a way to use them up. I love banana bread but find that it's a little hard to transport (I usually eat breakfast at my desk) so I thought muffins would be a more stable alternative. This recipe is almost exact from the Betty Crocker website (I omitted the sugar topping and added an extra banana and some nutmeg) and was super easy and delicious. If you have extra bananas, give it a go! Of course, I'm not sure if this recipe beats my Mom's though...

Also, the Betty Crocker website has a little tip section at the bottom of the page that I thought was pretty helpful. For example, did you know that you can freeze bananas and then use them in any dish that requires them to be mashed? I guess the texture would be a bit off after freezing if you tried to just eat them straight away. All you do is pop them out of the freezer, leave to thaw and then mash. Handy tip if you don't feel like baking anytime soon but love banana bread as much as I do! 

Stay tuned for a post with what will hopefully be a triumphant return to the Monthly Food Challenge... this month's chosen ingredients were absurd so I'm excited to see what my friends got up to! 

Recipe via www.BettyCrocker.com

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 17-20 min

Serves: 16

Ingredients: 

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 375F / 190C.

With a wire whisk, mix the sugar, vegetable oil and eggs in a large bowl until nicely combined. Stir in the mashed bananas and vanilla extract and continue mixing. When the wet ingredients are ready, slowly sift in the flour and baking soda before adding the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Line muffin tins with paper wrappers and divide the mixture evenly, filling each cup about two-thirds full.

Bake for 17-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Easy Jam Tarts

I've been meaning to give this recipe a go for a while now. It just seemed like the perfect last minute treat for when you're feeling a bit down or if you have surprise guests. I mean, most people will have that forgotten jar of jam in their fridge just waiting for a recipe like this. I used strawberry jam because I happened to have it on hand but next time I think I'd like to try mixing it up with a few jam ones and maybe a few lemon curd ones... delicious!

Ready for the oven

I used shop bought pastry because, again, this is more of an emergency recipe than something you'd plan for but of course, feel free to use your favorite pastry recipe if you have one. My local shop tends to put the puff pastry and shortcrust pastry on offer every now and then so I try to stock up and have them on hand for situations like this.

Finished product

Also, I managed to make nine tarts out of the pastry I had but that will probably depend on the size of your circular cutter and your muffin tin. I found the best tarts were the ones where the pastry hadn't been stretched too thin so make sure you've got a good amount there for a solid crust around the outsides and on the bottom. And of course, be careful to really butter your tin properly so that the tarts slide right out.

Jammy goodness!

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 20-25 min

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

1 package shortcrust pastry
9 tablespoons of strawberry jam
1 egg

Method: 

First, grease a muffin tin so that the bottoms and sides are lightly coated.

Next, roll out your pastry and use a circular cutter to cut nine circles and nine stars. Lightly stretch the circular cut outs in your hand so that as you press them into the pan, they come up the sides about half way. Use a fork to prick the bottoms of your pastry so that they don't puff up while baking.

Add a tablespoon of jam to each pastry shell. Top with one of the pastry stars and place into the fridge for fifteen minutes to set.

While the tarts are in the fridge, preheat the oven to 160C / 320F.

After removing the tarts from the fridge, make an egg wash by whisking the egg with a little bit of water and lightly brush over the pastry stars and the tops of the sides of each tart.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tarts are lightly browned and the jam is bubbling. Leave in the tin for a few minutes to cool and then turn out onto a plate. Enjoy! 

Mediterranean Lamb Salad

This dish was inspired by one I saw on Nigella Express where she used lamb tenderloin to make a thai inspired salad. Since I was out of both thai fish sauce and soy sauce, I thought I'd adapt the recipe to what I had on hand. This ended up being mainly Mediterranean additions such as vinegar and olive oil, which is where the title came from. I had planned to use Balsamic vinegar but only realized at the last minute that we were out so I used the cider vinegar instead.

Dressing mix, waiting for the lamb! 

Lamb steaks browning

Lamb cocoon

I highly recommend this dish for a weekday dinner because it was so quick to prepare. The actual cooking only takes five - six minutes depending on your lamb steaks and preferences. Then the lamb sits in it's little foil cocoon until the other elements are ready. I think this method could probably work with any cut of lamb so don't worry if you can't find these particular steaks. Nigella used lamb tenderloin for her dish but my supermarket didn't have any in stock unfortunately! One thing to remember: be careful with the vinegar as the amount used will vary depending on your personal tastes.

Salad!

Prep Time: 5-10 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 lamb leg steaks
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
8-10 cherry tomatoes
Salad leaves
2-3 tbsp cider vinegar
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
1 tsp mixed herbs
8-10 new potatoes

Method:

In a pan large enough for the lamb steaks, saute the onion and green onion in a teaspoon of olive oil until softened. Remove from pan and place into a shallow baking dish. Season the steaks with salt and pepper and then add a little more oil to the pan if needed and saute the steaks until brown on both sides. When they have finished browning, wrap them in a foil parcel and leave to sit for 5 minutes (or more depending on the thickness of your steaks and how well done you prefer them to be). Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until they are soft and then drain and set aside. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and divide the salad leaves, tomatoes and potatoes between two plates. In the baking dish, whisk the chives, herbs and vinegar along with a few dashes of olive oil into the onion mixture. When the lamb has rested, open the foil packet and pour the accumulated juices into the baking dish with the dressing. Slice the lamb carefully and add the pieces and any further juices to the dressing. Leave to sit for a minute before pouring over the plates. Enjoy!