Nigella's Red Velvet Cupcakes and Tate & Lyle Sugars

Red Velvet Cupcakes

A little while ago I was emailed and asked if I would like a sample of some of Tate and Lyle’s Fairtrade sugars. I have used this brand for years, and love the quality of their products – so ’m very happy feature them here.

The batter This is the sample package I received, Icing Sugar, Caster Sugar, Fondant Icing sugar and Granulated Sugar. The only one I’ve not used before is the fondant one, but I have a friend who has had great success with it, and I’m looking forward to trying it. Thank you to Tate & Lyle for my samples.

Sugars and Baked Cupcakes I chose to make Red Velvet Cupcakes from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen, Recipes from the Heart of the Home. This is not the first version of red velvet I’ve made, but it’s the one I’m going to stick with. I love it when I find a ‘best of its kind’ recipe, and this is certainly that for me. This has been requested as a bithday cupcake already! If Nigella cooks this on her TV programme I’ll edit this post and link the recipe for you. It used some of my Caster Sugar and Icing Sugar very nicely thank you.

Half frosted Anyhow Tate and Lyle have a great website here and a new Facebook Page here called We Love Baking, which looks good – I’ve ‘Liked’ it for sure.

Ready to eat!

It's Here! It's Here! - Nigella Kitchen

Fuss Free Fruit Tart

Well the wait is over, Kitchen, Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson is here! I have so anticipated this new book, that at times I’ve wondered if it would be possible for it to live up to the thing I have built it up to in my mind. It does though, more than even. So many recipes, so many pictures, even some step by step ones and many of Nigella too. The book is divided into two parts Kitchen Quandries and Kitchen Comforts. The recipes are really varied, and there are so many of them. Loads of writing too, so it’ll be a book to read as well as cook from.
I don’t want to give you a blow by blow book review here, I’d rather leave a lot to the imagination, so that if you do buy it, or get it as a gift – it’ll still be a wonderful surprise for you. I hope you understand, I’ve not gone all lazy, I’m trying to be considerate! If you like How To Eat or Feast, then you’ll like this one, it’s similar, but a whole lot more too.
I was going to hold off a little while before posting about some of my first makes, but I couldn’t. Particularly since the forum has gone on Nigella.com I need to share my joy =) In my 'Books Cooked from So Far' column at the side I'm listing this as "Nigella Kitchen", and that's how I think of it. I’ll do a little project of this book, looking forward to it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

About an hour hout of the oven these are just perfection, crispy on the outside and cooked, but chewy on the inside. Mmmm.

Marmalade Pudding Cake
This is a dish-bound pudding cake, that is baked in the oven, but tastes like a light steamed pudding. I wouldn’t have believed a baked sponge could taste like a steamed one, but it does, there is no denying it. I used a mild mannered marmalade (golden shred) and it was really very delicious indeed! Leftovers can be used for a plate trifle… next time. Mine became quite dark on the top, but there was no burned taste, just in colour. I’ll cover it next time though, so it’s more golden. Recipe here at the Daily Mail.

Date Steak

Oh my goodness! This was incredibly delicious. I’d have bought the book for the recipe for this alone. I made it with fillet steak, as that is our preference, hubby said he would have paid £20plus in a restaurant for it. It was a super treaty Saturday night supper for us. I don’t expect Nigella reads my blog, but thank you for a truly fabulous recipe Nigella anyway!

Salami Pasta
This was ok, not a wow for us, apparently we don’t like beans with our pasta! Mind you it’s the only one form this batch of pictures I wouldn’t make again.

Sunshine Soup
Or sweetcorn and roasted pepper soup. Sweet, savoury and a little bite with some sweetcorn kernels. My little one emptied the soup bowl. I have some more in the freezer too, result.

Fuss Free Fruit Tart

Very pretty this one, we thought there was a bit too much biscuit crust, but the filling is gorgeous will use it again, either on the cheesecake base from Express or an M&S tart base, to be inkeeping with the ease of the recipe.

Crustless Pizza
This is a fast filling little number. A crustles pizza seems to be somewhere between an oven baked pancake and cheesy Yorkshire pudding. We all liked it, and I am avoiding yeast just now, so it was nice for me to have a sort-of-pizza. Will top it differently next time. A perfect quick weekend just us lunch with some salad.

The bits and pieces

The chicken and veggies plus warmed tortillas
Chicken Fajitas
A good family supper, nice as everyone can pick and choose. I made this last night, on a busy Monday night, half hour of preparation for much reward. I even managed to use my party set which I was given as a birthday gift last year. I used a red onion to have a little extra colour, although I only did this because I happened to have one.

Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream
A lovely zingy spin on a flour less chocolate cake, it’s almost unbelievable how one juicy lime can give such a lot of flavour to a cake. The margarita cream was divine, and I say this as someone who wouldn’t drink the cocktail. The cream would make a glorious pudding in a pretty glass with a biscuit on its own. Recipe here on Nigella.com.

Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack and a Stunning Blackberry Clafoutis Recipe

Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack by Miranda Gardiner. I stumbled across this book by accident online. I’m getting good at not buying absolutely every single cookbook that takes my eye now, but this one made me click the add to basket button. The cover to me is sort of serene, but still pretty with the fish drawings and also says fun with the cute moose and snail cookie cutters. There are two new designs to look out for! Image of book cover via courtesy of Amazon.co.uk
A few years ago I wouldn’t have been keen at all to admit I’d bought a book on the basis of it’s cover. As I’ve become older though, I’ve come to appreciate that a good cover, particularly on a book by an unknown author is key if the marketing department at the publishers is to entice the target audience.
It’s somehow a Summery book, even thought there are several recipes suited to colder weather cooking. The recipes I’ve been most drawn to so far are the baking and salad-y ones. Maybe that’s down to the time of year and warmer weather.
The book came into being when the author’s Mother passed away, leaving her Father widowed and not very able to feed himself. Miranda gathered together recipes to give to her Father, to help him look after his daily food needs, and so the book took shape.
The chapters are eclectic and include ‘Mid-week Morsels’ and ‘Well Loved Food’. Simple layout, the recipes are intercepted by text about life from the author, most of which is a pleasant enough read.
There are lots of very calming pictures of the food with pretty and atmospheric scenery. I like that there are some real time real cooking pictures too.
Some of the other recipes I’ve book-marked are: Beetroot, feta and clementine salad, Finnish salad with orange blossom dressing, Pumpkin soup with black olive and feta quesadillas, Mum’s Danish apple charlotte, Zesty pistachio & polenta cake and Rose petal and buttermilk cake.
As always here are some of the dishes I’ve cooked, I also made Jean-Christophe Novelli’s lemsip - it definitely helped the sniffles away!

Porridge
First class porridge, I made it with Channel Island Jersey milk, and it was so good. Blueberries and honey or agave nectar – the best! I got this honey locally and it’s delicious.

Dreamy Prawn Gnocchi
An unusual prawn dish with the comfort of gnocchi and cream, but also interest from mixed seeds and spinach.

Naked Broad Bean Salad
A beautiful salad, both to eat and look at too.

Chocolate Caramel Muffins
Chocolate muffins made with ricotta and Cadburys caramel as the chunks. I wasn’t keen on these the day they were made, but the day after they were good – the tastes all melded together then.

Chewy Flapjack
An ultra sweet and chewy flapjack, the flapjack lover in my house was very pleased indeed!

Caramel Salties
Blondies with dulce de leche, white chocolate and sea salt. The smell in the kitchen was so delicious the day I baked these. I used less salt though – just a slight sprinkle of Maldon instead or the 2-3 teaspoons suggested in the recipe. Good the day made and the day after too.

Blackberry and Sour Cream Clafoutis
This is a seriously fabulous pudding, easy fruity and delicious. I’ve made clafoutis many times before, but this recipe is the keeper, and hands down the best of any I’ve made or tasted.

This is my slight reworking of Miranda Gardiner’s recipe from Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack, published by Hardie Grant Books (London) Limited in 2010.
Serves 4

350g blackberries
2 tablespoons plain flour, slightly rounded
4 good tablespoons caster sugar
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
125g sour cream (weighed)
icing sugar to decorate, optional
thick double cream to serve

1.Preheat the oven to 170oC fan/ 180oC/ gas mark 4.
2.You’ll need a round baking dish of about 20cm – 25cm. Butter the dish and arrange to fruit over the bottom of the dish.
3. In a bowl whisk together the flour, caster sugar, vanilla extract and sour cream to make a smooth batter.
4. Pour the batter carefully over the fruit, then bake for 20 to 35 minutes, or until cooked. It should be golden, puffy and beautiful. I cook this in my fan oven for 20 minutes, your oven might need the longer cooking time, check after 20 minutes though. Dust with icing sugar if you like and serve with cream.

Jamie's America and Peach Cobbler

Peach Cobbler

Last years Jamie Oliver's offering in the cookbook line was Jamie’s America. It accompanied a TV series on Channel 4, I didn’t manage to see all of it, but what I did see was good, although some of it was disturbingly thought provoking. I hope they re-run it, as I would like to catch the episodes I missed. My only criticism of the series would be that I’d have liked to see some more cooking.
This is definitely not an issue for the book, because it’s jam packed. It is divided into Chapters covering the six areas visited by Jamie on the TV: New York, Louisiana, Arizona, Los Angeles, Georgia and Wildwest. I love American (and Canadian) cookbooks, and was really interested to see what Jamie’s take on American food would be. I expected some glitzy, glamorous, you know, restaurant style food for part of the book; but not a bit of it, all good home cooking.
My favourite section of the book is hands down Wildwest, it just suits how I cook. Don’t let that put you off the rest though, as there are recipes in all the chapters that I would fancy trying.
I seem to recall reading last year somewhere (although I can’t remember where) that Jamie’s book last year was to be a Christmas one. Well that was obviously nonsense! Although, if the standard of his Jamie’s Family Christmas episodes in 2009 were anything to go by he has it in him to do a fabulous Christmas cookbook…doesn’t look like it’ll be this year either, ah well maybe next year!
Mind you at the moment Jamie has two new books out this year, firstly one from Spring time Jamie Does, another travel cookbook, covering six European countries, armchair – or rather cooker – adventuring without even getting on a plane for those of us who buy the book. Later in the year he has a fast cooking cookbook coming out, I can hardly keep up!
Back to the current post though, I’ve enjoyed cooking the recipes here, not least because I do like a bit of travelling in my cooking, and I’m not talking about out of season goods travelling round the world, although sometimes I succumb to them. I like to do traditional dishes from here, but also like to make things that hail from thousands of miles away. For me it keeps food and cooking interesting and alive. For some reason I was particularly taken with the fruity puddings in ‘Jamie’s America, but everything was good.

Waldorf Salad
Fruity, crispy, fresh, light, zingy and yummy!

Hipp’s Pudding
A spin of Eve’s pudding named after one of Jamie’s cowboy friends that he met. It’s a tough life, the life of a cowboy – I had no idea. Well, that’s not strictly true, I had an idea, but it was way off base! I made this when we were in need of some serious comfort food, and this hit the spot, with a splash of cream.

Southern Pecan and Apple Salad
The pecans here are caramelised, and they are tremendous in this salad, perfect partners for the apple and there is a orange dressing.

Peach Cobbler
The base of this with its juicy peaches, lime, ginger and vanilla was really gorgeous. Complemented by the crispy topping and spongy bit.

Peach Cobbler Recipe
From Jamie’s America by Jamie Oliver published by Penguin Michael Joseph in 2009.
My Notes: I’ve upped the soft brown sugar a little to 55g, but Jamie’s recipe suggests 40g. I often substitute vanilla extract for seeds, but here the seeds are really worth the money. He also cooks it at a higher temperature, preheat to full blast, and turn down to 190oC / 375oF/ Gas 5 when the peaches go in. My oven would burn it at that high heat! You’ll need a food processor.

Peaches:
8 ripe peaches, halved, stoned and cut into slices
1 vanilla pod, halved and seeds scraped out
zest of 1 lime
55g soft brown sugar
zest and juice of 1 orange
2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated finely

Topping:
40g pine nuts
100g self raising flour
50g caster sugar
pinch salt
100g unsalted butter, from the fridge

For serving:
Icing sugar for dusting
Cream or ice cream

1. Preheat your oven to 190 oC / 375oF/ Gas 5. Toss the peaches with the vanilla seeds, lime zest, sugar, orange juice and zest and ginger. Take care not to break up the peaches. Place in a baking dish and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until softened a bit.
2. Meantime make the topping. Into the bowl of a food processor place the pine nuts, and whizz briefly. Leave them in the bowl and add the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Whizz again briefly. Add in the butter cut into small cubes, and pulse in short bursts until it looks like breadcrumbs. Tip into a bowl and add about 2 tablespoons of water and mix to a firm dough.
3. When the peaches have cooked take out of the oven and add 2 to 3 fl oz of water, mix round gently, taking care not to break up the peaches or burn yourself! Dollop 6 spoonfuls of the dough (use it all) ontop of the peaches and return the dish to the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bubbling and the cobbles are golden.
Dust with icing sugar, if you like and serve.

Fay’s Family Food and a Lovely Quick Summer Side Salad Recipe

This is a cookbook from Fay Ripley (remember the fantastic Cold Feet?) the actress - Fay’s Family Food which came out in 2009 published by Penguin, Micheal Joseph. It is indeed a family cookbook, as the title would suggest. You may think that is a funny point for me to make, but I have found a lot of 'family' ’recipes in books are way too spicey for me, let alone any children I am trying to feed! Not this one though, lots of ideas for feeding the family, and the recipes are all geared towards feeding young children and adults alike as the food is unseasoned in cooking, then you season on your own plate.
I’m beyond the unseasoned food point (fortunately!), but it is good to have the pointers, if you are trying to feed the whole family the same food. Chapters are: Breakfast at Ripley’s, Red Meat, White Meat, No Meat, Don’t Panic, Don’t Panic Puddings and It’s my Party and I’ll Eat Sugar if I Want Too.

I have always thought of Fay as being a very funny woman, and it comes across in some of her writing, I was laughing out loud several times at her witty prose. The tale of the bluebottle in the introduction to the No Meat chapter springs to mind.
I’ve enjoyed most of the things I’ve cooked from this book with two exceptions – the quick steak stroganoff and creamy boursin salmon pasta, I’m not saying they are bad recipes, but these two were not my family’s thing. Having said that though, there is plenty that we have enjoyed, and indeed I’d have paid the price of the book for her Chicken Soup recipe alone, which is top notch and so good. It’s nothing like my Mum’s chicken broth, but still I crave it. Parker’s Cheese on Toast also went down very well, no picture of the toast though.

Here are some of the things I’ve cooked with pictures.

Sausage Rolls
What a revelation these were, uncooked sausages, wrapped in bought puff pastry and baked in the oven, best sausage rolls ever!

Made up Tuscan Sausage Stew
I loved this, made it when it was very cold outside, and it was filling and comforting - lovely.

One Pot Lemon and Thyme Chicken Casserole
Another good one - chicken, veggies and brown basmati rice.

Cobbled salad
I went with Fay’s recommended selection here, but you could easily alter it to suit your family. Very pretty for supper in the garden.

Creamy Lemon Pots
This one looks lovely, but it wasn’t one of our favourites.

Warm Chicken and Pesto Salad
A simple filling tea time dish.

Chicken Soup
First class, excellent! If you make nothing else from this book – make this!! It’s so comforting and good, yet bright and sprightly with the addition of lemon.

Cheats Tomato and Bacon Risotto
This is such a cheat of a recipe, but it delivers a comforting rice dish with lots of flavour.

My Normal Pasta Bake
Liked this one too. My Hubby doesn’t like tuna, or sweetcorn off the cob. Did I convert him? No, made it one night when he was away. I’ve tried at least four tuna and sweetcorn pasta bakes, and this is the best so far, easily.

Nutty Pomegranate Salad
This is lovely. Nice for this time of year, but good in Winter too when it’s a blast of fresh light salad. We like this with the home-made sausage rolls above.

Nutty Pomegranate Salad – A simple, refreshing light and delicious salad
Fom Fay’s Family Food by Fay Ripley published by Penguin, Micheal Joseph 2009. I add the seasoning to the salad and also peel the cucumber, but do leave the skin on as in Fay’s own recipe if you like. Note: contains nuts. Obviously, do not add the nuts if your child is not old enough to cope with them! I have made this recipe lots, and don’t always remember to add the nuts, it’s good with or without them.

50g cashew nuts
1 smallish cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
¼ of a red onion, peeled and finely chopped
pomegranate seeds from 1 pomegranate or 1 or two boxes of ready to use seeds
2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro) leaf, chopped
2 ripe avocados, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ to 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180 oC and toast the nuts on a baking sheet for 8 to 15 minutes, keep checking as they burn easily. Let cool.

Place the nuts, cucumber, onion, seeds, coriander and avocados in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Giada at Home

Cheese Stuffed Dates with Procuitto

I’m a big fan of Giada, she is up there in kitchen stars category with Nigella for me. So it was with much anticipation that I read my copy of Giada at Home By Giada de Laurentiis was in its way. This is her fifth book – and I love it! Sometimes Italian, sometimes Californian maybe even a bit of a mix of the two in some recipes too. The recipes are fresh, delicious, often healthy and all with a little Giada touch.
Those of us in the UK can now watch her on the Food Network channel here (262 and 263 on Sky). I would so like to see her programmes on in the evening, when they’d be easier time wise to watch. Most of the recipes from the programmes Giada at Home (although certainly not all) are here in the book. It’s nicely laid out, beautiful pictures mostly of food, but with a number of Giada and her family too.
I have SO many recipes in this book marked to try, and here are some of the first batch.

Picture at top of post
Cheese Stuffed Dates with Procuitto
These are so beautiful to look at, and they taste, well creamy, cheesy, sweet, a little sharp from the goats cheese and salty from the procuitto. I’m going to try these with another cheese too, just haven’t quite worked out what yet…

Pasta Ponza
Tomatoes and capers make this oven baked sauce just burst with flavour, yum.

Gorgonzola and Porcini Risotto
A nice mushroom risotto, didn’t have quite as much punch as I thought it would.

Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun Dried Tomatoes
The turkey here is quite strong, but my little people were very keen indeed. All the add-ins make it a moist and delicious meatloaf.

Grilled Asparagus and Melon Salad
This salad of grilled asparagus (I used a ridged non stick grill pan for the top of the cooker/stove) mixed with the juicy melon, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts and a lemony dressing was really, really delicious.

Lettuce, Basil and Mint Salad with Parmesan Butter Crostini
Unusual this one, but we liked it a lot.

White Chocolate Dipped Almond and Lemon Biscotti
Lovely, and they kept ages in the cookie jar. I double dipped them as I had lots of chocolate left.

Chocolate Honey Almond Tart
I’ve made this one a few times, I love the taste and almost soft fudge texture the honey gives to the chocolate. Needs a bit of cream, and also great with pomegranate seeds. I’ll make it again in the Summer when I'll use raspberries as an accompaniment.

Penne with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Creamy and gentle this one, little peeps loved it.

Olive and Sundried Tomato Vegetables
This was a great side dish combo, I cut the olive oil in the recipe considerably, and it was still fine for us.

Nonna Luna’s Rice
Oh my. I love this recipe, I’m not sure how many times I’ve made it now. The first time I was a little worried about the Tabasco, as I’m a real chilli wimp. It was as hot as I can go, but still I absolutely love it, crave it even! I tend to reduce the creamy sauce a bit, just to coat the prawns, but this is a matter of taste depending on how thin / thick you like your sauces.

Nonna Luna’s Rice
From Giada at Home by Giada De Laurentiis published 2010 by Clarkson Potter. Giada says to use parboiled rice like Uncle Ben’s, but I used Uncle Ben’s long grain rice and it worked out well for me. Serves 2 to 3.
2 ounces unsalted butter
1 cups long-grain rice, like Uncle Ben's
14 fl oz chicken stock, hot
Good pinch salt
1 clove garlic
12 oz to 1 lb raw prawns, peeled and deveined
2 fl oz lemon juice
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce, divided into 2 x half tablespoons
4 fl oz double cream
Freshly ground black pepper

1.In a medium nonstick saucepan, heat 1 oz of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the rice salt and ½ a tablespoon of Tabasco sauce then cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 6 to 7 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes to 15 minutes until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and rest covered for 5 minutes.
3. In a large frying pan, melt the remaining 1oz of butter over medium heat. Add the whole clove of garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes until aromatic. Add the prawns, lemon juice, and remaining ½ tablespoon of Tobasco sauce. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Stir in the cream and heat through, bubble and reduce for a few minutes if you’d like a thicker sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Using a fork, fluff the rice and arrange on a platter. Spoon the shrimp cream sauce over the rice and serve.