Je Goûterai - I will taste

No. 75: Cheesy Winter Squash Muffins- 28.10.11

(I’m sorry for the lateness of this! Been really busy with uni work and what not)

I love Butternut squash and it’s the season for it. It’s also the season for soups but all I ever do with Butternut squash is either make soup or just roast it. I searched for winter squash recipes and found this savoury muffin dish. Cheese and Butter nut squash. I was hooked. However this is all in cup measurements and I completely forgot to weigh them out into grams whilst doing it so you’ll have to get some measuring cups for it! Majority of people’s parents (because I know a lot of you students read this) will have some, or just get some cheap ones from Wilkos or something!

fiveandspice.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/cheesy-winter-squash-muffins/

Preheat the oven to 218oC

2tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium Butternut Squash (or any other kind of squash or pumpkin), peeled, seeds removed and cut into half inch cubes)
Sprinkling of salt and pepper
A couple of handfuls of spinach, washed and chopped
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tsp of whole grain mustard, German style (I used Dijon which worked fine c: )
2 eggs
¾ cup Milk (I used Soya which again was fine!)
2 cups regular plain flour
4tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
coarselyground black pepper

• Toss squash cubes in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread on a single layer over a baking tray and roast in the oven for about half an hour, stirring a few times through the cooking process. When they are golden brown and tender, remove and leave to cool.

• Turn down the oven to 207oC and grease a 12-holed muffin tin with oil or butter (you can tell the difference between a muffin tin and a cupcake one as the muffin tin holes are a lot deeper). In a large mixing bowl stir in 2/3’s of the squash, the spinach and half a cup of feta.

• In a small bowl, beat together the milk, eggs and mustard until well combined. Pour this into the dry ingredients, adding the flour, baking power and salt and stir until just combined.

• Spoon the batter into the muffin holes, generously and top them off with a good sprinkling of ground black pepper and the remaining feta and squash cubes lightly pressed on top.

• Bake for 20minutes until they are golden and when inserted with a toothpick, comes out clean with no batter. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tray for 5 minutes, then run a knife round the sides of each, gently lift them out and place on a cooling rack.

I know I say this about a lot of things I try but my word. They were absolutely delicious. I loved the addition of spinach in this because I feel when spinach is cooked it changes it’s flavour from a delicate leaf to a rich green. The use of two different kinds of cheese gave the muffins a surprising contrast in textures. The finely grated Parmesan had melted into the dough making each bite of muffin incredibly creamy whereas the feta stayed in cubes and crumbled in your mouth. The sweetness from the squash worked beautifully with the salty cheeses and oh my, they taste brill even when they’re cold. Amazing.

No. 68: Eggs Baked in Tomatoes – 14.10.12

As most people know, I love Nigel Slater. Every single time I try one of his recipes, I fall in love even further. They are divine. Anyway, in the summer I stumbled across across a copy of his “Real Fast Food”for a quid in a charity shop so snatched it up and took it home with me. I haven’t really had a chance to look through it but last night I wanted something very very simple. I was not in the mood for thinking but needed to try a new recipe and this was perfect. So simple, you defiantly want to get the best quality ingredients for it!

I have no idea how many this serves, I’m going to say 2 baked eggs per person for a nice filling meal. There were no specific quantities so this serves 1

Preheat the oven to 180oC

2 large and I mean LARGE Tomatoes
2 eggs
1 clove of garlic, crushed or minced
Salt and Pepper
2 tbsp double cream
Pinches of any chopped herb of your choice
Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

• Slice the tomatoes in half horizontally and scoop out the seeds. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and a bit of the crushed garlic.

• Break an egg very carefully into each egg, not letting too much of the egg white into the tomato and season with salt and pepper.

• Spoon over a tablespoon of double cream over each egg, season again with salt and pepper and add a few chopped herbs of your choice! Finish off with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and bake in the preheated over for 15-20minutes until the egg has just set. Serve with a croûton of bread fried till golden in olive oil (optional)

And that, as they say, was that! I say you NEED large tomatoes because I got small/medium ones (there were no large ones in the shop I was in…) and they were disastrous! They fell over, spilled out and bahhhhh it was so annoying! One stayed standing which was fine! I really liked the textures and flavours in this, the sweet soft tomato, the creamy egg (especially from the double cream), the subtle flavours of the herbs, garlic and the sharp salty cheese. I used thyme as I thought it would work nicely with the egg and some basil for the tomato which was delicious! Quick, simple and you can play around with the different herbs you place in it :)

Review of La Crêperie de Sophie, High Street Arcade, Cardiff

So when I went to Cardiff one of my favourite things to do is looking around and exploring the vast amounts of shopping Arcades. Me and my sister were wandering down one and came across a gorgeous little eatery named La Crêperie de Sophie. I’d never seen it before and turns out it had only been open for 2 months, so we decided to go their for lunch. I had one of the gourmet savoury crepes named L’Italiennewhich was Parma Ham, Mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, pesto, spinach, which are nearly all of my favourite things in a Crêpe (and black olives which I didn’t have because I don’t like them). The Crêpe was slightly sweet and worked deliciously with the saltiness of the parma ham and the strong, deep flavours of the other ingredients. It was incredible. The lady who served us either seemed a little nervous or a bit dipsy but either way she was super cute and the service was great.

One of the best bits about the place is 1. It isn’t too expensive and I believe you get your moneys worth. And it’s even cheaper if you take away in which they fold the Crêpe into a large cone and 2. the fact they Make the Crêpe in front of you. It is such a treat to watch.

I loved this place so much,  I went back the next day for a sweet Crêpe before heading to my train back home to Bournemouth. This time I chose the ‘Chocolate Banana’ Crêpe which was in-cred-i-ble. A choice between white, milk or dark chocolate (I chose dark chocolate because I looooovvvvvvee dark chocolate!) which were in chip form and sprinkled generously over a folded Crêpe, sliced banana next, a crushed up biscuit and then, when each side was folded inwards, it was placed in a cone and finished with whipping cream on top.

If you are ever in Cardiff, go here. It is cute, delicious and everything you would want for a great lunch out.

Spring Onion Pancakes with Poached Eggs

No. 55: Spring Onion Pancakes with Poached Eggs – 21.7.12

I came across this recipe whilst looking at cheese recipes on the BBC Food website, there was a section for recipes including Cottage Cheese so I was intrigued to have a look! I found this recipe for pancakes incorporated with cottage cheese and spring onions which is topped with a creamy sauce and a poached egg. I had nearly all of the ingredients and had quite a bit of time this morning to kill during the hours I waited to find out if I had to be in for work or not. Don’t be too scared about this long list of ingredients you need! Most of you will have these as majority are store cupboard ingredients which you or your parents will have :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/springonionpancakesw_93774

Serves 4

For the Pancakes
150g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 egg
50g butter melted
250ml milk
125g cottage cheese
4 Spring onions finely chopped
pinch of salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
50ml white wine
1 tbsp grain mustard (I used Dijon which worked fine)
250ml double cream (I used half fat crème fraiche because that’s all I had! It worked fine too!)
½ lemon, juice only
Pinch of salt and pepper

To serve
200g Spinach, cooked
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
50g butter
4 eggs, poached to serve

• For the Pancakes, mix flour and bicarb together in one bowl and in another, combine the egg, butter milk and cottage cheese.

• Combine the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined. Then fold in the spring onions and season to taste with the salt and pepper.

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and pour 2 tablespoons of the mix into the pan to form round pancakes. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side and repeat until all the mix is used up

• For the Sauce, heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for 2-3 minutes or until they have softened then add the wine and cook until nearly it has nearly all evaporated.

• Stir in the mustard and cream and season to taste. Cook until the liquid has reduced by a third then add the lemon juice to taste.

• To Serve, mix the spinach, butter and nutmeg together and finish it off with a bit of seasoning.

• Place a pancake onto each plate, top with some spinach then a poached egg and spoon over the sauce.

So I hadn’t used Spinach. Whilst eating the meal I knew there was a flavour missing. The sauce was delicious, sort of like a Béchamel sauce and I like to make mine with dijon mustard and nutmeg. I was missing some nutmeg as I hadn’t made the spinach so hadn’t added the nutmeg dimension which went with that part of the recipe. I now have slightly become increasingly obsessed with anything cooked in white wine. The wine used in the sauce was very subtle but worked so well!

There were a few little issues with this recipe. One was my timing. By the time the sauce and eggs were done my pancakes had gone cold! And two, was the amount of oil used to fry the pancakes. It was unnecessary. The first pancakes I made where greasy and just yuk! I drained them on some kitchen roll but it didn’t help too much! However all the flavours worked really well together! The cottage cheese gave little creamy bursts within the pancakes, whereas the spring onion gave a fresh crunch.

Overall a really lovely breakfast but don’t leave anything out, use less oil and make sure your timing is swell!

My Dinner: Low Carb Cottage Pie

Basically made a Turkey bolognese sauce because I feel that’s way more interesting than mince and gravy. For the mash, I used a head of cauliflower instead of Potatoes then finished it off with grated cheese using a micro-plane grater because it makes a little cheese go a long way so you use less! It was soooo yummy! I served it with wilted spinach, pine nuts and a little bit of lemon juice. Was soooooo good!

Spinach, Goat’s Cheese and Tomato Pie