I am now just over 10 weeks away from the end of the year, and the end of my challenge, a fact that is evident this week as I try and cram in as many new recipes as possibly in a bid to reach my target. To satisfy my baking urge I made Blondies from Nigella Kitchen, which are a sort of cross between brownies and flapjack (mainly thanks to the inclusion of oats). I’m usually fairly good at remembering to get the eggs and butter out of the fridge the night before I intend to bake, but this time I dropped the ball – luckily I woke up before the crack of dawn, thanks to a bad dream, and had the opportunity to remedy the situation. The blondies were extremely easy to make (especially with soft butter) and were soon in the oven and making the house smell all warm and delicious. I packaged some of them up in a pretty box as a birthday present for my cousin as I wanted to bake her something tasty, then I squirreled the rest away for midnight treats later on. The gift was gratefully received, not least because after a few hours at a beer festival they are great when you get the munchies – a sentiment I was happy to agree with on my return home!
Due to a beer festival and then a very lazy Sunday, on which we consumed mainly cheese and wine, my blondies were the only cooking I did over the weekend (besides making my morning porridge). It was something of a novelty therefore to return home after work and actually cook something for a change, and so I made Crispy Fillet of Salmon with Cherry Tomato and Anchovy Sauce from Fantastico! I can’t consciously ever remember crumbing salmon before but the suitably glossy photo beside the recipe looked ever so inviting so I couldn’t resist trying it. All the components of the dish were straightforward to prepare and really didn’t take too long to bring together, then I gently fried the salmon to give it a lovely crunchy coating. I was a little worried about over cooking the salmon as I generally bake/grill it in the oven but I needn’t have worried, the crispy outside gave way to perfectly cooked fish that melted in your mouth. The slight acidity from the tomatoes rounded the dish off nicely along with the lightly dressed green salad that accompanied it.
Next up was Sour Cream Potato Bake with Aubergines & Taleggio, another dish from Fantastico! This recipe was a bit more involved as it meant cooking potatoes, aubergines and onions separately and then layering them up to be cooked once again in the oven. That said however none of the processes were particularly difficult, maybe just a bit time consuming for a midweek meal – luckily for me hubby was slightly late home so I had time to tidy up the mess I’d made, and obviously he came home to the smell of a delicious dinner waiting for him. The potatoes were lovely and tender and worked wonderfully with the caramelised onions and golden aubergine, and the taleggio cheese gave a wonderful flavour that really boosted the dish. As this dish was fairly substantial I served it simply with a lightly dressed green salad (possibly the last we see of salad now that the weather has turned cold).
In a hat-trick of new recipes, the following night I made Cauliflower Risotto with Chilli Pangrattato from Jamie’s Italy. Again this one was a little more involved as I had to make the pangrattato and then start cooking the cauliflower before I even thought about starting the risotto but, as with most risottos, it was a labour of love. By the time the risotto was cooking down nicely the cauliflower was lovely and soft and could be added to break down into the rice, adding to the creaminess of the dish. I’m not a huge fan of cauliflower by itself, I find it fairly bland, but I do love its ability to soak up the flavours of a dish (that’s why it’s so good in curries), or in this case to be soaked up by the dish. I was pleased when I dished it up to see that it looked exactly like the picture in the book, my pangrattato adding a brilliant splash of colour on the top and, upon tasting it provided a wonderful crunch against the softness of the risotto underneath.
My final recipe of the week was an extremely simple one from Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food – and he really wasn’t kidding! Pasta with Tuna, Capers & Cream was as easy as it sounds, all that was required was to cook some penne and then mix all the other ingredients together before finally adding to the cooked pasta. As I was putting it all together I thought this could go either way, it could be far too simple and not work at all or it could be awesome. As I’ve come to expect from Mr Slater, it was awesome! The only thing I changed slightly was to add a small amount of the cooking water to the finished dish to ensure that the sauce coated the pasta evenly. The capers provided a really nice salty and acidic hit which balanced the dish wonderfully; it’s amazing that just a few store cupboard ingredients could make something so tasty – this is definitely one to remember.
Recipe Count: 133
New Target: 156
Having enjoyed a very nice week at home it seemed a bit mean to send hubby back to work without something tasty in his lunchbox, so I made Grated Chocolate & Almond Cake from Delia’s Cakes. Apart from the hassle of having to grate chocolate (without letting it melt in your hands) this was incredibly easy to make and the icing was even more so. I remember my mum making a similar grated chocolate cake when I was younger (it may even have been the same recipe, thanks Delia!) and I always really enjoyed it, there’s something about the texture of that grated chocolate and the bitterness of the chocolate icing that together with the slight nuttiness from the ground almonds work really well. The fact that it’s now been completely demolished means that it must have been a success, but the question now is which cake to make next?
