Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 48

As in recent weeks I wanted to begin the week with a spot of baking, but also to keep it cheap and cheerful so I was limited to what I already had in the cupboards – flapjack was the obvious answer so I made the recipe from Delia’s Cakes. After checking with hubby precisely how he liked his flapjack cooked, crunchy or chewy, I followed the recipe with the full quantity of butter thrown in. I love how easy they are to make, no creaming of the butter and sugar, just melt, mix and bake! I couldn’t decide whether or not to dip them in chocolate but with the acquisition of some mince pies (just for research you understand, they are supposedly the best ones you can buy!) hubby was otherwise distracted so I had some time to mull it over. The following morning I decided that yes why the hell not, let’s push the boat out and cover all that buttery goodness in some chocolate as well. I’m glad I did because that deliciously bitter dark chocolate really does cut through the chewy buttery oats and add a luxurious element to the classic flapjack.

Hubby had been craving a big fat burger for a few days so to prevent him from being lured into a substandard eatery I made Burgers with Spicy Mayo from Jamie’s America for dinner on Saturday night. The perfect thing for a quiet night in, I whipped up the meaty mixture and formed into six satisfyingly big burgers and popped them in the fridge to chill. In the meantime I mixed up the spicy mayo and chopped up the potatoes into wedges and left them to soak, then went and sat down with a nice glass of red wine safe in the knowledge that dinner would be a cinch to complete later on. When the time came all I had to do was to pop the wedges into the oven and then return a while later to griddle the burgers, I also griddled the buns slightly so that they had a little crunch. I layered the burgers with lettuce, spicy mayo, tomatoes and gherkins – the only struggle then was squashing it down enough to be able to take a bite! The slight crunch from the bun was a nice contrast to the soft fillings and the spicy mayo gave a lovely bit of heat, and was also good as a dip for the potato wedges. I made the entire recipe for six burgers so now we have a couple of little food parcels for the freezer – and we shall look forward to another burger in a few weeks.

After the success of last week’s slow cooking I once again cooked dinner at breakfast time and made Braised Beef with Horseradish from the Slow Cooker Cookbook by Catherine Atkinson. Having got the butcher to cut me some nice big braising steaks the previous morning, I quickly seared them in a hot pan and added them to the slow cooker, followed shortly after by the sautéed shallots and chopped carrots. Once everything else was added I switched on the cooker and looked forward to smelling the fruits of my labour for the next few hours. With dinner taken care of there was nothing left to do but write my Christmas cards and wrap all the presents that I’d bought so far, and with my festive jumper squirrelled safely upstairs it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Later on I simply prepared the veg, and served with mash and some green beans this really was the perfect wintery Sunday dinner. The steak just melted when nudged with a fork and went superbly well with the fluffy mashed potato, and there was plenty of sauce to be mopped up so I always make a little bit more mash just in case. This is my first winter with a slow cooker and I’m enjoying it so far, the only difficult bit is deciding what to cook next!

Trofie

My final new recipe of the week was Trofie al Pesto Genovese from The Geometry of Pasta. I must admit that I did commit the cardinal sin of using dried trofie, but as a week night meal I figure that I have a good enough excuse, and it seemed to take me long enough to strip my basil plants off all the leaves in order to make the pesto – ah, but what glorious pesto it was! Even with a couple of basil plants I still only had enough to make about a third of the quantity, but given that particular part of the recipe made enough for ten I was not too concerned. Cooking the pasta and adding the potatoes and green beans for the last five minutes meant that the dish was light on the washing-up too, something hubby is always grateful for. Once cooked all it needed was a spoonful or two of pesto to be stirred through it and it was ready, it couldn’t be simpler. The trofie was just slightly al dente and worked brilliantly with the soft potato and crunchy beans but I think the hero of the dish was definitely the pesto, did I mention it was good? And even with my meagre quantity I still have half of it left which can be safely tucked into the freezer until next time, hurrah!

Recipe Count: 158
New Target: 156

…With a mere four weeks to go I have broken my third target of the year, and this close to the end I don’t think I’ll be setting another one - I'll just see how many more I can cram in. But I have to say I’m pretty pleased with the amount of new recipes I’ve tried this year, for what was a rather flippant New Year’s resolution I’ve done quite well (it’s probably the only one I’ve ever stuck to!).