Failures…..

Crappy Cake!

It hasn’t been a great week for me as far as successful new recipes goes……I made an apple & pecan cake in the bread machine, which as you can see just did not want to come out of the machine! This is the first time I’ve ever had something stick like this – it was not saveable at all and went in the bin. I could have broken it up and used it in something I suppose, but I’m not a sweet eater and was not going to have the opportunity any time soon so it would have gone stale and horrible.

Then I made these Parmesan Zucchini Strips. They worked well theoretically, but just didn’t taste overly fabulous – the coating was yummy, but the zucchini inside really was just mush and pretty tasteless.

They do look good though, right? I ate some cold the next day and they were just soggy “things”. I think the concept would work much better with something a bit firmer, like sweet potato or carrot. I’ll try the idea again, but not with zucchini.

I have also failed with some easy choc hazelnut muffins recently……but I’m determined to get those right, so I will show you the failure photos when I can also show you the good ones!

Happy Non-Failed Fooding!

I’m Back!

Well, I’m now back home after my amazing UK trip. Already planning for next year’s…..which means tightening the belt and saving hard.

I really struggled to find time to post whilst away, and wasn’t cooking anyway, although I did have some fabulous food experiences. I found using WordPress on the iPad quite frustrating, both via the app and via Safari, so a couple of times I started a posting and then gave up in disgust! I will, however get back to normal now, after I get over the time difference, the 30 hours of travel, the unpacking and the washing…..

Waterlily House

I’ve already fired off an email today asking Kew Gardens if they’ll share their Peyton & Byrne Kew Explorer muffin recipe with me. I had a fantastic day at the gardens/palace last Sunday (basically the weather was disgusting most of the time I was there, but the last 2 days were amazing), and I had the foresight to 1) get there at 9.30am when the gates opened, and 2) grab a takeaway sandwich & muffin from one of the great cafes, so that I didn’t have to line up for food later when it got too busy. This was a good move, as I just stopped and ate when I was ready, then continued my explorations (it’s huge!), and when I left at 2.30pm there was a queue of 100m out the gate and down the road, waiting to get in – Londoners do like to make the most of the sun coming out, especially this year when it has been their coldest Spring since 1979.

Queen Charlotte’s Nosegay Garden

I hope the cafe is nice enough to share the muffin recipe with me – it had carrot, zucchini and apple in it, and pumpkin seeds on the top, and was absolutely delicious. Fingers crossed. And no I don’t have a photo to show you, as I had devoured 3/4 of it before I thought of it, and by then it looked too pitiful to take a picture of!

Also in Kew I went through the Georgian kitchens – and met some Youtube cooking stars – which I will tell you about later…..

Happy Holiday Fooding!

 

Ploughing Away….

I’ve been quiet this week as I am in England at the moment, hence 1) not doing any cooking and 2) I’m busy seeing sights and travelling around. I am, of course, doing my best to eat lots of yummy food, and am doing my usual hunt for new & better Ploughman’s Lunches!

There is something sooooo satisfying about a platter of cheeses, crusty bread, pickled onions, ham and chutney. No two places serve it in the same way, although some are better than others!

I’ve had two so far on this trip. One was at a pub in Covent Garden, part of a franchise, so you can get this particular platter all over the country. Included was ham pork quiche, a pie really, with beautifully crumbly pastry. Everything on this dish was delicious and I certainly couldn’t get through it!

The other one I had was whilst on a day out to Ightham Mote in Kent with a dear friend I was staying with. After a lovely morning wandering around the beautiful gardens and medieval house, we went for lunch at a quiet looking pub at the tiny village of Ivy Hatch, called The Plough Inn. Inside it was ultra modern, not quaint and cosy like we expected, and the service was downright poor as they were very understaffed. The food was lovely though, we both had the Ploughman’s, ate every scrap! The cheeses were so good, and the bread was nutty, fruity and fresh, a perfect accompaniment.

I’m having an amazing time and have loads of gorgeous food photos to make your mouth water. I love food.

 

Happy Holiday Fooding!

 

Mulling Over This One….

This Mulled Pork recipe looked excellent on the face of it – anything that calls for a whole bottle of red wine can’t be bad! I did enjoy it; however, the meat was too dry, particularly with the leftovers the next day. The flavours were fabulous and my flat smelled amazing – lots of citrus and red wine and cinnamon and cloves in the air – it was quite Christmasy in fact!

The dish is adapted from a recipe from More Than a Schnitzel, a German cookbook recently acquired by my library. I will make this again quite happily, but use beef instead of pork – slow cooking for 8-10 hours is just too much for pork, in this instance. Venison would probably be good with these flavours, but might also dry out I suspect.

Mulled Pork

1 kg diced pork

750 mls red wine (I used a Merlot)

2 1/2 tbsp brandy

juice and zest of 2 oranges

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 tbsp brown sugar

6 cloves

1/4 cup raisins

1 tbsp beef stock powder

4 apples, sliced

3 onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tbsp cornflour

Place all ingredients except cornflour in crockpot bowl, and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours (or leave overnight in fridge).

Place bowl into crockpot base and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. About an hour before serving, mix the cornflour with a little cold water and blend to a smooth paste. Add this to the meat and stir through.

Serves 4-6

Happy Fooding!

Apple, Cinnamon & Coconut Slab Cake

Apologies for the post about nothing, that you might have received in your inbox a couple of days ago, if you are a subscriber. I was drafting up a posting (about a yummy curry), and accidentally knocked some keys and suddenly off it went, before I had written anything!

Here is a delicious, light and fluffy slab cake I found on Best Recipes, which I love as a source of easy and successful recipes submitted by real people like you and I. This was my first baking effort in my new home, so I wasn’t sure how the oven would behave – beautifully as it turned out. This is a very easy recipe and pretty much foolproof. Quite sweet but not too rich.

As I was putting the mixture into the tin, I thought hmmmm I think this would make great apple muffins as well. Something to try next time.

Here is the cake recipe link…..

Happy Fooding!

Let’s Get Fruit-Cake-y

Soaking the fruit...

Well here is the super dooper EASY Christmas cake I made last week. It tastes very, very fruity – not surprising when you read what’s in it! I’ve cut a bit up already, as it was so easy I think I’ll just make another one at the last minute if we need it. Also I may splosh a bit of booze over it a few days before Christmas, to give it some alcoholic pepping up!  It is yummy just as it is anyway.

The cake is dairy-free, and I guess it is low-fat, although to be honest I am not really sure what goes into making dried fruit – apart from loads of sugar that is.

Christmas Cake

1 kg mixed dried fruit

500 mls (2 cups) orange or apple juice

2 cups self-raising flour

Place the dried fruit in a bowl; mix through the orange or apple juice. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge to allow the fruit to soak up the juice.

Combine the flour with the fuit/juice and mix well.

Place mixture in a greased/lined 25cm round baking tin.

Bake in 150C oven for 2 hours (cover loosely with foil after about an hour if the top is looking cooked/browned enough).

Happy Christmas Fooding!

Sometimes things don’t live up to their memory….

I had a pang the other day, to make a traditional basic tea cake.  It was one of the first things I remember making in my year 8 home economics class, and I seem to recall that I was pretty good at making it!  I looked up my old school cookbook and made the “spiced apple” version of the “foundation tea cake” recipe.

As you can see from the photo, it looks kinda okay, but I was too impatient when turning it out of the tin and it cracked like an earthquake had hit it! I pushed it back together lol, but you can see where it is cracked.

The proof, as they say, is in the eating – well this did disappoint. The apple/sugar/cinnamon topping was lovely and sweet, but the cake itself was way too “plain” tasting to be considered a success.  I’m sure it tasted sweeter back in the day, or maybe my memory has dimmed with the years (quite likely!).

I froze most of it, in broken up pieces, but as I’m going away in a few days and am going to give the freezer a good defrost before I leave, I will probably end up throwing the cake out. I’ll have to have another go at this recipe and deviate from it, when I can be bothered. I’m over it for the moment so it won’t be for a while.

And I’m off to the UK today, for a  holiday. I am super excited, but will try not to get too distracted by castles and pubs to remember my blog entries.  You can guarantee there will be some English food experience content in the next few weeks!

Happy Fooding!