A Single Man

This was my Sunday evening...

...highly recommend A Single Man by the way. Especially if you like to watch beautiful men kissing. In great suits.

Mexican Chicken Stew with Cheddar Cornbread

As most of you are probably aware, today is Cinco de Mayo-a day that celebrates Mexico's victory over France in a 19th century battle. So the blogosphere is packed full of Mexican-inspired recipes, and I just couldn't help jumping on the bandwagon. Obviously I'm not in the slightest bit hispanic, but I do love a little theme to inspire my mid-week cooking.

It also gave me the perfect excuse to make cornbread, something which I've always wanted to attempt. It makes a great accompaniment to all sorts of soups, stews and chillies, and in particular this Mexican Chicken Stew.

Here's a basic cornbread recipe that I came up with after trawling through various recipes, all claiming to be "the ultimate cornbread". Some used buttermilk (which I didn't have) or cream (which I didn't have). You could also add some jalapeno chillies to make this a real mexican experience, but I had to rein in the spice to make it suitable for Wonderboy.

Here's what I came up with....

(Measurements are in american cups, which makes for super easy baking)

1 cup plain flour

1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal-they are essentially the same thing, although cornmeal is slightly more finely ground. Polenta is generally easier to get hold of.

1tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sweetcorn kernels-I used tinned

1 cup grated mature cheddar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup of buttermilk or soured milk (made by squeezing 1tbsp fresh lemon juice into 1 cup of semi-skimmed milk, and leaving for 5 minutes)

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup honey

1. Pre-heat oven to 200'C.

2. Butter and flour a 9"x 9" baking pan.

3. Sift into a bowl the flour, polenta, baking powder and salt.

4. Add the sweetcorn and grated cheddar to the bowl.

5. In a seperate jug, combine the eggs, milk, melted butter and honey.

6. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, then mix with your hand very briefly until the flour is moistened. Try not to mix for more than 10 seconds, and don't freak out if the batter is still lumpy. Over-mixing means the finished cornbread will be much denser. Big no-no.

7. Now pour the mixture into the pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and crispy.

Serve with the chicken stew. And please, please, have a batch of margheritas or some tequila to hand. I didn't...and I regretted it.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Does it count as dinner if you just eat a massive plate of these? Well that's what happened in my kitchen tonight. And I highly recommend it. I accompanied them with mayonnaise and ebay-scouring, but this is definitely optional.

To re-create this, simply cut a medium-sized sweet potato into fries. Lay onto a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil. Season. Sprinkle over 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp curry powder if you have it. Cook in an oven pre-heated to 220'C for about 40 minutes, turning halfway through.

Devour.

A Veggie Brunch

I'm not a vegetarian, but who needs bacon when you've got a bagel topped with garlic mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, and perfectly scrambled egg?

Beetroot and Apple Soup

I am almost as proud of myself for making this soup as I am of making an actual human being. Well, not really, but it is quite beautiful don't you think?

I'm trying to buy more fruit and veg from my local Greengrocer's. It's a great little place, where the veg is grown on an allotment just a couple of miles away, so everything is super fresh. Though, this does mean you have to get a bit creative.
The thing I love about beetroot is that at first glance they're so humble, grubby and unassuming. But once you cut them open, they have the most wonderful jewel-like colour.


If this floats your boat, I used this recipe from The Times online. I adapted it slightly by omitting the garlic and instead adding 1/2 tsp ground ginger whilst cooking the onions. This worked really well.

Also it's great served hot or cold-even better cold I think, especially at this time of year, but it has to be chilled not just room temoperature!

Grating the beetroot reduces the required cooking time, but-geez!-it was a laborious process so next time I think I would just chop it. It all gets blended together at the end, so this won't make too much difference.

This is a great health soup. The vibrancy of the beetroot tells you that it's packed full of anti-oxidants, and they are also a great source of Vitamins A and C, fibre and potassium. They are also known for they're significance in maintaining low blood pressure and cholesterol.

Do I need to give you any more reasons to try this soup!!

Easy Easter Baking

It's just not Easter without chocolate cornflake cakes:

I simply placed 50g butter, 150g milk chocolate and 2 tbsp golden syrup in a small saucepan, and gently melted over a low heat. Then we poured this over 80g cornflakes, mixed it in well, topped with Mini Eggs and chilled in the fridge for a couple of hours until set. These cakes get me so nostalgic!

Then this afternoon, after already consuming way too much sugar, we made some lemon cupcakes.

Pretty pretty cakes! I always use this basic cupcake recipe:

125g softened butter

125g caster sugar

2 medium eggs

125g self raising flour

(and 2tbsp milk if making plain cupcakes, but for lemon cupcakes replace this

with the juice and rind of 1 lemon)

Preheat the oven to 190'C/Gas 5.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, lemon rind and juice and the flour to the bowl. Beat the mixture until smooth.

Divide the mixture between 12 paper cases in a cake tray, and bake in the centre of the oven intil risen and golden. This will take 12-15 minutes.

Then top with a lemon buttercream icing. Beat 175g softened butter in a bowl to soften it. Add 350g icing sugar, 1tbsp boiling water and 2tbsp lemon juice. Beat until smooth and pale.

Then, time to work it off with an egg hunt in the garden!

Hope you're all having a great Easter!

Making My Kitchen a Prettier Place To Be

Bath has a fairly decent flea market on a Saturday. As always these things can be hit or miss, but I love nothing better than having a leisurely rummage in an attempt to discover hidden treasures.

I've always been partial to a scarf and a cardigan (despite not being an 80 year old woman) but I do think I may be developing an addiction to vintage scarves. How happy do you think I was when I set my eyes on this?! I'm ashamed to tell you how many I bought.

And aren't these clocks just adorable? Was very tempted to get one for Wonderboy's room but i thought the ticking might drive him crazy.

But my find of the day? The prettiest teapot you ever did see...I had to bring it home.

I'd love to know if anyone else has thrifted anything this pretty recently?