Ohh, I found this lovely cookie recipe on the BBC Good Food site earlier today and I just knew I had to make them. They sounded really, really scrummy!



With crisp brown edges and chewy centres, they satisfy the crunch/chew factor perfectly! Chock full of bits of bittersweet dark creamy white chocolates, and sweet chunks of glace cherries, these cookies please on many levels.



Butter, crisp and chewy . . . and moreishly delicious! The nuts are my own addition, because . . . well, why not!! You can never have too much nuts in my opinion . . . or chocolate!



The two together . . . bliss!



*Gooey Double Chocolate and Cherry Cookies*
Makes about 2 dozen large cookies
Printable Recipe

Oh my, but these are yummy scrummy. Each bite brings you the sweetness of white chocolate, the bitterness of the dark chocolate and the chewiness of the cherries! OH SO GOOD!!

200g of butter, room temperature (7/8 of a cup)
85g of light brown muscovado sugar (1/2 cup packed)
85g caster sugar (a scant half cup)
1 large free range egg
225g of self raising flour (2 cups)
50g of dark chocolate roughly chopped (50-70%cocoa) (about a cup)
50g of white chocolate, roughly chopped (about a cup)
a handful of natural colour glace cherries, roughly chopped
Optional: 120g of chopped toasted pecans or walnuts (1 cup)



Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a couple of flat baking sheets and set aside.

Cream together the butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, until thoroughly mixed in. Stir in the flour until well mixed. Stir in the chocolates, fruit and nuts if using. Drop by heaped spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving a lot of space inbetween each. (These spread a lot!) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown and set. Allow to rest on the cookie sheet before lifting with a flat spatula onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

I'm afraid I rather made a pig of myself with these . . . *blush*

The postman delivered a little box to me yesterday. I couldn't imagine what it was. I swore up and down to Todd I hadn't ordered anything . . . but I was forgetting something!

Several weeks ago Becky had contacted me with the offer of some samples of Merchant Gourmet ingredients. I jumped at the chance as I love all of their stuff! (What foodie doesn't!!!)

It had finally arrived and what a lovely assortment there was! Pouches of Puy Lentils, Quinoa, and Polenta, some delicious Balsamic Syrup, Wholesome Grains, dried Porcini Mushrooms and some lovely Slow Roasted Tomatoes.



My brain immediately began ticking over about what I could make with them. I think you'll love what I came up with.



A delicious chicken dish with a lovely sundried tomato sauce, which you could either serve on a bed of polenta (scrummy) or quinoa!



The sauce is tangy and rich, and oh so perfect with the mild flavour of the chicken. Don't you just love that about chicken??? It's the perfect blank canvas to paint some gorgeous flavours on!



This was gorgeous! Thank you Merchant Gourmet. hmmm . . . I see a polenta cake in my future!



*Chicken with a Sun Dried Tomato Sauce*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Tasty moist chicken breasts in a deliciously tangy tomato sauce. What's not to like?

70g of diced pancetta (about 1/4 cup)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 dessert spoons of sundried tomato dressing (see my recipe)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in juice (1 cup)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to finish

Cook the pancetta in a large skillet until nicely browned and crisp and most of the fat has been released. Wipe the chicken breasts and dry them. Season them well all over with salt, pepper and dried basil, and then place them into the hot pan and brown them in the pancetta oil, browning them on each side. (About 2 minutes on each) Spoon the tomato dressing over each browned piece of chicken, then lower the heat and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes. Remove the cover and turn the chicken over. Cover and cook for an additonal 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and heat through. Grate some Parmesan cheese over top and serve. Delicious!


*Sun Dried Tomato Dressing*
Makes about 1 cup
Printable Recipe

Thick and tangy and good for more than just dressing salads. Wonderful with pasta and chicken.

100g of sun dried tomatoes (about half a cup)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
3 ounces of good quality balsamic vinegar (a generous 1/3 cup)
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper
3 ounces of extra virgin olive oil (a generous 1/3 cup)
2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth.

I think tomato soup has to be one of my favourite types of soup. To me it is so comforting and delicious.



I think that's because when I was a child and wasn't feeling too well, there was always a tin of tomato soup to help me feel better.



Still today, one of my favourite things to do is to heat up a tin of tomato soup (Heinz please) and then crumble a whole load of crackers into a bowl. Spoon the soup over the crackers and add a knob of butter . . . that is heaven to me. I could quite happily exist on nothing else!



Todd . . . well . . . he's not so keen on tomato soup. Not Heinz or any other kind! He doesn't mind it though when it is homemade, coz I make it interesting I guess. I am always fiddling with it and coming up with different ways to make it taste scrumptious for him.



Today I added leeks, dill and sour cream. He loved it! It went down a real treat with some cheddar shaved over the top. This was just gagging for some cheese on toast on the side. What else could I do but indulge!




*Tomato, Leek and Dill Soup*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

A deliciously rich tomato, leek and dill soup. Perfect for an autumn lunch with cheese on toast!

2 TBS olive oil
4 to 5 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced thinly
(white and light green parts only)
2 (800g) tins of chopped tomatoes in their own juice (4 to 5 cups)
1 litre of chicken stock (about 4 1/2 cups)
6 TBS finely chopped fresh dill
1 TBS caster sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp of salt, plus more as needed
150ml of sour cream (1/2 cup)

To garnish: a good farmhouse cheddar, shaved

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks. Cook and stir until softened, about 3 minutes or so. Add the tinned tomatoes and the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the dill, cayenne and salt. Simmer over low heat, uncovered, until everything is very soft, some 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the heat and puree until smooth using a stick blender. (alternately you can use a regular blender, but be cautious as hot liquids are dangerous)

Whisk in the sour cream. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.

Set hot in heated bowls, with shavings of cheddar floating on top. Delicious!

Note - if you think your soup is too thick after you puree it, add a bit more heated chicken stock. This soup is great to make ahead, if anything it tastes even better. Cool, cover and refrigerate, then reheat over medium heat.

I have always found the chemistry of cooking fascinating. It is amazing to me that by combining simple ingredients you can come up with multiples of deliciously tasty things to eat!



Sometimes I wonder about things too . . . like . . . who was it that discovered that by mixing flour, eggs, butter, leavening and sugar . . . you end up with a delicious cake? Or that simply by changing the leavening from baking powder to yeast, you end up with a brioche? Sometimes I wonder who it was that decided eggs were edible??? The mind boggles!



We all love yorkshire puddings! A roast dinner just wouldn't be the same with at least one of these on your plate . . . the outsides all crispy brown, and cradling some lovely gravy in the bowl of the pud. Mmm . . . Mmm . . . good!!



This breakfast pancake is quite similar to a yorkshire pudding actually, except it is sweet instead of savoury and comes chock full of autumn apples, toasted nuts and dried cranberries. You would use pears as well. Equally as delicious.



This is guaranteed to make the family happy!



*Autumn Apple Pancake*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

The perfect weekend breakfast in the autumn. A lovely fruity pancake that puffs up high in the oven and then settles into a deliciously scrummy breakfast. Serve with Maple Syrup or Golden syrup for a real treat!

2 ounces butter, melted (1/4 cup)
1 large granny smith apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
60g chopped toasted walnuts or pecans (1/2 cup)
4 large free range eggs
250ml of milk (1 cup)
95g of plain flour (2/3 cup)
2 TBS caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
a handfull of dried cranberries
3 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed

To serve:
Maple or Golden Syrup

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/gas mark 7.

Pour the melted butter into a 9 inch nonstick deep and round pie plate. Arrange the apple slices over top and scatter on the nuts. Bake in the heated oven for 5 to 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften.

In the meantime whisk together the flour, caster sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together well, until smooth.

Remove the apples from the oven. Make sure the rim of the pie plate is buttered well. Pour the batter over top of the apples and walnuts. Sprinkle the brown sugar over all. Bake for 20 to 25 more minutes, until the centre of the pancake is set and the edges are puffy and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Cut into wedges to serve and pass the syrup!

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations. I know I write from a terraced brick house on the edge of Chester . . . and I adore my adopted country and everything about it . . .



But when Thanksgiving rolls around I do get a bit homesick for family and friends back home. My eldest son said to me the other day that I had a knack for making all the holidays fun. Those words meant an awful lot to me!



When I was working at Brenchley Manor, I was never able to celebrate Thanksgiving really. I was usually working up at the Manor and come American Thanksgiving, especially, I would be working as well, cooking up a veritable feast. (That being their big holiday!)



This year I am quite happily cooking my own little place and cooking up my own Thanksgiving Dinner. We've got it all . . . turkey, stuffing, mash, swede, squash, carrots, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes . . . cranberry sauce and gravy!



I'm breaking a little bit from tradition though . . . there is no pie, not pumpkin or otherwise. I am not really that fond of pumpkin pie actually . . . never have been. Instead I have made this Spicy Pumpkin Tray Bake! (which is basically just a fancy schmancy name for a cake baked in a large flat cake tin)



A deliciously moist pumpkin cake, all spicy with warm flavours and topped with a smooth and creamy vanilla buttercream frosting.

mmm . . . mmm . . . good!



*Spicy Pumpkin Tray Bake*
Makes 12 servings
Printable Recipe

A moist spicy tray bake with lovely autumnal flavours. Mmmm . . . pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves . . . ginger. Topped with a tasty buttercream frosting.

350g of plain flour, sifted (2 1/2 cups)
332g of caster sugar (1 2/3 cups)
6 ounces of butter, softened (3/4 cup)
70ml of milk (approximately 1/3 cup)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 large free range eggs
1 (15-ounce) tin of pureed pumpkin

For the frosting:
560g of sifted icing sugar (4 cups)
4 ounces butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 tsp vanilla
3 to 4 TBS milk

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark4. Butter a 15 by 10 inch tray bake pan, or jelly roll pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang to ease removal.

Combine all the bar ingredients in a large bowl. Beat well with an electric whisk on medium speed, until well mixed and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Spread the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until it tests done. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come otu clean and the top should spring back when lightly touched.

Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Combine the icing sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed, gradually adding the milk and scraping the bowl often, until you get the right consistency for spreading. Spread over the cooled cake. Cut into bars to serve.

It never hurts to have a few recipes up your sleeve that you can call on when time is short, or it's getting close to payday and the fridge is looking a bit bare.



It's also really handy to have a few recipes closeted away that you can turn to when money is tight, and you are wanting to put something delicious and tempting on the table for your family, and yet economical at the same time.



This savoury fish crumble is just the ticket on both counts. with it's rich and creamy cheese sauce and the buttery crumble on top it's a real winner! Scrummy yummy!! It's also a tasty way to get the kids and hubby to eat something they think they don't like.



I have a husband who claims to hate salmon and broccoli. He will sit and eat tins of smelly old sardines quite happily . . . but turns up his nose at salmon . . .

I know . . . it makes no sense to me either!!!



The funny thing is however, he gobbles this tasty crumble right up. The recipe which should serve four people, always ends up serving just the two of us, and I'll tell you right now, he eats the lion's share of it . . . and, he enjoys every mouthful!!! You do know what they say though . . .

There's naught so queer as folk! (I love him, really I do!)




*Salmon and Broccoli Crumble*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Tender flaked salmon and tender broccoli beneath a short and savoury crumble. This is simple, but incredibly tasty.

For the Crumble Topping:

175g/6oz Flour

75g/3oz Butter, softened
50g/2oz Finely Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Black Pepper

For the base:
1 ounce of butter (1/8 of a cup)
1 heaped TBS of plain flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBS freshly chopped parsley
300ml of whole millk (1 1/4 cups), warmed
4 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (1/4 pound)
2 TBS finely grated Parmesan Cheese
the juice of one lemon
2 7-ounce tins of boneless, skinless salmon, drained well
1 medium head of broccoli, trimmed and cut into florets

First make the crumble topping. Rub the butter and flour together with your fingertips until crumbly and then stir in the cheese and a bit of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Melt the butter for the base in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook for several minutes over low heat. Slowly whisk in the heated milk. Cook, whisking constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Whisk in the cheeses, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Whisk in the lemon juice. Taste and then season with salt and pepper as needed. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.

Coarsely flake the drained salmon into the bottom of a shallow casserole dish. Blanch the broccoli for 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain well and then scatter over top of the fish. Pour the cheese sauce evenly over top of the broccoli and fish. Sprinkle the crumble topping over all.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until bubbling and gold brown on top. Let sit for a few minutes, then serve hot. We like this with either baked potatoes, or homebaked potato wedges. It's delicious!

Note - you can also use an equivalent amount of leftover cooked salmon instead of the tinned stuff. I always buy Connetable pink wild Alaska skinless and boneless salmon in olive oil. It is perfect in this. If you always have a few tins in the larder you are always prepared to whip up a tasty meal in a flash.

I'm still seriously not feeling very well . . .

It sucks. And I don't even have my mum living nearby to come over and spoil me a bit . . . pamper me a lot . . . and help to make me feel better. *SNIFF*



I never cooked all day. Not at all . . . I just have no energy in me to do much of anything. I just want to lay around in my jim jams and feel sorry for myself.

This calls for the ultimate comfort food.



Store bought white bread (Thick slice) spread with softened butter and then slathered with Bon Maman Strawberry Jam, coz if you don't have homemade . . . and I don't . . . it's the next best thing . . .



I may not have my mum nearby to help . . . but I do have Bon Maman! (And no, I wasn't paid to say that!) Hopefully will be back to our normal programming by tomorrow! I can't take much more of this! (Feeling sick that is, not the bread and jam . . . that I can quite happily gorge myself on!)

Break out the black berets and strings of garlic. It's French Fridays with Dorie day today. That fun cooking club created around the release of Dorie Greenspan's newest book, entitled Around My French Table. Each Friday we in unison cook the same recipe from the book!



I love this book! What Dorie did for baking with her Baking, From My Home to Yours (which was a phenomenal book by the way) Dorie has now done for French cooking. It's a beautiful book, just filled to overflowing with user friendly recipes!



This is The English Kitchen I know, but I hope that you will forgive me if on Fridays I break out of the mold a bit and cook a little French.

C'est si bon!



This week's recipe was Gerard's Mustard Tart, chosen by Dorie herself for us to cook. What a fabulous tart this is! Eazy Peazy! A crisp delectable pastry filled with vegs and a lovely mustard cream. In the book, Dorie has done hers with carrots and leek, which I am sure are fabulous! But as you know I can't leave well enough alone and the tomatoes are bursting with ripeness in my garden, needing to be used up.



So I did mine with ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges and I also did individual tartlettes instead of one big one. They were very cute. They were very scrummy. That mustard cream filling is to die for. I think it would go with just about any vegetable. Easy. Delicious. Right up my alley. I can't give you the recipe though . . . You'll just have to buy the book! Come on, you know you want to!

We are great fans of sultanas in this house . . . those lovely golden coloured seedless raisins . . . so sweet and yummy. I could eat them by the handful.

Originally Sultana raisins were imported to the English speaking Western world from the Ottoman Empire. There is a quaint little story saying that they came to be when a Sultan from the Empire fled from a tiger attack, leaving his grapes in the sun to dry . . .



Not sure how true it is, but it surely adds a bit of fun and interest to a rather plain looking fruit!



Rather plain looking indeed, but oh-so-delicious! Especially when baked into lovely squares such as these . . . with a buttery oaty base and topping . . . the filling sweet and sticky . . . with just a hint of lemon.



Oh my but these are moreishly wicked. You will surely find yourself escaping into the kitchen to cut yourself one more little bite at every available opportunity.



And then they'll be gone . . .



You'll just have to bake another pan!!



*Sultana Oat Squares*
Makes one 8 inch square pan
Printable Recipe

These are so deliciously scrummy!

For the Crumble:
5 1/4 ounces rolled oats (1 1/2 cups)
7 1/2 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed))
6 1/2 ounces of plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 ounces butter, melted (3/4 cup)

Filling:
3 3/4 ounces soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
2 TBS cornflour (cornstarch)
6 fluid ounces water (3/4 cup)
6 ounces sultana raisins (1 cup)
the juice and finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Lightly butter an 8 inch square baking pan. Line with baking parchment, leaving an overhang to help lift the baked squares out.

Place all the ingredients for the filling in a saucepan, with the exception of the lemon and lemon zest. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice. Set aside.

Whisk the oats, brown sugar, flour, soda and salt together in a bowl Pour the melted butter over top and mix well together until nice and crumbly. Press half of the crumbs into the prepared pan. Spoon the sultana filling evenly over top. Sprinkle the remainder of the crumbs over top and press down lightly.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.