Getting close to the end of the week here . . . time to clear out the fridge and get use out of what's there. Those are my favourite kinds of meals, and thankfully the weather has turned a bit now so I could make this delicious gratin!
I love gratins . . . they are so adaptable. You can fling just about everything in, cover it with flavoured cream and cheese and bang it under the grill and have a tasty meal at the end of it all.
Today I used a few carrots, half a cauliflower, a few baby new potatoes, what was left of a bag of haricot verts beans . . . and a few spring onions I found in the bottom of the drawer, needing to be used up before they went all manky . . . which seems to happen almost overnight these days . . .
I also had some cream which needed using and a nice chunk of that kick ass onion and garlic cheddar from last weekend's ploughman's lunch that I made for Todd. It made an excellent topping for this, along with some buttered crumbs created from a stale piece of bread . . .
It was so simple to make as well. I cooked the vegetables first in some lightly salted water. Softened the onions in a bit of butter, drained the veg and stirred the whole thing together and them banged it into a gratin dish . . .
A light napping of cream, scattered with lashings of grated cheese and buttered crumbs, a quick bake in a hot oven and Bob's Your Uncle! Dinner is served!! Delicious with a few slices of brown bread and some frizzled leftover gammon.
*Clear the Fridge Vegetable Gratin*
Serves 4
Serves 4
Believe it or not, this was delicious, quick and easy and used up all the bits and bobs left in the fridge at the end of the week! You can't complain about any of that!
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
about 6 spring onions, choppeda knob of butter
Add a knob of butter to the pan. Add the spring onions and cook, stirring to soften. Stir in the drained vegetables and season with some salt and black pepper to taste. Pour this mixture into a shallow gratin dish. Drizzle the cream over top. You may not need it all. Just use enough to barely cover the vegetables. Scatter the cheese over top and sprinkle with buttered bread crumbs.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until bubbling and golden brown. Serve immediately.
Note - You can use whatever vegetables you want. This is just what I happened to have in the bottom of my vegetable drawer. Cabbage, swede, parsnips, broccoli, flat beans, etc. All work very well.
I can remember when Prince William was born and how exciting it was. I was pregnant the same time as Princess Diana and so Wills was always a bit special to me because he is the same age as our Douglas and I felt the whole way through my pregnancy that Diana was feeling the same way as I did!
I have followed his whole life, and that of Harry's with great interest actually. I am a Royalist at heart and love all of the Royal Family, warts-n-arl as my late good friend Angie would have said.
I was thrilled beyond measure when he and Katherine Middleton got married in 2011. It was such a beautiful wedding and they are such a sweet young couple. I have always wished them all the best. I was so excited when we found out they were expecting their first child, third in line to the throne and absolutely ecstatic yesterday when Katherine, the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to their son!
Once again my life and that of the Royal Family have paralleled each other, as my youngest daughter was pregnant at this same time as Katherine and just gave birth a few weeks ago to . . . yes, our own little Prince . . . Cameron David, and yes, we are thrilled beyond belief about that as well! All in all, it is a great time for a celebration!
I can't show you a photo of the little Prince Windsor Mountbatten . . . but I can quite happily show you a photo of our little Prince. I think he's just the cutest, but then again, I am the Grandmum! Maybe Charles and I could share our bragging rights together! In any case, a celebration calls for something spectacular to mark it's occurrence and that is just what this cake does!
In fact I can't think of a nicer cake you could bake to celebrate a special occasion! This is always my go to for Birthdays and other celebrations.
It's a deliciously buttery sponge, filled with fresh raspberries and baked into two moist layers. Sandwiched together with a lovely vanilla butter cream icing and some seedless raspberry jam, and then drizzled with more sweetness. This is one very moreishly scrummy cake.
Just look at all of that raspberry scrumminess!! This is a cake I wouldn't hesitate to bake and serve to Royalty . . . not Queens or Kings . . . or little Princes . . . or even Princesses . . .
Bake it for yourself . . . one bite will tell you how very right I am about this delightful cake. Seriously. It is well worth the price of fresh berries and the time and effort to make it. I do hope that you will make the effort and then come back and tell me all about it!
Congratulations to Prince William and his Duchess on this most wonderful occasion. May God bless you all.
*Raspberry Celebration Cake*
Cuts into 12 scrummy slices
Printable Recipe
This is the cake I always bake for summer birthdays. A light moist sponge, filled with lovely raspberries, butter cream icing and seedless raspberry preserves. Top with a sweet glaze and serve with more raspberries.
For the Cake:
175g of caster sugar (3/4 plus 1/8 cup)
175g of butter, softened (13 TBS)
4 large free range eggs, separated
100g self raising flour (a scant 3/4 cup)
1 tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds (1 scan't cup)
a few drops of almond extract
125g of fresh raspberries (a heaped cup)
For the buttercream:
75g of butter, softened (1/4 cup approx.)
125g icing sugar, sifted (about 3/4 cup)
few drops vanilla
For the glaze:
100ml icing sugar sifted (1/3 cup approx.)
water to thin
Also about 4 heaped dessertspoons of seedless raspberry jam
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/Gas mark 4. Butter two 8 inch sandwich cake tins. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks. Sift the flour and baking powder over the creamed mixture and then fold in using a metal spoon. Fold in the ground almonds and exract. Fold only until all traces of the flour have disappeared.
Beat the egg whites until they just hold their shape. Fold them in gently, by thirds, being careful not to overmix and lose the lightness of the whites. Lightly fold in the berries. Divide between the two prepared cake tins and level off carefully.
Bake in the heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, just until they test done. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean and they should spring back when lightly touched on top.
Remove from the oven. Let cool in the tins for five minutes, then tip out onto wire racks, peel off the baking paper and allow to cool completely.
Make the buttercream by beating together all the ingredients until smooth and creamy.
Place one cake, bottom side up on a cake plate. Spread completely with all the buttercream. Spread the raspberry jam over top of the buttercream and then top with the other cake layer, placing it right side up. Whisk together the icing sugar for the glaze and enough water to make a smooth drizzable mixture. Drizzle decoratively over the top of the cake. Allow to set, then dust with more icing sugar if desired.
Oh, and in case you haven't seen them (Like what planet are you on if you haven't!) here is the lovely trio. I think they're such a sweet family and colour cor-ordinated too, and BLUE for the little Prince!
I will confess . . . my absolute favourite all time salad is the Caesar Salad and I will admit if it comes with grilled chicken, I am even more in love . . .
What's not to love . . . crisp Cos lettuce . . . garlic croutons, bacon . . . Parmesan cheese and that fabulous garlicky dressing . . . add chicken and I am in heaven!
I have made Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza's before and they are pretty scrum if you ask me. (The recipe for this is also in my cookbook, Recipes From the Big Blue Binder. See my left hand sidebar for more info on that!) Today I decided to make something a bit different though . . .
The weather has been so hot and muggy . . . we are craving cool food. Food which is easy and quick to prepare and which gets us in and out of the kitchen quickly, but it also has to be pleasing and filling . . .
Chicken Caesar Salad Sarnies! (Sandwiches) These fit the bill perfectly on all counts!! Instead of croutons on top of the salad . . . you get a sourdough garlic crouton base . . . topped with some lemon pepper chicken paillards . . . shredded lettuce, a drizzle of a fabulously easy homemade Caesar dressing . . salty flakes of Parmesan cheese . . . and . . .
Bacon. Crisp, salty bacon. Doesn't bacon make everything taste gloriously fabulous? I know . . . I am a bacon fiend. I try not to eat it very often, but come on . . . you just got to have it on a Chicken Caesar . . . don't you??? Whether it's a scrummy salad, a tasty Pizza . . . or . . .
A fabulously easy and tasty Sarnie! NOM! NOM! These were seriously good.
*Chicken Caesar Sarnies (Sandwiches)*
Makes 2garlic seasoning
For the Dressing:
4 TBS good quality mayonnaise
the juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 anchovy filet in oil, drained and mashed
1 garlic clove, finely minced
2 TBS olive oil
a good handful of finely grated Parmesan cheese
cracked black pepper
Whisk
the dressing ingredients together until well combined. I use my
immersion blender for this. You should have a slightly thick dressing.
If it is too thick, thin a bit with some water. Taste and adjust
seasoning as necessary.
I do get sent the cutest things. A week or so ago, the people at Eddingtons sent me these cute Home Baked Cookie Stamps! Measuring 53mm in diameter, the set comes with a wooden stamper and four interchangeable rubber stamps reading . . . Home Baked, Eat Me, No 1 Baker, and Made by Mum.
I had seen cookie stamps like this on other people's pages and longed to have a set of my own. Dreams can and do come true!
I found the rubber sleeves were very easy to remove and replace on the end of the wooden stamper.
But would these stamps leave a good imprint on the cookie dough? Let's see.
I was also worried that they might stick to the dough and be hard to remove. I decided to make my Vanilla Biscuits. They are a simple cookie which normally you roll into balls and press down with a fork. I thought a cookie stamp would be so much cuter. I rolled the balls in cinnamon sugar before I pressed them.
I can't believe that I didn't take a picture of them freshly stamped, before baking, but I didn't! You will have to take my word for the fact that the stamp stamped the design in really well, lifted off of the cookies very easily and as you can see, left an indelible imprint on the cookies, even after baking!
In short it performed really well and I was very pleased with the results! Thanks so much Eddington's and also Miriam at Shrewd PR for sending them to me. These delightful stamps retail about £5.99 in most good kitchen shops and on Amazon (£5.50) and come in two different sets, the one you see here today and another one in red, which has the messages, Nibble Me, Naughty But Nice, Guilty Pleasure and Irresistable. What fun!
And this biscuit/cookie recipe I used was just perfect to use with them!
These are lovely buttery biscuits, sturdy and perfect for dunking. There are no eggs in the recipe, which makes them perfect for anyone who is allergic to eggs. You could also substitute the small amount of milk with an almond or soya milk for anyone who has a milk allergy.
They're so easy to make as well. You quite simply roll them into balls and press them down with a fork, or the bottom of a glass, or even a cookie stamp! (Yay me! I'm so lucky to have one of those NOW!)
I've also included some basic directions for five different variations for this basic biscuit/cookie. These are just lovely. Perfect for dunking. Your family will love them, and they'll love them even more with a cookie stamp. You just got to get one, or ask for one for Christmas or your Birthday! So much fun!
*Vanilla Biscuits* (Cookies)
Makes about 24
Simple, reliable, quick and delicious. I have included several variations.Makes about 24
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, turning the trays around after half of the baking time. Leave on the baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
It was too hot to cook . . .
It was too hot to play . . .
So I sat on the sofa,
just melting away.
Visions of cold food
swim in my head . . .
but
In truth I've no energy
I feel pretty dead.
No cooking happening here
not today
Tis far, far too hot,
and
I hope that's ok . . .
I'll return tomorrow
and hopefully I'll be
back in full form
and as fit as a flea!
Okay, so I am not a poet. But I am meltingly hot and lacking in energy. And I haven't cooked. And I probably won't cook. I'm sure you'll find something here that will tantalize your tastebuds even a tiny bit anyways. I promise to be back tomorrow with something new. Fingers Crossed.
Little Ginger Cheesecakes
Summer Fruit Salad
Clare College Mush
Lemon, Limoncello and Raspberry Syllabub
Poached Vanilla Apricots
Summer Berry and Lemon Tarts
Blueberry Bliss
Easy Berry Charlotte
Oh boy . . . it's hot, Hot, HOT! Not complaining though . . . well not much anyways. We have to take our blessings where we find them. One thing though this heat is not really very conducive to cooking. I've been trying to stay as cool as I can and just do simple things. Salads mostly . . . but there is the odd dessert that I can make which won't heat up the kitchen too much . . .
Easy desserts like these fresh apricot tarts. I had picked up a punnet of fresh apricots for a pound the other day, with this exact idea in mind and what could I do . . . fruit goes off so quickly in this heat, so I had to make them . . .
Good thing they are quick and easy. Simple to make too. Even Todd could manage this I think . . . well, I like to think he could, but I probably wouldn't let him just in case he couldn't. He's quite adept at using a tin opener . . . but anything else, I don't know. I'd have to stand over him and instruct him the whole way through. I'd rather just do it myself.
You end up with nicely lightly cooked apricots on a bed of apricot jam and almonds, topping a crisp puff pastry crust . . . lightly sugared. Deliciously easy.
I like to serve something cool on top . . . like some creme fraiche or ice cream . . . but custard or cream would go quite well too. In fact you can do most stone fruits in this simple manner. Apples and pears too. Just adjust the flavor of jam and Bob's your Uncle!
*Easy Apricots Tarts*
Makes 6
Makes 6
Printable Recipe
These are a real doddle to make. You can have an easy, quick and delicious dessert on the table in no time at all. I like to serve them with a dollop of creme fraiche, but do feel free to use ice cream, clotted cream or whipped cream! You can also substitute other stone fruits for the apricots, or even sliced apples or pears, changing the flavour of jam to accommodate. With apples and pears I would use a ginger conserve, or even some marmalade would be nice.
These are a real doddle to make. You can have an easy, quick and delicious dessert on the table in no time at all. I like to serve them with a dollop of creme fraiche, but do feel free to use ice cream, clotted cream or whipped cream! You can also substitute other stone fruits for the apricots, or even sliced apples or pears, changing the flavour of jam to accommodate. With apples and pears I would use a ginger conserve, or even some marmalade would be nice.
6 TBS ground almonds
12 fresh apricots, halved and stoned
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray with nonstick paper.
Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown and the fruit is knife tender. Remove from the oven and brush all over with warm apricot jam. Serve at room temperature with some cream, creme fraiche, ice cream, etc. Deliciously simple!
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