Anyone that knows me knows exactly how much I love food (and Waitrose!!) and how much I love to cook and bake. I decided to write this blog to share the love and all things culinary. Thanks to my Mum, who is an amazing cook, I have always been inspired by the food that she cooks, and I must credit her with teaching me to cook - as well as a year I spent living in Italy, trying out every restaurant and bar that I possibly could! All in the name of research, naturally. So you can expect to see honest reviews of new places in London to try out!
So as well as writing about how much I love food, I'm going to share with you the recipes that I cook, so you can try them too. And before you think you don't have the time - let me assure you that I pack as much in my day as is physically possible, and still make time to cook (most of the time - although my flatmate will tell you that, yes, I did once eat a Waitrose ready meal). As an added bonus to encourage you to cook my recipes, I am also a student on a modest food budget (so I can still buy nice handbags and shoes!!!) and I still insist on buying good ingredients, so this isn't going to be an expensive hobby. Oh, and I am also quite health conscious (I say quite, I do love indulgent recipes) so whether you are trying to eat lots of protein or avoid carbs in your dinner, this is the place for you. If you are thinking of the movie Julie and Julia right now (a film about a food blog of Julia Child's book) I am no where near as complicated or expensive :-D
I am a particular fan of the Hummingbird Bakery and Nigella Lawson cookery books. But when it comes to savoury food, this is when I like to get creative. So, for my first food entry, I will show you a Sea Bass Recipe that I cooked for myself and a friend the other night. I found two pieces of sea bass on offer in Waitrose on my way home, and it happened to come with some fennel butter. Quite often I prefer not to use pre-made condiments, but we decided to give this a go, and it was quite a success.
So here is how I made it:
2 pieces of sea bass
1 lemon (zest and juice)
White wine
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 tomato
1 portobello mushroom
parsley
Vegetables:
2 pieces of corn on the cob (Waitrose essential, about 90p)
2 courgettes
1 clove of garlic
Fresh mint
Rice
Preparing this meal took about 15 minutes, depending on how efficient you are, and then you can go and do whatever else you need to do. Put the sea bass in a pan for the oven, and put, on top of both pieces, a tomato cut into slices, the mushroom sliced and some lemon zest (you can zest a lemon with a parmesan cheese grater). Then squeeze half the lemon onto the fish, cut this squeezed half into slices and put it on the fish. Pour on a bit of white wine (maybe half a small glass - 87.5ml to be precise, but I rarely measure things) and some olive oil, with a few sprigs of parsley if you have it. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, too. Pop this in the oven on about 170 degrees centigrade - gas mark 3 (I was also baking a cake and this was the designated temperature) and it will take about 20 mins. This is enough time to cook some rice and vegetables to go with it.
Rice is very easy to cook and doesn't need to involve a sieve (!) - just do double the quantity of water to rice in the pan with a bit of salt, let the water come to boiling and then turn the heat down to simmer. If you are cooking for 2 people, this will take about 15 mins. Add more water if it looks like it needs it.
I also cooked some Corn on the Cob (boil in water for 8 mins) and a courgette (zucchini, for my American/Canadian readers) dish.
The Courgette Dish is something I discovered in Italy - it is easy and quick to make and very tasty and fresh:
Slice two courgettes with a vegetable peeler (its easier than a knife), and fry these in a pan with some olive oil and garlic. When they have gone soft (5 mins), take them out the pan and add some finely chopped mint. Et voila!
So... an easy dish to make, and delicious. You could substitute the rice for another vegetable if you want to avoid carbs in the evening. I forgot to take a photo of this, but I'm sure I'll make it again and post a photo.
Whilst the fish was cooking, I made a cake to take to rehearsal the next day, a variation on one of my favourite cakes from the Hummingbird Bakery. Here is how to do it. This does involve a bit of measuring, but it isn't complicated. Here are the ingredients for one English size loaf tin, if you have a big American loaf tin, double the quantity.
175g butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder
140g soured cream
1 punnet fresh raspberries
Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder. Then add the soured cream, followed by the raspberries. Try not to mash raspberries up too much when you mix them in or the mixture will become pink! (could be a nice effect, though.)
Wipe the butter wrapper around the loaf tin to grease it, and then put some flour in the tin and shake it about to coat it. Tip away the excess flour. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, and put it in the oven on 170 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes. You can check it's done by putting a clean knife into the cake, and if it comes out clean, it's cooked. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack or a plate, and allow it to cool. It is also tasty warm, though! Bon appetit!
This cake works really well with a Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat together 150g of icing sugar and 25g butter, and then beat in 60g of cream cheese. Add a little bit of lemon juice. Frost the cake with the icing.
Here is the photo of the Raspberry Cake (without frosting):
I also made some Glitzy Chocolate Puddings the other day, and here is a photo. Recipe to follow another day!
I should also probably explain the title of my first blog post. Today I am at home, escaping from the Big Smoke and enjoying some lush green countryside and home cooking, and my sisters had baked two amazing cakes for a party tomorrow, and here are some photos. The cake with cream cheese frosting is the recipe above, but with blueberries inside it, instead of raspberries. The chocolate cake is a recipe I'll keep secret just now... I promise it will be worth keeping up with the next few instalments to find out the recipes for the chocolate cake and the glitzy puddings!
Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Leaves
So for now, good night! I hope you enjoyed reading my first post! Tomorrow might be how I make an impressive, hearty roast dinner perfect for a sunday evening with friends, as long as I get back to London in time!
There will also be a review of a gem of an Italian cafe in Farringdon for you to try next week, serving authentic piadina from the Romagna region of Italy.
Until tomorrow...
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