Sweet But Savoury, Perfect Parsnip Soup

Well, I've found my new favourite thing and it's soup-a parsnip-y. Sorry, christ, that was terrible. But funny. There's definitely a time and a place for a soup-d up pun (wow, another...really?) rarely, granted. But there's a time and place nonetheless.

This soup is a little sweet, but mainly savoury and very, very consumable. Perfect with a little seedy bagel, smothered in a lashing of Dairylea. Just yum-all-over-everything.

Here's how it's done. Do it. It needs to be done, etc etc etc.

This recipe makes enough for 6 good-sized servings.

Ingredients:

1500g parsnips, chopped
2272ml semi-skimmed milk
5 tbsp of clear honey
2 large knobs (mwa-ha-ha) of butter

Method:

1.) Put your butter and honey into a large pan and melt. Once melted place your chopped parsnips into the pan (they don't need to be peeled, huzzah, peeling veg is the bane of my life and I love for it to be avoided wherever possible.)
2.) Leave cooking on a relatively low heat, stirring every five minutes, for approximately 30 minutes. Perhaps slightly less if you use less parsnips, but cook until your parsnips have softened to touch.
3.) Entirely cover your parsnips with the milk and stir until butter, honey and milk are well combined with the parsnips.
4.) Leave to cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 40 minutes, until the parsnips have almost perished.
5.) Blend all ingredients together (I used my treasured NutriBullet) before putting the liquid back into the pan and adding more milk, until it has reached that desired soupy consistency.
6.) Add salt and pepper and perhaps more honey, to taste. Serve and enjoy.

Dinner Party Triumph

In the midst of my house smelling like an authentic Italian home (picture one of those picturesque little places, nestled deep in the lush hills of Tuscany) home to an Italian mumma who looks strangely like me, only slightly more harassed and more-than-a-little sweaty...it is here that some truly wonderful dinner party creations have been born over the last fortnight; through blood, sweat and tears.

For the past two weeks my boyfriend I have been having a Come-Dine-With-Me-Off with my brother and his girlfriend, with some memorably wonderful and unforgettably bad outcomes, and today I'm going to share the peaks and troughs with you. 

As you know, I'm always in the market for stress-free and taste-full, so this was a perfect opportunity to stretch my kitchen-legs, to flex those admirable cooking biceps, if you will; it could have all gone horribly wrong, especially with such feigned self-belief as that.

This wondrous cook-off idea was mine…after I had cooked a distinctly average spaghetti bolognese accompanied by garlic bread and a little vin rouge (okay, more than a little vin rouge) and a rather-better fruit-bowl crumble, the recipe for which can be found by clicking here. However, this idea led to rather more exciting times than my first and best attempt at feeding everyone, on a rather fragile and slow-moving Sunday. While not particularly exciting, the best advice I can offer you when cooking a spaghetti bolognese is that ketchup, HP Sauce, Lea & Perrins and red wine (one for the dish, two for you, naturally) are the key to worldwide fame in the spag bol department. Not particularly like-a-mumma-used-to-make, but a serious goody nonetheless.

Following this was the first week's trials which firstly saw my (irritatingly lazy/good at cooking when he bothers, instead of ordering a chicken chow mein) brother cook up and absolute storm, with one of the best soup's I've ever tried, later deemed Max's Marvellous Mushroom Soup. To make this truly marvellous creation (I urge you to do this) here's the recipe and method for you, it's enough to serve 4:

Ingredients:

800g button mushrooms
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2g of chive stalks, chopped
2g basil leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
600ml of double cream
1 vegetable stock cube, made into broth
Chilli flakes, optional

Method:

1.) Put your spring onions, chives and basil in butter for a couple of minutes on a high heat, before placing all your mushrooms into the mix. Be sure to add olive oil to ensure you don't burn your mushrooms, cook until reduced a little, then add more butter.
2.) Once reduced, add your prepared stock, then cover and reduce the mixture by half (approximately 10 minutes.)
3.) Blend the mixture, place back into the pan, add your cream, chilli flakes and salt and pepper to taste and cook for a further five minutes, with the lid back on until reduced further.
4.) Blitz for a final time to ensure it is completely smooth and place back on the heat, until suitably warmed before serving.

As you can imagine this simple, rustic but smooth, luxurious soup went down an absolute storm and has been requested/created again since, I have a feeling it will be a firm household favourite in years to come, much to the annoyance of the part of me that still suffers from the curse of lifelong sibling rivalry on an almost daily basis.

The following day saw my boyfriend cook-up a heart attack for each of us, including chicken burgers in cheesy rolls with what we like to call 'fake cheese', we all know what we mean, those perfectly shiny squares of bright orange 'cheese'. I'd hate to see what kind of crazy cow it's made from.
His dish was finished off with mozzarella dippers and sweet potato fries, you know, just in case we hadn't all had enough carbs. Alas, his final dinner more than compensated for this slight oversight and temporary lapse in judgment. Oh the indigestion. Oh the meat sweats.

The next night my brother's girlfriend cooked up a healthy delight (thank goodness) including cooked peppers with overflowing spicy rice, chicken in a garlic and herb sauce and some homemade sweet potato fries. This was finished by the last triumph-of-other-people dish I will mention, before moving on to a well-kept family secret recipe. 

She made adorable puff pastry hearts, packed full of crème fraîche and topped with drizzly chocolate, with gorgeous little chocolatey strawberries served chilled, to the side. 

Adorable, girly and not completely awful for the waistline. Bravo.

Here's how she did it, again, it's enough to make 4:

Ingredients:

Ready-to-roll puff pastry (it's not lazy, it's efficient)
1 egg, beaten
1 pot of crème fraîche 
300g of milk chocolate
250g fresh strawberries
A sprinkle of sugar

Method:

1.) Cut your puff pastry into hearts and use a pastry brush to brush the beaten egg over each heart, before dusting with a little sugar and placing into the oven, on greaseproof paper for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees, based on a fan assisted oven.
2.) Once cooked through, remove and leave to cool, before slicing each heart in half.
3.) Once sliced, add your crème fraîche and then, when ready place the two halves back together before drizzling yummy chocolate over them.
4.) Lastly, heat up your remaining chocolate and dip the whole strawberries into it, before leaving to one side to cool on some baking parchment.
5.) Serve together and enjoy.

Lastly, on the final and closing night, the fun and frolics fell to me and I decided to do a three course-er, no pressure whatsoever was put on oneself as, of course, one doesn't like to put pressure on oneself at all, does one? Sod that, the pressure was sodding high. Sod, sod, sod.

Growing up my favourite thing in the world, which I genuinely believed God created just for my pleasure (I'm not even religious, but feelings such as that would wash over me like a heavenly cloud with each spoonful) was my Grandma's Lemon Syllabub. Or, as I like to think of it, my Grandma's soaked-in-sherry, oh yeh, right up to the top, it's-lemon-but-that-doesn't-make-you-healthy-it-still-makes-you-a-total-lush-because-it-is-so-full-of-sherry syllabub. 

For my dessert, guess what, my interpretation happened - an interpretation that left everyone hiccuping naughtily and with satisfied, lemon-fuelled, smug looks on their faces.

Begrudgingly, I share the recipe with you now. I say begrudgingly because I fear we will now have a mass exodus of the following items listed in supermarkets all over the world this summer, once you mix all the ingredients together and experience something I suggest you all do, sooner rather than later. 

This recipe offers enough to serve eight people (who have a normal sized appetite for such dishes) or one person (for those, such as myself, who can be utterly dangerous with a large bowl of such yumminess and only one spoon.)

Ingredients:

One pint of double cream
175g caster sugar
Juice and rind of three large, unwaxed lemons
10 tbsp of medium dry sherry (I used Harveys Bristol Cream)

Method:

1.) Firstly grate the rinds of your lemons and place into a large mixing bowl, before squeezing all the juice you can out of the lemons and into the same bowl. 
2.) Then add your sugar, cream and sherry and beat with an electric whisk until thick. Don't over-beat this mixture or it will spoil. You want it like a thick, almost mousse-type consistency.
3.) Place in the fridge for approximately two hours, until set, and serve. I served mine with shortbread rounds which worked perfectly.

After all was eaten and drunk and I felt like I had just completed the London Marathon, I opted to force everyone to have a shot of Schnapps (a-la-after a meal on a European summer holiday style) and we all had the best sleep of our lives. THE END.

PS - if you do take me up on any of these dinner party highlights, then I salute you. Good luck. Go forth and make/break friendships, sweats and crockery. It's a whole lot of fun, if nothing else.

Frome Independent Market Bakes

On the first Sunday of every month, The Frome Independent Market takes place and it's fast become something I wait the remaining 28-30 days to come around again.

The whole of Frome becomes a sea of stalls selling a lot of locally produced foodie goodness, cute little trinkets, handmade candles and fantastic pictures, paintings and drawings created by local talent. It's an inspiring place to be for a few hours. 

When I went I came back with a haul that included a gorgeous hot air balloon notebook, a heart shaped brie (the one thing that could make brie any better is being heart shaped), a vanilla scented candle in an old milk bottle which, by happy coincidence, had my boyfriend's name on it, a homemade jar of 'slim jim' marmalade, a box of bath melts and bath bombs from Herbs on the Hill and lastly, the showstopper, a box of Earl Grey marshmallows, made by EatToastDunkMe.

These gorgeous marshmallows are cubes of white with a unique purple swirl throughout eat piece, making them as visually appealing as they are delicious. I simply had to bake with them, they near enough begged for me to.

I decided to make earl grey and lemon cupcakes, with an earl grey marshmallow chunk aloft and it resulted in one of the nicest moments of what I like to call 'afternoon-tea-me-time', I've ever had.

I'm going to share my recipe with you all now, but I must insist you invest in and use the EatToastDunkMe marshmallows for the top - nothing else will do. For my cupcakes I used two-tone icing (theres a post a few months back on my blog on how to do this!) this is of course optional, but it is wonderfully in keeping with the marshmallow on top.

Recipe

Ingredients for the Sponge:

• 4 Earl Grey Teabags
• 3 tbsp boiled water
• 80g butter
• 280g caster sugar
• 240g plain flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 200ml whole milk
• 2 large eggs

Ingredients for the Frosting:

• 80g of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 250g icing sugar
• The zest of five lemons
• A few drops of yellow food colouring (optional but pretty!)
• 25 ml of whole milk 

Method:

1. Firstly, pop four earl grey teabags into a mug, with three tbsp of boiling water and just leave to stew while you prepare the rest of the mixture. A lot of recipes will tell you to use less teabags or not leave them to stew for as long, but I don't think the flavour comes through strong enough otherwise, especially with the rather citrusy icing I have in created for the top (you're in for a treat with that, lemon lovers!)
2. Then choose your cupcake cases/any decorations you wish to use - for regular bakers this is arguably one of the loveliest parts of the baking process, so feel free to take your time with this - then place them into your cupcake baking tray and heat your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan assisted oven.)
3. Lastly, beat together your sponge ingredients, until smooth, adding the earl grey brew last, before spooning into your cupcake cases. Only fill each cupcake case to about half full (of half empty, depending on your life viewpoint) otherwise the mixture will spill out while cooking and cupcakes simply must be beautiful, dahhhhhling.
4. Cook your cakes for around 30 minutes, until cooked through before leaving to cool completely. I usually allow about an hour for this - just enough time to take a bath or watch a couple of episodes of the Big Bang Theory or, on the right day, have a self-indulgent afternoon nap. Whatever you do with you time, enjoy.
5. Once completely cool, get zesting those lemons and beat together your frosting ingredients. If you do decided to go two-tone (and why wouldn't you) simply spoon half of the mixture into your piping bag and add purple food colouring to the remaining half, before spooning into the other half of the bag.
6. Then simply pipe onto the cakes, starting from the edge and working your way in or, if you like a little less icing then simply pipe straight onto the middle to create on 'iced gem' sort of shape. This looks beautiful too. Then decorate as you wish. Serve and enjoy.

Creme Egg Frosted Brownies

Presumably if you're reading this post then you've found this post  via a chocolatey hashtag, meaning you're in search of tasty, calorific inspiration, so welcome, friend. Please come on in.

Each weekend I try to have a bake off, something that is impressive visually, or tasty or that makes my house smell heavenly - if I reach all three, then I've had a truly successful day. Today was that successful day. A day where Cadbury's Creme Eggs and Hummingbird Bakery's Frosted Brownies came together in a beautiful, unspeakable-amount-of-calories-but-such-great-fun, unison.

I'm about to share my recipe with you, which differs a little from Hummingbirds original recipe and, from what I can see, is far simpler than recipes I found online which insist you used the dreaded bain-marie and sift all ingredients. Show me a modern woman who still believes that a microwave doesn't do the same job as a bain-marie in half the time and that things actually need sifting and I'll show you my resting bitch face. A face which shows my disbelief and disinterest.

There is one bit of advice I will give you for these brownies, a thought which crossed my mind in this exact way while stood in the supermarket earlier on, (while shovelling enough Creme Eggs into my basket to begin to wonder whether I should have chosen a trolley instead and loudly exclaiming that I have a lot of cousins to think about for Easter, so people wouldn't believe each one was for my own purposes), you're baking Creme Egg brownies, CREME EGG ONES. One, two or even four Creme Eggs simply won't do, we don't want to hint at Creme Eggs, we want to explode Creme Eggs all over whichever unlucky, clean plate we have chosen to eat it off. We want Easter all up in and around our mouths and we don't want to explain, worry or doubt it.

Please use no less than ten Creme Eggs for this fondanty, chocolately dream, blame whatever happens to the middle of your body on me. I'm alright with that.

So, the recipe. Firstly, you will need:

For the brownie:

10 CREME EGGS (incase not already noted)
5 normal boring eggs
120g plain flour
100g cacao powder (I used raw, organic cacao powder because I had to give a nod to my health somewhere in there.)
250g salted butter (the unsalted butter thing is also a myth. Next time you crack open a recipe book, have a look at the ingredients, you'll often find unsalted butter and salt listed as two of the ingredients.)
30g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

For the frosting:

200g icing sugar
75g salted butter
30g cacao powder
150g cream cheese

Here comes my slap dash, Jamie Oliver (minus the lisp) method, which saves you a bunch of time and gets you a whopping slice on your plate an awful lot quicker.

Head your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan oven) and line a baking tray (33 x 23 x 5cm) with greaseproof paper. If it doesn't fit, which it never does, and you don't want ugly corners, then just cut a square into each corner and you'll find that the paper sits perfectly.

Beat ALL ingredients, aside from the Creme Eggs, together in a bowl until there are no unsightly lumpy bits, it takes a good three minutes for this to happen, don't be put off.

Once this is done, spoon all your mixture into the baking tray and flatten off, ensuring the majority is even. Don't stress too much about this, as it warms up it flattens off anyway.

Bake for 15 minutes and take this opportunity to have some fun cutting up Creme Eggs, ready for brownie sacrifice.

Once your 15 minutes are up, take the brownie out and push your Creme Egg halves into the top of it. Bake for a further 15 minutes.

Once done, leave to cool completely before beating all your frosting ingredients together and spreading over the top of your brownie, like the ultimate chocolate spread on the ultimate chocolatey toast.

Cut up and impress everyone. You will make new friends with a slice of this brownie. Cake makes you popular.

Enjoy!