Soup, Bread, Biscotti.

yes we're alive, and yes we're eating.

we're both halfway through final year so meals are quick and easy.

...this is a lie.

i got an espresso machine for my birthday (delonghi, bright red, highly recommended) and bought a pasta machine from ebay (also red, not quite mastered the art of perfect looking pasta yet, but the taste is pretty good) and have taken to making soup on a sunday for the rest of the week (which inevitably lasts 2 days because i like my soup thick and when it boils down to the right thickness there's not much left).

today, i went on a baking spree, which you'll be aware of if you follow me on twitter. behold:

fennel and caraway seed baguette

the fennel and caraway seeds came in my graze box last week - highly recommended, especially if you have a free code from a friend - and because i'm not a huge nut eater i thought i'd put them in some bread.

white bread flour

self raising (opt)

salt

pepper

olive oil

fennel and caraway seeds

yeast/yeast granules

water

i mixed white bread flour with self raising flour (because i didn't have enough white bread flour - about 350g of each, i reckon) and added salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil before stirring in the yeast/water mix. (no fresh yeast, just the granules - just as good!)

when the dough was together but a little sticky i turned it out onto the bench and kneaded it with plenty of flour on the bench and my hands, and tipped the box of seeds onto the bench, working them into the dough.

i then rolled the dough out into a baguette shape and popped it on a baking tray with some foil underneath, putting slashes in the top for decoration, and placing it under a medium oven for about half an hour (maybe a little longer - until brown and/or crispy on the outside.)

you could use almost any seeds for this - i have another tub of sunflower seeds i'm going to make some bread with next week - but the fennel and caraway give this loaf a spicy kick, and it tastes a little curry-y. delish.

potato, bacon and onion soup

serves approx 2, maybe more potatoes to soak up the water next time!

one large potato (baking potato sized...)

one large onion

3 rashers bacon

butter

creme fraiche

salt

pepper

vegetable stock

thyme

sage

water

finely chop your onions and bacon, and drop them into a large hot pan with butter. as they brown, peel and finely chop your potatoes and chuck this in the pan too, then add the salt, pepper, thyme and sage. fill about 2/3 with water and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.

turn the heat down and use a potato masher to mash the potatoes a little, then turn the heat up again, adding the stock cube and creme fraiche, then let the water boil away until the soup is thick enough for you. i added a splash of cayenne pepper at the end to give it a kick.

jam and coconut biscotti

i got this recipe from google and it was from an american site - who knows how much a cup is? - so the measurements are completely made up (i worked off the amount of coconut i had, so let's assume 125g is 2 cups). but these are delicious.

125g dessicated coconut

approx. 40g butter

approx. 60g sugar

approx 60g flour

vanilla essence

1 egg

splash of milk (or 2 eggs, if you prefer. i'm like, an egg nazi. no more than one in anything.)

jam & almonds for decoration

these are so easy to make. essentially, you just have to mix well...

mix the sugar into the butter, then add the coconut and mix. add the egg, mix, then the flour, and mix. add vanilla essence and milk if the dough is too dry, until you have a slightly sticky but stiff mix.

put two big dollops on a tray with baking paper (or tin foil which is all we ever have in the house) on it and spread these thinly with a knife.

you can either use bigger dollops and make two thick strips straight away (you can see my two strips in the above pic), or you can spread a thin layer of jam* across the first two strips and then add another two dollops on top of this and spread these out over the jam. pretty sure you could put anything between the strips of mix...

i added almonds to the top and baked for about 20-25 minutes, until crunchy on top. biscotti should be crunchy the whole way through, but this has ended up with a crunchy top and a softer, biscuit-y based. which is perfect, because i couldn't decide between biscotti or coconut biscuits.

*i used raspberry and vodka jam, as bought from tynemouth market ages ago!

Onion Tart.

i really fancied making an onion tart but the internet provided little in the way of appetising recipes - plenty for onion quiche, but i wanted something significantly less eggy. finally i found and modified a recipe which suggested double cream. win!

ingredients

one large white onion

one large red onion

one 200ml tub double cream

one tsp honey

salt, pepper, thyme, worcester sauce & butter

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(also, plain flour, butter, milk, water, salt and pepper for the pastry; or you can buy ready made. homemade pastry is super easy and wonderful tasting and i love making pastry and dough SO MUCH; i probably make it at least once a week for something.

i tend to guess at measurements, but 5 heaped tablespoons of flour and 4 knive-fulls of butter will about do it, then sprinkles of salt and pepper, and rub the butter in til the mixture is like breadcrumbs. add a splash of milk and stir together with a spoon, then add water til the dough forms a ball. if it's too sticky, add more flour. knead on a floured counter for a few minutes, then roll out to desired size and thickness. EASY. it doesn't need to be cooked through before the filling is put in either! and if you grease up the tin with plenty of butter, the tart should come out really easily.)

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slice the onions into thin slices. add a large knob of butter to a frying pan, warm up then throw in the onions. after a minute, turn the heat right down and leave them to simmer away, stirring every minute or so.

make your pastry (or roll it out and line your tin if you're using pre-made); preheat the oven to a medium heat.

when the onions and browned and super soft, add salt, pepper, thyme and a little worcester sauce to taste, and stir in a teaspoon of honey.

tip around 2/3 of the double cream into the pan and let it thicken slightly.

add the mixture to the tart, and stick it in the oven until the pastry is brown and the top is bubbling.

i also grated some cheese on top about 5 minutes before the end, and served with green beans, parsnip and mushroom that had been fried in honey and mustard. gorgeous - the cream hadn't quite set, which was perfect because the dish wasn't too dry.

i have 2 pieces left, which i'm gonna serve with mash, green beans and rosemary and mint gravy tonight, and salad with honey mustard dressing tomorrow.

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i had a little pastry left over, so before i added the cream i plonked 3 little spoon fulls onto the rolled out scraps and made 3 little snack-sized onion pastry parcels - just an idea for leftovers!

Product: Garlic Card

this thing is genius; and i can't understand how it actually works, but work it does.

i give you the garlic card.

i bought it in the design museum when i was in london... (but you can buy it on amazon - it comes in a range of colours; i got red cos i have red chopsticks, also from the design museum. i see a theme developing here.)

...and basically, it purees garlic.

and you think "well that doesn't look like much!", but then you swipe the puree off the card with your finger, and into a pan/into a bowl and it looks like quite a lot of puree, AND THEN your meal is remarkably garlic-y.

i mixed it with pepper, oregano and soya butter.....

...then spread it on some bread and grilled. garlic bread! (perfectly garlic-y!)

served with fry-veg soup...?

i read this recipe on some site the other day and tried to recreate it from memory since i didn't bookmark it...

one large tomato, cut into chunks

one medium onion, cut into chunks

one large mushroom (or a few smaller ones), sliced

fry in olive oil until brown

add stock, mixed into a cup of warm water

add half a tin of chopped tomatoes

flavour with salt, pepper, basil, oregano and worcester sauce, and a squirt of ketchup if you are a fan of the sweet taste

put a lid on the frying pan and simmer until the sauce thickens (10-15 mins).

serve with crusty bread - or garlic bread!

a hearty but small tea or a great lunch dish!

NB: i also topped mine with thinly sliced goats cheese and pepper.

great tip!

in order to melt the cheese and keep the dish

warm while the bread finishes off browning, put

the pan lid on top of the bowl for a minute or two!

Salmon Balls.

salmon balls.

does what it says on the tin.

much like meatballs, but considerably more fishy and pink.

you will need

one small tin of salmon

plain flour

butter

salt, pepper and thyme

drain the salmon and mash it with a fork, in a bowl with the herbs. add some flour and shape small handfuls of the mixture into ball shapes.

heat up some butter in a frying pan.

drop the balls into the butter.

add to pasta - here i added sliced mushrooms, broccoli and spinach to the salmon balls, and then chucked in some cooked pasta with a cream cheese&milk sauce. add some worcester sauce for flavour and flour to thicken if necessary, then grate some cheese on top. et voila.

Tortillas.

decided on a whim that i'd like a wrap for tea the other night, but had no change on me to pop to the corner shop for tortilla wraps. a quick google told me i had all the ingredients and so i set about making em from scratch!

scroll down for tortilla recipes and some filling suggestions inc. one veggie/vegan option...

chicken & avocado tortillas with spicy rice

tortillas

this is really still in trial and error phase - i've made them on two occasions, both producing great tortillas, but of different sizes and amounts of tortillas. as such, this will, i think, make 2 decent sized tortillas (about 10 inches across, but very unlikely to be circular!)

4 heaped tablespoons plain flour

large dash of salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

warmed up milk (add as necessary)

pepper (optional)

you can also add other herbs/spices/flavourings as desired, but these make great plain tortillas!

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add flour, salt, pepper and olive oil to a bowl and stir together with a spoon. gradually add the milk (i heated a little through in the microwave) and stir or whisk 'til you have a slightly sticky dough. turn it out onto a floured surface and knead, knead, knead for a few minutes - it should take the stickiness out of the dough! split the ball into smaller balls (one for each tortilla) and leave to rest in the fridge for about half an hour.

heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan.

flour up a rolling pin and a bench and roll out your tortilla - they should be as thin as possible, and you're trying to get them round (but mine were either square or wonky; no matter). you can also pick them up and let gravity do it's thing if they're thin enough! whack them in your pan for about a minute on each side (they should crisp up a bit and, well, look like tortillas!) then stick them on a plate. they can then either be filled or you can cover them in cling film and leave them in the fridge for a couple of days - great if you like to eat wraps instead of sandwiches!

**the website i got this from also included baking powder but i had none and didn't notice a difference!

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now you've got your tortillas, you can fill 'em. these are three fillings i've had in my tortillas over the last couple of days - 2 chicken-y numbers for tea (with homemade fries and spicy rice, respectively) and one for veggie lunch option.

chicken and humous - fills two tortillas (or one large one)

one small chicken breast, cut into strips & marinated

half a tomato, thinly sliced

1/2 a small white onion, sliced

1/3 red pepper, sliced

1/3 yellow pepper, sliced

a big dollop of humous

1 heaped tablespoon natural yoghurt

mint

for the marinade: olive oil, plus squirts and splashes of ketchup, honey, worcester sauce and fish sauce, and some chilli powder, basil, salt and pepper.

- slice your chicken and stick it in the marinade (i did this while my tortilla dough was resting), then put it in the fridge.

- the mint yoghurt is THE EASIEST THING EVER and is great. literally, sprinkle mint into some natural yoghurt. keep tasting it to get to the desired mint-y level and leave to one side...

- fry your chicken in a little olive oil for a minute, then add in the peppers and onions and continue frying until cooked through.

- spread humous on the tortilla - you should keep your fillings to the centre of the tortilla, leaving space at the bottom too! - then lay the sliced tomato on top. if you want to add salad (spinach is a great choice) put this on too, then top it off with your chicken-y mixture. dollop the mint yoghurt on top then fold the bottom up and the sides over each other! (i'm keeping mine together with skewers in the pic...)

chicken and avocado - fills two tortillas (or one large one)

one small chicken breast, cut into strips & marinated

half an avocado, sliced

dollop of cream cheese

relish:

half a tomato, roughly chopped

1/3 large red onion, sliced

2 small mushrooms, roughly chopped

chilli powder

large squirt of ketchup

a little worcester sauce

marinade:

tablespoon natural yoghurt

tablespoon lemon juice

teaspoon honey

big sprinkle of coriander

little sprinkle worcester sauce

pepper

salt

- as before, slice and marinade the chicken.

- for the relish, add the onion and tomato to a little olive oil in a pan and fry for a minute, then add the mushroom and fry for another minute. add the other relish ingredients and keep it simmering until the rest is ready.

- fry the chicken for a few minutes; until cooked through.

- spread the cream cheese as before. add the sliced avocado and the chicken on top of that, then place

the relish on top

and wrap. this was my favourite wrap of the three! the chicken marinade is wonderful.

(leftover relish goes into spicy rice, along with some peas. alternatively you can leave it in the fridge for another time!)

humous, tomato and avocado - fills one tortilla

one big dollop of humous

half a tomato, thinly sliced

1/4 avocado, thinly sliced

a little salad

this is simple - just layer up the ingredients, starting with the humous (i find wraps are best when they go like this: spreadable things/slices of things/chunks of things/sauces&relishes).

add some basil or pepper if you'd like!

this would probably be great with some cheese on top too!