Cat cake

Here's Millie's 5th birthday cake. As ever, it was Nigella's buttermilk birthday cake recipe - the perfect construction cake. I used a massive round cake tin (I think it's 30cm across), and a smaller, 7inch sandwich tin.

You'll need

250g butter
400g white sugar
6 eggs
150g yoghurt mixed with 250ml milk (or 400ml buttermilk)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
500g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees, and line your cake tin with greaseproof paper (bit fiddly, but worth it).

I did all this in the food processor, as it's a right pain if you have to beat the butter and sugar together by hand (an electric mixer would probably be even easier).

Sling in the butter and sugar, and pulse on a high speed until they are light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs (one at a time) on a lower speed, until everything's blended together.

Pour the yoghurt, milk and vanilla into a measuring jug, and mix well. In a bowl (or second jug), mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Add a couple of tablespoons of the flour mix to your egg/butter/sugar combo in the food processor, and blitz for 20s or so. Do the same with a couple of tablespoons of the yoghurt/milk/vanilla mix. Repeat ad nauseam until everything is combined. It's a bit of a faff, but does make for a light cake.

Pour into your cake tin, and then bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, until it's golden brown on top and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes or so in the tin, and then leave to cool, preferably overnight.

Next, assemble your cat. You'll need:

some ready roll white fondant icing (life's too short to make your own)
jam to slather over the cake, so the icing will stick
a little icing sugar, for rolling out the icing
chocolate fingers for whiskers (I tried to find black licorice laces, but couldn't get hold of any in time)
chocolate buttons for eyes
some chocolate icing for piping - I bought some ready-made stuff in a tube, so it was easy to draw on paws and stripes

First, cut your small cake to size, and save two triangles for the ears. Then, melt your jam in a saucepan (or microwave), and brush over the cakes' surfaces. Roll out the fondant icing (if you scatter icing sugar everywhere it shouldn't stick), and carefully cover the cakes and ears.

Add the decoration - stick the chocolate button eyes and chocolate finger whiskers on with the chocolate icing, and draw on some paws and a nose.

Decant into a tin, transport very carefully for 45 minutes in the car, and serve on a windy Northumberland beach.

Oaty date slices

These are brilliant for lunchboxes, and vanish faster than a particularly fast thing. I found the recipe in Olive's July issue, and tweaked it a little bit.

You'll need:

100g porridge oats
100g self-raising flour
100g butter
50 soft brown sugar
200g stoned dates, chopped
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Sling the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and fish out an 18-20cm square baking tin. Line it with greaseproof paper.

Mix the oats and flour together, and tip into a food processor. Add the butter, and pulse until it's all well mixed (you could rub this in by hand, but this is far quicker). Add the sugar, and pulse again until you get a crumbly mix - tip it out of the food processor and into a bowl.

Pour the lemon juice and chopped dates into the food processor (don't bother cleaning it out from the crumble mix, it'll be fine), and blitz until you get a thick, jam-like consistency. You might need to add a little extra water to make it easier to spread.

Press half the crumble mix into the bottom of your tin. Spread over the date jam. Top with the remaining crumble mix, and press down firmly.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until it's golden brown. Cut into small squares while it's in the tin, and then leave to cool (still in the tin). Once it's cold, you can lift the whole lot out using the greaseproof paper.

Chard and chorizo tart

The chard plants have gone rather mad on the allotment this year - here they are a month or so ago - they're now well over six feet tall.



So we've eaten lots of chard with a dash of lemon juice and olive oil, and it's been cunningly hidden in all sorts of vegetable sauces. But before outright rebellion began, I had the bright idea of combining it with chorizo...

You'll need:

a large bagful of chard leaves (you could also use spinach)
1 onion, finely chopped
lots of chorizo, sliced (I used about 10 slices for three of us)
2 eggs
a dash of milk
shortcrust pastry

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and find a quiche/flan tin or dish (preferably with a removable bottom).

Gently fry the onion in a little olive oil until it's translucent. Wash the chard, drain in a colander, and then tip into the onion pan. It'll gently wilt, and shrink to about a tenth of its former volume over a couple of minutes. Stir it occasionally to stop it sticking.

Line the flan dish with your shortcrust pastry, and then place the whole thing on a baking sheet. Tip the chard/onion mixture on top of the pastry, and then decorate roughly with the chorizo slices. Beat the two eggs together in a mixing jug, and add a splash of milk (or cream if you have it lying around the fridge). Tip into the pastry case, season with some ground black pepper, and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and the eggy mixture is set.


It goes very well with a tomato salad. Or more green leaves, if you've got an allotment glut...

Gooseberry icecream

We have finally found another recipe involving gooseberries that we all like. Hurrah! (Especially given that the gooseberry bush on the allotment is crawling with big fat berries this year).

If you didn't freeze this, it'd make a nice gooseberry fool (although you may want to tone down the sugar).

You'll need:

500g gooseberries, topped and tailed
150g caster sugar
a tablespoon of water
250ml greek yoghurt
250ml double cream

Sling the gooseberries in a non-stick saucepan with the sugar and water. Bring to the boil (really carefully so the sugar doesn't catch), and then simmer for 10 minutes or so until the gooseberries are pulpy.

Strain through a sieve - you'll have a beautiful green puree. In the meantime, whip the yoghurt and double cream together until it holds in soft peaks. Stir through the gooseberry puree, and then tip everything into an ice cream maker, or into a plastic box to go into the freezer.

If you're using an ice cream maker like mine, the tricky bit is remembering to put the bowl in the freezer the day before you need it so it's suitably cold. If you're using the good old-fashioned plastic box method, you'll need to take it out of the freezer every hour or two to give the ice cream a good whisk as it solidifies.

It's delicious with fresh raspberries or strawberries sprinkled on the top. You quite liked yours with hundreds and thousands (the colours aren't what they used to be though).

Oaty cherry biscuits

I was going to take a photo of these, but you and your Dad ate them so fast that there were none left. I think they've joined his list of favourite biscuits (although Anzac biscuits may still be top of the heap).

You'll need:

125g butter
25g caster sugar
50g light muscovado sugar
75g self-raising flour
112g porridge oats
100g glace cherries, chopped
25g raisins

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C. You'll need a baking tray, and a silicon sheet or some greaseproof paper - these will stick horribly otherwise.

Beat the butter and sugar (both kinds) together until they look fluffy. Stir in the flour and oats, and mix everything really well. Don't worry about the fact there's no liquid - it all comes together remarkably well (it's probably the appalling amount of butter involved).

Tip in the cherries and raisins, and stir until they're evenly spread throughout the mixture.

Divide the mix into lots of little balls (about as big as a ping-pong ball). Sling them on a tray (reasonably well spread out, as the mix does spread a little), and then flatten each ball with your fingers.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the biscuits have turned golden brown round the edges - you still want them a little squidgy in the centre.

Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, and then sling them on a wire rack to cool down properly. They go beautifully with a nice cup of coffee at about 10.30am.

Spinach and feta muffins

I adapted a Hugh Fearnley-Whernley recipe for these - and it turned out a treat.

Makes 12 enormous muffins, or lots and lots of fairy-cake sized ones. You'll need:

1 small onion, finely chopped
whatever spinach you have lurking at the bottom of the fridge, chopped
a little olive oil
half a pack or so of feta, cubed
250g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
a little salt (not a lot, as the feta's pretty salty)
2 eggs
80g butter, melted and cooled down a bit
200ml buttermilk (either use milk with a squeeze of lemon juice, or add 75g yoghurt to 125ml milk...)

Stick your oven on at about 200 degrees C, and line your muffin tin/cupcake tin with paper/silicon cases of your choice.

Fry the onion in a little olive oil, until it turns translucent. Add the chopped spinach, and stir for a couple of minutes until it's wilted. Take off the heat, and leave to cool.

Sling the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs/buttermilk/melted butter together in a jug - and then pour them into the flour mixture. Mix everything gently together. Carefully fold in the onion/spinach mixture, and then the feta cheese.

Spoon the muffin mixture into your cases, and then bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes (small fairy-cake size), or a 15-20 minutes (large muffin size) until golden.

Eat lots while hot. They'll keep for a while, but are loveliest warm.

Creamy chicken, thyme and leek

This goes really well with some plain rice, and maybe some steamed greens/broccoli.

You'll need:

3-4 chicken thighs, deboned and chopped into large chunks (it's also good with leftover cooked chicken)
1/2 small carton of cream (or whatever you've got left in the fridge)
a couple of large leeks
a clove of garlic, or a bulb of wet garlic, finely chopped
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or a sprinkle of the dried stuff)
lots of black pepper

Chuck the chicken into a frying pan, together with a slosh of olive oil, and brown the meat. Tip in the leeks and garlic, and fry until they have softened too.

Add the cream and a little water, sprinkle over the herbs, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (you may have to add a little more water to stop it sticking).

Feta and courgette frittata

Another one in the "ooh, look what I found in the fridge" series.

You'll need:

4-5 eggs, depending on how large they are
a little milk
a handful of sliced cooked potatoes
an onion, finely sliced
a couple of courgettes, chunkily sliced
half a packet of feta cheese, cut into chunks
some dried thyme
lots of black pepper
olive oil

You'll need a reasonably large, heavy-bottomed frying pan (it helps if you've got one without a plastic handle, so it can go under the grill at the end). Start off by frying the onion in a little olive oil until it's translucent. You'll then need to add a really good slurp of olive oil (probably a couple of tablespoons), and layer up the courgette/potato slices. Leave this to cook for 5 minutes or so.

Dot the pan with the chunks of feta cheese. Scatter some dried thyme over the top of everything, and give it a good dose of black pepper. Mix together the eggs with a little milk, and pour into your frying pan.

Turn the heat down low, and leave for 15-20 minutes, until most of the egg has set (I think I left mine for about half an hour - good if you like crispy potatoes on the bottom of the frittata). Turn on the grill, and sling the pan under it for another 5-10 minutes, until the top of your frittata is browned.

We ate this with just a green salad - it was surprisingly filling!

Norwegian pretzels

As you might have guessed, we made these for Eurovision, which was beamed live via satellite from Oslo. Sadly, Morten Harket didn't make an appearance and the UK was marooned at the bottom of the table. But the pretzels were good. Hurrah!

You'll need:

1 envelope of dried yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon black treacle
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 egg, beaten (or a little milk)
extra salt flakes

Stick your oven on at about 220 degrees C. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and add the black treacle and salt. Stir to create an unholy mess.

Tip in the flour, and mix to a dough. We had to add a little extra water, to get everything to stick together. Knead the dough really well, until it becomes elastic, then divide up into small pieces. Roll each of these out into thin snakes, and then twist into shapes (this was the bit you loved - you were surprisingly brilliant at making hearts).

Place on a baking sheet, and brush with the egg (or milk). Scatter some flakes of sea salt over the top of each.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes if you like them chewy - a little bit longer (maybe switch off the oven and leave them inside as it cools down?) if you want them crispy.

Minced chicken donburi

We've been trying out some recipes from the amazing Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking (by Harumi Kurihara), which I found in our local library. She seems to be a cross between the sainted Delia and Martha Stewart - but her recipes are a winner.

I adapted this donburi one somewhat - she suggests garnishing with mange tout, but we ate ours with some steamed broccoli.

Makes enough for 3. You'll need:

cooked rice (we had our usual mug-ful of rice, two mugs of water)
250g minced chicken (or turkey)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons mirin (we'd run out of this, and of sherry too - so it will be interesting to try it again with some)
3 boiled eggs, quartered

Fry the minced chicken/turkey, until it is browned. Add the soy sauce, sugar and mirin, and simmer until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.

Serve the mince on top of the hot cooked rice, topped with some boiled egg and steamed broccoli.

Harumi also suggests sweetened shiitake mushrooms as an additional topping - she simmers rehydrated shiitake mushrooms in a similar soy sauce/mirin/sugar mix (6 dried mushrooms to 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons mirin and 2 teaspoons caster sugar).

Tabbouleh

We ate this with some cold roast lamb, and pitta breads.

Makes enough for four greedy adults, as a side dish (would be lovely too with some sharp cheese, like feta).

You'll need:

125g bulgar wheat
2-3 large tomatoes, chopped
3 spring onions, chopped
lots of flatleaf parsley, chopped
a good handful of mint, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon)

Soak the bulgar wheat in hot water for 20 minutes or so, until it's softened. Drain, and run under the cold tap.

Chuck the bulgar wheat, tomatoes, spring onions, parsley and mint in a large bowl. Mix. Drizzle over the olive oil and lemon juice, and mix again. Season with salt and black pepper.

You can eat this straightaway, but I find it tastes nicer once it's been left for an hour or so, so the flavours have had a chance to mingle.

Fried rice cakes with leeks and poached egg

We're in a post-Paris slump at the moment, trying to forget how gorgeous the croissants were, and how hot and sunny it was.

This revived our spirits no end. You'll need:

enough cooked rice for 2 (we use a mugful of dried rice, and 2 mugfuls of water)
1/2 teaspoon of saffron powder
50-60g grated cheese (mature cheddar is good, feta or parmesan would also be nice)
a couple of leeks, sliced
250ml stock
50ml cream
a pinch of dried tarragon
3 eggs

Dissolve the saffron powder in a tablespoon of water, then mix into the cooked rice. Add the cheese, some salt and some black pepper. Bind all this together with 1 of the eggs.

Meanwhile, fry the leeks in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes. Add the stock, cream, tarragon and more black pepper, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the leeks are soft, and the sauce has reduced.

Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick pan, and sling in a couple of good spoonfuls of rice - flatten it down with a spatula. It should be about 1cm thick, and maybe about 5-7cm across (it really depends on the size of the spatula/fish slice you're using to move it around in the pan!). Fry for at least 5 minutes on each side, so the rice goes crispy and lightly browned.

Transfer to a warm place, while you cook the other cakes. Top with the leeks and sauce, and a poached egg (crack an egg into a pan of boiling water, and leave to cook for about 1 1/2 minutes - or until the egg white has stopped being wobbly!). A fried egg would also be good - as would some chorizo.

Roast Jerusalem artichokes

We had some of these in the veg box last week, and they've been lurking in the fridge ever since. Stuck for what to do, I turned to the trusty Nigel Slater, and his book about vegetables, Tender.

You'll need 3-4 Jerusalem artichokes per person, if you're having them as a side dish. Beware their side-effects!

Stick your oven on at about 180 degrees C or hotter (often it depends what else you're cooking in there).

Wash the artichokes, and slice them lengthways. Sling a knob of butter and a good slug of olive oil in your roasting tin, and put it into the oven to heat up. After 5 minutes or so, bring the tin out, and place the artichokes face down in the butter/oil. Chuck in a couple of cloves of garlic for each person, still in their skins.

Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the bottoms are crispy. Squeeze a little lemon over the top, and add lots of salt and black pepper.

Cakey flapjacks

Don't get me wrong - they're still pretty solid - but these are slightly more cakey than your average flapjack.

Makes lots (at least 16). You'll need:

175g light brown sugar
150g butter
3 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
200g plain flour
200g oats
a good handful of raisins

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and line a tray/dish with greaseproof paper. The size of the dish will depend on how deep you want your flapjack to be - you could even do this on a baking tray.

Sling the butter, sugar, golden syrup and bicarb in a saucepan, and put on a low heat. They'll melt and look an unholy mess - give it a good stir, and don't worry about it. Add the flour, oats and raisins, and stir until well mixed.

Tip into your dish/tray, level it all out, and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until it's turned golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin - but do remember to divide it into slices, as it's pretty solid once it's cooled down.

Baked dippy eggs

This has to be the easiest thing to make for lunch ever. It even beats boiled eggs.

Makes enough for 3. You'll need:

3 small ramekin dishes
3 eggs
a couple of slices of parma ham, torn into small pieces
a handful of spinach leaves
a little grated cheese (something strong like mature cheddar or parmesan would be good)

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and butter the ramekin dishes.

Sling a few pieces of parma ham and some spinach leaves into each ramekin. Crack an egg into each, and sprinkle a little grated cheese on top.

Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes until the egg white is solid, but the yolk is still runny. Keep checking on it!

Aubergine curry

Curry seems to be going down well at the moment - you ate this with a little rice and some cumin potatoes, and liked all three.

Makes enough for 4, as one of a couple of main course dishes. It'd also be nice with some chickpeas thrown in.

You'll need:

1 onion, finely sliced
1 medium aubergine, cut into chunks
1 green pepper, cut into large(ish) pieces
whatever veg you have left in the fridge that you need to use up (we had a small piece of butternut squash that got chucked in)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon medium curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
(you could also add some chilli powder, if you're making this for non-small people, or indeed for small people who like spice)
sunflower oil
1 tin of chopped tomatoes

Fry the onion in a little sunflower oil until it turns translucent. Add the pepper and aubergine chunks, and fry until they have softened (you may need to add some more oil - the aubergine will absorb a lot). Chuck in all the spices, and fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the chopped butternut squash (or whatever other veg you want to use up), and the tin of chopped tomatoes. Rinse the tin out with some water, and add this in too. Bring everything to the boil, and then simmer for 20-30 minutes, or as long as you've got.

Cumin potatoes

We made these to go with the aubergine curry - they're very fragrant, and not too spicy.

You'll need:

500g potatoes (ish)
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
a squeeze of lime juice
2-3 tablespoons sunflower oil

Peel, cube and boil the potatoes until they are tender. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, and stir fry the mustard seeds and cumin seeds for a minute. Add the rest of the spices, and fry for another 1-2 minutes.

Add the potatoes, and fry for 5 or so minutes, until the outside of them has gone crispy. Squeeze over a little lime juice, and serve (they'd be nice with a little chopped fresh coriander on top).

It would also make a great way to roast the potatoes - once you've got the oil and spices ready, chuck the potatoes in a roasting tin, sling the oil/spices over them, and toss to mix. Roast in a hot oven (220 degrees C or hotter) for 15-20 minutes (they're only in small cubes, remember), until they've gone crispy.

Chocolate tart

With optional Easter chicks. 'Scuse the bad photo, but it was taken after a couple of glasses of fizz, and the phone was wobbling slightly.

You made this for your chocaholic Grandma for Easter Sunday lunch - we took it with us as a surprise. She wasn't allowed to look at it until all the chicks had been carefully placed on top.

It's based on a lovely Rachel Allen recipe from her Bake collection, and serves...well, that all depends on how greedy you are. We comfortably got 12 portions from it.

You'll need:

shortcrust pastry (8oz flour usually gives enough to line a 20cm flan dish, plus a little left over for 4 or 5 jam tarts)

125g milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces
175g dark chocolate (ditto)
2 eggs (beaten)
175ml double cream
125ml milk

Stick your oven on at about 180 degrees C, and grease your flan dish. Line with shortcrust pastry, prick the bottom with a fork, and then weight down a sheet of greaseproof paper with some baking beads or lentils/rice etc. Bake the pastry shell in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until it's turned golden brown.

In the meantime, mix together the cream and milk in a saucepan, and bring to boiling point. Quickly take it off the heat, and tip in the small pieces of chocolate (taking care to test a few on the way). Stir until they have dissolved, and you have a glorious creamy, glossy, chocolate-y sauce.

Leave to cool slightly, then carefully mix in the eggs. Pour the mixture into the pastry shell, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes - you want it to just softly set. If you leave it to cool in the tin, it'll be much easier to extract.

Bento

You haven't been feeling great this week, so I made you a bento box for tea - spinach and cucumber salad, some steamed rice with peanuts, a little poached salmon, and a few slices of banana. And a little lake of soy sauce for dipping in the centre, of course.

Smoked salmon and courgette quiche

This was one that your Dad and me loved, but which you wouldn't touch with a bargepole. Funny - you love slices of bread topped with smoked salmon.


Makes enough for 4. You'll need:

1 large courgette, chopped into smallish chunks
a small packet of smoked salmon, torn into small pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
shortcrust pastry (made with about 8oz flour)
2 eggs
1/2 pt full cream milk
a little olive oil
a sprinkle of thyme (dill would be lovely if you have some), and lashings of black pepper

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and fish out (a) one of those flan dishes with a removable bottom and (b) a baking tray to stand it on. Grease the flan dish, or line with some greaseproof paper.

Roll out your shortcrust pastry, and line the flan dish. Mine's about 20cm across, I think, and this amount of pastry is more than enough to line the dish and have a little left for 3 or 4 jam tarts.

Fry the onions in a little olive oil, until they turn translucent. Add the chopped courgette, and cook until it's softened (but not too much, or you'll have a soggy mess on your hands).

Tip the courgette/onion into your flan dish, and spread them about artistically. Add the smoked salmon pieces, and season with some thyme and lots of black pepper.

Lightly beat the eggs with the milk, and pour (carefully) into the pastry shell. Make sure it's on the baking tray before you start - there's nothing worse than wobbling across the kitchen with it.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is set. Eat while still warm, with a green salad.

Butternut squash, spinach and blue cheese tart

This was inspired by the vast quantities of butternut squash in the veg box last week.

Makes enough for 4. You'll need:

a medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
a good slug of olive oil
lots of spinach (about 1/3 of a bag, or whatever frozen stuff you can drag out)
a good hunk of blue cheese (ours was miscellaneous Sainsbury's value 'blue cheese', but stilton would be good, and roquefort or gorganzola pretty special)
one onion, finely sliced
a clove of garlic, minced
shortcrust pastry (enough for an A4-sized baking tray - 8oz flour should do the trick)

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C. Tip your cubed squash into an ovenproof dish, and slosh some olive oil over the top. Shake the cubes about until they're coated, then roast in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until the squash is soft.

In the meantime, fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until its turned translucent. Add the spinach, and heat in the pan for a couple of minutes until its wilted.

Grease your baking tray, and roll out the shortcrust pastry. Line the tray with the pastry, and then tip the onion/spinach mixture on top. Scatter over your roasted squash, and some cubes of blue cheese. It should now look a little like this:


Season with some salt and black pepper. Turn the oven down to about 180 degrees C, and bake the tart for about 20-25 minutes. It's ready when the pasty is crisp and golden brown, and the cheese has melted.

We ate ours with lashings of black pepper and a nice green salad:

Carrot cake

I pinched this recipe from Rachel Allen's excellent book, Bake. It's one of the best carrot cakes we've made - really light and fluffy, and dead easy to make. It was very popular...as you can tell by the small amount I was able to photograph.

You'll need:

300g grated carrot
100g raisins
200g soft brown sugar
180g self-raising flour
140ml sunflower oil
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

Stick the oven on at about 150 degrees C, and find a deep baking tray or a loaf tin (I lined mine with greaseproof paper).

Sling the eggs in a large bowl, beat and then chuck in the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot and raisins. It will look like a disgusting mess, but bear with me. Pour in all the dry ingredients (you should probably sift the flour, but life's too short) and mix everything together.

Tip the mixture into your baking tray/tin, and bake in the oven for about an hour (you may need to add another 15 minutes or so - you'll be able to tell it's done when a skewer pushed into the middle of the cake comes out nice and clean).

Cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes or so, then carefully transfer to a wire rack. You could faff about with icing this (an orange glace icing would be nice, or traditional cream cheese frosting), but it tastes wonderful on its own with a nice cup of tea.

Hot cross buns

We cheated a little with this recipe, in that the bread machine made the dough. These are fantastic when just out of the oven, or toasted then spread with a little butter and gooseberry jam.

Makes 8. You'll need:

1/2 teaspoon fast action yeast
250g strong white flour
1 teaspoon sugar
25g butter
1 tablespoon milk powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
100ml water
100g raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

Sling all the ingredients in the bread machine. I then stuck mine on the bread dough program, which took a couple of hours, and does the first part of the proving process.

Once your dough is made, divide it into 8 balls, and place on a baking tray (either lightly greased or covered with a silicon sheet). Cover with a tea towel, and allow to prove in a warm place until they've doubled in size (this will probably take about an hour).

Don't forget to stick your oven on at some point during the hour - about 220 degrees C should do it.

Make a paste from a couple of tablespoons of flour and a couple of tablespoons of water. Use this to pipe or drizzle a cross over the tops of the buns. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden brown.

Szechuan pork

We ate this with some steamed rice and pak choi. There wasn't a lot left.

You'll need:

3 pork loin steaks/boneless chops
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 clove of garlic, squished
a little sunflower oil

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C.

Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and garlic (you could also add some dried chillies) in a bowl. Dunk the pork in the marinade, and leave for half an hour or so (the longer the better).

Decant the pork and marinade into an ovenproof dish, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pork is browned and any fat has become crispy. You can either leave whole, or slice thinly.

Pasta with anchovies, broccoli and stilton

I know this isn't too dissimilar to the orecchiette with anchovies and broccoli that I posted last July (was it really that long ago?). You can blame Nigel Slater for that - I have a sneaking suspicion both recipes were inspired by his latest book, Tender.

Makes enough for three. You'll need:

1 medium-sized head of broccoli (this would be even nicer with purple sprouting)
a 150ml or so of creme fraiche
4 anchovy fillets
1 onion, sliced
enough pasta for three (that's about 6-7 handfuls in our house)
a slosh of olive oil
a chunk of stilton, crumbled

Sling the pasta in a pan of boiling water, and cook until al dente. In the meantime, chop the broccoli into small florets, and steam for 3-4 minutes.

In a frying pan, gently cook the onion in the olive oil, until it turns translucent. Add the anchovy fillets, and stir to break them up (they'll almost dissolve in the oil). Add the creme fraiche, and simmer for few minutes. Sling in the stilton (dolcelatte would be even better here, I suspect), and let it melt - if the sauce becomes a little thick, then dilute with a little hot water.

Tip in the broccoli and the drained pasta, and toss everything together. Season with lots of black pepper.

Teriyaki chicken

You've decided that this is your favourite chicken dish ever. I predict we'll be eating it again...

Makes enough for three. You'll need:

6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (chopped into chunks)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
2/3 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Sling the soy sauce, rice wine and dark brown sugar into a small saucepan, and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Tip over the chicken, and leave to marinade (for half an hour or so - depends on how hungry you are).

Turn your grill up high, and leave to get hot. Tip the chicken pieces (and the rest of the marinade) into an ovenproof dish (I lined mine with foil in a bid to make it easier to clean afterwards, but the chicken just stuck to the foil, which then stuck to the dish...) and put under the grill. Turn after 5 minutes or so - and then leave for another 5 minutes. Your chicken is ready once it's glazed and browned (and no longer pink in the middle). You can make it even more fancy by sprinkling with a few sesame seeds...

We ate ours with some noodles cooked with ginger, garlic, red pepper and onion, but it would also go well with steamed rice.

Ginger cheesecake

The perfect pudding for Valentine's Day. You hated the ginger, but decided that cheesecake in general was rather nice.

I can't claim credit for the recipe - I pinched it from a little booklet that came with Olive.

Makes enough for 8 greedy people. You'll need

10-15 ginger biscuits, smashed to pieces
25g melted butter
600g cream cheese (I used Quark, which is virtually fat-free)
1 tablespoon flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g caster sugar
284ml soured cream
100g crystallised ginger, finely chopped (you could also use the stem ginger in syrup, I guess, as long as you drained it really really well)

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C. You'll need a 20cm tin - preferably one of those springform ones, where the sides come apart. Grease it well.

Mangle the biscuits with a rolling pin, until they look like breadcrumbs. Mix with the melted butter, press into the base of the tin, and bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Sling the cream cheese in a mixing bowl, and add the flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and half the soured cream. Beat everything together until it's smooth - you loved this bit.

Chuck in the chopped crystallised ginger, and stir. Pour everything into the tin, and smooth it out carefully. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes - take the cheesecake out near the end, and give it a little shake. If it's still wobbly in the centre, bung it back in for another 5 minutes.

Once you're happy with it, pour over the rest of the soured cream, and stick back in the oven for 5 minutes. Bring it out, and then leave to cool in the tin.

You might want to sprinkle a little icing sugar over the top, if you're being truly decadent. But otherwise just dig in.

Kipper flan

I suppose this is really kipper quiche, but that just sounds too odd. I found this recipe in Delia's Frugal Food - and as I had a couple of kippers hanging about in the freezer, thought we'd try it out. It's nice hot (the kipper bones must be more flexible), but a bit on the bony side when cold.

It's definitely one of those recipes that you wouldn't necessarily go out and buy the ingredients specially to make, but is worth a go.

Makes enough for 4. You'll need:

250g kipper fillets
shortcrust pastry - enough for a 20cm diameter tin (about 8oz flour usually does the trick)
a little lemon juice
2 large eggs (I used 3 small ones)
about 250ml milk
1/4 teaspoon Colman's powdered mustard
salt and pepper

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and fish out a flan dish (the ones with the removable bottoms are the best).

First of all, grill your kippers for a couple of minutes on each side - sling them on a rack under your grill as they are. In the meantime, line the flan dish with your pastry.

If you've got lots of time, you could bake the pastry case blind - prick the pastry all over with a fork, place some greaseproof paper over the top, and weigh it down with baking beans or rice. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so. If you haven't got time for all that malarkey, you can miss it out - you'll have a slighly soggier bottom to the flan, but it'll still be extremely edible.

Skin the kippers, and try to extract as many of the irritating little bones as possible. Flake, and tip onto your pastry base. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.

Beat together your milk, eggs and mustard, and pour into the flan. Season with lots of black pepper.

Place the flan dish on a baking sheet (in case of escaping mixture - it's a right pain to get off the bottom of your oven), and sling in the oven for 30-40 minutes. The filling should be golden brown, and puffed up.

Eat warm, with a green salad.

Wheat tortillas

Or wrappers, as they're known in our house. Perfect when there's no bread left, and you've forgotten to stick the bread machine on.

Makes 6. You'll need

5 1/2 oz plain flour
1 oz butter or lard, cut into cubes
90ml warm water (ish)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sling the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter. Add the water, and bring together to form a soft (but not sticky) dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough turns silky smooth. You really loved this bit, and the dough got pretty well pummelled out of existence.

Leave to rest for half an hour or so - stick it back in the floury bowl, and cover it with a teatowel.

Divide into 6 pieces, and roll out as thin as possible - ours came to about 8in across. Heat a cast iron or heavy-bottomed frying pan, and brush with a little sunflower oil, so the tortillas don't stick.

Put your rolled out piece of dough into the pan, and leave until bubbles appear on the surface (about a minute, if that). Flip over, and cook for another minute or so - once you've got some brown spots on the bottom, you're definitely done.

We ate ours with cream cheese and Branston pickle. Not very Mexican, I know.

Carrot and marmalade muffins

(a) It was a good way of using up the old scraps of marmalade before diving into our new, homemade pots. (b) You picked the recipe, out of the old Women's Weekly muffins book.

Makes 12 enormous muffins, plus about 6 small fairy-cake sized ones. You'll need:

3 medium carrots, grated
385g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
100g brown sugar
55g raisins or sultanas
150g marmalade, warmed up a little so it's runny
100g butter, melted
125ml milk
2 eggs

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C.

Sling the flour, bicarb, sugar, raisins, carrots and marmalade in a bowl. Stir well, to create an unholy mess. You loved this bit.

Beat together the butter, milk and eggs in a mixing jug. Pour into the muffin mix, and combine everything together. It'll still look horrendous.

Spoon the mix into your muffin tins/cake cases, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Obviously, if you're making fairy-cake sized ones, they'll bake faster than large muffins.

Cool on a wire rack.

They're delicious warm - especially for breakfast with a little yoghurt.

Seville orange marmalade

This is one of my favourite things to make – it makes the whole house smell beautiful. It’s a fiddle (harder work than jam, that’s for sure), but *so* worth it.

Makes 4 standard marmalade-sized jars (454g each), which you’ll need to sterilise by washing in warm soapy water, and then placing in an oven on a low heat. You’ll need:

1kg oranges (I had 8)
1kg sugar
1 lemon

Wash the oranges, and then place in 2 litres of water in a large pan. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 2 hours. Leave to cool.

Slice open each orange, and scoop out the flesh inside (try and hang onto as much of the juice as possible). You’ll also need to keep the pips.

You’ll need to slice the orange skin into whatever floats your boat marmalade-wise. You tend to like long thin strips, but I have been known to make it fairly chunky. Sling the sliced skin and any juice in a bowl, and put on one side.

Meanwhile, tip all the pips in the remaining water, and boil for 20 minutes. Strain to get the pips out. Chuck the skin/juice back in, and add the sugar. I also added another litre of water at this point, as I didn’t have much left in the pan. Gently let the sugar dissolve on a low heat.

You then need to stick a plate in the fridge. Bring the marmalade to the boil, and then continue to boil for at least 10-15 minutes. You’ll know when the marmalade is ready – take your cold plate and dollop a little mixture onto it – if you can push the mixture with your finger and the surface wrinkles, it’s done. It might take a while for the marmalade to be ready – mine took 45 minutes (I tested at 10 minute intervals).

Quickly divide up the marmalade into the jars, and put the lids on tightly.

It’s perfect on toast, but you are also quite keen on marmalade flapjack and carrot and marmalade muffins.

Fish pie

We ate this on a cold February day, after zooming to the library to read about pirates, princesses and bears. I made you your own little pie, which you thought was fabulous.

This is great for using up any odds and ends of fish or prawns you’ve got lurking in the back of the freezer. To make enough for 4, you’ll need:

250g (ish) puff pastry (life’s too short to make this stuff)
chunks of fish – we had some cod offcuts from a previous meal, but any firm white fish or salmon would do
prawns – again, we had a mix of shell on prawns (which I de-shelled), and some of those tiny little cheapie frozen ones
1 onion, finely chopped
a couple of tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon butter
milk – I must have used at least half a pint
a small pile of grated cheese – say 50g

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C. You’ll need to find a pie dish of some description – you could use lots of small ones (ramekins are perfect for small people), or a big pyrex or enamel job.

Fry the onions in a little olive oil until they’ve softened, and then tip them into your pie dish.

Next, you’ll need to poach your fish. Place it in a pan, and cover with milk. Bring to the boil, and then quickly turn down to a simmer. Depending on how large your pieces of fish are (in particular how thick), it’ll take from 4-8 minutes to poach them.

Fish the pieces out of the milk with a slotted spoon, and place on a plate. Flake, and check carefully for bones. Sling your small chunks of fish in the pie dish too, and add the prawns (assuming they’ve been defrosted thoroughly if you’ve retrieved them from the freezer!).

You now need to make a white sauce, to go over the fish and onions. Take the warm milk you used to poach the fish, and melt the butter in it. Add the flour, and whisk until it starts to thicken (keep simmering the milk, and don’t let boil). Add the grated cheese, salt and black pepper, and whisk until smooth.

Pour the white sauce over the fish. Roll out the pastry to the size of your dish, and place over the top of the fish mixture – you’ll need to make a couple of slits to let the steam out. Place the dish on a baking tray (in case of spills), and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed up and golden.

It’s delicious with some steamed broccoli – and of, course, you’ve got to have peas…

Pork and olive stew

This is perfect with some basmati rice, and some greens on the side. It vanished fairly quickly, but that’s because you have an ongoing love affair with olives – and have had since you were about six months old.

You’ll need:

400g pork shoulder (or something that will do well when stewed for a very long time), cut into chunks
half a jar of black olives
a tin of chopped tomatoes
1 onion, finely sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
a splosh of olive oil
1 tsp paprika
thyme, black pepper, a little salt

First of all, stick the oven on low – maybe 160 degrees C, and fish out a good, ovenproof casserole dish. We’re still using the old one your Dad went to college with.

Brown the pieces of pork in a little olive oil in a frying pan, and then tip into your casserole dish (I used some of the oil the olives were packed in). Fry the onions in the same pan until they turn translucent, and then add the red pepper. Cook for another couple of minutes until it too has softened. Chuck in the tin of chopped tomatoes, a good sprinkling of thyme, the paprika and lots of black pepper – and then bring to the boil. Tip this into the casserole dish with the pork.

Put the lid on (or cover with foil), and then sling the casserole dish in the oven for a couple of hours. Keep an eye on it – you may want to add a little more water near the end to stop it sticking. It’s ready when the pork falls apart – but it’ll keep in the oven for as long as you need it to (as long as you add enough water).

Treacle tart

I wanted to find the original recipe that Uncle Dom used to make - but Grandma thought she'd thrown out the book with it in. Nigel Slater's recipe was a good substitute (although I've tweaked it slightly to make it more lemony).

Makes enough for 6-8. You'll need:

1 lemon
200g fresh white breadcrumbs
1 small tin (454g) golden syrup (I know - the whole tin!)
180g self-raising flour
90g butter, cut into small cubes
a little cold water

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and dig out a pie/flan dish (about 20 cm across) - you'll need to grease it, or line with greaseproof paper.

In a food processor, whizz together the flour and butter, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add a little cold water (2-3 tablespoons), and let it form small pellets in the processor. Tip into a large bowl, and bring together gently into one large blob. Cover with cling film, and leave in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Once the pastry's rested, roll it out, and line your flan dish. Prick with a fork, then stick a sheet of greaseproof paper on top, and use some baking beans (ceramic or just dried beans) to weight it down. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden.

In the meantime, mix together the breadcrumbs and golden syrup. Zest and juice the lemon, and sling that in there too. Tip this mixture into the pastry case, and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or so.

Serve with ice cream. In very small portions.

Moules mariniere

Last time we were in France with Grandma and Grandad you decided you really liked these - especially the way you can use a mussel shell as a pincer to grab the mussel bodies out of their shells. Grandma was a little surprised at how quickly her pile of mussels disappeared...

We decided to have a bistro meal for tea - a green salad with dressing, followed by the moules (with a crusty baguette), and then a silly ice cream/fruit/chocolate sauce/hundreds and thousands pudding.

You'll need:

a net of fresh mussels - about a kilogram
about half a bottle of nice white wine (ours was Italian)
a couple of good knobs of butter
a medium onion, finely chopped
a good bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

First of all, you'll need to clean the mussels, and check for any that are dead - if they're open, and their shells don't close when you tap them, chuck them out. Take the beards off the others (this really tickled you), and give them a good scrub.

Sling the onion in a large saucepan, and fry gently in a little butter for 5 minutes or so, until it goes soft. Add half a bottle or so of white wine, and then bring to the boil. Chuck in the mussels, and put a lid on tight. You'll need to steam them for 5 minutes or so - a couple of minutes before the end, throw in another good knob of butter, and the parsley, give it a good stir, and stick the lid back on.

You'll know when they're ready - the shells are open, and the mussels themselves are hot, but not rubbery in texture.

Decant into some bowls, and spoon the liquid over the top. Remember to chuck out any mussels that haven't opened...

Celeriac soup

This received an enthusiastic welcome - you said it was even better than lentil and carrot, your current favourite. It's dead easy to make, once you've got past the peeling of the celeriac (always a bit of a pain).

Makes enough for 3. You'll need:

1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
vegetable or chicken stock
1 medium celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
salt and black pepper
a drizzle of olive oil

First of all, fry the onion in a little olive oil until it turns translucent. Add the celeriac, and then the stock (I must have put in a pint or so - you need enough to cover all the celeriac, and then it really depends how thick you like your soup after that).

Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the celeriac is tender. Blitz everything with a handblender (or shove in the food processor) - you should get a beautifully smooth, silky soup. Add salt and pepper to taste, and dilute with water/milk/cream if it's too thick.

Eat with lots of crusty bread. Your dad decided he quite liked his with a drizzle of olive oil on top.

Fish, spinach and rice parcel

This is a bit like the koulibiac recipe I've done before - except with a bit more veg. The parcel sounds rather sinister, but is actually made with puff pastry. Hurrah!

You'll need:

trout - a couple of fillets
200g (ish) cooked rice
1/3 bag of fresh spinach, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested
salt and black pepper
250g block puff pastry

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C, and get out a large baking tray.

First of all, fry your onion in a little olive oil until it turns translucent. Chuck into a large bowl, and mix in the cooked rice. Add the spinach, and mix until everything has turned green.

Cover the trout with cold water, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes or so until the fish is poached, and has turned pink throughout. Remove from the water, flake and add to the spinach/rice mix. Season everything with the lemon zest, and a good screw of salt and black pepper.

Roll out your puff pastry into a long rectangle, and then put carefully on your lined/greased oven tray. Place the fish/rice/spinach mix in a line down the middle of the pastry. It'll be quite a big, fat line - carefully ease the pastry up on both sides, and pinch together at the top (if it doesn't stick, use a little water to wet it).

Sling the whole parcel/roll into the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes. It's really nice with a green salad, and a wedge or two of lemon.

Soda bread

This is really nice just out of the oven - and goes especially well with soup on a snowy day after lots of sledging.

You'll need:

450g plain flour (not strong)
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
350ml buttermilk (I used full cream milk, with a squeeze of lemon)

Stick the oven on at about 220 degrees C.

Sling the flour/salt/sugar/soda in a large bowl and mix. Make a well in the middle, and pour in the buttermilk. Bring the dough together (it should be soft, but not too sticky), and tip out onto a floured worktop. Don't overmix it or knead it - just shape it gently into a round, about 4cm deep. Cut a cross in the top to let out the fairies (you loved this bit), and place on a baking tray.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees C, and bake for another 20-30 minutes. It's ready when it's turned golden brown - to check, tap the base, and if it sounds hollow, you're good to go.

Cool slightly, then slice and slather in butter.

Egg and bacon pie

Perfect snow food.

You'll need:

6 rashers of bacon (we like streaky)
4 eggs
1 onion, finely chopped
140ml milk
salt and pepper

shortcrust pastry

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C, and fish out a deep pie tin/dish, about 18cm across.

Hardboil 3 of your 4 eggs - sling them in a pan with some cold water, bring it to the boil and then simmer the eggs for 7-8 minutes. Run under some cold water, then peel and chop.

Fry/grill the bacon rashers until they are crispy. Take them out of the pan, and place on some kitchen roll, to absorb any grease. Chop the rashers into small pieces.

You could use a splash of olive oil to fry the onion, or you could just throw caution to the wind and chuck it into the remaining bacon fat, and frying until translucent.

Grease your pie dish, and line with half the pastry. Chuck in the chopped egg and bacon pieces, together with the onion. Beat egg 4 with the milk, and pour over the lot.

Using the second half of the pastry, roll out a lid, and place on top (you might need to dampen the edges a little, to make them seal). Make a small hole in the centre of the pie to let the steam out, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 180 degrees C, and give it another 25-30 minutes, until the top has turned golden brown.

Eat hot with lots of steamed greens, or cold with a green salad.