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It seems like a little while since I posted about the food adventures part of our new years resolution; remember, the part where we have to try out at least one new recipe a week? Well, technically we have been trying new recipes because the bread and cakes I have been baking have been totally new to us. However I don't want to lose track of the savoury side of things. Although there is a bit of a sweet tooth in Our Lovely Flat (tm) we also eat tonnes of vegetables. It's kind of hard not to being vegetarians who love food.
So this week, the arrival of our Abel and Cole box prompted me to get adventurous. It had some lovely fresh broccoli and parsnips in it and not wanting to risk losing their freshness (I somehow always manage to forget about parsnips and discover them days later slightly wrinkled and squidgy) I decided to have an evening of experimentation.
The first thing I did was raid my recipe scrap book looking for the Apple and Parsnip soup recipe I had cut out of the Observer months ago. Alas I can't remember which chef recommended it, but I thought I'd have a bash anyway. I thought I would make it straight away to catch the freshness of the veg and then freeze it so on a future occasion when neither of us fancied cooking we would have tasty healthy "fast" food.
I had to adapt the recipe as I didn't quite have enough parsnip, but I figured with it only being the two of us it wouldn't matter too much. It smelt nice, and hopefully it will taste nice too. Updates to follow as and when.
I then set about making dinner for that evening (Wednesday). I wanted something simple but healthy and very tasty. I decided to make a pasta dish with the broccoli. The photo doesn't really do it justice as it was a real success, very simple to make and so tasty it didn't even feel righteous! It was totally of my own invention, and I was very pleased to see N grin while munching it. I've called it "pesto broccoli" because essentially that's what it is!
And now for the recipes:
Apple and Parsnip soup (adapted from an Observer Food Monthly recipe - I've just transcribed it as I made it)
2 large parsnips sliced (they were pretty large I have to say!)
1 large onion sliced
2 small apples sliced (the recipe said peel them, I didn't bother as we use organic and I think the peel adds flavour)
1 1/2 pints vegetable stock (I forgot to use the frozen stock I'd made, I must remember next time)
1 bay leaf
small handful of fresh thyme
freshly ground black pepper
knob of butter
Melt the butter in a large pan. Once melted saute the onions until soft but not golden, add the parsnips and cook until slightly tender. Add the bay leaf and thyme and cook for a few minutes. Then add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until the parsnips are tender. Remove from the heat and add the apple, stir well and then when slightly cooled place the place in a blender, removing as much of the liquid as possible and whizz until smooth, slowly adding the liquid to get the consistency you prefer. Replace on the heat briefly, but do not boil, before serving.
Pesto broccoli pasta
1 1/2 heads of broccoli (basically enough for two people)
two spoons of pesto (I used it from the jar, but will use fresh as soon as our basil grows!)
two spoons of cream cheese
freshly ground black pepper
NB I didn't really measure the cheese and pesto, I just used a normal spoon from the cutlery draw.
Steam the broccoli until slightly tender, maintaining the lovely colour and crunch. Once it is ready shake off the excess water and in another pan over a low heat mixed together the cream cheese, pesto and pepper until it was slightly melted and well combined, then add the broccoli and stir until well coated. Serve immediately with pasta of your choosing.
Enjoy, we certainly did!
The apple blossom clematis has begun to flower and the seeds we planted a few weeks ago have begun to grow; could Spring finally be here? Hurrah!
(...admiring this lovely retro bike and its amazing wicker basket. I think something like this would go very well with my red shoes, don't you?!)
We spent our lazy Sunday yesterday pursuing one of our favourite pastimes: buying books. There is something so wonderful about browsing in book shops, and I must admit that N and I do it very well indeed. So well in fact that seven hours can slip by with us barely noticing. Opps!
We returned to the flat very smug indeed with a bag full of lovely purchases, and the smell of secondhand bookshops lingering on our clothing. However, there was no incentive to cook (too many books to look at) and certainly no incentive to bake bread. We ordered a curry and settled down with the taped match in front of us and our newly acquired books littering our laps and sofa.
It was past half eight when we finished eating and I was so tempted to give in and just get some emergency store bought bread out of the freezer (we have three loaves in there from pre-baking resolutions which are agreed to be emergency loaves). But something in me just wouldn't give in. I knew we'd be going to bed late-ish and figured that bread would take a maximum of three hours with resting, proving and baking. So, with N ploughing through one of his new books and yelling match highlights at me down the flat I quickly threw ingredients into a bowl. Using the wonderful pecan and cranberry recipe (mentioned earlier somewhere in my bread making posts), as a guide I made a wholemeal nut and seed loaf using half pecans, half walnuts and a large handful of pumpkin seeds.
Since I know the proportions of flour, water, salt and yeast by heart now all I had to do was work out how much of the nuts and seeds to use (70g nuts, 30g seeds). I then left it to rest and prove as the recipe recommended and baked it for 40mins. By 11.45pm we had a lovely crusty new loaf ready for the morning and the smell of fresh bread to waft through the flat as we lay reading in bed.
It was great, and proves that a little dedication to the cause is always worth it. Books and bread, numbers two and three on my favourite things list.
Another successful lazy Sunday.
Whilst pondering what we should have as this months Baking Day treat N wondered out loud as to whether I could make scones and suggested we make it afternoon tea. It was as if he took the thought right out of my head. The weather has been more and more Spring-like and I have been seeing scones cropping all over blogs in the past few weeks which has put them in my mind several times.
So I got on the phone to the Domestic Goddess Hotline (Mum) and picked her brains for the amazing scones recipe that frequented my childhood. I was chuffed to discover it came from her Mum, my Nanna, who I know would have been really pleased to hear about my new-found love of cooking, baking and all round Domestic Goddessry.
Cream and jam were added to our shopping list, and N returned home from work yesterday brandishing two punnets of simply sumptuous looking strawberries (okay, not quite in season, but sometimes it just has to be done).
Then this afternoon, with cupcakes cooling and the first pangs of hunger after breakfast showing themselves, I set off on my first ever try of "Mummy's Scones"
I left them in for a little too long, underestimating how quickly our oven can cook things, but despite being slightly darker than I would have liked they still tasted delicious, just like I remember. Another Baking Day success. Mmmm...
The recipe I'm afraid will remain a closely guarded secret!
My recent obsession with cupcakes is somewhat taking over my life. I have been ordering all sorts of cute and exciting sprinkles to decorate them with and thinking up all sorts of batter/icing flavour combinations. I have even been dreaming about making them! Sad, but true.
So, although N had asked for something else to be the centre of Baking Day (post on it's way...) I just knew I had to indulge the cupcake fixation.
I didn't want anything too rich, and after a week of glorious late-February sunshine I wanted something to reflect the refreshing taste of Spring we've been having. So I decided to make citrus cupcakes; one set of orange, one set of lemon. I used a recipe for lemon cupcakes, and before adding the lemon juice and zest split the batter so I was able to mix one half with lemon juice and zest and the other with orange. The only problem being that I needed to remember which was which!
Once the cakes had cooled I decided to try out different icing combinations too. So, I iced six lemon with lemon cream cheese icing, and six lemon with orange buttercream, and then had six orange with lemon cream cheese icing and six with orange buttercream meaning I had one of each type of cake with each type of icing. 
Ah, cupcake obsession sated for one weekend at least! 
Now for the recipe: It was taken from the Cupcake Bakeshop blog, which I can't recommend too highly. I then adapted it for the orange ones. I have no idea how they've turned out as we haven't actually gotten around to eating any, but the batters smelt lovely whilst cooking and rose really well.
Lemon Cupcakes
12 regular cupcakes / 180 degree oven
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
11⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1⁄2 cup milk
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice zest of one lemon
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Measure out milk and vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
NB: At this point I split the batter and added half the amount of lemon needed to one and the equivalent of orange to the other.
6. Mix in lemon juice.
7. Fill the cups about 2/3 full and bake at 180 for 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
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