Soul Food September!

Soo, back to uni, moved in to the new house with my friends and I'm all settled in with my very own double bed! We decided to have a monthly house meal, themed with various cuisines and our first one was Soul Food September!

It was a really nice way to bond as a house and we cooked some really great food, everyone was in charge of their own section of the meal and we had a great evening!

Buttermilk was our core ingredient for this meal, we used it in the chicken marinade and in our biscuits! And then we used the leftover buttermilk to make pancakes! I did a lot of reading before cooking, because it was important to me to use as many authentic techniques in the meal as possible.

Here was our meal:

Southern Fried chicken

With the chicken I read a few articles on the best ways to cook and marinade it and the buttermilk seemed to be a great way to get succulent chicken. We used The Guardian's recipe as a basis, but as always we added extra seasonings from the ole store cupboard including garlic, chilli, paprika (both normal and hot), ginger, thyme, chilli flakes, salt and a magi cube and a chicken stock cube, soaked it in buttermilk and left in the fridge for about 6 hours. We also seasoned the flour with garlic, chilli, paprika, thyme and chilli flakes.

We followed the recipe with the shallow fry and cover technique and then put on a plate with kitchen towel to drain some of the oil, while we cooked the rest of the meat.We found that it was really important to ensure that the oil was piping hot, but on a low heat before and during cooking, otherwise the chicken would burn on the outside before cooking all the way through. The chicken was soft and juicy and crispy on the outside and all together yummy!

Hoppin' Johns with Rice (or our take on it anyways)

This was so yum, mix of beef and beans in a stir fry - like sauce, on rice, my housemate makes this just from knowledge, so I'll have to learn how to make this myself before being able to report back!

Mac n cheese with Bacon

I made a simple white sauce, infusing the milk by bringing it to scalding point with a slice of onion, peppercorns and a bay leaf, covering and leaving to stand for 20 minutes before straining into a jug. Then I made a roux with melted butter and flour and slowly whisked the infused milk in bit by bit. I then added the cheese to how cheesy I wanted it - we used cheddar.

In another pan I fried bacon lardons and a sliced onion and put into an oven dish. Boiled the macaroni for 11 minutes, strained and mixed in the cheese sauce, mixed it all with the bacon and onion mix and poured into the oven dish, topped with cheese and put it in the oven on 200 degrees C for about 10 mins or until the topping is as crispy as you want it. A lovely variation is to add breadcrumbs for extra flavour and crunch!

Biscuits with gravy
This was a total experiment as it was something I kept seeing in breakfast restaurants in America but never actually ordered it and had major regrets so decided that although it was a breakfast dish, we'd include it in our soul food feast. Again, did lots of research reading everyone's 101 tips on how to make the tastiest, lightest biscuits and finally settled on this recipe for the biscuits, with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda for that extra rise (with it's reaction with the buttermilk) and it actually turned out really yum! They were slightly crumbly and light, with a sort of scone like consistency.

Also made the sausage gravy, which was the perfect complement to the biscuits, using this recipe as a guide, but not really following measurements - which led to a really thick sauce, so maybe I'll follow the recipe a bit closer next time, to gain a better consistency. I also added some paprika for flavour which added a nice note.

Side note: I did have the BEST biscuits in a restaurant called Masa in Boston which was one of my best meals, had eggs benedict on biscuits and it was simply wonderful!

And we followed it all up with a lovely warming Apple crumble with custard.

I make my apple crumble by eye, as taught by my mother - who makes it amazingly, using about half the amount of fat as dry ingredients and rubbing together into a light breadcrumb mixture. We used flour, oats and caster sugar for our crumble topping. The apples are peeled and chopped and mixed with caster sugar and cinnamon and then placed in the oven dish with the crumble mixture layered on top and put in the oven for about 45 mins.

 

 

Back from the US of A!! - Pancakes!

I haven't posted in aages because I have been in America for the last 3 months! Very exciting times! I worked at a summer camp in upstate New York for 2 months and then I travelled North East America and even stopped in Canada for a bit. The whole summer experience was absolutely incredible and an experience that I will value forever and something that I would recommend that anyone and everyone do!

I thought that for my first post back it was an idea to do something classically American and that iss pancakes! I had some of the bestest and hugest pancakes in America (everything is crazy supersized over there) and so I thought I'd bring some of that back to my family one morning and I made John Torode's buttermilk pancakes, which turned out perfect both times I did it! Buttermilk seems to be this wonder ingredient that they use in a LOT of stuff (Southern fried chicken and biscuits and gravy to follow!)

Man, I gotta stop eating like this!

Mothers Day

I went home to surprise my Mum last weekend for Mothers Day! 

I planned a lovely 4 course meal with Indian flavours throughout and I'm very happy to report that it all went extremely well! I was very proud as I feel it was a mark of how far my cookery skill has come! 

The menu was as follows:

Spicy Potato with a coriander raitha, red chilli chutney and a lemon and rocket salad

Tandoori Prawn skewers with a butter sauce (which I got from James Martin, but cooked under a grill rather than a barbecue!)

Slow cooked lamb with pilau rice and greens 

Red velvet cake - this recipe has a lovely texture but unfortunately for whatever reason never turns out red, just a reddish brown but I'll post the link anyway - (Velvet Cake)

Everything came out extremely well and I hope to post recipes for all of the individual courses soon! 

Oaty Cookies

The term is drawing to a close, and as I am going home I wanted to use up all my perishables before the Easter Holidays, so I got baking and treated all my flatmates to an Easter treat! I had loads of oats left so I made some oaty cookies. They were yummy and chewy, but mind, this recipe makes over 40 cookies, so if you only have one tray like me, you're gonna have to do several rounds!

This is the recipe that I used Easiest Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I used 200g of oats and 150g of flour because I wanted to use up my oats! I also used about 100g of caster sugar instead of the granulated as it provides a smoother mixture and I don't like too use a lot of sugar. 

Also, if they seem really soft and are almost falling apart when you try to pick them up when you take them out of the oven, that means they are perfect! Don't leave them in the oven too long, because as soon as they cool they harden quite considerably, and some of my batch ended up quite crispy because of this! (unless of course you like a crispy cookie!) I also whipped up a batch of brownies with some chocolate I had - my flatmates were quite pleased!

I had some leftover food that needed using up from past cooking, some carrots, mangetout, a lemon, a potato, about half a tin of lentils and an onion, and I needed something for lunches for the week. In my cupboard I had some spices and some couscous so I decided to make myself a couscous salad.

I chopped the carrot and the potato into cubes, cut the mangetout in halves, sliced the onion and fried gently in a little oil with a some garlic powder, curry powder, chilli and cumin powder. After about 5 minutes I put the lentils into the pan, to give them a chance to soak up the curry flavours.  Meanwhile, I put some couscous in a bowl with a lid, and squeezed in the juice of the lemon, salt, some ground coriander and some chopped fresh coriander, poured over the boiling water and left for five minutes to cook. When the veg were cooked through, I simply mixed them into the cous cous and left in the fridge until I was ready to take it out.

I ate this both hot and cold, simply reheating a serving in the microwave or taking it into uni as a packed lunch, I also ate some of the veg/lentil mix on its own which was really nice and very filling too!

Carrot Cake

My first time making a carrot cake, I was a bit nervous about how it would turn out but I needn't have worried! This cake was so wonderfully moist, I was really pleased with the turn out. I used Rachel Allen's recipe and it was pretty easy. The only thing was that I bought whole walnuts and it took quite a while to do all of the chopping but the result was more than worth it. I also used lemon zest rather than orange zest because I prefer the lemony flavour, which worked really well. I really recommend this recipe, with or without the icing, to have with a nice cup of tea!

Simple Stir fry Noodles

This recipe works with rice and noodles and is a really quick, easy and really adaptable meal to make. It's a good ole' reliable and it can be made vegetarian or not ( I made it with chicken) and its good and healthy too!

Season the chicken in some garlic, ginger and soy sauce on 2 chopped chicken breasts, I also threw in a dash of curry powder. Prepare the eggs, I used 3 eggs, added a little milk, light soy sauce and black pepper. Fry the chilli and a bunch of finely chopped spring onions I added some Chinese 5 spice from my spice box as well, but if you don't have any it'll still taste good! Add the veg you've chosen; you can add a variety of veg, here I used mangetout and red pepper, I really recommend baby corn and peas or all together, especially if you're keeping it veggie.


Fry away, chicken first, onions and veg, eggs and finally cooked noodles/rice and voila!

This recipe is very easy and adaptable - you can use more or less eggs if you do/don't like them, you can substitute pork for chicken or just have no meat at all - you can make so many different varieties and mixes that you can make it 10 times and feel like you've had a different meal each time!

Just make sure that you heat the pan hot enough, especially when adding the eggs or they won't scramble very quickly and disintegrate a bit into the rice/noodles.

Tinned mackerel

This one doesn't sound particularly exciting, but its an excellent option if you're fast running outta student loan and don't know how on earth you're gonna eat for the rest of the semester, Or if you're on a budget and just wanna get some fish into your diet - this is the way to go.

You can pick up these tins really cheap (around 70p a tin) and you can make it last if you need to. I just simply took some chopped tomatoes and diced an onion. Fry the onion in a frying pan for a few minutes, along with a little garlic and chilli - use powdered if you don't have any fresh - and then add the tinned mackrel and the chopped tomatoes - you only need about half a tin, or your fish will drown in sauce (ahaha sorry, cheesy I know), leave to simmer for a few minutes and there ya have it!

Tasty, a little spicy and you can stretch it really easily by putting in the full can of tomatoes and adding other veg to bulk it out and add further nutrition. This time I used red peppers and spinach but you can literally add anything - peas, sweetcorn, carrots, courgette - for an extra punch of veg. Serve on rice, or with dumplings (fried or boiled - I went boiled to keep it healthier), or with bread (preferably hardo for me!). If you're trying to stretch it two tins can last you 4 days if you try!

PS - If you do have the money to spend on fresh fish, this recipe works even better with fresh mackerel, just make sure that you fry it for longer than the tinned! 

Quinoa Salad with Lentils and Lemon Sumac dressing

So I might be a little late to try out this trendy superfood, but better late than never!

I first tried this recipe from my mum's Persiana and the first time it tasted really good, so I decided to re-create it at uni, this time using red and white quinoa directly from the pouch. Quick and easy to make this will be a nice, portable and extremely healthy lunch for me to take into uni.

Just put 150g lentils, 250g cooked quinoa, half a red pepper, some cherry tomatoes (chopped into quarters), 4-5 spring onions, a handful of coriander and parsley, a heaped tablespoon of sumac, juice of one lemon, and some olive oil into a bowl, season, stir and put into the fridge until you're ready to eat it! 

Do make sure you put it into the fridge for at least an hour before you eat it though, as it allows the flavours to work their way into the quinoa and the lentils!

A tip for using up the ingredients after...

As a lot of these ingredients have to be bought in bigger quantities, a helpful recipe might be the Chickpea and Spinach Curry that I posted earlier. This uses up the coriander and you can throw the leftover lentils in there as well!

Also if you don't have a use for any leftover herbs, put them in the freezer, and use them straight from frozen while cooking.

One extra tip! Especially for students who have parents who like to cook - if you want to try out new recipes but don't want to buy loads of new spices which you might not like or end up using again, raid your parents' cupboard! I created my own spice box, taking little portions of spices from my mums cupboard, putting them in little plastic shot glasses and covering with clingfilm - I now have my own spice box for just a pound from Poundland.

Quote of the Day

Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today ~ Benjamin Franklin

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake

Another really easy loaf cake to make, that can look really pretty once it's baked. I've only made it as a round cake before so I used Jamie Oliver's recipe for a half chocolate half vanilla cake which is in a loaf tin. It's also great because it requires minimal ingredients (If you bake, you will already have everything in your cupboard) so it's really cheap to whip up.

Once the cocoa powder has been added to the chocolate half, the mixture gets quite stiff, and this half of the cake cooks faster so in order to prevent your cake from drying out, add a splash of milk to the chocolate half before adding it to the tin! 

Happy Baking! 

Paella!

I went to Spain for the first time last year and perhaps the most notorious Spanish dish is paella so I decided to give it a try! Traditionally, paella is made with meat/ seafood/vegetables/ beans in a big wide-bottomed pan called a paellera, with the main spice being hot paprika.

As a student on a tight budget I knew that I couldn't afford to put in all the yummy delicacies of a traditional paella so I limited myself to just 3 chicken breasts (defrosted from a big pack of frozen ones), a bit of chorizo and prawns. (Bear in mind that chorizo isn't supposed to go in paella, so if you are making an authentic one, I'd leave that out!) I bulked out the meal with lots of vegetables - courgette, red and green peppers, peas, carrots, runner beans and  I used risotto rice as a substitute for paella rice ( both short grain and I couldn't find any paella rice at my local supermarket.)

And I have to say that the end result was quite nice! I didn't directly follow a recipe, just took inspiration from a few across the internet so do a little research! The short grain rice absorbs quite a lot of water so make sure that you keep an eye on it while cooking (Although I also read that a traditional paella is toasted on the bottom so don't put too much water in!) 

This is perhaps a luxury meal for students because of all of the ingredients, but is very worth it and easy to make in bulk enough for a few days! 

My take on 'Pride and Prejudice'

I recently (finally!) read Pride and Prejudice and it was so beautifully romantic that I just got all excited about it and started telling everyone (even though they clearly weren't interested!)

I have always prided myself on having read a few classics; Jane Eyre and Little Women being my all time favourites, (the books and the films) and I decided that I needed to add some Austen to my repertoire! I was enthralled right from the start with their initial distaste for each other, Mr Darcy's infallible pride sealing his judgment of all of the women and Elizabeth's prejudice against Mr Darcy set in stone within the first hour of their meeting.

I read on, fascinated by the characters. 'Eliza' Bennet, witty, intelligent and slightly sarcastic, but uncharacteristically headstrong and stubborn for a woman of her age in the 19th Century which just caused me to love the character further. The infamously aloof Mr Darcy, in his struggle between upholding the correct and proper character for a man of his prestige and his growing attraction for the young Miss Bennet. Another character whom I  found particularly amusing was Lydia Bennet, Elizabeth's younger sister who was depicted as very flirty and flighty but also incredibly naive *spoilers* eventually running off with Mr Wickham and bring shame and disgrace upon her family.

The classic tale of two people who detest each other falling in love in a society where marriage was the ultimate goal for all young women swept me along. I was quite captivated as the story deepened, with the false stories and the hits and misses along the way, and the sheer romance of Mr Darcy's:

In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. 

evoked so deep a sigh out of me that I was compelled to stop reading and just visualize the scene for a moment.

My favourite book at current, I highly recommend it to anyone who is as behind as I am on reading their classics, read the book before you watch the film (as I strongly believe everyone should!!) I'm off to read another - Sense and Sensibility!

'Pukka' Chicken Curry

I decided to upgrade my curry cooking skills and try a meat one, and I found this great looking one on Jamie Oliver's website so I decided to try it out.

I've gotta say I was quite disappointed with this curry, wasn't as big a fan as I was of my chickpea and spinach one but maybe that's because I tweaked it a little! As I am a poor student with no money and only my spice box to keep me company in the kitchen (!!) I decided that I could skip out on Jamie's wonderful fresh garlic, ginger and chillies and substitute for the powdered versions, which just don't pack as much of a punch when it comes to flavour unfortunately.

Another mistake that I think I made was that I didn't fry the curry paste for long enough, so all of the spices tasted quite raw rather than nicely blended.

That all said, it wasn't a disaster, it still tasted spicy and hot, and the sauce had a very subtle sweet undertone which was quite pleasant. Also, Jamie didn't lie about the softness of the chicken - practically falls of the bone which was a lovely texture. I also really liked the chickpeas in this curry - extra punch of protein and fibre, which bulks out the meal and means you need less chicken per serving - healthy and cheap!

The aesthetic qualities of this curry didn't quite match up to Jamie's either (I used coriander straight from the freezer so it kinda dissolved as soon as it hit the pan!) and the flash on the curry pic looks really weird but I thought I'd post the picture anyway!

PS - This actually tasted better on day 2 - gave the flavours a chance to develop!

Banana Cake

I vowed at the start of this semester that I wouldn't bake for health reasons (even though I make killer brownies - my flatmates were very disappointed!) But apparently I couldn't keep my promise to myself and so I baked banana cake - it has fruit in - can't be that awful!







I used this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7380/banana-cake ,  but I used a little less sugar as I always do when baking. Took around 45mins in the oven so make sure that you check it a bit earlier to avoid an overcooked cake!

PS. This is a great recipe for students; slice it, wrap individually in foil, place in the freezer then when you're feeling some homemade cake, take it out of the freezer a coupla hours before you want it and there you go! Sweet treat!

ENCHILAAAADASSS!

So apparently I've decided to go on a cookery trip around the world, and today I'm visiting Mexico! These enchiladas turned out so well and for some reason tasted even better the next day. I chose seeded tortillas for extra fibre and they are filled with 3 chicken breasts chopped and fried in cumin, chilli, and some garlic powder; spinach, a red pepper and a lil' cheese. You could make them veggie by using beans (refried or kidney), which was my original plan but then I had meat cravings!  

The tomato salsa/sauce on top was made with one and a half red onions, cumin, paprika, a little ground coriander and some fresh coriander (gotta love dem fresh herbs) and then a can of chopped tomatoes. Topped with cheese (splash out on Mexican cheeses if it's available), put it in the oven on 180 degrees for 30-45mins and voila! Healthy and filling and enough to last me the week :) 

PS. The sauce makes the dish so I would recommend that you make one and a half by using more chopped tomatoes, especially if you're making the veggie option, and I'd put a small amount inside the wraps as well.

Chickpea and Spinach Curry

This is my first ever curry made from scratch! I'm very proud to say it was yum!

I've always like cooking but I've become really excited about it in the last few months. This recipe actually comes from the Tesco Recipe  which I found from doing a little research! I'm not a big fan of straight recipe following however, so I've added a few things and left some stuff out to put my own spin on things. (Biggest addition was fresh coriander - no flavour like it!)

I don't always eat veggie, but I thought it'd make a nice change for this dish, and it ended up being very healthy PLUS you don't need any side carbs with it - it's plenty filling on it's own!

(However, yes I did have it with a lil' Naan because, well, I love Naan!)

My first post!

Hello Internet! (Lame I know) 

This blog is just about me, my life at uni, food I cook, things I write (if I ever get around to it) and whatever else I feel like posting. If you happen to stumble across this page, I hope you enjoy it and learn something or get inspired or just add that one new spice to your dishes!

I've never done anything like this before, posting my own stuff so I'm hoping to keep up with it! 

Lots of love, 

Zola xx