Traditional Bakewell Tart

I won't lie - I didn't realise quite how much my culinary experimentation's were taking over my summer until I started getting requests. Now, requests in themselves are hardly unusual when it comes to food, I know that - I get them from my parents all the time! However, requests over Facebook from people who live 40 miles away, and who won't get to eat the food they're asking you to make, and who purely want to see if you can make it? They're new to me. So when my uni friend L popped up challenging me to produce a Bakewell Tart ('no cherries, thank you very much'), I couldn't exactly say no, could I?! Of course not - I revel in challenges. 

Bakewell Tarts are something that we don't have very often at all, which you may think is odd given quite how close we live to Bakewell and how frequently I'm at Chatsworth House (who's chefs can produce exquisite tart-y masterpieces with their eyes closed). I'm pretty sure that as I kid I used to say I didn't even like them (practically blasphemous on my part, I now hang my head in shame thinking about all the pudding opportunities I must have passed up), but I think that's just because I didn't like the idea of quite so much almond. Goodness knows why this was a problem for me, now I'm like 'BRING ON THE ALMONDS', but that's an entirely separate issue. I should probably reel in my excitement.

I knew that Bakewell's were fairly time consuming because there's a lot of stages, so they're ideal if (like me - student life and all that) you have a lot of time on your hands, but perhaps not so good if you're wanting something quick and easy. On the other hand, they are definitely worth the effort because wow, gadzooks and yum, was this a good tart.

Ingredients

For the Pastry
- 150g all plain flour
- pinch of salt
- 80g butter cubed, or an equal mix of butter and lard
- 2-3 table spoons of cold water

For the Filling
- 2 table spoons of raspberry jam
- 150g butter
- 150g caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs, beaten
- 1 extra yolk, beaten in with other eggs
- 150g ground almonds
- Zest of 1 medium lemon
- 2 table spoons of flaked almonds
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten

Method

- Preheat the oven 170 degrees C

For the Pastry
- Place flour, butter and salt into a large bowl
- Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Try to work as quickly as possible to prevent the dough becoming too warm
- Add the water to the mixture, and then stir until the dough binds together
- If your mixture looks too dry and you're left with flour on the sides of the bowl, very carefully add more cold water (a teaspoon at a time)
- Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for of 15 minutes minimum, but preferably up to 30 minutes
*Alternatively you can do this in a food mixer rather than by hand - follow the same steps, but let the machine do the mixing; it'll keep the dough cooler, and it's much friendlier on the arms!*
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured board to about 5mm thick
- Grease and then line an 20cm deep tart tin with the pastry
- Prick the base all over with a fork to stop it ballooning in the oven
- Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes
- Line the tart case with baking/greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans before cooking for 15 minutes or until the pastry is a pale golden color

I know it really doesn't look promising at this point, but give it a minute! Well, 15..

- Remove the baking beans, and lightly brush the inside of the pastry case with a little egg white
- Pop the pastry back in the oven and cook for a further 5 minutes

See? Perfect pastry for pudding heaven.

- Remove from the oven and immediately spread raspberry jam onto the base of the pastry case
- Leave to cool

For the Contents
- Again, using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together until pale in color 
- Gradually add in the beaten eggs and egg yolk a little at a time 
- Gently fold in the ground almonds and lemon zest
- Pour the mixture in to the pastry case and gently level the surface to ensure the whole case is filled

- Bake for 20 minutes
- Remove from oven 

 (Don't panic at this point if the top looks really poofy, it's meant to do that and it'll sink down again as it cools)

- Sprinkle the surface with flaked almonds
- Bake for a further 20 minutes or until golden and set
- Leave to cool and serve 

You should be able to see really distinguished layers of pastry, jam, almondy-goodness when you cut into it, and the almond mix shouldn't run or spread. If it does, don't panic, just pop it back in the oven for a bit longer!

As usual, and due in part to a slight plethora of home grown fruit, we ate ours with raspberries and a gorgeous side of Mum's sticky-toffee ice cream. Although it tasted brilliant, we found that the toffee was a bit sweet on top of the tart, so we stuck to plain vanilla when we came back to clear up the left-overs. 

Butternut Squash and Bean Burgers

You know sometimes you see something in a shop and you think "you know what? I deserve this." Well, I had one of those moments this week. For most people my age it's a thought that's probably prompted by a new dress or some shoes, or maybe even a nice bag.. Oh man, it's been ages since I had a new bag.. I'd love a new bag.. Oops! Sorry, sidetracked by the thought of fresh leather and shiny buckles.. Mmm...

Anyway, for me, the main weakness at the moment is recipes. I can spend hours (and by that I mean like, almost entire days) just trawling the internet and my mums old cook books looking for new experiments. So when I spotted Lorraine Pascale's book 'The Lighter Way to Bake' on sale for £7 rather than £20, I needed absolutely no convincing. That baby was mine.

It's a beautiful book, full of recipes, mouthwatering photos and even inspirational quotes - which is a touch that I love, good thinking Lorraine! Something else that it does is give you the nutritional information per serving of the food in each dish, which means you can easily work out how healthy your meal will be without having to do any maths yourself. This was perfect for when I was searching for meal inspiration on my last 5:2 day (see my post on 5:2 friendly fish goujons to hear all about how that works!). By Lorraine's maths, the recipe for Butternut Squash and Bean Burgers comes in at only 188 calories per burger, which meant that it could be accompanied by salad and was perfect for a summer fast day. The original recipe also comes with an apple, mango and chili salsa, but we were sadly lacking 2 out of 3 of the main ingredients so I gave that one a miss for the day. (This also brought the sugar content of the meal right down, making it even better for the fasters in the building!)

The burgers however we were fully prepared for, and they turned out to be an absolute doddle to make - much to my surprise! I've done a lot of bean burger type recipes before and often found them particularly fiddly and a bit of a faff, even if the end result was worth it. These produce a wetter mixture, but handled right were much faster than any I've done before!

Ingredients

For the burger mixture
- 200g of butternut squash, peeled and cut into small cubes (the smaller they're cut initially, the easier the rest of the process will be)
- Oil (Lorraine advises a spray, but I used regular bottled olive and was fine)
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 chili, chopped
- 2 teaspoons of paprika
- A small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- 400g tin of kidney beans, drained
- 400g tin of cannelini beans, drained (I'm sure you could use other bean varieties instead if they were all you had or you fancied a change - chick peas would also be fine)
- 1 egg white, lightly whisked until just bubbly (if you're not doing this as a fasting recipe feel free to use the whole egg)
- Zest of 1 lime, grated
- Salt and pepper (this is to taste - I slightly under seasoned mine, so make sure you're not afraid to add slightly more than you think you need)

For the burger coating
- Breadcrumbs (we always keep some in the freezer, but if you're making fresh ones then toast your bread before you blitz it as this will give you much drier, crisper crumbs to work with)
- 1 egg white, lightly whisked until just bubbly (again, if you're not fasting use the whole egg)

Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (200 if you're not using a fan oven)
- Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper
- Cook the cubed butternut squash in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes until it's just tender. Once it's cooked drain it really well and put it to one side.

(I get a little OCD with the piles..)

- Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the onion until it's soft and a little brown
- Meanwhile, prepare the burger coating by putting the breadcrumbs in one large, shallow bowl, and the lightly beaten egg in another
- Once the onions are cooked, add the garlic, chili, paprika and coriander
- Cook for a further minute and then remove from the heat
- Tip the kidney and cannellini beans into a large bowl and crush them with a potato masher (or a fork if you don't have a masher handy)
- Once they're smoother, tip in the onion mixture, egg white, lime zest, butternut squash, salt and pepper, and stir until evenly combined. It may not look that promising now, but don't worry - it'll taste amazing!

- Using two tablespoons, get a scoop of the bean mixture and shape it to be vaguely burger-y (you can use your hands, but I found them mixture to be quite wet, and the spoons gave a much more even shape)
- When you're happy with the shape, dip the burgers into the egg white and make sure the whole thing is covered
- Dip the pre-coated burger into the dry breadcrumbs until it's completely covered
- Repeat the process again with the rest of the mixture, putting them straight onto the grease-proof paper as you go

- Sprinkle olive oil on the top of each burger and then put them in the oven for 25 minutes until they're crisp and golden brown!!

They also keep really well - we popped the left overs in the freezer, and because the middles are so smooth, they're just as yummy once they're defrosted! 

So cook away, and let me know what you think! 

5:2 Friendly Fish Goujons

Unsurprisingly, cooking this much food so frequently has had a slightly negative impact on the ol' waist line. There's only so much cake a person can eat before it's kinda noticeable, especially when they spend all day sat around reading like I do.. Ahh the perks of an English degree. 

Anyhoo, my poor exercise habits aside, me and Mum have been doing the 5:2 fasting diet for a while now and it's absolutely brilliant. 5 days a week you eat perfectly normally, and then on the two (non-consecutive) 'fast days' you only have 500 calories. This may sound hard, but with recipes like this it really isn't as bad as it sounds - most liquids don't count, and if you eat the right food for your 500 you don't even feel hungry! I've lost at least a pound every fast day and getting to eat normally the rest of the time is perfect for fitting in all the recipes I want to try out, without ending up completely round! These healthy fish goujons (or fish-fingers to us regular people..) are one of the more successful experiments. For anyone wanting to try them out without fasting, you can just add in extras like potato salad or wedges - that's how we appease my dad! Give that man carbohydrates and he's a happy bunny!

I think fish fingers get a bad reputation because of the many varieties that have about as much real fish in them as a doorstop, but believe me when I say that these ones are healthy, speedy and really really tasty. Plus, coming in at only 181 calories each, it's pretty hard to go wrong! 

So, here goes...

Ingredients

Fish Goujons
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten
80g breadcrumbs (I used brown, but you can use white if you want)
½ teaspoon dried mixed herbs
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
400g of white fish cut into strips (cod, haddock, pollack, etc. - I used smoke haddock and it was phenomenal)

Potato Salad *not included in calorie content of 5:2 meal*
2-4 potatoes per person serving
Mayonnaise - for a four person serving we'd use about 2 tablespoons, but it depends what you like in a salad (it's also up to you whether you feel like using light or regular mayo, obviously the regular will have more calories, but if you're just doing this for a regular meal it won't matter!)
Fresh coriander 
Fresh chives

Method

- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (220 if you're not using a fan oven)

- Lightly cover a baking tray in oil to make sure your goujons don't stick

- Pour the beaten egg into a wide flat bowl (the flatter it is, the easier you'll find it to coat the fish)

- Put all of the breadcrumbs on a plate and combine with lemon zest, salt, pepper and mixed herbs

- Get a portion of your fish and shape it to be vaguely goujon-like (I went for the fool-proof rough rectangle) 

*Little tip - I flake the fish slightly by removing the skin, 

it makes it slightly harder to cover the goujons, 

but I think the finished product is nicer without skin inside*

- Dip each of the goujons in the egg, then the breadcrumbs, ensuring that they're fully coated.

- Place each one on the baking tray and lightly drizzle with more oil

- Once all of the goujons are covered and on the tray, pop them into the oven and let them cook for 15-18 minutes. You want to give them long enough so that they're a lovely golden brown, but not so long that the fish starts to dry out (nothin' worse than a fry goujon). 

For the potato salad
- Boil your potatoes in water with a pinch of salt until they're cooked through and you can pierce them easily with a knife or fork
- Remove from the heat, drain and leave to cool
- Combine with the mayo (I use 2 tablespoons as a base line, but it's really personal preference as to how mayo-y you fancy them!) 
- Add some fresh chives if you want a little extra twist, you just need to cut them into short sections
- Top with fresh coriander and serve

Now, my family are suckers for pickles and salads, especially at this time of year - my mum kicks up an absolute storm in the garden to keep us supplied with fresh goodies all summer and well into the autumn, and there really is nothing better than sitting down to a meal with such a strong kick like that. So we had our goujons with pickled red cabbage and pickled broad beans, both of which were absolutely gorgeous and completely home grown. As well as that, there's always the added bonus of pickled anything's being wonderful for adding a bit of extra colour to a plate, which never fails to go down well! 

  

A happy plate means a happy stomach, so serve up and enjoy! 

Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake with Fudge Icing

Ok, so apparently getting in the swing of 'thinking Blog' when I cook might take a bit of getting used to.. I keep forgetting my camera and only remembering half way through cooking something that I'm meant to be telling you all about it. So, my bad that this post only has the 'after' photos - I'll practice, I promise.

Anyway, a week or so ago I was cordially invited to my dad's office party (I know, rock n' roll, right?), and said that I'd make something for them so there was some kind of pudding available. I won't lie, it was partially for me to make sure I actually got a pudding, because a BBQ without pudding is like a picnic without.. Pudding. It's wrong. And I really love pudding. But Dad couldn't decide what I should make - his only suggestion was the Chocolate Beer Cake I'd made them a week before, and I didn't want to repeat myself (although I will, so that I can take photos and show you how amazing it is). So I settled on trying out Delia Smith's Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake with Fudge Icing instead. Sounds amazing, right? Right.

I've grown up with Mrs Smith's cook book being referred to as The Bible, so I know that pretty much any recipe she comes up with is fool-proof. Fiddly? Yes, occasionally, but oh my life are they worth it. If you're wanting a good base point for any kind of cooking, Delia is your girl. This recipe is actually from the 'Delia's Cakes' book that a friend at uni got me for my birthday, which has become on of my all time favourite recipe books of all time very quickly. It covers everything, from tin liners to celebration cakes - trust me, it's an investment for any would-be cake creator. 

So here goes, your fail safe guide to Sticky Toffee Cake, a la Delia. 

(sorry I had to Google a picture - like I said, poor camera memory!)

Ingredients

- 110g dates (I used the pre-chopped dried ones you get in packets and they worked fine)

- 50g pecan nuts

- 110g spreadable butter

- 50g black treacle (due to cupboard deficiencies I only had 20g, but I made up for it with extra golden syrup - I just got the combined amount to add up to 225g)

- 175g golden syrup  

- 150g milk

- 2 large eggs

- 225g plain flour

- 1 level teaspoon mixed spice

- 2 level teaspoons ground ginger

- 1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the icing

- 4 tablespoons of evaporated milk 

- 2 tablespoons dark brown soft sugar

- 50g butter

- 150g golden icing sugar (I used regular icing sugar and that worked just fine)

Preferably you'll need a loaf tin - I'm not sure how it'd do in a regular cake tin because it's much further for the heat to get to the middle. It'd probably manage just fine, but if you've got access to a rectangular tin that's probably safest. Either way, line it with traditional liner if you have it - I just used grease-proof paper and had no problems! Preheat your oven to 150 degrees, and then it's time for the sticky-toffee goodness!

- For ease of getting the treacle out of the tin (it's an absolute nightmare because it's so thick and sticky), place it in a pan of barely simmering water. This will warm it enough to allow you to get it out much more easily, just mind your fingers on the metal! 

- Next you need to chop all the pecan nuts into small chunks, and if your dates aren't pre-cut you'll need to prepare them as well. Make sure they're all a similar size to keep the consistency steady throughout the cake. I actually used a pestle and mortar on the pecans rather than slicing them - give them a good bashing to break them up; it's both effective AND good stress relief.

- For the cake mixture you'll need to place the butter, treacle and syrup in a large saucepan and melt them together gradually until they're smooth. Once they're combined fully take the pan off the heat and leave it for a few minutes to cool, then mix in the milk.

- Sift the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and then beat the eggs and add them to the syrup mixture. Once they're combined, gradually whisk the syrup mixture into the dry ingredients until they're fully combined and you have a smooth batter. Then you'll need to stir in the pecans and about two thirds of the dates.

- Pour this mixture into the prepared tin and then lightly drop the remaining dates onto the top of it. Use a skewer or the tip of a knife to push them gently to just below the surface - this will give you a more even spread of fruit throughout the finished cake. Extra gooey-yumminess for all!

- Place the cake in the oven (if you're not using a fan oven put it on a lower shelf) so that the top of the cake is aligned with the centre of the oven. It'll give it the most even spread of heat so that it cooks all sides at the same rate. Cook for between an hour and 1/2 to an hour and 50 minutes - until the top is rounded and slightly cracked. Once it's cooked, remove from the oven and leave it to cool inside the tin for about half an hour. Then you can turn it out and leave it to cool thoroughly before icing it.

And speaking of icing..

- Melt together the evaporated milk, brown sugar and butter in a pan on a gentle heat, and then simmer for a further 5 minutes. Once that's done, tip into a bowl and leave it to cool.

- Sift in the icing sugar and whisk it all together until smooth - it'll look something like this! 

 (As you can see, this is where I remembered I had a camera..)

- Once it's all smooth and the cake is cool, use a palette knife to spread the icing all over the top! Mine wasn't quite as smooth as the picture, but I think that'll come with practice of combining the ingredients at the optimum heat and everything - it still tasted phenomenal, so I'm not moaning!

*Handy hint from our Delia: If you keep the cake inside its liner and store for a day or so before eating, it improves the texture and general feel. However, I can't say that any I've made have lasted long enough for me to test this - it always seems too good to wait!!*

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do! It went down particularly well at the party - I came home with an empty tin and a full stomach, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one eating it!

Cheesy Lasagna Calzone

So I had a friend from uni to stay this week, which automatically meant I had to up my cooking game. Manxie can be a bit of a tricky customer, and I wanted something I knew she'd really like, so when I found Oh, Sweet Basil's recipe for Cheesy Lasagna Calzones I was immediately sold. The Clan love all kinds of food, but Italian never fails to please the masses - it's the perfect combination of rich, yummy flavours and homely feel good indulgence. 

It's a really brilliant recipe, with most aspects being common sense and the extras being cheese! What's not to love?  The only thing it doesn't give you is a pizza dough recipe, but you can find that in a lot of cookbooks, not to mention all over the internet. I mean honestly, what can't be googled these days? It's definitely worth the effort, even if it does all look a bit daunting to begin with.

Once you've made the dough, leave it to rise somewhere warm. It'll say that on the recipe, but it's a really important part of the process - it  makes the dough light and springy, giving the elasticity that you'll need for a really great tasting calzone. It might sound like a bit of a pain, and it means you need to give yourself plenty of time, but it really is worth it.

The tomato sauce/mince meat combination that goes in the middle is something that you can play around with a bit more. I often like to add little extras that I know will work and go down well, so I added a few things to the sauce like peppers, mushrooms and a few chilies for a bit of an added kick. Really you can throw anything into it that you would to a standard tomato sauce, but try to minimise how wet the mixture is because extra liquid can make the next step a bit tricky.

Folding the parcels can be a fiddly, and if there's a lot of wetness coming from the sauce it can effect the strength of the dough, so make sure to drain off the majority of the juices before putting the meat in place. I find that twisting the edge of the bottom layer of dough over the top layer was the best way of sealing everything inside and preventing leakage while it was cooking, but it's really personal preference. 

I find that this also means that the finished product looks adorable. Cute little pastie shaped packets of gooey, cheesy, lovely goodness. 

Believe it or not, my instinct is to actually add more cheese when I make these again - I'm completely in favour of the stringy, melted cheese that stretches on forever when you try to pull it apart, and I found that there wasn't quite enough here to achieve that. 

I think the danger with calzones is that the fear of them leaking because they're overfull will mean you actually make them a bit emptier than they need to be. They may look like the dough will never cover them, but if you've let it prove for long enough it will stretch. There's no harm in doing having less - they'll still be yummy little taste sensations, but in this case, less is not more. More is more, and more is fabulous. 

Ingredients

- half a pound of mince

- 1 chorizo ring (you can buy pre-cubed chorizo, which is sometimes cheaper and would save some effort)

- 2 teaspoons olive oil

- 1 15 ounce can of chopped tomatoes 

- 1 teaspoon of sugar (may sound weird, but it's amazing what a difference it makes)

- half teaspoon of salt

- half teaspoon of italian seasoning (I combine separate Italian herbs like oregano, basil and parsley, which ends up being more than half a teaspoon, but that's ok - it's difficult to have too many herbs)

- 1 cup of ricotta cheese

- 8 ounces of fresh mozzarella, cut into slices

- 1 egg

- half cup parmesan cheese

- 1 and a half pounds of pizza dough

Method

- Preheat oven to 220 degrees centigrade

- Heat a frying pan to a medium to high heat and add oil

- Once hot, brown the mince and the chorizo, breaking the mince into small pieces as it cooks 

- Once it's brown, add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and Italian seasoning or herbs, along with any extras you're putting in like peppers, mushrooms or chili

- Bring the mixture to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer. After about 7-10 minutes, once the liquid has reduced, transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool

- While the sauce is cooking, prepare the dough

- Cut the dough into six equal pieces and roll each one into a circle on a floured surface. You could transfer it straight onto grease-proof paper at this point as getting them onto baking trays while they're empty is much easier

- On each circle of dough, spread two heaped tablespoons of ricotta onto one half. Cover this with a heaped quarter cup of the meat sauce mixture and then top with two pieces of mozzarella  

- In a small bowl mix egg and 1 tablespoon of water

- Brush mixture around the edges of the dough circles and then fold them in half, sealing the edges securely. Make sure they're really tight - this is where the twisting, method I mentioned comes in handy

- Brush the tops with more egg wash and sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese (I'll admit that I actually missed this stage out and regretted it later - it's the reason mine aren't all shiny)

- Cut one small slit in the middle to let out steam during cooking

- Place on a parchment lined baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden-brown

Serve, eat, enjoy

Reinventing Student Cooking

I'm a second year English and Theatre student at university with a huge passion for cooking. I'm a pretty organised person, but the default setting of my kitchen is fairly different. It's been said that I'm not exactly the tidiest of cooks. Thankfully, now I'm home for the summer it's my parents that are on the receiving end of the mess, in exchange for copious amounts of cakes, puddings and enough food to feed a small army. 

We try to stay as healthy as we can, but there are some things that should never be altered - it's pretty much blasphemous in my house to have pudding without some kind of accompaniment, be it icing, ice-cream, fruit, or (lets face it) all of the above. 

I love proper home cooking, and ever since I was little my mum has served a huge variety of food, which gave me a great way of experiencing different styles and flavours. My grandma has always said, 'if you can read, you can cook', and I've adopted the phrase as a kind of mantra. Anyone can cook anything. Including students. We've got a reputation for relying on ready-meals, takeaways and alcohol, and however much that is true for some people, I much prefer the taste of a good, home cooked meal to anything you can get out of a carton. My uni friends have laughed about how much I rely on onions, garlic, and avast stash of herbs and spices, but I don't think anyone's ever turned down a free taster of chicken curry. 

Good student cooking isn't a myth. It is possible to cook good, healthy meals on a budget without losing flavour or flare. Uni doesn't have to mean craving your mums cooking, because you can create your old favourites yourself whenever you feel like it! Honestly, cooking tea is my favourite time of day; it's the only time I can be doing something other than working and not feel guilty about it. The more complicated the recipe, the longer the break from reading! 

Food really can calm the soul. All cooking takes is a little bit of practice and a few willing guinea pigs!