Weekend Carnivore

Ever have those times in your life when you just want life to go back to normal? All the travelling I have been doing has been great (especially the nephew part of it!) but it does always shake up life a little bit. It hasn’t been the main hurdle between us and a normal life at the moment though. No, that would be the fact that our bedroom currently only has one fully standing wall!

Just a few days into the New Year, we moved some furniture in our bedroom and noticed some mold on the wall. Not just any mold but a nice black fuzzy variety that had worked its way up the back of our two wardrobes, our bedside tables and a few other items.

I have been having repository problems at night for over the last year which often would turn into morning nosebleeds. Problems which have proved baffling to various doctors who despite x-rays could find nothing wrong with my body. Gee, I wonder if I have been sleeping with my head next to this mold for so long and didn’t know it!

I would guess so. For the last month we have been having to cram all our things into our spare bedroom while the landlords drag their feet to repair the leaking roof, which apparently is the source of the problem. They have also taken three of the walls in our bedroom all the way back to the concrete brick to allow the walls to dry out before eventually (who knows when!) rebuilding them. In the time we have been sleeping in there (all our clothing in suitcases since we don’t actually have wardrobes now) I haven’t had a single night of breathing problems or any nose bleeds. I take that as proof.

In all this upturn, I haven’t done all that much proper cooking and my diet is suffering. Yesterday, I decided even if the walls are (literally) crumbling around me, I can still at least take control of what I eat.

So, back on the wagon, I go once again and started with this lunch dish. Sometimes I just need a sandwich to throw together to satisfy my grumbling tummy at lunch. It is also exactly this meal of the day where I am at most danger of reaching for meat. Aware of this problem, I have set myself the challenge of coming up with vegetarian sandwiches.

This week, I made a pickled carrot recipe as part of my monthly vegetarian recipe swap on Recipezaar. It was an intriguing concept and turned out to be rather nice. The recipe was posted on the site by Magpie Diner, who has many vegetarian and vegan recipes in her collection, and can be seen at – Carrots In Vinegar.

In the recipe, Magpie Diner suggested that they would go nicely with black olives. My brain started to work in the strange ways that it does and I wondered how the two items would work together in an egg salad sandwich.

For my British friends, in the States, egg salad is what you call egg and mayo. For my American friends, in the UK, something called egg salad would involve egg and actual salad such as lettuce. It is just one of those differences that took me a while to get used to when ordering food in the UK.

It turns out the combination worked rather well. The sharpness of the pickled carrots added a depth of flavour to the egg salad recipe. At the same time, the mellow nature of the black olives kept them from taking the sharpness over the top of acceptability.

Why not try out the pickled carrot recipe and then see what you think of them in this egg salad recipe. Otherwise, you could do this recipe without the pickled carrots and still have a nice olive an egg salad sandwich.

Vegged Out Egg Salad

Vegged Out Egg Salad recipe

Ingredients:

2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped
30 grams celery, finely diced
10 grams pickled carrots, finely diced
25 grams black olives, sliced thinly
50 grams extra light mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Mix everything together in a bowl.
2. Put between bread or stuff into pitas with some lettuce or other salad items.
3. Eat and enjoy

Makes: 2 sandwiches

I hopped across the Atlantic again this week. My younger sister gave birth to her first child on the 14th. That was followed closely by me buying transatlantic ticket to meet my nephew and help out a bit. When I spoke to my sister on the phone shortly after she had given birth, she met my call with “you have to make me cookies”. Drugs, are a wonderful thing.

After a bit of probing, we established that it was oatmeal raisin cookies that both my sister and her husband were craving. Of all the cookies in the world they could ask for, they picked one that I had never actually made myself. I went on a hunt to try to find what I thought would be the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to celebrate the birth of my nephew.

After all that searching guess what oatmeal raisin cookie I finally ended up making? The oatmeal raisin cookie recipe on the back of the Quaker Oats box! You know what though? It was a pretty outstanding cookie recipe. I guess they really do know their oats!

The best thing out them is that since they include oatmeal, you can make a fairly convincing argument that they are acceptable as a breakfast food. At least that is what I am telling myself!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Oats, uncooked
1 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Add combined flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Makes: 4 dozen cookies

Everybody loves it when they get the chance to post one of their award winning recipes on their food blog. Well, I can’t do that because while I entered this recipe into a cooking contest it didn’t actually win. However, I was really proud of it. So, I am taking this opportunity to show off my non-award winning tart recipe!

A few times throughout the year, Recipezaar hosts cooking contests that start off with all the contestants being given a list of ingredients. Right up until the great ingredient reveal, it is a complete mystery what will be on the list. Once we have the ingredients list, you then have to create a recipe using at least five of the ingredients on this list.

The list of ingredients for this latest contest was:

1. Beef broth
2. Canned tomato soup
3. Prepared yellow mustard (American mustard)
4. Sour cream~ all varieties
5. Prepared pie pastry- frozen shells, refrigerated rolled dough, or homemade (shortcrust pastry)
6. Sliced almonds
7. Prepared horseradish ~jarred, not raw
8. Balsamic vinegar
9. Blue/ bleu cheese
10. Red onions
11. Mini marshmallows
12. Brown rice
13. Plain bread crumbs
14. Shredded coconut
15. Fresh broccoli
16. Red miso paste
17. Canned salmon
18. Ground turkey
19. Liquid smoke
20. French fried onions
21. Worcestershire sauce
22. Evaporated milk ~any
23. Canned DICED tomatoes ~ no additional seasoning or ingredients
24. Flour or whole wheat tortillas
25. Pumpkin pie spice
26. Hard Pretzels ~any shape

This latest recipe contest, had the additional twist that the recipe have to fit into a specific category.

The categories we could pick from for our recipe contest entries were:

1. Appetizers
2. Brunch Buffet
3. Potluck at the Office

It is a good thing that I like a challenge because it certainly was a mixed bag of ingredients! As soon as I got the list I put my thinking cap on and I eventually came up with these balsamic onion, mushroom and blue cheese tarts.

The recipe development period of this contest took place over the build up to Christmas and the judging period took place over the holiday. So, I wanted to come up with a recipe that I thought would fit into the party season. The judging is done by the other contestants and general Recipezaar members doing blind tastings (your name isn’t on the recipe at this stage) and then rating them. So, if you want to be in with a shot you have to actually get people to make the recipe. I went with the idea of these little blue cheese tarts thinking that since they are served cold they would make good make ahead party food.

In the end, my balsamic onion, mushroom and blue cheese tarts didn’t win the contest. They did get some good reviews though and really just having people try and enjoy what I come up with for these contests is the fun part for me. That is especially true when the contest ingredients force me to learn how to prepare a recipe I would never have made without the extra push.

I was really happy with the sweet tangy taste of the balsamic onions and how well it paired with the earthy tastes of the mushrooms and blue cheese. I am sure I will be making the recipe again myself rather than just for the contest. That has to be a good sign that it wasn’t that bad! Try them and see for yourself!

Balsamic Onion, Mushroom & Blue Cheese Tarts

Balsamic onion, mushroom and blue cheese tarts

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/4 cups chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
350 grams shortcrust pastry, the store bought pre-rolled variety.
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream, reduced fat is fine (you can also use creme fraiche)
1 pinch salt
1 pinch fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
70 grams blue cheese, a nice squidgy variety

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400f/200c/gas mark 6
2. Put a pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
3. Once the butter starts to froth, put the thinly sliced red onions in and turn the heat down to low.
4. Cook, stirring often, until the onions have become translucent. This will take about 10 minutes but keep an eye on them.
5. Add the sugar and the balsamic vinegar to the onions and cook on low, stirring often for about 10 minutes until the onion mixture is sticky and the liquid thickened up.
6. Set the onions aside to cool.
7. Melt the remaining butter in another pan and cook the mushrooms for a few minutes until they have just started to change colour.
8. Set the mushrooms aside to cool.
9. Whilst the onions and mushrooms are cooling, layout your pastry. You want the pastrt to be about as thick as a pinkie finger. If your pre-rolled pastry is thicker roll it out to the desired thickness.
10. Using a round cookie cutter or a glass, cut out 12 rounds of the pastry.
11. Press each round of pastry into a hole of a 12 yield muffin tin. If your pan usually sticks, spray each hole with cooking spray before hand.
12. Next, put the egg and sour cream into a bowl with the salt and pepper and beat together.
13. Stir through the dried parsley and crumbled blue cheese. Set aside.
14. Spoon a bit of the balsamic onions into the base of each tart.
15. Top the onions with the mushrooms, trying to cover as much of the surface as possible.
16. Spoon the blue cheese mixture over the top of each tart.
17. Put tarts in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the pastry has gone golden and the cheese mixture has set.
18. Take out of the oven and allow to cool before serving so the cheese mixture can firm up a little bit.

Serves: 12

The new year has arrived and yet again many of us are hanging our heads in dietary shame. Things have been bad enough in our home that I am not even allowing myself to step on the scale for the next month. If I see the number without having a whole month to do damage control I may end up beyond depressed. If I didn’t gain ten pounds I will consider it a result. Yup, that bad!

All of which means it is time to get serious again and shift this weight. I am so sick of stagnating with my weight loss. Which is more or less what I have done for the past year. I know I can get to the finish line. It just requires me to focus and and not be sidetracked.

So, to usher back in my diet blinkers I am starting the healthy eating over with a new version of – what you must know by now – is pretty much my favourite dish. What you have to love about hummus is that once you have a basic hummus recipe down you can play with it in any number of ways. Even changing up just a few ingredients can make, what tastes like, a totally different hummus recipe.

In addition to jump starting the diet efforts, I am also aiming to use up things lurking in the back of my fridge before I allow myself to buy any ‘new and interesting’ items. I am always wanting to try new things but then I end up with half a jar of something that I don’t know how to use in enough ways to finish off.

Preserved lemons are something I was playing with not too long back. When I opened the fridge to try and brainstorm for a new hummus recipe, sure enough, that partially used jar of preserved lemons was sitting right there between the fish sauce and the the mango wasabi mustard. After a bit of contemplation, I took up the challenge.

Guess what? It turns out preserved lemons can work really well in a hummus recipe. Since both have Middle Eastern origins that shouldn’t be too shocking, I suppose. Plus, most hummus recipes include lemon juice. So, the basic flavours are already accounted for in the classic recipe.

Most things I have read about how to use preserved lemons in recipes, only includes using the skin. I couldn’t find anything about using the preserved lemon pulp but it felt so wrong to just throw them out. I threw them into the mix rather than throwing them away and it turns out that it actually really worked. I think that is because they carry the salt content. So, if you just either skip or limit the salt in the rest of your hummus recipe it works well and you haven’t wasted any of the lemon.

I have a feeling this won’t be the last hummus recipe I develop over the next year as I try to continue down the scales. If they all work this well, I will be a happy – hopefully smaller – woman.

Preserved lemon hummus

preserved lemon hummus recipe

Ingredients:
1 (400g) can chickpeas, drained but the liquid reserved
1/4 cup tahini
3 cloves garlic
2 preserved lemons, including the pulp, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons reserved chickpea juice
freshly ground pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste, if required
fresh parsley and lemon zest, to garnish

Directions:

1. Put the chickpeas, tahini, garlic and preserved lemons into a blender or food processor.
2. Blitz in short bursts, pushing the mixture down when needed until everything is combined.
3. Add the chickpea juice and mix for a few more seconds. If you want it less thick you can always add more of the juice.
4. Taste a bit and decide if you need to add any salt. If you do add the salt and pepper. If not, just the pepper and mix for a couple seconds.
5. Roughly chop parsley and zest a lemon.
6. Serve topped with the parsley and lemon

Serves: 2 to 4

I love cooking and baking for parties because it means I get to try out new recipes and share out the calories. Otherwise, the baked goodies would just sit here willing me to allow them to jump straight on to my, already too big, belly.

Since the Christmas and New Year period is the season of parties, now is the point in the year where I do most of my baking. I save up recipes from magazines and websites all year round just for this time when I can bake and taste without feeling all that guilty about it. Though, I am fully aware that my diet will return with a vengeance in the New Year as a sort of culinary rehab.

In addition to baking and cooking the Christmas recipes of others, I also enjoy creating my own Christmas baking recipes. I am much more of a cook than a baker and I always feel a bit of shock when a baking recipe I have devised actually turns out okay. This weekend, I was met with just such a moment of shock when these mocha chocolate cupcakes turned out to be pretty darn good!

The recipe is based on the idea of a black coffee cake recipe which is in a copy of an American church cookbook from 1980 that my Nana gave to me when I turned 18. The original cake isn’t decorated at all. It is simply a cake with no topping. So, not only was I nervous about turning it into cupcakes but I also wasn’t certain a topping was going to work. Yet, it turned out to work very well indeed.

Since I was making them for a Christmas party, I used food colouring to turn the buttercream frosting festive red and green. However, you could very easily skip that stage and just use the white buttercream frosting. In fact, I think if you did that and just dusted the top lightly with cocoa powder you could call them espresso cupcakes.

For these though, I carried through the coffee theme to the top of the mocha chocolate cupcake recipe by topping each off with a chocolate covered coffee bean. That may sound a tad posh but I found a whole big bag of them on sale at lidls for £1.99. Your party guests never need to know!

Mocha chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting

Mocha chocolate cupcake recipe

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup strong coffee
1 cup milk (I use semi-skimmed)

For the buttercream frosting:

1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups icing sugar (same thing as powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

To decorate:

Chocolate covered coffee beans (optional)
Assortment of edible sprinkles (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 35Of/180c/gas mark 4
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs, oil, coffee and milk to the dry mix and beat on a medium speed until well combined.
4. Line a cupcake pan with papers and pour the batter into each paper. Fill about half way up or it will spill out over the top of the paper while cooking. I got 15 cupcakes from this mix. So, you may have to bake in batches depending on how many holes there are in your tin.
5. Bake for between 15 and 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of the chocolate cupcakes comes out ‘just moist’.
6. Take out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. They need to be completely cool before you add the frosting.
7. When the mocha chocolate cupcakes are cooled, start making your buttercream frosting by putting the butter, sugar and salt in a large bowl and beat until blended.
8. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for another 3 to 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
9. If you want to make coloured frosting, divide your buttercream frosting recipe into as many bowls as you want colours. Then add a few drops at a time to each bowl and beat on low until combined. If you want a deeper colour add more drops until you get what you require.
10. Spread an equal amount of frosting on top of each mocha chocolate cupcake.
11. Decorate each mocha chocolate cupcake with a chocolate covered coffee bean and sprinkles, if using.

Makes: about 15 cupcakes depending on the size of your tin

I feel a tad bit of a fraud. A few weeks ago, I was reading a message board for UK food bloggers when I saw a post asking if anybody would be interested in reviewing a brand of yoghurt. I love trying out new things, so I said yes. A few weeks later, there is a knock at the door and 14 – yes 14 – containers of yoghurt were being delivered.

No problem there other than figuring out how I was going to use all that yoguhurt before it expired. Where I feel a bit of a fraud is that the yoghurt I was suppose to try out and review was Total Greek Yoghurt. Far from being the first time that I have tried this brand of Greek yoghurt, I have in fact been eating and enjoying Total Greek Yoghurt as part of my diet for a few years now.

In fact, if you read back through Weekend Carnivore, you will find a number of posts where I evangelize about Greek yoghurt in general. There are a variety of reasons for my tubthumping. Firstly, even the full fat version of Greek yoghurt, and especially the Total brand, is still pretty low fat. So, once you get down to the fat free – what Total calls 0% – you are at very low calories and no fat.

More importantly for me though, is that I am lactose intolerant and for some reason, when I eat Greek yoghurt I don’t react. Without sounding like a commercial – and I promise you I would never do a false review of any product – this is only the case with the Total brand of Greek yoghurt. I have tried supermarket brands of ‘Greek style yoghurt’ and I more often than not react. I won’t claim to know why and please don’t assume that it won’t be the case for you if you are lactose intolerant but it is true for me.

Apart from the healthy nature of Greek yoghurt, I enjoy using it as an ingredient because it is so versatile. I often eat it at breakfast, as you would predict, topped with fruit or even with a bit of whatever sugar free jam I have on hand swirled into the mix. However, where it really comes into its own for me is as a replacement for sour cream, creme fraiche or, even in some cases, cream.

When cooking something like a creamy sauce or curry, I will happily stir in a bit of the Greek yoghurt and get the same result. For this I would favour the full fat version since it doesn’t separate at all during heat.

As a general rule, I find that the less fat you have in the Greek yoghurt the more sour the taste and the less creamy. This is the same with Total and it simply means that where I would want to replace cream I use the full fat variety (I have used it to make homemade ice cream, for example) and when I want to replace sour cram or creme fraiche I go down to the 2% or o% varieties.

One way that I use the lower fat varieties is to cut into mayo to make lower fat coleslaw, potato salad or dip recipes. You don’t notice a taste difference but you sure do notice the calorie and fat grams difference.

To mark my mission to finish 14 tubs of Total Greek Yoghurt before their New Year expiry dates, I thought I would create a new recipe that combined two of my favourite uses for the ingredient. Spinach dip is an American party classic and every good American home cook has a potato salad recipe in their recipe arsenal too. So, I thought why not combine the two?

This was the result and I have to say I rather enjoyed it and I hope you do too!

Low fat spinach dip potato salad

Low fat spinach dip potato salad

Ingredients:

450 grams baby new potatoes, skins left on
110 grams frozen spinach
70 grams fat free mayonnaise
85 grams 2% Total Greek Yoghurt
2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon vegetable bullion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
salt and freshly ground pepper, to season

Directions:

1. Cook the baby new potatoes and let them cool slightly. I do this by steaming them for 30 minutes in my electric steamer but you could boil them too.
2. While the potatoes cook and cool, defrost the frozen spinach and squeeze out all the excess liquid.
3. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and stir really well to fully combine. Use a good amount of seasoning since there is a lot of moisture going into this recipe. However, judge how much salt you need based on how salty your bullion powder is because it can be rather salty.
4.Stir the spinach into the bowl just to combine with the mayo and yoghurt mixture.
5. Cut the baby potatoes in half width wise and fold into the spinach mixture.
6. Cover and cool in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the flavours to develop.
7. Take out of the fridge, give a good stir and serve.

Makes: 4 hearty servings

These days, two topics dominate both media coverage and personal conversations. Seriously, have any of us gone one full day in the past year without hearing anything about either the budget crisis or what is called the obesity crisis? Well, here is a recipe that, in its own way, addresses both issues.

If you want to save money on your food budget, one the best ways to do so is to make the most of your ingredients. A great deal of what most people normally throw in the trash could actually go towards making meals.

For example, instead of throwing away your carrot and onion peels, keep them in the freezer until you have filled up a freezer bag. Then use all those trimming to make a vegetable stock. Not only have you made the most of something you have already bought but you save yourself having to pay for store bought stock or stock cubes.

When, I was in the States, I discovered broccoli slaw. I guess this is something that became popular after I left the States to move to the UK because I hadn’t even heard of it until recently. Basically, it is just like coleslaw but instead of cabbage the main ingredient is shredded broccoli. It turned out to be really very tasty. Also, depending on the dressing you use for the broccoli slaw recipe it can be very healthy. Broccoli is, after all, a super food.

Upon my return to the UK, I decided to try to figure out how to make my own broccoli slaw recipe since it isn’t available in British supermarkets. When I investigated what went into making a broccoli slaw I found out that the broccoli used is actually the broccoli stem. How great is that? Something which the vast majority of us just chop off and throw away can be used to make something so tasty and healthy. You simply use a vegetable peeler to take off the top layer of the broccoli stem and then you are ready to make your broccoli slaw recipe.

So, in one full swoop you can take on both the budget and obesity crisis by making this tasty low fat and healthy broccoli slaw recipe. I cut the vegetables chunky because that way I can have it has a side dish when I want but I can also have it as a lunch salad all on its own if I desire. Plus, I am usually too lazy to pull out the food processor to shred them.

Chunky broccoli slaw with apricots

chunky broccoli slaw recipe

Ingredients:

45 grams broccoli stem
85 grams carrots
70 grams green cabbage
55 grams law fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon skim milk
25 grams dried apricots

Directions:

1. Peel the carrots and broccoli stalk and then cut them into matchstick sized pieces.
2. Use a knife to shred the cabbage and put into a large bowl with the carrots and broccoli.
3. In another bowl, mix together the mayo, mustard, onion flakes and milk until well combined.
4. Fold the vegetable mixture into the mayo mixture until all of the vegetables are covered in the dressing.
5. Slice the dried apricots into thin slices and fold into the slaw mixture.
6. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so and then serve.

Makes 2 to 4 servings

Have I mentioned before how much I love mushrooms? Well, I really love mushrooms! Whenever somebody tries to go a ‘getting to know you’ thing where they ask what your last meal would be, I always answer “I don’t know but there would be mushrooms”.

Truthfully, I haven’t met a variety of mushroom that I haven’t enjoyed. However, I may have to hide my face in foodie circles when I say that I think the good old fashion variety of mushrooms such as button mushrooms, flat mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms are the favourite. Sure, I will happily enjoy wild mushrooms or portobello mushrooms but I really think the ‘boring’ variety of mushrooms are the best for my tastebuds. Once more, they are far easier on the budget.

I think from this point forward, I am going to make a point of showing the vast array of wonderfully tasty thing that can be done with the traditional mushroom varieties. To begin this championing of classic mushrooms, I thought I would start with showing there is more that can be done with large mushrooms other than doing them in the pan as part of a fry up.

Stuffed mushroom recipes always sound daunting as a concept. I worry that they are going to be too fiddly to be worth the effort. However, that really doesn’t have to be the case at all. These chive and ricotta stuffed mushrooms are pretty darn simple to throw together and they cook fast enough to fill a sudden mushroom craving.

Really, any herbs you have around could go into this mixture. Even a slight change up of the herbs can actually make it a whole new dish. So, experimenting to find your favorite combination is very much encouraged. You will also notice, that I used dried herbs in the recipe. Fresh herbs are fantastic but I feel that the foodie world can get a bit too snobbish about using dried herbs. Most home cooks rely on dried herbs and I think anything that gets people cooking should be encouraged. Plus, the taste good when used properly. So, why not use them?

This chive and ricotta stuffed mushroom recipe works great as a light lunch. They would be at home at an evening meal too either as a starter or alongside a hearty salad for a vegetarian main course. I have made the recipe for two mushrooms. Even though I have said that is two servings, my mushroom related greed would most likely result in me eating both. Don’t worry if you need to make for larger numbers because the stuffed mushroom recipe is very easily scaled up.

Chive and ricotta stuffed mushrooms

chive and ricotta stuffed mushroom recipe

Ingredients:

2 large flat mushrooms
1 teaspoon olive oil
65 grams ricotta cheese
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon parmesan cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (gas mark 6, 200c).
2. Take the stems out of the mushrooms. Reserve these because they can be chopped up and used in things like omelettes.
3. Brush the outsides of the mushroom with the olive oil and then placed on a lined baking tray.
4. In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, garlic, chives, parsley, onion and half a teaspoon of the parmesan.
5. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Divide the mixture between the two mushroom caps, filing each with as mush as you can.
7. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining parmesan.
8. Put into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has started to go golden.
9. Serve.

Makes: 2 mushrooms

Hang on to your seat – this is going to be a long update! I haven’t posted for a little while because I have been travelling but I have returned to London and am somewhat back to normal now.

Last weekend, I celebrated my return to London by attending the Masterchef Live event which was held at Olympia. I had been to this event before but in previous years it had been called The Good Food Show after the BBC Good Food magazine. In those times, it was all very much about Ready Steady Cook but since, I guess, Masterchef is the popular cooking program of the moment they have re-branded. I can’t blame them because I do enjoy watching Masterchef and it was clear that many other people did too since the place was packed from the moment the doors opened on Saturday!

Masterchef Cook Off

We started off our day at Masterchef Live by attending a live Masterchef cook off. That really turned out to be a lot of fun! It was hosted by wine expert Olly Smith. Olly Smith will be a familiar face to anybody that watches either Saturday Kitchen on the BBC or Market Kitchen on the Good Food channel. He came off as a very likeable guy and got the audience pumped up. No small task for if being first thing on a Saturday morning.

Olly Smith at Masterchef Live

Once Olly Smith had us all warmed up, it was onto the real stars of Masterchef. Both of the judges, Gregg Wallace and John Torode came on stage carrying their Masterchef Live bags full of food. Obviously, these were going to be the ingredients available to the two chefs cooking in the Masterchef cook off. That bit did feel a tad bit Ready Steady Cook but I suppose there wasn’t much better of a way for them to bring out the ingredients.

Gregg Wallace hosting Masterchef cook off

John Torode at Masterchef Live

I can’t fully recall all of the items they had in the bags but they did include brioche, lentils, chocolate, cod and pancetta. In addition, the two competing chefs could use a variety of things such as eggs, milk and herbs and spices available in the larder (again very Ready Steady Cook in feel). The next mystery was who would be the two chefs competing in the Masterchef cook off.

I am pretty sure the pattern of contestants in our showing was replicated in the other Masterchef cook offs throughout the event. One of the contestants was from Celebrity Masterchef and the other was a past winner of the normal Masterchef series. We had the interesting pairing of Wendi Peters from Celebrity Masterchef and 2008 Masterchef winner James Nathan.

They had a few moments to contemplate the ingredients before starting to cook. Certainly, they went in totally opposite directions. James Nathan went for a cod and lentil dish with capers and peppers in the mix somewhere.

James Nathan cooking at Masterchef Live

Wendi Peters was much more vegetarian friendly by going for using the brioche to make a chocolate caramel French toast. Yummy! Given that Gregg Wallace is infamous for having a sweet tooth, that sounded like a winner. Judging by the reaction from the audience when she announced her intentions, it was a crowd pleaser too!

She certainly provided the comedy of the event by using a plastic bowl to form a double boiler for melting her chocolate. It wouldn’t take too much imagination to think that using plastic over heat would melt the bowl but she went with it until John Torode stepped in with his health and safety hat and took it off the heat.

Wendi Peters cooking at Masterchef Live

After they had used every bit of their allotted 30 minutes to cook their dishes, it was time for the all important Masterchef judging from Gregg Wallace and John Torode.

They tucked into the dish from James Nathan first and gave it very positive reviews. As James Nathan is now working at one of Rick Stein’s seafood restaurants in Cornwall, it is probably not all too much of a shock that he would have produced a good tasting fish dish.

John Torode and Gregg Wallace tasting a dish from James Nathan

They also oohed and aahed over the seriously lush looking sweet offering from Wendi Peters. Even John Torode, who usually says he doesn’t like sweet things, was very enthusiastic about it. I know, that I would have loved the chance to sample that dish. It was piled high with sticky gooey chocolate and caramel and then topped with whipped cream. Total yum and vegetarian. So, of course it would have gotten my vote.

I couldn’t get a very good photo of the dish that Wendi Peters cooked because of my location in the audience. However, I decided to share this photo of Gregg Wallace directly after he tasted it to demonstrate how much he enjoyed it. Not only can you see Wendi Peters looking a bit taken back by his reaction but you can even see a little smudge of the chocolate still on the corner of his mouth. That, is total enjoyment of a dish.

Gregg Wallace tasting Wendi Peter's pudding

Gregg and John then went into their huddle to whisper and debate who would be the winner of the Masterchef cook off. Despite the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the French toast, they awarded the win to James Nathan. Not really all that shocking since he was the actual Masterchef winner but still a lot of fun to watch it play out.

Wendi Peters and James Nathan wait for results of Masterchef cook off

Invention Test

From there, the next stop on our Masterchef Live adventure was to a viewing of the live Invention Test round. Anybody that has ever watched Masterchef on the BBC knows the invention test is really the best part of the show. A bunch of contestants show up and are presented with a bunch of ingredients and they have to quickly make something out of them. The ones that make something that please John and Gregg stay and the others are gone for good.

One of the main features of Masterchef Live was that visitors to the event could pay to take part in a mass live invention test. It was pretty costly to take part – something like £60 – but you could be in the audience and watch for a few pounds. So, we went for the audience option. Judging by the fear on the eyes of the contestants as they came out to compete, I think we made the right choice! Plus, their main ingredient was chicken which wasn’t amazingly vegetarian friendly, once again. It was still fun to watch though.

Masterchef invention test at Masterchef Live

Gregg Wallace and John Torode were back to judge the invention test and the whole event was hosted by, former Celebrity Masterchef contestant, Andi Peters.

Masterchef Live invention test hosted by Andi Peters

The invention test contestants were also provided with two Masterchef alumni as advisers. In our round, they were Wendi Peters (again) and 2009 Masterchef Winner Mat Follas. We were excited by that because all of us had been big champions of Mat Follas during his season on Masterchef and were really happy to see him win. If you have never checked out the food blog that Mat Follas does be sure to check it out now – The Wild Garlic Blog. I would love a chance to eat at his restaurant on one of my Weekend Carnivore days.

Mat Follas as Masterchef Live

Whilst the bewildered invention test contestants cooked away, Wendi Peters, Mat Follas and John and Gregg made their way around the different stations tasting and advising as they went. There was a really nice spirit of good nature to the whole event.

Gregg Wallace & Matt Follas helping invention test cooks

Without question, another highlight was the inclusion of the Bounty Ladies (now the Plenty Ladies since the name change) Brenda and Audrey. The pair were so much fun throughout the event. The reception they got shows just how many people advertising reaches!

Bounty Ladies - Brenda and Audrey

The Food

The real star of Masterchef Live was the food. The whole venue was packed full of different food suppliers and nearly all of them were offering tastings. A real treasure trove for any foodie! Whilst there certainly were a lot of meat products to taste (lots of different types of sausages) there was still a fantastic selection for anybody following a vegetarian diet.

That was particularly the case if you love cheese because you really couldn’t move without somebody offering you a stick with some fantastic (usually) British cheese stuck on the end. Most were cheddar varieties but the one that got the vote of my tastebuds was this buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke Park Farm

buffalo mozzarella at Masterchef Live

Apart from cheese, it was very apparent that different types of oil is very much on trend with foodies. All over the Masterchef Live venue, there were different types of olive oils to sample. For me though, the oil stand that was not just the best oil on offer, but also possibly the best product I sampled at the whole show was the avocado oil from Olivado Natural Nutrition

avocado oil on sale at Masterchef Live

I had never actually had avocado oil before but it was so good and I had heard about its health benefits. So, I for sure had to buy a couple bottles – one of their extra virgin avocado oil and one of their truly wonderful avocado zest oil which has a great lemony to it.

Plus, the people at the stand were so nice and friendly. They also threw in a bottle of macadamia nut oil with the bundle. So, watch this space for a ton of new recipes coming up from me using both avocado and macadamia nut oil. Seriously though, watch out because I have a hunch that avocado oil is about to become a real ‘it’ food.

friendly women selling avocado oil

Another of my favourite stalls was that of The Garlic Farm. I had seen them at a previous event and they have been stuck in my head since. They are, as their name would suggest, masters of all things garlic. Never a bad thing for me since I love garlic! Their stand was overflowing with huge stacks of garlic. Some of that was smoked garlic which smelled so stunningly good that I bought a bulb. Now, I just have to figure out how to use it. Any suggestions?

The Garlic Farm stand at Masterchef Live

A product of their’s which I have really enjoyed in the past was a banana and garlic chutney (I *know* but it really works!) called Cheeky Monkey. I was really sad that it wasn’t on sale at their Masterchef Live stand but they did have its spicy cousin called Raging Ape. I am not at all one for very hot and spicy things but I was so in love with the idea of taking home some Cheeky Monkey that I bought one of the Raging Ape. It turned out to be seriously good too and was fantastic used as a condiment on a cheese sandwich I made after the event. Really, don’t hesitate if you get the chance try this stuff. I would never have thought of garlic with banana but it really works.

On the subject of things that sound like they shouldn’t work but do, we move to the booze section of the show. There were so many free samples of booze that it would be very possible to get drunk on them alone. At a previous event, I had tried a Welsh toffee vodka called Toffoc. I am not a drinker but with just one sip I bought a bottle. The problem is, that none of my friends will try it because they have trouble imagining it tastes good.

So, I was thrilled to see that Toffoc had a tasting stand at this year’s Masterchef Live too. I insisted my friends try it and they enjoyed it. Finally, I was proven right! I bet my bottle isn’t safe this New Year’s Eve now! If you like toffee try it! We did try another toffee vodka at the show but it wasn’t as nice. So, try Toffoc first. Plus, there is always the novelty of having Welsh vodka.

Toffee vodka tasting stand

Not everything ‘different’ actually worked for me though. After having seen a lot of foodie press lately about black garlic, I was keen to try it at their tasting stand. Now, as I have said, I am a huge garlic fan. However, I am sorry to say there was nothing resembling garlic about the taste of this at all. The texture was gummy and almost similar to that of a date. The taste wasn’t all that dissimilar to a date either but a very burnt one. I am afraid this is one foodie trend I will not be following.

black garlic stand at Masterchef Live

That was our day at Masterchef Live and it really was a fantastic day out. We ate so many new things and got slightly tipsy on free booze samples. Mix that in with a bit of John and Gregg and what more could a London foodie ask for on a Saturday afternoon?

Even if you are a creative cook, breakfast can often be a bit samey. It can just be hard to find the motivation to deviate from the tried and tested when you are still waking up. Every once in a while though, I get in the mood to try something different.

Yesterday morning was one of those days and since my mother had given me a copy of the latest Hungry Girl cookbook I decided to use that to find inspiration.

Her pina colada parfait stood out for being healthy but yet something totally different than I would normally have for breakfast. I especially liked that it was full of fruit but yet looked more like a dessert than a breakfast and therefore feeling naughty but actually being healthy.

I stuck largely to the original Hungry Girl recipe but I did make one fairly big submission that I think made a whole lot of difference to the recipe. Her recipe uses Fibre 1 cereal to bring the crunch factor to the breakfast parfait. However, we don’t have that cereal in the UK and whilst I am currently visiting the States, I do want to be able to replicate recipes back home.

So, instead of going for the cereal, I toasted up some slivered almonds and used them. It worked perfectly well. The toasted nature of the almonds made the coconut yoghurt take on a toasted coconut taste which really enriched the tropical feel.

Pina colada breakfast parfait

pina colada breakfast recipe

Ingredients:
340 grams fat-free vanilla yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
2/3 cup banana, chopped
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, from a can, well drained
4 tablespoons flaked almonds, freshly toasted

Directions:

1. Put the yoghurt into a bowl and stir the coconut extract into it. Set aside.
2. Divide 1/3 of the yoghurt between two parfait sized glasses.
3. Put half the the pineapple, then banana on top of the yoghurt and then sprinkle with half of the toasted almonds.
4. Top that layer with another third of the yoghurt, the rest of the fruit, the final third of the yoghurt and finally top with the remaining toasted almonds.
5. Serve.

Serves: 2