Nigella Lawson's Jam Doughnut Style Muffins

I decided today that I wanted to do some baking with my children and I would let my 7 year old son take the reins (with me anxiously/irritatingly hovering behind him).  After searching for a new recipe, I found Nigella Lawson's Jam Doughnut Muffin recipe in my How to be a Domestic Goddess cookbook.  They turned out really well and are definitely best eaten warm.  We all agreed we would use a sharper jam next time like blackberry or blackcurrant.

 

125ml milk
85ml corn or other vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
12 tsps strawberry jam
100g unsalted butter
150g granulated sugar
Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas mark 5.

Put 9 paper cake cases in a muffin tin.
With a fork, beat together the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Stir this into the flour and caster sugar to just combine: the lumps don’t matter and overbeating leads to tough muffins. It should look like this.
Spoon the mixture into each paper cake case so that it’s just under a third full.
Then with a teaspoon add a dollop of strawberry jam and top with more muffin mix so that the cases are just about full.

Put them in the preheated oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the tops feel springy and resistant and the muffins have puffed up.
Meanwhile, melt the butter slowly in a thick-bottomed pan, and pour the sugar into a wide, shallow bowl. As soon as the muffins are ready, remove them from their moulds, brush them in the butter and roll in the granulated sugar.

Jamie Oliver's Gorgeous Greek Chicken with Herby Vegetable Couscous and Tzatziki

I got Jamie's 15-Minute Meals for my birthday and have ear-marked more than a dozen recipes to try.  The meals are very easy and quick- maybe not 15 minutes- but still quick!  I used chicken thighs instead of breasts as we find thighs more succulent.  The recipe below is a slight variation to Jamie's.

Serves 4

Couscous

• 300g couscous
• 2 mixed-colour peppers
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 4 spring onions
• 200g frozen peas, cooked
• 1 small handful of black olives
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 40g feta cheese, crumbled

Chicken

• 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 heaped tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 lemon

Tzatziki

• 1/2 a cucumber, deseeded
• 250g fat-free natural yoghurt
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 a bunch of fresh mint, chopped
• Pinch of pepper

Put half the oregano, allspice and finely grated lemon rind in an ovenproof dish.  Unroll the chicken thighs and place on top, then sprinkle on the remaining oregano, allspice and lemon rind.  Pop in the oven at 180C for 40 mins.

Put the couscous in a bowl with a pinch of salt, pour over boiling water so it is 1cm above the couscous and cover for 10 mins.  Deseed the peppers and chilli and put in a food processor with the onions.  Pulse until finely chopped.  Pour this veg until the couscous when it is cooked.  Stir and add the olives, cooked peas and feta.

Make the tzatzki by grating the cucumber into a bowl.  Squeeze out the excess water.  Stir in the yoghurt, lemon juice, pepper and chopped mint.  Serve.  I had enough couscous left over to take to work for lunch the next day :)

Lorraine Pascale's Pizza

I really enjoyed Lorraine Pascale's latest series.  She makes delicious looking recipes but at the same time makes them look achievable!  I always either buy pizza, or buy pizza dough mix but I thought I'd give making pizza dough from scratch a whirl.  The recipe can be found in her book Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food and she suggests some lovely toppings none of which I can remember right now! (I haven't got the book yet, hopefully the birthday fairy will be delivering it on Thursday!!!).

The basic recipe is

• 300g strong white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g fast action yeast
• hole in middle
• 175ml water
• 3tbsp olive oil

Mix to form ball, knead 8-10 mins by hand, divide into 3 pieces.

I then rolled the dough out thinly on a floured work surface and topped with passata, peppers, ham and mozzarella. Pop on a non-stick tray in the oven for 10 minutes at 240C.  Verdict- kids and myself loved it, the base was much lighter than a bought pizza, I'll be experimenting with more adventurous toppings next time!

Lorraine Pascale's Pizza

I really enjoyed Lorraine Pascale's latest series.  She makes delicious looking recipes but at the same time makes them look achievable!  I always either buy pizza, or buy pizza dough mix but I thought I'd give making pizza dough from scratch a whirl.  The recipe can be found in her book Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food and she suggests some lovely toppings none of which I can remember right now! (I haven't got the book yet, hopefully the birthday fairy will be delivering it on Thursday!!!).

The basic recipe is

• 300g strong white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g fast action yeast
• hole in middle
• 175ml water
• 3tbsp olive oil

Mix to form ball, knead 8-10 mins by hand, divide into 3 pieces.

I then rolled the dough out thinly on a floured work surface and topped with passata, peppers, ham and mozzarella. Pop on a non-stick tray in the oven for 10 minutes at 240C.  Verdict- kids and myself loved it, the base was much lighter than a bought pizza, I'll be experimenting with more adventurous toppings next time!

Griddled Halloumi with Roasted Vegetable Couscous

We're trying to cook at least one vegetarian meal a week at the moment and I remembered enjoying halloumi when my Mum cooked for us years ago so I thought I'd try it.  This is adapted from a recipe in my Good Food magazine.

• 1 courgette, roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 red onion, roughly chopped
• Garlic infused olive oil
• 200g couscous
• Hot vegetable stock
• 250g halloumi
• Pesto
• Flat leafed parsely
• Seasoning

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the vegetables into an ovenproof dish, drizzle with garlic oil and stir so they all get covered in oil.  Put them in the oven, uncovered for about 30 mins until they begin to brown.

Meanwhile, slice the halloumi finely and brush one side of each slice with garlic oil.  Set aside.  Put the couscous in a bowl and cover with the hot stock so the stock is 2cm above the couscous. Put a plate over the bowl and leave until the couscous soaks up the stock- about 10 minutes.

Then take the roasted vegetables out of the oven and stir in the couscous, using a fork to fluff it up first.  Stir in some chopped flat leaf parsley and season.

Heat a griddle pan and place each piece of halloumi oiled side down in the pan.  Brush the top with more garlic oil and fry gently for 2 minutes the turn over and fry for another 2 minutes.

Serve the halloumi on top of the couscous and drizzle with some pesto with some garlic oil stirred through to loosen it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the most delicious, melt-in-the-mouth cookies I have ever tasted.  I actually ate 4 in one day!  The recipe is one I adapted years ago from www.aspoonfulofsugar.net

Makes 12 large cookies

• 150g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 85g unsalted butter
• 105g light brown sugar
• 60g granulated white sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 110g milk chocolate chips

Put flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl and stir together.

Melt butter in pan and allow to cool slightly.  Add both sugars, vanilla and egg.  Beat well.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Stir in dry ingredients then fold in chocolate chips.  Do this quickly as they do start to melt!  Cover with cling film and chill dough for at least 30 minutes until firm.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Preheat oven to 190C.  Drop golf ball sized mounds of dough onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. 

Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes.  They look at feel a little underdone but they're ready.

Allow to cool for a minute or so and then move on to a cooling rack.  Then try to not eat them all at once!!!

Chicken Jambalaya

My sister-in-law recommended this recipe to me the other day. It's adapted from a recipe in Ainsley Harriot's book 'Ainsley's Friends and Family Cookbook'. I thought our children would find it too spicy but it wasn't spicy at all just really flavoursome.

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 100g chorizo sausage, thickly sliced
• 486g skinless boned chicken thighs (approx 5 thighs), thickly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunky strips
• 2 celery sticks, sliced
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 225g long-grain rice
• leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 400ml passata
• 300ml chicken stock
• salt and cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large, deep casserole dish. Fry the chicken slices until browned. Lift out and set aside.

Fry the chorizo until golden. Lift out and set aside. Add the garlic, onion, red pepper and celery then fry for 5 minutes until they are all lightly browned.

Add the chilli powder and paprika then cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the browned chicken, chorizo, rice, thyme, bay leaves, passata, chicken stock, 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.