Toad in the Hole

This is just your basic, easy peasy Toad in the Hole. No extras, no frills :) I thought I would share the recipe anyway, as everyone does theirs differently, or some may have never tried it before! Its the perfect dinner for a wet. miserable Sunday afternoon. I served mine with crushed potatoes, sweetcorn & onion gravy.

6 nice butchers sausages
75g plain flour
Salt & pepper
75 ml milk
55 ml water
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 220c. Add the sausages to an oven-proof tin, and brown in the oven for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare your batter. Sift 75g plain flour into a large mixing bowl & season with salt & pepper. Make a well in the middle & add the eggs. begin mixing the ingredients, add the milk & water a bit at a time. Whisk until all combined and no lumps remain.

remove your tin from the oven & pour over the batter immediately. return to the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the batter has all risen & turned golden.

Crushed Rosemary Potatoes

It was a cold, wet Autumn Sunday afternoon, and we all needed some comfort food. Who doesn't love Toad in the Hole? I had some lovely butchers sausages to use and made lashings of roast onion gravy to pour on top. I was going to make some traditional roast potatoes to go with it, but spotted the huge rosemary plant growing outside my kitchen window. I remembered how nice crushed potatoes with rosemary are, so that sealed the deal. I was also going to make caramelised carrots to go with it, but found my carrots were all a bit bendy and sad looking :( so a tin of sweetcorn had to be opened.

Allow 3-4 small potatoes per person
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh rosemary
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220c.
Parboil the potatoes for7-10 minutes in a pan of salted, boiling water.  Drain and allow to air dry. Toss into a large roasting tin, and squash each one a bit with a potato masher. Mash down only until it burst open then stop. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Scatter the chopped rosemary over them, and pop into the oven for 25 minutes.

Meatzza

I caught Nigellas' new cookery show, Nigelissima! the other day, and this was one of the recipes that she showcased. Always one to try something new, I wanted to try this recipe as soon as possible. I had most of the ingredienst to hand so decided to make it for our lunch today. The kids quite liked it, but I found it a bit bland. I am already thinking about what to add to the meat base to zing it up a bit, becausethe meal is a great idea (especially for low-carb followers). I missed the bread though, I felt like it needed a bun becuase it was quite like a burger. Serve it with salad for a yummy lunch idea.

500 g minced beef 
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 
2 Eggs (lightly beaten) 
1 cloves garlic (peeled) 
1 pinch of salt and pepper to taste
butter for greasing 
1 can chopped tomatoes (400g), drained 
1 teaspoons garlic oil 
1 teaspoons dried oregano 
1 ball mozzarella (not buffalo) (125g drained weight, halved then sliced) or grated mozzarella
1 bunch basil leaves


Preheat the oven to 220c. In a large bowl, mix the mince, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, parsley, garlic & eggs by hand, gently. Season with salt & pepper Try not to over mix as this will make the base too dense. Grease a small round (about 9 inch) baking tin with butter. Gently press the mince mixture into the pan, squashing into the edges.

 Drain your tin of tomatoes in a sieve to get rid of as much liquid as possible. Mix in the garlic oil, oregano and season. Spread over the meat base, then top with sliced or grated mozzarella. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out into a plate & top with fresh basil.

Net Bread (Roti Jala)

I made this to accompany the Sri Lankan curry we had for dinner. You could have it with any curry though, or even just as a snack. It makes a lovely change from naan breads. This takes minutes to mix up and just minutes to cook, so you can make them while your curry is simmering away just before serving. I used a squeezy bottle to pour into the frying pan, you could also use a piping bag with a fine nozzle.


125g plain flour
2 teaspoon curry powder
Pinch of salt
200ml coconut milk
1 medium egg
vegetable oil.

Add he flour, salt & curry powder to a measuring jug, and make a well in the middle. Add the milk & flour & whisk until smooth. Pour into a squeezy bottle or a piping bag with a fine nozzle/tip.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Swirl the mixture into the pan, in a loop the loop pattern. make sure each loop overlaps another so that it stays together. Cook for 3 minutes then flip. After another 2 minutes, tip onto a warm plate. Repeat until you have 6 or 7 net breads. Serve immediately.

Sri Lankan Chicken & Potato Curry

Flicking through my copy of Lorraine Pascale's cookbook, I found a recipe for a "really simple" Sri Lankan curry. It seemed a bit sparse to me, so I adapted it. It was quite tasty (much better than her Tikka Masala!) but was slightly hot for my tastes (a wimp!!). I also made her Roti Jala (net bread, find recipe here) to have alongside. I allowed mine to simmer for a lot longer than her recipe suggests, which made the chicken lovely & tender. I prefer the taste of a longer cooked curry. You could serve this with rice if you liked.

2 tablespoons curry powder (choose your own strength, I used mild madras)
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1-3 teaspoons chilli powder (decide your own strength)
4 chicken breasts, diced
1 medium onion, diced
Vegetable oil
400ml tin coconut milk
100ml water
1 garlic clove, crushed
5 new potatoes, chopped in half
Large handful of frozen peas
Salt & pepper

Heat a large pan on a medium high heat. Add all the dry spices & toast for 2 minutes (no oil). Add a small amount of vegetable oil & add the onion. Cook the onion until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the chicken, and toss in the spices. Cook for 4 minutes, until browned. Remove the pan from the heat & pour in the coconut milk and water and then add the garlic. Return to the heat & allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes & peas and allow to simmer for 45 minutes. Season and serve with fresh coriander sprinkled on top.

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

These look a bit messy, but taste fantastic! I know where I went wrong, I am an impatient baker & I didn't allow the caramel to cool slightly before topping the cakes. I then made the same mistake with the chocolate! Luckily this does not impact on the taste at all. The kids called these "Twix cupcakes" as the topping resembled the top layers of a Twix bar. This is the first time I have made caramel, so it wasn't bad for a first attempt. Kids can help with the cupcakes & chocolate, but it would need an adult to make the caramel as it gets very hot.


Cake mixture -

125g butter (softened)
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons orange juice

Topping -

125g caster sugar
50ml water
100ml double cream
40g butter
100g dark chocolate


Preheat the oven to 180c. Get a 12 hole cake tray ready with 12 cupcake cases.
Cream the butter & sugar together in a bowl then drop in the eggs & beat. Add the flour & cocoa powder then mix until combined. Tip in the juice & mix thoroughly.
Spoon the mixture into the 12 cake cases then put into your oven for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Tip the sugar  into a heavy bottomed pan and add the water. Allow to simmer until it turns golden, them remove from the heat. Add the cream & mix until combined and has stopped bubbling, then return to the heat for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat completely, allow to cool slightly then add the butter & mix through. Allow to cool some more before topping the cakes.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a simmering pan of water. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly before adding a dollop to the top of each cake.

Cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Slow Cooker Ribs

I nipped into Morrisons last night when I dropped off Little Bee off for her dance class, and found they had ribs on special offer. I managed to buy enough ribs (half a rack each) for £2.50! The glaze I created from store cupboard items, and knocked up a quick batch of homemade coleslaw. You can find that recipe here. I left the slow cooker on low all day (about 6 hours) and these came out meltingly soft! The meat just fell away from the bones - just how I like my ribs. I can't wait to make these again, and experiment with glazes. I love the Dr Pepper ribs, but they were chewy compared to these - I might use the sauce but pop them in the slow cooker.

What do you use your slow cooker for?

2 racks of ribs
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
4 crushed garlic cloves

Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Pop the ribs into the slow cooker, and pour over the glaze/sauce. Set to low and allow to cook for around 6 hours. Turn the ribs every 2 hours, to coat them in the glaze.

Serve with corn cobs, coleslaw & onion rings (or your own favourite side dishes).

Your favourite recipe?

Just curious, what is your favourite recipe on my blog?

Stained-glass biscuits

This is a lovely recipe that was sent to me by Whitworths along with their baking sugars, and I was eager to try it out! These both tasted lovely and looked stunning, I think these will be perfect at Christmas. You can add a loop of ribbon to hang them up! The cinnamon taste adds another Christmassy edge. These were so simple to make, and my wee boy loved helping out.  


220g butter, softened
200g Whitworths for Baking Light Soft Brown Sugar
350g plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger or cinnamon
50g Whitworths for Baking Crunchy Demerara Sugar
A selection of fruit flavoured boiled sweets in various colours


Preheat the oven to 180c. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. 
Separate the boiled sweets into colours and place in separate plastic food bags and use a rolling pin to crush into pieces approx 1cm and set aside.
Beat the butter & soft brown sugar in a bowl, until pale and creamy. Sift the flour and spice into the mixture; add enough milk to make a workable dough. Use your hands to make a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm  & refrigerate for 30 mins.
Sprinkle a little flour over the work surface, divide the mixture into 2 pieces and roll it out so that is 1/2 cm thick. Using biscuit cutters, cut out shapes. Using a smaller cutter, cut out the middle of each biscuit and sprinkle the biscuits with some crunchy demerara sugar. 
Carefully transfer the biscuits to the baking trays using a fish slice. Place one or two pieces of broken sweet into the middle of each biscuit hole.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the biscuits are just golden. Make sure the middle has set before moving the biscuits from the baking tray. 


Disclosure: I'm working with Whitworths Sugar, whose www.whitworths-sugar.co.uk site includes ideas and recipes for baking with sugar. Follow the conversation on Twitter with the #bakingS0S hash tag and @WhitworthsSugar.

Feta, hummus & courgette flatbread pizza

I am now on my 3rd batch of no-knead bread and I am still loving it! Today I used some to make a base for a flatbread pizza. This made the most delicious pizza I have ever eaten! I was wary about using hummus as a base sauce instead of tomato, but it really worked. This had a wonderful Greek taste to it, no flavour was over powering, they all just worked together to make a very tasty flavoured pizza. I will be making this again, and very soon! I had a friend over for lunch who seemed to really enjoy it too.

A hand full of no-knead dough or your own pizza base
100g hummus
100g feta cheese
10 or so cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small courgette, cut into thin strips with a veg peeler
3 mint leaves
Balsamic glaze to drizzle
Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 200c. Prepare your pizza base. If you are using the no-knead dough, roll out it quite thin & pop onto a slightly oiled pizza stone or baking tray. Top with the hummus, and spread to the edges. Add the tomatoes and courgette and season. Crumble the feta all over the top & then put into the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven & add chopped mint & then drizzle with the balsamic glaze. Cut into slices & serve with a rocket salad.