Delicious breakfast - French Toast Crumpets

Picture credit www.djfoodie.com/OMM-French-Toast

This weekend whilst staying with friends in Brighton I had the most delicious breakfast. Apparently it is a family favourite so I thought I would share the recipe here!

Ingredients:
2 crumpets per person
1 egg per person
splash of milk
pinch cinnamon
dried chilli flakes
maple syrup
*optional smoked bacon (not for me I'm vegetarian!)*

Just like making eggy bread whisk up the eggs, milk with a pinch of dried chilli flakes and cinnamon. Soak the crumpets in the chilli egg mixture and then cook them for a few minutes on each side til golden. Serve with cooked smoked bacon or as is with a little drizzle of maple syrup.

Sooo good I want to eat them everyday!

Jo

xx

Linguine alla puttanesca

One of my favourite quick dinner recipes

Recipe (for 2)

1 garlic clove
4 anchovy fillets (in a jar in oil)
shake of dried chilli flakes
tin of tomatoes - 400g
spoon full of capers
large spoon of chopped olives

150g linguine pasta (just because I like it - I think you are supposed to use spaghetti)

Cook the garlic, anchovies and chilli on a low heat til it turns into a mush and the anchovies have broken down. Add the tomatoes to the pan and simmer for 20 mins.
In the meantime cook your pasta in a large pan of salty boiling water. When the sauce is ready stir in the capers and olives and cook for another minute while you drain off the pasta. Mix and serve with a tiny squeeze of lemon, lots of black pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

I made a side salad to have with this of spinach, chopped sun dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts.

Hot, salty, spicy, delicious! What is your favourite pasta dish?

Yum

Don't mess with the chef!

Jo

xx

Llangollen weekend

Llangollen is a lovely town in north Wales with lots of vintage, antique and craft shops, real ale pubs, cafes, access to beautiful countryside with a river and canal, hills, rock climbing, castle ruins - basically the ideal place to spend a sunny weekend whatever you are into!

 Check out the long shop name - the shop next door sells the most delicious ice creams and waffles!

 Pretty little Caravan outside the market

 Entrance to the market

 Lovely old train station

 Pretty canal boats

 

Windy walk up to the castle ruins

 Castell Dinas Bran

Bridge over the river Dee

We enjoyed some real ales and REALLY good food at the Corn Mill. I had Sea Bass and bread and butter pudding - delicious!! It's just over an hours drive from Manchester - I can't wait to go back.

Jo

xx

Quick cookie recipe

Chocolate cherry hazelnut cookies
Ingredients – to make 12 BIG cookies

- 125g butter

- 100g light brown soft sugar

- 30g caster sugar

- 1 egg

- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 50g flour

- 25g cocoa powder

- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

- 130g porridge oats

- 75g chopped hazelnuts

- 100g chopped glacé cherries

Heat the oven to gas mark 3. Whip the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then add egg slowly, followed by the dry ingredients - add the nuts and cherries last. Shape into 12 balls and put on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 15 mins. Leave to cool completely then enjoy this chewy chocolaty treat!

I made these cookies last night when I fancied something sweet. They turned out pretty tasty but I think if I had some dark choc chips in place of cocoa powder they would be another level!

In other news my sour dough starter has come to life! After a couple of days it smelled pretty bad and I was tempted to give up on it. I persevered and now it smells bready and looks foamy.. just need to keep it going now til the weekend so I can make sour dough loaves.
If they turn out ok I will post the instructions I followed soon!

Jo 
xx

Homebaked Crusty Bread

2014

One of my goals for this year is to learn how to bake real bread. I love cooking and baking and somehow never tried to make bread. I decided to start with an easy no knead recipe. I remember seeing a recipe on Sandra's blog a while ago and a quick google search found it and clicked 'in english' to get the instructions!

You mix 3 cups plain flour, teaspoon of yeast, salt, 1.5 cups water, finely chopped rosemary in a bowl the day before you want to bake and leave it to prove for at least 12 hours in a bowl covered with cling film - the mixture was VERY lumpy and sticky but it is no knead so I didn't stir it too much.

The next day heat the oven - I have a gas oven so I set it to gas mark 8 and put a pyrex dish with a lid on to warm for 30 mins (Sandra uses a lovely le Creuset oval pot which we don't have so used next best thing in the cupboard!). Then flour the big mound of sticky dough and shape into a round (I used lots of flour at this stage). Very carefully drop bread into the heated dish and put the lid back on. I baked it for 30 mins with the lid on then 15 mins with it off as in Sandra's recipe. This did not look so done so I baked it for another 10 mins with the lid off. Then I put the mini loaf on a rack to cool completely.
I was pretty surprised how it turned out - it was delicious - crusty outside and soft inside.

My next goal is to make a sour dough loaf so I'm off to make my own sour dough starter!

Jo
xx

Adventures....

In San Francisco

 We stayed with Tom's family in the Castro

 Dressed for touristy adventures - pale denim dress, khaki jacket, black pumps, purse from antiform

 Caught the trolley downtown - wish our trams in Manchester were this pretty!

 Played games on old arcade machines along the piers

 Despite years of piano lessons this automatic player is the closest I've been to ivories!

 Yup went for chowder at fisherman's wharf

 Admiring fox gloves in the gardens outside

 Bit of boardwalk action - watching all the seals that live in the bay :)

Love California xxx

Diamond Jubilee baking

Back at home in Suffolk this weekend for the Diamond Jubilee festivities! We are off to a street party this afternoon and taking along these cupcakes made by my sister Jen using the weebirdy.com cake toppers! http://www.weebirdy.com/2012/05/free-printables-jubilee-cupcake-toppers-and-cake-banners.html

Castlefield Artisan Market

I spent a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon over at the Castlefield Artisan market today! I think I first read about it on Nadinoo's blog and was so glad I sought it out despite all the sludgy snow.

Top eats included a delicious pie from the award winning great north pie company, some blue stilton, and bread and cakes from of crust and crumbs. Entertainment came in the form of some great swing music and dancing from the cotton town hot club.

The market will be held on the first Sunday of each month alongside the canal near Dukes 92.

I also popped into topshop on my way home to see if I could find anything to spend my christmas vouchers on! I have been eyeing up this gogo philip necklace for a while and now it is all mine. mwah ha ha :)