COURGETTE SOUP

Since my previous courgette soup post I have discovered numerous versions of the recipe for courgette and cheese triangle soup.  In fact I am amazed that I had never come across it before.  Keen to have another go at it I popped down to Tesco for some ingredients.  

However I was shocked to find most of the chiller and freezer cabinets empty!  The current heatwave seems to have caused a problem and they had been cleared.  Fortunately the cheese section was still functioning so I was able to get my “Laughing Cow” triangles. 

Like so many recipes, there are lots of different versions of it.  My friend who first told me about the soup gave me her recipe and she adds crème fraîche at the end for even more creaminess.  She cooks the courgettes in stock, not butter.  Some recipes add the cheese triangles at the start, some melt them in at the end of cooking.  Others include garlic, onion or spring onion.  In the end I took elements from a number of recipes and it was delicious; a delicate flavour and gorgeous creamy texture.

I ate it warm on day one and cold from the fridge with some chopped chives as garnish on day two.

Ingredients

5 courgettes, wiped (mine were huge so I used 3)

5 Laughing Cow or other cheese triangles

3 tsp Marigold stock powder, or a stock cube or pot

2 large knobs of butter

chopped chives or spring onions to garnish (optional)

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Chop the unpeeled courgettes and cook gently in the butter on low heat until beginning to soften.  This is the stage at which many recipes add a chopped onion, chopped spring onions or crushed garlic.  I omitted them.

Add the stock powder and cover with water.  Stir well and simmer gently, covered, for about ten minutes until the courgettes are tender.  Add the cheese triangles and stir until they are melted in.

Blend in the pan using a stick blender (or transfer to a food processor/blender) and blend until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm or cold.  Garnish with chopped chives or spring onions (optional)

Serves 4

BANANA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

A very delicious banana cake!

Back in the UK for a spell I did my customary sweep of the five local charity shops.

I found three cookbooks at £1.50 each.  They all appeared to be brand new.

The one entitled "the baker" is very much a "how to bake" book not just a collection of recipes.

The recipe for banana upside down cake caught my eye.

On the way home from the charity shop I called for some milk at the corner shop and spotted two bunches of bananas reduced in price so that clinched it!

The recipe said to line bottom and sides of the cake tin but I opted for using a circle of paper that was bigger than the tin and therefore came up the sides a bit.  It seemed to work.

The recipe said to use a 20cm tin which to me seemed a bit small.  I couldn't fit the right number of bananas in the bottom and also the quantity of mixture filled the tin more than I would normally do.  I came to the conclusion that 20cm was a mistake and would use a 23cm tin next time.  

It produced a very deep cake which dipped alarmingly in the middle!  The picture in the book shows a shallower cake with more sliced bananas on top, lending weight to my theory that the tin size stated was incorrect.

The recipe also included a lot of sugar and less flour than I would have expected.

However, the cake looked stunning and tasted divine!

It was very sweet and very bananery.

In the book it says it should be eaten on the day of baking.  Certainly the next day it was a bit more moist but equally delicious and the day after that made an excellent pudding warmed and served with ice cream!

I would definitely make it again - it would be good for a cake sale - but I would use a larger tin and possibly slightly less sugar.

Ingredients

For the banana topping

50g unsalted butter, melted

60g light soft brown sugar

6 large ripe bananas, peeled and cut into half lengthways

    (Using the size of tin stated I only fitted in 3 medium bananas)

For the cake

125g unsalted butter, softened

230g light soft brown sugar

2 eggs (I used medium)

185g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed (mine were medium)

Method

Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin.  I used a springform tin and see my notes about the size of tin and lining above.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan.

Pour the melted butter over the base of the tin and spread out with the back of a spoon if necessary to make sure the whole of the base is coated.  Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top.

Arrange the cut bananas in a pattern over the top of the sugar, cut side down.

To make the cake, using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar until lighter and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour and baking powder over and fold in, followed by the mashed bananas.

Spoon the mixture carefully over the sliced bananas and level the top.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake passes the skewer test.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out upside down onto a wire rack to cool.  Sit the rack over a dinner plate to catch any drips of the topping.  

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.  Best eaten on the day it is made (see my notes above).

SMOKED SALMON PATÉ

 

Every so often I make smoked mackerel paté which you can see here.  This time I had some smoked salmon in the freezer so I decided to use that instead.  I also looked for a different recipe and adapted this one by Paul Hollywood from the BBC Food website.

It was easy to make, perfectly delicious and kept for a few days in the fridge.  We had ours with some toasted walnut bread and a glass of something chilled.

I recently spotted a very similar recipe where Boursin cream cheese with garlic and herbs is used instead of plain cream cheese, which sounds delicious.  See here.

Ingredients

200g (or one pack) sliced smoked salmon

100g full fat cream cheese

100g full fat crème fraîche

1 lemon (zest of the whole lemon, juice of half)

2 tsp creamed horseradish or horseradish sauce

1 tsp mustard

Chopped fresh dill (optional)

Method

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth.  Stop the machine when the texture still has some flakes and lumps. 

Season with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice, horseradish and mustard to taste.  

Chill in the fridge until needed and serve with toast, crusty bread or croutons.

Serves 6-8 as a starter, 2-3 as a filling for jacket potatoes.

CREAMY COURGETTE AND LEEK SOUP (soupmaker recipe)

 

A friend was waxing lyrical recently about a soup that she used to order in a local restaurant, now long since closed.  The chef divulged the recipe to her and she makes it for herself in a saucepan fairly often.  It seemed to consist of principally courgettes and cheese triangles!

With some courgettes and cheese triangles in stock I decided to have a go and see if I could make it in the soupmaker.  I added a leek and some potatoes because I thought it could be quite bland and a bit thin without them.

It turned out to be a delicious soup with a delicate flavour.  It wasn't especially cheesy but very creamy.  Definitely one to make again and a neat trick in using the cheese triangles to add creaminess.

Ingredients

2 large courgettes, washed

1 leek, washed

2 medium potatoes

4 cheese triangles (such as Laughing Cow)

1 vegetable stock pot

Method

Prepare and chop enough veg to fill the machine to the bottom line.

Add the cheese triangles, the stockpot and enough water to fill to the top line.

Cook on smooth.  Season to taste when done.

Makes 4 generous portions or 6 as a starter.

LEMON SYLLABUB

 

A little while ago I made lemon posset for a dinner party dessert.  You can read about that here.  I served it in a variety of small, dainty cups and glasses.  

Then a couple of months ago I acquired some more small Pyrex glass cups at a village brocante which would also be perfect for the dessert.  You can read about that here.  My thinking was white china cups for the ladies, plainer glass ones for the gentlemen, corny and old fashioned I know but I didn't have a full set of either so a mix and match would be fun.  They are both roughly the same capacity.

The next time I had it in mind to make lemon posset I was looking for the recipe and came across one for lemon syllabub instead.  I wondered what the difference was.

Essentially, for lemon posset you cook the cream and mix in lemon juice.  For lemon syllabub the cream is not cooked but you make a lemon syrup and also include some sweet white wine which appealed to me!  (Other recipes I have seen online suggest just using ordinary white wine.)

Mary Berry's recipe for it is in her book "Classic Mary Berry" and also on the BBC website as a video which you can see here.  Interestingly in the book the recipe suggests leaving the syrup to infuse for at least an hour or even overnight whereas in the video you combine it with the whipped cream as soon as the syrup has cooled.  

To whisk it up I used what I call my "spider whisk" because it reminds me of the ginormous spiders we get here in France.  You push the handle down and the spider bit twizzles round at huge speed, making it very effective as a hand whisk.  I was pleased to find that even French double cream whipped up quickly using it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other day I found a set of ten of these little glass sundae dishes in a UK charity shop. 

They cost next to nothing and are perfect for the next syllabub!

(Or ice cream, or chocolate mousse.)

Ingredients

1 lemon (well scrubbed if not unwaxed) rind and juice

100ml sweet white wine

75g caster sugar

300ml double cream

Method

First, make the syrup by peeling strips of rind from the lemon as thinly as possible using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife.  Put the rind into a small saucepan with the lemon juice, sugar and wine.  Bring to the boil gently and once the sugar has dissolved simmer for a few moments.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Strain the cooled syrup into a bowl but reserve the peel.

Add the cream to the bowl and whisk until it just holds its shape, ie until thicker but still floppy, not stiff.

Divide the syllabub evenly between six cups, glasses or ramekins,  dropping a dessertspoonful at a time into each one.  

Cut the lemon peel into thin strips and use to decorate the syllabub.  Chill in the fridge for a minimum of two hours.  The dessert is ideal for making the morning or day before you need it.

You could also decorate it with a sprig of mint, a few raspberries, sliced strawberries or edible flowers such as violas.

Serves 6.

RHUBARB GALETTE Chez Panisse

 

One lovely warm evening last summer we were invited out to dinner by some Irish friends.  For dessert they served "rhubarb galette Chez Panisse", a recipe from a famous restaurant in California that I had never previously heard of.  It was utterly divine, in a very rustic looking way, and I knew that one day I would have a go at making it myself.  

We have never been able to grow our own rhubarb in France but our friends who live only a few kilometres away have two thriving plants so I cadged some of theirs to make the galette.  The rhubarb plant we have in the UK does really well in the much cooler and damper climate so whenever we make the trip there we bring some back for the freezer.  A bundle of rhubarb has caused our cabin bag to fail the scanner test at the airport more than once and produced a few raised eyebrows amongst security staff and fellow passengers!

The recipe comes from a book by Rick Stein called "the road to Mexico".  I found a copy in a local charity shop but you can also see the recipe online here.

I don't often make my own pastry these days.  

I used my measuring mat to roll it out to a reasonably shaped circle.

The next step was to arrange pieces of rhubarb in the right pattern on the pastry.

The edges are then folded over and crimped.

Mine didn't look quite as neat and tidy as the picture in the book.

However, it tasted delicious and I would definitely make it again.

A word of warning though.  Rhubarb produces quite a lot of liquid when cooked.  My largest baking sheet, just big enough to accommodate the tart, was very flat and it warped slightly in the oven.  Rhubarb juice was running off the tart onto the oven floor for a while before I realised what was happening, producing one heck of a sticky mess.  I put a roasting tin on the shelf below to catch any further drips but not soon enough to prevent a serious oven cleaning session the next day.  Oh well, the tart was worth it and the oven was ready for a clean!

Next time I will be aware of this and maybe make a smaller tart that fits onto a baking sheet with more of a lip, such as a pizza baking tray.  Or, thinking about this later, I could have baked it on the large Denby platter that I served it on as it is ovenproof, would not have warped and has a lip that would retain any juices.

*I had a mishap when making the glaze, took my eye off the ball and ended up with unusable solid caramel.  So, I drizzled some golden syrup over the tart instead!  Next time I might miss this step out completely as I suspect the tart would be plenty sweet enough without it.  I shall report back!

Ingredients

For the pastry

225g plain flour

pinch of salt

170g cold unsalted butter, cubed

80ml ice cold water

For the filling

500g rhubarb, washed and cut into 6cm (4") batons (keep the trimmings)

zest of 1 orange

200g granulated sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbslp dessert wine (I used sherry)

juice of 1/2 an orange

30g unsalted butter, melted

30g caster sugar

For the glaze*

75ml water

2 tblsp granulated sugar

the rhubarb trimmings, chopped

Method

In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt for a few seconds.  Add the butter and process briefly.  Add the water and process until the pastry just comes together.

Transfer the pastry to a floured work surface and knead briefly.  Pat into a disc then place it on a sheet of lightly floured baking parchment.  Roll it out into circle measuring 35cm and 4-5mm thick.  Lift the paper onto a suitable baking sheet (see my note above) and chill in the fridge while you prepare the rhubarb.

Put the orange juice, zest, granulated sugar and wine into a bowl and mix together.  Add the rhubarb pieces and toss around so that they are well coated.  

Preheat the oven to 220°C / 200° fan.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and arrange the rhubarb pieces on top as in the picture, leaving a border of 5-6 cm around the edge.  Trim the fruit as necessary to fit and save the trimmings.  Sprinkle any residual sugar mixture on top.  Fold the pastry border over the rhubarb and crimp the edge.

Brush the fruit with about 1/3 of the melted butter and sprinkle over about 1/3 of the caster sugar.  Repeat twice so all the butter and sugar are used up.  (I misread this step and used all of the butter and sugar in one go.  I'm not sure it made a significant difference.)

Bake the galette for 10 minutes then lower the oven temperature by 20° to 200°C / 180°fan.  Bake for a further 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.  Keep your eye on it and don't let it brown too much.

When the galette is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool while you make the glaze.

Put the rhubarb trimmings into a small pan and cook until soft with the water.  Lift out and discard the rhubarb and add the sugar.  Continue cooking until the liquid is reduced to a thick syrup and brush it over the rhubarb.  (See my notes above*.)

Serves 8.

QUICHE OF THE DAY - LEEK, BACON AND ASPARAGUS

The asparagus season is well under way and I bought a large bundle on the market.  I added sliced leek, chunky smoked lardons and a sprinkling of Emmental cheese for a delicious and filling quiche.

The circles of ready made, ready rolled pastry here in France is large enough to allow an overlap of my 20cm tart tin.  This prevents the pastry from shrinking away from the edge during blind baking.

Sitting the tart tin on a baking sheet avoids accidents where the loose bottom of the tin is pushed up through the pastry when lifting it in and out of the oven.

It has happened to me!

The quiche puffed up during baking but sank back down again as it cooled.

Ingredients

 

1 ready made pack of shortcrust pastry

8 sticks of asparagus, trimmed and halved

1 pack of smoked lardons

1 large leek, trimmed, cleaned and sliced thinly

4 eggs

2 tblsp cream or crème fraîche

about 200ml milk

a handful of Emmental cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease the base and sides of a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Allow the pastry to come up to room temperature to avoid it cracking when you unroll it.  Line the tin with the excess draped over the edge, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans.  Blind bake for 15 minutes.

While the pastry is baking, cook the lardons in a frying pan on gentle heat.  There should be sufficient fat on them but add a little oil if necessary.  Add the sliced leeks and cook until almost tender.

Cook the asparagus spears in a little boiling water for a few minutes until just tender.

Remove the tart from the oven and lift out the paper and beans.  If the pastry looks damp, return to the oven for another five minutes.

Beat the eggs in a measuring jug with the cream or crème fraîche and make up to 400ml with the milk.  Season with pepper but go easy on the salt as the lardons will be salty.

Spread the leek and lardons mixture over the pastry case then arrange the asparagus on top.  Pour the egg mixture over but don't over fill.  Liquid spilling over the top of the case will cause the pastry to stick to the tin like glue!  

Sprinkle with the grated cheese and return to the oven.  Reduce the temperature by 20° to 180°C / 160° fan and bake for around 30 minutes until lightly browned and set.  There should be a slight wobble but no liquid in the middle.  

Remove from the oven and whilst still warm trim off the excess pastry with a small sharp knife before turning out onto a plate.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cuts into 6 slices.

FRIDGE BOTTOM FRITTATA

As time goes by we have become more adept at using up what we have in stock rather than shop for more food.  There are several reasons for this.  

The first is probably because we have more time to cook.

The second is that in France we live a good distance from any shops.  There is a village shop which sells a limited range of basics about 3km away but a supermarket selling everything is at least a twenty minute drive away.  We therefore shop less frequently and make sure we use everything up.

The third is that out here in rural France fresh produce does not seem to keep as long as stuff that we used to get from say Tesco or Sainsbury's.  I don't know why that is but we find ways to use up leftovers and veg before they become too tired.

The fourth is thrift.  Now that we are retired we have to be a bit more careful.  We enjoy eating out and balance the cost of that with sensible shopping.

The fifth is to avoid waste, for all the reasons above.

 

There are several ways to use up random leftovers of cooked or raw food.  You can make them into soup, into a quiche, in a salad, a gratin, or one of our favourites, a frittata.

This one had in it leeks, broccoli (stalks and florets) cherry tomatoes, courgettes and cooked brussels sprouts plus leftover bbq bits and pieces including smoked sausage and baby potatoes. You could add any herbs or spices, fresh or dried, or chilli flakes.

As a friend of mine used to say, if you have eggs, you have dinner!

Ingredients

1 leek, trimmed and sliced thinly

a few cherry tomatoes, halved

a handful of broccoli florets and the stalk, trimmed and sliced

a piece of cooked sausage

1 courgette, washed and sliced

a few cooked leftover sprouts, halved

4 eggs beaten

1 tblsp crème fraîche or cream

Herbs, fresh or dried

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180 fan.

Cook the broccoli in boiling water for a few minutes until tender.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan with an ovenproof handle.  Cook the leeks and courgette until tender. 

Add the tomatoes, potatoes, sprouts, broccoli and sausage and stir into the pan.

Beat the eggs with the crème fraîche.  Season with salt and pepper and add a few chopped herbs, fresh or dried if you like.

Pour the egg mixture over the veg mixture and heat gently until the bottom is cooked but the top still liquid.  

Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set.  If you don't have a frying pan with a metal/ovenproof handle, you can cook the whole thing in the oven, just tip the veg etc into a baking dish or tray, pour the egg mixture over and cook in the oven for a little longer.

Serve hot with salad or other veg.  Also good cold.

Serves 2-3, depending on what you serve with it.

BANANA AND CARAMEL MUFFINS

 

With some bananas going past their best in the fruit bowl I looked for something different from my usual cake recipes to make use of them.

I settled on a recipe in one of my favourite books, a W.I. publication called "cakes" by Liz Herbert where they are called "Banana Banoffee Muffins".

I would normally have used some Bonne Maman caramel but have recently had trouble getting hold of it.  The French supermarkets I usually frequent no longer seem to stock it.

I mostly use it for baking - for example see here.

Consequently I have bought other brands instead.

They are not quite the same!

The caramel did sink to the bottom of the muffins as warned in the recipe!

They were however, utterly delicious!  Dead easy to make, wickedly sweet and very bananary, they were a hit with all who tried them and I still have four in the freezer for a future treat.  Yum !!!

Ingredients

225g plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g golden caster sugar

2 medium ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

2 eggs, beaten

4 tblsp sour cream or crème fraîche

½ tsp vanilla extract

80g butter, melted and cooled

10 tsp caramel spread/jam or tinned caramel

Method

First, have the butter melted and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan /gas mk 5.  Put 10 muffin cases into a muffin tin.  (My mixture actually made 11.)

Sift the flour, BP and bicarb into a large bowl.  Stir in the sugar.

Make a well in the centre and add the bananas, eggs, crème fraîche, butter and vanilla.  Fold or mix together until just combined.

Spoon the mixture equally into the muffin cases.  Make a depression in the top of each one with a spoon and drop a teaspoon of caramel into each one.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until firm and golden.  Remove from the tin to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 10 - 11 muffins.

STRAWBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

The minute I saw Dom's post about an upside down Victoria sponge (see here), I knew I had to bake one as soon as possible!  

In the end I used my usual all-in-one sponge cake recipe from Mary Berry and constructed the cake slightly differently but it looked stunning and tasted delicious!  I took it to a friend's house for a birthday dinner and it went down very well.

I was pleased with the cream filling.  Whipping up French cream to a suitable stiffness can be a challenge but combining it with cream cheese made a difference.  For once it all stayed in the cake and didn’t run out of the middle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The second time I made the cake I used a slightly smaller tin and the ingredients for a three egg sponge (175g each of flour, fat and sugar).  I had half as many strawberries so they went into one sponge tin.  I filled the cake with a good layer of strawberry jam and about two thirds of the quantity of cream filling.  I took it to an afternoon tea where it was declared a hit and there was only one slice left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next time I made the cake, this happened!

It was caused by using too many strawberries I think, plus being in a rush and removing the cake too early from the tin when it was still very fragile.  (It was for a birthday party and we were having a difficult morning with a poorly cat that we had to get to the vet urgently.)  I got away with it by using the damaged sponge as the bottom layer, sandwiching the two sponges together with plenty of whipped cream and dusting the top with icing sugar.  

It looked a bobby dazzler with birthday candles on the top.  The cake stayed together in one piece and nobody noticed.  It even survived being moved by the host from the plate I delivered it on to a cake stand!  Phew!  I have no idea how it didn't fall apart when she lifted it up - the power of whipped double cream!!

Ingredients 

For the sponges

225g each of self raising flour

                      caster sugar

                      spreadable butter, baking spread or softened butter

1 level tsp baking powder

4 eggs

a splash of milk

400g strawberries, trimmed and quartered

1 tblsp granulated sugar

For the filling

150ml double cream

100g cream cheese

1 tblsp icing sugar

Method

First of all, put the strawberries into a bowl with the granulated sugar, stir to ensure all the fruit gets a good coating and set aside while you make the cake mixture.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Grease and line the base of two 20cm sandwich tins.

Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat with a hand held electric whisk (or a wooden spoon) until smooth and well combined, adding enough milk to loosen the mixture if it is very stiff.

Divide the strawberries between the two tins in an even layer and spoon the sponge mixture on the top.  Spread out carefully so as not to disturb the strawberries too much.  Level the tops and bake for about 25 minutes until done.

Leave in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.  Remember to remove the paper lining!  Be gentle as the sponges are quite delicate and may split.

To make the filling, put all the ingredients into a medium bowl and beat together until smooth.

When the sponges are completely cold, put one onto a serving plate or cake stand, strawberry side up.  Spread the cream filling over the top.

If you feel brave, flip the other sponge and place on top of the cream, strawberry side down as per Dom's recipe.  Otherwise, place it on top strawberry side up like mine.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Cuts into 10 slices

EGGS BENEDICT

There is a salon de thé called the "Pink and Cosy" in La Roche-Posay where they serve excellent salads, cakes and light meals.  We usually go for the eggs Benedict as the eggs are always perfect and the Hollandaise sauce delicious.  

English muffins are readily available in French supermarkets so I bought a pack and decided to have a go at making eggs Benedict myself.  I used a Jamie Oliver recipe here for the Hollandaise sauce.  (This was my first time at making my own as previously I have used a packet mix.)

It took two of us to make the whole dish.  Getting the muffins toasted in the toaster, the bacon cooked in the air fryer and the eggs poached at the same time as making the sauce seemed to be a two person job.  The sauce requires the full attention of one person and the rest is a juggling act that requires a bit more practice.  Either that or two pairs of hands and eyes in the back of your head!!   However, they were utterly delicious and well worth the effort.

You can poach the eggs in advance, plunging them into cold water when just done, then reheating in simmering water for a couple of minutes.  You can even do them the day before and keep them in the fridge overnight.  

Jamie Oliver says that the way to keep your Hollandaise sauce warm is to pour it into a vacuum flask, warming it first by rinsing out with boiling water.  Or you can try keeping it warm in your bowl over simmering water by stirring every so often until you need to serve it.

Ingredients for the sauce

150g unsalted butter

2 large egg yolks

1 dessertspoon white wine vinegar

a splash of lemon juice (I used Jif lemon)

Method

Put the butter into a small saucepan and melt over gentle heat.  Set aside.

Put the egg yolks into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan containing just simmering water.  Choose a bowl that sits firmly on the rim of the pan without rocking about and make sure that it doesn’t touch the surface of the water.  Break the egg yolks with a whisk and begin whisking.  Whisk in the vinegar.

Dribble the melted butter into the eggs and continue whisking until you have a thick, glossy sauce.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately or keep warm.

For the eggs Benedict 

2 English muffins 

4 eggs

4 rashers of bacon.

 Method 

Split the muffins and lightly toast both sides.

Grill or fry the bacon until as cooked or crisp as you like it.  (I did mine in the air fryer.)

Poach the eggs to your liking (see method here).

Place a split, toasted muffin on each plate.  Top each half with a rasher of bacon then a poached egg and spoon over the Hollandaise sauce.

Serves 2.

A CHICKEN STIR FRY TRAY BAKE

 

I spotted a recipe on FB that looked really easy, quick and very tasty.

The ingredients of a stir fry but baked in the oven.

We had a couple of small chicken fillets in the fridge and all the other ingredients in stock.

We were good to go.  

The recipe included some chilli but we avoid chilli so left it out.

It was still very tasty.

We had ours with plain boiled rice.

It was very tasty, filling, quick and easy.  A perfect weekday dinner.

Ingredients

1 large skinless chicken breast

1/2 a red pepper, seeds removed 

1 small red onion 

1/2 a head of broccoli

1 200g can beansprouts, drained

1 tblsp runny honey

1 tblsp olive oil or a few squirts low cal spray

1 - 2 tsp soy sauce 

1 tsp smoked paprika

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan.

Slice the chicken and all the veg into bite sized pieces.  

Tip into an ovenproof dish and drizzle over the soy sauce and honey.  Spray with oil spray or drizzle with the olive oil.

Sprinkle over the paprika and season with salt and pepper.

Toss everything around to coat with the flavourings and bake for 20 minutes, stirring half way through, or until the chicken is cooked and the veg tender.  

(I suppose that if your air fryer basket is big enough, or if cooking for one and you halve the ingredients, you could cook this in your air fryer.)

Serves 2

AIR FRYER HERBY POTATOES and home made one-cal spray oil

When it was a really nice day recently we decided to abandon all plans for chores, gardening and DIY and have a late lunch bbq.

It being still only March we didn't quite feel like wheeling the gas bbq out of the barn and setting it all up which would have taken quite a while.  However, last year we bought a small electric bbq at a brocante for 8€ which has been a huge success so we used that instead.

We did some of our chicken, lemon and thyme kebabs (see here), a carrot and red cabbage coleslaw (see here) and some air fryer herby mini potatoes.  When the gas barbecue comes out for the year we will do our potatoes on that instead as the process is just the same (cooking the potatoes in a foil tray on the bbq) but on this occasion the air fryer came into its own and lunch was on the table (outdoors in the early spring sunshine) within half an hour.

Another thing I have started using recently is home made one-cal oil spray.  This is a tip from Nancy Birtwhistle and it works really well, makes spray oil without any additives cheaply and easily.  I bought a glass spray bottle from Amazon that has liquid measurements on the side and which makes the job of making the oil so easy.

We have found our tiny Instant Pot air fryer very useful for lots of things but wouldn't claim that we can cook everything in it.  We still use our main oven a lot.  I don't subscribe to the theory that if you have an air fryer you can do away with the oven any more than you could manage with just a microwave, or slow cooker.  I have found that different kitchen gadgets are ideal for different things but I certainly don't regret getting the air fryer.  I'm not sure I would attempt to bake a cake in it.  If there are two items that need cooking in the oven we would use that instead of the air fryer.  Horses for courses.

Do you have one and what do you use it for?

Some of the things we find it ideal for are:

Chicken fillets

Salmon fillets

Fish fillets

Sausages, bacon and black pudding

Croutons

Frozen oven chips or sauté potatoes

Baked potatoes

Baked apples 

Frozen croissants

Fish fingers

Roasted vegetables

Refreshing yesterday's baguette

Ingredients for the herby potatoes

2 handfuls of baby potatoes or any small, firm potato, washed and cut evenly to size.

spray oil

salt and pepper

dried herbs of your choice

Method

Parboil the potatoes for 5 minutes.  Drain and tip into the air fryer basket.

Spray with a few squirts of oil (or drizzle with sunflower or olive oil)  

Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over a teaspoon or so of herbs to taste.

Shake the pan a few times then cook at 180C for 8-10 minutes until knife-tip tender.  Shake the pan a few times during the cooking time.

Serves 2.

To make the spray oil

50ml sunflower oil (or other oil of your choice)

15ml cooled boiled water from the kettle

5ml vodka

Measure the ingredients into your oil sprayer and give it a good shake before each use as the oil and water will separate.  Keep in a cool cupboard, not the fridge.