Bigger, Better & Bolder Blog Launched!!

Hi all,

One final note from feedahappylife.co.uk to let you know the new blog is launched. http://www.parlourandpantry.com/ combines my growing, cooking and crafting adventures. Please take a look and if you like what you see, you can subscribe to e-mail updates on the front page!

I'm looking forward to writing about all the new things I'm learning and sharing it with you.

Huge thanks for following,
Helen x

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From feeding to leading a happy life...

A message to you lovely readers...

I've decided to take a little break. Not from cooking (heaven forbid!!), but from coordinating it in this format on feedahappylife.

I've loved writing about my recipes, it's provided a real focus for all my cooking efforts. That said, the more I've tried to structure it into something that's useful for my readers, the less I've been experimenting and failing and learning!!

I love, love, love cooking for people. Entertaining and creating menus is what makes this all really special for me. However, I also want to expand my skills... I want to grow the food I serve and craft the table linens that people eat off! I want to style tables so people are excited to come in to eat, and not just because they can smell what's in store!

This all takes time - I need to learn!! So I'm taking a break to do so and will rejoin the blogging world when I have something relevant and interesting to share.

Until then, I leave you with today's experiment.... Bundt Cakes..... and bid you adieu

Happy cooking,
Helen x

...My new, special cake pan....



...Creates beautiful, playful cakes...

...Just waiting to be iced and enjoyed...



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Inspired by Italy: Baked Ricotta Cakes and Berry Sauce

Here comes the final dish from this week’s Monday Menu; Baked Ricotta Cakes with Berry Sauce

This dessert is a really quick elegant dish to serve. If you want to prepare ahead, it can also be served cool, however with the nights drawing in, I’m looking for all the warmth and comfort I can get, so fresh from the oven is best for me.
The choice of fruits for the sauce is a personal preference. I always have bags of frozen berries stashed away, so my choice is driven by ease, but you can vary this however you wish. A warm cherry compote would be a really nice accompaniment.

I think this follows the pasta dish nicely, because it’s not too heavy or too creamy. Follow with a cup of good coffee and you’re done!

NB - I cooked these for a little too long and they have not photographed amazingly well (sad Helen!)

Enjoy cooking,
Helen x

Baked Ricotta Cakes and Berry Sauce

Ingredients

• 250g ricotta
• 2 egg whites (beaten)
• 4 tbsp honey
• 450g berries (defrosted if frozen)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180c/GM 4 and grease 4 ramekins

Step 2: Mix ricotta with beaten egg whites and 3 tbsp honey until smooth and combined

Step 3: Spoon ricotta mix into small ramekins and level tops. Bake for 20 mins or until golden

Step 4: Heat ¾ of the fruit in a saucepan until softened, press through a sieve and add 1 tbsp honey to sweeten

Step 5: Serve ricotta cakes with berry sauce and a scattering of remaining berries

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Inspired by Italy: Scallop, Fennel and Bacon Linguine

Here is the main course from this week's ‘Monday Menu’; Scallop, Fennel and Bacon Linguine.

This originally began life as a starter, where I served it without the linguine. With the addition of wine and a little extra mascarpone though, it creates a lovely sauce destined to coat lengths of pasta. That said, if you like the flavours, I can recommend serving as a starter with slices of toasted ciabatta drizzled with your best oil.

You can use streaky bacon or pancetta in the recipe, I've gone with pancetta to stay with the Italian theme, but if you prefer bacon, it's just as nice!

One thing worth noting though before you approach with gusto….This all comes together very quickly at the end and there is a risk of overcooking or ingredients getting cold if you don’t apply a little bit of organisation! I recommend pre-reading the steps so you’re ready for action and then it should be easy.

Enjoy cooking,
Helen x

Scallop, Fennel and Bacon Linguine

Ingredients

• 2 fennel bulbs (sliced and trimmed)
• 130g mascarpone
• 150ml white wine
• 16 fresh scallops
• 75g streaky bacon (or pancetta)
• 500g fresh linguine
• 1 lemon

Step 1: Boil the fennel slices in water for 3 mins and drain

Step 2: Place fennel slices in shallow dish, dot with mascarpone, pour over wine and season. Place under a grill until golden and bubbling (5 mins)

 

Step 3: At the same time, fry the bacon/pancetta until crispy

Step 4: Add the linguine to a pan of salted, boiling water (follow pack instructions for cooking time) and remove and drain when cooked

Step 5: Add the scallops to the same pan and fry in the bacon/pancetta fat (add olive oil if needed). Fry scallops until golden (3 mins on each side at a medium high temperature should be sufficient).

Step 6: Plate up. Scoop pasta onto serving dish and top with fennel and the wine/mascarpone sauce. Place over the top a few slices of bacon/pancetta and 4 scallops per person. Squeeze over lemon and season to taste

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Inspired by Italy: Butter bean, sun-dried tomato and pesto soup

So, here is the first course of this week's Monday Menu; Butter bean, sun-dried tomato and pesto soup.

Generally I'm loathe to serve soup as a starter as I find by the time I've eaten it, I'm too full to do justice to the remaining dishes. That said, this menu is quite a light affair and I think the soup has it's place both in it's offer of flavour, warmth and substance.

This recipe is easy and quick! You can prepare and serve in less than 10 minutes, which makes the whole '3-course dinner' a more manageable experience, even on a school night!

Butter beans are so versatile and I often use them in dips, stews and salads. In a soup, they add a certain creaminess without the expected fat content. One note on the ingredients to consider.....Using both stock and pesto can make the dish quite salty, so adjust to taste and add any seasoning at the end.

Enjoy cooking,
Helen

Butter Bean, Sun-dried Tomato and Pesto Soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 900ml Vegetable stock
• 2 x 400g Butter beans (drained)
• 4 tbsp Sun-dried tomato puree
• 5 tbsp Green pesto

Step 1: Boil stock and butter beans for 2 minutes

Step 2: Add pesto and tomato puree and simmer for 5 minutes

Step 3: Blend soup to a smooth consistency

Step 4: Season and serve

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The Monday Menu: Inspired by Italy

I love all things Italian....the cities, the countryside, the shops, the passion, the culture, the wine but most of all the food.

From heavy Tuscan stews to light, summer salads, I think the Italian's do it best.

For this menu, I wanted to capture some of those clever flavour combinations in dishes that transitioned us from Summer to Autumn. With the change of temperature, I want more than a selection of antipasti but I'm not yet cocooned enough for dense casseroles. Hence, I've tried to reach a middle ground with this menu.

I also wanted something quite easy. I've got a busy week ahead and need dishes that can be ready in less than 30 minutes and these meet the requirement.

As ever with the Monday Menu, the recipes are designed to be served together but they certainly don't have to be. I'm making extra soup and freezing it, for late-night quick consumption.

Dishes will be posted with the step-by-step photo guides throughout the week and you'll find the shopping list for the whole menu below, to make it easy to get started.

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Inspired by Italy

Starter: Butter bean, sun-dried tomato and pesto soup

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Main: Scallop, fennel and bacon linguine

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Desserts: Baked ricotta cakes with berry sauce

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Shopping List: Inspired by Italy

Don't forget to sign-up for e-mail updates to ensure you receive all of the photo guides.

Happy cooking,

Helen x

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Lebanese Feasting: Sticky Cardamon Buns

Here's the final recipe from Monday's Lebanese Feasting menu; Sticky Cardamon Buns.

This is my favourite recipe (from Delicious Magazine 2010) of the three in the menu, partly because I have a sweet tooth and partly because the flavours just work so well. As ever, I think making any bread based dish with kneading, rising and resting is a labour of love and 'kneads' (forgive the pun) to be worth the effort. This one certainly pays dividends and offers lots of scope for non-Lebanese variation....

Next time, I'm going to try an apple butter, cinnamon and raisin combination. Closely followed by a Nutella and chopped hazelnut calorie-extravaganza. Yum!

Enjoy cooking,
Helen x


Sticky Cardamon Buns

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter (50g cubed, 50g softened + extra for greasing)
• 450g strong white bread flour (+ extra for dusting)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g sachet fast-action yeast
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 225 ml milk (warmed)
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp unsalted pistachios (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp cardamom seeds (roughly crushed)
• 50g sultanas
• 50g currants
• 50g light muscavado sugar

Step 1: Grease large, deep square cake tin (suggest 23cm) with butter

Step 2: Rub flour and butter (50g cubed) together to make fine crumbs and stir in dried yeast

Step 3: Whisk sugar and egg and add to flour mix. Gradually add milk (you may not need it all) and pull mixture together into a soft dough

Step 4: Knead dough (by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook attachment) until it feels smooth and elastic (about 15 minutes). Cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour (dough should double in size)

Step 6: Give the dough a gentle punch to release the air and roll out on a floured surface. You're aiming for a rectangle about 25cm by 35cm (rough 3/4 cm thickness). Trim the edges if required to get the right shape.

Step 7: Spread to remaining 50g of softened butter over the pastry and then scatter over the muscavado sugar, raisins, currants and crushed cardamom

Step 8: Roll-up lengthways

Step 9: Slice into 9 evenly sized rounds and place in tin. Leave for 45 minutes in a warm place to rise

Step 10: Preheat the oven to 180c/ GM 6 and bake the buns for 30 minutes or until golden (don't overcook though).

Step 11: Remove from oven. Leave in cake tin, spread honey and scatter pistachios over the top and leave to cool for 10 minutes

Step 12: Remove from the tin and serve (great with mint tea!)

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Lebanese Feasting: Spicy Lamb Tart

Time for the main course element of this week's Monday Menu, Spicy Lamb Tart.

I don't ordinarily have much use for lamb mince, favouring lean beef is ever the need arises for it within a dish. However, the lamb definitely adds the perfect flavour to this tart (recipe adapted from Delicious Magazine 2010).

This dish has layers and layers of flavour from the pomegranate molasses, cinnamon, chillies, allspice and herbs that are added throughout. Whilst that means it does take a little time to get ready, it's not complex and the aromas and taste are definitely worth it.

I bought my pomegranate molasses some time ago from Sainsburys (look for it in the 'World Foods' section). If you buy some for this recipe and have no idea what to do with it afterwards, there are some good recipes here.

This tart will feed 4 people with sides of fragrant rice and a green salad.

Enjoy cooking,
Helen x

Spicy Lamb Tart

Ingredients

• 375g ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 tbsp polenta
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 400g lean lamb mince
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 red chilli (chopped)
• 1 green chilli (sliced)
• 25g pine nuts (toasted)
• 200 ml chicken stock
• Bunch of flat leaf parsley (chopped)
• Bunch of coriander (chopped)
• Handful pomegranate seeds
• Olive oil

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180c/GM 6

Step 2: Sprinkle polenta on a baking tray and lay pastry over the top. Score a border about 3 cm in from the edge and brush with beaten egg (try not to get egg in the scored line). Place in oven for 15 minutes until pastry is light-gold in colour (not brown) and remove.

Step 3:  Whilst pastry is in the oven, soften the onion in a glug of olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the lamb and cook through until browned (about 5 minutes). Then add spices, pine nuts, molasses, stock and chopped chilli. Simmer for 10 minutes until stock has reduced and sticky lamb mix remains.

Step 4: Add chopped herbs (reserving some parsley) to the lamb and spread over centre of the golden pastry, laying the sliced chilli on top.

Step 5: Return tart to the oven for 10 minutes more, until pastry is a deep golden colour. Remove and top with pomegranate seeds and remaining parsley.

Step 6: Slice and serve with chosen accompaniments.

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Lebanese Feasting: Home Made Cumin Flat Bread and Coriander Houmous

Today, I'm sharing the starter recipe that forms part of Monday's 'Lebanese Feasting' Menu.

I chose this for a starter as a light option, given the main is lamb and the pudding is sticky buns! I also wanted to try to make flatbreads, something I usually buy.

I like that the flatbreads take minimal kneading and only need 15 minutes to rest, so they are pretty quick to do. Taste wise, the cumin adds something extra than the normal wholemeal variety.

I think it's best to make the houmous first and then you can chill it while you get busy with your flatbreads. The recipe makes 6 large flatbreads and ample houmous to go round! You'll need to get hold of tahini to make your houmous. Tahini is a creamy sesame paste, available from delis and large supermarkets. I found mine near the pulses in Sainsbury’s if it helps!

Hope you enjoy making, next up....Spicy Lamb Tart!

Coriander Houmous

Ingredients

• 400g tin chickpeas (drained)
• 3 tbsp tahini
• bunch coriander (rough chopped)
• 1 lemon (grated and juiced)
• 100ml olive oil
• salt (to taste)

Step 1: Add all ingredients, excluding oil, to a food processor and blend until combined to a rough puree

Step 2: Leaving the food processor on and slowly poor oil into your mix to combine

Step 3: Add water and blend to loosen if required (I needed about 15ml)

Step 4: Add salt and additional lemon to taste

Step 5: Remove from processor and chill


Cumin Flatbread

Ingredients

• 125g wholemeal flour
• 125g white bread flour (+additional for dusting)
• 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

Step 1: Combine all ingredients, excluding oil, and combine with sufficient water to make a dough (likely to be 200-300ml)

Step 2: Knead your dough, either with a mixer and dough hook or by hand, until smooth

Step 3: Knead in 2 tbsp olive oil and leave to rest for 15 minutes

Step 4: Divide into 6 balls and roll out onto a floured surface to a thickness of about 2mm

Step 5: Heat a pan to a high heat and a rolled flatbread. After 2-3 minutes it will start to bubble. Flip over and toast for another 2-3 minutes. Remove, set aside to cool and repeat with the remaining 5 flatbreads

Step 6: Serve with heapings of houmous!

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The Monday Menu: Lebanese Feasting

I'm really excited to present the first of many 'Monday Menus'.

This week, I'm passionate about flavours and fragrance and aim to create dishes with evocative scents and fresh, punchy tastes.

I'm not experienced with Middle Eastern cuisine, so this is a straight-forward menu, with easy to obtain ingredients.

It's designed to be eaten with your hands, so expect and enjoy the messiness (accessorising with low tables and floor cushions optional!).

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Lebanese Feasting

Starter: Home Made Cumin Flat Bread and Coriander Houmous

Main: Spicy Lamb Tart

Dessert: Sticky Cardamon Buns

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Of course, now you'll be needing a shopping list to make sure you've got everything ready before you commence cooking! Click on the link below to find out what you need:

Shopping List: Lebanese Feasting

Recipes will be sent throughout the week. Don't forget to sign-up to e-mail updates to make it all super easy to get the new recipes and step-by-step photo guides sent straight to your inbox.

Happy cooking,

Helen x

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Cut-and-Come-Again Cake: Part 3 - Lemon and Blueberry

The final cake recipe in this series for now (though far from the final cake recipe to feature on feedahappylife!), is this Lemon and Blueberry delight.

This is the moistest recipe of all three of the cut-and-come-again cakes, with soft sponge and juicy blueberries oozing with flavour and bursting with goodness.

The good thing about this is that it uses frozen blueberries, so if you have them on stand-by in the freezer, it's a really quick way to get a impressive cake on the table in less than 45 minutes (or if they're out-of-season and you can't get hold of fresh).

The basic lemon sponge mix lends itself to a variety of additions and you can easily substitute blueberries for whatever other frozen berries may be your preference. I think blackberries would really suit this, served with the compot perhaps in the panacotta recipe featured earlier this month, and some double cream.

Lemon and Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

• 115g soft butter/margarine
• 170g self-raising flour
• 170g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1tsp baking powder
• 200g frozen blueberries

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180c/GM 4

Step 2: Put all of the cake ingredients (excluding blueberries into a large mixing bowl and beat for 2-3 mins until smooth, glossy and easily falling from your spoon

Step 3: Stir through the blueberries and pour mixture into a lined cake tin (I've done this in loaf tins/round tins/cake tins and it works regardless!)

Step 4: Bake for 30-40 mins until top is browned and a skewer comes out clean

Step 5: Leave to cool in tin for 30 minutes before turning out and slicing.
 
Enjoy!
Helen x

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