Asparagus Risotto

I haven't found anymore time recently to bake or not enough time to bake anything thats blogworthy at least so this is what i made at the weekend. Either the colour of this puts you off or it really makes you want to eat it. Green risotto- i love strange coloured food!



I found this recipe in The Times magazine and I love the bright green asparagus puree you make to put in this, it makes the risotto a lovely colour and it tastes so fresh and summery!

I can't wait for the next few (incredibly busy) weeks to be over then i can catch up on all the great posts i've missed! I hope you enjoy my recipes in the mean time <3

Recipe: serves 4

500g asparagus
75g butter
1 litre vegetable stock
1small onion, finely chopped
1/2 glass dry white wine
250g risotto rice
5tbsp grated parmesan

Start by snapping off the woody ends of the asparagus. Snap the tips of the asparagus off and cut the remaining stalks into 5cm lengths.
Bring the stock to boil in a pan and add the asparagus tips and boil for 1 minute. Remove the tips and put them to one side. Then boil the stalks in the stock for a few minutes until they are soft and remove and put them in a blender/food processor with a large knob of butter, then blend to make a smooth puree.
Sautee your onion in half of the remaining butter making sure it's softened but not brown
Add the risotto rice and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously. Then add the white wine.
Add the stock a ladelful at a time, making sure the rice absorbs all the liquid before adding the next ladelful.
Stir untilcooked, it should take around twenty minutes.
Once your rice is cooked through add the bright green puree, the remaining butter, the parmesan and the asparagus tips. Cook for a couple of minutes then serve with parmesan shavings on top.



Cherry Clafoutis

I feel almost guilty i haven't posted in so long! And then i could hardly decide what to post out of all the things i've had time to bake (but not post) in the last few weeks. I've never tried cherry clafoutis before so i was a little unsure what i should expect and what i should eat with it. It turned out that it was so good that me and my mum (who normally loves anything you can pour custard on) ate it straight from the dish.

Ingredients

Recipe from Nigel Slater. Serves 4

400g cherries
70g butter (melted and cooled slightly)
80g caster sugar
2 free range eggs
90g plain flour
150ml milk
teaspoon vanilla extract


Start by stoning the cherries (arrgh, i am not patient at all but i managed to persevere!), then butter a 20cm baking dish and dust with some sugar and tip in your cherries. In a bowl beat the sugar with the eggs (one by one) then beat in the flour, milk, vanilla then finally the melted butter. Pour all over the cherries and bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream.

Gruyère and Spinach Soufflè

I have literally no time at the moment, i'm so busy with school and revision that i have no time to post! I crazily bake something in whatever free time i manage to get but then that leaves me with no time to post what i've made! I'm currently in the middle of baking cherry calfoutis, which is not going so well since i cannot find any plain flour anywhere but when i manage to make it i will make sure to make time to post it on here.

I don't usually make savoury things but these souffles are super cute and they are so fluffy and light they make great starters, main courses or whatever else you can think of! And they are really good as an alternate vegetarian main course. This recipe has been adapted for just one person and makes two small-ish souffles. That would be the right amount for two people as a starter though. I don't actually know where the recipe came from, it's something my mum tore out of a food magazine once and has adapted since then. I hope i will get more time soon so i can comment on all the lovely things you're making and hopefully find some other blogs to read and inspire me!

Ingredients:

75g Gruyere cheese, grated
100g Spinach, cooked and chopped
12g Plain flour
12g Butter
150ml Milk
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 large egg, seperated


In a little saucepan melt the butter and sieve in the flour then cook for one minute. Whisk in the milk and continue mixing until it's a smooth, thick sauce. Then stir in the grated gruyere and mustard until it's almost melted. Fold in the egg yolk and the spinach. Whisk in the egg white and fold into the mix. Divide into two buttered ramekins and cook for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden on top at 200C.

Chocolate Meringue Pie

I admit that there is nothing better than lemon meringue pie but when i saw this recipe i had to make it! The creamy chocolate custard filling is so delicious i could have probably eaten it on it's own but because of it's richness it meant that the meringue and pastry were hardly detectable. So basically it was just chocolate pie. But don't be put off though, it was delicious in it's own right- creamy chocolatey and light at the same time but i think i love lemon meringue pie so much my expectations were too high!

Pastry:

(from green and blacks ultimate chocolate collection)

140g plain flour

30g icing sugar

75g butter

1 large egg yolk (free range!)

Sift the flour and icing sugar together and rub in the butter. Add the egg yolk and combine then shape into a smooth ball. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Once it's chilled roll out into a 24cm tart tin. The pastry is very crumbly but don't worry just fill in the gaps! Bake at 220C for 15 minutes or until golden then leave to cool!!

Chocolate filling:

4 large egg yolks

45g caster sugar

20g plain flour

350ml full fat milk

70g good quality dark chocolate

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until creamy then sift in the flour. Heat the milk in a pan until it bubbles then pour over the egg, whisking constantly. Then pour it back into the pan and bring it to the boil continuing to whisk for a further five minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chopped chocolate and mix until thats melted and it's smooth and chocolatey. Leave to cool!!

Meringue:

4 free range egg whites

200g caster sugar

Whisk the egg whites until stiff as possible then whisk in the sugar, a little bit at a time so it's glossy and thick.

Pour the cooled chocolate custard into the pastry case then dollop over the meringue. Put in the oven at 180C for thirty minutes until the meringue is golden and crisp on the outside.

White chocolate and raspberry cupcakes



I think that these are the prettiest cupcakes i've ever made, and the raspberries make the icing the lovliest colour! The original recipe used blackberries in the icing instead of the raspberries but i couldn't find blackberries anywhere! And besides i think that i prefer pink cupcakes?

Recipe adapted from Green&Blacks Ultimate Chocolate Collection.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes

150g butter
150g caster sugar
3 large free range eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of milk
180g self raising flour
100g white chocolate, roughly chopped

Start by creaming the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract and the milk. Gently mix in the flour making sure you don't over mix! Finally fold in the white chocolate chunks and divide between 12 muffin cases. Bake at 190C for about 20 minutes.

Raspberry buttercream (enough to cover 12 whole cupcakes)

230g Icing sugar
450g Butter, softened (under no circumstances use margerine or any other alternative, the icing will turn to an unattractive slop)
120g Raspberries (or blackberries if you prefer!) Leave 12 to decorate.

Beat the icing sugar and butter together until smooth. Add the raspberries and beat in. Pipe onto the cupcakes and decorate with a whole raspberry!

Chocolate Nut Brownies

I suddenly realised the other day that i couldn't possibly have a food blog without a brownie recipe on it! I have tried quite a few recipes and i always go back to this one. I've adapted it so many times that i think it's less like Nigellas and more like my own, which is probably why they quantities seem rather odd! My photography skills are lacking slightly too so i am rather disappointed that in this picture they look slightly dry? I think that is probably the last thing you want a brownie to be but (despite the picture) these are really gooey and dense. mmm..

Ingredients:

190g butter

190g dark chocolate (min 75% cocoa solids)

3 large (free range!!) eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g light brown sugar

110g plain flour

150g mix of pistachios and walnuts (or any other nuts prefer)

Method:

In a heavy bottom pan melt the butter and chocolate and set aside to cool slightly. In a bowl beat the eggs and vanilla then add the sugar and beat well. Once the chocolate has cooled add the egg and sugar mixture then the nuts and flour, beating well.  Scrape the mix into a lined brownie tin and bake at 180C for 22-25 minutes. Be super careful not to overcook, the brownies will continue cooking slightly in the tin so they should be gooey in the middle.

Makes about 20 medium sized squares.

Chocolate truffle raspberry tartlets

I have to be honest, i did feel incredibley piggy after making these. These are meant to be served as tiny sweet canapes but they sounded so good that i had to make them dessert size. I did offset the rich chocolateyness by decorating it with a few raspberries but when i came to eat it it was so rich i ended up putting another handful of them on top! If you do want to make them as canapes the recipe makes around 24 and if you are feeling greedy like i was then it will make five individual tartlets.

The chocolate pastry is very fragile but don't worry if it falls to pieces (mine did) just patch it back together making sure there are no gaps. You could also freeze it if you end up with some left over!

Ingredients:

For the chocolate pastry:
(makes 300g)

60g butter
60g caster sugar
30g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
125g plain flour
15g cocoa powder
1 egg yolk (free range)

1. Beat the sugar and butter together until creamy and add the cooled chocolate. 2. Sift in the flour and cocoa to the sugar and butter then add the egg yolk. 3 mix to a smooth dough. 4. Shape into the ball and wrap in cling film then leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes. 5. Roll the pasrty out on a floured surface to about a 5mm thickness (make sure it's fridge cold). Cut around tartlet tins and press into them, pricking the bottom with a fork. Place in a preheated oven at 200C for 11-12 minutes. 6. Leave in the tins for 10 minutes to firm up then place on a cooling rack.


For the chocolate truffle filling:

150ml milk
250ml double cream
250g dark chocolate (70% minimum cocoa solids)

1. Heat up the milk and 125ml of cream in a pan. 2. Break up the chocolate in a bowl and pour over the heated cream and milk stirring until the chocolate is melted and smooth. 3. Whip up the rest of the cream to soft peaks and fold into the chocolate mixture. 4. Spoon into the tartlet cases and stud with raspberries and dust with icing sugar. Serve at room temperature.