Gateau au Citron (A.K.A Lemon Drizzle Cake) GBBO Week 1

It's that time of year again when everyone gets their bake on! It's Great British Bake Off season... with Paul Hollywood's sarcastic quips, Mary's facial expressions and a group of amateur bakers put under tremendous pressure, you can't go wrong 

This week, in order to join in with the GBBO (Great Bloggers Bake Off), I've decided to bake a good old lemon drizzle. Now worry to disappoint, but this isn't any fancy watermelon infused, candy-popping extravaganza; it's just a simple lemon cake. I was going to attempt a mirror cake for this week's bake, but I was at a wedding on Saturday, recovering yesterday and today I've had visitors, so the lemon cake was perfectly easy to knock-up before they arrived, and went down wonderfully with a cup of coffee. 

The bakes to choose from are always the same as the bakes that are shown on tv, so essentially we are baking a long with them. 
If you want to join in, head on over to Mummy Mishaps where she'll be doing the linky each week.

My recipe this week for the lemon cake has come from my days at pastry school. I can never go wrong with this recipe as I always have Chef Julie (the head of patisserie at LCB) speaking in my ear when I bake it; I can always hear her witty remarks and sarcastic laughs as I bake it, as she was the one who supervised us over this bake, and gave us a really detailed break down as to why our cake has a certain crumb etc at the end... Really wish I could remember why now!

Ingredients

Cake

115g butter
175g caster sugar
100g egg (about 2)
1 lemon, zested
175g plain flour
2.5g baking poweder
85ml milk (you may not need all this)

Glacage 

90g icing sugar
2 lemons, juiced

Method 

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees/150 degrees fan. Cream the butter in a kitchen aid when at room temperature.

2. Add all the sugar into the mixer and mix until creamy and combined.

3. Whisk eggs and add gradually to the batter mix until incorporated.

4. Zest the lemon into the batter and mix in.

5. Sieve flour and baking powder and fold in gradually to the batter mix. Make sure there are no flour traces in the mix as this will show up in the cooked cake. 

6. Add milk gradually. You may not need all the milk, so it's best to pour in gradually until the batter is at dropping consistency. 

7. Line a loaf tin (lb loaf tin) with baking paper or use a loaf liner like I did. Pour in batter and level out. 

8. Bake in the oven for about 45 mins, until a skewer comes out clean when poked in the middle. 

Now for the glacage (to be ready as soon as the cake comes out)

9. Weight out the icing sugar and squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and take out any pips that fall in. Pour the lemon juice into the icing gradually, and mix to combine. You want it to be a quite runny consistency. 

10. Pour over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Leave to cool. 

Do let me know if you also plan to join in with the GBBO! Until next week!

Thai Green Curry

First recipe since my holiday! I've been seriously not sticking to this 'daily' blogging thing, but the situation is, now that i've got myself a full-time job, is that I will probably only be able to get up two recipes a week. I think this is basically what I was doing before, but now I'm working, I need to be more organised, so hopefully I'll actually be more consistent with it!

Anywho, after our holiday in Italy, the Husband and I are were really craving something not Italian (I know, how can this happen??) We really fancied Indian, so the day after landing, we drove straight to our favourite (Koloshi's in Cheltenham) and ate there. Next on our list was Thai, so I said I'd make it. The recipe comes from a book called Thailand (how apt!) and is published by Phaidon.
I bought it for my Mother-in-Law for Christmas, and when in Italy this time round, I decided to take some recipes from it!

This Thai Green Curry is very creamy but not too heavy like some can be. It's very light. I like the added aubergines and the added sweetness from the palm sugar. 

Serves 2 (I halved it)
Note - a few ingredients I have changed from the original recipe

Ingredients
2 tbsp of olive oil 
1 tbsp of thai green curry paste
200g boneless chicken thighs
200ml coconut milk
0.5 tbsp fish sauce
0.5 tbsp palm sugar
100g aubergines, chopped into pieces
1 handful of basil leaves + extra for garnish
Half a red chilli chopped + extra for garnish
Steamed jasmine rice to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok or deep frying pan, and once hot, add curry paste and fry lightly until sizzling and you can smell the spices coming out.

2. Add chicken and cook for two minutes.

3. Pour in coconut milk, stir well and increase heat and cook for 3 minutes. Add fish sauce and palm sugar and stir well.

4. Add the aubergine pieces and cover pan and cook until they are cooked through. 

5. Add basil leaves and chopped chilli - stir until incorporated and then serve with the steamed rice. 

6. Garnish with a sprinkling of chilli and a couple of basil leaves. 

Spaghetti Alla Pizzaiola

When this post is live, I will be in Italy, taking in the smells and sights of this wondrous foodie capital. I would obviously love to take you all with me, but I doubt there'd be enough room in my suitcase. *sad face* Therefore, here's a recipe you can make, as versatile as it is (also good for a pizza topping or to dress a steak or fish fillet), and pretend you are there with me. 

The silkiness of the sauce with the flavoursome anchovies, which really give it a kick, is a delight, ladening the long strands of spaghetti. Of course, you can use any pasta.

Buon Appetito!

Serves 2

note - the recipe has been adapted from The Two Greedy Italians Eat Italy cookbook

Ingredients

2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 small red chilli, finely chopped - optional

2 fresh anchovy fillets (they sell some nice fresh ones in lidl, where we bought ours)

6 black olives, sliced in half

1 tsp of capers

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp of dried oregano

1 tsp of finely chopped parsley

Salt

200g spaghetti 

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the garlic, chilli and anchovies. Fry gently on a low heat, as the anchovies will try and stick. Fry until the anchovies have dissolved in the oil.

2. Add the olives, capers and cook for one minute whilst stirring. 

3. Add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, parsley and season with salt. Lower the heat and simmer, covered with the lid. Simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Whilst the sauce is simmering, cook the spaghetti and a pot of salted boiling water. Cook until al dente (just cooked). 

5. Before draining, take a tbsp of pasta water and spoon into the sauce to give it that silky consistency. Drain the pasta and pour into the pan of sauce. Stir so the pasta is completely covered and cook for one minute. Serve straight away. 

Buon appetito! 

Have you ever been to Italy? Which Italian recipes inspired you to re-create them at home? 

Buttermilk Chicken - the meltiest chicken ever

Ever fancied making your own KFC style chicken at home, but ten times better and healthier?? Well then, this will be your answer. 

These chicken legs are pre-soaked in the creamy buttermilk before being coated in a homemade crispy coating. Yum. 

The first bite tastes like heaven - trust me! The crispy coating is flavoursome with parmesan and paprika, and the chicken is melt-in-your-mouth. The perfect recipe if you want to impress your friends. 

Serves 2 hungry people

IMPORTANT - this recipe requires preparation overnight

Ingredients

The chicken

6 chicken drumsticks

1/4 tsp of salt

1/4 tsp of smoked paprika

1/4 tsp of garlic powder

Freshly ground pepper

Juice from 1/4 of a lemon

1/2 cup/ 25g of buttermilk

Olive oil

The coating

1/2 cup/ 25g of panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup/ 25g of cornflakes, crushed

1 tbsp of parmesan cheese (I used the dried sort)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp of smoked paprika

1/4 tsp of garlic powder

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

Method - marinating the chicken overnight

1. In a bowl, season the chicken with salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder and pepper. Pour over the lemon juice and butter milk and mix in. Refrigerate overnight or for 6-8 hours in the day.

Coating the chicken

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place a rack on a tray with foil underneath to minimise cleaning. Rub the tray with oil.

2. In a bowl, pour the panko, cornflakes, parmesan, salt, paprika, garlic and chilli. 

3. Take the chicken from the bowl and dredge in the chicken coating, one leg at a time. Make sure they are fully covered with the coating. Place on the tray, spaced apart. 

4. Drizzle olive oil over the legs and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until fully cooked through. 

 I look cooking with buttermilk. Have you ever tried this? And do you have any legendary buttermilk recipes you'd like to share? 

Italian Alps Fondue for two

Okay, so I know I said I was daily blogging now, and I know I missed a day yesterday, but I expect it wasn't noticed by many, so hey ho as the saying goes! However, today I have a recipe that I really wanted to try and make from my Two Greedy Italians cookbook. It's a fondue made with the creamy, Italian fontina cheese. 
We're off to the Italian Alps next week, so what a better way to get excited than to make some yummy fondue. My husband and I are big fondue fans, ever since trying the best we've ever had in Geneva. I'd never tried any Italian fondues before, so I thought I'd like to give this one a go. 
It turned out to be lighter and less thick than normal fondues. It has more of a sauce consistency, than melted cheese. However, I guess that you could put less milk if you wanted to get a thicker consistency. I, on the other hand, may have accidentally poured in 20ml extra of milk...

Enjoy whilst imagining you're in a mountain house with views over to Mont Blanc..

Notes - I halved the recipe to make it serve 2
I also omitted black and white truffles, because who finds those in their local supermarket??

IMPORTANT NOTE - this recipe requires 3-4 prep ahead of cooking

Ingredients

200g Fontina Cheese
150ml milk
2 egg yolks
15g unsalted butter
salt and pepper

Fresh loaf of bread

Method

1. Cut the fontina cheese into small cubes and place into a bowl. Pour over the milk and leave to marinate for 3-4 hours. 

2. Once marinated, pour into a pan and melt gently until it creamy. 

3. Stir in the egg yolks one by one. Add the butter and season. Stir. 

4. Serve immediately with slices of a bread of your choice to dip into the melted goodness. 

Shopping? Nah!

So this is me writing this post in bed, attempting to give this daily blogging thing a try. 

Today was a good day. The Husband and I went to Birmingham to hand some docs into my new place of work, and had a little Pokemon hunt whilst there. I mean, why else would be visiting B'Ham for? Not for the reason that there's a massive shopping centre nearby... 

Sometimes I don't feel like shopping. Anyone else with me here? 
I don't see the point in shopping for the sake of shopping. Yes, there were shops nearby that we don't have where we live, but they're not going anywhere! You can just shop online anyway. 

I can tell when I'm shopping for shoppings sake, because I can hear this nagging voice in the back of my head, telling me to turn around and go home. Often I listen to this voice. Actually, most of the time I just avoid the shops altogether. 

I used to love going shopping with my parents, buying random things just because. But now I'm different; I only pop in for a certain item. I tend to carry a list with me to make it easier. I'm also now more decisive than ever. I don't tend to dither if I like something. I also know what I definitely don't like. I'm not very good shopping with others either, as I like to stay focused. I can't concentrate whilst talking!

Gosh I sound so anti social and boring, but honestly this is what I'm like! 

The only exception for me is a book shops, my once vice in life... More on that in a later post! 

Are any of you like this? Or are you addicted to shopping? 

Daily Blogging

This isn't going to be a normal food-related post from me this evening, but a post about a plan to blog more freely. 

Recently I have stopped blogging more than I used to, due to other commitments (CELTA course) and just generally being a bit busier. 

Some good news though - I have a new job! I start end of August and will be teaching English as a foreign language at a school in Birmingham. Am very pleased to have got it, and can now finally start getting the routine back into my life!

And with that, I hope to blog more! 

I really would like somewhere where I can look back and think, wow I've changed, or ooh what was I doing on that day, and then I can find out. 

I've always been a diary writer. I'd still like to be, as I love to document. I know I started vlogging earlier this year, but it's so time consuming, and I think I blogging is better for me right now. 

And so, I plan from now on, to blog at least something everyday. I understand this is a steep promise, and a hard one to keep. I've seen many bloggers vow this and not succeed. I've even vowed it in the past and not managed it. But I feel that if I give myself a goal once again, maybe I'll perhaps end up blogging more often, even if it isn't everyday (although I hope so!!)?

Another reason is that I really want you guys to get to know me better. I feel that people don't really get to know the 'real me' through food posts (obviously I will still be doing these!), so I think a diary style post each day, or something random, is needed. 

What do you all think? Would you like me to start doing this? Have any of you thought about doing this? Or started doing it?