Hot sake prawns. As made by Nigella. I added a few buckwheat noodles to my dish. As nigella says; 'speedy salvation'.

The best recipe for Patatas Bravas, also found here

900g firm flesh potato ((i used Wilja)

5 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon tomato puree

2 large garlic cloves

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC
• Steam potatoes over boiling water for 5 minutes until barely tender.
• Drain and spread out to dry on a clean tea towel for a few moments, then put into a large bowl.

• Combine the remaining ingredients, pour over the potatoes and toss gently to coat.
• Put the potato cubes in a roasting tin, spreading them out in a single layer (you don't want them to steam).
• Roast in the preheated oven, tossing now and then, for 25 minutes until slightly blackened around the edges. 

Adapted from Tamasin Day Lewis' Kitchen Classics; my gluten free cake version of a sticky toffee pudding (nut free too!)

• 55g unsalted butter
• 200g light soft sugar

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pan. As it is almost completely melted, add the sugar and hover over a low heat, stirring briskly, until the sugar dissolves into the butter. Leave off the heat for a minute or two.

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 egg, beaten

Add the essence and the egg, stir. The mixture will immediately loosen in the pan.

Stir in a sifted mix of:

• 100g gluten free flour
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of sea salt

and finally add:

• 120g pitted dates, scissored into half

Line a small loaf pan (i use a 900g tin, but a smaller pan will give you a thicker brownie) and carefully dollop in the mixture. Bake for 25 minutes, but check at 20 mins .. a skewer will be barely clean but the top should look crisp. Leave for at least 10 minutes to cool before removing from the tin and slicing, greedily.

Another loaf cake. My kitchen doesn't feel right without a frilled and fragrant gentle brick of cake on the window sill. This is a prime candidate for frequent revisiting. My first attempt was with standard flour, but I will try it with gluten-free flour without hesitation.

Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

• 150g soft unsalted butter
• 30ml golden syrup
• 175g dark muscovado sugar

I have a handy scale which measures ml so i can pour sticky syrup directly into the beating bowl, otherwise use 2x 15ml spoonfuls. Beat the soft butter with the syrup and sugar - a good 5 minutes, until you have a consistent and appealing coffee-coloured batter. 

try resisting dipping a finger ...

• 150g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 25g cocoa powder, sifted
• 2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients together and beat 1 tablespoon into the butter cream, then beat in one egg. Add 2 more tablespoons of the flour mix and beat again before adding the second egg.

• zest of 2 medium oranges, juice of 1 orange

Keeping the paddle moving, add the zest of the oranges and then the juice, slowly.

Pour and scrape the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes. It may need 5 minutes less or more .. do check. A cake tester should not be totally clean. Leave in the tin to cool slightly.

The flavour is, as Nigella says, more of warm spice than citrus.

utterly moist

It is a crumble, the best crust for a dish of cooked bramleys and blackberries, and doesn't seem to care that i used gluten-free flour.

100g flour

75g butter

50g sugar

Whizz in a food processor for a few seconds to make a crumb. Scatter over your choice of fruit and bake in a medium hot oven until crisp, about 25 minutes.

I prefer mine served warm, with hot custard.

A fine piece of belly pork.

I sliced the fat with a sharp blade, rubbed salt pepper and lemon thyme into the creases. 30 minutes at 230ºC, then an hour or so at 180º. It didn't need an extra blast at the heat, the crackling was done to perfection.

It is the Bramley season. I like mine stewed slowly with a little sugar and a generous amount of raisins (the apple with shrink, the raisins multiply while it cooks). I lubricate the pan with a glug of green ginger wine and add two large knobs of fresh ginger (unpeeled) for flavour. Remove the raw ginger before serving warm, with cream.

Yes, this is more banana than courgette, but it must be the healthiest cake ever betwixt my lips. Gluten free, fat free. I used tight little currants instead of the suggested nuts. Very light to eat, excellent not-to-sweet fuel for breakfast, and keeps well too.

Cinnamon Banana Bread, by Harry Eastwood (recipe also found here)

Use a barrel grater .. it is the only reasonable way of getting finely grated vegetables without destroying your knuckles and your sense of humour. I always bake this sort of damp cake in a paper case to avoid the extra work of greasing the tin.

Coconut, lime and blueberry slice, from Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache.

This is a courgette cake, and, as i have an excess of the green truncheons, i was determined to make something more than just endless griddling (with mint, delicious).

It has a 'pastry' base of coconut mixed with sugar and butter. Unnecessary, probably. I didn't crisp the base quite enough .. coconut burns so quickly, i was over cautious.









2 eggs, sugar, a LARGE courgette very finely grated (a minute in a barrel grater, no sweat), zest and juice of 2 limes, gluten free flour and baking powder, salt and a generous cup of frozen blueberries.

Again, i didn't give it quite long enough in the oven (although a deal more than the recipe states). The flavour was fabulous - lime and blueberries are perfect companions - i think the sponge will probably stand alone from the coconut base and that is how i will try it next time. It is worth another attempt.

Peanut noodle salad: I like to make up a generous amount of the dressing, keep it in the fridge for 3 or 4 days for dipping into.

6 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
¼ cup chicken broth or water
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 or 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1½ tablespoons palm sugar (or agave syrup)
(1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil - optional, but preferable. I leave it out at home because of allergies)
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all the ingredients briskly. Taste and adjust for personal preference - it might need more sweet or sour, depending on your brand of peanut butter and soy, and which type of sugar you use. Palm sugar is fudgy sweet and dissolves well, hence i used agave syrup as a replacement.

brown rice and wakame noodles, cooked and refreshed
2 chicken breasts, poached and shredded
1 large red sweet pepper, thinly sliced
2 chopped scallions
a handful of bean sprouts or half a chopped cucumber

Add peanut sauce to taste, garnish with chopped fresh coriander and chopped salted peanuts

They look classier over at Bakerella's beautiful blog, but i chose to shorten the process for almost immediate satisfaction.

1 cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
approximately 18 chips of chocolate

Preheat oven to 325ºF/ 160ºC
Mix peanut butter, sugar and egg until well blended.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Pinch into 18 pieces and roll mixture into small balls.
Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
Place a chip of chocolate in the centre of each cookie ball and flatten with a fork to make a criss-cross pattern.
Bake 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

Being a single parent (or at least, the only parent at home) brings an extra responsibility on birthdays and christmases. I have felt anxious about this one in particular - his first in double figures, the significant 10.

I've been a mum for a decade, and i still feel like a total novice.

Rhubarb & Fresh Ginger Crumble Cake, Adapted from Tamasin Day Lewis' Kitchen Classics.

Crumble

110g plain flour

4 tablespoons light muscovado sugar

85g unsalted butter

Pulse the ingredients together briefly until they stick together in a gravelly fashion.

Fruit

750g rhubarb, cut into 1cm chunks

2 tablespoons vanilla caster sugar

1 inch (thumb knuckle size) of dried ginger root, finely grated.

Toss the rhubarb, sugar and ginger pulp together. Use ground ginger if you wish - a teaspoon or so - but the dried root, with its papery skin which i don't bother to peel, has a particular fresh flavour that works best.


Cake

170g softened, unsalted butter

170g vanilla caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

170g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tablespoon milk

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and adding a spoon of sifted flour if the mixture looks like curdling. Sift in the rest of the flour and baking powder, folding carefully and firmly. Fold in the milk.

Scrape the mixture into a 25cm springform cake tin, base lined with baking parchment. Pile the rhubarb on the batter, then sprinkle the crumble over the top. Bake for an hour at 190ºC.





The crumble will be golden, crunchy and smelling of sweet butter.

Leave to cool for 15 minutes and eat warm with cream, although just as delicious cold, later.

gluten-free hazelnut chocolate biscotti .. work in progress.

A mexican ragu (via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat Book). Olives and raisins and all things nice. Try it as a refreshing change to a tomato-rich herby bolognese.

250g minced beef
250g minced pork
1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped red pepper
1 or 2 fresh chillies
50g raisins
50g stoned green olives (pimento-stuffed for preference), finely chopped
250ml beef stock
135ml chopped tomatoes or a tube of tomato puree



Put the meats in a large bowl and season with the vinegar, salt, sugar and pepper, mixing well together. Leave to stand.



Heat the oil in a large pan and sweat the onion, garlic, red (or orange) pepper and chilli for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft and lightly browned.

Add the meat to the pan and cook hard until well browned all over.

Add the rest of the ingredients (and 50g flaked almonds, if you wish) and mix well. Bring to a very gentle simmer and cook, partly covered, for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Add a little water if mixture is looking dry, but don't let it be too saucy.

Be sure to make enough that you have some to put aside for a day or so and gently reheat. Serve with whatever you fancy .. soft tortillas, guacamole, salsa, sour cream and grated cheese or rice, or potatoes or pasta or bread and butter; it is all good.

I made these: Bittersweet Biscotti (or so i named them) with walnut, spice & white chocolate. They are gluten-free, which makes them a little crumbly but the chilli hit is slow and luscious in combination with the darkest, bitterest chocolate that i had in the cupboard.

The original recipe came from here, but i adjusted with a little less gluten-free flour, walnuts instead of almonds and a majority of dark 70% chocolate, with white chocolate chips for contrast.





Oh, and i also made this: Rick Stein's Fennel Sausages with lemony potatoes and bay. Delicious.