Vanilla Cupcakes

Cupcakes have never been my thing.  I like making them, but I can never get them to look as pretty as the ones you see in the book.

I have decided the only way to get any better is to practice, so that is what I prepared to do this weekend.

We received a book as a gift a couple of Christmas' ago - Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery.  The cupcakes in this book look delicious, and really cute.  There are a lot of different flavours both for the cakes and the icing/frosting.

I decided to start simple.  Vanilla cupcakes and vanilla frosting.  Sounds a little dull, but I wasn't sure how they would turn out so didn't want to waste exciting ingredients.

What I love about this book is that it actually tells you how to ice the cupcakes.   Proper steps explain how much icing to use and how to manipulate it with your knife to get the right finish.

I have to say, I am rather pleased with the end result.  Although I do now have a kitchen covered in icing sugar and some icing on my slipper!

Pictures?  Why certainly...anyone fancy one?

Jamie's 30 minute rib-eye stir-fry and dan dan Noodles

So, it was time to try another recipe from Jamie's 30 minute meals.  This time we decided on rib-eye stir-fry with dan dan noodles and chilled hibiscus tea.

We already had the steak and although this recipe sounded pretty tasty I have to admit I was concerned.  I really thought adding so much to such a nice bit of steak might be a bit much and I really didn't want to ruin it!  It also calls for blackbean sauce which I don't really like.  But, you don't know until you try, so try we did.

We had a few issues with the ingredients for this one.  After trips to both Tesco and Sainsbury's we had to make a couple of substitutions.  Bok choi was not to be found, so we replaced it with some sweetheart cabbage and we also had to replace hibiscus teabags with jasmine ones.  (Jamie does say the tea can be hibiscus, jasmine or mint).  This was what our worktop looked like once everything was assembled:

Once the pans are heating the first step is to start on the steak.  These are sprinkled with salt and pepper and left whilst you pound some Szechuan pepper in the pestle and mortar.  A little goes into each of the bowls you will be serving and the rest goes over the steak and board with some five-spice.  You then add olive oil and smear everything over the steaks.

Chilli oil, soy sauce and crushed garlic are also added to the serving bowls.  This all seemed a little odd - definitely not the way I have ever made something like this before, but if that's what Jamie wants!  Later on you add some spring onion as well and the bowls end up looking like this, which is actually kinda pretty if you like that kind of thing

The tea needs to brew, so the tea bags along with clementine and lime peel and some sugar are put into a jug (We have bought one of these now, which is much easier than trying to make these drinks in individual glasses!) which is then filled halfway with boiling water.  The chilled part comes later!

Back to the steaks and these are now put onto the griddle (2 mins each side, which is medium rare)  The timer was important here as you have to leave them whilst you do other things and remember to turn them.

Beansprouts and coriander leaf are now put into a bowl.  This is then put on the table as everyone assembles their dish themselves.

The sugar snap peas are put into the saucepan along with broccoli and bok choi (or cabbage in our case).  This is left until required later on.

The steaks are done (unless you like them cooked more thoroughly) and these are put onto a board which has been drizzled with olive oil.  You then grate ginger, chilli and garlic over the top and squeeze over some lime juice.  This looks a little something like this:

The blackbean sauce is spread around a plate and you add some lime juice and olive oil.  The greens are then added, more sauce is piled on top and a little more olive oil.  This is then ready to go.

Time to remove the tea bags.  You add clementine juice, lime juice, ice, mint leaves and the two lime halves to the jug.  Now it is chilled tea and looks rather attractive too.

The noodles are added to the pan you have just taken the greens from along with a stock cube and you go back to the serving bowls, this time adding lemon juice and honey.

The steaks are sliced and the pieces tossed to pick up all the flavours.  Messy, but effective

By the time you have sliced the steak the noodles are ready, these are divided amongst the bowls with a little of the broth and it is time to eat!

The meal in its entirety looks like this:

It looks good and it smelt tasty too.  But, what does it taste like?

The great thing about this, is that everyone can build their own.  You each have the base of the noodles, all the extras that were added to the bowls and a little of the broth but it is up to you how much else you add.  This is perfect for us as I love veggies and Hubby hates them, preferring more meat.  Also he loves coriander and although I like it, I don't like too much.

My assembled meal looked like this:

I have to say this was one of the nicest noodle concoctions we have made (and we have made a few).  The flavourings added to the steak reminded me of beef that you get from a Chinese, but so so so much nicer.  The blackbean sauce that I had been concerned about tasted fine, because it wasn't eaten alone and added to the flavours of the broth etc.

Hubby enjoyed it too, even sampling some of the vegetables, which was a bit of a result.

The chilled hibiscus (jasmine) tea was great too.  Again it tasted like a tea we have had at a Chinese restaurant and both of us had multiple servings.

A meal we will make again in it's entirety and will probably make for others too.

Oh, I suppose you want to know how long it took, being a 30 minute meal?  30 minutes exactly!

Jamie's Stuffed Cypriot Chicken

So, I thought it was time to try another recipe from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals.

Hubby chose the recipe at random, which was stuffed Cypriot chicken, pan-fried asparagus and vine tomatoes, cabbage salad, St Clement's drink and vanilla ice cream float.   Even the list of dishes sounds time consuming and we were wondering if the first meal we had tried and completed in 34 minutes was a fluke...so how did we do?

Well firstly, last time we cooked together, this time I was flying solo with hubby taking on the role of photographer.  The recipe has a rather extensive list of ingredients, but they were all easy to find, with the exception of the asparagus which, being out of season involved trips to a couple of supermarkets.  This is what we started with:

The first step involves getting the filling ready for the chicken.  This consists of chopping parsley, basil, sun-dried tomatoes and crushed garlic with some olive oil and pepper.  Once chopped you add crumbled feta and lemon zest and mix together.  This step smells amazing!  Looks good too.

It is then on to the veg.  The recipes always start with getting the equipment ready so I already had the oven on and two frying pans heating up.  It was now time to add olive oil to the pan along with squashed garlic cloves, herb sprigs (we used rosemary as we have it growing in our garden) and the vine tomatoes.

Back to the chicken, it was time to slice the breasts in half and add the filling.  I imagine the slicing of the chicken breasts might be a bit tricky if you aren't used to it, but it was fairly easy and you ended up with something looking like this:

These are then added to the pan with damp greaseproof paper over the top.

The flatbreads also involve damp greaseproof paper.  On the same board we made the filling on we add olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano with some more crushed garlic.  You rub the flatbreads on the surface to coat, wrap in the paper and put into the oven.

Back to the veg.  The tomatoes, garlic and rosemary is still on a low heat and now it is time to add the asparagus and some olives.  That's it.  Nothing more complicated.

The cabbage salad was next up and good fun to make.  I love a kitchen gadget and this book is really making me start to appreciate my food processor a whole lot more.  I've previously only really used the standard blade, but this recipe called for the slicer.  Cabbage, onion, parsley, basil and chilli whiz round and are sliced in seconds.  In a bowl you then add lemon, olive oil and salt.  The end result is a tasty looking salad like this:

At this point the chicken is turned and you also add some rosemary to the pan.  It is then covered again and left whilst we finish up - just to make sure the chicken is cooked on both sides.

This meal also involves a drink.  You are supposed to make a jug, but we don't own one that isn't a measuring jug so we decided to make it straight into glasses.  Ice and mint are added to with lemon and orange juice and sparkling water and given a little stir.

Everything is pretty much ready at this stage and it is just a case of serving and preparing for the dessert.  Ice cream, coffee, biscuits and coffee cups to the table!

Chicken is then served and sliced, which looked something like this:

The veggies stay in the pan, unless you really want to serve them.  Personally I like Jamie's idea because it involves less washing up!

The flatbreads are taken out of the oven and moved to the table.

So that was it.  Everything ready.  Total time to cook?  29 minutes! It all looked rather impressive and I was pleased to have done it in the allotted time, alone.  This was what our dining room table looked like....mmm (the food, not the table)

Ok, so it all looks good, but what did it taste like?

The chicken was great, definitely something we will make again.  It is one of those dishes which looks impressive, is tasty, but secretly was really easy to make.

I enjoyed the asparagus, although it was far too much like actual vegetable for Hubby.  He preferred the cabbage salad.  In fact the salad was a bit of a winner and will probably reappear at barbecues over the summer.

The flatbreads tasted amazing.  So much so that it was a bit difficult to remember they had started life in a packet from a supermarket.  The flavourings added make them taste so much fresher and more interesting.

The drink was a bit of an odd one.  Hubby loved it as it was incredibly refreshing.  I'm sure it would be - in the summer.  But it is February and all the ice was just a bit too cold!  Maybe we will try this one again when it is warmer outside.

So, the only thing left to sample was the dessert.  We spooned the ice cream into the cups with a cantucci biscuit then added a shot of the coffee.  Wow!  Simple - yes, Tasty - oh hell yeah.  I love coffee anyway so this was pretty perfect as desserts go.  Want to see what it looked like?

See what I mean?  How good does that look?

So, that's the lot.  The second meal we have attempted and the second success.  So far, so good and on to the next...