Hi and welcome to my blog! My name is Karen and I love cooking simple, uncomplicated, flavourful food. My cooking is inspired by seasonal ingredients, punchy flavours, an awareness of sustainability and of course by the likes and dislikes of my family and friends that sit around my table as well as you, the virtual guests around my table!
I am a chef, recipe developer and food stylist and generate my own content. I am also completely addicted to recipe books, of which I have an extremely large collection but the essence of my food is about celebrating life and all the fabulousness that we can add by creating good food.
Thank you for reading my blog. Please keep on giving me feedback and may your kitchen, as mine, be filled with joy and the best tasting food!
125ml sugar 125ml flour 3 eggs 5ml vanilla 30ml butter, melted 250ml milk enough pitted cherries to cover the bottom of a pie/flan dish
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and grease a ceramic pie/flan dish. Add the sugar and flour to a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs, vanilla, melted butter and milk together in a wide-mouth jug. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients while whisking. Fill the bottom of the pie dish with an even layer of cherries and pour the batter over the cherries. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. The clafoutis will puff up in the oven and fall back on itself as it cools. Dust with icing sugar once cooled.
3 potatoes, cooked (about 250 – 350ml cooked potato) 60ml butter 250ml cheese, grated (I use parmesan and cheddar) 5ml salt 5ml garlic salt 15ml chives, chopped 250ml yoghurt 375ml self-raising flour butter
Mash the cooked potato while it is still warm and mix in the butter, cheese, salt, garlic salt and chives. Set aside to cool. Add the yoghurt and flour to a bowl and combine. Knead until you have a smooth ball of dough – add a small amount of flour if the dough is too sticky. Divide the dough in two balls. Roll out into a circle of 1cm thickness. Add half the potato mixture, flatten into a smaller circle and gather the edges of the dough around the filling. Pinch together the dough to seal the potato filling. Flip the filled dough and gently roll it out to a disk shape that will fit your pan. Pan-fry on both sides on medium heat, until golden, brushing with melted butter. Serve the bread warm.
375ml bran 125ml boiling water 60ml butter, melted 190ml brown sugar 1 egg, beaten 50ml + 200ml buttermilk 6ml bicarbonate of soda 160ml flour 160ml wholewheat flour 2ml salt 250ml desiccated coconut
Preheat your oven to 220℃ and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups. Add the bran to a mixing bowl and pour the boiling water over. Stir through. Pour the 50ml buttermilk into a small bowl and sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda over. Stir through and set aside. Add the melted butter to the bran and stir again. Now add the sugar, egg and 200ml buttermilk. Pour the bicarb and buttermilk into the mixture and mix through. Add the flour, wholewheat flour, salt and coconut and stir until just mixed. Divide the batter among the paper cases and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven and from the muffin tin and cool them on a cooling rack.
This recipe makes about 300 biscuits and keeps brilliantly when stored in an airtight container.
1,5kg self-raising flour 30ml cream of tartar 30ml bicarbonate of soda 30ml ground ginger 5ml salt 500g butter, cubed 500g golden syrup 1kg brown sugar 6 eggs, whisked together
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray 2 large baking sheets with cooking spray. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, bicarb, ginger and salt. Add the cubed butter and rub it in with your fingertips. Pour the golden syrup into a saucepan and set over medium heat until the syrup is very runny. Add the brown sugar and stir until almost dissolved. Take the saucepan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the eggs together and slowly add it to the syrup mixture while whisking continuously. Now add the butter and flour mixture and stir through until there is no trace of flour left. Refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts and place them on a baking sheet, evenly spaced and about 3cm apart. Flatten each ball slightly with the tines of a fork (you don’t want them too flat!) and bake for 12 minutes. Cool the biscuits on the baking tray for 10 minutes or until set enough to handle. Keep going with making balls, flattening and baking until you have an abundance (about 300) of ginger biscuits. Store the biscuits in an airtight container.
2 aubergines olive oil 250g cherry tomatoes 1 red onion, chopped 3 cloves of garlic, minced 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomato 15ml fresh thyme, chopped 300g orzo 100g parmesan cheese, grated a handful of fresh basil 1 Burrata
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Slice the aubergine into discs, spread them out on the prepared baking sheet and generously drizzle with olive oil. Scatter the cherry tomatoes over the aubergine and bake for 30 minutes. Place a saucepan on medium-high heat and add some olive oil. Fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the chopped tomato and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes while stirring occasionally. Cook the orzo according to packet instructions. Drain the orzo and add it to the tomato sauce. Add the grated parmesan and stir through. Spoon the orzo into a serving dish and top with the aubergine, roasted tomato and burrata. Serve with fresh basil leaves scattered on top.
500g self-raising flour 10ml cream of tartar 10ml bicarbonate of soda 10ml ground ginger 2ml salt 170g butter, cubed 170g golden syrup 350g brown sugar 2 eggs 12 chocolate balls, halved 250ml cream, whipped
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 24-hole mini-muffin pan with cooking spray. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and salt. Add the cubed butter and rub in with your fingers. Set aside. Add the syrup and sugar to a saucepan set of medium-low heat and stir until the sugar has almost completely dissolved. The mixture should be very runny. Cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the eggs together in a bowl and add it to the syrup mixture while whisking. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly – there should be no dry flour left. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place in the muffin pans. Flatten the balls with your fingers and then make an indent with a small shot glass/the back of a lemon juicer. See video below. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately press the indents like you did before baking. Place half a chocolate ball in each hollow and set aside to cool. Top each ginger cup with whipped cream to serve.
250g dark chocolate, chopped 250g biscuits, something like ginger biscuits, finger biscuits, Marie biscuits or digestives 100g soft butter 150g caster sugar 3 eggs 30ml vanilla 30ml cocoa powder 75g almond nuts, chopped 75g pecan nuts, chopped 50g pistachio nuts, chopped 30ml icing sugar, sifted, to decorate twine, to decorate
Add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over simmering water and allow to melt until completely smooth. Set aside to cool. Bash the biscuits in a plastic bag but keep it chunky. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together. Gradually, and one by one, add the eggs – do not worry if it looks as though it has curdled at this stage. Add the vanilla and mix until blended. Sift the cocoa powder into the cooled chocolate and mix through. Now add the chocolate to the egg mixture and mix through on low speed. Take the bowl from the mixer and add the crushed biscuits and all of the nuts. Mix well. Refrigerate the mixture (in the bowl is fine) for about 30 minutes. Cover your working surface with plastic wrap. Roll the mixture into a log shape with your hands until it resembles a fat salami, about 30cm long. Cover the log with the plastic wrap and roll it, as if it were a rolling pin, to create a smooth cylinder. Twist the ends and make a knot. Refrigerate the log for at least 6 hours. Take the salami out of the fridge and lay it on baking paper. Rub some icing sugar over and tie with string to give it an authentic look. Slice into discs to serve.
You may serve any pasta with this peanut butter sauce but it does coat spaghetti rather well. This is enough sauce for about 250g dry weight, spaghetti.
125ml peanut butter 30ml soy sauce 30ml brown sugar 15ml lemon juice 1 clove of garlic, minced 90ml very warm water 100ml peanuts, chopped
Cook the pasta of your choice while making the sauce/keep your pasta warm. Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and garlic to a LARGE mixing bowl and whisk together to blend. The mixture will be extremely thick but keep stirring and mixing with the whisk until blended. Add about 15ml of the warm water to the mixture and stir/blend/whisk until the water has been incorporated. Keep adding a small amount of water and whisking until all the water is incorporated and you are left with a smooth, thick sauce. Add the hot pasta to the sauce and toss through until the pasta is covered in the sauce. Spoon into serving bowls and sprinkle the chopped peanuts over to serve.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 22cm loose-bottom cake tin with cooking spray. Roll the pastry to a 3mm thickness and line the bottom and side of the cake tin. Set aside. Add the eggs and cream to a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the chopped spinach, peas and cheeses and mix through. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 30 minutes. Cool the tart for 30 minutes. Top the tart with the rocket leaves, sugar snaps and zucchini shavings. Drizzle over some olive oil to serve.
This panna cotta is dollied up with a peach syrup, fresh peach slices and a biscuit crumb to whow your guests. It makes 6 portions of 125ml each – I prefer to make mine 80ml portions as it is a rich dessert.
Pour the water into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Leave to stand for 5 minutes. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and add the caster sugar. Turn the heat to medium and stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the mixture from the heat just before it reaches a boil. Melt the gelatine in the microwave at 5 seconds bursts. Add the liquid gelatine, in a thin stream, to the cream mixture while whisking vigorously. Add the vanilla and whisk through. Pour the mixture into bowls/glasses/moulds and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 6 hours, until set.
To serve:
Peach syrup: Cut 3 fresh peaches into chunks and add it to a small saucepan. Add 60ml peach/tropical fruit juice and simmer for 5 minutes on a low heat. Blitz the mixture together and pour through a sieve. Refrigerate the syrup until ice cold.
Crumb: Place 6-8 dry biscuits in a plastic bag and smash them until you have an even crumb texture.
Assemble the dessert by drizzling the peach syrup over the panna cotta. Add a spoonful of the crumb and garnish with a few slices of fresh peach to serve.
My Whisk and I 