I love recipes whereby everything is thrown in a bowl, mixed together and whacked into the oven to do it's magic. These yummy coconut cookies I made sometime ago and another one I came across recently, the beer bread over at Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice, both fall nicely into this category!
When I first saw this recipe, the words that caught my attention were 5 mins + No kneading + No proofing = EPIC WIN!!!!!! Oh Yeah!! Easy Peasy! The result was a very moist and chewy bread mildly flavoured with whatever beer you choose. Since it was the St Paddy's weekend, Guinness Stout was my beer of choice but feel free to replace these with a beer to your liking.
The main thing I changed was to use self-raising flour as I didn't realise that I've run out of plain flour. Note to self: Always check on the ingredients the day before...not on the actual day!!! Silly! ;)
Adapted from Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice
Ingredients: (Makes 1 loaf 9 x 4 inches)
3 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
350ml Guinness Stout or any beer
2 tbsp olive oil
Method:
1. Grease a 9 inch x 4 inch loaf pan. Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together into a bowl.
3. Make a well in the centre, and mix in the beer until incorporated. You should get a thick, lumpy batter.
4. Pour the batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes.
5. 5 minutes before time, brush the olive over the bread and finish up in the oven.
6. Bread is done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Turn out and cool on a wire rack before slicing.
It's been a long time since I've picked up Harry Eastwood's red velvet chocolate heartache. The last time was when i baked the aubergine brownie, an odd ingredient one might think but believe me it's actually really good! :)
So when it was time to show some #squashlove, that first place i turned to was of course this book! I was intending to post this recipe at the beginning of this month but as i made an impromptu trip home, i had to put it on hold for a bit. So here it is, on the last day in nov... a banana bread that's also filled with the goodness of courgettes or zucchini and nuts! The texture is a wee bit spongy but it tasted much better than when first made a banana courgette bread using another recipe.
Adapted from Harry Eastwood Red Velvet Chocolate Heatache
Ingredients
140g banana (peeled weight)
2 medium free-range eggs
100g golden caster sugar
150g topped, tailed, peeled and finely grated courgettes/zucchinis
150g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
25g finely chopped brazil nuts
25g finely chopped pecans
Method
1) Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Brush the inside of a loaf tin with a little vegetable oil
2) Mash the banana thoroughly with a fork
3) Whisk the eggs and sugar for a full 3 mins until pale and light. Whisk in the mashed-up banana until completely incorporated. Add the courgette and beat again.
4) Add the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon and mixed spice, and whisk again until completely blended.
5) Mix in most of the brazil nuts and pecans and pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 mins.
6) Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
Every once in a while, the Husband will be inspired to whip up something nice and plate it a little more 'fine dining' style after we've been out for a good meal. This was one of those days and in my opinion anything with chorizo can never be bad!!!
Ingredients:
1 X 400 g tin of butter beans, drained
small handful fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp olive
1/2 lemon, juice only
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 cooking chorizo sausages, cut into thick slices
3 tbsp sherry
To serve
slice of griddled sourdough, bread or other rustic bread
handful peas, blanched
handful mustard cress or any other cress
Method:
1. Tip the butter beans, mint, olive oil and lemon juice into a blender and blend until just combined, but retaining some texture. Stir in the red onions. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the chorizo slices for 5 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Pour in the sherry, swirl the pan and cook for 2 minutes until the sherry has reduced.
3. To serve, spoon the bean purée on the griddled sourdough, pile the chorizo on top and garnish with the peas and mustard cress.
