Kitchen disasters

These are some of the (most) embarrassing stories of my culinary adventures so far... 

1) Rice Pudding: 

My brother is a far pickier eater than I am.

However, I always find that if he cooks something himself he is more willing to try it and discover he actually quite likes it.I have never liked rice pudding, so I thought that perhaps if I cooked it myself then it may become magically more palatable...

It didn't work!

This in itself would not have been such a problem, but the recipe I own for rice pudding comes from a Amish cook book (funny christmas present- long story!) which forgot to say that the recipe makes enough rice pudding to feed the entire community. 

So I had to eat it... Lots of it...

2) Omelettes:

I just don't understand!

They always end up being scrambled eggs!

So depressing!

3) Beetroot soup:

 Tesco had an offer on beetroot so I bought loads of it. After a few days of eating beetroot and only beetroot I got pretty sick of it. I found a recipe on the internet for beetroot soup and I figured this would use the rest of it up. Of course I didn't have time to roast tomatoes and onions and sieve them or whatever so I just kinda boiled the beetroot in a can of chopped tomatoes...

It was horrific!

Eurgh... I can still taste it after much teeth brushing!

Bagels!

                                                                                                                                                                Possibly the best dinner you can make in under 10 minutes! Today's flavours were courgettes, mushrooms and tomatoes fried in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. It is all gone now, but it tasted so good!

In memory of the Great British Bake Off

 The Great British Bake Off is over :'( 

There is an hour long gap in my week now...

But hey, I stole some recipes from the show and even though the results weren't quite exactly what you see on TV, it still tasted quite good. 

The picture on the right shows the Religieuses I made a couple of  weeks ago.
 I was being lazy so I didn't pipe them, filled them with squirty cream and instead of ganache I just melted chocolate in the microwave (and burnt it!). I know it is absolutely schocking! But, if you are on a budget of both time and money it works really well...
You can find the full recipe at:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/religieuse_46431
I think the best way to make them is to follow the recipe as closely as possible, but unless you're actually on the show don't stress too much!

The second recipe I stole from the show was the Apricot Couronne. I followed this recipe more closely omitting only the nuts partly because of my friend's allergy, partly because nuts are so expensive! 

This recipe is a little expensive unless you are set up for making bread as you will need strong bread flour and yeast as well as expensive anti-student ingredients like apricots and nuts. It also requires an awful lot of time! It took me about 3 and a half 

hours. 

Again this isn't really how it is meant to look, I didn't roll it out enough or twist it correctly... but practise makes perfect! Everyone was very impressed anyway, and it tasted amazing!

Overall, it was a great experiment, and I was pleased with the results even if it probably wouldn't have won me the competition. 

Recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/apricot_couronne_12975

My dinner tonight...

So it's Halloween! Woop, woop! Everybody is out having fun and I'm in the kitchen having even more fun!
Pizza is possibly one of the most rewarding things to make from scratch. The ratio of effort I put in to admiration I get out is brilliant. Nobody makes pizza from scratch because it is so easy to buy already made but it is so easy! And so much healthier and cheaper! Well, with my little cheat recipe anyway...
The base
In a bowl mix 250g of flour with 8 tbsp of oil and 1 tsp of salt. Add water a couple of spoons at a time whilst kneading until all the flour sticks toguether and makes a dough. Roll or stretch out into either one 20 cm flat round base or two 10 cm bases. Grill for about 20-30 minutes, flipping half way through, until both sides are cooked.

This is all the extra food I made tonight ready to be popped in the
fridge or freezer!

Mean while chop (and if necessary fry) anything you want to put on the top. Tonight I used spinach, onion and peppers. When the bases are ready spread some passata or canned chopped tomatoes over the top. Then add all the other ingredients and finally top with some cheese. Pop it in the oven for another 5-10 minutes and then it's ready to eat! Easy!
I always find that as I am only cooking for me I have loads of ingredients left over. Tonight to use up the peppers, onions and passata, I fried them all in a pan and made a nice sauce to have with pasta another time.

My washing up: This is technically an easy recipe but it does take a lot of time and leave a lot of washing up!

P.S. Please note the effort that has gone in to the aesthetics of this post. I have been busy with the newly discovered photo editing app on my phone!

The British Culinary Experience: Part 1

So Stephanie, one of the American exchange students I am living with, has a list of quintessential British food she would like to try before she leaves at Christmas.

 I being the incredibly amazing friend that I am have offered to take her on the culinary adventure of her life, helping her cook all these tantalizing dishes.

 I think she believes that my britishness means I can cook British food. The truth is that I have never made some of these dishes... but hey, it can't be that hard?

We started with Toad in the hole. 

The recipe we used is shamelessly stolen from BBC Good Food:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5822/toad-in-the-hole-in-4-easy-steps

You will be happy to know that we have thus far had no repercussions from our little experiment!

Also, it tasted waaaaaaay better than it looks in the picture! 

The sausages were only slightly burned on the top. 

I think it may be a good idea to turn the sausages before adding the batter to have a more even finish.

A smaller pan is also recommended as the batter was a little thin and crispy, unfortunately all I had to my disposal was a massive roasting dish.

I served this with peas and carrots and the gravy from the recipe. 

P.S. The picture really doesn't do this recipe justice, it was absolutely delicious. The gravy was one of the best tasting parts and it doesn't even feature in the picture. I really need to up my game!

The best meal of my life...

.... OK maybe I was just hungry, but it was still pretty good!

First, introductions: I am Anna, first year Law student who cooks (and now writes about her cooking) as a form of entertainment/ procrastination.

Being a student, I don't often have the best of meals so when one of my experiments goes well I get a little excited! The picture here is of my dinner tonight, Sweet and Sour Chicken. Just to clarify, I did not eat all of this in one go, half of this is currently in the freezer!

This is how I made it:
1) I chopped a load of vegetables that were about to go out of date. The picture contains 3 mushrooms, half an onion, a pepper and two small carrots.
2) For the meat, I fried half a packet of Quorn in two tablespoons of oil, because I don't like chicken enough to spend twice the amount of money on it. If you are using chicken just fry it normally and make sure it's cooked, I don't think it makes that much difference!
3) I added all the vegetables in to my wok and stir fried them for 5-10 minutes and take it off the heat for a bit.
4) Next, I mixed 8 table spoons of chicken stock with two tablespoons of ketchup and sugar and one and a half tablespoons of soy sauce. If you own white rice vinegar add that too as that is what the recipe said! Then boil it for a few minutes.
5) Meanwhile, I cooked some rice in the microwave, something that after a month of student living I haven't yet mastered so it was a little crunchy...
6) Poor the sauce into the stir fry and bring back onto the heat and cook for a little longer and then it is all ready to eat! Woop!
This was enough for two good sized portions and took about an hour to make.