Author: camillalaurenfaulkner

Hot Pear, Honey and Cinnamon Sponge

dessert

Hot puddings have always been a proper British thing. In France you have tarts and pastries. In Italy it’s always a nice crème brûlée or panna cotta, a creamy dessert with a strong espresso. Well we have hot puds. With tea. Not necessarily pretty or complex, but damn good all the same. This sponge is warming and homey with the cinnamon, fruity and summery with the pear and sweet and moist with the honey. It’s a good’un.

Ingredients

  • 250g butter
  • 250g golden caster sugar
  • 250g self raising flour
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 pears, peeled and sliced into quarters
  • honey, to drizzle over
  • demerera sugar to sprinkle over

First of all, preheat your oven to 170C for a fan oven and 180C for a gas. In a mixing bowl, beat together your butter and sugar until it’s pale and fluffy. Then slowly add in your eggs one by one; if it looks like the mix will curdle before adding them all, throw in your flour and cinnamon, then your remaining eggs. If it doesn’t curdle, first of all congratulations, then add in your flour and cinnamon last. Scoop it all into a baking tin, arrange your pear slices in whatever fashion you wish, drizzle over as much honey as you desire and finish with a final flourish of the demerera sugar. This will give you one hell of a sexy, crunchy top. Bake it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until it springs back when you prod it. When it’s good to go, it’s only right to have it with a good spoonful of vanilla ice cream. Eat up, chaps!

Kick-Ass Coffee and Walnut Cake

baking

I don’t want to sound like a snob, but, oh who am I kidding? I don’t like eating coffee and walnut cake anywhere else if it’s not this one. Every bite is just a wave of dry, crumbly disappointment. This one is moist, walnutty, glorious! Don’t ever settle for anything less! YOU DESERVE THIS!

Ingredients

  • 75g toasted crushed walnuts
  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 250g butter
  • 250g dark brown soft sugar
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1tbsp diluted coffee

for the syrup

  • 2tbsp coffee granules
  • 2tbsp granulated sugar
  • 100ml boiling water

for the icing

  • 250g icing sugar
  • 2tbsp coffee granules
  • 50-100ml water (depending on how thick you like your icing)
  • toasted walnut halves

First things first preheat your oven to 170C for a fan and 180C for a gas. Next, bung your sugar and butter into a mixing bowl and beat til light and fluffy. Then add your flour, eggs, crushed walnuts and coffee. Mix til it’s all incorporated. Divide the mix into two cake tins, nicely greased and lined thank you very much. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a knife poked into it comes out clean. When they’re ready, give them lots of pokes all over with a fork and pour over your coffee syrup, this is why it’s gorgeously moist. While it’s cooling, make up your icing. Put your icing sugar into a large bowl and make a bit of a well in the middle. Dilute your coffee in the water and then gradually mix the two together. If you make it too runny, add more icing sugar, if you make it too thick, add more water. When the cakes are totally cool, pour ⅓ of the icing in the middle of one sponge and spread it to the edges. Put the second sponge on top, cover with the remaining icing, stud with walnuts and bask in the glory.

Proper Cabonara

dinner

This is the proper Italian way of making spaghetti Cabonara, with eggs, pancetta, fresh parsley and pecorino cheese. No cream. Never cream. You get the creaminess from the eggs and cheese. So the first time i made this I kinda ended up with scrambled egg pasta. It was grim, I won’t lie to you. But then i understood that you don’t need heat to cook the eggs, you just need the heat from the pasta and it does the trick a-okay.

Ingredients

  • enough spaghetti for you (or two)
  • 2 eggs
  • 150g diced pancetta
  • a handful of chopped parsley
  • 50g grated pecorino cheese (or parmesan)
  • salt and pepper
  • a knob of butter

Get your pasta on to boil and heat the knob of butter in a frying pan. When the butter has just melted, throw in the pancetta and cook until golden and sticky, this’ll take about 5 minutes. When the pancetta is done, turn off the heat and in a separate jug get your eggs, parsley, half the cheese and lots of salt and pepper whisked up. When the pasta is ready, drain it and get it straight into the frying pan, no heat remember! Pour over your egg mix, give it all a really good stir until the spaghetti is all coated. Portion it all up, sprinkle over the cheese and eat it!

Baby Focaccia 3 Ways

baking

I fancied good old carbonara tonight and there’s only one thing you should have with that. Focaccia. Now mine aren’t just any old focaccia loaves. Oh no. These baby’s are perfectly sized with sea salt and rosemary, tomato and pesto and goats cheese and balsamic vinegar drizzled on top. Try and get a hold of semolina flour(you can find it in most supermarkets) cause this is what will give you the beautiful holey structure, a signature of a good focaccia.

Ingredients

  • 400g strong white bread flour
  • 100g semolina flour
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 sachet dried yeast
  • ½ tbsp caster sugar
  • 350ml lukewarm water
  • olive oil to grease the bowl

For the toppings

  • 50g crumbled goats cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • balsamic vinegar
  • a couple of cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1tbsp pesto
  • 1tbsp olive oil
  • sprigs of rosemary

Measure out your water, yeast and sugar into a jug and give it a mix. We want this to be frothy before we start with the kneading. Weigh your flours onto a surface (or into a mixer with a dough hook attachment) and make a well in the middle. If making by hand, gradually add your yeast mix to the well, mixing with your hand and making sure you don’t lose any. When you’ve added all the water, knead the mix for about 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. If using a mixer, mix on a slow speed for about 7 minutes. Once you have a dough you’re happy with transfer it into a large greased bowl and cover the whole thing with cling film. Most recipes suggest a wet tea towel but I find the cling film keeps in all of the moisture and doesn’t dry the dough out when it is no longer wet. Put the bowl in a warm place (in the airing cupboard, by the fire or by a radiator) and leave for about 30 minutes until doubled in size. When it’s ready, carefully tip out of the bowl being very careful NOT to knock out any of the air. Portion the dough into enough rounds for your tin (i used a muffin tin) and shape them with your hands ready to pop in the moulds. When they’re in, push down each round with your finger, making little wells for your toppings. Give all of them a sprinkle of salt and pepper then get to work on your toppings. Push sprigs of rosemary into some rolls. Sprinkle crumbled goats cheese over others and place tomato halves on a couple more. Don’t put your vinegar or pesto on these yet, they burn easily. Preheat your oven to 220C for a fan oven and 230C for a gas. When your oven is heating, prove your bread for a second time, so cover with cling film lightly, not as tight as before and leave until slightly larger in size. When the temperature is right, pop your buns in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, until the tops and bottoms are golden brown. When they’re ready take them out of the moulds, drizzle balsamic vinegar oven your goats cheese buns and your pesto(mixed with the olive oil) spooned over the tomato buns, and violà!

French toast à la Milla

Breakfast, brunch

French toast can be a very versatile dish; have it savoury with poached eggs and bacon, with a fried egg, smoked paprika and chopped spring onions or like this, sweet with cinnamon and ice-cream! I used a fruit loaf for this but it’ll work just as well with a normal sliced white loaf.

Ingredients

  • 2 slices of sliced bread
  • 2 eggs
  • 50ml milk
  • 1tbsp golden caster sugar
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp grated nutmeg
  • a knob of butter for the pan
  • vanilla ice-cream

Mix together your eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until they’re well incorporated. Place your bread flat in the egg mix, wait a minute of two for the egg mix to soak in, then turn oven and soak the other side. Have a frying pan heating on the hob, on a medium heat, and when it’s hot, chuck the butter in. When the butter has melted, carefully place your eggy bread in the pan and wait til it’s a golden brown. When it’s ready, turn over and cook the other side. Remove your toast from the pan, get it onto a plate and get your ice-cream on top pronto. If you want to be extra fancy, slice some strawberries on top. The perfect breakfast in bed.

Ginger, chilli and lime chicken with chimmichurri.

dinner

Okay, chimmichurri sounds like a weird voodoo  doctor’s chant but I assure you it’s anything but. It’s a beautifully sharp, garlicky sauce with hits of coriander and wholegrain mustard. A low fat sauce that goes very well with steak, but lends a tangy kick to this hot and sticky dish. It’s pretty fun to say, too!

Ingredients

  • 2 big breasts of chicken
  • 50ml chilli infused olive oil (post coming soon!)
  • 100g muscavado sugar
  • 3 chopped cloves of garlic
  • zest of 2 limes
  • 50g grated fresh ginger
  • a pinch of salt
  • a pinch of pepper

For the chimmichurri sauce

  • 100ml red wine vinegar
  • 50ml water
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
  • 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
  • half a red onion very finely chopped
  • a handful of chopped coriander
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of pepper

First put all of your ingredients for the chicken in a large bowl and give it a good mix til everything is totally coated. Then get your oven onto about 140C Gas mark 2, were going to take this nice and slow and it’ll be you getting the rewards for your patience. Put the chicken into a deep-ish baking tray, cover with tin foil and cook for about 3-4 hours. While it’s cooking, make your chimmichurri. It’s easy, just whisk together all of your wet ingredients and then mix in the onion, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper. Easy! So after your chicken is ready to go, slice that baby up, get some babyleaf salad on your plate and spoon over that delicious chimmichurri. You’re good to go!

Banana loaf with M&M’s and chocolate chips.

baking

This is a really easy, really tasty banana loaf. It has a beautiful dense composition, keeps moist for a long time in the tin and the chocolate chips just take it to a whole new level. Try it out, you don’t have to have the chocolate in, I like hazelnuts with it, maybe some dates in there, totally up to you, but if you don’t like the chocolate in, why are you here??

Ingredients

  • 350g seriously ripe bananas (about 6/7)
  • 180g plain flour
  • 2 1/2 tsps baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 160g muscavado sugar plus more to sprinkle on top
  • 2 eggs
  • 40g melted butter
  • 200g chocolate chips, M&M’s or whatever you want in

First of all, preheat your oven to 170C for a fan, 180C for a gas. Next, in a mixing bowl whisk up your butter, sugar and eggs til pale and doubled in size. If you’re doing this by hand it might take a while, so get your muscles ready. In a separate bowl give your bananas a good mash and in another bowl have all of your remaining ingredients together, ready to go in. When the egg mix is ready, fold in your dry ingredients til you can no longer see any flour. Then fold in your bananas. Next transfer the mix into a greased tin mould (or any mould, mine was in a heart tin!) sprinkle over some extra sugar and get it into your oven for about 45 mins, check it at 30 and make sure it’s on the lowest shelf in the oven! Keeping it low will ensure you don’t burn the top before the rest of it is cooked, and the sugar just gives it an extra crunch. Leave to cool a little, don’t share it and enjoy!

The most perfect dippy hard-boiled eggs.

Breakfast

Hard-boiled eggs are my favourite type of egg. They’re quick to do, easy to do and you’re getting the all the flavour from the gorgeously runny yolk and firm white. Totally untouched.

Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs (I used Burford Browns, they have an amazingly orange yolk)
  • 2 slices of crusty bread
  • butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Get a pan of water on the hob and heat it to a rolling boil. Toast your bread before you put the eggs in the water. Set a timer for 4 and a half minutes and get you plate, cutlery and cup of tea ready. Lower your eggs into the water, set your timer and sort your soldiers out. Butter your bread, i like to twist the salt and pepper onto my soldiers, it’s easier than seasoning your eggs, and cut into 1cm think fingers. When your timer is done, quickly run the cold tap into the pan to prevent the eggs from cooking further. Even if there’s no water in the pan, if the eggs still feel warm they’re still cooking, so the cold water is a must! Pick out of the water, crack open and enjoy!

Malt Chocolate Bourbon Biscuits

baking

Biscuits. A staple of the British diet. Everyone’s got a half open packet in the cupboard sitting there and getting soggy. Why not try making these? The classic chocolate bourbon biscuit with a beautiful malty twist.

Ingredients

For the biscuits

  • 250g plain flour
  • 125g chilled salted butter (cubed)
  • 125g muscavado sugar
  • 2 tbsp malt extract
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 tbsp milk

For the buttercream

  • 200g icing sugar
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • 150g salted butter
  • 1 tbsp malt extract
  • 2 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 160C for a fan oven, 170C for a gas. Get all of your biscuit ingredients into a mixer, food processor or big bowl. If you’re using a bowl, be prepared to put in a few minutes work! Keep going til the mixture is clumpy, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead til you have a smooth dough. Next roll out and cut into fingers about 1inch by 3 inches. Put them onto a baking tray and pierce with a down each side. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. In the meantime make your buttercream filling by placing all the ingredients in the mixer/food processor/bowl and mix until you’ve got a smooth creamy spread. If you want to be neat, use a piping bag. If you just want them in your mouth, use a knife and spread like your life depends on it! When your buttercream’s ready, get your biscuits in the oven for about 13-14 minutes. Just keep your eye on them, they can go from perfect to burnt very quickly. When the biscuits are ready, leave them to cool completely before filling with the buttercream and you’re ready to go!

Maple-soaked pancakes with sweet smoked crispy bacon.

Breakfast, Brinner

This has to be, without a doubt, the best pancake recipe i’ve ever tried. I’ve added enough milk for them to be thicker than your average pancake, but not as thick an American pancake, they can be a bit too rich for me. But these babies hit the spot. And with gallons of Maple syrup, butter and that crispy bacon, these are just what you need, right now. Now. No seriously, get started!

Ingredients.

  • 225g plain flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 1tbsp brown soft sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 350ml milk
  • 30g melted butter
  • a few rashers of bacon
  • maple syrup
  • olive oil for greasing

Preheat your oven to about 200C for a gas oven, 210C for a fan. Lay the bacon out onto a lined baking tray. Drizzle over maple syrup and stick it in the oven for about 20mins, but check after 10, the maple syrup with start to burn, but just be sure your bacon’s doing okay. Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl and make a well in the middle. This will make it easier to incorporate the wet ingredients. Give your eggs a whisk in a separate jug, then add your vanilla extract, milk and butter. Give it another whisk then begin to mix into your dry ingredients a little at a time. Next, if you want to make things easier, clean out an old ketchup bottle and pour in your mixture. If you can’t be bothered to make life easier, use a ladle, you lazy bugger. Next, get a big non-stick pan on a high heat on the hob. Get a bit of olive oil in there and let it heat up for a few seconds. Next squeeze out a blob the size of however big you want your pancakes to be, mine here are about the size of an orange. The pancakes are ready to be flipped when the top is no longer shiny and is developing bubbles. Flip when ready and let them colour on the other side. This should take about a minute and a half in total. Stack up your pancakes, get a knob of butter on top, lather them with maple syrup and top with that delicious bacon. Pat yourself on the back and enjoy!