Gilly's Jubilee cake

Check out this queen-sized beauty my friend Ms Tayler just posted. Happy Jubilee everyone!

Om nom nom nom nom

It is important that I stress how much I LOVE this.

Eaten less

Last night I made Eton Mess for the first time. 

After a minor op I've not been able to do any exercise for the last two weeks so am feeling a bit fatty boom booms to say the least. With this in mind I thought the main ingredient of double cream might just be a muffin top moment too far.

Everyone knows I love a good Greek, so step forwards Total 0% Greek yoghurt to kick the cream to the kerb. Did it work I hear you say? Hell yeah! Rich? Check. Creamy? Check. Still naughty? The meringues and booze say...Check! 

Here's what I did...

Smug Eton Mess

Ingredients (4-6 desserts)

8 pre-bought meringue nests (I got mine in ASDA)

1 large tub Total 0% Greek yoghurt

1 large tray of raspberries

1 small punnet of strawberries

1 tray of blueberries (optional but good for a bit of colour)

1 tbsp icing sugar

Splash of cherry brandy

How to make it

About half an hour to an hour before you intend to eat the pudding, grab about a third of each punnet of fruit  and put into a bowl with the cherry brandy and icing sugar. Using a fork, mash the fruit into a pulp and leave to mascerate (a new word I learned - mash/marinate I'm guessing). 

When you're ready to make the dessert, whip up the greek yoghurt with a spoon so it's nice and smooth. Fold into the mascerated fruit. 

Put 4 of the meringues into a bag and bash with a rolling pin until it's a mixture of breadcrumbs and small pieces. Pour this into the yoghurt and fold in. 

Spoon this into some nice dishes or glasses then crumble on the remaining meringues (allow one per person) so there are some bigger chunks to crunch on. 

Garnish with remaining fruit and, if you're feeling a bit cheffy, some mint leaves.

Afraid there are no photos this time. It was far too nice to stop for pictures!

Nx

30 minute miracles

About a year ago, 'the book man' came into my workplace. A few days later he returned with cardboard boxes full of copies of the same book. Most of the two adjoining offices had been swung by the rumours. It had turned into actual gossip. Everyone was talking about Jamie's 30 Minute Meals.

I have a huge pile of cookery books, many of which are looking sad, collecting dust and grease in my kitchen. But I've cooked more recipes from this book than any other. As I fell for the office gossip, I've become a bit of a preacher about this book myself....

Fear no evil

Everyone questions whether these meals can be done in 30 minutes. They can. But there's small print. 
You need  certain equipment to get you through. If you don't have a food processor you can pretty much rule out about 70% of the book. It's there to create the sauces, pastes, marinades which create the big flavours. It's also there for short-cutting the slicing and dicing when you don't have the knife skills of Senor Oliver.

The path of the righteous man

I'm boring old White British. We don't have a lot to sing and dance about when it comes to food unless you're willing to go foraging for regional produce on the roadside. So I don't have anything to be protective over when it comes to cuisine. I think everyone knows that, thanks to his surrogate father-son relationship with mentor Gennaro, Jamie's speciality is Italian. 
In this book, Jamie spreads himself pretty thinly. You're given elements of Mediterranean, Malaysian, Thai, Indian, Moroccan, Jamaican and Mexican. But don't expect 100% authenticity. On cooking the Satay recently, I was offered an alternative authentic recipe to try by somebody who had grown up in Malaysia and questioned Jamie's methods. So one recipe leads to another - bonus!

Praise be

So, my favourites? WITH a star rating? Oh, go on then...

• Broccoli Orecchiette - Sounds boring, isn't. ****
• Pregnant Jools' pasta - Leftover sausages = gorgeous comforting ragu ****
• Curry Rogan Josh and carrot salad - perfect for friends (including vegans) ****
• Chicken pie, French style peas and carrot smash - Absolute favourite - mega moreish *****
• Mustard chicken, quick dauphinoise - A great beginner's guide to dauphinoise ***
• Tray baked chicken, squashed potatoes - One of the healthier options but still loads of flavour ***
• Chicken skewers, satay sauce and fiery noodle salad - Gorgeous, sweet and spicy (but not authentic!)****
• Tasty crusted cod, mashy peas, homemade tartare sauce - Bit fiddly, bit expensive but very tasty, better for a big crowd ***
• Asian style salmon, fiery noodle salad - ***
• Kinda sausage cassoulet - So easy, even my kitchen-fearing fella will cook it ****

I'm not on commission from Jamie (or Gowd) but I do worship at the altar of food. Enjoy!
Nx

Prague patisserie

A few weeks ago, we went on a last minute getaway to Prague. The thing about Prague is, it's very pretty but it's really not good for rampant foodies. 

Unless you're a tuck-your-napkin-into-your-top meat and potatoes kind of person, you might be a bit alienated by their menus (pork knee anyone?). 

Pork knee - it's a real thing!

Vegetarians, beware! Vegans, don't bother! (Sorry Mr Middleton). During one sitting, in an attempt to manage even one of my five a day, I ordered a portion of green beans. Lucky me - they came with a side of BACON - of course.

The crux of this post is that we did have a lull in our culinary drought. In the Kampa area, our favourite part of the city, we discovered Cafe Savoy. Very French and very expensive but the patisserie counter sucked us in (plus, the chefs looked like the master chocolatiers from those Lindt ads). 

In a normal situation we should have shared a cake but, as we were deficient in just about every major food group other than red meat, we decided this was a special opportunity to stock up on sugar and dairy. 

Rich opted for the made-famous-by-Great-British-Bake-Off Sachertorte. Thin layers of light chocolate sponge sandwiched together with kirsch, cherries and chocolatey goodness, all smothered in a shiny ganache glaze. Mary Berry would have been proud.  

I went for a journey back to childhood. One of my favourite cakes growing up was a slice of chocolate swiss roll from Food For Thought deli in Totnes (god that sounds posh). Instead of the fluffy icing sugared cream, the Prague version had a chocolate cream filling with a banana running through the middle. Despite this - err... interesting recipe, my wedge of cake really was beautiful. It felt like my birthday all over again. 

In conclusion - journeying to Prague? Don't miss Cafe Savoy. Oh, and pack a bag of apples. 

N.x