Lemon and cream cheese muffins

I'm not a great baker - there are too many rules, and too much washing up. Baking, for me, is about how to get the largest amount possible of delicious ingredients into my mouth using the least amount of boring ingredients, like flour. If you can make it into miniature form, that's just a bonus. This recipe uses 2 lemons - the zest of both goes into the dry ingredients, the juice of 1 lemon into the wet ingredients, and the juice of the other into the glaze. The poppy seeds are optional, but make the muffins look a lot more exciting. Makes 12 regular sized muffins, or 11 unevenly sized muffins and some iddy-biddy ones on the side. 

Dry ingredients

220g self-raising flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)

zest of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons cream cheese

Wet ingredients

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 egg

juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Glaze

juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons sugar

Put the dry ingredients apart from the cream cheese into a large mixing bowl, give it a mix. Using two spoons, flick small blobs of cream cheese into the bowl, so when you're eating you'll find hidden patches of cream cheese.

In a separate bowl, beat the wet ingredients together with a fork. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour in the liquid. Mix everything together using your fork, making sure everything is combined. 

Pour the batter into 12 muffin cases, or some iddy biddy cases. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes for large muffins, 10 minutes for miniature muffins. Once they just start to brown on top, take them out. 

Stir the last lot of lemon juice and sugar together in a microwavable jug or bowl. On medium power, cook for 30 seconds, taking it out to stir every 10 seconds (this sounds very pedantic, I know, but it stops it from evaporating completely). Once the sugar has melted into the lemon juice, brush over the cooked muffins with a pastry brush, and leave to air-dry for about 30 seconds before eating. Get someone else to wash the dishes. 

Desperation sponge

This is a recipe for those evenings when you just NEED dessert, but have very few ingredients or energy to fetch them/persuade someone else to fetch them for you. The basic idea came from a "Microwave Cuisine" book someone bought my parents when they got married, so it's clearly a classic. It turns out similar to a British-style steamed pudding, very dense and satisfying, but doesn't last particularly well, so it is imperative you eat it all straight away. Not that you will need much encouragement. You can flavour it with anything you have to hand - dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, golden syrup, jam or marmalade are all good. This makes enough for 2 people, or 1 person who has had a truly awful day. 


Desperation sponge


50g self-raising flour
50g butter/margarine, softened
50g sugar
1 egg
50 g delicious things (raisins! jam! nuts! chocolate! anything your pantry can supply)


Grease a microwavable bowl - bear in mind the mixture might rise a little when you cook it. Throw the flour, butter and sugar in, and rub them together using your hands until the mixture starts to look like breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg and delicious things. At this point you will be thinking "there is no way this mixture will be moist and delicious when cooked", but fear not. 


Microwave on full for 4 minutes, then leave it to stand for 5 minutes. Tuck in!

Tandoori...anything

Anything can be made more delicious by covering it in tandoori spices, but my favourites are chicken and mushrooms, because both soak up all the flavours. This is based on Madhur Jaffrey's recipe in Flavours of India from 1995, which seems to be the Indian food bible for most British families like mine. It tastes amazing, but takes very little effort, as most of the hard word is done by the marinating and quick cooking process. This recipe makes enough marinade for 500g of anything, be that chicken, mushrooms, cauliflower, or...toast? No, not toast, but the rest of the fridge is fair game.

Tandoori anything


Dry seasonings
1 1/2 tablespoons cumin seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon cloves or allspice


Wet seasonings
2 teaspoons fresh chilli
3 garlic cloves
4cm piece of fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon canola oil

Some "anything" - chicken, mushrooms, any old vegetable
Lemon or lime juice to serve


Grind up the dry ingredients in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Chop the chilli, garlic and ginger very finely, then add to the dry ingredients, along with the salt and paprika. Give everything a good stir. Add the cream, oil and water, then stir everything again. By now it should be looking thick, creamy, and smell amazing. 


Chop up whatever it is you're going to marinade. If you're using chicken, cut deep slits into the meat, or chop it up so that the marinade covers as much of it as possible. Pour the marinade into a container, add your chicken/mushrooms/anything you like, and stir it really well so everything is coated. Leave in the fridge until you're hungry, but wait at least a few hours.


You can either cook this in a seriously hot oven, or in a frying pan on the hottest element of the stove. It has to be hot though - traditionally, tandoori was cooked in a tandoor oven, which was incredibly hot, and also used for cooking flat breads. Once everything is cooked, each it straight away, with lemon or lime juice squeezed over the top. 

Pumpkin bread

The only thing better than bread, is orange bread. That's right. Orangey pumpkin bread. The thing about bread is that it's a lot easier than it looks - you mix stuff in a bowl, and leave it, then bake it. Peasy. 

Pumpkin bread


4 cups plain flour
2 cups pumpkin, diced 
1 tablespoon dried yeast
salt
water


Cook your pumpkin - the easiest way is to microwave it for about 5 minutes, until it's nice and soft. Leave until it's cool enough to handle. Mix your yeast in a bowl with a little lukewarm water while you wait for the pumpkin to cook and cool.


Mash the pumpkin, and mix it through the flour in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the yeast and mix everything together - use your hands, it's great fun, but keep one of them clean so you can grab more flour or water without covering the kitchen in sticky bread dough. 


At this point, you may or may not need to add more lukewarm water or flour.  Depending on the type of pumpkin, it will vary in how much moisture it contributes. The dough should stick together, but not be sticky. Start kneading at it, and see how it looks. 


After 5 minutes or so, you'll be tired, so both you and your bread should rest. Cover the bowl with gladwrap and leave it some place cosy for an hour or so. 


Have a cup of tea. 


By now, your dough should have risen, and be sitting there in the bowl, looking amazing - and, importantly, orange. Take it out of the bowl, and separate into bread bun sized lumps, then shape. I like to brush mine with a little oil at this stage, and sprinkle with salt. 


Place on a baking tray, and leave to proof for another half hour or so, or until your oven has heated up to 180C. Bake for around 10-15 minutes, when they should just be starting to colour and sound hollow when you tap their crusty little bottoms (that sounds rather rude, actually). 

Asianish Peanuty Coleslaw

I hate eating boring salads for lunch, so I try and trick myself into enjoying raw vegetables by smothering them in a rather delicious peanut butter-based dressing that requires nothing more than some vigorous stirring. Even I can manage that first thing in the morning, so this is my go-to work lunch. Makes enough for 1 hungry person


Asianish peanuty coleslaw


1 heaped teaspoon peanut butter - preferably crunchy
1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice


Raw veges - red cabbage, grated carrot, celery, peppers, cucumber, anything else you find at the bottom of the fridge


Throw dressing ingredients together in your lunch container, and mix. The peanut butter might take a moment or two to start mixing, but it should join the fun and help turn everything into a creamy dressing. Add the vegetables, mix everything together, and run out the door, because yes, you are going to miss the bus. 

Cajun chicken and creamed spinach

I'm a big fan of all things cheesy, and mixing vegetables with a creamy, cheesy sauce is no exception. We had this for dinner a couple of nights ago, with cajun-spiced chicken - amazing. The spiciness of the chicken goes really nicely with the creamed spinach, and neither ends up feeling too decadent. Normally I would grind spices together in a mortar and pestle - unfortunately I managed to smash mine last week, such is the strength of my pestling arm! I put the spices through an old coffee grinder instead, and the result was a fine powder which coated the chicken really easily and didn't require a massive amount of arm muscle - I know how I'll be grinding spices from now on! Recipe is enough for 2 people.


Cajun-spiced chicken


2 boneless chicken thighs
baking paper

spices - 

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 bay leaf

Grind the spices together until they are a fine powder. Lay your chicken thighs out on a piece of baking paper big enough to fold over the top - you might want to remove any fatty bits first. Sprinkle the spice mix over the top, cover the chicken with the baking paper, and grab your rolling pin. Now the fun bit - smash the hell out of it. You want the thighs to be around 2cm thick throughout, and also to make sure those spices are worked in well. 

Pop the chicken on to a baking tray, covered with baking paper. I reused the paper from earlier (thrifty!). Put the tray under a grill heated to 200C for around 10 minutes, turning once. They should be started to brown around the edges, and be cooked through. 

Creamed spinach

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon mace/black pepper

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 tablespoon plain flour

2 cups milk

1/2 cup cream (optional)

1 cup grated cheese

1 big bunch of spinach (always more spinach than you think you'll need)

oil

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then plunge the spinach in for around 30 seconds. Drain, and leave the spinach to one side. It will suddenly look like there is a lot less spinach than you thought. 

In the same pan, if you like, heat the oil over a medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the butter or margarine, and once it has melted add the flour. Mixing everything together thoroughly, and let this roux cook for a minute or so, stirring so that it doesn't stick to the pan. 

Add the milk, and stir. Turn the heat down a little, and wait while, through the magic of cooking, your milk and flour turn into a sauce. You should stir every minute or so, to avoid lumps, but really the food does all the hard work for you. Once it has taken on a nice, saucey consistency, add the nutmeg, mace, cream (if using), and cheese. Keeping stirring while everything melts together, then throw in your spinach. Give it another stir until some of the green colour of the spinach starts to mingle with the white of your creamy sauce, then eat!

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Asparagus souffle quiche

Spring appears to be here in Wellington...oh wait, it's gone again...nope, it's here. Veges are ridiculously cheap at the moment, especially the first lot of asparagus. Making things even better are the first round of spring greens making an appearance in the garden. I've grown enough spinach, rocket, chives and parsley to start picking them, so last night they went in a rather spring-like quiche. 


1 bunch asparagus
100g feta
2 cups mixed greens (I used spinach, rocket, chives and parsley)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
4 eggs
salt and pepper
oil
baking paper


Snap the woody ends off the asparagus (I throw them in the freezer, and when I have a bagful make asparagus soup). Cut off the tips, and pop into a sieve. Chop the rest of the asparagus into 1cm long pieces, then drop them into a saucepan of boiling water for around a minute. Pour the boiling water over the asparagus tips, and drain everything well. 


Put the asparagus into a mixing bowl, adding the mixed greens and crumbling the feta over the top. Chop the onion and garlic finely, and soften in a little oil. Add to the rest of the vegetables. 


Grab another mixing bowl, and start cracking the eggs. Separate the whites and the yolks - the whites go into the empty mixing bowl by themselves, while the yolks go in with the vegetable/feta mixture. Whisk the egg whites until they're almost at stiff peaks.


Using a spatula, combine the vegetable, feta and egg yolk mixture together. Add a little salt (the feta will provide plenty of saltiness anyway) and pepper, then carefully combine this mixture with the egg whites. Stir everything together, but not so vigorously that it knocks all the air out of the egg whites. 


Pour into a baking tin - I used a loaf tin lined with some baking paper. Pop into the oven at around 180C for 15 minutes or so. The top should be a golden colour, and when you give the tin a little shake, the quiche should stay firm rather than quivering. Cut into slices, and eat while it's warm.