Slobby Food

Sometimes you just want something comforting to munch in front of the fire (or an episode of Homeland) and after all that Easter chocolate something sweet just doesn't cut it. My saviors at the moment:

1. Cold beef sandwich, sticky red onion chutney, crisp salad and a slither of mayo. Always on white toasted bread. Heaven. 

2. Chilli Prawn Pasta (with fresh peas which pop in your mouth, tangy lemon and perfumed coriander)

So so easy . .
Pan 1: Boil pasta, 5 mins before it is done add peas.
Pan 2: Fry off finely chopped garlic and chilli, add a squeeze of lemon and seasoning.  When cooked add cherry tomatoes chopped in half. 5 mins before the pasta is done add prawns and more lemon.
Serve and top with coriander

Its so fresh and clean, the tomatoes and peas burst in your mouth, and although it's pasta you don't feel horrid afterwards!

Something sweet. Something Spicy!

 Fed up of all that Easter choc we decided to try out an Indian dish of deep fried fish.

This is the mix from and Indian supermarket. It is mixed into a paste which forms a batter, chunks of fish are added to marinade.













They are deep fried for just under a minute














Drained










Served with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of coriander and gone in seconds.

The fish just melts in your mouth, the curry provides a kick and the lemon a refreshing tang.
Beautiful as a quick starter!

Easter Monday, better than Sunday!

Easter Monday means time for my Godmother's annual Easter Egg hunt, literally one of my favourite calendar events. Usually this takes place in the garden, with glorious sunshine, 20 'kids' and nearly melted chocolate. This year the numbers were a bit depleted, the 'kids' are all growing up, and the weather was awful, so we relocated inside. The food however was glorious, and the eggs for the hunt weighed up to a massive pile!

Mom's glazed fruit flan.

And Lemon tart which was gobbled before I could snap it. Always tends to happen!

6 layer jelly. For old times sake.

And cream and strawberries with a custard center. 

So we all had home-made bags decorated with pretty 3-D bunting which also decorated the house.

It was all about bright colors and stripes- very much getting me in the mood for summer!

 After the hunt we all weighed in our bags:
Chris: 3.8lb
Florence: 2.7 lb
Jenny: 2.15lb
Emily 2.12 lb
Molly: 2.7 lb
Steph: 1.05lb
Edward 1.1lb
Charlotte 1.3lb.
Literally pounds of chocolate.
418 eggs and treats. No joke. 

Easter had even invaded the bathroom!

And even back home there was too much chocolate to even look at....








Currently Googling recipes to use up leftover chocolate. I've got 20 for dinner and cocktails on Friday, and guess what's for dessert. 

Easter Presents: Rocky Road & Easter Biscuits

Just before Easter I went to visit the boy's family in Herefordshire for a few days and decided to bake something to take as a present. Little did I know that they'd all given up chocolate for Lent (and how could I forget that veggies and marshmallows don't mix!) so with good intentions, but perhaps not quite the desired impact I made some Easter biscuits and my auntie's lovely Rocky Road.

Easter Biscuits 

(from the BBC Website)

Really simple, where the flour and butter are mixed to breadcrumbs (make sure the butter is properly softened)

The sugar, lemon zest and yolk is added. Mix until a batter is formed and creates a ball. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut out desired shapes.

Biscuits placed on a greased tray (spot the leggy egg) and baked for 12-15mins (less than the recipe states)

For the topping I melted some white chocolate, stirred in some icing sugar and the lemon juice until it was the right texture to swirl onto the cooled biscuits.

And some Easter sheep to accompany them. The biscuits were nice and crunchy, next time I'd make them a bit thicker. The icing was a bit too tart, I'd maybe just use white chocolate, or reduce the lemon juice significantly.

Rocky Road

This is literally the best recipe I have found for Rocky Road. It is very editable (cherries are more prominent at Christmas, ginger biscuits for a tea-party and white chocolate chunks for a birthday).

 For the chocolate mix
400g chocolate
125g butter
3tbsp golden syrup

Add in
Rich tea biscuits (½ packet ish, less if you are using other biscuits, but use more than you think!)
Marshmallows

Add a selection of...
Glace Cherries
Choc-chip cookies
Ginger nut biscuits
Chopped nuts
Malteasers/ Crunchie
Dried fruit
Chunks of white chocolate
(Optional white chocolate to swirl on top)
Icing sugar to serve











 1. Prepare a lined tin- a brownie tin works best- anything bigger than an inch. I find lining it with greaseproof paper works the best.
2. Melt 300g of the chocolate with the golden syrup and butter until all melted.
3. Prepare the filling: Using a rolling pin bash up the biscuits, chop up the marshmallows and the cherries and the chocolate, and any other ingredients you want to add in.
Add all the filling to the melted chocolate mix and stir well. You need quite a lot of biscuit but it shouldn’t ball up.


4. Pour into lined tins and refrigerate for 1 ½ hours, or overnight.















5.  Melt the other 100g of chocolate and pour over refrigerated mixture. (When it has set swirl over the white chocolate).

  

When set, cut up and and sprinkle with icing sugar. Enjoy!

Easter Pig-Out

Lent is nearly over (4 days!) so here's an idea for some cupcakes to celebrate pigging-out...



 Pigs are made from light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes (no extras, just good and old fashioned), with butter cream and rose-water frosting and a little pink coloring.

Nose and ears are marshmallows, with chocolate writing-icing decoration, and eyes are coated chocolate drops. Personalities and names optional.

Invite some friends over to your stye to try them.

Η&Μ Sale

Just popped by the H&M in the bullring (work avoidance) and managed to pick up these beauties. Couple of big jumpery items to the back of the wardrobe ready for winter (or maybe not given the last few day's weather!)

Some absolute bargains...

Basic beige jumper, quite baggy and floaty - £7

Really fluffy and wooly burgundy jumper, great to slip on when the summer evening chill sets in - £7

 Simple orange dress, for chilled out drinks. £10

Winter wardrobe Owl top, £10

Summery dress £5

Beautiful 'theater' coat £10.

I was absolutely over the moon, just waiting for goodies ordered online to arrive!