Summer Fruit and Nut cake

This cake was actually the first creation of my baking career.  It's incredible versatile, because you can just change the fruits and the nuts to something else you fancy, and bam! you get a completely different cake.  It's incredibly easy to make, very filling and surprisingly light in calories.  

What we need: 

• 2 cups natural yogurt (I recommend Yeo Valley)
• 4 eggs (large)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 2 cups brown sugar - use a healthy variety
• 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 3 cups self raising flour (I recommend McDougalls)
• 2 cups finely chopped cashew nuts*
• 350g raspberries**
• 30g dried cranberries for decoration
• Tiny bit of cinnamon powder. 
• 3 tablespoons baking soda

Let's get baking:

1.) Mix the yogurt, eggs, oil and sugar in a mixing bowl until you get a consistent mixture. Mix the nuts, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla sugar in a different bowl.

2.) Slowly work the dry mix into the wet mix, spoonful by spoonful, stirring frequently, until you mixed them all together and got a sticky, heavy, delicious mixture.

3.) Pour it all into a baking tray (can be any shape) and nicely arrange the respberries  on top - or just pour them over for an eclectic result. Sprinkle the top with a tablespoon of brown sugar to make it crispy.

4.) Preheat oven to 180 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy on its own, while hot or after cooling down.  On indulgent afternoons, I suggest a glass of flavoured Bailey's to go with it.  And no need to eat it all in one go (although tempting) because it's still fresh and bouncy even after a few days, when fridge-cold and eaten with a scoop of vanilla icecream...

Now I did say it was surprisingly light in calories.. I normally put it into a 22cmX30cm baking tray, and slice it into a 3x4 matrix, so we get 12 slices.  Once slice is a generous portion and contains only 255cals.  So its entirely justified to eat two of them.


* Other kinds of nuts can also be used, as well as mixed nuts, just not pistachios.  Brazil nuts go excellently with blackberries, for example
** all other kinds of fruits can be considered, such as blackberries, peaches, or bananas. 

"Gabika" amazing Turkey in Red Wine

This is my Mum's excellent recipe and I ask for it every time I go home.  Tried to recreate it  - turned out delicious*.   Here's how.  This dish needs preparation 5-12 hours before the dinner. If you want it to be very good, you make it 5 hours before dinner.  If you want it to be excellent, you make it right in the morning!!  

*It never gets as delicious as it does when my Mum makes it. Think it's something I'll just have to live with.

A lot of people make the mistake of using "ok" or "acceptable" wine for cooking, and drink the nice bottle.  Make sure you use very good quality , rich red wine, and use the same bottle for cooking that you will use for drinking with it.  Makes all the difference!

(No photo - it was some time ago..)

Ingredients for 6 (or 4 very generous portions):

• 400g Turkey escalopes - I prefer Waitrose free range as their turkey tastes very rich. Good suppliers I guess?
• 4tbsp olice oil - use the unflavoured version
• 750g chestnut or closed cup white mushrooms
• 185ml good quality red wine
• 10g plain flour (or less - depends on how thick you pat)
• 20g butter
• one whole red onoin
• Salt, pepper and a herb mix of your choice
• 1 vegetable stock, or two, to taste. 

1.) Prep:  Slice mushrooms to thick flat slices (not cubes), put aside.  Prepare escalopes with rubbing salt, pepper and flour  onto both sides. Put wine in glass and let it air. Slice onion to nice thick round slices and do not crack them apart, if you can keep them together!

2.) Turkey:  Melt half the butter in a large, shallow frying pan and turn up the heat.  Put turkey in and cook on both sides for 2 minutes, then turn down the heat to medium, cover, and cook until thoroughly done (10 mins approx). You can always add a splash of water if extra steam is needed.  Once it's done, put aside.

3.) Layers:  Turn up the heat, add the other half of the butter, melt, then put the onions in.  Simmer until slightly crispy and glassy but do not let it burn. Careful not to break the onoin circles.   Take them out and put on the side.

4.) More layers:  Add the mushrooms and a splash of water to the frying pan, cover and cook until the mushrooms are soft and lose a little bit of their volume, but not yet ready.  Add salt, pepper and the herb mix and stir

5.) Wine:  Add 125ml water to a small saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add the vegetable stock.  Add the wine and boil for about 1-2 minutes together.

6.) And that's it:  Grab a nice large casserole dish or similar (I use heatproof glass dishes with a thick glass lid).  Take half of the turkey and layer it to the bottom of the dish.  Follow with a layer of half the onlins, then a layer of half the mushrooms.  Repeat again: one layer of turkey, one layer of onions and then mushrooms on the very top. Pour the water/wine/stock mix into the dish, cover.

If you make this more than 4-5 hours before cooking it, then put it in the fridge, otherwise it can be left out to sit and for the wonderful tastes to mature together.

7.) Before dinner:  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and put it in.  Cook for 40 minutes.  If it was in the fridge before, do not preheat the over - then just put it in, and cook for 50 minutes on 180. Check when it's nearly done:  If too liquidy (mushrooms will lose more water in the process), take off the lid and cook without it for ten minutes to get rid of the excess moisture.

Serve with rice and with the same wine you used for the sauce.

Cal count:

1 portion without rice (1/6th of the recipe) makes for a very light 240 cal meal, but even if you take a generous 1/4th of the recipe, it will only set you back by around 350 cals. And it's thick and incredibly filling, as well as virtually fat free with turkey being the least fatty meat out there.  Add around 100-150 cals for rice, depending on the size of the portion.

Duck breast with blueberry sauce (served with rosemary potatoes)

Never liked duck before but since the man of the house loves it, decided to give it a go.  I think this is the best way of combining meat with sweet in a main course.  Delicious and incredibly filling. Takes a bit of time to prepare though, so allow 1h 30m.

Ingredients:  

4 potatoes, cubed
250g boneless duck breast, uncut, with fat on
Salt, pepper, thyme (1.5 tbsp), rosemary (1tbsp)
3 tablespoons olive oil (can be infused)
600g fresh blueberries
125ml water and 125ml elderflower juice (can be apple too)
3 rashers of bacon, thinly cut
6 shallots, thinly sliced
100g mushrooms (shitaake or chestnut)
15g butter and 2tbsp balsamic vinegar
100g sugar if needed (can be less or none)
one medium sized leek.

Let's do it: 

1.) Prep.  Preheat oven to 190c.  In a small bowls mix salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary. This will be our spice blend. Cube potatoes.  Fry and cut bacon.  Cut mushrooms into thin slices.

2.) Potatoes.  Put cubed potatoes in a 22cx30 ish baking dish, drizzle with olice oil and sprinkle one tbsp on the spice blend over  it.  Toss until evenly coated, then spread into a single layer.  Put in oven, bake for 40 mins.

3.) Sauce:  Stir together the blueberries, juice, water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat and simmer until the mixture has reduced to a consistency of a syrup (10-20 mins, depending on heat).

4.) Veg:  Melt the butter in a frying pan, add shallots, mushrooms and leeks when sizzly. Cook them until soft and beginning to brown nicely.  Add salt and pepper.  Once they are near done (remember never overdo the mushrooms), take them out of the frying pan, put on a plate, set aside.

5.) Quack:  Rinse the duck breasts and pat dry.  Rub the rest of the spice blend onto both sides of the breast.  Preheat the frying pan on high heat, adding a bit more butter, then place the duck breasts in the pan, fat side down.  This is important! Do not move them until the skin is deep brown (5 mins or so).  Then turn the breasts, and cook until done (no red bits in the middle).  Around 10 misn, if it's too dry you can always add a splash of water to keep the steam up.  Also might work if you cover the pan (but keep checking!). Remove the duck when ready and put it on a plate to rest for 5 mins.

6.) Soon there... Put the veg mixture back in the pan where the duck breasts were (hopefully there will still be some nice duck breast juice around in there!) and add the bacon.   Heat through, then place on a nice serving plate, making a bed for the duck.

7.) Ready now:  Slice the duck breasts into 1cm strips diagonally and nicely place the strips on the veg bed. drizzle with balsamic vinegar, ladle on the blueberry sauce (or put it on the side so that everyone can serve themselves).

Serve with the rosemary potatoes and a nice, medium bodied, dry red wine and enjoy!

Weightwatching bits:

One serving (half of the above) without potatoes is a nice 450 cals, with potatoes add around 150, depending on how much il you drizzled on.  For waistline watchers: actually the vegs and the duck are so rich that you may not even want potatoes.

Indulgent creamy chocolate-y cheesecake

Made this one the other night when my friend Vee visited.  This is quite easy, an absolute pleasure to make and an even bigger pleasure to eat, but I must work on a lighter version sometime.  I cannot claim innovation for this - Mr Nigel Slater's the man (although I made some changes).

Note to self:  Learn to make good food photos. 

Also note:  Some people claim this is better after a few days when the filling thickens and generally the "cheesecake-ness" sets.  I don't know about this - I enjoyed it thoroughly after 3 hours and after 2 days as well. (It did not last longer than that). 

Ingredients:

• 20 Sweet biscuits  - I used McVities digestives (can use more or less depending on how thick a base you prefer!)
• 60g butter
• 250ml double cream - I recommend Sainsbury's extra thick double cream.  But that is also the richest and most calorific, so to thin down, can use another. 
• White chocolate, 200g - I used Green and Black's. 
• 600 g full-fat cream cheese (Philadelphia or the likes)
• Vanilla extract
• 3 good sized bananas (min 300g)

Let's prepare:

1.) Base:  Crush the biscuits.  No need for a food processor - if you are using the McVities kind, they will crumble at the slightest touch.  Put them in a nice big bowl. Melt the butter on low heat and add 3 tablespoons of the cream when nice and slightly sizzly.  Stir in all the biscuits and turn it around so that all gets a bit moist. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the crumbs, then pour the rest into a tin baking pot (25 cm diamater) and press down hard so it's nice, even and consistent. Let it rest.

2.) Choc:   Tricky bit is the chocolate.  Boil a little water in a large pan, then when it's sizzling, put a smaller pan inside it.  Crush the chocolate and put it in the small pan, letting the warming side of the pan and the surrounding heat and steam melt it.  Do not stir, wait it out patiently.  

3.) Filling:  Once the choc is melted, pour in the rest of the double cream and stir nicely.  Turn off the heat. Add some vanilla extract and stir them slowly together. Put the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and slowly work the chocolatey cream into it, stirring evenly, until you get a thick, creamy white, consistent mousse.  

4.)  Putting it all together: Carefully scoop the filling onto the base and smooth it down evenly, but be careful. The crumbs have not yet settled and any kind of stirring can make them mix with the filling which is not what we want.  Rule of thumb is that once the filling touched the base, try not to stir it up.  Optional: Lick filling bowl and stirring spoons in the name of quality control.  Many times.  

Stick it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  We couldn't wait and took it out after 2 and it was delicious.  When ready, slice the bananas on the top, sprinkle the reserved three tablespoons of crumbs for decoration, divide into 8 slices and enjoy!

Here's the c-bit: 

One slice contains a whopping 697 calories. Now it is worth every single calorie inside, but if you're watching the waistline, you may want to start with half a slice. Or not eat the crumb which shaves off more than 100 cals per slice.  I am looking into less calorific biscuits to use.  Also worth experimenting with Philadelphia light instead of full fat.  

Chicken Stroganoff

This one is my newest recipe from a Hungarian friend - traditional beef strog healthier.  Serve with plain white rice or with any kind of steamed vegs, if you are into the no carb thing. 

Forgot to take a picture - it got eaten way too fast.

Ingredients for 2*: 

*2 means one normally quite hungry boy, and one "foodlover but watching portions" girl.  Portions are normally divided 1/3 to girl and 2/3 to man, which is actually how it should be.  Men need much more calories.

• around 350g Chicken breast, cut into 1cm wide, 5 cm long cute stripes
• Half an onion, sliced into thin circles
• 200g chestnut mushrooms (white "closed cup" variety is good as well)
• Salt and pepper
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 2 tablespoons butter**
• 100ml single cream
• 100ml soured cream (recommend Sainsbury's for both. Make sure you don't go for the extra thick cream!)
• 1 generous tablespoon dijon mustard with seeds (can use more or less, depending on taste)

Let's get cooking. Takes about half an hour!

1.) Prep.  Slice onions, put in bowl. Thinly slice mushrooms (leave the skin on! it's the yummiest bit!).  Slice chicken breasts.  Put cream, soured cream, nutmeg and mustard in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

2.) Chicken.  Melt one tablespoon butter in a large pan on low heat.  When nice and sizzly, turn up the heat, chuck in chicken and let it brown for 3-4 minutes.  (Add a splash of water if it wants to burn - it'll go away anyhow). Once slightly brown, take it out, put on a plate, cover with kitchen foil and leave it alone for now. Do not let the other half go and "just try a bit"!! It's not thoroughly cooked yet. 

3.)  Other stuff.  Put one more tablespoon butter back into the pan. Melt and add the onions.  Let them nicely cook until glassy, then add the mushrooms and a splash of water. Cover and on medium heat, cook for a few minutes, until the mushrooms are nice and soft and lost about 1/3 of their volume.  (Do not overcook - we don't want to lose their delicious taste).

(3.1:  chuck some easy to cook uncle bens white rice into boiling water - I use the rice in the bag variety - simplicity first)

4.) Putting it all together: Once it's done, pour the creamy-mustardy mixture on top of the mushrooms and onions.  Stir.  Add the chicken back in, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

5.) Set the table nicely. Put rice on plates to serve as the bed for the stroganoff.  (and if you are feeling extra cheesy, shape the rice into a heart shape on the man's plate.  It also works as a test - if he appreciates, he gets food, if he does the macho smirk, you eat all the chicken by yourself and he has to settle for plain rice... ).

6.)  Almost there. After 5 minutes, take off the cover and check the consistency.  You want a not-too-runny, nice and thick sauce, so if it's a bit runnier, just let it cook for another 5 mins of high heath, with the lid off.

When it looks, smells and tastes delicious, scoop a nice portion on top of the rice and enjoy!

Here's the bit for those of us who care about the c-word: 

Without rice, one portion (half the recipe) is 530cals, but as I said above, if you distribute this evenly, you'll end up not being able to eat it all, and the man will end up hungry.  I suggest a 2/3 distribution rate, at which 1 girl-portion ends up with roughly 380cals.  I actually had it with courgettes instead of rice so it was an extremely delicious, filling and light dinner.

** Please don't use margarine.  Ever.  If you don't eat everything fried and drenched in unhealthy stuff, you don't need to worry about your cholesterol.  Use the real thing and enjoy the delicious taste.