TO ALL YOU COFFEE LOVERS OUT THERE

Look what we stumbled upon whilst browsing the web at work. Designed by Venezuelan designer Enrique Luis Sardi for Lavazza this is every sweet-toothed coffee lover's dream. Drink the coffee then devour the cup ;)

Anyone tried these yet?

Love,

MEDITERRANEAN SAUSAGE 'N' VEG BAKE

This one's another super easy dish, both to prepare and cook, and sooo delicious. Also, depending on the kind of veg and sausages you decide to use, this is the perfect meal for all seasons.
As it's summer at the moment (I know, how good has the weather been lately?) and pretty hot we decided to go for a lemon and thyme sausage and lots of summery, seasonal veg. This dish is right up my street as you only have to put everything into a baking tray and let it do its thing while you get on with life.
Instead of baking the whole thing in the oven you can also take all your ingredients to a barbecue. Cook the veg and marinade in tin foil over the fire and barbecue your sausages as you usually would.

SERVES 2-3

PREPARATION 10mins

COOKS 45mins

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INGREDIENTS 

• 6 sausages of your choice
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 1 carrot, cut into strips
• 2 celery sticks, cut into bite-size chunks
• celery leaves (only a few), finely chopped
• handful of cherry tomatoes quartered
• 2-3 medium size potatoes, par boiled and cut into chunks
• olive oil
• 2tbsp balsamico
• 1tbsp Worcester Sauce
• pinch of brown sugar
• Italian herbs
• salt and plenty of black pepper

PREPARATION METHOD:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190˚C.
2. Mix a generous amount of olive oil, the balsamico, Worcester Sauce, sugar, Italian herbs and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chopped vegetables to the marinade and combine until well coated. 
3. Now place all the vegetables in a baking tray and top with the sausages. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
4. Place in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes, turning the sausages half way through. 

That's it! - Easy! Didn't I say so? 
Best with a green salad and ice cold lager on the side.

Enjoy!

AUBERGINE BAKE AKA PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE

Parmigiana is one of those dishes people frown at when you explain to them what it is. Once they've actually tried it, everyone I know, loves it. It's really simple and incredibly delicious, especially if you give the tomato sauce time to reduce to a thick texture and lovely intense flavour.
Originally this dish comes from the south of Italy and involves coating your aubergines in flour and egg and shallow frying them. Also the Italians like to use fontina cheese, which is pretty pricy here in the UK. So if you want to go for the original recipe, try Antonio Carluccio's one (yum!) I've slightly altered the recipe and created a healthier and cheaper, but not less tasty version.
Even if you don't like aubergines, do give this one a try, it is definitely worth it!!

SERVES 4

PREPARATION 20mins

COOKS 45mins

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INGREDIENTS 

• 2 aubergines, sliced length-ways into approx. 1cm/1/2in strips
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• a little red wine (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• large handful of chopped fresh basil
• 2 balls mozarella (you can use the low-fat mozarella if you want to go for a healthier version, but I find that once cooked it tends to be slightly rubbery)
• approx. 30g grated pecorino or parmesan
• virgin olive oil
• dried oregano, salt and pepper to season

PREPARATION METHOD:

1. Preheat you grill to medium-high (depending on the power of your grill). Place your aubergines on two large baking trays and brush with some olive oil and sprinkle with some salt. Make sure you only brush them once. The aubergines will soak up the oil but don't keep adding oil as they will go soggy.  Grill each tray for 12 minutes, turning the aubergines half way through.
2. In the meantime heat a little olive oil in a large pan and fry the onions and garlic until soft (this will take approximately 10 minutes). Then add the wine, tomatoes, oregano and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened and intensified. Stir in most of the basil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Once your aubergines are done, preheat the oven to 220˚C. Spoon a thin layer of the sauce into a baking dish, then dot over a third of the mozzarella. Cover with a layer of aubergine, then repeat the process twice more. Make sure you split you mixture equally and finish with a layer of sauce and mozzarella.
4. Sprinkle over the pecorino or parmesan and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling. Enjoy with a green salad and some crusty bread.

Enjoy!















PS Excuse the rubbish pictures. It was dark, but simply too yummy to not share!

SUMMER PICNICS

It's summer (yeah who would've thought) and we decided to celebrate the beginning of our two week holiday with a lovely picnic in Beckenham Place Park. We've lived here for so long and only now discovered this gem of a space. Absolutely beautiful, I would've never thought that our little suburban town holds such a vast, untouched area of green.

Cat made the most amazing and immense bread bowl sandwich, filled with all sorts of yummy ingredients and we had croissants and pork pies and mini victoria sponges (recipe here) and drank bubbly and then played frisbee and just had a wonderful day.
... oh and I met a Labradoodle called Louie and he was lovely :)

Here's a few pics of our day out.

Love,

 

MINI VICTORIA SPONGES

Believe it or not, when it comes to sweet things I am pretty good. I can live without chocolate, sweets, caramels... etc. My only vice is cake. If there's a lovely, moist sponge cake going, I will eat it... ALL!!!

My boss Mikey shares my love for a simple sponge cakes and a few months ago I baked these lovely mini victoria cupcakes for his birthday. And because they were so good we had them for our afternoon picnic in the park this weekend again.

These are so easy to make and because the ingredients are all equal measures you can learn the recipe by heart and bake anywhere, any time :) Here's to all of you who say you can't bake!

Enjoy the vanilla cupcakes just on their own or fill with whatever tickles your fancy or if you want to make a chocolate sponge cake, just sieve a tablespoon of cocoa into the batter, mix and bake. These are absolutely divine.

MAKES 12

PREPARATION 10mins

COOKS 12-15mins

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INGREDIENTS 

For the sponge

• 110g soft butter
• 110g caster sugar
• 110g self-raising flour
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1-2tbsp milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract

For the filling

• raspberry or strawberry jam (you can also use fresh berries)
• 100ml whipping cream
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp icing sugar

Extra icing sugar to dust.

PREPARATION METHOD

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases (use cupcake cases not muffin cases).
2. Cream the butter and sugar until well combined and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time and mix until you have a smooth batter. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3. Fold in the flour. Once combined add the milk a little at a time until your batter is of a thick, dripping consistency.
4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, making sure it is distributed equally.
5. Place into the pre-heated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Once done check whether your cakes are cooked by piercing with a cocktail stick. If it comes out clean the cakes are done. If the batter sticks to it, bake for a couple more minutes.
6. While your cakes are baking, pour your cream into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat until thick. Place into the fridge to cool.
7. When your cakes are done, place them on a wire rack and leave to cool approximately half an hour. 
8. To fill, cut little cones out of the top and cut off the pointed tip so that you are left with a sponge lid. Spoon a little of the jam into the cupcake, top with cream, place the sponge lid on top and dust with icing sugar.

Devour with a cup of tea or sparkling wine, ideally on picnic blanket in the sunshine.

Enjoy!