2 course menu: cod en croute with crab and sticky toffee apple crumble

 

I love apple crumble and I love sticky toffee pudding, so I decided to combine the two and create my own pudding - which tastes amazing! I've never come across this before though perhaps someone has already invented it, but I am very pleased with my sticky toffee apple crumble.

I made this for the SACO Kitchen Challenge. SACO is a company that provides serviced apartments worldwide - as an alternative to staying in a hotel, where you might have more space but also the ability to cook your own meals, an option you don't have in a hotel.

The challenge is to come up with a two-course meal for two, that guests could cook in a SACO apartment kitchen with the standard equipment provided in the apartments. They sent over the inventory and I was impressed at the range of utensils, pots and pans and so on - there are too many things to list here but you get things like a mixing bowl, pie dishes, cheese grater, glass oven proof dishes, tea towels and so on.

This time of year is great to get friends and family together whether it's to go and see the fireworks on November 5, visit another country for a Halloween break or to check out the Christmas markets, or to do your own take on a Thanksgiving meal with family or friends - after all, not many people have enough room in their homes to put up that many people overnight, so you might be better off renting an apartment for a night or two!

With that in mind I wanted my two-course menu to be fairly autumnal - hearty food with warm flavours. I decided to make cod en croute stuffed with crab with potato wedges for the main course, and sticky toffee apple crumble for pudding.

Cod en Croute stuffed with  Crab - an original recipe by Caroline Makes

serves 2

2 cod fillets

170g tin of shredded crab meat

1 piece of day old bread, chopped into small cubes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tsp capers, chopped plus two extra for decoration

dash of lemon juice

200g ready-made puff pastry

1 egg

For the potato wedges:
5-6 potatoes depending on size
olive oil
salt

Preheat the oven to 175C. First prepare the potato wedges. Wash and dry the potatoes with a clean tea towel. Slice with a sharp knife on a chopping board into wedges.

Line a large baking tray with foil or grease with a little oil. Toss the potatoes with the salt and a dash of oil and spread out across the tin. Bake in the oven for one hour, turning half way through.

For the fish:
Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured chopping board. Using a sharp knife, cut out a fish shape slightly bigger than your piece of fish; use that as a template to cut out another three.

Drain the tin of crab meat and mix in a small bowl with the bread, salt, cayenne pepper, mayonnaise, capers and lemon juice.

Place the cod pieces onto a piece of fish-shaped puff pastry and spoon half the crab mixture on top of each piece of fish, spreading out evenly.

Place the other piece of pastry on top. Place a caper where the fish's eye would be.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Serve with green veg and the potato wedges.

For the sticky toffee apple crumble
Serves 4 - ideal if there are two of you because you will want some more of this the next day!
75g unsalted butter
125g light brown sugar
2 eggs
200g self-raising flour
2 apples
50g light brown sugar
50g unsalted butter
75ml double cream

Preheat oven to 175C (or make this and the main course at the same time).

Grease a glass oven proof dish.

In a bowl cream 75g butter with 125g light brown sugar. Beat in two eggs and 200g self-raising flour.

Thinly slice two apples.

Spoon half the cake mixture into the base of the ovenproof dish and place the apple slices on top. Spoon the rest of the cake mixture on top of the apples.

To make the toffee sauce, place 50g light brown sugar, 50g unsalted butter and 75ml double cream into a small pan.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes then pour over the top of the apple and cake mixture.

Place 200g plain flour, 120g butter and 120g caster sugar in a bowl and rub together with your finger tips to make a breadcrumb-like texture - this is your crumble topping. Spoon the crumble mixture over the top of the pudding.

Place the ovenproof dish on a baking tray in case of any leakage and bake in the oven for half an hour.

When you dig in you will see the base is like a sticky toffee pudding - the caramel sauce will have soaked in to the cake mixture as it cooks, giving a lovely sticky, moist base. Then you have the layer of apple in the middle and the crumble topping which will be a lovely golden brown. This is a very sweet pudding but absolutely delicious.

 This is my entry in the SACO Kitchen Challenge - thanks to SACO for providing £20 with which to purchase all the ingredients for these two courses.

I am also sending this to a blogging round-up called the Four Seasons Food challenge, hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux. Their chosen ingredient this month is fruit.

Konditor and Cook Lemon Chiffon Cake

This is the cake I made for Mothers' Day this year. I wanted something light and suitable for spring, and I remembered an amazing lemon cake I made a few years ago, when I first started baking. The Times published a recipe from Konditor and Cook for a lemon chiffon cake, and I made it for a bake sale at work. It was a resounding success as the managing director of the London office had his assistant track down who had made the cake so he could personally say it was one of the best he had ever tasted!

That was long before I started this blog so I thought it would be nice to be able to blog that particular recipe and make it again. It didn't turn out quite so light this time for some reason - perhaps I left it in the oven a little too long. Still, it was very good. I iced it with a lemon cream cheese frosting which was a bit runny - I've since learned that it's really important to use full fat soft cheese, not the low fat kind! I decorated the cake with some sugar flowers I was given as a gift from America - they are from the Wilton cake decorating brand.

Here is the recipe for Konditor and Cook's lemon chiffon cake. The recipe was posted online on Nigella's website here but it does state that it is the Konditor and Cook recipe. It gives the full ingredient list and step-by-step instructions.

 Here's one half of the cake waiting to go in the oven

Both parts of the cake once they had cooled

 Layered with the lemon cream cheese filling and icing on top

The sugar flowers that I used to decorate the cake

 A very pretty spring-fresh lemon chiffon cake for Mother's Day

I'm sending this to Four Seasons Food as this month's theme is celebrating spring; I think the light lemon flavour and also the floral decorations are just right for spring. The challenge is hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux.

I'm also sharing this with Love Cake, hosted by Ness at Jibber Jabber UK as the theme is flowers - either the flavour or the decoration.

Low Fat Lime Jelly Cheesecake

This is a refreshing and light dessert perfect for a summer's day, post barbecue perhaps. It's based on a Slimming World recipe that I think came from one of the magazines but now I can't find it. I did note down the ingredients and quantities that I used at the time though.

To make a 9-inch round cheesecake you need:

8 reduced fat digestive biscuits

60g low fat spread

1 sachet sugar-free lime or lemon and lime jelly crystals

juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp powdered gelatine

2 x 125g pots low fat lemon and lime yogurt eg Activia

200g Quark

4 tbsp sweetener

 Place the biscuits in a food processor. Meanwhile melt the low fat spread and then stir into the crushed biscuits. Spoon into the base of a loose-bottomed cake tin and press down firmly and place in the fridge to chill until needed.

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpu

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

 Make up the jelly with 150ml boiling water, stir in the gelatine and leave to cool. When the jelly is cool, place in a food processor with the yogurt, lime juice, quark and sweetener. Pour the mixture over the biscuit base and place in the fridge overnight.

Meanwhile, make up the jelly with 150ml boiling water. Stir in the gelatine and set aside to cool. - See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

Here is the cheesecake ready to serve, having removed the loose bottom from the tin.

I sprinkled some Dr. Oetker neon sugar over the top for decoration, I think it looks quite pretty!

I'm sending this to Four Seasons Food, hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux as the theme is celebrating spring, and the zesty refreshing flavour of this cheesecake is great for spring.

Cheesy Cod Gratin with Crushed Potatoes

White fish can sometimes seem a little boring - much as I love it, when cooked at home I think fish like cod and plaice needs a flavoured sauce, or a coating, or herbs - something to liven it up really. These cod gratins aren't the most healthy, as they do use cheese and cream, but they are perfect for a dinner party. You could make one big dish but I like these individual portions.

The recipe is inspired by one for individual cod gratins from Leith's Easy Dinner Parties. To serve two, you need:

2 pieces cod fillet

20g butter

1 leek, sliced

80ml dry white wine

150ml fish stock

50ml double cream

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

2 tsp chopped parsley or dill

70g grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 180C. Put the wine and stock in a small pan and bring to the boil and simmer until reduced by half. Add the cream and mustard and remove from the heat.

Cut the fish into cubes. In another pan, melt the butter and sweat the sliced leeks for a few minutes then mix the fish, leeks and creamy sauce in individual gratin dishes.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

I served these with crushed potatoes - parboil some new potatoes and crush with the back of a fork so they still retain their shape but are squashed and split open. Spray with Fry Light or drizzle with oil and bake in the oven for about half an hour.

The potatoes went really well with the finished cod gratins, which tasted delicious. I'm not normally a fan of leeks but these were lovely.

As leeks are in season, I'm sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Ren Behan.

The theme for this month's Four Seasons Food is "something fishy", so I'm sending this to Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux.

Valentine's Chocolate and Beetroot Cake Heart Shaped Bundt

Nordicware's heart-shaped bundt tin is the perfect choice for your Valentine's baking! I got it as a Christmas present and knew I had to use it to make a cake for Valentine's day, and that cake had to be chocolate. Then, I saw that two of my favourite blog challenges - Random Recipes and We Should Cocoa - had joined forces this month. Dom at Belleau Kitchen, who hosts RR, and Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog, the creator of WSC, decided that we should choose one of our recipe books at random, turn to the chocolate section and make one of those recipes. The book I chose at random was the Clandestine Cake Club cookery book, and the recipe I chose was for a chocolate and beetroot cake. I adapted it a little; I used ready cooked beetroot which came vacuum packed, as it was quicker to cook than raw beetroot. I also used slightly less beetroot than the recipe called for, since I only bought one pack and wanted to use a little of it for another recipe, and I missed out the coffee as I didn't think the cake needed the additional flavour and I don't really like coffee. Also, I left out the red food colouring that is used in the cake, as I wanted the cake to be chocolate coloured but with red or pink icing, and I didn't make the candied beetroot to go on top, as I had some cute chocolate hearts from Dr. Oetker that I wanted to try out.

This is the heart-shaped bundt tin; you can make this cake in any shape bakeware of course

 You need:
250g plain chocolate
3 eggs
250g light brown sugar
4 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
80g plain flour
50g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa powder
175g ready-to-eat beetroot, grated
50ml sunflower oil
Icing sugar and pink or red food colouring for decorating

Preheat the oven to 180C. Melt the chocolate in a bain marie or the microwave.

Beat the eggs, sugar, honey and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Fold in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and cocoa.

Fold in the melted chocolate and grated beetroot and then the sunflower oil.

Grease and line your cake tin; I sprayed the tin with PME Cake Release.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour. How long it takes to bake will depend on the size of your tin; the bundt tin is not that wide but is fairly deep so it takes longer for the cake to cook, and as you can see it's very easy for it to start to burn on top! If this happens you can cover the tin with foil for the last part of the cooking time. 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack. The chocolate, cocoa and beetroot combine to make a very dark, fudgy cake - I promise this isn't burnt!

I decided to make pink icing to drizzle over the top so I mixed icing sugar with water and a little Sugarflair pink gel colour. I put some kitchen paper under the cake as I knew it would be messy!

I was sent these chocolate hearts by Dr. Oetker which are really cute - and taste great too! Just because they are small decorations doesn't mean they shouldn't be good quality chocolate.

I placed a heart on each groove in the cake.

I also bought a heart-shaped cake board from a new cake shop near where I live, which I thought would be perfect for this cake.

 And here it is!

Side view with a better view of the chocolate hearts. Of course, you can decorate this cake however you like.

Unsurprisingly, there are several Valentine's-themed blog challenges this month that this recipe is perfect for. Firstly, Calendar Cakes, hosted by Rachel at Dollybakes and Laura at Laura Loves Cakes, as their theme is l'amour. (That's love, for non-French speakers!)

Beetroot is in season in February so I am sending this to Ren Behan's challenge Simple and In Season.

As already mentioned, I chose this recipe to fit in with a double blog challenge, We Should Cocoa hosted by Chocolate Log Blog and Random Recipes at Belleau Kitchen.

The theme for this month's Tea Time Treats is chocolate; the challenge is hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Janie at The Hedgecombers.

I'm also sharing this with Four Seasons Food, hosted by Anneli at Delicieux and Louisa at Eat Your Veg. The theme this month is "food from the heart".

 Michelle at Utterly Scrummy and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours have a great blog challenge called Extra Veg where the idea is to blog about any recipe where you have an extra portion of veg - in this case, beetroot in the cake!

Finally a new challenge, Love Cake, hosted by Jibber Jabber. Rose-shaped cakes are certainly evocative of love and passion - the theme this month is baking with passion.