Pecan Cookies

If there is a nut I love more than Pistachio it has to be a Pecan. The way I eat my pecans is either in my breakfast cereal or baked into a cake or a cookie. This past winter I think I have overdone the pecan cookie recipe. The reasons I went overboard this past winter are, one these cookies smell like Christmas and it's the closest i'll get to a cold Christmas at home and still have my pecan cookie.

They, the cookies, do compose of:

 the said pecan nuts,

whole wheat flour,

a wheatbix,

muscavado sugar,

butter (salted), which no cookie is complete without,

nutmeg, hence Christmas-sy smell

cinnamon, again Christmas-sy,

eggs,

Method:

• So firstly, the butter and sugar are mixed with a wooden spoon until creamy,

• next, the nuts are crushed and added to the creamed mixture, together with the flour and spices and crushed wheatbix. Combine all of the above.

• the mixture is then worked with the hands, wrapped in cling film and refrigerated for two hours.

• once chilled, the dough is rolled into table spoon sized amount balls and placed onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. on this occasion I was out so I used aluminium foil which worked just as well. The the balls are then pressed with the underside of the fork and  baked for 20 to 25 minutes.

• remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes on the tray and place on a wire rack to cool completely. 

As I said, these are one of my favourite cookies and I enjoy them with a glass of ezygest milk. They are not very sweet so sugar lovers will have to play around with sugar types - maybe mix half and half measures of mascavado and white sugar.

Warm Crispy Summer Salad

They say "the more colourful your plate, the more packed nutrients you're getting"!

Sometimes a variety of colours, which means a variety of vegetables and fruit, conflicts with the amount of time you have / want to make a certain dish. I'm one of those people that can cook for hours when in the right mood for it but rather prefers fast meals.

Weird as it may sound, I am one of those people that prefer home cooking to fast- / takeaway food when given the option to pick. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that its hard to find a good vegetarian option outside of one's home - its always a Greek salad, fruit salad, some form of crisp and boiled vegetables - there is nothing wrong with those options but sometimes one prefers variety and one does eat with the eyes first, specifically on days where an appetite is hard to summon.

Long story short, when I want food, I usually want it  NOW!!

So for lunch I decided to make a warm crispy salad. This consisted of button mushrooms, white onion, green pepper, sweet basil, Italian parsley and chilli flakes. Mind you I did have fresh chilli on hand but couldn't be bothered to chop them for two reasons. One, and perhaps the more pertinent of reasons is I have a swollen eye and touch my face quite often, and anyone that has dealt with chilli knows how it lingers and transfers wherever one touches. The second reason, and by no means less relevant, I feel lazy.

I then seasoned these ingredients  with salt and marinated with olive oil and red wine vinegar. In the meantime I turned the stove on high and placed a non-stick pan on the said stove. Once hot, I placed everything in pan (sans marinade) into the pan and reduce the heat to low.

Once browned, I poured in the marinade and switched the stove on high again and closed with a lid.

Once tender, removed the lid, and allowed any liquid to evaporate and caramelised the veggies.

I then tore some lettuce leaves, fresh basil and coriander leaves and placed them on a plate.

And proceeded to top off with the cooked veggies. I then drizzled some, about a teaspoon, of red wine vinegar over the veggies.

Finally I served this with a glass of chilled white wine, namely a Chenin Blanc.

Beer Bread

It is Sunday, six am, and I am sat in bed watching Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking series on YouTube. He, Gordon, begins of, as always, with a breakfast dish which would be followed by a lunch and dinner one later. So I am sat here wondering "why am watching when he is about to prepare yet another non-vegetarian friendly dish?!", but just before I could "change the channel", read that as move on to the next episode, up comes what would accompany the offending, to me at least, dish - beer bread!

Throughout him sifting the flour, salt and whatnot I begin to salivate for want of the opportunity to make and eat this bread. So mentally I begin to recount the contents of the baking cupboard since last I baked. And then it hit me - I once, during winter,  bought a bag of beer bread flour that I'd convinced myself I'd find "the best beer to try it with". With my heart aflutter at the prospect of not having to weigh anything, I quickly paused the program and made my way to the kitchen where I found the forgotten flour, which mind you was nearing its expiry date.

I don't know why I thought I'd have to "hunt" for the perfect beer, especially since I'm convinced Windhoek Lager is pretty much up there on the best beer scale. Luckily there were some bottles left from the previous evenings party to use.

Fast forward me having sat staring at the bread in the oven wondering "why has it not risen yet?" and "will it even rise?" the timer goes off after the allotted thirty minutes. I then brush some milk onto the bread, sprinkle with flour and return to the oven for a further five minutes baking.

I then allowed it to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning it onto a wire rack and letting it cool to a "warm" state.

This I enjoyed with some home-made, not by me mind you, blackberry jam. Delicious!

 I might just have to try beer bread again but from scratch this time.

Scone-y Breaky

Lately I've been craving a proper breakfast. For vegetarians, such as myself, it means no sausages or bacon but it does include fun things like scones. I love a good scone and especially ones 'spiked' with other ingredients - be it black pepper or cheese - or those with non-traditional fillings such as cream cheese, chocolate, Nutela, etc.

Here's the recipe I like to use and tweek to get different versions of the scone by substituting the mustard and cheese with other ingredients or leaving them out entirely.

You'll need:

• 340g self-raising wheat flour (plus extra for rolling)
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp dried mustard powder 
• 85g butter
• 125ml milk
• 60g yoghurt
• 55g grated cheddar cheese 

1. Start off by mixing the flour, salt and mustard powder in a bowl. Then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
2. Stir in half the cheese, combine the yoghurt and milk and stir into the mixture while working the ingredients together until they form a soft dough.
3. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the dough is smooth. Roll it out into an even thickness of about 2cm,
4. Cut out into 5cm sized scones (about 12 -14 scones) and place on a greased baking tray. 
5. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese over each scone and bake in a fan oven at 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove, butter and eat while the scones are still warm. Jam will do too. 

Discaimer: I left out step 5. I just added all the cheese to the mixture in step 2 - I am not a fan of crispy cheese toppings.