Category Archives: Food & Entertaining

FOOD HEAVEN | COCONUT CARDAMOM LIME TEA CAKE

3 April 2014

OMG, you guys, I saw this popping up in my Pinterest feed via Laura Davidson over at Blogging Over Thyme and just had to share this. Just the list of the three main ingredients gets my heart and taste buds going and she had me at ‘cardamom’.

Coconut, cardamom and lime is a genius combination if you ask me and judging by Laura’s tempting photography the texture is soft and light with some exciting floral undertones from the cardamom. Though I’ll just have to take her word for that as I haven’t had time to test it out yet but I promise you it’ll be my next baking challenge. The cowboy loves his limes as well as cake and I’m sure this will be a hit with the kids as well.

Before you head over to check out her other gorgeous recipes let me just mention that this is slightly adapted from Dorie Greenspan who’s also been featured on Stylejuicer with her funky branding for NYC Beurre & Sel cookie shop.

COCONUT CARDAMOM LIME TEA CAKE

Prep time // 15 min
Cook time // 60 min

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned unsweetened (full-fat) coconut milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 cups sugar
zest of 2 limes
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons dark or light rum
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (or flakes – see recipe below)

Lime Glaze:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons heavy cream
unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted or un-toasted (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 C). Generously butter or grease a 9- to 10-inch bundt or Kugelhopf pan.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Set aside. Combine the coconut milk and butter in a small saucepan and place over medium low heat. Whisk until the butter melts completely. Remove from heat, but keep mixture warm.
Combine the sugar and lime zest in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your fingers, rub the zest and sugar together until fragrant. Add the (room temperature) eggs to the bowl. Using the whisk attachment, beat the sugar and eggs together until pale and thick (roughly 3-4 min). Then, beat in the vanilla and rum.

Over low speed, slowly add the flour mixture until just combined. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula to ensure that all of the ingredients are incorporated. Over low speed, add the shredded coconut (or alternatively, you can process flaked coconut in a food processor until fine). Slowly pour in the warm coconut milk and butter mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.

Scrape down the bowl and pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 55-65 min, or until cake is golden brown and a knife inserted comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool (in the pan) on a rack for 5-10 min before unmolding. Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.

In a bowl, whisk together the lime juice, powder and cream. Pour the glaze evenly over the top of the cooled cake. Garnish with coconut flakes.

MORE INFORMATION & PHOTOGRAPHY | Laura Davidson – Blogging Over Thyme

Follow Stylejuicer with Bloglovin

Food & Entertaining / 1 COMMENT /

FOOD HEAVEN | HEALTHY BANOFFEE PARFAITS

14 March 2014

After working pretty hard and pretty late all week as well as juggling babysitters, food shopping, cooking, laundry and general looking-after-the-house tasks – did I forget anything? Oh, kids! Yes, they need juggling too – anyway, what I want to say is: I feel in need of some indulgence. Some serious gourmet indulgence.

Cue my foodie blog browsing where I came across this fabulous recipe for healthy banoffee parfaits on Top With Cinnamon. What a genius idea AND it’s healthy! Egg-free, gluten-free with plenty of fruit and your choice of either greek yoghurt if you want a breakfast combo or whipped cream for an even more indulgent, slightly less healthy, dessert variant. Both are totally fine with me.

OMG Izy, you are good! Can you believe the author of super popular Top With Cinnamon is only 18 years old, sitting her A-levels and has been blogging for 3 years!? No wonder she’s got a cook book coming out at the end of the year and though I managed to make brief contact with her she disappeared into cyberspace or more likely her kitchen again before I could ask her if I could feature her recipe. Well, actually I did ask her but she never got back to me… ho hum… dissed by an overachieving 18 year old. Never mind. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to gain some new readers from this site and still remember me when she’s joined the ranks of Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart. Yeah, right!?

So, here is Izy’s mouth-watering recipe, just need to add it to the juggling list.

For more mouth-watering photography follow Izy on Instagram.

HEALTHY BANOFFEE PARFAITS WITH DATE CARAMEL AND STOVE-TOP GRANOLA

Serving Size: 3 jam jars or small glases

INGREDIENTS:

1 large, ripe banana
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I used a mixture of half Greek and half regular yogurt)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste, for the speckled effect)
1 recipe of stove-top granola (see recipe below) or 2/3 cup of granola of your choice
1 recipe of cooled date caramel (see recipe below)
Slice the banana into 1/4″ thick coins (see notes if serving later). In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and vanilla extract/paste.

DIRECTIONS:

In 3 small, clean glasses or jars, layer the ingredients like this: 2 tsp granola, a few banana coins, 1 tsp date caramel, 2 tbsp of Greek yogurt. Repeat. Do this for all the jars/glasses. To finish, top with any remaining granola, banana and caramel.

For the date caramel:
Put 1/3 cup of pitted, chopped dates (see notes), 1/3 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt into a blender, blend together until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and heat whilst stirring over a low flame for 5-10 minutes, until thickened and reduced down to ~1/3 of a cup in volume. Set aside to cool.

For the stove-top granola:
Chop 3 tbsp of almonds (see notes) into small, rough chunks. Place with 1/2 cup of old-fashioned oats into a small frying pan, toast for 5 minutes over a medium heat. Then melt in 1 tsp of salted butter, and stir in 1 heaped tsp of honey just until evenly coated. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Photography | Izy Hossack [Top With Cinnamon]

Follow Stylejuicer with Bloglovin

Food & Entertaining / LEAVE A COMMENT /

FOOD HEAVEN | OTTOLENGHI SWEET POTATO AND FIG SALAD

5 March 2014

Happy Wednesday everyone! Do you get bored of repeating the same old recipes but life is so hectic that you just don’t have the time to a) find a recipe, b) read said recipe, c) get all the super special ingredients from around 3 different shops and then you notice that it takes 2hrs to simmer. Argh! That’s what typically happens to me. We always eat healthily but seem to be stuck in a rut with the same old recipes over and over.

However, fret not, here’s an Annie fool-proof recipe that can be prepared in next to no time with screaming kids clinging to your leg, whilst sorting out the laundry, reading emails and painting your nails. Well, maybe not quite like that but seriously, I did this last week and got a big thumbs up from the cowboy though he did call it ‘girlie’ initially.

It’s a vegetarian salad from Yottam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook and it’s best eaten with fresh figs though I have to say the ones I bought from the supermarket were really tasty though probably not as big as fresh ones would be.

OTTOLENGHI SWEET POTATO AND FIG SALAD

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 4):

4 small sweet potatoes (1kg in total)
5 tbsp olive oil
40ml balsamic vinegar (you can use a commercial rather than a premium aged grade)
20g caster sugar
12 spring onions, halved lengthways and cut into 4cm segments
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
6 fresh and ripe figs (240g in total), quartered
150g soft goat’s cheese, crumbled (optional)
Maldon sea salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 240°C/220°C Fan/Gas Mark 9. Wash the sweet potatoes, halve them lengthways and then cut each again similarly into 3 long wedges.

Mix with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 teaspoons of salt and some black pepper. Spread the wedges out on a baking sheet, skin-side down, and cook for about 25 minutes until soft but not mushy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool down.

To make a balsamic reduction, place the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 2–4 minutes, or until it thickens. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat when the vinegar is still runnier than honey; it will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in a drop of water before serving if it does become too thick to drizzle. Arrange the sweet potatoes on a serving platter.

Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan and add the spring onions and chilli. Fry on a medium heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring often, making sure not to burn the chilli, and then spoon the oil, onions and chilli over the sweet potatoes.

Dot the figs among the wedges and then drizzle over the balsamic reduction. Serve at room temperature with the cheese crumbled over.

More tasty salads by Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver and Yottam Ottolenghi can be found on my previous post ‘Summer Salads’. Enjoy!

PHOTOGRAPHY | Jonathan Lovekin

Follow Stylejuicer with Bloglovin

Food & Entertaining / LEAVE A COMMENT /

FOOD HEAVEN | CHOCOLATE TART RECIPE

10 February 2014

I defy anybody not to start drooling all over their keyboard when looking at the delectable chocolate tart above. Ok, I might be biased as I’m a total chocoholic (see Pinterest board), but doesn’t this look awesome?!

Helene Dujardin is a bit of an aspirational figure for me as she’s the type of homemaker that I struggle to be as she manages to use every scarp of left-over and produces wonderful meals with them. Though I doubt there are many left-overs in her house as everything she produces looks so delicious. And to give myself a break I’m totally great at building fantasy houses with every last scrap of Lego and I come up with great plot lines for Legomen role-play. Not the same thing?

Ok, I’ve got to hand it to Helene, she’s a pro as this tart came about when she played ‘dessert by association’: Banana – peanut butter – chocolate – crust. Somehow this game doesn’t work for me: Banana – bacon – cornflakes – ice-cream? I don’t think so.

Well, luckily I can refer you to her beautiful Chocolate Tart recipe which also features a gluten-free crust.

OMG, where is my chocolate when I need it.

MORE INFORMATION & PHOTOGRAPHY | Chocolate Caramel Banana Tart by Helene Dujardin

Food & Entertaining / LEAVE A COMMENT /

FOOD HEAVEN | HONEY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN RECIPE

22 January 2014

I’m not a natural cook. I need a plan, commonly known as a recipe I believe and I need inspiring, mouth-watering photography of the end result. If I get a portion of humour and entertainment with that, even better. I’m practically skipping to the supermarket to get the ingredients and beaming in anticipation of recreating that amazing dish.

Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is ticks all my boxes. She’s funny, self-deprecating, takes beautiful photos of her delicious recipes and a total inspiration to me in the kitchen.

I also found a lovely interview where she talks about her daily routine on Rachel Cooks. It’s quite an eye-opener to hear how hard she works and that she deep cleans her kitchen every day! I love her advice to other (food) bloggers too:

“Do it because you love it, don’t expect to make money, be involved with the community, support other bloggers and stop comparing yourself. There is room for everybody.”

A beautiful attitude showing generosity and definitely the only one to adopt if you want to play this blogging game. For the full interview head over to Rachel Cooks Blog.

So, after this introduction I want to share Jessica’s honey chipotle chicken recipe with you today as it’s a welcome change for me from all those winter warmers and hearty something or other. I’m dying for some healthy greens and love the combination with that delicious smokey Mexican flavour chicken.

HONEY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN RECIPE BY HOW SWEET IT IS

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons adobo sauce, from a can of chipotles in adobo [if you live in the UK you can use chipotle paste and add olive oil or use chipotle sauce]
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
4 garlic cloves, minced

Salad
6 cups spring greens
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup torn fresh coriander
4 green onions, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon honey

Lime Quinoa
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock, or even water
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 lime, juiced and zest freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Add the chicken breasts to a baking dish or ziplock bag and season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, adobo, honey, mustards, cilantro and garlic. Pour the marinade over the chicken, covering it evenly. Place it in the fridge and marinate for at least 2 hours, or even overnight.

When you’re ready to make the meal, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tiny bit of olive oil and add the chicken, then cover the skillet and cook until the chicken is deeply browned on both sides and cooked in the center, about 6 minutes per side.

To make the salads, add the greens in a large bowl and toss them with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add the chicken on top along with the quinoa, the tomatoes, cilantro, green onions and avocado. Drizzle the bowl with the lime juice, olive oil and honey. Serve!

For the lime quinoa add the quinoa and stock (or water) to a saucepan over high heat and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the coconut oil (you can swap butter), lime juice, zest, salt and pepper.

MORE INFORMATION & PHOTOGRAPHY | How Sweet It Is

Food & Entertaining / 1 COMMENT /