Rocky Road Crunch Bars

So, don't know if you heard, but during December, our little family won the jackpot. The big one. 

Oh yes.

We won the nursery Christmas raffle hamper! This luxurious cardboard box contained a variety of quality items, such as booze, plum pudding, more packets of biscuits than you can shake a stick at, AND creamed corn. Seriously, these other parents know how to provide a party.

One of the biscuit containers was rich tea biscuits, a personal favourite for dunking in tea. BUT last week, a colleague of mine brought in some "cooking chocolate" that she didn't want. She said it would go off before she would eat it so she was giving it to me. Yes, I had a hard time understanding that, too.

So when I have a cupboard full of rich tea biscuits and chocolate, you know what recipe hammers its way into my head? Rocky Road. Or specifically, Nigella Lawson's Rocky Road Crunch Bars. I also like to think of it as Royal Wedding Cake.

I had invited a fellow mother of three over for a cup of tea and decided the presentation of this treat would distract from the messiness of the household (not that a fellow mother of three young ones would really be critical) and my daughter was more than happy to help whip up a batch of these calorific babies.

 Truly a 20th century processed innovation, this one.

First, we broke up the chocolate in a bowl and added a big blob of butter and some golden syrup.

While it melted in the microwave, I cut up some marshmallows.

My daughter happily volunteered to help with stirring the melting chocolate mixture.

And she also enjoyed taking out some aggression on the packet of biscuits. In fact, she managed to split a hole in the bag and even offered to eat the biscuits that had fallen out. She's very thoughtful that way.

Mmm...butter and chocolate...

I took out a scoop to save for the top of the mix once it was in its tray. Annoyingly, my 125ml measure is round at the bottom, so I had to create an improvised balancing structure for it while I mixed up the rest.

In went the biscuits, just lightly crushed so as to leave plenty of big pieces.

Then my glamorous assistant added the marshmallows.

A few cherries went in, as I had a few languishing in a tub and I want to clear up some space in the cupboard.

Some mixing was done to coat everything.

Then I poured it into the dish lined with greaseproof paper and smoothed it out best I could.

On the top went the remains of the chocolate, butter, and syrup mix. Into the fridge it went

A couple hours later I took it out and it looked like this.

The overhang of the paper meant I could lift it quickly out for easy cutting on the counter top.

But first a bit of icing sugar went on.

I then just put the slices right back into the dish I'd used.

Except for the quality control samples, of course.

This recipe does have a habit of mysteriously disappearing when left out...

The link to the full recipe is here.

Cauliflower Pakora with Mango Raita

Around here, we are big fans of "two day meals", dishes that you prepare in large quantities and then eat two nights in a row. Yes, if you are really clever, you freeze the other half so it doesn't feel so much like leftovers, but we just aren't that organized most of the time. And it's kind of nice to have a break from cooking the next day after cooking a meal that size.

The night before these photos were taken my husband made a large curry, complete with naan. As we would just be heating up the leftovers the next day, I saw a cauliflower in the fridge and decided to try making a starter/side dish that would go well with the spices of our dinner. I had a recipe in my Veg Every Day cookbook for cauliflower pakora, so I thought I'd give it a bash as I had pretty much everything on the list of ingredients and it looked simple enough. 

One of our local corner shops used to sell little pakoras and samosas for hungry intoxicated people, but alas they have just shut and have posted a big sign in their window blaming the new local supermarket for their closure. I am sad to have lost a local business that supplied me with cheap large bags of spices, but I do wish they hadn't been so darned rude to their customers. Every time I went in I wanted to shout GET OFF THE PHONE or LOOK AT YOUR CUSTOMER, NOT THE TV. Instead I just quietly purchased my goods and muttered to myself. 

Ho hum, back to cooking things...

First I chopped some fresh coriander and added it with some mango chutney to some plain yoghurt. My kids pronounce yoghurt the American way - I have real trouble with the British pronunciation - it's hard enough adding that weird h in there.

Then I stirred it together and set it aside to let the flavours get to know each other.

Then in another bowl I put the flour, some baking powder, some salt, and some spices (coriander, cumin, and turmeric). The recipe asked for a bit more heat in the form of cayenne, but I didn't have any.

All those got whisked together to make sure they were well blended.

Then I gradually added water until it was a fairly thick consistency - like double cream he suggested.

In went the cauliflower.

It'll look better in a minute, trust me.

In small batches I fried them in a bit of oil, just a couple minutes on one side...

Then flipped them over and around a bit more afterwards if I thought they needed it.

Slowly I built up a pile.

A very good smelling pile.

Until it was time to serve up!

They were pretty good, though I might play with the spices to make them even more tasty.

Cauliflower Pakora with Mango Raita from Veg Every Day

• 1 medium-large cauliflower (800g), trimmed and cut into small florets, no more than 2cm across in any direction.
• Sunflower oil, for frying

For the batter

• 150g chickpea flour (go to your local Indian store)
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2 t ground cumin
• 2 t ground coriander
• 1/2 t ground turmeric
• A good shake of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t fine sea salt

For the mango raita

• 6 heaped T full-fat yoghurt
• handful of chopped coriander
• 2 tsp mango chutney
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. For the raita mix all the ingredients together seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Put in the fridge.
2. For the batter, put the gram flour, baking powder, ground spices and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine and get rid of any lumps. Slowly whisk in 175ml of icy cold water – you are looking for a batter with the consistency of double cream
3. Add the florets into the batter and turn them to make sure they are thoroughly coated.
4. Heat about 1cm depth of oil in a heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough to turn a cube of white bread light golden brown in 30-40 seconds, start cooking the pakoras, a few at a time so you don’t crowd the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes, until crisp and golden brown on the base, then turn over and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Drain the pakoras on kitchen paper, then serve piping hot with the raita for dipping

Fresh Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookies

Stupid Pinterest.

I'd pinned a recipe that had been labelled "raspberry cream cheese cookies" and was all excited, as I thought, you know, that it would have CREAM CHEESE in it. Then the men's group teas and coffees Sunday rolled up and I thought "hey, I have some cream cheese and some raspberries, I'll check what else I need..." only to find...no cream cheese in the recipe. 

Now, I have nothing against white chocolate chips in cookies, it was just that the combination of the photo, the raspberries, and the mention of cream cheese were what made me pin the recipe. But, in spite of this misleading name, I still felt obliged to make the recipe. 

Was the whole thing a con? You help me decide.

Begrudgingly, I got together the ingredients. You'll notice there are two different types of white chocolate, as I wasn't sure how much the chopped up big bar would make, so I grabbed the milky bar buttons to bulk them up.

For once, and probably just because I was doing photos, I combined the flour, salt and raising agents in a separate bowl, mixed them up, and set them aside.

Next, in went some melted butter and sugar. It was a one handed job kind of day (thanks, baby/toddler), so we used the vintage stand mixer.

I do like it when recipes ask for melted butter. I hate having to get it to room temperature first.

And then I cracked open an egg and a yolk. Aren't they nice and bright?

In they went.

Until all was purdy and smooth. I can't say I like the plastic bowl, but I think the original bowl that came with this mixer was glass and shattered many moons ago. I still don't have a dough hook for this mixer, but I may just try this attachment and see what kind of job it does with bread dough.

Then in went vanilla in it's creepy ghostly form.

Then the flour mix. You'll notice the change in lighting, as I took the bowl out of the stand and mixed by hand as a small child emptied the cupboards.

Then we had some cookie dough.

So I added a half cup of chocolate chips. The handle is broken off of my half cup measure...and my 1 cup measure. One day I'll get nice metal ones with the measurements indented into the handle, but not today.

Also, some frozen raspberries.

At this point, I kind of wondered why I was bothering to make cookies...Why not just eat raspberries and white chocolate?

Oh well, what's done is done.

It said freeze the dough for a bit, but I was too impatient, so I just rolled it into large balls of dough and placed them on the sheets.

She said that I should cook them for 15 minutes at a low temp and they would look underbaked, so I followed her orders.

Samples revealed that a bit more baking wouldn't hurt them, as the raspberries do add a lot of moisture, so I cooked the others a bit longer.

So yes, they were good, very good, but they weren't actually cookies containing cream cheese, so I still feel slightly cheated. And I think you'd need to eat them pretty soon before the moisture of the raspberries takes hold and makes them spoil. Bummer, huh?

Recipe from Anecdotes and Apples

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup chopped white chocolate
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream together sugar and melted butter (about 2 minutes). Add eggs and stir until combined. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until a cookie dough begins to form. Fold in frozen raspberries and white chocolate. Allow batter to chill for 15-30 minutes in freezer.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove batter from freezer and firm into large, 2-3 tablespoon sized balls of dough. Arrange on prepared cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes (cookies should look slightly undercooked). Allow to cool completely on cookie sheets before removing (and enjoying!)

Slow Cooker Baked Aubergine, Courgette, and Tomato

I am a latecomer to the aubergine (eggplant) party. It was rarely served at my house growing up, and my first few attempts to cook it went unfavourably. Unaware of just how much oil was needed, I dabbed sparingly at the vegetable in the hopes of creating a low fat dish, meaning I ended up with dry, spongelike pieces every time. Ugh.

Thankfully, I have since discovered its glory when cooked well. Whenever I go to one of the large gatherings of my in-laws, there is always one dish that I can count on to be served: aubergine slices in tomato sauce, a family favourite. So when I was leafing through our new slow cooker cookbook, this recipe caught my eye due to its similar list of ingredients. I liked the idea of adding the courgette (zucchini) as a way of making the dish slightly less heavy, and knew that anything with a parmesan breadcrumb topping had to be good.

The list of ingredients was relatively simple, though very out of season in January:

First I sliced up the aubergines for their first cooking. The recipe suggested doing this in a pan, but I find it easier to grill them (that's "broil" if you speak American). So after a good spread of oil I put them in the oven and went off to check facebook.

Unfortunately, I didn't set the timer loud enough, and one of my friends had posted this link: http://jezebel.com/here-is-tina-fey-and-amy-poehlers-golden-globes-openin-1499934914

So, HILARIOUS as that was, it was also too long of a clip to watch when cooking aubergines. So my first batch was a bit, er, caramelized and crispy.

But it was worth it...so many good lines...I think the George Clooney one is my favourite.

I threw out the worst ones, but hoped the others would be ok if I just stuck them at the bottom of the slow cooker dish.  *Spoiler alert* They were.

Then on went a layer of courgettes.

Then I remembered I was supposed to be seasoning each layer.

Then some garlic went in.

Then some chopped tomatoes. I like baby plum tomatoes for pretty much everything tomato related.

Then another layer...

And so on...

And I finished with a layer of even quantities of breadcrumbs and parmesan grated in the handy, dandy food processor. I confess I also threw in a bit of oregano around the sides because it just felt like the right thing to do. The photo is a little blurry because a certain little toddler was taking regular swipes at the screen of my photo-taking device.

On went the lid.

After 4 hours on low, I lifted the lid. Every time I use the slow cooker I feel like I'm checking lab results in science class.

It smelled good and a quick poke looked positive as well, so I wrote up the results in my lab book. Then I scattered basil over the top and then served it alongside some left over roast chicken and a green salad.

There were no survivors.

Well, the kids weren't crazy about it BUT it did mean that they ate their chicken and had two servings of salad each, so I figure that was a parental win. And they did try it.

Now where are some more clips of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler...

BAKED AUBERGINE WITH COURGETTE

(adapted from The Slow Cooker:A Celebration of the Slow Cooker)

2 large aubergines

olive oil for brushing

2 large courgettes, sliced

nearly a whole pack of mini plum tomatoes

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

15g dry breadcrumbs

15g grated Parmesan

1 tsp or so of oregano

Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Cut the aubergines into thin slices, brush with copious quantities of oil and grill/broil until soft and brown, then drain on paper towels.

Layer aubergines in the slow cooker with courgettes, tomatoes, garlic and a touch of oregano, seasoning with salt and pepper between layers

Mix breadcrumbs with cheese and sprinkle over the top. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours

Garnish top with fresh basil and serve