Spaghetti Carbonara

Spaghetti Carbonara

Spaghetti Carbonara is one of my all time favourite dishes - so why have I never made it from scratch before? I genuinely don't know the answer to this question, and now, having righted that particular wrong, I am even more confused, because - It Is So Flippin' Easy! Consider me well and truly re-educated (and cue us now eating this at least once a week - uh oh - can open, worms everywhere!) 

Having read a couple of different recipes for carbonara, and digesting the basic principle behind making the egg based sauce, this is my version of the classic, and it's pretty much authentic, save for the addition of mushrooms, which I adore, but could easily be omitted to save face in front of any discerning Italians. 

Ingredients (serves two hungry people)

200g dried spaghetti

50g unsalted butter

8 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon or pancetta, diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and whole

100-150g closed cup mushrooms

50ml double cream

80g parmesan cheese, finely grated

3 large eggs

freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Put the spaghetti on to cook in boiling water as per the packet instructions, you want the pasta to be slightly firm when adding to the bacon later as it will continue to cook in the sauce, so keep checking it throughout
• Heat a large frying pan, then add the butter
• Once the butter has melted add the diced bacon. Press each of the garlic cloves under the side of knife to crush them slightly to allow the flavours to escape, but keeping them whole. Add the two cloves of garlic to the bacon.
• Cook the bacon and garlic for about 5 minutes until crisp, then remove and discard the garlic cloves, as they will have flavoured the bacon and butter mixture well by now
• Chop the mushrooms roughly the same size as the bacon pieces and add to the pan, cook for a further minute
• Using a pair of tongs, lift the cooked spaghetti from the water and add to the pan with the bacon. It doesn't matter if some of the water transfers over at the same time, and SAVE the rest of the pasta water as you will need it later
• Toss the spaghetti in the bacon mixture to coat well
• In a large jug, whisk together the cream, parmesan (saving a little to one side for serving) and eggs until well combined
• Take the pan off the heat. Pour the egg mixture over the spaghetti, and toss continually with the tongs. It is important to keep the spaghetti moving, and for the pan not to be over the heat at this point, so that the eggs don't scramble. The heat of the pasta will be enough to cook them properly
• Once the spaghetti is coated in the egg mixture, add a little of the pasta water to loosen the sauce. You are aiming for the sauce to be glossy, without being wet, so add a little at a time until you reach the required consistency
• Season with the black pepper to taste
• Serve in deep dishes with the remainder of the parmesan sprinkled over, and a little more black pepper

As this recipe has a healthy portion of garlic in, I am linking up to this month's Pasta Please challenge, run by Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by The Spicy Pear, where the theme is garlic.

I'm also linking into Cheese Please! hosted by Fromage Homage, as there is a huge chunk of parmesan in this sauce. This month's theme is Comfort Food and Winter Warmers, and for me, this is the ultimate comfort food (see above comment about favourite food) and I most definitely ate it piled high, and from the comfort of under my slanket!

Finally, because I haven't for a while, I am linking in to Made with Love Mondays, as this dish was made totally from scratch (and coincidentally also on a Monday). Hosted by Javelin Warrior.

Spicy Falafel Wraps

The Pantry Door household is an extremely carnivorous one I am not ashamed to say, and meat usually features somewhere in our evening meal. On the odd occasion that I make a vegetarian dish, I tend to get the response "it's nice - but it's missing something..." To this day, this is the only dish I have made that managed to satiate the desire for meat so much so that for a while, we even forgot that we hadn't eaten any. 

Falafel

Ever since following Paul Hollywood's 'Bread' series and pushing myself to make my own breads I haven't bought tortilla wraps, as they are so quick and easy to make at home, and taste soooo much better. The recipe given below is adapted from Paul's, as I have tweaked it to suit our tastes. 

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the falafel;

1 small onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 400g tin chickpeas
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 egg yolks
a little flour

For the wraps;

125 grams strong white bread flour
125 grams strong wholemeal flour (plus extra for dusting)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried fast-action yeast
2 teaspoons golden caster sugar
20 grams salted butter
160 ml tepid water
a little vegetable oil

Additional ingredients;

1 block Halloumi cheese
1 red pepper
Assorted salad leaves
Houmous

Layered Up! Houmous, Salad, Halloumi and Falafel ready to be wrapped!

Method

Firstly, prepare the falafel. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Finely chop the onion, and shallow fry in the oil, adding the tablespoon of caster sugar, and cook until the onions start to caramelise and brown. Remove from the heat, and transfer the onions to a sheet of kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. Drain the tinned chickpeas. Blitz the chickpeas quickly in a food processor, you want them to be chopped roughly, not puréed. In a large mixing bowl, mix the chopped chickpeas, onions, spices and egg yolks together well. Take a spoonful of the mixture, form into a ball, and roll in flour. Place the ball onto a tray, and repeat until all of the mixture has been used. Place the tray of falafel balls in the fridge for at least 2 hours. 

Next, make the wraps. Sift the flours into a large bowl, and add the yeast, salt and sugar, making sure the yeast and salt don't come into direct contact. Add the butter, and rub into the flour. Add the water a third at a time, and mix well until the dough comes together. Knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic, then return the bowl, cover with clingfilm, and leave for an hour to double in size. 

Once the dough has risen, turn out onto the work surface and knock back. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan. Take one of the pieces of dough, and roll out on a floured surface until 1-2mm thick. Transfer the thinly rolled dough to the frying pan, and cook for around a minute on each side. Repeat with the remaining 7 pieces of dough. 

Finally, prepare the components for the dish. Deep-fry the falafel balls for around 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Slice the halloumi cheese, and grill until golden. Slice the red pepper and prepare the salad leaves. 

Grilled Halloumi Cheese

Serve all the components, so the wraps can be assembled at the table. Layer up the houmous, red pepper, salad leaves, grilled halloumi and falafel pieces into the wraps, roll up, and dig in! 

I'm linking this recipe up to Alphabakes, hosted by Caroline Makes and The More Than Occasional Baker, as this month's letter is F for Falafel! 

I'm also linking in to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior as everything is made from scratch.

Possibly the Best Broccoli Dish Ever...

Continuing my quest to find great tasting food that has high nutritional values, I decided to tackle a personal nemesis last night - broccoli. Whilst I don't dislike broccoli, it's hardly up there in my top ten ingredients either, and aside from smothering it in cheese sauce, I've never really found a way to cook it that makes it taste of ... well ... anything. 

That aside, as I have started my research into nutritious food types and broccoli sits firmly at the top of the list of so called superfoods, full of antioxidants, vitamin C, and dietary fibres. So when it came to fridge raiding to find an accompaniment for roast chicken and potatoes, the obvious choice was the large portion of broccoli in the veg compartment. I just couldn't face it steamed or boiled though, and through sheer desperation to inject some resemblance of flavour into its florets, I opened the laptop, and googled the cry for help "interesting things to do with broccoli"! 

What I discovered was the following recipe from US food author Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa. Several reviews and comments all appeared to be unanimous in hailing this recipe as the best broccoli dish ever, the version I came across was on the Food Network, I made a few tweaks due to the ingredients I had in the house, and it honestly lived up to the internet hype...

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients...

Approx 350 grams broccoli
2 teaspoons crushed garlic (or 2 cloves)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

zest and a squeeze of juice from one small lemon
40 grams fresh parmesan, finely grated

To make...

• Pre-heat the oven to around 180 degrees.
• Cut the broccoli florets away from the main stem, and arrange flat on a baking tray. 
• Mix together the garlic, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper in a small bowl, and then drizzle evenly over the broccoli florets.
• Roast in the oven for around 20 minutes, turning over in the oil mixture halfway through.
• The broccoli is ready when the edges start to colour brown and crisp up. 
• Transfer the roasted broccoli to a large bowl, add the lemon zest and parmesan, squeeze over around a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, and toss lightly to evenly coat all the florets. 
• Serve and enjoy! 

I found that the garlic and lemon flavours in particular worked really well with the broccoli, but the revelation for me was the taste and texture of the broccoli having been roasted rather than steamed or boiled. It retained much more crunch and firmness, plus none of those precious nutrients can escape in the water - I will definitely be roasting broccoli from now onwards!

I am entering this recipe into a few challenges this month, as it was so delicious I wanted to share it with as many people as possible!

Firstly, Credit Crunch Munch, run by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours, and hosted this month by Anneli at Delicieux. I am entering this because the dish was quick and easy and used just store cupboard ingredients and broccoli that needed using up. 

I am also entering into Made with Love Mondays hosted by Mark at Javelin Warrior, as it is completely made from scratch, with fresh ingredients.

I'm also going to take a punt, and enter this into Random Recipes run by Dom over at Belleau Kitchen. In the random recipe challenge, Dom ask participants to gather all their recipe books together and select a recipe at random. I don't really have a many books at all, and those I do are either for bread or cake decorating, however I'm hoping that the random google search that led me to this recipe will count? Plus, I really think that this dish fits the Healthy and Happy theme to a T! 

Superfood Pancakes, and a Review of Clarks Maple Syrup

Superfood Pancakes

I was recently sent some samples of Maple Syrup and Honey from Clarks to try, and within the same week, in fact literally a few days later, there was an article published by the Daily Mail detailing how maple syrup had been elevated to the lofty status of 'superfood'. I was curious to explore the science behind the idea of 'superfoods' a little, as it is a term that is used seemingly quite feely, and I wasn't entirely sure of the substance behind it. As it turns out, there are two opposing camps out there on the subject of superfoods, on the one side those who believe that superfoods contain high levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals that have substantial health benefits, and the other side, those who believe the terms is one invented and exploited by marketing companies. (It is worth noting that there is no legal definition to the term 'superfood'.)

A selection of Maple Syrup and Honey from Clarks

If we choose to look on side of those that do believe in the power of superfoods, then in simple science superfoods are those that are especially high in key nutrients, such as Omega 3, antioxidants and potassium, which are considered to have affects such as reducing the risks of cancers and cardiovascular diseases, increasing your immune system, and reducing depression. 'Famous' superfoods include blueberries, broccoli, oily fish and green tea to name but a few, and now, maple syrup can be added to that list. 

Predominantly maple syrup contains phenol compounds that house enzymes that convert carbohydrates into sugars, and the recent studies suggest that this could be the basis of an anti-diabetic compound. In addition, maple syrup also contains a high density of antioxidants, which are key in slowing down the oxidization, or ageing of the bodies cells, something that is not found in other natural sweeteners, even including honey. You can find more information on the health benefits of maple syrup on the Clarks website here.

All this talk of superfoods got me thinking, and as someone who constantly strives and yet falls short of eating a healthy diet, I wanted to have a go at creating something with my maple syrup that would make the most of it's new 'superfood' status. I had a look at some of the other ingredients that are also considered superfoods, and came up with this recipe for 'Superfood Pancakes', which is loosely based on scotch pancakes, or drop scones as they are also known in some parts of the UK. Containing blueberries, oats, and wholemeal flour, there are four, yes four, superfoods in this recipe! Which makes them really very good for you in my book (if you overlook the milk, sugar and butter content). 

Superfood Pancakes

Ingredients

150 grams wholemeal self raising flour

50 grams rolled oats

100 grams golden caster sugar

200 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 large egg

150 grams frozen blueberries

a little butter to cook

maple syrup to serve

Method

These are the easiest breakfast/ brunch/ snack to make, just beat the batter together and cook it! The quantities given should make 12 - 15 pancakes.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the oats and golden caster sugar, and mix well...

Whisk together the milk and egg, make a well in the centre of the dry mix, add the liquids, and whisk together to form a batter...

Add the frozen blueberries and mix well into the batter...

Melt a little butter in a frying pan or on a griddle, and drop three dessert-spoonfuls of the batter into the pan. It will spread a little but not greatly...

When the pancakes start to have little bubbles in the surface, and are colouring around the edges, flip them over carefully to cook on the other side...

And then serve hot, with a good healthy drizzle of maple syrup!

Gary and I had three pancakes each, which we topped with each of the three maple syrups in order to 'judge' each one. The vanilla maple syrup was noticeably sweeter than the others, although honestly I didn't get much of a vanilla flavour coming through. The Grade 1 and Grade 2 syrups were great, the Grade 2 definitely being my favourite, with a real earthy flavour coming through which worked perfectly with the pancakes.

I'm entering this recipe into Credit Crunch Munch, run by Camilla and Helen, and hosted this month by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen, as it is made from store cupboard ingredients, and cheap to make.

I'm also entering into Made with Love Mondays run by Mark over at Javelin Warrior, as it was made totally from scratch, on a Monday, with a lot of love... simple! ;-)

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of maple syrups and honey to try by Clarks, however all opinions expressed in the post are 100% honest and my own.

1st June 2013 - I am updating this post to be entered into the Feel Good Food challenge, hosted by myself, as the theme is blueberries, and these pancakes are super-nutritious!

DIY McBreakfast: Homemade Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffins

I've been blogging now for eight months, and I can honestly say I love everything about what I do on this site, from experimenting to sharing tried and tested recipes, setting myself challenges to reviewing new products. I go to sleep thinking of new recipe ideas, and I can't wait to finish work at night so I can fire up the laptop and check my messages. But the biggest thing to come out of my blogging has been discovering that I cannot help competing with every major food supplier out there. I simply cannot walk down a supermarket aisle, or eat out, without starting to think... "I could make that." And Gary doesn't help, in fact the opposite, he knows me so well, and he deliberately goads me "Oh you couldn't possibly make chocolate eclairs..." he says, knowing full well that once he's said it I won't rest until I've proved him wrong! Which is exactly what happened when we were sat watching TV the other night, and an advert for a well known fast food chains breakfast menu came on...

Let me tell you, when that well known fast food chain took it upon themselves to take an English muffin, and fill it with sausage meat, egg and cheese, they were really onto something, and as always, homemade is soooooo much better than takeaway. Making these at home, you get light fluffy muffins, freshly made sausage patties, and whilst I couldn't possibly tell you that this is a healthy morning meal, at least you know exactly what has gone into it, and you get to eat it hot from the pan, rather than after it has been sat on the side for 20 minutes bathing in its own grease!

Homemade Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffin

The quantities listed here make 5-6 English muffins, which will keep for up to 2 days if placed in an airtight container.

To make the English Muffins;

7 grams fast action yeast
125 ml tepid water
75 grams natural yoghurt
225 grams strong white bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
handful of semolina

• In a medium sized bowl, dissolve the yeast in about half of the water. Add the remaining water and the natural yoghurt, and mix well until smooth and combined. 
• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and quickly stir. 
• Pour the liquid mixture into the flour, and mix together to make a dough.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead well for 5 - 10 minutes until a smooth pliable dough is formed. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to prove for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 
• Turn the dough back out on the surface, and knead quickly to knock back. Roll the dough out to about 2 cm thick, and cut out rounds about 3 inches wide. Knead the offcuts back together, re-roll and continue to cut out rounds until all the dough has been used. 
• Place the rounds on a lightly floured baking tray, sprinkle the semolina over the tops, cover, and leave again to rise for about 40 minutes.
• Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Place the muffins in the pan, and cook for about 7 minutes on both sides. Keep the heat down low so as not to burn the outside of the muffins before the inside cooks. 
• Set aside to cool. These muffins can be kept for a couple of days in an airtight container, just halve and toast and they are ready to eat. 

Freshly cooked English Muffins

To make into Sausage and Egg Muffins;

50g sausage meat per patty
1 teaspoon bread crumbs per patty
salt and pepper to taste

eggs
sliced cheese

• To make the sausage patties, mix the sausage meat well with the breadcrumbs and salt and pepper. transfer the mixture onto a well floured surface, and roll out to around 5mm thick. Cut into 3 inch rounds. 
• Coat both sides of the rounds with the flour, and fry in a hot pan with a little oil, for about 4-5 minutes on both sides. (You can make the patties up to 24 hours in advance, just wrap individually in clingflim once coated in flour and keep in the fridge).
• Once the sausage patties are cooked, set aside to keep warm. 
• Take the muffins, and slice in half. Place under a grill or in a toaster to toast. 
• Fry the eggs, turning over halfway through so that yolk cooks through entirely. 
• To assemble, layer up the bottom of the muffin, add a slice of cheese, the sausage patty, and the egg.

• Finally, place the top half of the muffin on, and there you have your very own DIY McBreakfast!

The main thing I noticed when we bit into these is how savoury they tasted compared to the ones from the fast food chain. There must be a huge amount of sugars added to the muffins and the sausage meat in their version!

I am entering this recipe into Made with Love Mondays run by Javelin Warrior at Cookin w/ Luv as a great example of making a well known meal at home, and totally from scratch!

Soda Bread, Welsh Rarebit and Episode Five of 'Bread'

For the last five weeks, I have dedicated most of my baking time to mastering the right techniques for baking bread, as it was a skill I felt I was lacking. My mission coincided with the start of Paul Hollywood's new TV series 'Bread', and each week I have reviewed the episode, and attempted to bake at least one of the loaves featured, with varying results! I am skipping an episode in my write ups here, as episode four covered sourdoughs, and work commitments have prevented me from starting to grow my starter culture, however rest assured when I get back from Belgium this weekend this will be the second thing to do on my list (after giving Gary a big hug of course!).

So, brushing past sourdoughs for now, episode five of the show was dedicated to soda breads, known by bakers it seems as 'the easiest of the breads'. The main thing to know about soda breads is that they vary from most other forms of bread due to the fact that they don't contain any yeast, the raising agent instead being bicarbonate of soda - hence the name. The magic occurs within soda bread due to the combination of lactic acid, found in buttermilk, and the soda reacting to form carbon dioxide, which in turn creates the bubbles that texture the loaf. This chemical reaction is instantaneous, which negates the need to knead and prove the dough as with yeast-based breads, therefore soda bread is a great option for when time is short. 

Soda Bread

As with previous episodes, I have used Paul Hollywood's recipe, however this week for a couple of reasons I have had to make a few substitutions. Mostly this was down to not being able to purchase the correct ingredients in my local supermarket, and as I fear this may be a common problem depending on where you live and/or shop, I am going to share my amended version of the recipe, to show you how substitutions can be made. If you want Paul's original recipe you can find it here. 

The two main changes I made here were substitutions for not being able to find either plain wholemeal flour, or buttermilk in the supermarket. To compensate for the plain wholemeal, I used a self raising wholemeal flour, and halved the amount of bicarb of soda, as the SR flour already contains a rising agent. To compensate for not having buttermilk, I mixed normal milk with sour cream and a little lemon juice, which together creates the same properties as buttermilk. Here's my version of the soda bread recipe;

Ingredients

250 grams plain flour

250 grams wholemeal self raising flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150 ml sour cream

270 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees, and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. In a large mixing bowl, sift both the flours together, add the salt and the bicarb of soda, and combine. In a jug, mix together the milk, sour cream and lemon juice together and set aside for a few minutes. Then, gradually add the fluids to the flour mix, stirring with a wooden spoon, to form a dough. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface, and bring the dough together into a ball without kneading it as this will prevent the bicarb from doing it's thing. 

Shape the dough into a ball, and then pat it down to form a flat-ish round. Transfer onto the lined baking tray, and using a sharp knife cut into four sections. Leave the four sections in one full round, as they will join together as the loaf bakes. 

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until golden in colour, and hollow sounding when tapped on the base. I checked my loaf a little too early here, and one of my sections broke off as I moved it, as the dough was still sticky in the centre. Once the loaf is cooked, remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool. 

Taking inspiration from Monday's episode of 'Bread' I decided to turn my first ever loaf of soda bread into a Welsh Rarebit for our lunch. I started again with Paul's recipe as a base, but made a few adjustments based on ingredients and our own tastes. Paul's recipe is here, or mine is below... (pick mine!) 

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients

120 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 tablespoon plain flour

200 grams grated mature cheddar

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

90 grams bread crumb (roughly two slices)

1 egg yolk

Method

Heat the milk in a saucepan until it starts to boil. Add the flour and whisk well, making sure there are no lumps of flour in the mixture. Continue to whisk over the heat until the mixture starts to thicken a little. Add the grated cheese, and again whisk in, until the cheese has melted and forms a sauce. Add the mustard powder and the worcestershire sauce, and stir well. Add the breadcrumbs, and mix in thoroughly, the mixture will start to thicken to a paste, and will ball up in the pan. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and set aside.

Cut slices from the soda bread loaf, and place under a grill to toast one side. Whilst the bread is toasting, take the cheese mixture, add the egg yolk and beat together.

Remove the bread from under the grill, turn each slice over, and spread the cheese mixture thickly over each piece. Return to the grill, and cook for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and starting to colour. Remove, and serve hot. 

I am entering this post into this week's Made with Love Monday feature hosted over at Made w/ Luv by Javelin Warrior, as the whole meal was made totally from scratch, including the bread. 

Sweet and Sour King Prawns

Recently my blog seems to have been concentrating on cakes, bread and general baking, which is pretty reflective of my current obsessions and determination to have a go at making literally everything. However, I don't want to lose sight of the reason that I started writing about my recipes, which was to show that great home cooked food doesn't have to be difficult, and doesn't require fancy ingredients in order to taste amazing. 

A few weeks ago, I had a group of girlfriends over for a homemade Chinese feast, and I have been slowly posting up the recipes I used ever since. I have developed these recipes so that they have an easy to find list of ingredients, and are as simple as possible to make. Every one of these dishes was well received, and tasted so much fresher than if we had ordered it in (plus it was much cheaper!) 

A selection of Chinese dishes served... 

I have already shared with you all Chicken Satay Skewers, Chinese BBQ Ribs, Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Pineapple Sorbet and Coconut Ice Cream, and homemade Fortune Cookies. This is my quick and easy recipe for Sweet and Sour King Prawns, although you can easily swap the king prawns for chicken, beef or any other meat you wish to have with the sauce. 

Ingredients;

- 150g King Prawns (or other preferred meat)

- 1 small red pepper, diced

- 1 small green pepper, diced

- 100g fresh pineapple, diced (or tinned is fresh is not available)

- 125g caster sugar

- 50ml balsamic vinegar

- 200ml water

- 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

- pinch of salt

- 1 tablespoon cornflour

To make the sauce, mix together the sugar, vinegar, water, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and the salt in a saucepan. Heat the sauce until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. Mix the cornflour with a little water to form a smooth paste, then add to the sauce, stirring until it starts to thicken. Take off the heat and set aside.

Heat a little oil in a wok or a large frying pan, and add the prawns, fry for one minute, then add the peppers and pineapple. (If you have substituted a different meat, it will need to be cooked for longer before adding the veg) Cook for a further two - three minutes, then add the prepared sauce. Stir through, then serve! And there you are, fresh, easy and very tasty Sweet and Sour in minutes! 

I am entering this recipe into this week's Made With Love Monday hosted by Javelin Warrior, as it made completely from scratch, with fresh ingredients, and because everyone should try making their Chinese Takeaway at home!