Once a week, meat.

Posted on August 8, 2012 by scarter

Dunno about you, but i think meat is rather expensive.

Rob and i went food shopping a fortnight ago and boy did we get a shock at the till. A lot of our money had got on chicken pieces and fish. We’re big fans of meat and we kind of did this depressing walk home..realising that meat may have to be cut down a bit on our shopping lists.

We have other responsibilities now, Ash is getting bigger by the day and eating WAY more food.

So we just figured that we’d start to have a really good nice bit of free range, locally sourced meat, once a week.

I’d been working on a chicken marinade for a while, as my IBS seems to have calmed down a bit and allowed me to eat mild spices. Rob’s been very patient in putting up with my Houdini ways in the kitchen, but i’d finally raided the spice rack enough. ‘I think you’ve got it!’ he said, announcing it like i just found a cure for tinnitus or something.

I love grinding things in a mortar and pestle.

Putting in and mixing all the ingredients like a fricken Polyjuice potion, just makes me smile witch-ingly everytime.

This marinade is very simple, mild but full of flavour. One of those recipes that uses kitchen staples to their absolute best, and amazing for a midweek dinner, providing you prepare the chicken in advance.

Serve with a crispy salad or with a fragrant saffron basmati rice.

Spice is Nice Chicken

Serves 2

4 Meaty Chicken Thighs

3 Garlic Cloves (cut up finely)

1tsp Chili Flakes

3tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tbsp Cumin Seeds

2tsps Ground Cinnamon

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 White Onion

Salt and Pepper

6 Tablespoons of good quality Natural Yoghurt (and a bit more to dot on top)

Wash your chicken thighs under a cold tap and pat down with some kitchen paper. Put in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Pop your chopped garlic, chili flakes, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, cinnamon into a mortar and pestle. Grind until well combined. Gradually add bit by bit, the juice of 1 lemon until you have a nice vibrant mixture of lemony spice.

Cut up your white onion into big chunks and pop in the bowl with your chicken. Season your chicken with salt and pepper.

Add the Natural Yoghurt to the chicken.

Scrape in your spices onto the chicken.

Mix everything together with your hands well until everything is submerged in a lovely spicy sauce.

Put in the fridge for 4-6 hours.

Heat the oven onto 180 degrees and cook for 30-45 mins, dependent on the size of your chicken. Keep an eye on it as ovens vary, as it can get crispy quite fast.

Serve with rice or salad, with a huge dollop of yoghurt on top for good measure.

Salsa Cat

Posted on July 19, 2012 by scarter

Yesterday was the turning point. I’m sick of the rain. Now, don’t get me wrong, i love every excuse to sit in my cosy flat with my Minnie Mouse pyjamas on, wrapped in a blanket whilst watching re-runs of American sitcoms; but it’s got to the point where i am never leaving my house due to an addiction to sugar. Preferably in the cake form.

Rob came home from work and we both looked at each other and just moaned about how we wish we could escape right now on our holiday to Spain; we have 5 weeks to go and the waiting mood is not looking good. We’d planned to just do another carb to go with our fishcakes, or creamed spinach with cumin. God i love that. Rob paused and thought. Salsa.

I didn’t feel like dancing. Rob had to instantly correct me and ensure me that it was the edible kind. Why does my mind always go to dancing or maracas?

So last night we finely chopped up and mixed the following, but feel free to go crazy. (I made more the following day and just used what we had left in the fridge)

I present to you our Bright-eyed Salsa.

This will last you a good 3 main meals as a side, or 3 lunches for 1 person.

1 Green Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Orange Pepper
1 Carrot
5 Spring Onions
1/2 a Cucumber
1 Red Chilli (without the seeds)
3 Tomatoes or a medium punnet of baby plum tomatoes
Garlic Oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Teaspoon of Red wine Vinegar
Black Pepper

For days when you need a boost to become a bit more sprightly, just like our Ashy :)

From Paris with … Chocolat Chaud

Posted on May 20, 2012 by scarter

I’m back. ‘Finally’ – I hear you cry. Oh you guys!! *blushes* and I’m married –double yay! So no longer do I have to spell out my surname ‘Kreczmer’ numerous times to people I can now simply go ‘Carter’ and pretend I’m an American news reporter. Badass.

We went to Paris for our honeymoon and I have to be brutally honest and say, although it was lovely- we did have a few issues and in retrospect we wished we just went for a lazy beach scenario. Our first hotel although it was good for a base hotel, didn’t quite have the romantic charm or attentive service that we needed for our honeymoon so we did a swift move to another which was better located in the 1^st arrondissment and near to Pierre Herme’, the latter pretty much sealed the deal for me.

It was an expensive holiday, and the most affordable (and most enjoyable) for me was going to the supermarket. Yes. Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arc d’Triomphe -forget it, the supermarkets is where it’s at. Particularly in the Galleries Lafayette Gourmet. It was foodie heaven. I could have spent hours trying all the delicious produce but alas we was on a tight schedule and I had a feeling the husband was getting nervous with the amount of money I was spending on chocolate. I seem to however go into this ‘money-no-object’ state when I’m in foreign supermarkets; I think it’s because you never really know what things cost unless you have an amazing ability to convert instantly.

My best purchase wasn’t found in the supermarket (although they also sold it there) but in one of the most famous tea rooms in Paris – Angelina. Their hot chocolate is arguably (but debated consistently on trip advisor) as one of the best in Paris. I bought a box then…naturally.

My return home to England was depressing to say the least, we only had a 5 day honeymoon which went a bit fast (we hope to go somewhere longer next year) and I STILL didn’t think I bought enough food back with me. Disaster! On the upside though I’m now back to share with you this recipe, which I put together in my mind on the flight back. A bit weary of cooking cake with chocolat chaud but let me tell you…this did not disappoint.

There’s something very child-like about messing around with hot chocolate in the kitchen, I remember mixing all kinds of cream/milk/caramel syrup concoctions when I was young. This went all through university as well. You just can’t grow out of that indulgent simplicity.

This Hot chocolate maderia cake though is not recommended for children however, it involves Crème d’Abricot (Apricot Liqueur) and I did get drunk in the process of testing. You can use any Liqueur really but I found this one a bit different and it also gives it an almondy taste that is lovely with sweet chocolate.

Either put the icing on top or use it as a side cream- this cake is particularly nice when heated up! Either way Ash loved it.

Hot Chocolate Maderia Cake with Creme d’Abricot Mascapone Icing

225g butter, softened

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

175g gluten free plain flour

25g Ground Almonds

2tsp of Xanthym Gum

2 tsp baking powder

50ml milk

100g hot chocolate powder (at least 50% cocoa)

2 Tablespoons of Apricot Liqueur (and a drizzle extra)

Mascapone 100g

Cream Cheese 200g

2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Butter the sides of a loaf tin and grease well with butter.

Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft then add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light.

Gradually add the eggs and vanilla extract to the butter mixture, beating all the time.

Sift in the flour, almond flour, Xyanthm gum, Baking powder, milk and mix slowly.

Fold in the sifted cocoa powder.

Place the mixture into the loaf tin

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes – 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Turn the cake out and leave to cool.

(Optional) Once cool, use a pastry brush and brush the top with liqueur evenly.

Top cake with icing :)

Icing:

Mix the Mascapone with the Cream Cheese and beat together.

Add the icing sugar.

Add the liqueur bit by bit till its to your taste.

Next blog post I’ll do something healthy :P Promise.

Tea, a kitten and a bit o’ lens flare never did anyone any harm.

Posted on February 2, 2012 by scarter

So cold and so sunny today.

I was there, sitting on the sofa, trying to conjure up another answer to another job application question. I was out of fuel.

Fuel being tea. What else.

Ash made it so incredibly hard to do anything but put my laptop down (after he was additionally gnawing at my laptop screen and hand for the past 30 minutes); he was just too cute, licking the remains of the tea from my favourite mug.

‘Drink more tea, make more love’ indeed.

So i made more tea, finished applying for the jobs and got more love from Ash. Win Win.

Today this is a recipe for contentment. Enjoy.

Wuthering Bites

Tag Archives: cute

Once a week, meat.

Salsa Cat

From Paris with … Chocolat Chaud

Tea, a kitten and a bit o’ lens flare never did anyone any harm.

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