Hey Good Lookin`...

...what you got cookin`?

I`m guesting over at Karen`s today as part of her {friendship} february series.  Well I say `guesting` but actually she`s got me hard at work in the kitchen.  Still it`s warm and I have beautiful views over the Causeway Coast.  There`s some delicious smells coming from the stove as I`ve got a winter warmer for you.  So pop over here and draw up a chair.  I`m sure there is room for a little one.

The Horizontal View

It`s Friday at last and so what better than a plate full of cookies...or as I like to call them, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Flapjack.

They are moist and chewy and definitely a cookie and not a biscuit. They need few ingredients, no flour, contain oats (so they must be healthy no?) and take about 20 minutes to make from start to finish and are very yummy! My kind of recipe.  I saw it over on Joan`s blog yesterday.  Thanks Joan.  By the way, I feel like I had a downer on the Duke`s cake here. Perhaps I wasn`t feeling in the best of moods when I wrote that post (note to self  - never write a blog post when in a funk) but I have changed my view - it is delicious and I will be making it again.  Soon.

On a different note I was so happy to see this morning that this photo...

had been featured in Mammarazzi`s gallery.  Have a great Friday!

Something for the Wedding `Hangover` - The Groom`s Cake

I was watching Oprah`s Royal Wedding Party just now and she was tasting the recipe for one of the cakes that Will and Kate had at the wedding reception - yes, they had two! They had a traditional fruit cake and then this cake  - a chocolate refrigerator cake, which is apparently Will`s favourite. It`s by Darren McGrady who is a former royal pastry chef to Princess Diana and the two princes and he used to make this cake for them.  It`s known simply as a Chocolate Biscuit Cake but doesn`t it deserve a slightly more glamorous name? 

Thanks Oprah for the recipe, which is below.  I love chocolate and so does my son (I couldn`t say where he gets that from) so I`m going to try it tomorrow and I`ll let you know how it turns out. The ever needed diet will just have to wait a couple more days.

Servings: Makes one 6-inch round cake (8 portions)

Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp. butter , for greasing
• 8 ounces Rich tea biscuits
• 4 ounces unsalted butter , softened
• 4 ounces granulated sugar
• 4 ounces dark chocolate , for the cake
• 1 egg

• 8 ounces dark chocolate , for coating
• 1 ounce chocolate , for decorating

Directions

To make cake: Lightly grease a 6" x 2 1/2" cake ring and place on a tray on a sheet of parchment paper.

Break each of the biscuits into almond-size pieces by hand and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture starts to lighten.

Melt the 4 ounces of dark chocolate and add to the butter mixture while constantly stirring.

Beat the egg into the mixture.

Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake ring. Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the ring because this will be the top when it is unmolded.

Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

To coat and decorate: Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it stand while you melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate.

Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cake wire.

Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and smooth the top and sides using a palette knife.

Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature.

Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where the chocolate has stuck to the cake wire and lift it onto a tea plate.

Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use to decorate the top of the cake.

A Very Full Tart or A Tart Full of Sunshine

My blog seems lately to have transmogrified into a photo blog.  Not that I mind. I love taking photos and carry my camera (usually to the annoyance of those I`m with) almost everywhere with me.  However, when I set out on this blog adventure, my focus was really on all things quilty with perhaps a smattering of jewelery making and photography along the way.  However, for the last few weeks I`ve been spoiled with visits from family and friends and then there was our visit to the Lakes last weekend...not to mention the daily humdrum of life.  Lovely images are a little quicker than quilts to create. However, things seem to have settled a little now and so it`s time to steer this blog back on course...I need to create something!

But not before I share a recipe for a tart I made today or even created.  It`s adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi`s recipe for A Very Full Tart from his vegetarian book Plenty which my mum bought for me last year.

It`s the second recipe I`ve tried from Plenty.  The night before Y and I left for the Lakes I made the caramelized garlic tart, which has 3 heads (yes heads) of garlic in it.  I wasn`t overwhelmed as it was a little sweet for my liking.  If I said my husband, who hadn`t eaten the tart, was less impressed it would be an understatement.

So today I thought I would try a different tart.  I love tarts  - sweet or savoury, but especially savoury.

It is indeed a very full tart as the name suggests...full of roasted vegetables...

...caramelized onions, sweet juicy cherry tomatoes and two cheeses...and it is full of delicious Mediterranean flavours.

So if you need a little sunshine in your life, here`s the recipe...it serves 4 - 6 people

1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper

olive oil

1 medium aubergine, cut into 4cm dice

1 small sweet potato (I didn`t have one so used a few new potatoes boiled first)

1 small courgette cut into 3cm dice

2 medium onions

2 bay leaves (I had run out)

shortcrust pastry (I used 200g of wholemeal flour, 100g of butter and salt)

8 thyme sprigs

120g ricotta

120g feta (the feta here isn`t good so I used a very smelly goat`s cheese)

7 cherry tomatoes

2 medium free-range eggs

200ml double cream (I used half cream, half milk)

salt and pepper

• Preheat your oven to 230C, 450F or Gas Mark 8.

• Start by making your shortcrust pastry and lining a tart tin before putting it in the fridge to relax. Yotam suggests baking the pastry case blind but I never bother and the tart had a lovely crisp bottom.

• Saute the onions with the bay leaves and salt until they turn brown, soft and sweet.  Remove from the heat, remove the bay leaves and set aside.

• While the onions are cooking, cut the tops of the peppers and remove the remaining seeds.  Place the peppers in a small ovenproof dish, drizzle with olive oil and place on the top shelf.

• Mix the aubergine with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and pepper in a bowl before putting on a baking tray with the diced courgette.  Put on the shelf underneath the peppers. After 12 minutes, add the sweet potato if using one.

• When the peppers have blackened and the vegetables are roasted, remove and place the peppers in a plastic bag to cool. Once cool, remove the skins and tear into strips.

• Reduce the temperature to 160C, 310F or Gas Mark 2

• Scatter the cooked onions evenly over the bottom of the pastry case and top with the roasted vegetables, arranging them evenly.  Scatter half the thyme leaves over and dot the vegetables with small bits of the two cheeses and then the tomatoes  - cut side up.

• Beat the eggs and cream milk mixture with some salt and pepper and pour over the tart case leaving the tops of the vegetables and tomatoes so that you can see them.  Scatter the remaining thyme over the top (I forgot) and cook in the oven for 35  - 40 minutes until the filling is set and it`s golden brown.

• Enjoy with a simple green salad  - that`s all you need!

A Happy Easter to everyone who is celebrating it this weekend!