All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Chicken and Vegetable Pie

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Chicken and Vegetable Pie mix

This is a perfect recipe for the long Easter weekend break. It’s a celebration of Spring vegetables in the best wrapping of all…pastry. This chicken and vegetable pie is extremely versatile as you can change the vegetables depending on what is in season. It is also great for using up leftovers.

Ingredients

You will need (for one large pie to serve 4-6):

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • Knob of butter
  • 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • Handful kale, stalks removed and leaves sliced
  • 1 small glass white wine
  • 300ml double cream
  • 1/2 chicken stock cube
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt and pepper
  • Readymade shortcrust pastry
  • 1 egg, for brushing

First of all, roast the chicken at 180C for an hour and a half or until cooked through. If you like, you can stuff half a lemon and half an onion inside the chicken before you cook it to give it extra flavour.  When the chicken is done and cooled down a little remove all the meat and set aside. I had never de-boned a chicken before and I can tell you that once you’ve done it, you’ll never look back. From now on I will always buy a whole chicken and divide it up – it’s so much cheaper. The meat just fell off and I was left with a clean pile of bones and a huge pile of chicken. Chop up the vegetables as the chicken is cooling. 

Start by frying the onion and leek in some butter until softened in a large pan. Add the chicken and fry for a few more minutes. Add the glass of wine and cook until almost completely gone and then add the cream and the chicken stock cube. Add the carrots, kale and bay leaves and season. If it is looking a little dry add some water. Leave the mixture simmering for 10 minutes or until it is as thin or thick as you like it. read more

Panettone and Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding

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ingredients for panettone bread and butter pudding
There are some things that are tasty on their own but become even more so when transformed into a soft, squidgy, sumptuous (and very traditional) bread and butter pudding. This wonderful celebration of stale bread is one of my favourite puddings. It is exactly what you want from a pudding; sweet, light but also filling, warm and most importantly delicious. I think to describe it as stodgy is highly unfair.

Ingredients

You will need (for four):
  • One large panettone
  • Butter
  • Marmalade
  • Nutmeg
  • 125g sugar
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 large eggs
  • 275ml double cream
  • 250ml milk

Method

For this particular bread and butter pudding I used a Panettone that had been hanging around the back of the cupboard, some tangy marmalade that my Great Auntie had made, butter (a given) and a grating of nutmeg. I’ve not sliced a Panettone before but it was rather successful and very conveniently the slices snuggled into the dish like they were made for each other. Each slice was buttered, marmaladed and nutmegged before it went into the dish – marmalade side up. 

To make the custard (which is thinner than if you would be making it to pour) whisk the egg yolks, eggs and sugar together and then whisk in the milk and cream. I have tried the custards where you heat the milk and cream first and I think it makes no real difference. This way is much quicker and easier.

Pour the custard over the bread and leave it to rest for 20-30 minutes so that the custard has a chance to seep into the bread and make a gooey mess. I find you’ll probably need to push the bread into the custard to ensure it all gets a good bathing. read more

Classic Toad in the Hole with Onion Gravy

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toad in the hole, onion gravy, mashed potatoes and broccoli

It’s been getting colder, the days getting shorter and the need for all things comforting increasing. I went to the butcher and managed to get hold of some local recipe sausages. Toad in the Hole would be it. With some gravy and mash. Proper British.

Ingredients

What you will need (for two)
Sausages of your choice
1/2 pint of milk
120g flour
3 eggs
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
90ml balsamic vinegar
Thyme
Stock cube

Method

I started off by frying my sausages and made the batter while they were cooking. I find the best way for Yorkshire pudding batter is to put it all in a bowl and whisk furiously. It’ll all come right in the end. I was also clever enough to plan ahead, pre-heat the oven as hot as it would go and heat some oil in a dish. read more

Plum Bakewell Tart

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What a strange time of year. As a newbie to vegetable gardening and being too distracted by pride with what had been successful, I missed the band wagon and subsequently planted nothing else this year. Curses. All was not lost! A friend of mine with superfluous plums was kind enough to give us a bag full. What to do with that many plums…I consulted my various books and found a recipe I had written out by hand. I’ve no idea where it came from originally but what a recipe it was; Plum Bakewell Tart. read more

Carrot Cake

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Carrot Cake with orange zest icing

After spending my Sunday trying to resist everything I clapped my searching eyes on at my local farmers market, I ended up buying hundreds of carrots. How could I say no to a bunch just picked and two for £1 purple cauliflower? Either way I am now inundated with these sweet orange roots and so I consulted several recipe books and decided a carrot cake was the order of the day. They all asked for different things so I picked out what I thought were the best bits and tried it out.

Ingredients

What you will need:
3 eggs
275g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
200ml mild olive oil
75g dark muscavado sugar
175g light muscavado sugar
150g carrots
juice of one small orange read more

Broad Bean Omelette

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Fresh broad beans

To tell you nowt but the truth, my broad beans have been nothing short of prolific. I cannot urge you enough to throw a few broad beans in the ground and watch them develop. They are so nutty and so so green. There’s nothing like picking a few pods and whiling away a few moments popping the little guys out of their silk lined beds. I really enjoy squeezing them out of their old grey skins once cooked. Unless I’m in a rush.

Despite all the care and affection I have given my beans I did manage to whip up some delectable meals and snacks. The first one (apart from eating a few raw off the stalk) was an omelette that I threw some of my emerald delights into. To start, I satisfyingly took the beans out of their homes. read more

Gateau à la Crème

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This classic French dessert sounds so impressive but it’s so easy to make and I didn’t have a food processor with a dough hook either! I used my hand mixer and it did the job perfectly. Raymond Blanc made this recently on the television and I was determined to give it a go. Don’t be put off by the bountiful amounts of butter and the gargantuan number of eggs. It’s a treat and so worth the effort.

Ingredients

What you will need (for a Gateau à la Crème and a brioche loaf):

For the brioche dough
500g strong plain flour
A few pinches sea salt
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp yeast
7 free-range eggs
300g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

For the crème filling
6 free-range egg yolks
60g caster sugar
1 lemon, juice and zest
250ml crème fraîche

For the glaze
2 free-range egg yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
25g/¾oz butter, cut into cubes read more

Chocolate and Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding

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I have had a request for this recipe but unfortunately I haven’t made it since I started blogging so I have no pictures to go with it! My apologies. 

Ingredients

What you will need:

220g Brioche
Butter for spreading
50g dark chocolate chips
1 egg
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp caster sugar
410g can light evaporated milk

Method

Firstly, cut the brioche into thin slices and butter each slice on one side. Place a layer of brioche (butter side down) into an ovenproof dish. Throw a few chocolate chips on the top. Carry on layering the brioche and chocolate chips and then finish with a layer of brioche.

Put the evaporated milk in a saucepan on a low heat until it just starts to simmer. While this is heating, whisk together the egg, egg yolks and sugar. Slowly add the warm milk to the egg mixture whisking all the time.

Pour the egg/milk mixture over the bread and leave it to soak in for five minutes. Press the brioche down into the milk.

Make a bain-marie for the pudding. (Get a roasting tray and put the pudding dish in. Then fill the tray with boiling water until it is halfway up the side of the dish). Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180⁰C/350⁰F/Gas 4 for about 30 minutes or until the custard has set.

This is such a nice variation on the standard Bread and Butter pudding. It’s so satisfying to make and eat.

Enjoy!

All That I’m Eating

This recipe came from a book my Granny got me ages ago called Chocolate, it’s a great book which I use all the time! read more

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