All That I'm Eating

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

Honey and Cinnamon Spelt Biscuits

By 18 Comments

honey, cinnamon and spelt flour
I like books. I can rarely walk past a charity or second hand book shop without having a little nose around. My affection for literature is not just for old books, I love the smell of new ones.  As a result of my fondness, and subsequent collection of books, it was about time I sorted a few out in order to prevent some sort of hardback avalanche occurring. So that I didn’t get bored I thought it was a good idea to intersperse the organising with some biscuit making. I had bought some spelt flour a while ago to make some soda bread and there was a recipe on the back for these biscuits. They sounded ridiculously quick and simple and I thought it would be rude not to give them a try. 

You can find a very similar recipe on the Doves Farm site here.
You will need:
200g Wholegrain Spelt Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
125g Honey
75g Sunflower Oil

These are some of the easiest biscuits I have ever made; mix everything together, put on a baking tray and bake for only 8-12 minutes.

In amongst all the book sorting, biscuit mixing and desperation in trying to remember to remove all dough from my hands before it ended up on my books I have a few tips to pass on.

Firstly, if you weigh the oil out first and then weigh the honey on top of the oil it will all slide out together and you won’t be stuck scraping honey out of your measuring bowl. Secondly these biscuits grow quite like no other; at least doubling in size so leave plenty of room. Lastly they need at least 12 minutes baking, mine took about 15 minutes in total but that may have been because they were large. read more

Carrot and Orange Gazpacho

By 33 Comments

carrots for gazpacho
Apart from the occasional carrot cake or carrot salad I rarely have opportunity to make the carrot the star of the show. Carrots tend to make an appearance in the vegetable box but this time, instead of stored carrots from last year I had the first spring carrots. Thin and still slightly muddy with great green fronds, these carrots couldn’t simply be added to a stew. I had never made a cold soup before; I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. Was it going to feel like a soup that had been left in the bowl too long or was it going to be more like a vegetable smoothie? What if there were all sorts of unwanted lumpy bits and it looked like wallpaper paste? There was much ooh-ing and aah-ing as I tried to work out how best to juice a carrot. It turns out all the deliberation was worth it, carrot gazpacho is in a soup league of its own. You will need (for two):

  • 500g carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 red pepper, chopped
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/4 cucumber, peeled and chopped
  • Few sprigs coriander, chopped
  • 2-3 tbsp orange juice
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • white wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper
    • read more

    Mini Bubble and Squeak

    By 10 Comments

    Cabbage for bubble and squeak
    As one of those people who would rather sit down and pick at fifteen different dishes instead of a complete meal a BBQ is perfect for me. I wish I had the energy to create authentic Tapas on a regular basis but until then I am finding all sorts of little things to throw into the standard BBQ line up.  Potatoes will always crop up in some form or other at a BBQ. Chips, baked, in salads, boiled and any other form you can find. I wanted something that hit the potato spot but that was also a little different; mini bubble and squeak. As usual, this dish is made from ingredients I get from my local farmers’ market. I call these mini bubble and squeak but call them potato cakes or what you will. They have potato, a hint of onion, a bit of earthy cabbage with a golden, crispy, salty outside and delicate white fluffy middle…what more could you want?

    Ingredients

    You will need (for 6-8 small potato cakes):
    • 500g potatoes
    • Small bunch spring onions
    • Handful spring cabbage
    • Small handful chives
    • Salt and pepper
    • Butter for frying

    Method

    Start by peeling and then boiling the potatoes until soft. Drain the potatoes and leave them to cool. While they cool, chop the spring onions, cabbage (as much or as little as you like) and chives. I like to put the chive flowers in too if not just for the colour. Mash the potato, mix in all the other ingredients and season. Take small handfuls of the mixture, form into balls and then squash to make them flatter. 

    Heat some butter in a pan until foaming. If you want the outside golden and with the slight saltiness you must use butter, it’s just not the same with oil. I do add a little oil to stop the butter burning but not much. These little cakes like to soak the butter up so have some spare to dot around the pan. Place the cakes in the pan, you may have to do more than one batch, and wait until they are golden until you turn them over. Turn them too early and you might end up with a right mess. 

    They are done when they are golden brown enough for you. Keep the heat low/medium as you don’t want any burning before browning. A treat for a BBQ but great with anything else too.   

    All That I’m Eating  read more

    Baked Asparagus with Bacon and Cheese

    By 10 Comments

    As asparagus is only around for a short time, it’s a good thing it’s so versatile. This is another recipe combining classic ingredients in a really easy, quick way.   You will need a bunch of asparagus, 4 or 5 rashers of bacon and a good handful of strong cheese.  

    Start by placing the asparagus stem down in a pan of boiling water for 4-5 minutes. By placing them stem down the thicker, woodier stems are boiled while the fragile tops steam. While the asparagus boils, cut the bacon into pieces and fry. read more

    Gateau à la Crème

    By 8 Comments

    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

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