Bacon and Egg Pie.

Would you like some pie? It's Bacon and Egg? Hop on over to Flavrbox; another place that accommodates my food-based waffling, where I will tell you all about it.

Pumpkin and Cheddar Cheese Scone Bread.

I am quite sad...you see being the organised fiend that I am, I in fact made that delicious cheesy bread you see before you some time ago. I made it and photographed it and uploaded the photies all in advance of what I knew would be a very busy week with little cooking time, so I would have something to talk to you about.

The organised thing isn't the sad part...no, that would be my grazed knee. I was running you see, and some fooool told us to turn all our clocks back an hour which meant that was was darkydarkdark because I live in the countryside and I didn't have a candle on me and I’m not sure whether I can justify buying a head-torch when there a trillion other things I need to buy to get me winter ready including shoes that don’t leak...and the long and short of it is that I took a tumble.

So here I am, missing a sizable chunk of my knee and I reeeeeeally would love some of this bread and the pumpkin and sweetcorn soup that goes with it so well (the recipe for which you can find here), to cheer me up and warm my cockles (winter running tights is also on my list).

My suggestion to you is make this now, and make lots, so that when you get home on those days that leave you needing steaming bowl food and a carbohydrate hug, this tasty, spongy bread will be on hand. Oh...and don’t run in the dark, it hurts. With Love and Cake.

Pumpkin and Cheddar Cheese Scone Bread.

Adapted from Delia Smith's Vegetarian Collection

A few notes:

• To all intents and purposes, this is really a giant scone; it's made with raising agent rather than yeast. That, in my book, is a very good thing.
• If you have pumpkin puree, or fancy making your own (find my recipe here) feel free to replace the weight of fresh pumpkin in the recipe with puree...you will need to adjust the amount of flour you use to 250g though, to stop the dough being too wet to handle.
• You could replace the pumpkin with butternut squash, or indeed any other type of edible squash.

Makes 1 loaf

You will need 

a greased baking sheet

225g self raising flour

large pinch salt

175g pumpkin

25g pumpkin seeds

50g cheddar cheese, cubed

2 eggs

1 tbsp milk

for the topping

extra pumpkin seeds

extra cheese, cubed

• Preheat the oven to 190°c.
• Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.
• Coarsely grate the pumpkin into the bowl and mix it all around so each strand it covered in flour.
• Add the pumpkin seeds and cheese and toss around again.
• Lightly beat the eggs with the milk and add to the flour mixture a little at a time while mixing with your fingertips.
• You will end up with a fairly sticky dough, but don't worry, all you need to do is form into a round, transfer to your baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden and firm.
• Serve warm, with butter and a hug. 

Birsay Cheese Scones.

Oh cheeeeeese scones....one of my favs. Warm, next to a hot bowl of soup, you can do worse for a lovely lunch at any time of year. On a recent little trip to Orkney (islands, northynorthnorth, in case you were wondering) we had lunch at Birsay Tea Room that I, of course, had looked up prior. With a poorly boy in tow, tomato soup and a cheese scone sounded perfect, and my oh my did it deliver. 

Honestly best cheese scones EVER. Sometimes I think cheese scones are made especially for the veggies amongst us, which are of course, all hippies who only eat spelt and quinoa and brown things...whateves. In that case they are made big and heavy and full of brown.

These though, were light as a feather, all unhealthy whitewhite flour, and warm and sharp with cheese. Delish.

Helpfully, there was a little Birsay Tearoom recipe booklet for sale, perched on a shelf, and, rather cheekily, I took a peek inside to get their cheese scone secrets. After much puffin watching, hill walking and basking shark spotting, off I trotted home to cheese-scone-it-up Birsay style. And here we are....light as a feather and full of proper cheesey chunks. Butter or not, soup or not...but make, or else. With Love and Cake.

Cheese Scones.

A few notes:

• As always, scones do not respond well to your involvement. Leave as well alone as you can, mixing just until combined and barely pressing them into shape. Be dainty.
• Usually I say you can easily knock scones up in a food processor but because you want to keep the cheese in nice lumps I think it's not worth the effort of dragging it out of the cupboard just to rub the butter into the flour...though feel free, and just stir the cheese in afterwards.

Makes 6

You will need

a lined baking sheet

225g self raising flour

pinch salt

60g butter

100g strong cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes

6 tbsp milk, plus extra for glazing

• First job is to get your oven nice and hot; 220°c.
• Mix the salt into the flour and then run in the butter with your finger tips.
• Stir the cheese in so it gets evenly distributed.
• Pour in the milk and start to bring everything together with as light a touch as possible. You might need to add a teeny bit more or less milk depending on your situation so go steady.
• I find it easiest at this point to lightly diving the dough into 6 just with my hands, saving the rolling and cutting out. Just gently pull off even sized balls and pat lightly onto your baking sheet.
• Brush each scone with milk and bake for 10 minutes.
• Mmmmm eat warm with soup and butter. Delish.

Stove Top Supper.

Hi Han,

You know I told you a while ago that I’d met a lovely lady who is basically  me but in another body? Well I did, and she is superdooper lovely and shares your passion for tea and mine for cake...everyone of our get-togethers involves both, and a lot of chat about how desperate we both are to learn to knit. She lives in a beautiful little flat in a gem of a spot in Edinburgh which you would love. I already consider her a real proper true friend, even though we’ve really only spent a relatively small amount of hours together. This post is for her.

She’s in a spot of culinary bother you see. It all started when the glass of her oven door shattered, through no fault of her own, leaving a messy hole and no oven. This was a good few weeks ago now and the long and short of it is that it still isn’t fixed (or it wasn’t when I last saw her). She is bOREd of soup and stir frys and desperate for a good old baked potato. I am veryvery sympathetic, mainly because I think if I was left without the use of an oven for any length of time you’d have to cart me off an asylum. Also...I thought this maybe possibly might be the sort of dilemma you face when you move across the pond? So I put my chef’s hat on and did lots of thinking about yummy things that can be had hot off the hob. This is my first offering. It is inspired by my lunch at Easter-time Betty’s and is yummy and healthy and sunshiney and not a jot of sacrifice is felt by the end...promise. With Love and Cake.

Courgette and Spring Herb Frittata with Stove Top Roasties.  

A few notes:

·         It is best to use a non-stick pan for the frittata. If you don’t have one  it might make things easier to line the pan you use with baking paper.

·         If you’re buying herbs especially for this, and therefore don’t want to buy lots of different packets, may I suggest you go for mint. I didn’t use it here because something had cheekily munched my small supply of leaves  but I think it would bring even more fun to the party.

·         I served my Frittata with goat’s cheese and chutney but you could eat it plain or with a whole number of other toppings. How about caramelised onions, feta, mozzarella and tomatoes or even have it in a sandwich with salad and mayonnaise.

·         You need to use waxy potatoes for this recipe, which are small and often labelled ‘salad potatoes’. Floury ones that are used for ‘baking’ will break up to a mush. 

Makes enough for 2

You will need

For the Potatoes

1 glug of olive oil

1 knob of butter

½ onion, sliced

500gish waxy potatoes

Salt and Pepper

For the frittata

1 glug of olive oil

1 medium sized courgette, coarsely grated

A couple of generous handful of springtime herbs, I used parsley, coriander, chives, young rosemany and dill, finely chopper

4 eggs

Salt and Pepper

·         First get the potatoes going; heat the oil and butter over a medium heat and throw in the onion, leaving until softened and golden.

·         Then add the potatoes and lots of salt and pepper and give everything a stir around.

·         Now turn the heat down to as low as possible, pop the lid on the pan and leave for a good 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every so often.

·         When the potatoes have about 15 minutes cooking left it’s time to start on the frittata, first by heating the oil in the frying pan and gently frying the grated courgette for a few minutes until slightly softened.

·         Tip the courgettes from the pan into a bowl, with the herbs and plenty of seasoning.

·         Next whisk the eggs into the herby mixture and pour everything back into the still warm pan.

·         Leave on a low heat until it looks mostly set, with just a bit of wibblywobbly left in the middle; about 10 minutes.

·         To cook the top, either stick under a hot grill if you have the facility, or flip the frittata over by sliding it out onto a plate, hovering the upside down pan over it, and turning everything over so the wobbly side of the frittata is at the bottom of the pan.

·         Leave to cook for a final 5 minutes turn the heat up under the potatoes for the last few moments so they really crisp up (and go some way to satisfy the baked potato craving, Beth).

·         Serve a wedge of frittata with the potatoes and a crispy dressed salad and any other adornment you fancy. Yum.