St Clements Muffins

I'd rather eat a muffin then a cupcake, as the latter tend to come with more sugary decoration than sponge. Recipes for muffins tend to focus more on creating something that is good to eat as opposed to just look at. Muffins also have the benefit of being a socially accepted breakfast foodstuff, even though it is just cake.
This is an adaptation of Nigella's Orange Breakfast Muffins. Here I have sharpened them with the addition of lemon, which I prefer to orange alone, and filled them with orange curd. Lemon curd is a perfectly lovely variation. And you can eat them any time of day, breakfast or otherwise.


Ingredients
75g unsalted butter
250g self raising flour
25g almonds
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
75g caster sugar
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 egg
50ml fresh orange juice
50ml fresh lemon juice
100ml full fat milk
12 tsp orange or lemon curd

Method
Preheat your oven to 200 C, and line a 12 bun muffin in with cases or brush with melted butter. Melt the butter, and allow to cool a little. Combine the flour, almonds, bicarbonate, baking powder sugar and zests in a mixing bowl. In a measuring jug, whisk the egg, juice, melted butter and milk together, then pour into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir very gently to create a lumpy mix. Be as light handed as you can, overbeating makes for heavy muffins.
Put a spoonful of muffin batter in each section of the tin, just to cover the base. Put a spoonful of curd on top, then top up each with the remaining mix. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden.
Best eaten on the day they are made, best of all when they are warm.

Thai Yellow Curry Paste

If I have red and green curry paste recipes here, I had to have a yellow one too. I've taken my time about making one, because I've only just got my chance to use fresh turmeric. When I was living in Leamington Spa, it would appear from time to time in KL Oriental, the Thai Supermarket, but I was always shopping for something else and it would have probably been wasted. There's a huge Oriental supermarket not too far away from where I'm living now, which sells anything you could possibly need for South East Asian cookery, so I now have a ready supplier of the rhizome. The fresh root is far removed from the garishly yellow dried turmeric. Instead of the bitter earth flavours usually associated with turmeric, it smells fresh and almost lavender-like.

After doing some online research, I found lots of recipes do just use dried turmeric, so if you can't get hold of the fresh stuff, maybe just replace it with a teaspoon of dried. My version is an amalgamation of various other yellow curry paste recipes, aiming for something as authentic and delicious as possible. I find that yellow curries are similar red, but milder, so I increased the spices to keep it interesting. The result is quite different from the fiery, fresher green curry.

If you have a decent food processor, this couldn't be simpler. If you have a less than brilliant one, you may need to be a bit more involved by turning off the machine from time to time to scrape down the sides. If you are having trouble, try blending half the ingredients. Once that has liquidised the other half will break down more easily. And if all you have is a pestle and mortar you'll need a few hours and a pair of strong arms.


Ingredients
4 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
6 lime leaves
4 stalks lemongrass, woody parts removed.
5cm galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
6 dried thai chillies
grated zest of 1 lime
2 tsp shrimp paste
small bunch coriander root
4 cloves garlic
50g fresh turmeric, peeled
1 tsp freshly ground coriander
1 tsp freshly ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinammon
pinch ground cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
Vegetable or sunflower oil, for blending, a few tablespoons

Method
Blitz all the ingredients together except for the oil in a food processor. Pour enough oil down the funnel in a steady stream so that you get a smooth paste. Store, covered in the fridge. It should last about a month.

As well as using it to make curry, you can use the paste to make these thai pork burgers.

Sweet Focaccia with Peaches and Thyme

My love of the oil enriched bread goes right through the spectrum from savoury to sweet. I've come across many recipes in Italian cookery books for schiacciata con l'uva, a sweetened focaccia with grapes. In Anna del Conte's Book of Italian Food she writes how she and her schoolmates would have a still-warm slice at school lunchtimes, and it is so evocative, I must try making it sometime. But I felt like having a play around with flavours, and came up with this thyme-scented peach focaccia. Thyme might seem an unusual choice here, as it is usually reserved for savoury dishes, but I like the woodsy flavour it gives to the peaches. The earthiness works especially well if you're making this for a picnic. But if the weather is against you for outdoor eating, you'd do well to comfort yourself by having this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream  alongside.

You could even make this for breakfast- for the first prove, leave it overnight in the fridge. It will still rise, but the coldness will make the yeast work much more slowly. The following morning, continue as normal. It will require a longer knead, just to make it pliable again. Any overnight guests you have will certainly love you for it.


Ingredients
400g strong white bread flour
1 sachet yeast
50g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
280ml warm water
50ml olive oil
Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
4 peaches or nectarines
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only, chopped
15g butter

Method
Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl, stir to combine. Pour in the olive oil and water, and mix to a sticky dough. Knead for about 5 minutes. If you need to add extra flour to handle it, do so, but it should be quite a soft mixture. Shape into a ball, and leave it to rise, covered, for about two hours or until doubled in size.
After the first prove, punch the dough down, and knead for another minute. Flour a baking tray. Using a rolling pin or your hands, shape the dough into a rectangle about 1/2cm thick. Place on the tray and dimple the surface all over with your fingertips.  Leave it to rest for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190 C.  Slice the peaches into eighths. When the proving time is up, top the dough with the fruit, thyme and zest. Cut the butter into tiny cubes, and dot all over the surface. Bake for around 30 minutes. It's best eaten warm, but can be revived in the microwave the following day.

Chickpea, Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry

This curry has a good balance of creaminess from the coconut milk and enough heat and spice to make sure it is anything but dull and cloying. It's my favourite sort of comfort food. Please don't be put off by the long list of ingredients; it's very easy to make and rewarding to eat. You can, of course, vary the vegetables, but these are my usual trio. In the last version I made, the spinach was replaced with choy sum that needed using, and very nice it was too.

Ingredients
2 tbsp unsalted butter or ghee
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 inches ginger. peeled and grated
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 stick cinnamon
2 cardamom pods
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
pinch asafoetida
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin coconut milk
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
1 tin chickpeas, drained
200g spinach leaves
2 tbsp garam masala
small bunch coriander leaves
1 tsp salt
juice of 1 lime

Method
In a heavy bottomed saucepan melt the butter/ghee over a medium heat until it starts to bubble. Stir in the onion, garlic and ginger and cook golden brown. You'll need to stir it often to prevent it burning. Now add the whole spices-the cardamom, mustard seeds and cinnamon stick and continue to cook with the oniony mixture for 1 minute. Follow these with the ground spices except for the garam masala, and cook, stirring all the time, for 1 further minute. Add the tin of tomatoes, let it cook for a few minutes until thickened and then stir in the coconut milk. Now the chickpeas and the sweet potato. Let the whole thing cook at a low simmer until the sweet potato is very tender.
Stir in the spinach, it will wilt in the heat of the pan. So even if it doesn't look like it will all fit, persevere,  adding it bit by bit. Season with the salt and garam masala, adding more if you think it needs it. Spritz with the lime juice and when you are ready to eat, stir through the chopped coriander leaves. Have with the usual accompaniments; raiti, naans, chutneys, whatever you like.

Orange Curd and Mascarpone Cake

There's something very pleasing about a layer cake, they're indulgent but not fancy, homey but not plain.   They work for most occasions, from elevenses to an appearance as a birthday cake.  If you don't eat this right away, it really should be chilled because of the filling, which is a shame- refrigerated cakes just aren't the same. However, we just had this as a pudding for after lunch, and save a tiny slice it was gone by the end of the day. Despite the richness of the filling, this has a lightness to it, due to the tang of the curd. 

Ingredients

For the cake:

225g butter,at room tempterature

225g caster sugar

4 medium eggs, room temperature, beaten

Zest of on large orange

225g self raising flour

approx 2 tbsp orange juice

Method

Get the boring parts out of the way; preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4, grease and line 2 x 18cm/7in cake tins with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in a quarter of the egg mix with a tablespoon of the flour, repeat until all the egg is used. Stir in the orange zest. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold in with a large metal spoon until well combined. The mixture should be a soft 'dropping' consistency- i.e. it should fall off the spoon in thick lumps, add some juice if it needs some adjusting. Divide between the two cake tins, smoothing the top with a knife or spatula. Back for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer pierced in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

For the filling:

284g mascarpone

150g orange curd

Turn the less attractive cake upside down onto a plate and spread with the mascarpone, and then the curd on top of that. Top with the other sponge, and admire.

Watermelon, Chilli and Mint

The recipe is the title, with the addition of a little sugar. It works as a light snack, dessert or even breakfast if you don't mind a bit of heat in the morning. For two: Cube up about 1/6 of a small-medium watermelon, and toss with half a medium hot red chilli, finely chopped and deseeded. Add some chopped mint leaves, and sprinkle over about a teaspoon of sugar. Leave to macerate in the fridge for at least an hour before eating. Give it a stir, spooning the juices over the top of the fruit before serving.

 If you add feta, olives, red or spring onion and a limey olive oil dressing, and omit the sugar, you have a summer salad that was very popular in the food supplements about three years ago, that's goes well with barbecues.

Orange Curd Friands

Admittedly I did make these as a medium for the Seville orange curd, but they turned out so good I wanted them to have be included as a recipe in their own right. Orange curd may or may not be available in shops, but if you don't fancy making your own you could use lemon curd, just changing the zest in the batter to match. But making the curd is a good way to get some of the egg whites needed for the friand batter, or vice-versa. A bonus for me is that the addition of the curd means you need less of the batter, so you can use the leftover for the deep-fried version. I happened to choose the the tin with smaller moulds, just to have a little extra for this treat.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter
6 medium egg whites
225g icing sugar
75g plain flour
125g ground almonds 
Finely grated zest of one large orange

12 tsp Orange curd

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C, putting in a baking sheet to warm. Melt the butter over a low heat. Using a pastry brush, generously brush a 12-bun muffin or friand tin with some of the butter. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are foamy. They don't have to form peaks, you just want them frothed up. Sieve over the icing sugar and plain flour and scatter over the almonds and orange zest. Fold them in with a spoon, then mix in the rest of the butter until it is completely combined into the batter. Spoon a little on the batter into each mould, just to cover the base. Place a teaspoon of curd in the centre, then divide the rest of the batter into the tins (you may have leftovers, see above. Place in the oven on top of the baking sheet. Cook for around 20 minutes until they are lightly browned on top. These are best eaten on the day they are made.