Category: Comforting

For the times when you need the edible equivalent of a hug.
Croque Monsieur

Croque Monsieur

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I’m not gonna lie to you, this is essentially a glorified cheese and ham toastie – but man is it a good cheese and ham toastie! It’s a ‘I think I just heard the hallelujah chorus when I took a bite’ kinda good if you hear me.

Unlike most toasties this one is a) French and b) has a cool cheese sauce in it which makes it incredibly tasty. It may seem like a bit of an efffort to take out a pan and make a sauce for a sandwhich, but trust me, it’s 100% worth it. You’ll also probably have some of this sauce left over, in which case keep it – it’s great on leeks, cauliflower, or with pasta and will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days!

I should point out that it’s not strictly traditional to put tomatoes in a croque monsieur, but hey, this is a blog and I like a bit of a fruity/sharp tang in the middle of my toastie. But it’s totally optional, so if you’re not a fan of tomatoes don’t let it put you off.

 

Recipe

Serves 1

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cheese sauce

  • 13g Unsalted butter
  • 13g Plain flour
  • 125ml Milk
  • 1/2 tsp English mustard
  • 35g Strong cheddar cheese, grated

For everything else

  • 2 Thick slices of white bread
  • 2 Slices of honey smoked ham
  • 2 Cherry tomatoes, sliced thinly
  • 100g Gruyere Cheese, grated

Method

  1. Begin by making the cheese sauce. Put the butter into a small saucepan and melt over a medium heat.
  2. Add the flour and stir to form a paste. Cook this paste in the pan for 1-2 minutes.
  3. Slowly add the milk to the paste, stirring in between each addition to make a really smooth sauce. I find using a whisk really helpful here as it helps to break up the lumps, and make sure you pour the milk in slowly as otherwise your sauce will be lumpy.
  4. When all the milk in incorporated, continue to whisk over a medium heat until the sauce thickens enough to hold its shape a little. Then add the mustard and grated cheddar cheese and whisk until the cheese is melted and all combined. Set aside for later.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Take your bread, butter it lightly and then put it, butter side up, into the oven to crisp up. Once just starting to brown take it out.
  6. Turn the bread slices over so you’re working on the non-crispy sides. Spread the slices with the cheese sauce (about 1 tsp on each). Then put a ham slice on each bit of bread. Arrange the tomato slices on one of the pieces of bread and then sprinkle half of the grated Gruyere over them.
  7. Put the bread slice without tomatoes ontop of the one with tomatoes, crisp side out, to make a sandwich. Sprinkle the rest of the gruyere over the top and then bake in the oven for 5 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.
  8. Take out of the oven and serve warm with a side salad!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Baked Egg Pots

Baked Egg Pots

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Now that it’s 2018 we’re into the new year and new years resolutions are flying all over the place. One that I’ve taken on along with thousands of others over the country is to eat more healthily. Whilst I can’t see this lasting long for the main reason that I write a bi-weekly food blog and I love patisserie, I thought a detox January would be a good way of exploring healthy food. So you can expect a month full of healthy (or healthy attempts) of recipes.

I first heard of baked eggs when I was on French exchange and loads of my friends were being served them by their host families. Since then I’ve wanted to give it a go and so now here we are! I instantly liked making these as I could just delve into my fridge and pull out the first things I could see which I thought would work well together. Whether you have some leftover roast chicken, or some about-to-go-off tomatoes, this is a great way of using it up. I’ve included three variations at the bottom of the post to get your imagination running as to how you could personalise your own baked egg pot.

As well as being really versatile in terms of ingredients, they also have loads of uses. As they’re so quick to make they’re a great little warm snack for a cold day, or you could serve them as simple starters at a dinner party. This is especially useful as they take very little preparation and can be easily altered to suit different dietary requirements! Alternatively you could do what I do and make one for lunch and serve it with a side salad to get a healthy, high-protein meal.

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 10 minutes prep, 15 minutes to cook

Ingredients

  • 3 Plum tomatoes
  • 1 Small pepper (I went for yellow)
  • 12 tsp Light Cream cheese
  • 8 Large eggs
  • 2 Cherry tomatoes
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Basil to garnish

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Chop the plum tomatoes into chunks and put them into the bottoms of 4 ramekins.
  3. Chop the pepper up into chunks and again distribute them between the ramekins.
  4. Take a teaspoon and put three little blobs of cream cheese into each pot.
  5. Crack two eggs into each pot – you don’t need to whisk them up or anything, just pop them straight in.
  6. Chop the cherry tomatoes into quarters and put two quarters into each pot.
  7. Season with salt and pepper (a very important step so do not miss!)
  8. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, the time will vary depending on how you like your eggs cooked.
  9.  Take out of the oven and garnish with fresh basil. Eat with bread and/or a side salad!

Variations-

Smoked salmon – Take out the plum tomatoes and instead add 1 handful of wilted spinach to each pot. Then put some smoked salmon in with the cream cheese before you put on the eggs. Serve with sour cream and chives!

Bacon and Cheese – If you’re not bothered about the whole healthy eating thing you can use full fat cream cheese, or even go two steps further and add bacon and cheddar cheese to make them really indulgent.

Chicken and Sweetcorn – Take some leftover roast chicken, or chopped up cooked chicken breast, and 4 tbsp cooked sweetcorn and divvy it up between the pots with the cream cheese, eggs and seasoning.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Kladdkaka (Sticky Chocolate Cake)

Kladdkaka (Sticky Chocolate Cake)

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This is a Swedish cake which, from what I’ve read, is probably the most popular cake in the country. It looks like a normal chocolate cake, but somehow it turns out really gooey and light – almost like a softer, but just as sticky version of a brownie. I’m not sure how it works out like this, but it does. It’s also insanely easy and quick to make. Just put all the ingredients together, whop it in a tin, bake and boom!

This cake is in cafes all over Sweden, but as it’s pretty plain in appearance and as it’s deliberately underbaked it can make it come out pretty fragile, so I’d  recommend serving it as a dessert, rather than as an afternoon tea cake. When I first made this I hadn’t planned to make it, I’d just had the recipe for a while, realised I had all the ingredients and decided to give it a go.  As it’s so quick to make, and doesn’t require any unusual ingredients you could make this as a last minute dessert to finish a dinner party – and it’ll probably be quicker to make than a trip to the shops to buy a dessert (it’s really that quick). I’ve found that it tastes best when it’s warm from the oven and served with vanilla icecream.

Recipe

Serves 8

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 100g Unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 2 Medium eggs
  • 210g Light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
  • 150g Plain flour
  • 3 tbsp Cocoa powder

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin with butter and baking paper.
  2. Put the butter into a small pan and melt gently. Leave to one side to cool.
  3. Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla into a bowl and whisk with electric beaters until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
  4. Sift the flour and cocoa into the mix and fold together with a large spatula or metal spoon. Pour in the butter and then fold together until smooth.
  5. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake for about 15 minutes. It’s ready to come out when a light crust has formed on the top, and there it’s still slightly undercooked in the middle (you want it to be underbaked so take it out about 5 minutes before you would a normal cake).
  6. If eating later, leave the cake to cool in the tin and then turn out onto a plate. If eating immediately, turn out and serve with berries and icecream!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Sausages, Mash and Sticky Balsamic Onions

Sausages, Mash and Sticky Balsamic Onions

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Whilst I love complicated French patisserie, when it’s the middle of the week and I’m tired, stressed and short of time, all I want is a quick dinner that tastes good. In times like these there’s nothing more comforting than some good homemade mash, and there’s nothing better to put that mash with than some pork sausages and sticky balsamic onions. These onions also work really well on burgers and with steak, so if you’re making either of those any time soon you can give that a go. I’m gonna leave the writing there this time, as I’m all three of the above, and if you’re the same you’re going to be wanting to get onto the recipe, so here it is…

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 Cumberland sausages (or any variety you prefer)
  • 2 Large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 150g Butter
  • 2 Red or white onions, finely sliced
  • 2tsp Caster sugar
  • 2tsp Balsamic vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to season

Method

  1. Heat a grill to full heat. Put the sausages onto a grill pan, pierce them slightly with a knife, and then put them under the grill to cook. Turn them over once they’ve browned on one side, so that they colour evenly. If you don’t have a grill you can oil a pan and fry the sausages in there until no longer pink in the middle.
  2. Now start the mash. Fill a large pan with water and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes and leave until a knife goes into them easily – 8-10 minutes should do it.
  3. Meanwhile make the sticky balsamic onions. Take a large pan, preferably one with a lid, and put in 50g of the butter. Put over a medium heat to melt it, and then add the sliced onions. Cook for 2 minutes whilst stirring, and then leave to cook for around 7 minutes with the lid on to let them soften.
  4. Once soft, take the lid off and fry for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally,  until they begin to caramelise and brown slightly. Then add the sugar and vinegar and stir to combine. Fry for another 2-3 minutes until all sticky and delicious, and then cover and put to one side.
  5. Once the potatoes are tender, drain them and put them back into the pan. Using a fork or potato masher, break up the potatoes until they’re smooth and lump-free. Add the other 100g butter and add it to the potatoes. Continue mashing to mix it in and make it even more lump free – it should melt if the potatoes are still warm.
  6. Season the mash with salt and pepper, and then serve the sausages, onions and mash with some tomato ketchup!

Thanks for reading!
Emma x

 
Apple and Blackberry Crumble

Apple and Blackberry Crumble

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Being a country girl, pretty much every hedgerow and tree around where I live is covered in blackberries or apples at the moment, and it’s times like these – when fruit is literally falling onto your doorstep – that you need to make the most of it. The other day a big bag of cooking apples magically appeared on the kitchen table, which happens a lot now that my Mum has discovered foraging. But lucky for me I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them –  when life gives you apples, make apple crumbles.

Ever since I was small a big bowl of this with some custard would put a smile on my face, and it still does to this day. You can put almost any fruit into a crumble – rhubarb, berries or pears just to name a few other classics. Blackberries and apples are definitely my go-to couple though, as they carry a lot of flavour, and they’re the perfect combo of sweet and sharp.

I’d recommend serving this with a really good custard. You can either make this powdered, in which case follow the back of the packet’s instructions, or you could make an even better custard from scratch. For this I have a really good recipe which is on two of my other posts – Bakewell roly poly and French fruit tarts – the links to which are at the bottom of this post under ‘you may also like’ (if they’re not there, refresh the page and they’ll pop up or go to my recipe index).

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 4 Bramley apples
  • 85g Brown sugar
  • 150g Blackberries
  • 150g Butter
  • 150g Caster sugar
  • 150g Plain flour
  • 150g Rolled oats
  • 1 tsp Ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Peel, core and chop the apples into chunks.
  3. Put the apples into a pan with the brown sugar and heat gently until they begin to break down and soften. At this point remove them from the heat, add the blackberries, and set aside for now.
  4. Now make the crumble topping. Put the butter and caster sugar into a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and light. Add the flour and rub it into the butter mixture with your fingers. Work this until you get a bread-crumb texture, shaking the bowl from side to side every so often to bring the lumps to the top.
  5. Add the oats and cinnamon, and then mix with a round bladed knife to combine with the breadcrumb mixture. Don’t worry if clumps form, this will happen as the butter will have softened, it’ll taste good.
  6. Take a large oven-proof pot or dish and put the stewed apples and blackberries into it. Spoon the crumble over the top loosely, not pressing down as you want it to remain crumbly.
  7. Put the crumble into the oven for 25-35 minutes until the topping is golden brown and slightly crisp.
  8. Serve immediately with lots of custard, cream or ice cream.

Thanks so much for reading and happy national baking week! We’re getting halloweeeny on the next few posts so make sure you look out for them.

Emma x