Breakfast in our house is quite a boring meal most of the time. I sometimes get creative and zhoosh up the normal oats but most of the time it’s oats with syrup and a knob of butter or toast with some topping. If my family is lucky, they’ll get a scrambled egg. But sometimes I feel very ‘domestic goddess-like’ early in the morning and I’ll whip up some waffles or flapjacks. I wasn’t in the mood for the regular old flapjacks this weekend and spotted the dessicated coconut in the pantry and decided to add some to the batter. It transformed them into (if possible) more-moist, more flavorsome little cakes….
Simply Delicious
A general food and cooking blog. I like to experiment and try all different types of cuisine and I have a passion for food photography and styling.
Archive for May, 2010
I know this looks like lasagna, but I assure you, it’s Canneloni. As you’ll recall, I love stuffing things. Poultry, vegetables and pasta are my favourites. And because I haven’t stuffed anything (other than my face) in the last few weeks, I thought it’s about time. I don’t like stuffing Canneloni with a bolognese type sauce, as I feel that really makes it too similar to lasagna and you might as well save yourself the time and do it that way. So I decided on doing another vegetarian meal and used my beloved butternut & Feta. So off I went roasting the butternut, mashing it with feta cheese and loads…
Pastry is a probably the most versatile ingredient on earth. Not only can it transform as easily from salty to sweet but it works for all seasons. In summer, few things beat a beautiful, light quiche for lunch or a fresh tart for a light supper. And winter wouldn’t be complete without a regular helping of home-made pie on the menu. My Home-made chicken pie is a crowd favourite (and I will be blogging about it soon) but yesterday, I had some puff pastry and lamb in the freezer and although I was seriously craving lamb curry, I felt like the comforting crispness of pastry even more. And hence, the…
Bean Soup. That really doesn’t appeal to me. It sounds brown, thick and kind of drain-water-ish. But add the words spicy and chorizo, and you’ve got a winner. My dad has been asking for bean soup for ages now and I just didn’t know how to make it so that he wouldn’t be the only one eating it at the end. I’m not completely opposed to beans but I would prefer something else and my husband and brother really don’t like beans so it was quite a challenge. But I know we all LOVE Chorizo and spicy food so I thought that would be the only way to get them…
Coq au Vin, like Boeuf Bourguignon, has been one of those dishes that I’ve been dying to make. Just the name conjures up images of the beautiful French country side, a mother lovingly chopping, sauteing and cooking a big pot of stew for her family. The whole family coming together and dunking crusty pieces of Baguette into all the rich, wine-flavoured juices. Of course, the picture back at home is a little bit different. Not only don’t I stay in the beautiful French country side but I also don’t have time to marinade the chicken for at least 24 hours, then brown it before adding back the marinade, frying the…
(Photo’s courtesy of Paula Gruben) As you walk into Saint Verde Café, you can clearly see that the owners John Panas and Shannon Hill have been planning this restaurant for 9 years. The attention to detail is magnificent and the warm greeting you get is just an indication of the amazing experience that awaits. Head chef Hill has 16 years experience in the hospitality industry and was previously the head of banqueting at the Hilton Hotel in England. Front-of-house manager Panas was previously a professional jockey and after a serious injury decided to join Hill in finally making their dream come true. From the beautiful carafes filled with fruit-flavoured water…
I have many food favourites. Grilled Prawns with loads of home-made chilli sauce and garlic butter, Risotto, Fresh oysters with a drizzle of lemon, tobasco and black pepper. But when I want something fast, delicious and satisfying, I turn to a burger. I think it’s got to do with my love of sandwiches. And a burger is just that, a glorified sandwich. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t shy away from a McD’s Spicy Cajun Chicken burger but there is just nothing like the satisfaction you get from making and building your own burgers. In our household we do ‘Burger night’ regularly where my dad grills some…
Aahh Chocolate Brownies. The pud version of Comfort Food. I’ve been making so much comfort food lately and noticed that my sweet tooth has been completely and utterly forgotten about. I felt really bad so I thought I should venture into comfort puddings. Obviously things like Malva pudding and Bread & Butter pudding are right up there but I’m so tired of those. And I’ve always wanted my very own brownie recipe that I could rave about. Everyone else does. And that’s exactly how it should be. I love it when friends or family come to me and say “These are the best brownies you’ll ever taste!” I get so…
I think most of us know what Boeuf Bourguignon is by now…especially if you’ve watched Julie&Julia. Julie Powell could not stop raving about her childhood memories of her mother cooking Boeuf Bourguignon when guests came around, but it wasn’t any Boeuf Bourguignon, it was Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon. Every time she said “Boeuf Bourguignon” my stomach grumbled and I was anxiously waiting for winter to come so I could finally try it out. The only problem is that I really don’t like Beef..sorry I meant Boeuf. That’s why it’s taken me so long to try it. I’ve been trying to research all different cuts of meat to see which will have…
Bangers & Mash is one of the official ‘pub grub’ meals of the UK. But you certainly don’t have to be in a pub, nor in the UK to enjoy it right here. The weather is just perfect for it! The comfort level is the same as that of a good stew but it takes a third of the time to make. Bangers & Mash is a regular in our house in Winter time and I like to play around with it a bit and try different potatoes or vegetables and different types of sausage. But no matter what I add to it, the end result always includes the basic…
