Corn muffins with chilli and cheese

This recipe is an evolution, or adaptation of the cornbread recipe I wrote about here and here. I love it when you get that true moment of experimental inspiration ‘I wonder what would happen if…’ its my favourite type of cooking, and it works, when it really really works, its just so amazing.

One of the many things I love about cooking this recipe is how incredibly quick and easy it is, and also very light on the washing up. These savoury little cakes make a lovely addition to any picnicy/potluck kind of meal, and of course go especially well with rich chillis, soups or stews. Best eaten fresh.

230g fine polenta/cornmeal

100g plain flour

1 tsp salt

2tsp baking powder

2 eggs, lightly beaten

300ml/ ½ pint milk

1 cup (or so) frozen sweetcorn (take out of the freezer about 5-10 minutes before, so it starts to defrost a tiny bit)

1 fresh chilli, deseeded and diced (I used red for the colour, but some sort of pickled jalapeno would be nice too. A crumbled dried chilli, or some chilli powder would work, but fresh is better in this instance)

2 spring onions, whites and greens finely sliced (make sure to slice the greens lengthways before washing them, to get rid of the dirt they can accumulate)

grated cheese (I used a mixture of mozerella and cheddar) 1 large handful – more or less depending on your preferences

pumpkin seeds

olive oil

Makes 20 – you will need a non-stick cupcake tray – preferably two of them

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil into 20 holes in the cupcake tins, approximately a quarter teaspoon per cake, and put the trays in the hot oven. The oil needs to be hot when you put the batter in, so it might be worth doing this before you weigh out the ingredients and get everything ready.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the dry powder ingredients, add the eggs and milk and mix until you get a smooth batter. Then mix in the corn, veggies and cheese.

Take the cupcake trays out of the oven (be very careful of the hot oil) and portion out the batter between the 20 oiled sections. When they bake they rise into very elegant and considerate cone shapes, so you don’t need to worry about any Hiroshima-style cake explosions. Scatter a few pumpkin seeds on the tops of each cake, and bake for about 13 minutes, until they are risen and golden. As soon as they are cool enough to touch, pop them out of the trays so that they do not continue to absorb oil.

Apologies for the lack of post-bake photo – I was too busy eating them!

Version made at a later date with coriander leaves added to the batter

Beer-can Chicken

The juiciest chicken you will ever have. Fact. This one was a family effort, my main contribution was in the initial inspiration, and the eating. My Mum did the prep, my Dad did the barbequing.

As some of you may know, one of my guilty pleasures is American cookery shows, the trashier the better. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is a current favourite – its basically just watching a loud, fat, bloke eating meat sandwiches, but its riveting. Another one, Hook, line and Dinner has recently blown my mind by showing that Sitka is in fact a real place, and not just a magical Yiddish enclave invented by Michael Chabon. I saw the recipe for Beer-can chicken on one of these similar shows, and it seemed so totally mad that I knew it had to be attempted.

In order to do this you will need a barbeque large enough to fit a chicken standing upright with the lid down.

Method goes like this:

Get a can of beer, give the outside a bit of a clean, and drink about a third of it. Add some flavourings to the beer if you fancy it, like a bit of garlic, some dried herbs and lemon.

Get a chicken, give it a coating of olive oil and salt, and shove it on the can of beer (arse first). If you have the kind of barbeque with a griddle-like non-slotted section, you can place it directly on that, if not, you will need a tray of some kind. Leave it in the barbeque with the lid down for at least an hour before checking to see done-ness.

In order to un-pop the chicken from the beer can, you will need 2 pairs of hands, and probably 2 sets of tongs. Carve, and enjoy.

Beware of widgets 

Please don't be confused by the tray in this picture - the bird wasn't cooked on it, but it seemed like a perfectly sensible recepticle for transferring the chicken from the barbeque to the kitchen for its dismemberment

Butternut Squash, Spinach and Peanut Curry

This recipe is from the ‘soulful grub’ section of Spooning with Rosie by Rosie Lovell, which I wrote about in the Interlude 2 blog post. She writes that this is the dish she makes when she is feeling really blue, and this is something I can really relate to. It is rich, filling and comforting, and really easy to make. It is, “just the thing when you are feeling the effects of a late night or the sudden onset on despondency.” Its just all about the peanut butter. As you may have noticed, I cook with it a lot. I tend to always have 2 jars on the go – a 40oz (over a kilo) jar of crunchy skippy for eating, and something cheaper for cooking with. All of the three peanut butter-based stew/curries are very different, but I think that this one, together with the kale and pineapple one are some of my most successful vegetarian entrees ever. This dish was really delicious and I highly recommend it. Thanks to Vikki for pointing it out to me.

As with any of my recipes, feel free to adjust/change the veggies as you please.

Ingredients

1 small/medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks

1 large onion, diced not too small

1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into slightly larger chunks than the squash
1 aubergine cut into chunks, some trimmed okra or whatever else you fancy

2 garlic cloves, smashed and finely chopped

1 fresh chill, finely chopped (she recommends removing half of the seeds – I actually didn’t have one so used 2 small dried chillies, I like it spicy)

2tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp curry powder (I used medium heat)

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tins chopped tomatoes

3 generous tbsp peanut butter (preferably crunchy)

1 bag baby spinach
Generous pinch of granulated sugar

Lots of black pepper (freshly ground, not that horrible cigarette-ash powder stuff)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the squash and onion and sweat for about 5 minutes before adding the garlic and chilli. Fry for a few more minutes and add the spices. Coat all the veggies and cook for a few minutes more. Add the tomatoes and the sweet potato and bring to the boil. Put the lid on and let everything simmer for 15-25 minutes, until the veggies are cooked through, but not falling apart.

After the are cooked, skim a ladle of sauce off the top of the pan, and place it in a jug or bowl with the peanut butter. Blend it all together until fully incorporated and then return to the pan and stir into the curry. Fold in the spinach, plus a little water if its too thick and the sugar. Put the lid back no the pan for a few more minutes until the spinach is wilted and the curry has a silky, thick texture. Season with lots of pepper and serve in bowls with rice and/or bread. This is really good with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice.

Green beans and Mangetout with Hazelnuts and Orange

Here is another recipe from the wonderful Ottolenghi cookbook (I just pre-ordered the next one-yippee!). This salad is refreshing, crunchy and a little unusual. The nuts make it more substantial than a standard veggie salad, adding a warm and protein-y element.

I have made this salad twice. The first time I cooked the green beans and mangetout seperately as the recipe suggested, and it worked fine, but having all that water, saucepans and colanders was a bit too much of a logistical challenge for my very small brain. So the second time I made it, I cooked the veggies all-together, carefully timing it so that the mangetout went into the water after the green beans had been in for 3 minutes. But then small brain struck again, and I realised that it was far too much to all fit in the colander at the same time - and they need to be drained pretty quickly so that they can be refreshed, and the cooking ceased. I won't go into the details of the mental bean-balancing act that followed. So i will write the method staying true to Ottolenghi, and leave any time-saving ideas to your own judgement.

I have scaled down the oil somewhat from the original recipe - the addition of orange juice is mine as well (seemed silly not to incorporate it).

They suggest toasting the hazelnuts in the oven, but i always use a frying pan. For a simple reason that I always burn nuts and seeds if they are not toasting under my watchful gaze! I leave the choice of toasting venue up to you.

I recently tried a variation on this made by Suzy, which included fresh green peas, and dill and red onion instead of the chives and hazelnuts. Also potentially lemon instead of the orange - I forgot to ask.

They say that it serves 6 – but it stretches much further depending on how many other dishes you are serving with it.

Ingredients

400g green beans, stalks trimmed

400g mangetout (or sugar snaps, that works too)

70g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

1 orange, zested and juiced

20g chives, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp hazelnut oil (or walnut oil, which is what I used)

salt and pepper

Bring plenty of water to the boil in a large saucepan (you need a lot of space for the veggies, to preserve the colour). Blanch the beans in the water for 4 minutes, the drain them in a colander and run them under tap water until cold. Leave to drain and dry. It is really important to make sure that they get completely cold so that they don’t continue to cook – no-one wants overcooked green beans! Repeat this with the mangetout, but only cook for 1 minute (see above note).

Mix the garlic and chives with the oils, zest and a tbsp or so of orange juice, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the green beans and mangetout, and scatter the hazelnuts over the top.

Spiced Polenta Crusted Potatoes

These babies have been on my 'to blog' list since December, so I'm sorry for the delay. I made these for the same dinner where I made the Kale, Pineapple and Peanut stew, which proved to be a big hit.

I used fountain-pen ink blue potatoes, and orange sweet potatoes for a colour and taste extravaganza.
Ingredients:

Selection of potatoes and sweet potatoes, ideally in a variety of colours, peeled and cut into chunks

for the crust:

1 cup or so of fine polenta/corn meal

½ tsp salt

½ tsp chili powder, this was enough to give them a defined kick, without being too spicy, add more or less depending on your tastes

1 tsp ground coriander

Flavourless cooking oil

Preheat oven to about 180c

Mix together the crust ingredients on a large flat plate. Of course you could add different spices too if you wanted.

Regular potatoes will need a 5 minute par-boil, while sweet potatoes can go straight into the oven raw.

This would probably be quite nice too with aubergines and pumpkin.

Put about a tbsp. of oil into a large bowl, and toss the potato chunks so that you get a light, even coating (you will probably have to do this, and the coating in batches). Once oily, put the potato pieces in the crust mixture and roll about to evenly cover. Place the covered pieces on a baking sheet – try and make sure that they are not too crowded, as it will prevent them going as crispy. Roast in the oven for 45-1hr, giving the pan a shake after about 30mins.

Fennel Seed Olive Oil Crackers

This recipe is in the Flavour Thesaurus, one of my all time favourite books. Niki Segnit writes that anise and washed-rind cheese goes together very well, citing specifically Stinking Bishop and these crackers.

“Washed-rind cheeses such as Munster or Stinking Bishop are simply too opinionated to be paired with many flavours, but anise (sweet, beloved pet flavour of The Flavour Thesaurus) is up to the challenge.”

This is the first time I have made crackers, and while they could have probably done with being in the oven a little longer (I know for next time), they are some of the easiest things I have made in a while. And with entirely storecupboard ingredients! Including oven time, these take about half an hour to put together.

Makes 15 – 25 crackers, depending on how big you make them.

2tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp baking power

½ tsp salt

125g plain flour

25 ml olive oil

125ml water

Preheat the oven to 160C (with fan).

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the olive oil and water in increments until it comes together in a dough (I had them both in the same measuring jug and it worked pretty well).

Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, and then roll it out to a thickness of 2-5 mm. Handy tip: if you roll dough between 2 pieces of cling film, you don’t need to flour surfaces, drying out the dough and making everything a bit messy. Use a cutter or knife to cut the crackers into whatever shape you fancy, and place them on a greased or lined baking sheet. Brush the crackers with water and bake for 25-30 minutes. They may need a little longer depending on your oven.

When I made these, I also made a batch with cumin seeds, and they were similarly delicious and well-partnered with cheese.

Note - the next day, I brushed the crackers with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and baked them at 180c for another 15 minutes until golden brown. And oh my. They were good before, and now they are amazing!

Courgettes with Sumac, Pine-nuts and Raisins

And here is another one from Claudia, same book as before. Sumac is my new favourite thing – its getting much easier to find too.  If you are the kind of person who puts lemon juice and black pepper on everything, this will be your favourite thing too. Because she is brilliant and knows me so well, Suzy brought me back a big baggie full of the stuff from Israel. This dish is quick and easy, infinitely multipliable and seriously delicious. One to turn even the most staunch courgette-hater. Believe me I should know, I have only been eating them happily for the past 2 years.

This is more than enough for 4-6 people as a salad or veggie side dish.

3 courgettes sliced into rings between 1cm- 5mm thick. Don’t use the really massive ones as they aren’t as tasty.

1 large clove garlic, crushed

2 tsp sumac

1 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp pine nuts

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Lemon juice

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and when hot, add the courgettes (medium/hot flame).  Don’t move them around too much, as you want them to colour. When they start to take on a little colour, add the sumac, pine nuts and raisins. After about another 5 minutes, add the garlic. It is done when the courgettes have taken on a lovely charred colour in parts, the raisins are plump and the pine nuts are toasted. Make sure that the garlic doesn’t burn.

Take off the heat and add a little salt. Serve at room temperature, with a little lemon juice squeezed on just before serving.