What to bring to a Jamie Oliver Party

A few new friends & I enjoyed the most delicious Jamie at Home Party last night.


When you host a Jamie At Home, it's not compulsory you're a dynamite DIY cook- a bag of crisps and some cut up carrots would be enough! Guests that don't bring their own wine are after a glass of water or cup of tea- easy!- and the conversation is aways. So. Good.


I'm experimenting with food these days. The experiment is to take the tastes we love; the tastes we may be secretly addicted to; and ease us ourselves out of it gently. So I home-made these muffin-tin quiches for the party. Aren't they cute? Leek & cheese, salt n pepper the only filling. 


Yes, I used ready-roll puff pastry. But it's a really healthy take on any store-bought alternative filled with g-knows-what. 


They are lacto-ovo vegetarian (check your pastry to make sure it doesn't contain animal fats) and low sugar, too.

See the crispy bottoms?
So simple.

Here's how!

I used 2/3 block "just-rol" or enough thin refrigerated puff-pastry discs to fill 18 regular muffin-pan holes.

• Pre-heat the oven to 200/380
• Lightly grease & flour a muffin baking tray. Using a large mug (Jamie's Mug in a Tin works perfect!) or pastry cutter, place pastry discs in the muffin tray. The pastry discs need only to come up a quarter or half of the sides of the muffin space as it puffs up and protects/forms remarkably!
• Pierce the bottoms of the "muffins" with a fork and pre-bake in your oven for 10 mins. Meanwhile...
• Bring a small fry-pan to medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon butter with a tiny bit of olive oil (prevents the butter burning) Slice 1 large leek up to the darker green bit, and sautee in the butter/oil, gently, for 10 mins. We want the leeks softly brown.
• Whisk 4 large eggs with a fork or egg whisk in a jug. Season with salt n pepper. Grate 100g cheddar cheese into the mixture and stir to combine.
• Pull the muffin tray from the oven. Add about a teaspoon of leeks to each pastry, and top with a tablespoon or more of the egg n cheese mixture. 
• Pop back in the oven for 15-20 minutes until pastry is brown around the edges... now, you'll have a delightful mini-quiche bubbling with melted cheese! delicious served with a green salad and fresh tomato salsa.

I really enjoy sharing with you healthy inexpensive dishes for entertaining! We were just 4 ladies and hostess Anna got to order £40 of goodies at no charge from the Jamie Oliver catalogue. Hope to share a party with you soon! send me a message here to get one before Christmas!



What do you take, or make, for a party that's inexpensive with a healthy twist? Do share with us, as party season begins!  Pop your comments below!

Secret Carrot Cake (& Healthy Delicious Frosting for Dummies)

When you have people over there is SO much to do, isn't there?  It's not just "Get-the-vacuum and those-shoes-out-of-the-hallway".  It's rubbing off those smears down the wall that we actually don't mind unless someone else is looking; the fresh flowers to be brought in, cut and arranged which we really should do every week regardless of visitors or not!; improvements to the general scent about the place and shininess of the bathroom that needs attending to. Who has time to bake a fresh cake, leaving the home in a fuggy scent of warmth and spice, and present it frosted and freshly cut to guests?


Me. And You!  with this recipe.
The most discerning of my foodie friends and acquaintances (chef, naturopath, bakery-owner, primary teacher who gets lots of free baked goodies brought to her, tv crew of Come Dine With Me) just adore this cake. The secret?  it's prepped in 5 minutes, has three ingredients and is fool-proof delicious- especially with my Healthy Frosting for Dummies.


The 3 ingredients are:
1 packet of Wrights baking Carrot Cake mix
1 cup of chopped dates
1 cup hot water.


On the pack it suggests you'll need the packet, oil and water.  I'm sorry this recipe contains gluten; and I do feel a little guilty that it's basically a packet mix with a wholesome twist- hence the secret! But I'm not sorry that we can swap the 1/4 cup vegetable oil for a cup of dates soaked in hot water.
Have your cake- and don't feel so bad about eating it, too!


how to...

1. Boil the kettle and in a heat proof bowl, cover the dates with a cup of hot water.  
2. Leave for 10-15 mins until lukewarm, then add the packet mix and whisk for 1 min with an electric beater or 3 mins by hand.  If the mixture isn't sloppy enough to pour, add warm water whilst mixing to loosen.  Don't over mix or the cake will become tough and lose it's dense muffin-type chewiness.
3. Leave to cook in a pre-heated oven at 170 degrees/300F for approx 50 minutes in a lined loaf tin until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  

(Visitors coming?  You need a game plan.  I love to:
clean the house, 
make the cake
pop it in the oven
make myself ready
bring it out of the oven
set up the drinks display, ice and lemon
make the icing
receive my guests
after they've warmed up a bit with a drink and some chat, I go back into the kitchen to ice the cake

lovely photo from fussfreefood.com

then serve it
in that order :)


My Healthy Delicious Frosting for Dummies is thick greek yoghurt with just a bit of honey stirred through it.  Spread over the cake thickly, and sprinkle generously with dessicated coconut.


I hope you try it!  No matter how rustic it looks sliced into thick chunks...


(I believe... ) our guests don't remember whether there was a black mark on the wall.
They remember the lovely warm smell of baking when coming into a home, enjoying  refreshing cup of tea with cake, and how they got to take a big chunk of it home!


What's your secret recipe confession?  Do share, below!

Sunday Share & recipe- Being Gwyneth

So we had a beautiful walk and took this gorgeous pic- who would know it is only 16 degreesC?  sure looks tropical! 

 Then I, with basket on arm, in floaty skirt went to the market to recreate, for a delicious, end-of-summer Sunday lunch, this:  Gwyneth Paltrow's Lobster Club Salad.

Gwyneth's Lobster Club Salad, recipe and picture from Red

Tiger Prawn Club- Samantha Honey-Pollock :)

I don't have Gwyn's gorgeous children but I do have some gorgeous ways to improv. (that's improvise, darlings!) on her recipe.  The pic above, from Red magazine, doesn't look to contain bacon. It does in Gwyn's recipe.   Do you see any up there? it's not that dark purple stuff, is it?


In my version here   --> and I know, yes, of the delicious marriage which is soft white seafood and crispy, salty bacon, but you know it's not really a recipe until you make it your own, is it?- I've ditched Gwyn's bacon and onions and instead completed my salad with sliced beets and grilled fennel.


I like to think that the crunchy astringent taste of the fennel and the soft sweet bitterness of the beets gives a main-course like feeling to a very prettily arranged salad... but it doesn't.  The show-stopper here is the bite of lobster (or tiger prawn, flash-fried- sorry, but the lobsters all looked sad today at the store) and avocado.  Both spritzed with lemon juice, and there's definitely the hint of garlic about it...these two bits were chased right off the plate, leaving the char grilled fennel, beets- and probably bacon, if we'd gone that way- behind.


What do you think about Gwyneth Paltrow's identity as a lifestyle maven?  Here's a nice piece and a sarky piece with their views.  Do you think lobster is an extravagant food?  And did you know if you're not eating lobster two or three times a week, you should make sure your salt contains iodine... iodine deficiency is becoming more common and can lead to thyroid issues.  Sea vegetables are another good source in our diets.


Be well!
with love,
Samantha.

Sunday Share~ A perfectly simple summer lunch

Happy Weekend, friends!  Many of you are excitedly counting down the days til you're in your favourite holiday place- or have you just arrived?  I wish you beautiful summer vacances, filled with lots of space for dreaming, walks on the beach or anywhere really, in refreshing morning air, and the feeling of hot sunshine on your body...

via {this is glamorous}

(... and remember to pick them up and pop them in your pocket...)





The pretty photos here are from gorgeous website and blog- {this is glamorous}- my very favourite place on the web, a magical treat of a space; like a haunting song or a mysterious portrait that one can only listen or look at for so long without being spoilt forever.  I go there often but don't linger too long, lest the beauty of that world ruins me forever in this one...   if you have a moment to dedicate to impossible glamour left in your summer, do treat yourself!


Share our Sunday lunch today?   I hope you can use it's delicious-ness on your holidays as an easy, filling yet healthy meal for kiddies, menfolk and we who dream of the glamorous life, alike.


It's the simple Omelette.

via {this is glamorous}

Ever notice that most perfect things, are simple?  The perfect aperitif: Champagne.  The perfect treat: A bowl of strawberries.  The perfect answer to any problem: A hug.


How to make the perfect omelette

• In a glass bowl beat three eggs with a fork.  You can add salt and pepper here if you like.
• Heat a pan on high for up to a minute then add a dollop of butter.  Now pour in the eggs, whilst shaking the pan.  Still shaking the pan, fluff the top of the omelette with a fork or chopsticks.  This ensures light-ness and an even consistency. 
• Before the eggs are set is the time to add cheese; fresh chopped soft fruit; tomatoes, torn basil and onion; or meats, as to the eater's preference!

• Slide the Omelette to the end of the pan where it should start to roll up.  If making for small children, pregnant ladies, the elderly or anyone with a comprised immune system, its better to wait to roll and slide out the omelette until there's no visible liquid on it's surface.

Who's next?  Making an omelette is a lovely way to involve everyone in the cooking of a simple, healthy meal and encourage bio-individuality.  Cooled, well done omelettes also make perfect picnic fodder!  Thank you for sharing!  Enjoy your lazy day!

Sunday lunch- Save the date!

So begins a lovely new tradition:  the Sunday Lunch share.  I hope this will become interactive, and I can learn so much from you... in time, I'd also like to start a facebook Sunday Lunch group- what we're planning, cooking and eating, how it went, who we are with, what we're hoping, feeling-- reflections on the week past and the week to come...


“There is no delight in owning anything unshared.”- Seneca


The template so goes:


1.  Start here.  Okay, it's 11am.  Just dropped Husby at the airport.  Feel twitchy, all full of things to do, but what first?  It's a grey cold and blustery summer's Sunday.


2.  Who's cooking what?  Just me.  I found 3 gorgeous cookbooks in the secondhand shop this week and this one especially is making me drool: "The New Vegetarian cookbook" by Heather Thomas with foreword by Linda & Paul McCartney.  Yes, it's very old.  It's so old that Heather Thomas is doing vegetarian in all sorts of deep fried, gluten-rich, sauce-y, simple carbohydrate loaded ways, ie. "Boil in the bag rice is a godsend!" not a quote, just you get the general gist ie.  not thaaaaat healthy!  But I am fascinated.  It also is English- in a way that knows what we have and can use and is achievable here.  I love American and Aussie recipes, and I've realised we all have to work within our own countries.


Menu:
Only 2 courses this day.  Main:  Filled crepes.
Dessert:  Date pudding.
Both from scratch.


How's the cooking?  Not showing the crepes pic... 'twas disaster!  Recipe doesn't work with Granary flour.  Needed to be thinner, smoother, lighter.  With a cheesier, richer,more velvetly elegant and creamy sauce...


Result?  Date pudding = Divine!  A gorgeous, "take anywhere", moist, dense cake; or a proper date pudding when the sauce is poured over:  here's the recipe.  It does contain gluten, dairy, nuts & sugar.  Do share your healthy exchanges for these.  


Dates are one of the most wonderful ingredients in a cook's cupboard- their inherent sweetness help minimise the added sugar (cut it by a half when using in any recipe), and they are rich in iron and B vitamins.


Any AHA!'s?  I found it so comforting to take direction from the recipe book at a wobbly moment after husband goes away and a big week in store. Yet I played with the recipe so much though after reading through it, it's comforting warming moist chewiness hardly resembles the "old fashioned tea loaf, serve in slices with butter" the original recipe creates!  That's why I found it so heartening that the Date Cake turned out brilliant whilst my savoury main left alot to be desired (when it's usually the other way around- baking isn't really a little bit of this and that way cooking style, is it?)  No matter how slap-dash a baker you may be, you can do this and it will turn out gorgeous, I promise!


Anyway, here's the recipe:


Ginger Date and Nut cake with pudding sauce


1 cup water
1/2 cup dark brown/molasses sugar
2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped dates
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups wholemeal plain flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts- walnuts and hazelnuts are great here
Pinch ground ginger
Pinch salt
1/4 cup stem or candied ginger (optional)


for the sauce: 
1/2 cup butter
4 tbsp honey
1/2 cup cream

1. Combine the water, sugar, baking soda, butter or oil, and dates in a saucepan.  Simmer for 1 min.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool slightly.
2. Add the beaten eggs and mix.  
3. Sift in the flour, salt, spice.  Add the nuts and ginger if using.  Mix well. 

Bake in a preheated oven for 35 mins at 180degrees/ 350F or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  I used a square pan- it would look lovely in a ring pan- I always line my pans in baking paper for easy escape.  Allow to cool in the pan for 10mins before lifting out.

• To make the sauce (not shown), bring all the ingredients to a simmer in a saucepan.  Sliced the cake, tip over the sauce, and garnish with lemon zest, shaved fresh ginger, and sliced strawberries.

~*~

To judge of how good ANY dish is for you, you can ask yourself these questions:

1.  Is it made from natural ingredients?

2.  Does it include fresh fruit and veg? 

3.  Does it avoid most irritants- gluten (wheat), nuts, dairy?

4.  Is it homemade; and made with love?

Be well!

love, Samantha.